The Last Couple of Weeks

So, our family has been doing pretty well lately. I enjoyed a very quick trip to San Diego a couple weeks ago. My sister, Michelle, and I were both able to fly in and surprise my dad for his surprise 50th birthday party that my mom had organized. I took Camden with me, and our friends were nice enough to watch Kolby and Eli for us on the days that Michael had to work, and it is always easier to travel with one baby than with three.

While we were in San Diego, we got to go to my brother, Matthew’s, lacrosse game, and had the surprise party for my dad that night. On Saturday we drove up to Malibu, California and went to the Getty Villa, a large country home in a canyon that was designed with ancient Roman architecture and has been converted to a museum to contain the Getty collection of Roman statues and artifacts. It was pretty cool. Then we drove back that night and had dinner at the Chart House. The next day was Mother’s Day and Camden was kind enough to sleep in for me, and then my brothers brought me breakfast in bed – they are so thoughtful! We opened Mother’s Day gifts for my mom and Michael called and we talked, and then we were able to go to the beginning of church before driving to the airport. Although it was a lot of traveling for such a short trip, it was definitely worth it. Michael had a good time with the boys while I was gone that weekend too. They were invited to a BBQ Saturday and then to a dinner and games Sunday evening, so that was nice for him.

Last week Kolby had his speech evaluation. We got a progress report a few months ago from Kolby’s preschool program that mentioned that he had trouble enunciating his words, and so the doctor thought it would be good to be safe and have it checked out. His evaluation went really well. They did a hearing test, which showed that he can hear well, except he had some fluid in one ear, which is probably related to the cold he has had recently. Kolby really enjoyed the speech evaluation because it seemed like a game to him, with lots of pictures to look at, words to repeat, and questions to answer. They said that there is no problem with his speech. We have noticed that on some of his words that start with the letter S he has trouble pronouncing the first part of the word, so I made some flashcards with S-words, and we have been practicing saying them correctly. But we were glad to find out that there is nothing to worry about with his speech or hearing.

Last week we had several fun activities, including a birthday party for our friend, Peter, a trip to the zoo with Amy and Faith, and a new toddler art class that a girl in our ward started for the 2- and 3-year olds this summer. I also had another doctor’s appointment last week, and everything is going great with the baby. We have our ultrasound scheduled for June 5th.

Last weekend was kind of busy. On Friday mornings I take Kolby to his preschool classes at the YMCA, drop Camden off at their Kid Care, and take Eli to his swimming lesson. Eli absolutely loves the water – I have never seen a kid his age who enjoys jumping under the water or doing ‘bobs’ (holding his head under the water by himself) so much. We were about half way through the swim lesson when someone came and told me that Kolby wasn’t feeling well. Eli was rather distraught when we had to get out of the pool, and even more hysterical when we walked through the locker room and didn’t stop to take a shower first on our way to check on Kolby. Kolby was lying on the carpet in his class. He had a fever, but he was crying because he didn’t want to miss his second class in the gym. I took Eli back down and showered him off, then we went to get Camden, and I’m sure that everyone was staring at me: with my messy wet hair, Camden and all our bags in my arms, and two crying boys in tow. But after we got home Kolby got some Tylenol, they all went down for a nap, and Kolby didn’t seem sick again after that. I was glad that I didn’t have to deal with him being sick over the weekend.

Michael was on call that weekend, and he got home early Saturday afternoon, so we were hoping that he would get home early Sunday too, because our friends were having a BBQ dinner after church with all of the 3rd-year students and their families from the ward. Unfortunately, Michael had several surgeries on Sunday and didn’t get off until right when the BBQ was ending, but we really can’t complain, because in general his schedule has been so nice this month compared to most other surgery rotations we have heard about.

Well, nothing too major has happened yet this week. Kolby has enjoyed his preschool classes so far this week. His last class is on June 8th, and then we will take a break for the summer. With all the summer activities we have planned for the boys (weekly swim lessons, play group, and toddler art class), I think it will be nice to take a break from school until the fall. Last night I went to an enrichment group that a girl in the ward taught about being organized and cleaning. It was fun to get some ideas and talk to friends. And tonight I am planning on running over to the family history center. I need to get some names prepared for our temple trip on Saturday with Peter and Cynthia.

So, this weekend my parents are leaving to go to Europe, and they will be picking my sister, Jennifer, up from her mission in Germany in a week or so. We are so proud of her and all the hard work she has done there. And the boys are very excited to see their Aunt Jenn again.
Well, I hear Kolby calling me from the other room. Better go see what he’s up to.