Catch-Up

Well, it’s been a few weeks now since we’ve written our “weekly” blog post because I’ve been busy having fun in San Diego with the boys for a month and Michael has been busy at the hospital on his ICU rotation, so I’m going to play a little catch-up now. I have lots of fun pictures from our trip, and a few video clips. Since I last wrote, a lot has happened. We took the boys to the beach when my brothers had a day off of school, we attended several playgroups at the fun splash park and big playground in 4S Ranch, my brother Matthew got his Eagle Scout, Kolby and Eli had lots of fun with their new friend, Brittany Giles, at the playgroups and swimming at Nana’s house, Isaac started to stand up without holding onto anything quite often, and he made us think that he was going to take his first step more than once in San Diego, my friend Sidney came over to the house a couple times for my mom to help her smock a blessing dress for her baby girl and the boys really enjoyed playing with her daughter Haley, my brother Aaron had his 14th birthday party and I found out that pregnant women are not allowed to play laser tag, my dad and I went shopping for my grandma’s birthday gift and he got me a cute shirt – it was fun to just hang out with him, we went out to an Italian restaurant downtown to celebrate Grandma Faun’s birthday, Camden got his second haircut ever – even though it’s not a really drastic looking change, I did take off 2 or 3 inches – and the boys warmed up to my parents’ dog (which they had been rather afraid of when we first got to San Diego), my mom got me some maternity jeans and three cute maternity shirts – thanks Mom!, Camden learned how to climb out of the playpen about a week before we left San Diego which made it rather difficult to figure out sleeping arrangements where he couldn’t get up and get into anything, mom and I got to go look at model homes (always fun), and we all got to spend lots of fun family time together.

Then on October 16th my Grandma and I drove back to Salt Lake. It was a long drive, and what made it seem even longer was the fact that about ½ an hour after we left Kolby needed to pee, then ½ an hour later Eli needed to, then Kolby, then Eli, etc. all the way to Las Vegas! After stopping for a quick dinner at In’N’Out and threatening the boys that they had better “get it all out” because we weren’t going to take any more potty breaks for a long, long time, we made it a whole 18 miles outside of Las Vegas before Eli started insisting that he really had to go again. After telling him that he couldn’t possibly need to go again that soon and trying to ignore him for about 10 or 15 minutes, I started to look for a good place to stop for him, and then he fell asleep and slept the rest of the way home, so that was nice. Kolby also slept until about an hour before we got home, and then he woke up telling us that he had to go right away. By the time we stopped and got him out of the car about 10 minutes later his shorts were all wet, and he told me that he just couldn’t keep it all in. Oh well. At least we made it home without any major problems.

The day after we got home Michael had a day off work at the E.R., and I took Camden for his 2-year check up, and I forgot that it was his first official appointment with this doctor since we moved here and so I had to go back home and get his immunization records from our old doctor in Milwaukee and then return for him to get his 2-year-old shots later in the afternoon. The doctor also ordered some blood work just to check for iron levels and lead – I guess she must do that for all new patients, because she had Isaac’s blood drawn after his first appointment there too – and I was amazed: Camden not only didn’t cry for the initial needle prick, the moving the needle back and forth in his arm for about a full minute before they got his vein, the blood draw, or the later shots, but he didn’t even make any noise at all. Amazing! Anyways, while we did that Michael started getting things unpacked and then vacuumed out the van when we got home. And while the boys napped I folded all their clean clothes from the trip and put away all the shorts and t-shirts in the storage bins and got out all their fall and winter clothes. After the boys got up from naps, we decided to take a break from getting things done and we all drove over to the Jordan River Parkway to take a fun walk and then play on the playground for a few minutes. Then we decided to go to Denney’s for dinner, a mistake which we probably won’t repeat – the restaurant was run down, the waiter messed up our order even though we were the only customers there for most of the time, and they were skimpy on the portions so we had to ask for more of things that normally come with the meals. But it was nice to go out together and not to have to cook or clean up afterwards.

When we drove home that night, Kolby said something pretty cute: He asked what it was called when things sleep in the daytime, and I said “Naps.” He said, “No, like when owls sleep in the day.” And I told him that was called nocturnal. And then he said, “Oh, so the moon and the stars, they’re nocturnal, huh?” He is such a little thinker.

On Saturday evening after Michael got home from work Grandma offered to watch the boys for us while we went to stock up on groceries. We got some bigger things at Costco and then went to WalMart for the rest. I got a bunch of different vegetables for a couple of big batches of soup that I am planning on making this week. One thing I like to do in the Fall and Winter is make a big stock pot of soup and have it for dinner, and then freeze the rest of it for several more easy and healthy dinners.

On Sunday Michael had to work. He says that a career in the E.R. would not be for him – there are so many patients who come into the emergency room with minor problems, either because they don’t have health insurance or because they are overly concerned parents who bring their babies in for a cough. Also, he said that patients are either discharged because they shouldn’t have come to the E.R. in the first place, or they have a real problem and they are treated and sent home or they are serious enough to be admitted to internal medicine, the ICU, or surgery, and then Michael, as an E.R. doctor, doesn’t get to find out what happens to them later on. That’s one thing he likes about dermatology, is that he gets to see patients and their families over time and watch their progress and build a relationship with them. Anyways, on Sunday after church we went down to Mel and Christian’s house in Lehi to celebrate Kyler’s 1st birthday. The boys had a lot of fun running around with Jaden, as always.

And today after taking Kolby to preschool, the other boys and I went to Wheeler Historic Farm for the playgroup that one of the other interns’ wives has organized. Melissa, the one organizing the playgroup, and her daughter Chloe were the only ones there. We had a great time taking pictures in the pumpkin patch, seeing all the animals, and letting the kids play in the little tree house there. After the playgroup we came home to pick up Kolby, then headed downtown to turn in my voter registration paper – we realized when we got back in town that today was the last day to turn in the registration. I am still unsure if I will be able to vote or not – I know that you have to have either a photo ID or proof of residency to vote, and I don’t have a Utah driver’s license because I decided not to pay for a Utah license and then turn around and pay for another one in New York next year, and since we are living with my grandma we don’t have any rent, mortgage, or utility bills that come in our names – and I don’t know if they will take junk mail or catalogs as proof of residency. Oh well, at least I’m registered now, so I can try to vote if they’ll let me.

Tonight I am going to try making spaghetti squash for dinner, so wish me luck. (Last time I tried it I did it in the oven and it took much, much longer than the label on the squash said it would so we were very hungry by the time we ate late, but my mom said that you could do it in the microwave for about 20 minutes, so that should be good if it works out this time). And then for our family home evening activity tonight I was thinking of going to a pumpkin patch (if we can find one) or at least getting some pumpkins at a store, because the boys need little pumpkins to paint in their preschool class this week. So that should be fun for them to go pick those out.

Oh, and we have been very lucky that Camden has not yet climbed out of his crib since we got back, even though he got very good at climbing out of his playpen in San Diego. Also, Isaac has officially been off the bottle for about 3 days now. And he took two steps in a row without falling down this afternoon – although I could only get him to take one step on the video afterwards. But it shouldn’t be too long before he really starts walking around. And his birthday is on Thursday, so we will officially have a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 1 year old all at the same time for just over a week until Kolby will turn 5 on Halloween.

Well, my computer continues to have internet connection issues, so I’ll get this posted for now and then try to add the photos later.