July 2013 - Church

We love all the other kids that are Cole and Connor's ages. They definitely help keep them entertained during sacrament meeting, and of course, everyone else's snacks are always better than whatever we might have.

Connor really loves nursery. It has been several months since he has cried when I drop him off. It's definitely a nice change from Cole, who hated nursery so much that I let him go to primary a couple months early. He sat perfectly still with the rest of the sunbeams and liked it lot more. Cole's teacher, Debbie Moats, really goes above and beyond. He always brings home fun games and pictures. He has gotten a couple future missionary tags and a few CTR rings from her. She also always has fruit snacks. Connor knows to go see her after church to get some for himself.

I have been the primary secretary since spring of 2010, and I am just about to get released. I'll be team teaching the sunbeams with Kajsa until we are able to sell our house. It should be a nice change!

July 2013 - Cole's Geneticist Appointment

We went to see Dr. Carey, the geneticist at Primary Children's Medical Center, this month. We weren't really sure what to expect at this appointment and were back and forth about going. We decided to go and came up with a list of questions about DiGeorge Syndrome. When we got there, they took a picture of Cole and a family picture. They did a physical evaluation and talked to us for about an hour. We didn't really learn anything new but we are hoping that they will be able to help us get Cole into speech therapy. He talks fairly well, but sometimes when he is really excited he is pretty hard to understand. The school district says he doesn't qualify for therapy and our insurance won't cover it because it is considered a developmental delay. We are going back down to SLC the first week of September to do a speech evaluation with a therapist who has seen a lot of DiGeorge kids. Dr. Carey will also put in his report that he would strongly recommend that Cole gets therapy through the school due to the majority of DiGeorge kids having speech issues. I hope that this will help us get somewhere. Dr. Carey also wants to have Cole's kidneys checked to make sure everything is going well with them. I guess that's something common in DiGeorge, too. 

Connor really liked that he could turn the water on with his feet but got frustrated because he wasn't tall enough to watch the water at the same time.

We had to wait for quite a while for Dr. Carey to come in. We kept the boys entertained by sticking their heads in the sink. They said they were 'washing their hair.' We also played a lot of Simon Says, with the boys singing songs. putting stickers on different parts of their body, standing on one foot, jumping, sticking out their tongues, giving each other hugs, and stuff like that. I can't believe that I didn't think to play this game at doctor offices earlier! It's been a life saver the last couple of times.

Since our four year anniversary was last week when I was in Provo, we celebrated by going to Rodizio in Trolley Square. They bring around big skewers of meat to each table, and if you put the green side up on the little wooden thing that is on your table, they stop by and offer you some. They have lots of different grilled meat, pineapple, and tomatoes. They also have a salad bar with all sorts of different things.  I knew how much Chris was going to love it here.This was his first time and he didn't want to leave. Connor was content moving the appetizers from plate to play with his tongs. They served breaded, fried bananas. They were pretty good!

July 2013 - Cole's Shot & Blast-Off

Cole just went in for his well-child check up. Dr. Anderson wanted him to have a shot, PSUU23, or something like that, that the office didn't carry. I was a little worried about how he would do being poked because I know how much he hates getting IVs put in. We talked about it for about a week and practiced holding still and yelling OUCH as loud as we could. I was thinking that yelling would distract him from what was going on. I promised him that if he was really good for his shot, I would take him to Blast-Off. We went into the Health Department, and they took us back into one of their rooms. They had him sit on the firetruck bed and had me wrap my arms around him so he wouldn't move, so I did. I kept waiting for him to pull away, cry, yell, or at least flinch, but he didn't! He sat perfectly still and did not even flex his arm when they poked him. I was very impressed; he handled it better than I would have!

This little house was in the waiting room. We had to stop by after our appointment so they could play a little bit longer.

 Blast-Off was as much fun as always. Connor gets a little nervous when he is going through the tunnels and the plastic turns into netting. The first time we went his foot got stuck in there. I don't think he has fully recovered from that yet. I like that I can get in and play with them. Cole liked finding all the different ball pits and jumping into them. Connor went everywhere Cole went and also ventured off on his own. At one point, he had two little boys who were probably between 12 and 18 months following him around. It was pretty funny to watch. He really likes babies. We have never gone when it's very crowded; there are usually only a few other kids in there.

Cole pretended to be asleep when I told him it was time to go.  

July 2013 - Random Pictures

These boys love each other so much. It makes me happy to watch them together!

Yes, our belly buttons talk. Mostly they say, "I'm hungry!"

Connor is such a daddy's boy. He could just lay on his shoulder forever, and he is always so content.
I wish I got that much cuddle time with him. Maybe one day I'll win him back!

Connor swallowed him gum. I asked him where it went, and he told me it was in his belly.I told him to find it, so he went searching!

Thanks to Chris, Connor is always laying down and asking for back rubs.
He used to only give them, now he only wants them.

 For the first time ever, Brielle, Lanie, Avi, Cole, and Connor ALL finished their dinner. That never happens over here! We celebrated the 'Clean Plate Club' with fruit snacks. Later, I had them all settled down and ready for bed. Chris got home and riled them up again. I didn't feel too bad for him when he got attacked. :)

I love when I find Dr. Seuss things for my boys. Cole does, too.

 After going to Downata and seeing how well some of the other kids were doing with their diving goggles, I decided to get Cole some. He was so excited to put them on, but didn't want to put his head under the water. I gave up on trying to get him to and left. I came back a little later to find him face down in the tub. He was very proud of himself, and would count how long he could stay under the water for. We haven't tried them out anywhere besides the tub yet, though.

 Connor tried for quite a while before he was able to stab his pizza with his fork. When he got the job done, he yelled, "I did it!"

Ellie's birthday is right before Connor's, so we got to go celebrate with her. We love living so close to these kids!

Connor has had a ridiculous amount of bloody noses. He is always tripping and banging his head on things. With this one, he soaked through two wads of paper towels. At least he is somewhat cooperative about letting me hold something to catch the blood.

The boys have been playing downstairs quite a bit lately. I heard Connor yelling, "Help me, stuck!" I looked down the stairs to find him in this. Such a nerd!

"I'm making the house move!!" 

 Connor scraped the end of his toe up pretty bad riding one of the cars outside. He looked so gross. I'm so glad it was on a night that Chris was home so I wouldn't have to clean and bandage it. He put hydrogen peroxide on it, and actually got Connor interested enough in watching the bubbles that he was excited and laughing. Pretty impressive!

We love watching rainstorms. I love everything about them... the feel, smell, noise. I wish we got them more often.

We got a giant bubble blower for Connor's birthday. It's just as cool as I had hoped it would be!

Grandma Young found this book for Connor. It' has many uses.
Sometimes it's a book, other times it's something to hide under. 

Connor generally eats the salad that he serves himself. He really likes cherry tomatoes, but I have to be careful when he has them because he doesn't close his mouth all the way when he bites into them, so if I don't put my finger in front of it, tomato juice squirts everywhere.

"Chugga Chugga Chooo Choooo!"

We are on our way to Cole's first soccer practice! Connor got to go play at a friend's house so I could participate with Cole. It is a parent-child class. I have been really impressed with it so far. Cole really enjoys it and pays attention to what he's supposed to be doing. They play 'Red Light, Green Light' at the end of each practice to practice running and stopping. He always says that it's his favorite part. Practice is at Tautphaus Park. There was some type of picnic going on that we decided to go to right after practice. I believe it was only for city employees, but no one seemed to mind us getting some free food. Cole didn't want a hot dog; he was happy with just the bun. He really liked the fruit salad and chips. I liked that I didn't have to cook dinner. I have been slacking in the cooking department lately. I blame it on being too busy this summer, but I know deep down that I'm just being lazy. :) Hopefully when it starts to cool down and we are stuck in the house more, I'll have more ambition to get back on top of it.

Jace and Cole waiting for practice to start.