Note to Self:

When having an FHE on earthquake preparedness, shaking the table and jumping around flailing to imitate an earthquake can be traumatizing to the almost 3 year old.

P.S. Once the almost 3 year old gets calmed down and the rest of the family is having fun pretending to hide under chairs and tables until the earthquake is over, don't forget about the 1 year old you left perched on the couch. He just may try to climb down and join you, but end up tumbling off the couch instead.

Summer Nights

School starts tomorrow. I know our kids are too young to be in school yet, but that doesn't mean they won't notice the change. All summer long the kids in the cul-de-sac have come out in the evenings to play for hours together. With the start of school, the neighbors will be instituting bedtimes, chore routines, and homework mandates. All that adds up to fewer carefree nights for my boys. They were fun while they lasted, and we always have next summer to look forward to.

A few nights ago we were outside playing and I had the camera in my hands. Caden stood next to his friend and said, "Mama! Take a picture of me and my friend and my wagon!" When I knelt down to take the shot both boys knelt down as well and started saying cheese. If only every night could be a summer night.

A Sad Allergy Day

Its a sad day at our house on the allergy front.

Now that Eric is one and no longer nursing I'm supposed to re-trial all the foods he's avoiding, just to make sure. Yesterday I opted to start with milk. He failed. Big time. The result was 4 hours of puking. You'd think I would have learned my lesson and kept him off the carpet/hard to clean areas, but I kept thinking he was done. Oh well. One down, 8 to go. We'll be camping out in the bathroom for the next trial.

Last Wednesday I met with the allergist and was given the okay to start trialling a few foods with Caden. Because of its versatility we started with rice. Within 36 hours we could pretty much tell things weren't going well, but we held out and hoped. Today Caden is screaming, crying, sweating, straining. And I had to break the news to him that he didn't get any more rice. He took the news suprisingly well for a not quite three year old. I explained the pain he was feeling was because he's been eating rice and he hasn't asked for it again. Once this clears up we'll try potatoes. Poor kid is going to be so confused. No food. Yes food. No food. This food. Now that food. Blah.

Playing Catch Up

I've been trying to catch up on all the blogging I've been behind on. I think I'm finally there. I back dated all the posts, so if you're interested in reading (or seeing the pictures), click away to check out our Disneyland trip, day at the beach, dinners with the cousins, adventures in downtown Salt Lake, cousin day of play, and our weekend at Blackfoot.

Phew! I hope to never get that far behind again. I blame it on the (literally) hundreds of pictures I had to sort through for our disneyland and beach days.

One Already!

I know it feels like Eric should only be about 9 months old, but really its been a whole year already! Our baby boy who started out so tiny has come into his own. He doesn't talk much, but he has an opinion and finds a way to let it be known. He squeals and babbles, and has been known to say da-da and pah-pah (grandpa). He is most likely to say ma-ma if its repeated contintually in a whine as he chases me around the house begging for something. His most common word, though, is 'essss.' We're not sure if it means "yes" or "this, " but he uses all the time. He eats everything in sight - literally everything. He loves meal times and will chow down whatever is placed on his tray, and in between meals he'll scavange the house sampling anything that will fit in his mouth. If he's been out of sight for more than a few seconds a quick finger sweep usually yeilds a non-edible item from his mouth. He loves his big brother and wants to play with whatever Caden is playing with at the moment. See exhibit A: Eric on Caden's 'pedal bike.'

Call CPS!

Setting: Trying to pull Caden away from the toy aisle at Target.

Me: We're going to head home now.
Caden: No! I don't want to go home! (He says this a lot)
Me: Its time to go. We'll come back another day.
Caden: Noooooo! I want to stay here!

At this point a friendly lady next to us tries to help.

Lady: You should go home with your mommy. I bet its time for lunch and your mommy will fix you something yummy.
Caden: My mommy doesn't let me eat lunch.

Upon strange look from Lady I launch into an explanation of why she shouldn't be calling Child Protective Services on me.

Our Fence!

Ryan has been working hard this summer to get a fence in so I feel more comfortable outside with the kids. Caden is pretty good not to run off, but its still nice to have a few barriers up so if he leaves my sight I know how far he can/can't go. Ryan got one side yard and about 2/3 of the back line done before we decided to call it complete for the year. I love how it makes our yard feel and even having this much done is a huge relief for me. He finished about a month ago, but in case you haven't noticed I've been a little slow on the uptake with the blog the past few months. Now we just need to get it painted.

Rain Balls!

Today the heavens opened and dumped buckets of rain and hail in our neck of the woods. Mommy and the kids watched it in the afternoon for about an hour, but daddy was the real winner when he got home from work and showed Caden how to gather the 'rain balls' (Caden's term) and throw them into the air.

Today's Highlights

For Eric: Riding in the shopping carts at Target and the grocery store. The kid loves to feel the movement of the cart and see all the people.

For Caden: Watching a dump truck dump its load at a local construction site. We got lucky enough to watch it raise and lower the back three times. Each time elicited "ooh!" and "wow!" from Caden.

For Mommy: Supervising Caden using his new doctor toy set on a semi-willing Eric. Eric has had his vitals checked about every 15 minutes all day long.

G-Tube Surgery

Caden's surgery went amazingly well. We checked in at 7:45 Friday morning for a 9:15 surgery. The surgeon said everything went smoothly and he expected a quick recovery. Caden was a little groggy Friday afternoon and was content to stay in the room for a few hours. Then the nurse encouraged us to take him for a wagon ride to the play room since he was supposed to get out of bed and walk 4 times each day. Once Caden discovered the playroom we had a hard time dragging him back out. He spent about 3 hours there on Friday, and so much time there on Saturday the nurses had to schedule times for the doctors to see him because we were never in our room during regular rounds. One time as I drug him out of the playroom crying he exclaimed, "I don't want to go back to my room! There are doctors there! I want to stay in this room with the toys!" Smart boy. We used the wagon so much the nurses just let us keep it in our room during our short stints there.

Caden had lots of visitors in the short amount of time he was there - Grandma and Grandpa Dodds, Aunt Kellie, and Grandma and Grandpa Scherbel. The Carruth cousins sent some cards and games that Caden loved Saturday morning while he anxiously waited for the toyroom to open. Grandma and Grandpa Dodds attempted to help Caden play on the patio. One had to push Caden and the other pushed his IV pole. After dragging that IV pole around I'll never complain about the inconvenience of the backpack. After we got home on Sunday Caden got more visitors - Grandma and Grandpa Scherbel again, Kara, Dave, Karlee, and Chris. We got released so quck they had to visit us at home on Sunday. I guess the doctors figured any kid who could spend the whole day in the playroom could go home.