August 2014

               August was yet another busy month. We were blessed to be able to join Ben on his business trip to Atlanta.  This turned out to be so much fun.  The kids and I visited a different place each day and then came back to join Ben for dinner after his conference each night.  The first day we went to Olympic Centenial park and had a lot of fun walking around, dancing by the fountain, watching the water show, and playing on the playgrounds.  The second day was a bunch of fun and we were able to go to the Atlanta zoo.  The kiddos really enjoyed it and Alethea especially loved the pink flamingos!  The last day we went to Piedmont Park and we were able to play on two different playgrounds, have a picnic lunch, and even got to play at a sprayground.  Lots of fun was had by everyone.  Alethea and Declan both enjoyed the hotel room and being able to go up and down the elevator. Alethea especially loved the pool, but Declan enjoyed sitting in the lounge chairs outside the pool more.

                One crazy adventure we did not count on in Atlanta was Declan’s first trip to the emergency room.  He and Alethea were playing while I was getting the hotel room set up for naptime and next thing I hear is Delcan screaming.  Of course at first I told him he was okay and then it registered that the scream was different (aka real and not just whining).  I ran over to where he was , only to discover blood and lots of it.  I was trying to get the blood to stop while voice texting Ben to come help me because I wasn’t sure the bleeding was going to stop.   Ben came racing up from his conference and he said that when he walked into the room, it looked like a murder scene!  It was pretty intense, but thankfully we were able to get the bleeding to stop, get him to the hospital, and they were able to glue his head instead of stiches.  I have never seen him sit so still, but he didn’t move an inch while they glued his head. It wasn’t exactly how we wanted to end the trip, but we did get an upgraded room for the last night out of it because of all the blood.  We actually had a room with a sitting room so I got to sleep without hearing kids noises in the middle of the night!

                As if getting to go to Atlanta wasn’t fun enough, we were able to take advantage of already being so far south and visiting the Smiths in SC.  So much fun!  We had a blast just being able to catch up, see a few other friends locally,  do a little thrifting, and also had a chance to take Declan to the beach for the first time.  He loves the sand, but not so much the water.  It was precious time with friends and it was so fun to see the kiddos enjoy each other again.  The girls even got to have a sleepover in Molly and Laura’s room.  So fun!  Can’t wait til our next reunion!

                Right before we left for Atlanta, our air conditioning starting not working right.  It took several trips and lots of thawing to discover that there were several malfunctioning parts from the manufacturer.  Yay for factory warranties!  Also, big thanks to my mom for being here for one of the fixing attempts (that lasted far too long) while we were out of town!  Thankfully we have an operational air conditioner again and we didn’t have to pay anything for it!

                Continuing with travels, we spent a few weekends at home to recover and then spent the final weekend (labor day weekend) at my parents lake house with my parents, older brother, and Granpeg.  We had a lot of fun hanging out on the boat, Ben and Camden wakeboarded, we watched a few movies during the rainy parts, and we played some fun games at night.  I also got a chance to read a few books while we were there too.  Lots of rest and relaxation and overall a very good weekend.

                One adventure that started this month was that I became a consultant for Thirty-One and hosted my first kick-off party.  I have no idea how this adventure will go for me since it is totally out of my comfort zone, but I giving it a go.  I love their bags and I am trying to find ways to help contribute to our family’s finances/help offset the cost of some yard work that we really need to get done.  Looking forward to seeing what this new adventure has in store!

A few general things to note before focusing on the kiddos are that we spent several fun days at our local zoo this month with my parents, Granpeg, and Olivia.  The kiddos love just walking around the zoo and seeing all the animals.  We also ended up with many pounds of tomatoes between our small garden, our csa, and my dad’s garden.  So I had fun making salsas, tomato sauce, pasta sauce, roasted tomatoes, and more!

Now for a quick update on the kiddos.  First of all, Alethea is still managing to grow like a weed!  She is 41.75inches (off the charts for percentiles) and 38.2lbs (between 75 and 90%).  Her language is so clear these days that I rarely can’t understand what she is saying these days and, usually if she just describes it more, I end up understanding in the end. I was just telling Ben I wish I was better at writing down what she says, but thankfully I wrote a few down.  When Declan got hurt, she kept saying “Declan is an emergency” and then when we were driving in the car she said “Declan has a hole in his head, but he is still cute!”  Another cute thing she told my mom was “I just love my Mommy’s homemade bread!”  The best part about that day was that she even helped me to make it. J  She continues to love reading, always wants to know where we are going when she wakes up for the day, she loves to dance (often requesting music) , and she loves the outdoors.  She is becoming more and more independent and has recently learned to fill up her water bottle with ice and water all by herself.  She is quite proud of this accomplishment and she loves when she gets to fill up not only hers, but mine and Declan’s as well.  At last, I have to note the fact that she started preschool one day a week this month.  We are doing a preschool co-op with 4 other families from church and she loves it!

Declan turned 14 months this month and is still a bit of a pipsqueak compared to Alethea but overall his growth is pretty average.  He is 31 inches (between 50 and 75%) and 23lbs (between 50 and 75%).  This month he gained tooth #5 on August 1^st.  He is beginning to trot so he is moving faster and faster each day and getting better at keeping up with Alethea.  He has started saying “ma-ma”, “da-ee” (daddy), “ha” (hi), and “bah” (bye).  He doesn’t always use words, but he does it often enough that we have noticed a pattern with these.  I love when we are outside playing and people walk by because he will wave and say “ha”, “bah”.  So cute!  This month he has also gotten really into using sounds/inflection and hand gestures to clearly communicate what he wants/needs.  He loves call, cars, and anything that Alethea is doing.  He is pretty much Alethea’s shadow most of the time and most of the time she loves that.  (She may even take advantage of that at times to get him to do things for her, but at this point he doesn’t mind, so I don’t either.)  His attachment to his blanket is only growing stronger so I think we may have a blanket boy on our hands.  He is very particular about what blanket he likes though.  Thankfully there are two satisfactory choices to choose from.  However, due to his attachment, baby #3 won’t be using the same blankets his/her siblings did unless he is willing to relinquish them. J  Two of my favorite things about this month are that he hugs for real (gives a big hard squeeze) and he attempts kisses (beyond blowing them which he has done for a while).  His kisses aren’t quite there yet though because when we ask him for a kiss, he just squishes his cheek up against ours, lol.  One final thing to note with Declan is that he is down to one nap most days.  I love the freedom that provides and I love how quickly he goes down for nap again.  Happy Mommy and happy boy is a great combo!