Happenings

It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I would finally just sit down and do it. There hasn't been a lack of things to post, just excessive laziness on my part. :) So I'll catch up in this post.

The first happening is that a couple of weeks ago, our family got the stomach bug that has been going around Adam's school. First up was Caleb. Then a couple of days went by, and we thought maybe we escaped everyone else getting it. Then Adam woke up nauseous and vomiting a couple of Sundays ago. So he stayed home while I took everyone else to church, including choir practice following the block. Unfortunately, during the last 10 minutes of choir practice, Nathan joined the rank of the sickies all over himself and the Relief Society Room floor. I was mortified, but thankfully, everyone that was there was really kind and helpful and we had everything cleaned up quickly. (And Caleb slept through the whole thing, which has to be one of the greatest blessings of all!) Then Caleb threw up again a couple of days later, and five days later, I got sick. Thankfully, my illness stayed nauseous instead of acting on the nausea (I hate throwing up, and I will do anything in my power to not. Maybe too much information, no?) Anyways, a lot of people here have had the same stomach bug, and we're glad that we've put it in our past.

Adam was great with the boys while I was sick.

They made a fort and played a lot so I could get some extra rest.

Then last week, Adam had his white coat ceremony for school. It's basically a congratulatory ceremony celebrating the students success up to this point and kicks off the beginning as their roles of students in the medical field. I had both boys with me, which was tough because the boys wanted to just climb up and down the stairs the whole time. Thankfully it wasn't too formal of an event, so we didn't stick out too much. After the ceremony, we went to the optometry school reception where they served us sandwiches, crackers, cookies, and sodas/waters. While we were there, Adam introduced me to one of his teachers who told me that they really enjoy having Adam in the class because he is a good student and definitely at the higher end of the class grade wise. Adam then started joking that he was at least in the top 50 (there are 49 students in his graduating class). I'm going to have to teach him how to take compliments!

This is how the boys looked and felt after we were done with the ceremony part (it was ALL of the first year students at the school and was between 1-1/2 to 2 hours long)

Student Doctor McDonald

Adam walking up to recieve his coat

After being clothed in his official white coat

The day after white coat, Adam went to the school to do his typical Saturday's study (which means he sequesters himself in the library or student lounge all day, sometimes taking a break for lunch, trying to finish going through all of the lectures he is responsible for knowing for the following week's test). On his way home, he waved to a girl in his class just as he was supposed to take a turn, resulting in a sudden stop and a swerve. Unforunately, this led to his laptop bag snapping off his shoulder and flying into the nearby reflection pool/fountain. Upon the recommendation of everyone we talked to, we put it on rice to try to absorb any excess moisture in the hopes that it would still operate fine, but we were unsuccessful. So after a very stressful weekend of dreading a bill of $1300 for a new macbook pro, Adam took the laptop to the IT department on campus. They said they would have to take it into the Apple store for it to be repaired/replaced. So they said to check back the next day for news on what the cost would be/ what needed to be done to fix the problems. Adam called, and because the laptop was so new, because he was honest about the situation and the fact that Apple has a good relationship with the school, we got the laptop repaired for free! It was such a relief to not have to come up with the extra money (which we don't have being graduate students- it's all loans based off a single person's living expenses). He has it back now, and is loving being able to use it in his classes again to take notes and to record lectures.

Also, you may recall that I was doing preschool with Nathan here at home. Well, there was a couple of other girls in my ward who were wanting to start a preschooling co-op, so I joined them. And it has been great. Nathan gets to associate with other kids near his age (he's 3 and the other 2 kids are 4) and instead of having to plan multiple lessons each month, I only have to plan 2, sometimes 4. I was originally concerned that Nathan would be the youngest, but now that I've observed him in a "classroom" situation with the other two, I think it works fine.

The boys are just growing so fast and doing new things every day! My house is almost always filled with song, whether it is Nathan singing or Caleb shouting the words (he's working on singing, but he mostly just shouts the words right now). The most frequent melodies are "The itsy bitsy spider", "Wheels on the bus", "I am a child of God", and the "ABC's". Caleb is also close to being able to count from 1 to 10, he just needs a few reminders sometimes around 6. Both boys enjoy storytime at the library, but unfortunately, Nathan has preschool during it, so Caleb is the only one who has been able to go the last couple of weeks. But we still go visit the library so they can play with the train tables, puzzles, and play kitchen, and of course, get new books. I always look around me at the library and most parents only take a couple of books, but I fill up an entire reusable grocery sack with books and it only lasts us a week. It's a good thing our library is close and has a lot of books! Of course, Nathan also likes checking out a new Thomas movie every week. So we don't ONLY get books, just mostly.

Bedtime has begun to get a little easier as far as Caleb falling asleep (we just realized it was a game for Caleb to come out of his room only to be put back in bed, so we baby gated them into their hallway so Nathan could still go potty if he needed to, and it has been wonderful!), but naptime is still hard, so Caleb is still falling asleep after lunch while still in his high chair.

Nathan is finally understanding the concept of drawing a face.

This is his best attempt so far.

Adam dug out some of his old toys from growing up and enjoyed playing Z-bots with the boys, or "the guys" as Nathan calls them

We've also had a couple of encounters with the dentist this month, once for Nathan- his first time actually, and a couple of times for me. With Nathan's appointment, he clung to my legs most of the time and refused to cooperate, which in turn led to a lot of crying and screaming. Thankfully, the dentist seemed used to it (it was a pediatric dentist) and despite not getting x-rays or a cleaning in between fits, she was able to keep his mouth open long enough to look at his teeth and determine they looked healthy and that we should just keep doing what we are doing to take care of his teeth. She also encouraged me to bring in Caleb next time, too. I thought she was nuts, mostly because I would say Nathan is more cooperative of the two when it comes to strangers, but I scheduled them both on the same day in the spring. Hopefully everything will go at least ok. For me, I began going to the dental clinic associated with Adam's school. It had been a while since I had been to the dentist, and I was having some occassional pain in some of my teeth. This was a great option for me because I don't have dental insurance and since the dental students are doing the work, the prices are discounted. Well, for the first appointment they did an initial patient screening to see if I was eligible to receive care there (basically it's just financial need, at least from what I understand). Once I was cleared, they did a bunch of x-rays and I told them about the pain I had been having. Then they started getting really excited and started mumbling something about "2's". Well, it turns out that I have class 2 cavities on 3 teeth, and these specific types of cavities they have been having a hard time finding in patients and they need those types of cases for the 4th year dental board exams. What that means is that I am being given an opportunity to be a board exam patient and for my participation, I will have the work done for free! I couldn't believe it. That was definitely a blessing!

Nathan and Caleb after Nathan's dentist appointment

(they gave both of them balloons and prizes)

But speaking of health care professionals, Nathan also had his 3 year check up and everything looked great. He was in the 75% for both height and weight and the doctor said developmentally he's doing great. His stats are: weight 31.5 lbs. height 38 inches.