Four Months Old and Train Table

July 22-28, 2013

We got back from Utah at 2 am Sunday morning and spent the day recovering and at church. 

Monday was spent playing, grocery shopping, unpacking and making our yard look like our home had not been abandoned (pulled weeds, clipped tree shoots, mowed and removed mushrooms). We also had Luke and Cathryn come play, which was a definite highlight. 

He helps me throw weeds and branches away when we're done working in the yard.

Tuesday morning was Leila's four month checkup, which was somewhat discouraging. Although she has reached the milestones for her age and is the 55th percentile for length and 89th percentile in head circumference, she is 0th percentile in weight. I was shocked! I thought she was starting to chunk up nicely... Getting some bigger rolls on her thighs and arms. 

We have an appointment to meet with a pediatric GI specialist on August 4, so between now and then we will try to make sure she eats well night and day, foregoing outings to make sure she has as little distractions as possible while eating and let her nurse as long as she wants to each time. 

His first ride on the merry-go-round. He loved watching it go around and around and was so excited to get on. Once he got on, he was a little scared.

While waiting to get on the merry-go-round, he tried to climb up onto multiple chairs to eat other peoples' food, but mostly to drink their drinks.

Discovering herself 

Caleb's early birthday present. He loves the train table already!

Caleb was great throughout the appointment and only fussed/cried and tried to protect Leila when the lady with the shots came. He has been a lot more loving towards and aware of Leila since we got back. Tuesday he tried prying her hand open to give her her binky. He also offers her his food all of the time, Cheetos, Cheerios, milk. 

The rest of Tuesday we played in the sprinklers on the tramp, moved sprinklers around to water the yard, and played with toys we've missed while we were gone. 

We went to the park Wednesday morning for the first time in a long time.

Caleb loves pointing to the letters he knows, it takes a while to get to and from the park.

Wednesday Caleb tried helping her put lotion on her hand,

he let her wear his beads (this is a big deal),

Here are the blue beads.

Here are the red beads.

he wanted to hold her hand as he jumped on the tramp and ran around it. She smiled and laughed as she watched him jump on the trampoline. It was adorable!

Leila loves playing with toys now. Grabbing, chewing, sucking on everything within reach. She also found her feet and likes to grab them. 

A downside to driving from Utah is that Caleb asks of we are going to see mi and baba every time we get in the van.

Saturday evening there was an end of season soccer party for Allen’s soccer team.

July in Utah 2013 (Leila's Blessing)

Monday, July 1st, we went swimming, played at the park and then swam again with Cathryn and Luke. Allen went to work early and came home late to try to get ready to leave on vacation.

Playing at the mailbox in the morning.

Caleb bashed his face in on the road running too fast.

We both look a little worse for the wear from his fall.

Safety Break aka Snack Time

A couple of Kodak moments.

Tuesday was spent packing and cleaning. I left at 3 pm to pick up Allen, eat dinner at Jack in the Box, go to the parking lot and get checked in for our 6:50 flight. 

July is a big blur of spending time with family in Utah. We flew up there together on July 2nd and both flights went well. Neither kid was loud or fussy for longer than a minute or two on either of the flights (we had a layover in Phoenix I think).

Caleb played with Dad's phone for part of the flight.

We stayed at Grammy and Baba's when we first got there.

Fourth of July we spent the morning with my family and then headed to Orem after naptime for the evening festivities at the Wilkins'.

Grandpa took Leila duty.

Caleb loved the fireworks!

The Leila Whisperer

Fourth of July Parade

Bubble Gum Chewing Contest

We stayed at the Adams' house for a couple of nights.

Going to Mama Chu's

Playing with Mike

Talking to Grandma

We blessed Leila at my parents' house while we were in Utah on Saturday, July 6th. She wasn't very happy most of that day.

Grandpa Larry drove down to be there.

Grandma has the magic touch

Allen flew back to Houston on Sunday the 7th. We were buying my parents’ van and I stayed with the kids until July 19th, when my mom drove with the kids and I to Denver. That was a long time away from Allen!

The last part of the trip was a lot of playing and relaxing at my parents' house. We played pool basketball and games with family, Skyped with Allen, I went to the temple a couple of times, saw Danielle and had lunch with Patti, Brittany and my Mom.

Wearing Ben's shirt and running back and forth, under the tunnel. 

Kisses for the handsome kid.

Leila meets Grandma Sunny

Helping make pancakes

Grammy played with the kids in the morning and let me go back to sleep. 

USA vs Mexico at Rio Tinto (thanks Grammy for babysitting)

One day I got a massage from Amy, followed by an eye doctor appointment and hanging out with the Adams family.

Caleb loved throwing the fallen apples and pinecones in the canal.

Caleb had total control over so many adults. He would say the ground was hot and they'd splash it for him. He'd ask to sing a song and everyone would sing it for him.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese's with Grandma, Grandpa and Mike the day before leaving.

The Chuck E. Cheese show was very exciting!

My mom drove with me to Denver on July 19th. When we got there we got to hang out with Abby, Carol and Luther for an hour or so before picking Allen up from the Denver airport that night. We spent the night in Denver, said bye to Grammy in the morning as she got on a shuttle to fly back to SLC and we headed out in the van, back to Houston. I was grateful for Grammy's help on the drive to Denver! And so grateful I didn't have to drive the rest of the way home myself!

Excerpts from my letters to Lizzi:
Caleb's 21 months old today. He is really missing his Dada, who went back to Houston on Sunday, so he has been kind of grumpy. He is cute nonetheless... He is loving all of the attention he gets here though. I don't know if you ever saw the 7 minute workout, it's just 30 seconds of exercise and 10 seconds of rest, repeated six times. It's actually 8 minutes long but it's called the 7 minute workout, go figure...

Anywho, Mom, Jenni and I were doing it the other day in the exercise room with Caleb. When we did jumping jacks, he jumped up and down, then we started doing the next exercise and he kept jumping up and down. He tried doing pushups and then when we did high knees, he ran in place with us. It was so cute! Then he was giving himself kisses in the mirror and when we finished, he made us jump and run in place even more. We need to get a video of it!

Leila is getting cuter and cuter. She doesn't like to be left out anymore. Whenever we're doing things, she will try to roll over in her carseat to see what's going on or fusses until you hold her up where she can see.


Thanks for letting the kidlets and I stay in your room. We started out in jenni's room but due to the arctic temperature down there, my children were unable to sleep well. I'm in your bed, Leila's in your closet and Caleb is in the bathroom by the earthquake. Your room is my fave of the whole house.

Someone's coming to look at the house this morning. The first potential buyer... So we're scrambling to get everything ready with Jeremy gone to jury duty and dad and Ben golfing and Caleb remaking messes.

Derek and Amy came up yesterday and Ben got the Melchezidek priesthood. Our FHE lesson was giving Ben advice for college so feel free to pass on any gems you may have.