Weekly Happenings: It seriously feels like an entirely new way of life now that Joseph seems to be fully potty-trained. I don’t lug diapers and wipes everywhere and we’re going to probably be saving at least $50 a month at the store. He has gotten so independent in the last few months. He dresses himself, takes his dishes to the sink, helps get his teeth-brushing stuff ready, and more. This was really good because I was knocked on my behind with a cold/allergies for most of the past week. Paul even took a few days off so that Joseph had someone to take care of him while I pretty much slept. I’m starting to feel better, but from Tuesday (I made it through story time at the library, but that was about it) to Friday, I was feeling pretty blah. Consequently, not much out of the ordinary was accomplished since we were basically in survival mode. 🙂
The Weekly Weather: a bit milder but still rather warm in the late afternoons and evenings. C’mon sweater-weather! I’m tired of sweating!
What Paul’s Been Up To: He’s back to the grind of doing homework. It was a bit frustrating for him this past weekend because he had time to work on some stuff but then the BYU servers were down. One of the consequences of being an online student, I suppose. I’m grateful that he was able to take the time off work to watch Joseph while I was sick. He also took some time to stain the bench on our front porch. He made it a while back, but has had to put staining it on the back burner as larger and more important projects have taken precedence. Finally, he will start working with the IT department for the Defense Language Institute (the same place that has the library he’s been working at) tomorrow.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: Basically I just tried to survive this week. I didn’t get too much else done. This next week should be a bit better.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: I was making bread this past Monday and Joseph really wanted to help. At first I was a bit frustrated, but I can remember Mom letting me play with a bit of bread dough when she made bread, so I gave him a bit to play with. He went to town rolling it, smashing it, and balling it up. We baked it with the rest. It turned out rather tough (over-kneading will do that, haha), but he insisted on eating the softer bits of it (the inside, mainly). He was pretending to be an Army guy/MP that day and came up to me, handed me a “ticket” (a paper he’d scribbled on), told me I was a bad guy, and said I was going to jail. I told him that if I was in jail, I couldn’t make him yummy bread. He promptly grabbed the ticket back, crumpled it up, and told me I was NOT a bad guy anymore. Baked goods for the win. 😉 A huge step that happened with Joseph this past week is that he decided he did not need to wear a Pull-up at night anymore. He’s stayed dry and hasn’t had any accidents. What a big boy!
This Week in Pictures:
Reading with Daddy.Pretty bread and rolls. I’m grateful that my mom taught me such a useful (and yummy) skill. Joseph’s roll is by itself there.He wanted to eat his roll, but discovered that the best part was the inside of it (it was softer than the rest of it).Paul’s bench. 🙂Playing Army doctor with Daddy.Practicing tracing letters.He decided that he was a dog (because of his puppy backpack) and wanted to eat his fruit snacks off of the floor.I’m glad that he agreed that it was okay to have a plate on the floor, hahaha.He told me that he was a paleontologist and that he was searching for bones from a Styracosaurus, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and a Pteranodon. Thanks, Dinosaur Train. 🙂A praying mantis that was just chilling on the roof of our front patio. He was pretty big, for a praying mantis…probably about three inches long.Going for a ride on Mater.
Weekly Happenings: This past week was pretty great. On Monday, Joseph got to have a friend over to play, which was tons of fun. Tuesday we went to Story Time at the library, Wednesday we went grocery shopping, Thursday (which was Paul’s birthday) we had a relaxing day at home and then went out for dinner (Paul’s choice was Bobby J’s, a hole-in-the-wall burger place that has really good burgers), Friday Joseph had another play date (lucky kid, lol), and yesterday we had a lazy day at home followed by going out for frozen yogurt. More about the reason for frozen yogurt later. 😉
The Weekly Weather: While it hasn’t been quite as mild as it was earlier this month, it still is cooler than it was the last bit of August. I’m REALLY hoping that the cooler weather shows up soon(ish). I’m kind of over summer. 😛
What Paul’s Been Up To: His first quarter as an online student for BYU-I has started. He’s also keeping busy at work. He’s getting ready to switch from being in the library to being in the IT department and he’s also training the person who will be taking his place. Plus, the poor guy has been fighting either a really severe allergy attack, or cold…or SOMETHING. I think he’s finally starting to feel a bit better, but there were quite a few days last week that he was just feeling miserable.
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I haven’t been doing too much out of the ordinary. I received both good news and bad news this past week. The bad news is that Kevin and Rita’s house in Northern California was unfortunately destroyed by the wildfires that have been raging in the area. They were both at work, but luckily a friend was able to get their dogs out for them. They haven’t been allowed back to see what’s left yet. They are staying at a house that was an empty rental home owned by one of their friends right now. Kevin hasn’t been able to go back to work because some of the buildings at the power plant were also destroyed by fires. We’re continually praying that they will be comforted at this time and that they will have their needs met. The good news that I received this past week has to do with some genetic testing that I took part in. It was discovered that many members of my family have a gene mutation that has been linked to chronic heart problems. There is a study that is being done by Yale University to see if more can be found out about the mutation. I submitted a saliva sample several months ago and received the results in the mail yesterday: I do not have the gene mutation, which means that Joseph and any other children we have will also not have the mutation. That is a seriously huge relief.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: He has been a ROCK STAR about potty training. He hasn’t had an accident in any way, shape, or form since Monday (and even then, I think it was because he got too distracted playing) and he’s even been waking up with a dry Pull-Up every morning. That is the reason we went out for frozen yogurt yesterday. 🙂 He completed the chart we made and got (at his request) an Army action figure that came with a helicopter that he had seen at HEB. Since it was only about $7.00, I okayed the purchase. After that, he stopped asking for a sticker every time he went to the bathroom, so I haven’t made a new chart…and he’s still doing really well. He will come up and tell me or Paul that he needs to go, even. It’s glorious! Also, he got a “prayer rock” along with a poem about what the rock is supposed to do (put it on your pillow to remind you every night to say your prayers, it will fall on the ground and then in the morning you’ll see it on the ground and remember to say your morning prayers) from his Primary teacher today. He’s been carrying it around with him everywhere today. He has told me several times that his teacher (who he calls “MacKenzie’s mom” because she is, in fact, the mom to a little girl named MacKenzie) gave him a prayer rock and a love card. 🙂
This Week in Pictures:
Joseph has a journal for Story Time (which he calls his homework). We were supposed to work on the letter “C”, so the library gave us a sentence page to work on (cut out the words, mix them up, read the sentence, and put the words back in the correct order). Joseph’s car is the blue one (he also drew the road with a tree by it). He added “exhausted pipes” (exhaust pipes) to both our cars since they were missing. 🙂 Finally, he drew a couple of cookies (a chocolate one and a chocolate chip one) and a cat. 🙂Sunglasses off?Nah, let’s leave them on!Joseph is more than a little interested in Halloween…any time of the year. Paul has been finding him Halloween library books now since he knew it would be harder to find them once October actually hit. This one seriously made me laugh out loud. I kind of felt like I ought to be watching out for a creepy black bird lurking outside of one of our windows. 😉Joseph holding his completed chart as well as his reward. 🙂I have to admit, it’s pretty cool (especially for $7.00). It’s a helicopter that came with an action figure that sits in it. The action figure also came with some binoculars, a pack, and a weapon.Cheesin’ it up while waiting for Daddy’s birthday meal to arrive.
Weekly Happenings: We made this past week a little more low-key to kind of recover from the craziness that was the week before (due to birthday celebrations). Tuesday I took Joseph to Story Time at the library. They do a story and then have crafts for the kids that have to do with a specific letter of the alphabet. He really liked getting to do the crafts and loved getting to start a journal for his letters. He told me that he liked going to school at the library. We’ll probably make this a weekly thing. Wednesday I had my annual physical, Thursday I had to go back to get bloodwork done (they had neglected to tell me that I was supposed to be fasting for the physical, so I had to go back), and Friday was Joseph’s physical. I knew he would need immunizations, so I asked Paul to come along (he’s better at keeping Joseph still for those types of things). Joseph did really well and only really started to freak out after they started giving him his shots. On the way home, we stopped and got him a happy meal as a reward for surviving. 🙂 Friday night, on sort of a whim, we went out and picked up a twin-sized mattress for Joseph and Paul disassembled his toddler bed. Paul reassembled it in our room, along with the other side, so that it will be all ready for when baby #2 eventually comes along (no, that is not an announcement…we just didn’t really have any other place to put it, lol). Yesterday, we took part in the monthly clean-up of the park and then we went to Lowe’s so that Paul could pick up supplies to build a bed frame for Joseph. He managed to get the frame built and it is already in Joseph’s room (in fact, he slept in it last night). He will eventually add a headboard and then stain the entire thing. Today was stake conference, so we got to sleep in an extra hour (yea!) and we camped out in the Primary room so that Joseph had a lot of room to roam (and we could still listen to what was going on through the speaker from the chapel). Oh! We got news today that Saira (Jason’s wife) safely delivered a baby girl today. She came sort of early (due to Saira having really high blood pressure), but she was still a substantial size for a preemie (just over 6 lbs). Joseph was uber excited to find out that he has a new cousin. 🙂
The Weekly Weather: The weather during the first part of last week was pretty warm, but then on Thursday we had quite the storm come through. It seemed to bring with it weather that is a bit cooler. Friday evening it also rained a bit, and then yesterday and today have been gorgeous. It’s only been in the mid-70s in the mornings, mid-80s in the afternoons, and low-90s in the late afternoons. It’s almost as if Mother Nature was apologizing for what happened in the month of August. 😉 I’m not sure if it will stick around, but I sure hope it will (and even a bit cooler wouldn’t disappoint).
What Paul’s Been Up To: Paul’s been keeping busy with work and projects around the house. School will also be starting for him shortly. They’ve been able to hire a contractor to take his position at the library, meaning that after he shows the new guy the ropes, he’ll be able to move over to the IT department and start his new job. I think he’s pretty excited about that (though he does emphasize that his job at the library was a good one) in a couple of weeks. We’re also looking forward to celebrating his birthday this week. 🙂
What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’ve mainly been getting back into the swing of things with my students as well as getting choir stuff ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas (yes, you read that correctly). I love this time of year that we are coming into.
What Joseph’s Been Up To: Here’s the stats from his appointment this past week: he’s 40 inches tall and now weighs 37 pounds. That puts him right about average for his age. We’ve also started potty training hard-core. He only wears a Pull-up at night. We made a chart to reward successes where he can earn prizes and it hasn’t been nearly as messy as I thought it would be (that was really why I was holding off on it). He’s had a couple of accidents, but it hasn’t been bad at all. He’s also showing us that his decoding skills are rather impressive. He tries really hard to read words that he sees. A lot of the time he gets it right and the rest of the time he’s really close.
This Week in Pictures:
One of our friends gave Joseph a plush Link for his birthday. Joseph was over the moon about it!Joseph has a rather interesting way of playing Uno Attack. 🙂 He really, really likes to push the button and isn’t much interested in any other aspects of the game.The decorations are up! Bring on the sweater-wearing, soup-and-stew-eating weather! Oh, and boots. I’m excited that (hopefully) soon it will be cool enough to wear my boots every day because, well, I love my boots.He was using his construction vehicles to move around fruit snacks.Only the fruit snacks were “rocks”.Dressing up as Link from Legend of Zelda. He was protecting me from the bad guys.And I quote (and said while he was climbing up into my lap and then snuggling down next to me in the bit of extra space), “Look, Momma! This chair is made for two!” Bye-bye personal space, lol. Good thing I love cuddling with my little man!He was playing “Army doctor” with Paul. Apparently his action figures and dinosaurs were the patients.The bed frame.The bed itself. Paul designed it so that it would be relatively easy to add a top bunk if we ever need to. He will eventually build a headboard which will be anchored to the wall and then he’ll stain it all.Joseph was really excited, and I was about bursting with pride. We’re so lucky to have such a talented man to call husband and Daddy.Joseph’s fort (I talked him down from a huge cardboard castle to a blanket fort). He dubbed it “Joseph’s Alamo”, complete with an entrance sign that reminded guests that there was no roaring allowed, as well as an exit sign thanking them for visiting Joseph’s Alamo. Apparently his “Alamo” comes stocked with cushy places to sit, a library (where he works), and a pot full of broccoli soup (I have no idea where that came from…he’s never even had broccoli soup). When it came time to dismantle it, he wasn’t very happy until I told him that we could build it again the next day.It’s really dark, since I didn’t want to wake the sleeping little dude, but you can sort of see the bed that Joseph made on the floor for Burple (the monster from his current favorite book, “A Monster Moved In”). You can also kind of see Joseph sleeping soundly in his new big boy bed. As he was going to sleep, he was telling me about Burple coming to visit, and how Burple would have to go past the “destroyed Alamo” (I guess he was still upset about me taking his fort down) before coming up the stairs to spend the night in his room.
Life’s all kinds of interesting when there’s a four-year-old in it. 🙂
