Darr Family Blog – Page 178 – The place to follow the Darr Family

A Much Better Week

Weekly Happenings: This past week was much better since Joseph was finishing up his antibiotic. So far, no fever, so I hope it means the strep throat was beaten at last. He had a bit of a cough and runny nose, but seemed to be better when we gave him his allergy medicine, so I think it was just allergies bugging him. We hung around the house, mostly so that Joseph could build up his strength again. On Wednesday, we met Paul at his work to give him some things he needed and ended up staying to have lunch with him. Joseph really liked that. Saturday was our super fun day. We went to the zoo and then came home in time to rest for a bit before having the missionaries over to have dinner (Joseph was very excited about this…he loves the missionaries).

The Weekly Weather: It’s been rather nice. The mornings have been overcast and cooler, even raining on occasion. Then it would clear up for the rest of the day. Just enough rain to keep everything green and beautiful. I love living where we live (outside of city limits). When I drive around and see all the trees, bushes, and wildflowers, it’s so nice!

What Paul’s Been Up To: He finished up a project that involved putting up a shelf and some decorations (along with some of Joseph’s books). I’ll post a picture a bit later. I really like it. He is so handy and great at figuring out how to do things around the house. I’ve got a really great guy. 🙂

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Mainly teaching piano and keeping Joseph happy and healthy. I did have choir practice at our house the past two Sundays. It’s been nice to build up my confidence slowly but surely. 🙂

What Joseph’s Been Up To: His cute self, as usual. We emptied out all of the books that had been in his closet, so he has been having a ball looking at all the new books. He has also demonstrated that he recognizes some pretty big words on sight. When we were at the zoo, he saw a sign for the elephant (no picture, just the word), studied it for a bit, and said, “Elephants this way!” He also recognized the word “train” that was printed on the tickets we got to ride the little train that goes around the zoo and nearby park. He also has been showing his manners. I’ll do something rather small and he will say, “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20140619_120653589 — He loves to look at books.

IMG_20140621_095526-ERASER — Hanging out with the lion statue.

IMG_20140621_095526-MOTION — An auto-awesome that Paul got of Joseph.

IMG_20140621_095609 — He loves the lion.

IMG_20140621_101750 — Joseph loves to brush the goats at the petting zoo portion of the zoo.

IMG_20140621_101759 — He was fascinated by this little guy chewing his cud.

IMG_20140621_101857 — He needed to see it from every angle.

IMG_20140621_112513 — On the train at the zoo/park.

IMG_20140621_111547 — Joseph was really excited. He’s asked to ride the train many, many times. He was happy we finally did it.

IMG_20140621_110908 — The train goes past part of the zoo, but mostly winds around the huge park that is right next to the zoo. It was about a 20 minute ride. Joseph did NOT want to get off (in fact, he pitched a royal fit).

IMG_20140621_131522419 — Checking out the books that were going up in the shelf.

IMG_20140621_150853034 — Our new shelf. Paul’s goal was to get all of Joseph’s books out of his closet. We have a couple shelves in his bedroom (along with a box of books that he can look at), a box of books downstairs in his reading nook, and these ones. The vase is a piece that Gary did, and the birdhouse is from one of the vendors at the farmers’ market/street fair that we like to go to. It was originally destined for outside, but I was sort of afraid that bees would build a nest in it instead of birds. The long sign was what Tara made me for my birthday/a housewarming present. I have a copy of the picture I got of some Gulf wildflowers and grasses and then there’s also a picture of the moon (Paul’s idea and I love it) to go with Tara’s sign. 🙂

Rinse and Repeat (sigh)

Weekly Happenings: This past week started out well. I caught up on the housework and took Joseph to a science show at the library. He really liked it. The person was calling themselves a “mad scientist” and was doing all sorts of demonstrations with fire, flash paper, dry ice, bubbles, and the always cool egg-in-a-bottle. Then Joseph woke up on Thursday with a fever. I had Paul come home from work early so that I wouldn’t need to cancel piano lessons (he took Joseph out of the house so that the students wouldn’t be exposed to his germs). Friday I took him into his doctor and asked them to do the throat swab for strep (since he had just stopped antibiotics on Sunday). It came back positive. 🙁 He either was re-exposed or the antibiotics didn’t get it all the first time. I tend to lean toward the second possibility. So it’s more antibiotics until Tuesday. *sigh* Saturday we decided that since Joseph’s fever was gone and he was acting normally, we could take a trip up to Austin. We ate lunch at In-n-Out and stopped by IKEA to pick up a table that Joseph could use as a train table. 🙂 Today was Fathers’ Day, so we gave Paul his cards, went to church, and came home to have a really yummy dinner (eggs, bacon, grits, and fried potatoes).

The Weekly Weather: For the most part, this past week was really nice. Overcast in the mornings and warmer in the afternoons. There was one instance of having a tornado watch (no tornado, though, thank goodness), some random rain storms, and a crazy thunderstorm (which I’ve kind of gotten used to).

What Paul’s Been Up To: Paul has put in an application to start the Pathway program that is online via BYU-I. He’s looking at getting a computer degree. 🙂 He also spent quite a bit of time yesterday putting Joseph’s train table together.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I got to meet with my book club this week. I love getting together with my friends and discussing deeper aspects of fun books. I also got to go to a Relief Society activity which was all about Family Home Evening. It was a fun night. 🙂 I’m also trying to work out more. Finally, I spent about 2 hours weeding the front yard (our next door neighbor put down grass seed that spread into our yard, so I was pulling out the grass). I was kind of sore the next day, but not as bad as I would have been had I not worked out all week, lol.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: Being his cute self as usual. 🙂 When we went to the doctor’s, he was working really hard to follow the instructions of the MA and the doctor. He would take deep breaths when asked, turn his head so that they could look in his ears, etc. The only thing he didn’t cooperate with (understandably so) was the throat swab procedure. After the MA finished taking his measurements and vitals, he told her, “Thank you, doctor!”

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20140611_115202169_HDR — Watching “Little Einsteins”. He really gets into parts of it and dances around the room.

IMG_20140612_175823 — When Mommy goes to Relief Society activities, Daddy and Joseph sometimes go out for cheeseburgers.

IMG_20140612_174941 — He really likes the number cards.

IMG_20140613_092301008 — This was the morning before I took him back into the doctor. I think we caught his strep relapse before he started feeling too sick again. He’s always my smiley boy.

IMG_20140614_093650021 — He pulled out the tape measure and told me that he was two. 🙂

IMG_20140614_173740282-MOTION — An auto-awesome picture that Google+ put together of Joseph playing with his new train table.

IMG_20140614_205424469 — Paul decided to put some molding around the edge to make a lip so that the track couldn’t fall off.

IMG_20140615_095229057 — Trim painted and base painted (just needs a bit of touch up).

IMG_20140615_162107938 — My handsome boys after church today. Joseph made the “tie” in nursery.

A Quiet(ish) Week At Home

Weekly Happenings: This past week was a bit of a repeat of the one before it. We stayed at home as much as possible to allow Joseph to recover from his strep throat. The one major (and rather unfortunate) thing that happened was that Joseph got his first (and hopefully last) bee sting. Poor guy. 🙁

The Weekly Weather: Hot and humid. It’s now unofficially summer in San Antonio…is it November yet? 😉

What Paul’s Been Up To: Working at work, keeping our house and yards looking nice, and continuing to be an awesome husband and daddy. 🙂

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I’m going to continue teaching piano through the summer. I think I’ll have a new student start within the next couple of weeks, which will be good, since I had one that needed to stop.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been collecting X-Men figurines from Carl’s Jr. (he calls them Beasts and ‘Netos, because they are the Beast and Magneto). Another thing that he’s been doing is pretending to give me medicine by taking an empty medicine dispenser and pretending to put it in my mouth (even saying, “Just one more squirt!”). He also got to ride in the car grocery cart when I needed to get a few things at HEB (usually I avoid it because it is rather awkward to maneuver). The entire time, he was practically yelling, “A car! A car! Beep! Beep!” I’m not sure if we’ll be able to do that again. :/ Finally, he’s been showing empathy for bugs. This morning it was raining and we noticed a fuzzy black and white jumping spider on the outside of our sliding glass door. Joseph told it, “Sorry fuzzy spider for being outside.” I guess he felt bad that it was out in the rain. I assured him that the spider was fine. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

IMG_20140603_092333597 — I forgot to post this the previous week. This is our new ceiling fan that Paul put up.

IMG_20140604_170901984_HDR — He seriously loves books.

14 - 2 (10) — Riding his bike around our neighborhood.

IMG_20140605_134420009_HDR — Reading books in the little reading nook I created for him.

IMG_20140605_184218 — Giving Daddy a thumbs up.

IMG_20140606_092700343_HDR — Relaxing after a bit of “reading”.

IMG_20140606_150826200 — He was sniffing the flower and telling me that it “smelled so good!”

IMG_20140606_153434 — Making an “X” with his crayons. He came up with it on his own.

14 - 1 (18) — So we decided to see what other letters we could help him make. This is him making a “T”. He also made an “A” and a “V”.

IMG_20140607_130109872 — One bonus of it being so warm…practically every day is a good day for the pool. 🙂