Birthday Week

I had one of the best birthday's that I've had in a long time!  Jeremy stayed home from work to watch Joe and Clara while I took Jack in for his 3 hour long heart appointment.  The good news is that his heart works just fine, so for sure his low oxygen levels are due to underdeveloped lungs.  So it's just a waiting game now and he will eventually be off oxygen without any lasting problems!

My in-laws called me the day before my birthday and offered to watch my kids while I attended the temple.  Since Jeremy took the day off, we got to go together!  We hadn't been in a little over 3 months due to our little Jack being born and things.  It was so good to go back! I always find myself feeling extremely relaxed as I leave the temple with a renewed strength to face all my challenges.

When we got home from that, my Mom took the entire family out to dinner.  We ate some very yummy Cafe Rio and the kids were even very well behaved!  I couldn't have asked for a better day.

I told Jeremy that all I wanted for my birthday was clothes.  So he let the kids pick out a shirt for me, and then the rest I got to spend by myself Saturday morning.  The kids picked out the sparkly 4th of July shirt, and I was able to get great deals on everything else.  It was so good to spend some time by myself too.  I even got to get some new under clothes thanks to a gift card from my in-laws!

Clara loves to take pictures, and she gets some great shots in.  Here is little Jack posing next to some pandas:

And although she was trying to take a picture of her castle she made from blocks, I love how the shadows and light make this a great pictures of Joe too.

Clara also adores her baby Jack.  She in constantly asking everyone around her if Jack, "Is the cutest boy you've ever seen?"  She will play with him any chance she gets.  I will sure miss her when she goes back to school.

Imaginations

I love having Clara home for the summer.  I've watched her and Joe play together and feed off of each other's imaginations.

We've had boat rides in the ocean:

A fort big enough for 5 kids to play in:

And a dolphin come to play with us for an evening:

And a funny moment that I want to record, although it wasn't funny at the time: I was desperately trying to get Joe in his PJ's.  He was running away from me and laughing, saying things like "Try to catch me!"  Unfortunately in my exhausted state, I yelled at him.  He came right over and said, "Mom, I want you to be happy."  To which I replied, "I'll be happy as soon as your PJ's are on!"  He looked at me with his huge grin and sparkly eyes and said, "I was just being funny!"

Joe has also found his very own nick name for Jack: Jacka Whacka.  It makes me laugh every time I hear him lovingly say, "It's ok Jacka Wacka, Joe's here."

And this little guy hasn't been able to express his imagination yet, but he's found his hands and LOVES to suck on his fist.

We had his pulmonary specialist appointment this week.  The conclusion is that he's just one of small percentage of babies whose lungs just take several months to fully develop.  So we got a prescription for a steroid that we use twice a day to help speed up his lung development.

Father's Day

A few of the MANY reason's why I love Jeremy:

1. He plays with our kids.  He's not afraid to get on the floor and join in their little world.  Whether that be a Little People Town, Cars, Trains, Littlest Petshop, or just coloring and drawing.

2. He treats me so well.  He continues to tell me I'm the most beautiful woman in the world.  I remember the first time he told me that.  We were dating and talking about getting married, but weren't engaged yet.  I laughed when he said it.  He looked so hurt, so we had a small discussion.  I remember thinking that I understood how he could think I was beautiful, but to say that I was the most beautiful person in the world was a hard thing for me to believe that he really thought that.  But I'm so grateful he continued to insist that he KNEW it was true.  I've come to truly understand that he really does think that and how so very grateful I am for an amazing person who can look past all my faults and only see the things that truly make me beautiful!

3. Our two extended families are very different from each other.  Jeremy has embraced my family wholeheartedly and loves them for who they are and how we do things.

4. He has a wonderful sense of humor that can get us through any tough time.

5. He gives the best hugs.

6. He is so easy to please.  It doesn't matter what present we pick out, I know he'll love it.

7.  He truly is my help meet in all that we do!  Thanks for saying yes when I asked you out, and thanks for continuing to ask me out!

Grateful

I have so much to be thankful for this week.  I was able to get the kid's battery powered atv to work, and I loved seeing them play so well together!

I'm grateful for keeping in touch with old neighbors so that my daughter can still play with her best friend.  I'm also thankful for a daughter who loves to create entire worlds to play a game with.  Here is Clara's pirate game she put together so her best friend could play with her, and they were kind enough to let Joe play too!

I'm thankful for a little boy who makes me smile.  I was showing him pictures of Jesus during Sacrament meeting yesterday and I was telling him the stories behind each picture.  We came to one where Jesus was in the middle of a crowd, Joe pointed to Jesus and said, "That's MY Jesus!" I'm so glad he recognized how very personal Jesus really is to each of us.

I'm thankful for getting to listen in as Joe plays.  One day he lined up all his cars so they could watch him play a Disney Cars App.

I'm grateful that my little Jack has a wonderful smile.   He turned 3 months old yesterday.

And I'm especially grateful this week for a working Air Conditioner and an amazing electrician from our ward who refused to take any money for helping us getting it working again.  It's been a long week trying to get our AC figured out.  We've had the power company come, our HVAC company come (twice) and just when I was feeling hopeless, someone reccommended a brother from our ward.  Since we didn't know him, I was hesitant to call, but he came as soon as he could and saved me!  He found the problem to be wires that were burnt to a crisp.  We were so lucky that our house didn't catch on fire! This is what our house looked like behind the metal box from the AC unit. 

He had to cut out all the burnt wires, and rewire them so that he would have more slack to plug them back into our AC.

Summer Has Begun

Summer is in full force here.  I've made a chore chart for Clara, and the first few days she happily did each daily chore.  But now the newness is wearing off.  But on that list, I also gave her options of which chores to do so she can earn money. Clara really is such a big helper in so many ways though, I love how willing she is to take care of Jack when he cries.

Joe got his cast on this week.  He loved getting to choose the color.  I was so proud of how well he did getting his cast on.  He didn't complain once and just let the doctor do what he needed to.

We bought a summer movie pass and was able attend our first movie this week.  Even though we won't be seeing the new Disney movie, Clara wanted a picture of herself by it's display.

Since we got Joe a waterproof cast, we had to go swimming to test it out! 

Our little Jack continues to grow and grow.  I can't believe that he's already lost his newborn look.  Now we just need to get him off oxygen to see what he really looks like!  :)

We were also able to attend the birthday party for a nephew of ours.  He was born shortly after Jeremy and I got married.  One of the first times I met Beck family was when I attended the oldest niece's birthday party.  She was turning the same age as this nephew turned this week.  I remember thinking how "old" she was considering my oldest nephew was only 3 at the time. And now not only have I been married that long, but my little girl is almost that old as well!

Big Events for all my Kids

Jackson has started smiling, cooing, and even laughed for the first time yesterday!  I can't believe how quickly he's changing.  He's giving me longer sleep times, and even getting a daily schedule established!

 I love it when he smiles with just the side of his mouth.

Joseph is officially potty trained.  He hasn't had an accident in a week!  I'm so proud of my big boy.  He also buckled his leg this week.  Since his bones are soft, they just bent in instead of breaking, but he gets a splint and cast just as if he did break it.  He was jumping on a trampoline at a friend's house, and landed wrong!

The first 24 hours were rough, but he's since learned how to get around without walking.  It's also a huge blessing to have him laughing and eating again.  And even with all the pain, he never once wet his pants!  We are sure proud of you little guy!

Clara had a class play this last week as well.  They put on a nursery rhyme themed play and she got to play Little Bo Peep.  I was so proud of her! She really does know how to speak out loud and isn't afraid of getting up in front of people!

Clara also had her last day of first grade this week! Yay for my 2nd grader! She received the highest marks she could in every single category.  I love how hard she works to learn things.

She has been so helpful to have home.  She's been my rockstar with two kids slightly cranky that I have to carry everywhere.  Thanks for being my huge helper and so willing to not have all the attention you may need or want from your parents right now!