We went to Target and got our family pictures and Isaac's blessing pictures taken. They turned out really cute. It was the first time we got pictures of the boys together. Max usually wouldn't even get close to Isaac. He still wasn't that happy that day so he didn't smile much, but they are still cute.
Things have been crazy around here the last few weeks. Ben has been studying a lot and is final finished with this semester of school. It is so nice to have a husband again. Now Ben is working a lot so he can go to school in the summer.
Today was Max's birthday. I can't believe he is already two and at the same time it seems like he should be older than that. Probably because he is just so big! We took him and Isaac to the doctor on Monday and Max was in the 140 percentile for his height! He wears 3T and 4T clothes! The doctor was also very impressed that Max knew all his colors, letters, and can count to 10. He is also suppose to have a vocabulary of 25 words. His vocabulary is more like 150 words and
counting.
For Max's birthday we went to the zoo. He LOVED it! He wanted to see the monkeys. When we first got there, there was a peacock walking around and Max was scared of it. He kept hiding behind the stroller. Then we saw some turkeys and he wanted to look at the birds the whole time. We finally pulled him away from the turkeys and saw the monkeys. After every exhibit with monkeys as we were leaving Max would say "More Monkeys". He also liked the fish. There was a tank with trout in it and he wouldn't leave. He wanted to look at the fish. Finally we got him to go to the park at the zoo. There was a really big slide that he got really excited when he saw. He went to the top and then was scared to go down. He stood at the top and said "Mommy". So I went and helped him go down and that was all it took, he was hooked. He went down the slide for about 20 minutes before he got tired of it. He played around the other toys for a while then went back to the slide. He got really brave and went down head first and went a little fast and fell off the slide. He was fine, it just scared him and he was ready to go. We fed the ducks before we left and he really liked that. I think we are going to have to go to Barnes Park and feed the ducks now.
We had all our family over for dinner for his birthday. We had chicken nuggets (shaped like mickey mouse) and french fries. Max would eat "nugs" for every meal if he could. Every morning I ask him what he wants for breakfast and 9 times out of 10 he says "nugs". He got a lot of fun things. His favorite was 2 matchbox cars that looked like characters from the movie Cars. He LOVES them. He had to go to bed with them tonight. Then we had his puppy cake. He was so excited to have his puppy cake.
Isaac is doing well too. He has gained 14 oz. and grown 2 inches in the last 3 weeks! He is still really little though. The doctor was a little worried that he was a little yellow so we had to go to the hospital and get his levels checked. They were normal so he isn't jaundice. He is starting to sleep a little more during the night. He sleeps for about 4-5 hours. One time it was 6 hours and I was so happy. We are still trying to decide who he looks like. I think he looks like McKay and Tricia. He does make faces that are totally Ben.
Well, we have been really busy getting things ready for the new baby. Finally he came. He was born on Septembe
r 24. We had to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. It took them two hours to get all the paper work done and to get the IV in me and draw some blood. I had to be poked 6 different times before they got it all. Finally they got me started. I was only in labor for 6 hours. When I was dilated to about a 5 Ben said, "Maybe we should get serious about naming him." We were about an hour away from having a baby and he finally got serious! We still couldn't decide on a name though. My mom called to bring some lunch up to Ben and I was only dilated to a 5. When she got the hospital I was a 9 and was ready to deliver the little guy. Once the doctor came in I pushed 1 1/2 times and he was out. He was born at 2:39 p.m. and weighed 6 lbs exactly and was 18 1/2 inches long. He is so teeny.
When he was first born we thought he looked like a Charlie, but the older he got he looked like an Isaac. We went back and forth all night and finally the next morning we finalized it. We named him Isaac Kimball Elder. Max can't say Isaac so we have been calling him Baby Ike. Then we noticed that IKE is his initials as well. We thought that was pretty cool.
Max really likes him. Whenever he starts to cry Max goes to him and says "Baby I
ke K" and he rubs his blanket. He likes to hold him and blow him kisses. He is a very protective older brother. It is really cute. He has also started to like binkies. He never wanted them, but now that Isaac has a binky he thinks he needs one too.
So far Isaac has been a really good baby. He sleeps a lot. He eats pretty good too. It has been nice to have Ben home to help out. He was work off for the next 2 weeks, but still has school in the mornings. It's not too bad because he is home by noon. So far having two kids isn't too bad. I am sure it will get harder when Isaac does more than just sleep and eat, but Max is a really good helper.
Tricia took some really cute pictures of Isaac on Sunday. When she gets them back to me I will post some more. Overall we are doing really good. It is so humbling to have another little spirit in our home. It is amazing how close to Heavenly Father you feel when you have a new baby in your home.
Oh, we will probably bless him in November, but we will let you know for sure.
I know the 4th of July was a little while ago, but I had to get these pictures from my mom. The 4th of July is such a party at our house. It all starts at the Kaysville Parade. This is Ben and Max while we were waiting for the parade to start. The first part of the parade is a normal parade and the people throw candy out. The second part of the parade is a water parade and everyone gets in a HUGE water fight. You can see all the water we had in the street. All those buckets and coolers are FULL of water for the water parade!
Max loved playing in the water! He would swirl his hands in the water and then throw his hands up in the air. You can see all the people in the street. This was the part of the parade that they threw candy.
Here the water parade has started! You can see my mom and dad. Oli has the shirt with the D on it. Ben (my brother) has one of the guns and Ben and I are on the other side of Ben trying to protect Max. My dad made those white water guns. They held tons of water. We had the buckets of water to suck up with the water guns and get the people on the floats.
Everyone with the guns would pick someone to get and then all ambush them. Everyone was soaked by the end!
When I get the pictures back I will write about the fourth, we had tons of fun. I just wanted to tell about how funny Max is. He has been so crabby today. He was throwing things and hitting everything. Welcome to the terrible two's. When I was having him get ready for bed he would only go to bed if he had two cinnamon rolls in his hands. I let him hold them for a little bit while I read him his new favorite book, "There's an animal strike at the zoo, it's true!" (We have to read it every night. He goes and finds it so we can read it.) Then when he was falling asleep I took the cinnamon rolls away. The funny thing is he doesn't even like them.
Max has started talking a lot. Every day he learns a new word. Yesterday we were at my mom's house and he was playing in the driveway. He laid down on his stomach and was looking at some ants. He then pointed to them and said "bugs". Today he was at my mother in laws house and heard the toilet flush and turned to me and said "potty". It is so fun to see how much they learn and how fast they do it. I had him say some of the words today that he can say. It's really funny, he still won't say "Mom". He calls me "da" and Ben "dada". The only time he will say mom is when he is talking about my phone. He LOVES my phone. I ask him to say mom and he won't, but he will say "Mom mone" (Mom's phone). He also has really started to like counting. He loves to line things up, cars, crackers, balls, and then point to them and count them except the only number he knows is 2. He says that over and over and points to things like he is counting them.
Today we moved Tricia down to Provo. She is going to school at Utah Valley University. She got a job at Zion's Bank so she moved down this summer and then will start school in the fall. It was fun to see where she lived and get her all unpacked. She will be up here every weekend for a little while because she is still working at a reception center in Layton.
I had a doctor's appointment this past week. Our baby is doing really well. He now weighs 1 lb 13 oz. Still needs some cooking, but doing well. He moves around a lot. I forgot how weird it was to have your stomach moving all the time. I think the reason you have to space your kids out is so you will forget what it is like to be pregnant. It is weird to think that in three months he will be here though. We still don't have a name picked out. Getting Ben to actually be serious is the problem. He really likes Eli the Comic Book Guy Elder. I don't know about that one.
I know that it has been a while since I last updated. Things have been a little crazy with the end of school and things. I finished teaching at the end of May. It is really weird to be a stay at home mom. Even when I had the summers off I was still thinking about school and getting things ready for the next year. It is strange not having things I HAVE to get done by a certain time. I have been cleaning my house and selling things on Ebay. It has been really fun to be home with Max! The bad thing is he is getting really attached to me. I am starting to worry that when this baby comes he is going to have a really hard time. About two weeks ago we went to the doctor and had our 3D ultrasound. Our baby is doing really good. They even moved up the due date to October 3. We were able to see his little face. It was fun because with Max we only saw his back. He was stubborn even then! So far this pregnancy has gone TONS better than with Max. I haven't been that sick and most the time don't really feel pregnant. It's weird to think we only have three more months until he is born. We still haven't picked out a name yet. Ben is pretty picky. The ones that we have liked so far are: Isaac, Charles (Charly), Eli, and Bryson.
Max is doing really good. He is starting to talk a lot. He still signs a little, but talks more now. He is starting to pick out his own clothes. About a two weeks ago we moved him into his own room in a twin bed. It is the tree bed that I had growing up. I repainted it and it looks so much better. It needed a face lift. Max loves his bed. When it's time to go to bed he climbs in his bed and pulls his covers up and gets all snuggly. It is so cute. He still LOVES balls. Every time we go to the store he has to get a ball. He is getting SO tall. He is 20 months and is wearing 3T clothes!
Ben just got a new calling. He is in the nursery with Max. It is good because Max was having a really hard time being left without us. Ben said that last Sunday Max would take toys away from other kids and then hold it above his head. Because he's so tall, none of the kids could get the toy back. He is such a bully. Ben is still working at Lakeview, but he just got hired with Legacy Staffing. It's a nursing agency. He is picking up shifts at a lot of other hospitals and nursing homes now. It makes his schedule kind of crazy because it isn't consistent. He works a lot of nights so we don't see him very much.
Well, now that I am not working I hope that I will be better at blogging.
On Tuesday we went to the doctor and found out that we are having a boy. The doctor said it is still a 20% chance of having a girl, but I kind of knew it was a boy all along. Ben is really excited. It will be fun for Max to have a little brother. The only problem we have now is picking a name. Boy names have not been our strength, so hopefully we can agree on something.
Well, Max has been particularly active this week. He has managed to fall under our underground tramp. He got all muddy, but he as okay. Then yesterday he got the phone and dialed 911111111111111. I thought because there were so many ones that it wouldn't work, but a few minutes later the police department called and wanted to make sure everything was okay. Let me tell you, I felt like mother of the year. He has now been band from the phone.
We are hoping that Ben's nursing agency will pick up soon. He has sent letters to all the nursing homes from Ogden to Sandy. Hopefully he will get some contracts so he can start hiring people. He is still going to school at the U and it would be really nice having some extra money come in while he is in school.
We now have 6 students enrolled in the preschool. We only need 24 more! We are going to be having an open house in May so hopefully we will get the majority of students signed up then. Other than that things are going really good. I have started packing up my classroom and selling things on Ebay. I didn't realize all the stuff that I have. It is amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 4 years.
We got a new puppy a few months ago and I am happy to report that she is just about house trained. She still has some accidents here and there, but she is doing really good. She is a maltese/pekingese puppy. We named her Tobie.
A lot of my friends have started blogs and I never thought I would, but here I am. It is a fun way to keep in touch with people and see what everyone is up to. I don't know how consistent I will be, but I will try to keep things up to date. So here is what has been happening lately.
BEN- He has been in school this semester. He has about two years until he gets his Bachlers and then it is on to his Masters. He is currently working in the psych ward at Lakeview Hospital and picking up shifts on other floors. He has also started his own nurse staffing agency and is working on getting contracts. He stays really busy.
BROOKE- I am still teaching part time, first grade at South Weber Elementary. I have a really good class this year. My teaching partner is wonderful! I don't know what I would do without her. My mom and I are getting things ready for the preschool we are starting this fall. Check out the website at www.alohalearningpreschool.com. We only have a few students, but hopefully will fill up by fall. I am also expectin
g our second baby. It is due October 7. I am sure he or she will be born in September or so because Max was 3 weeks early. We hopefully will find out what we are having in a week and a half.
