It's Been Far Too Long...

It has been far too long since my last posting. I wish I could say it was because we have been far away on an all-expense paid exotic vacation. However, that is not the case. In fact... far from it. We have been sticking close to home. Here are some updates from the last month or so:

Creighton

He loves this summertime weather and enjoys going outside to play on his swingset. He is like his mommy though and during the heat of the afternoon he likes to be inside! It has been in the upper 90's many many times this summer and I have tried to get Creighton to play in the sprinkler but he would rather squirt his mom than cool himself off. We did head to the Lava swimming pool with the entire Chambers family several weeks ago and he really like swimming. For about 30 minutes. Then he was done.

(Creighton and cousins Eliza and Jarah just before heading to Lava)

He has been growing a lot this summer. In fact it's time to take a trip to the outlet malls because he is due for a new wardrobe. His growth is a consequence of his obsession with chicken nuggets. In fact he will wake up in the morning requesting them for breakfast or as he is waking up from his nap he will say in a groggy voice, "Chicken Nuggets? French fries?" He has also been introduced to donuts recently. On a few early morning grocery trips we have stopped at the bakery to pick up Creighton a donut for breakfast and now he expects one on every trip. 

(You can see why I am not good at creating a house of pillows. It takes a degree in architecture... it is an extremely complicated structure...)

He continues to play with the couch pillows as I have posted about before. It drives his dad looney because he feels like he constantly has to be picking them up. It was Cason though who taught Creighton to stack the pillows tall and then knock them over. Creighton says, "Mommy, build house?" But he has learned mommy isn't good at building a house out of pillows like daddy is. Mine caves in immediately. 

Of course he continues to get in his fair share of accidents. A week ago he was playing on the treadmill and to Cason's and my surprise he figured out how to turn it on. Of course he was catapulted backwards into the wall but not before the treadmill belt ate a piece of his hand, elbow, and chest. Poor little guy. He keeps replaying the story to anybody that will listen. He says, "Push buttons. Ouchy. Sorry mommy. Ouchy." He also came to a doctor appointment with me a couple of weeks ago and as he was climbing into a chair he fell and smacked his eye which immediately turned black and blue. He is a daredevil and unfortunately not too lucky when it comes to avoiding accidents.

He is turning into such a polite little boy. He says "thanks" a whole bunch and "sorry" even more. He says them a lot in situations where it doesn't really make sense. But I'm certainly not going to tell him not to say those words. So we just say "you're welcome" and "it's ok" and continue on. He has learned that the word "please" will often get him what he wants. Well, he really thinks that it will ALWAYS get him what he wants. For example, we were at a restaurant and he wanted to play with the salt shaker. We told him no and put it out of his reach and he said, "please?" We still (obviously) wouldn't let him play with it so he started screaming, "please! please! please!" A woman in a booth behind us thought it was hysterical and totally sided with Creighton and suggested that since he said please that we give it to him. Clearly she has never seen the destruction Creighton can cause with a salt shaker in just a few seconds.   

Not only is he polite but loving and caring. He is constantly giving kisses. If he sees a freckle on my arm he thinks I have an "ouchy" and insists on kissing it and saying, "Mommy has an ouchy. Mommy sick?" Creighton has seen me with an upset tummy a few times and he likes to ask me if I am sick and if I need a bowl. He wants mommy to have her sick bowl.

His vocabulary continues to increase and I just love to hear what he has to say. He comes up with some pretty funny stuff. And I swear that if you tell him something once he will remember it. He loves to read books and asks what every single thing is and then he remembers for next time. Cason will say, "Did you know that he knows the word octopus?" (or any other difficult word...)

Creighton spends a couple of days a week with his grandma and grandpa Wilde while I am at work and Cason sleeps. He loves it there and hates when it is time to go home. They have a park very close to their house and go almost every time he visits. They also jump on the trampoline and eat yummy food (like chips- which we don't usually have at home...) He loves that he gets to spend time with his Aunt Sidnie also. He talks about her a lot when he is home. On July 4th we invited Sidnie over for pancakes from scratch for breakfast and Creighton hasn't forgotten and will frequently ask when Sidnie is coming over for "pan-pakes" again.

Creighton loves to go to his nursery class on Sundays. Just yesterday we were awake when Cason was getting ready for his church meetings and Creighton was just begging to go to church with daddy. He hated having to wait a few hours. His teachers tell me he doesn't sit still well for the lesson... but I'm not surprised at all. He's 2. And it's difficult to have a 2 year old sit in a room for a lesson when he is surrounded by toys he was just playing with for the last 30 minutes! And sometimes they tell me he's not so good at sharing... Again, not surprised since he doesn't have to share much at home. But I've been trying to ask his teachers how his behavior is so I know what we need to work on at home. One of his teachers, a new one, said, "Oh he's just a gem!" I said, "Well, I know he can sometimes be a handful." She said, "Oh, I've got a grandson like him. I think he's just AMBITIOUS!" hehehe. I had a chuckle about that one. But I suppose it is a good word for Creighton and quite kind considering maybe a word someone else might have used.

He is SUCH a helper in the kitchen. He always thinks that we are making cookies. But that's ok because he never seems to be disappointed in the end when it is something else! Today we made banana bread. We also made a mess. It can be quite difficult to cook or bake with a toddler but it is worth it to me because he loves it so much. He loves to pull his chair over to the counter and help mix or pour. A few days ago we made some Orange Sesame Beef and I let him mutilate an orange I had squeezed juice out of so that he would be pre-occupied while I was handling raw meat, a hot burner, attempting to make vegetables and rice at the same time... He was in heaven. He really did mutilate that orange and loved every second.

I love my Creighton so much.

Cason

Overall we love his new work schedule. We will see when school rolls around in a few weeks though. It will get more difficult I am sure. But right now we love having him home in the evenings. Sometimes it is difficult because if we are just sitting around watching TV I think, "We should be doing something!!" Because in the past it has been rare to have evenings together. With his graveyard shift he has been getting in a lot of recreational reading and last night finished all 3 Hunger Games books. It only took him 4 nights! This shift has really messed with his eating habits. He is only eating on average of 1 meal a day because he says he's just not hungry. Note to self: graveyard shift=diet. (at least for Cason...)

Cason usually gets his hair cut every 4-6 weeks. He is particular about the length and style and his hair seems to grow so quickly! Lucky guy! Well mid-May he got his haircut and it was TERRIBLE. In fact I started to cry... (blame it on the raging hormones...) He was unhappy but he always has such a great attitude about everything and said, "It'll grow back." In fact the inmates had a good laugh at his expense and one of them said, "Hey, Mr. Chambers, did you go to the haircutting school to have your hair cut?" Then a few weeks later one of the lieutenants came to Cason's unit and an inmate said to him, "I like your haircut." The lieutenant said, "Thank you." And then the inmate said, "Did Mr. Chambers refer you to the girl that did his?" Cason and the lieutenant both chuckled at that because it WAS pretty funny... Well, over 2 months later Cason has STILL not gotten another haircut because it is still growing out. It is about time though. I told him when he goes back to tell the hairstylist that his pregnant wife is extremely hormonal and if he comes home with another bad haircut she might have a nervous breakdown.

Katie Jo and Baby Chambers

I returned home from Young Women girls camp a few days ago and happily I was still in one piece. Being the camp director is a stressful calling for me. Before I left, Cason said, "Try to have a good time!" And I did have a great time. I knew I would. It's just a lot of planning and organizing and a lot of time spent the few days before shopping for food/supplies and preparing equipment... you wonder if it could possibly be worth it. But it is. The girls have a great time. And I get to go with some really great girls. One cool thing at camp was we hiked into Bloomington Lake and some of the girls swung off a rope swing into the freezing water. Brrr!!! They were so brave and extremely proud of themselves. We also had some AWESOME dutch oven food. I feel like the dutch oven master now. We had great weather also. Not too hot and a few moments of rain drizzle to cool us off. Our campsite was beautiful and we saw a lot of birds and squirrels and even owls. I was really worried about getting sick at camp and while I had a few moments of, "I need to sit down...right now..." I did just great! Except the morning we were packing up I started waddling like I was 8 months pregnant. I think my back had had enough of outdoor tent sleeping.

I have been hardly working this summer. The dentist I work for has been taking off a lot of time for vacation. I love being home, but the paychecks are so sad... It will be nice to start working 2 days a week consistently again. I don't just work because I love it. I work for the money :)

Still the pregnancy is going overall great. Remembering back to Creighton's has helped me keep perspective and I realize I could be much more miserable so I try not to complain.  I think of so many of my good friends and family members who can't have their own children and count my blessings that I can. Because I can't imagine the heartache. Lately though I have been getting light-headed a lot and my back is already killing me. Soon we will have the ultrasound to find out if baby is a boy or a girl! I do think it is a girl because the pregnancies have been so different. But if it's a boy I'll be excited to pull out all of Creighton's cute baby clothes. They are too adorable to stay hidden away in totes! We already have names picked out for either gender. Today I even felt the baby move! I am only 17 weeks, but now I recognize what the baby movements are. I didn't feel Creighton until 20 weeks. But when I finally did I realized I had been feeling him for a while I just didn't know it. It's kind of like a butterfly in your belly...

Creighton got the stomach flu about 3 weeks ago and had it for 5 days. No fun. Then I caught it on a Sunday night. It hit me fast and hard. I got dehydrated really quickly. I couldn't keep a thing down. Lucky for me (I guess you could say...) I had an OB appointment the next day and I called my mom and her and Dennis dragged me and Creighton to the doctor. My doctor immediately recommended I get some IV fluids and anti-nausea medication in me and sent me down to IV therapy in the hospital. As soon as they hooked me up I felt better. And I was so grateful. With camp preparations to complete and work the next day I needed to be 100%. But almost right after I got off the IV I started feeling pretty terrible again. My body was so sore. I could hardly lift my arms. I felt like I was freezing and yet I had a temperature. I was so tired and couldn't sleep. I HAD TO BE BETTER so I asked Cason and Dennis for a priesthood blessing. Truly a miracle occured because the next morning I was feeling awesome and was able to go to work. It really was the power of the priesthood that healed me. I was far too sick to have gotten better that quickly by any other way.

Well, just a "little" :) of what we've been up to and how our family is doing!