Trip to the Zoo!

It seems like it is always a zoo around our house, but when Dustin had a whole day off from class and work and we had free tickets to the zoo we couldn't pass up the chance to see some real animals! So we loaded up our little monkeys and had so much fun at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. The last time we took the boys the zoo was crowded and it was HOT. So we were really excited when we got there and the zoo was almost empty! Just a few families and a school trip from what we saw. We never had to wait in line to see the animals, and it was early enough in the day that most of them were out and about instead of sleeping hidden from the sun. It was fun to watch the boys get so excited every time they saw an animal. Even the chickens that run free through the zoo! Both boys walked the whole zoo, too. They ran together up the long paths and climbed on every. single. rock. I'm serious. Every single one. I probably have the pictures to prove it. 

This is Silas overlooking the elephant exposure. If you look carefully you can see the baby elephant giving us a great picture op of his backside. 

And what seemed to be the boys' favorite part of the zoo - big rocks! Henry tried to bring one home with us, but he couldn't quite figure out how to get it to the car. 

I tried to get a cute brother picture. I really did. But being told to sit down when there was so much to see and so much space to run did not make Silas a happy boy. Henry smiled at least...sort of. 

 The boys were really excited to see the tigers, but although we got a clear look at them through the trees, they were napping so the boys weren't very excited about them. They were, however, incredibly excited about the metal tigers that sat there and did nothing. Don't ask me, I don't understand pre-schooler logic. 

One of my favorite parts of the day was when we sat down for lunch in this little eating area. It was PERFECT weather, and the boys didn't try more than once to throw each other over the railing. 

We also had an AMAZING view of the mountains.

 Silas was "scared" to eat his carrots. But he got over it when he realized he had to eat them to get cookies. 

I was happy to eat my carrots. 

Si became our map reader. He insisted that he was "a great map reader!" Then told us in detail how we should get to the next animal exposure. He did a great job!

 Hogle zoo opened a new area called Rocky Shores that has sea lions, seals, and a polar bear! It was so fun to watch the sea lions play together, although I could never get a shot with them and the boys because they swam away too fast. So I settled for the gorgeous water instead. Henry ran up and down the steps and "bleachers" that went down to the water level. He thought it was really fun to wait until Dustin or I got right up to him and then make a break for it. Little stinker.

Henry very anxious to get out of the stroller after he was imprisoned there for running a VERY LONG way away from Mommy. 

Si HAD to sit on every sculpture in the park!

This is a fun tree play thing that the boys (and Dustin, apparently) couldn't get enough of. 

And I couldn't finish this post without the video of Henry freaking out over the monkeys, so here you go:

New place

We moved into our new apartment last Friday and are so happy to be here! It's a nice big place with 2 BATHROOMS (can you tell we're excited?) and plenty our space for the boys to go wild - which they have in earnest.

Although I've lost my will to unpack even one more box by myself - Dustin started more than full-time school before we moved in - I've rekindled my love of baking to avoid it, so I suppose it evens out. Dustin has an actual weekend this week, Saturday and Sunday off, so perhaps with his moral support (and ability to heft boxes) we'll finally get things pulled together. Silas' bed is still in pieces because we couldn't find the hardware or tools from when we packed. Then when we finally found them we had no time to actually do it together, and trust me, it is a 2-person job. I am VERY motivated to get him in his own bed and bedroom again. Do you know how terrifying it is to wake up to two little bug-eyes just staring at you over the side of the bed? EVERY morning? That's not something you just get used to, man.

One thing we are all very excited about is how close we are to so many little playgrounds and parks. I can walk the boys a half a block down the street and there are 3 playgrounds and a huge field for them to run off all that energy that drives me crazy at home. The only downside is that two of them belong to a school so we can't go play during the day, but late afternoon and evening we are there! We are also just a block away from a Smith's grocery store which is super-convenient. Our area is much more business than residential so it's a big change from where we were in West Jordan, but we are still really excited to be here.

The apartment is also less than a mile from SLCC campus where all of Dustin's classes are so he can walk to and from. Exercise for him and not having to use the car! Not to mention that if I need to go anywhere for groceries or whatever I have a car for half the day until he goes to work, which is AWESOME. He has class every morning from 7-12, Monday through Friday. He is one hard-working man! But it will all be worth it once he gets his degree - hopefully in under a year! He is ecited to be done and start in a field that really interests him and where there is so much diveristy. I'm excited to have a more permanent situation and be able to go back to school myself! :)

I'll get around to taking pictures of the new place and post them here so you all can see the digs.

Teething!

(This is an old one that I forgot to publish when I wrote it)

I thought we were out of the woods for a while with Henry's teething, but it looks like he's cutting some new molars.

Henry had an interesting teething experience. We were worried for a while because he didn't cut his first tooth until he was 11 months old. The little guys was walking before he could chew!  Then it seemed like all at once his teeth decided to come in. He cut all 8 teeth pretty much at the same time. Now he's cutting 2 molars but no canines yet. He is very much a little boy who does things his own way on his own time!!

Updates

So it's been forever since I posted. Dustin is in his last week of school for this semester and has finals on Thursday. We are pretty excited to have him home a little more for the next month. When he is in school full time and working full time we don't get to see much of him! And he is so tired most of the time from his crazy schedule. When he closes the store (about 5 nights/week) he often doesn't get home before midnight and then it takes him an hour or so to wind down and get to bed. But it will be worth it when he graduates!

We are headed to Idaho this weekend for the first annual Beck Family Reunion! :) Dustin parents, brother and sister and their families, and us are starting a tradition of getting together once a year to go camping and have a blast! WE ARE SO STOKED! We get to meet our new nephew, Hyrum, and see Kris's cute baby bump! We have so much fun when we all get together and it's rare that we get to spend more than a day or two in Idaho with the family, so this is a special treat for Dustin, the boys, and I.

Cute little Hyrum! Can't wait to meet him!

Silas is really excited about going camping. He's most excited that he gets his very own flashlight, though. Everytime I mention the camping trip he starts yelling about his flashlight and how he'll be able to see in the dark. What a funny kid!

I am apprehensive about the 4-hour car ride because Henry doesn't travel well. He gets really fussy very quickly and anyone who knows Henry understands what I mean when I say that fussy Henry means bleeding eardrums for the rest of us. So we are planning ahead for this and hopefully we have enough distractions to keep him busy. We bought two of these travel trays from Amazon.com that fit over the boys' seats in the car. This way they can play with toys/eat snacks without us having to pick them up every 5 seconds.

Also, Silas is old enough to put toys and things in the side pockets and get them out himself (thank heavens!!). We also bought a portable DVD player a while ago that plugs into the car. We will be bringing along some fun movies that the kids haven't seen before to hopefully keep them occupied. We also made some "activity bags" for each of them with things like coloring books, crayons, special toys, etc. that will be just for while we're driving. Fingers crossed that this all works because Mommy can't ride in the back with the boys. I get car sick!

We got a surprise about a month ago when we found out we were pregnant! I had been feeling sick for a few weeks and couldn't shake it. I was exhausted all the time and pretty much just felt rotten. One night I cooked steak for Dustin and couldn't eat it because the thought was just too gross. As I was looking at the steak I turned to Dustin and said, "Remember when I was pregnant with Silas and cooking meat made me sick?" The next morning I felt really nauseated and Dustin was teasing me. I got mad at him and told him I felt sick and to just leave me alone. He stopped, looked at me funny, and said, "So you feel sick and the smell of cooking meat makes you want to throw up. You need to go buy a pregnancy test." I said," Shut up. That's not even funny." He was serious, though, and so I ran to the Dollar Store down the road for a test. Turns out he was right! We are prego with baby #3!

After the intial shock when we both sat on the floor and just stared at each other (and yes, maybe cried a little), we got excited. A new baby is always exciting! And now we had a reason for why I had felt SO sick for a month! We are 12 weeks this Saturday, and due on February 16th, which we also found out by accident. 

Two weeks after we found out we were pregnant I went to bed with the worst morning sickness I've ever had. When I woke up the next morning it was even worse and I was in a lot of pain. Throwing up all morning, unable to rest or move or do anything, I knew something was wrong. Generally I'm the kind of person that just suffers through and doesn't go to the doctor. I HATE paying to go to Instacare and have the doctor tell me something I already know. But this time I dealt for about 12 hours and then decided it was time to buckle down and go in. I thought I just needed some anti-nausea meds and some IV fluids to get me better. However, when we went in to see the doctor he ordered some bloodwork. It came back with a white blood cell count of 16.1. He said 10.6 is normal, 13-14 is a concern, 15 is way high and something's wrong. 16.1 meant my body was fighting some serious crud. He pushed on my stomach and my lower right side was very uncomfortable. After that he said that he was pretty certain it was Appendicitis and urged us to go to the Emergency Room immediately. 

I freaked out. I didn't want to pay for an ER visit! (Scrooge Lindsey) Haha, no, the real reason I freaked out was obviously the baby. We rushed to the ER and got checked in and waited for 6 hours. During that time they did an ultrasound to check the appendix (the usual routine is an MRI but because I was pregnant they didn't want to do that). With a normal appendix you can't see it on the ultrasound, but you could definitely see mine. Appendicitis it was! They also checked the baby and told us we were 8 weeks and 4 days along (Much further than we originally thought)!

(I would just like to point out that it is INSANE that something as tiny and insignificant as an appendix can be life-threatening. My infected appendix was only 2 inches long and less and 1/2 inch wide. What the heck?)

After the six hour wait I went into surgery. The surgeon was very upfront with us about the risks to the baby. He told us if we didn't have the surgery and the appendix ruptured we would without a doubt lose the baby. There was a small (2-3%) that complications would happen with the surgery and the baby would be in danger after the surgery, but of course we'd take 2-3% risk over 100% risk anyday. I was under for about an hour and when I woke up I was appendix-free! Thank-goodness that the doctor at Instacare caught the problem (it's not easy to identify appendicitis, especially in pregnant women. If he hadn't caught it, the appendix would have ruptured) and the surgeon was able to complete the surgery laparascopically. I'm so grateful they didn't have to fully open me up! Recovery was hard enough with just three little holes.

We had so much help from friends and family after the surgery. Ben and Em took the kids for 4 nights total which saved our lives, Yvette and Manuel watched them for over 10 hours the day I was in the hospital, Dustin's parents drove down from Idaho and stayed the weekend to watch the boys, clean the house, go shopping, etc. Lisa stayed one night and cleaned the house and fixed the washer and dryer, which was amazing! My cousins and neighbors watched kids and brought meals in, my aunt and uncle let us borrow a cell phone while we were in the hospital and Uncle Gary helped Dustin give me a blessing before the surgery, and my parents helped with groceries and diapers and prayers from afar. We were surrounded with love and service! I was so grateful and amazed at what everyone did. I know that it was because of those things that I was able to heal so quickly. After about 8 days I was feeling no pain at all. Unfortunately the morning sickness came back after that, but I was able to get some Rx anti-nausea meds, and after they ran out I have been using Unisom and natural remedies to stay functional. Hopefully after the next couple of weeks the morning sickness with taper off!

Due to all the drama and upset with this pregnancy, Dustin is convinced that this little one is a girl - I guess we'll see! Whatever it is, I get to name this one because Dustin named Henry (against my wishes). :) It's my turn!!!

A few videos from Henry's Birthday

Forever!

Wow, has it really been 4 months since I posted?! Can't believe it!

We spent Christmas in Idaho with Dustin's family, Dustin spent the whole week in Idaho Falls working at the opening of the Chick-fil-A there. What a blessing to have Chick-fil-A cover the expenses of getting there and back, but it was hard to do a working-vacation! Dustin is a trooper - he worked so hard! 

It was great to be able to see all of Dustin's family! Every year on Christmas Eve the Beck's have a party and exchange gifts and eat massive amounts of food! :) Henry was not shy at all and decided he wanted to meet everyone! His favorite person was Uncle Corey, though. He went right up to him and put his arms up to be held! Corey let Henry wear his hat, which is a big deal. 

Here are the boys opening presents with Uncle Jason and Aunt Kris. Unfortunately we didn't get to see Jake and Tiff for very long because they left the day we came, but it was good to see them in passing! 

Everytime we visit Idaho it always seems like we have to leave too soon. But we look forward that much more to our visits!

In January we celebrated Henry's 1st birthday! We had a very small party with Grandma-O and dined on cake and ice cream. Here is Henry with his presents from Gram. She also brought helium balloons for the boys which they played with for HOURS! :) Silas still talks about his smiley face balloon. 

Henry LOVED his cake but it was so sweet it gave him a tummy ache that night, poor little man! 

So my last post was about Si's "Potty Party." We were so excited to get him potty-trained, but it didn't work. Si just has a mind of his own and refused to be trained. So we kind of decided to just let it rest until after his 3rd birthday. Lo and Behold a few weeks ago Si took a bath with Daddy and afterwards was just running around the house naked because we hadn't put a diaper on him yet. All of a sudden he stopped playing, looked at Dustin and said, "I need to go potty in the toilet." Then he ran straight to the bathroom, lifted the lid to the toilet and peed right in it (with perfect aim, I might add!)! We were shocked! So we've been letting him go naked at home a lot and he is slowly training himself to use the big boy potty. Today he used the potty all afternoon and evening! SO EXCITING! We're going to try no diaper in bed tonight and see how that goes - wish us luck!

Potty Party!

We felt like it was a good time to try potty training Silas again. Originally I was reluctant to try again because we are probably going to be spending a couple of weeks in Idaho over Christmas and I thought Silas was going to relapse even if we got him trained. But then I realized I wasn't putting much confidence in myself or in Silas! We thought about it and decided to try a little different approach. 

To start off the new era, we threw a "potty party" for Silas. We had cake and decorations, and Si got to open a special "potty present" - a new toy that he gets to play with while he is going potty! He was SO excited for his party.

This is the centerpiece I made and the cake we bought for the party. (I really was going to make cupcakes, but it was a long day and this looked SOOO good!)

Mommy and Silas the Potty King at his Potty Party.

Silas REALLY enjoyed his cake!

 He was SO excited about his present! It was a Transformers toy that goes from a Truck to Optimus Prime with one button. Dustin was excited about the toy, too, but I told him it was for Silas.

Silas doesn't get a treat for going potty (like we tried last time), but now he gets to play with his special toy while he is going potty and if he goes potty in the toilet he gets to wear his potty crown because he is the king! (He LOVES his crown I made for the party).

Here is Daddy and Silas at Si's party, and you can see all the decorations.

Last night was really great! Si went to bed with his underwear on and only peed a little in bed (I think when his body relaxed he just peed a tiny bit). We woke him up before we went to bed (about 11:30) to go potty and he did, and then he didn't have an accident the rest of the night! Woo-hoo!