Getting Crafty

At a past Relief Society activity, we had a craft night and had the opportunity to make several different decorations. I chose to make some jewelry and a Family Home Evening board. The jewelery-making was a lot of fun, and much simpler than I expected it to be. I'm excited to have an FHE board. I thought all turned out well although I do regret using stamps to put our names on the FHE board rather than doing it freehand. Maybe one day I'll paint over it and re-do our names.

Why We Shouldn't Live in Texas

We have discovered a big reason why we should not live in Texas...fire ants. No one likes the itchy bites, but apparently Caleb is extremely allergic and puffs up like a balloon wherever he is bit. We've had two incidents thus far. First time he managed to get a bite on his upper left thigh. It got so swollen and infected that Caleb limped around for a few days, and one day I had to carry him around like an invalid as he wouldn't put any weight on his leg. Stupidly, Matt and I decided to treat it ourselves with some Benadryl, Neosporin, and eventually by relieving the pressure (i.e. popping it). This all worked, but it took upwards of a week for it to get better, and in the meantime we had miserable days and nights.

After playing in the park last week, Caleb somehow ended up with 3 ant bites on his hand. I immediately treated them with Hydrocortisone cream all day, but by the next morning his hand was swollen to twice the size it normally is. Again he coddled it and would not use his right hand for anything. Learning from the last experience, I scheduled a doctor's appointment right away rather than have another week plus of misery. In addition to Benadryl, he was prescribed an oral medication and an ointment. The swelling went down in two days, and it all healed much more quickly this time. Before we started his medicine, his ant bites turned into huge blisters about the size of a Skittle. The picture below was taken after the medication started and the swelling had already begun to recede. If only I would have thought to take a picture the previous day to really show just how poofy Caleb's hand got! Caleb was very protective of his hand and wouldn't let me take pictures of it, so this is the one picture I got, and it is very blurry. Poor kid! Maybe he won't be as allergic as he gets older...?

Bowling

Caleb joined Matt and I on a bowling double date because we couldn't find a sitter. He did really well and even got to bowl a few frames!

Watch This!

He's a Keeper

Caleb's 2 year pictures

Boys Will Be Boys

We've been experiencing quite a bit of rain this week. The previous week, Caleb had done some swimming in our backyard in the baby pool, and I hadn't put it away yet. The pool filled up about halfway from the rain on Wednesday, and after dinner, the boys wanted to go outside and play as they had been stuck inside all day. (My siblings and I eat dinner together 3 times a week and take turns cooking once a week.) The boys were enjoying going down the slide and ended up with wet tummies and pants. Eventually Caleb wandered over to the baby pool filled with water and started playing with a ball...throwing it in the water to make a splash. My brother-in-law and I joked about how funny it would be if the boys actually jumped in with their clothes on. I told him I didn't think Caleb would do that, when out of no where, Dallin makes a bee-line from the fence and jumps tummy first into the water--shoes and all. Of course Caleb joined in the "fun" soon after.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Probably the most exciting times in Caleb's day is when he hears either the ice cream truck or the garbage truck in our neighborhood. A big smile hits his face, then he grabs your hand pulling you towards the door and says, "Come on, come on." He doesn't even know the real excitement of the ice cream truck...the fact that it has yummy (over-priced) ice cream. He just knows that it plays cool music and loves to follow it around the neighborhood. The poor driver can't ever figure out if we actually want to purchase anything or not.

I'm still trying to figure out what Caleb finds so exciting about the garbage truck. We have to go outside and watch it go all the way down our street before he's content to get out of the hot sun and go inside again.