Rub a dub dub

Its so much fun to have 3 boys in a tub!Like all good things though, it must come to an end!

Our family history....

This last Saturday our Ward had a Primary activity that was an ancestor birthday party. Such a cute idea!!! Each child was suppose to bring a picture of a relative that had passed away and to learn about them and then we were going to celebrate their birthdays. I wanted to teach Caleb about his Grandma Irene (my Dad's Mom). On the way to the activity I'm telling Caleb all about her and how she grew up in Seattle, how Caleb is like her because she was nice to everyone, she loved golf, and she was good at poker. POKER is what stuck out in his mind and he wanted to know all about it. I told him how she was even allowed to play in an all boys group at the Hearthstone.

Here are a few examples of the kids stories that were told right before Caleb (I am not trying to minimize these children's stories, they have some fantastic stories and some real pioneer heritage)....

• My great great great Grandma died and President Lorenzo Snow laid his hands on her head and told her to come back to life and she did.
• My great great grandpa wanted to add onto his house so he saved his money really hard and when he finally had $600 the Prophet asked for $600 to finish the temple and he gave them his $600.
• My great great great Grandpa (mumble mumble) Heber C Kimball (for those who don't know he was a very important member of our church in the beginning). The leader clarified for us, Oh he was baptised by Heber C Kimball. Child: No, he baptised Heber C Kimball!

Caleb's big turn: "this is my grandma Irene, she was good at poker!"

(Might I add that Ive never been prouder of my family history either, I just thought the juxtaposition of the stories was a bit hilarious!)

WARNING: Mammas going to be braggin'

Today was our dentist apts and they took me in first while John was in the waiting room with the kiddos. As I'm getting my teeth cleaned I hear Caleb be brought back in the room next to me. Hes asking all sorts of great questions and when she asked him to do anything he would say, "Sure, you bet." To top it off when they are doing his x-rays (which even I hate) I hear him say, "this is the best place ever, I love it here!"

Caleb is the boy that always sees the glass overflowing....even if its empty.

I thought for sure they weren't going to to Davis because hes not even 3. But sure enough they asked him to get in the chair and up he hopped right up. He opened and let them clean every part of his mouth. He loved closing his mouth on the suction and letting it suck all the water out and would giggle at that. After she would clean a section he would sit up and grin. She would say lay back down and he would just drop back and open.

Seriously made my heart melt for my kiddos. They may fight and they may drive me crazy at times but they both are really GrEaT kiddos!

As for Baby Beckham he just sat in his seat smiling. Hes starting to laugh and it cracks us up. His little personality is start to show and I'm happy to report that hes just as happy as his big brothers.

Now for the not so braggy news....
Cavity count

• Lisa- 0
• John- 0 (a miracle, John thinks this might be the first time hes ever heard that)
  
• Davis- 0
• Caleb- 3!!!!

The only silver lining is that we cant wait to see our happy boy on laughing gas! I will be sure to take the video camera! But Mom and Dad are going to start helping him brush again even if he thinks hes big enough to do it himself!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime...

(because yes, it is mostly summertime here in St George)

Have a lemonade stand of course...
Get a little discouraged when there is no traffic... eat a lot of cookies and drink some lemonade yourself...Wave like a manic when there is a car and yell, "Lemonade and cookies"...But mostly just end up playing in the gutter!

(Caleb and Payton both make $5 each!)

PS. for just a little funny though, we made sure that Dads knew their business was requested. John drives a big old "Sunroc" truck so when Caleb saw it turn the corner he was freaking out yelling, "lemonade and cookies." John drove right by didn't even look and you should have seen Caleb's face. I wish I had the camera for it because it was priceless. His face fell and he looked at us and asked, "was that my Dad?" in a shocked voice. Dad made sure to make amends and buy lots of cookies and lemonade though!

Beckhams Blessing Day

Beckham Lewis was blessed and given his name on Easter Sunday by my Dad. John was gracious enough to give him that opportunity since my Dad never blessed any of us since he wasn't a member of the Church back then. It was extra special too because Beckham is named after my Dad's Dad. He gave a wonderful blessing and there was just a very wonderful spirit in the room with all of our wonderful family who came to be there with us. Johns Grandparents came up from San Diego, His sister Karey's family came down from Seattle, and their good friend Sue came from Long Beach. Proud Mom and DadHandsome BrothersProud Grandma and Grandpa with all their GrandkidsProud Great Grandma and Grandpa

PS. I didn't want to lump this in with the rest of our Vacation so see the last post if you are just DYING to know about the rest of our trip :)

Vacation Recap Complete

Friday:

• John and I got to go to CA adventures without the kiddos for a few hours thanks to our friends who gave us their Twofers and eat at the winery where we have wanted to eat forever. We got to ride on the new Toy Story Mania ride and then we did Screaming twice...I did Screaming a third time because we had fast passes for it but someone couldn't stomach it...Johns getting old! :)
  
• All of our family came into town and the kids dyed Easter eggs

Saturday:

• Kids had an Easter egg hunt
• Went to the Park where the kids got to play...so did the Dads
• All of my extended family on my Moms side came over for an early Easter dinner and an Adult Easter egg hunt. John and I made out with $53, 6 golf balls, and 2 pocket knives with Unocal on them (you could definitely tell which eggs my Dad stuffed). It was super fun!!!

Stay tuned...

Vacation recap to continue when we get over being
Sick
Sick
Sick

Updated: Just got back from the Dr and in Dr Marsdens words...
"Holy Crap!"

Calebs ear infections are the worst hes seen all winter, and Davis has one to match.
The good news is that Caleb has a cough! For us that's huge because Ive been noticing that he seems to be growing out of his asthma and this is the first time hes ever had a cold where the cough was not from breathing problems!
Yea
Yea
Yea

Vacation recap Day 2

Sea World!

We were able to go down to Sea World and meet up with Johns Grandparents and Mike, Karey, and their kiddos. I hadn't been to Sea World in a long time and I was really impressed! They have done a lot in the last 10 years. The Shamu show was very impressive and our boys were just riveted! I thought Davis would be squirmy but he was enthralled with the whales.We were at the ray pool right at feeding time so we actually got to touch them.The tide pool was fun for them to be able to stick their hands in and hold them. Davis was struggling with the "soft" concept but Caleb was a pro.Beckham spent the day just chilling as usual!Right as we were about to leave the Elmo show started and the kids were so excited! Even Davis who was really worn out was waving to them.Caleb and Zachary had no problems posing "goofy" for the cameraThanks for such a fun day Grandpa and Grandma!

Vacation recap Day 1

Caleb went to Disneyland with Grandma because he turned 5 this year. Its something she does with each of the Grand kids. Every boy should be able to go to Disneyland with Grandma and get to eat anything their little heart desires and I mean anything. Here is what Caleb consumed...

• Chicken
• Bread
• Cheetos
• ice cream
• churro
• sucker
• popcorn

Plus Grandma buys him the souvenirs that Mom always says no to. Like the big balloons. Because if Mom is going to spend THAT much money on something, it better last. See what I mean, every boy should be able to have one day where Mom isn't there to do the "logical" or "sensible" thing.

He had a great time and Grandma was a trooper and even went on Star Tours, twice with him. And of course being the sweet Caleb that he is, he even got Grandma to bring home a balloon for Davis.

Look what I got in my Easter Basket....

And how cute is this little lady! This is Savannah, Beckhams cousin. They were born on the same day and shes so adorable!Best buddies!

Vacation recap will start tomorrow!

Dr Nicola Longo

Today was our apt with the States geneticist specialists and I was expecting to hear, no worries. Here is what was explained to me that I didn't know before:

• One of us passed a full 100% PKU gene, one of us passed an abnormal gene. With PKU the second gene can be 95% bad but that 5% normal keeps it at hyperphe, not PKU.
• Most often siblings have the same amount of PHE in their blood and with Beckhams being at 130-150 they thought Davis' would be the same.
• At 300 PHE in your blood you have to start the special diet to get it below 300
  
• Between 360-500 PHE in your blood you can start to develop things like ADD and learning disabilities.
• You have more PHE in your blood when you are sick because your body burns your muscle and that is like eating a lot of steak.
• Both of them have a full PKU gene without a doubt, so there is a chance that if they marry the 1 out of every 50 people who have a PKU recessive gene they have a 1/4 chance at having a child with full PKU. Caleb also has that same chance since he can have 1 PKU gene and 1 normal.
  

So the apt was casual with a lot of you have nothing to worry about UNTIL...they got Davis' results which are at 271. Yikes! So Beckham has only been tested so far on breast milk which is low in protein. Most likely Beckhams numbers will eventually be about where Davis' are which are pretty close to the special diet. They are going to monitor them closer now. Beckham will be tested again now and at 1 year old and Davis has to be tested at the beginning of each new year. Dr Longo also wants us to bring them back to him in 2 years to have them evaluated. This also means that we do have to monitor their diets partially. Both Beckham and Davis can not have any artificial sweeteners because they have high levels of the phenylalanine in them, in fact its 50% of the artificial sweetener. So no:

• Sugar free gum (trident, extra, orbit)
  
• diet sodas
• sugar free candy
• crystal light
• equal

Poor kids will always have to go with real sugar :) They also cant ever have protein shakes and they recommend that we eat a couple of vegetarian meals a week and not eating a ton of meat as a family.

Still very, very, lucky that they are not on the full blown diet but we are on the border so we will have to be much more cautious than I thought to keep them off the diet and from developing any learning disabilities as time goes on.

I find this all so interesting how genetics work!

We had a good time in CA...pics to come soon when I feel better. Glad I wasnt sick on vacation!

GrOsS #2!!!!

So poor Caleb. Tonight we went to a fun Easter BBQ with some friends of ours and we did the whole egg hunt and as we were on the way home I told Caleb not to eat any of his candy until Mom checked it.

Well all of a sudden he says in a very desperate voice, "Mom, I'm going to throw up." I zipped to the side got him out of the car and as start asking him if he ate candy. He said yes and I exasperated say, "Caleb I told you not to! You have to be careful buddy this is serious, peanuts can make you die."
Poor Caleb looked up at me and said, "Mom, can I drink some water so I wont die."

Had to explain that he wasn't actually dying right now but that he can.

So after kissing bugars (see previous post) I now have 3 loads of laundry waiting to be loaded (that's what happens when you have bunk beds and someone throws up off the top bunk to the bottom bunk-you get to wash ALL of the bedding) And hes still going.
We have a pretty efficient system now!

GrOsS!!!!

Davis came up to me holding his finger out and whining.
Instinctively I bent over and kissed it better.
He looked up at me and said, "no mommy, bugar"

Yuck
Yuck
Yuck

Anticipation-Updated

• Movie night: Swiss Family Robinson
• Dinner: homemade pizza and pina coladas
  
• Location: fort under construction in our living room
  

So much fun and the movie was just as good as I remember it. The kiddos even got to sleep in the fort!