life in general

I just noticed that I haven’t been blogging very much lately. Sure, I post pictures and stuff but life isn’t on here lately. So here’s my life post! ENJOY.

 

 

Enoch – School has become his favorite place. He is learning new things daily and it amazes me how much a child’s mind can soak up. I have been feeling a bit guilty because he is behind in math in his class and he only writes in uppercase letters. That’s all my fault. I never did put Enoch in any type of Pre-school program. I just didn’t feel it was needed and always thought Kindergarten was the starting ground. Boy, was I wrong!  They pretty much expect your kid to be reading and writing by the time they enter Kindergarten. Tell me that isn’t ridiculous? Oh well, I’ll know what to do with Travis now. Other than math and his preference for BIG letters (like his father), he’s doing really well. He enjoys his new friends, he adores his teachers and his favorite “class” is recess. It used to be his resting time but they don’t have rest time anymore.

As far as his bowel clean out we started at the end of August, he’s doing really well. His rectum is slowly, yet surely, shrinking. He’s become more responsive to his body’s needs and has FAR less accidents than before. We went to see his GI on October 3rd for his follow up and she seemed really excited. We keep a “poop log” to track his bowel movements, accidents and meds; what she found in our log was that his rectum is getting smaller, and he most likely will NOT need the bowel management clinic to get him where he needs to be. She also said his stomach felt great, felt like it was supposed to feel instead of full of poo and backed up. I guess he had been constipated for quite some time and that’s why he had multiple accidents a day. Things just weren’t moving along so well. He takes a dose of Myralax when he gets home from school and one Exlax chocolate square at night before bedtime. This is every day that he takes these and it sounds like he’ll be on them for months to come.

He is quickly growing into an independent little person… too quick if you ask me. He is extremely sensitive and I know he gets this from both Joe and I. He’s a soft person unless you get in his way or step on his toes too much. He refuses to be pushed around too much which is a good thing, right? He has his limits. : ) He still adores animals, elephants especially. He is SO excited for the new portion of the zoo to open up. They are expecting 12 new Asian elephants and he’s hoping to get to know each one. His favorite tv show right now is Wild Kratts. It’s the Kratt brothers of Kratt’s Kreachers and Zaboomafoo. He asks me everyday on the way home from school if there’s a new episode on the DVR or not. He wants to be Chris Kratt for Halloween.  Enoch loves his friends, a little too much of you ask me. His feelings get hurt if they don’t play with him at school, he came home the other day asking if we could name our next child after his best girl buddy. He also asked me if it was okay to tell this specific girl buddy that he loved her. I asked him just exactly what kind of love he felt for her, friend or something else? He said he was certain it was just as a friend. He’s SO funny. He loves to roll his eyes at people (from mommy), he’s still very quick to randomly tell me he loves me, he’s quite the momma’s boy, he asks his dad all the time if we’re getting our own house so he can have his own sting ray, he adores his cousins, can’t stand the fact that they don’t LIVE with him, and he loves and enjoys both sets of grandparents. They truly are his best friends. Enoch loves being a big brother but also gets very annoyed with Travis. They play well together but they fight even better together. Enoch also likes to antagonize Travis which he thinks he can get away with…

Travis – Is talking up a STORM. He’s constantly talking, whether its to himself while he’s playing or anyone within ear shot that will respond to him. He repeats absolutely everything like a parrot, to the T, word for word. This is new for us because his older brother spoke his own language until he was 3 years old. Travis loves Transformers and Cars 2. He loves to transform and have you transform his toys. He is our night owl. Enoch goes to bed at 7:30-7:45 every night and Travis will stay up until 10:30-11 pm and its drives me bonkers. : ) He is the sweetest, softest little boy at times but when he doesn’t get his way exactly, or you make him mad, he is a terror. He’s a very determined little person. He is very independent too until it comes to nursery. He’s been nursery age for a year now and still will not stay without me. He gets so upset from crying that he throws up so I dare not leave him. He will however take off by himself at the park, the store, a friend’s house, anywhere really. He’s not so fantastic at sharing… with anyone. I’m hoping this is a phase? He is very smart and really enjoys teasing people. He is a mini Joe for sure.

He’s really enjoyed having the house to himself and all the toys to himself while Enoch is at school. He does his own thing and I do mine, until he needs a new diaper or he’s hungry, then he’ll let me know. : ) He loves to draw on anything, anywhere, anytime. He loves playing ball with his dad, he loves chasing Enoch and screaming at him, and he loves climbing in our bed at 3 AM every morning.

 

Joe – Has finally found a good balance with Church, Work, Family & Sleep. Tuesday & Wednesday’s are his busiest. He does interviews at church on Tuesday nights, then mutual, interviews and basketball are Wednesday nights. Everyone now and then he has a meeting on Thursday nights but I think those only happen quarterly. He is very involved with the youth at church at holds firesides quite often. He’s finally found a good groove. He’s still a supervisor at work and loves his job. Its been interesting at work with him serving as a Bishop and his boss serving as a Bishop. I think there’s a lot more understanding and compassion between the two of them now. Joe sometimes has to miss work for funerals and the like and Brett just understands. Joe tries very hard to spend as much time as possible with us, its taken a toll on him losing so much time with us but we all know understand that this is his calling and it will bless us all and it has, truly. Joe has a great love for all the people in our ward.

Joe has decided he wants to go hunting sometime in the near future. This of course makes me nervous but its something he’s always been interested in. I hope he can find time for this hobby. Hobbies truly are good for us!

Natalie – I have been busy myself. I leave every morning to drive Enoch to school at 7:20 AM, and then I leave to pick him up at 2:30 pm. I’m watching a friend’s little boy 3-4 days a week. He’s about 3 months old and just so much fun. The boys love it when he’s here and he is SUCH a good baby. I’m still in charge of planning the park dates for the mom’s in our ward. I love this and it keeps me in the loop but sometimes I over book myself and forget to get that park date out for the week. Facebook has really helped with that. I’m still hoping to one day start ballet lessons again. The Colorado School of Ballet offers beginner adult ballet a few nights a week and it’s a punch card class so if I missed a class, there would be no make up classes or paying for a class I missed out on. I just need to take the plunge and do it. I severely miss dancing. It was an outlet. Something I could really use right now.

Last week I was diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). If this is too much info, too bad. This is my blog. HAHA. ; ) It is stress related for me. Stress doesn’t cause IBS but it can irritate it. It’s been going on since November 2010. It used to only occur every so often. Now it’s a daily occurrence. I guess I just stress about absolutely every little nonsensical thing and its really taken a toll on my body. My Dr told me to try probiotics, Activia, Mylanta, etc. I’ve also decided to keep a food journal just in case it is food related. That way I can pinpoint what's causing it. I’m cutting out soda and fast food as well. The most stressful time of my day is driving Enoch to school for some reason. He’s even there 25 minutes early every day. I used to try and talk myself down but it never helped. I tried soda, that made it worse. Now I’m listening to hymns every morning and that has calmed me down quite a bit. I asked Joe for a blessing this morning and it has helped tremendously. I’m just hoping to figure out what’s causing this and hoping I can find a way to get over it. I just need to relax! Haha. Easier said than done really. BREATHE…. right?

Family -  We just got our family photos done over Conference weekend and I really cannot wait to see them. Our friend Will took them this year and I’m just so excited. He took our family photos when I was pregnant with Travis and we just loved them. He’s a super talented guy. Thanks Will!!! I’ll post them as soon as I get them! Things are really moving in a positive direction for us lately – debts are getting paid off and we’re hoping a house is coming into view. After 5 1/2 years, you’d think we would be a little more anxious to get out of The Doxey/Stroud house. I think we’ll all go through withdrawals when that day finally comes. Living here, we have really learned SO much. It has been such a huge blessing and I just don’t know how we would have survived if Joe’s family hadn’t opened their home to us. Its been really wonderful being here.

 

Well, I’m going to sign off. My eye balls aren’t working so well. I may post this and then edit it in the morning… Love to all.