Balch Family Blog

He wasn’t missing for very long, but it doesn’t take very long to do this:

It could have been worse!

I returned to work today. It was a chaotic morning. I am scheduled to work on Mon, Wed and Thurs (1/2 day). I had to go in today because it was our start date on our contract. Time went by so quickly that I had to leave my desk a mess in order to get home in enough time for Mark to go to work. I have all day tomorrow without any meetings scheduled, so that should be good.

Carsten went to see the audiologist today as a follow up from his visit in April. Today he was able to complete tasks that he couldn’t do 3 months ago. He did great with everything! I also thought I would mention that the 2 word combinations are emerging more often! It is exciting to see him progress!

Whew! What a busy day! We tried to go to Tempe Beach Splash Park this morning only to find it still closed. The news had said it was to reopen yesterday, but I guess that didn’t happen. (I just read an article dated today saying that tomorrow is the earliest it will open. Too bad we didn’t check this morning.) So we went to another that was nearby. Not nearly as big or nice, quite dirty in some areas and the 10-12 bees I saw sent us away after about 15 min of play time. We decided to head over to a Chandler park that we have been to several times, it was much better! Then it was home for lunch and a nap before speech came. Therapy was fine. It is difficult because Camden really dominants the sessions and so I look forward to seeing how Carsten does when Camden is at school. We played a game of ARGH! for a few minutes and now the boys are playing with play dough. I will be making a pizza in a bit for dinner and then I think we might have an early bedtime. I am beat!

Carsten used to be a great sleeper. We would do our routine and he would put himself to sleep. Since moving the big boy bed in things have gotten progressively more difficult when it is nap/bed time. He cries and gets out of bed (10-20 times each night). Last night I was done and said he was going back to his little bed (crib). He fussed for a minute and they I gave him kisses and walked out the door. He is still asleep at 6:45am. He would have normally been up by now. I almost had Mark dismantle the crib this weekend. I am so glad he didn’t. We might use it from time to time. I am not in a hurry to get him out of the crib, the big bed was just a great opportunity we couldn’t let pass us up. We will take each day as it comes and he will sleep where he sleeps!

We went to a local splash park today. It was very hot so the water felt good. The boys love the spray pads, and it is much easier to do that rather then swim. With neither of them actually swimming it puts a lot of pressure on just one person. While there a daycare came with about 10-12 kids (about 5-6 yrs old). The kids came charging over and took control of the park. That was a bit annoying but the part that really bothered me was the fact that the teachers (19 yr olds) sat more than 150 feet away just talking to each other. I actually called the company but had to leave a message.

This afternoon I am going to go to my office and let the boys play while I get some organizational things done. It is hard to believe that I am back to work in less than 2 weeks!

There is a very cute new Dairy Queen commercial on that has influenced Camden. In the commercial, the dad comes home and his daughter has made a Dairy Queen in their living room. She is able to produce a Blizzard and a Hot Dog and charges her dad real money for them. The dad later discovers that the mom has gone to DQ and picked up his favorites. When he returns to collect his money he finds the store is closed (complete with a closed sign taped to the pillow.

Instantly Camden wanted to create his own restaurant. Pizza Everything (which he named) was born!

Here are some pictures of the fun!

We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks yesterday. Both boys really enjoyed it. We took a friend from church and met cousins Nathan and Lauren there too. Our big group took up almost an entire row. We had our first monsoon last night that actually brought rain, lightening and thunder. It was very nice and really dropped our high temperatures to below 100º. Tomorrow, the boys and I are meeting my mom in Casa Grande to do some back to school shopping. Camden starts school 3 weeks from Monday. We are excited and nervous!

On Sat the Reed’s gave us Lauren’s old bed. She had hardly used it because it was difficult for her to sleep on since it was firm. They got her a softer mattress and sent the other full size home with us. On Sunday I put sheets and a quilt on it. Sunday night Carsten refused to go in his crib. He slept in the big bed all night. He did great! I checked on him a bunch just to make sure. This morning he laid in bed and called me. I am sure that won’t last long. We are very proud of him! I don’t have a baby anymore! 🙁