July 24th Soren Update

Dear Family,

Wow! It has been way too long since I shared any Soren with you!

We have been very busy. I am continually relieved at what a nice summer this has been. I can’t believe how fast time is flying by.

We have been able to be in swim lessons for most of the month. The city pools were closed for a week, but other than that we have been in the pool almost every day. Soren is getting very confident. I love the lagoon entry pool. He can just walk into the pool and keep going until he is comfortable with the depth. He seldom goes too deep, but his favorite place to be is where the water just touches his chin. Then he can blow bubbles and walk around in the deep water and – aaaaaaah – just cool off. He also loves the kickboards and the diving rings – for a few minutes until I end up carrying them around after him.

Going swimming really wears Soren out, so the rest of the day is pretty easy. We have a pretty set schedule. Soren wakes up about 8 am, when we eat breakfast. Then we watch Curious George while we get ready for swimming lessons. When we get home from swim at 11 am, we eat lunch. Then Soren goes down for a nap until 1 or 2. The afternoon is spent playing or running errands. We can’t miss Soren’s favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba at 2:30! Then we try to get home to make dinner for Erik, who gets home at 5:15pm. Soren is still a night owl, and usually is in bed between 9:30 and 10:30 at night.

My parents and my sister Jenny came for a short visit a couple of weeks ago. Jenny was here for a concert (Jonas Brothers) here in Phoenix. It was really fun to be able to spend a little time here with them. It is hot, but we managed to keep them outside most of Saturday anyway! We took Soren to our local park’s splash pad, and then decided to try out Tempe’s bigger splash park. I am sure my family was roasting, but it was great to get Soren out. Hopefully they will come again when the weather is nicer.

Jared, Rachelle and Brent are back with us this week. It has been fun, but hard. The boys don’t get along very well yet, so they have to be supervised at every moment. I think it is good for both of them to be around another kid, but the mommies are exhausted!

Rachelle and I have our big “Gourmet Group” debut this Friday. There is a women’s club in my neighborhood that meets once a month for a dinner party at one of the member’s homes. The only catch is that you have to host a party once a year. We are working hard to put on a Caribbean themed evening. It should be fun, but it is definitely a lot of work.

Soren is building his vocabulary. He has started imitating things that I say to him. I have gotten him to say Desitin - “Ge Saw Tee” and Clean Up – “Tee Ap”. He also has a few regular words he uses: Cracker – “Ka Ka”, Drink – “Chee”, Cheese – “Chee”, Chibi – “Chee”, Car – “Kaa” and of course Kitty – “Kiddy” and Shoes – “Shz”. He is really putting things together and can understand most things I tell him to do. All I have to do is ask and he will put a piece of garbage in the trash (unless it is a really fun piece of garbage), put his toys in the bucket, go in his room to get a book, and try to climb in his chair when I tell him it is time to have a snack.

On Sunday, Soren and I head up to Utah for almost two weeks. Then we are driving with my parents to San Diego, where we will meet Erik for my family’s week long reunion. I am so excited to get to share Soren with some of you in person – he is getting to be so much fun!

Sorry I have been offline for so long. Love you all!

Ashley