Gigglebug

When Zachary was born, we seemed to immediately have multiple nicknames for him - some stuck, and some didn't of course. When Kaleb came along, we didn't immediately have a nickname that seemed to fit - but Amy has decided this week that her nickname for him is going to be Gigglebug. Kaleb has always been very laughy - and this week was no exception. We were eating supper early on in the week, and Amy started to tease Karis about something, and laughed - before we knew it, Kaleb had begun to laugh non-stop - and soon the whole family was joining in just laughing at Kaleb! :) Ah, if you could only capture the sound of their laughter in a bottle, we'd be rich!
Zachary's tongue continues to heal - he had quite a lisp the week that it happened, but that appears to have corrected itself thankfully. He finished his swimming lessons this week - we'll probably wait for a while before putting him back into swimming lessons - he refuses to get into the water unless Karis changes and gets into the water as well - even though Karis is only sitting on the stairs at the side of the pool.

We leave on our Europe vacation on August 13th, so we've got less than 2 weeks before we head out! We've been trying to get everything ready to go, and finalize our trip details. We're taking some Ambian with us this time to help get over the jet lag faster, so we'll hopefully have tons of energy! :) Amy's "milk factory" is also being shut down in anticipation of the trip as there will be no milk pump coming with us! She'll definitely miss the 500 extra calories that she can eat per day - now she'll have to start watching what she eats.

This week we went out to eat with our friends, Jennifer and Bruce along with their two boys, to Kobe Steakhouse. We don't venture out to eat out very often with the boys, as it becomes a "task" of keeping them quiet, and they're usually so hungry that it takes too long. However, we have to say that Kobe was a fabulous experience - there is a fish pond outside the restaurant, as well as inside in the lobby. The kids were totally entertained while we waited to be seated. Once you are seated, they cook in front of you, complete with a "show" where they throw their spatulas in the air etc. Our Japanese cook was very entertaining, and would "yell" out things that sounded very Japanese - well of course Zachary was just enthralled with the entire thing - he couldn't take his eyes off of it, and he kept yelling back at the cook - mimicking the sounds that he was making (and getting very close mind you!). Kaleb was in love with their broth soup - you'd get one spoonful into his mouth and it would fly open again - he looked like a little baby bird! :) We had a really fun time, and we'll definitely take the kids back!

Phrase of the week: I'm proud of me, Mommy! Zachary has been behaving very well at Sabbath School and last week, he informed Amy that he was very proud of himself! :)

Kaleb continues practicing his walking skills - although doesn't seem inclined to take off on his own yet!