So here is what happened this month!
Adam: He started off the month with his 27th birthday (which you can read about below)! He also finished his prospectus!!! For those who may not know what that means, it is a 35 page researched project proposal for his Master's thesis project. His next step is to defend it in front of his project committee and hopefully they will accept it. If they don't, he has to find something else to do which would be very tough since he's already had to do a lot for the project. With the nature of how his prospectus turned out, it looks like he may not graduate until April. The reason for this is that the online class he designed for the project will have its first semester this coming fall so he may just need time to actually assess how it did. However, graduating in April won't necessarily mean that we will be sticking around until then. He will finish his last course this fall and will only need to take thesis credit during winter semester. So we are planning for him to look for a full-time job no matter what starting the end of December. If the job happens to be out of state, he will just fly back for a few days to defend his thesis. Sooo...the end is in sight!!
Ashley: I am still at home taking care of Eli and finding ways to fill my time. I have decided to read through all the fiction books we own alphabetically (by author). We have 100+ books so it will take me awhile to get through them haha. I also finished my skills assessment to become a babywearing educator. I had to record videos of me teaching how to use all the different style of carriers (wraps, slings, mei tai, buckle soft-structured carriers, etc). I think I did well so all that is left is to wait to see if I passed. Some people may wonder why I would want to become an educator. Well, I want to be able to share my love of babywearing to others and teach them how they can do it safely and comfortably. I am involved at my local chapter of Babywearing International and once I get certified as a Volunteer Babywearing Educator, I can be more involved with leadership-type roles :)
Eli: is now 11 months old!! It is crazy that he is nearly one year old. He is still not walking but he is getting better and better at walking while holding one of our hands. He mostly just gets super excited about it which makes him lose his balance. He got his third haircut earlier this month and one of his top teeth has just barely broken through! He's been working on that for over a month which has not been fun for baby or parents. He loves to play with other babies/toddlers at church, he knows how to play peek-a-boo, and his favorite thing to say is "yah". Adam and I entertain ourselves by asking him crazy yes or no questions which he always answers with a confident "Yah!" hahaha. We are starting to introduce to him more table food and he is getting better at learning how to chew. He also learned how to use a straw! Its fun to see how he learns these simple skills that we take for granted :)
Adam's Birthday/Fourth of July Weekend
We were lucky to have some of Adam's family here! First, Seth and his wife came through for a short visit on their way up to see Sabrina's family. This was exciting because he was the last sibling to meet Eli! Then Adam's parents came to visit. They very much enjoyed their time with Eli and we were able to play lots of games (key part of any Lloyd gathering). We also were able to go through the Provo City Center temple with them (thanks to my sister for babysitting)! It was very busy being a holiday weekend and a Saturday but a very cool experience. It was especially special for them because they knew it so well as a tabernacle. We had a low key birthday for Adam with cheesecake and dinner with some of Adam's family and mine. I got him a new soccer ball and the two latest Star Trek movies. We didn't end up going to see any fireworks due to a crabby teething baby but hopefully next year we will :)
Eli: is now 11 months old!! It is crazy that he is nearly one year old. He is still not walking but he is getting better and better at walking while holding one of our hands. He mostly just gets super excited about it which makes him lose his balance. He got his third haircut earlier this month and one of his top teeth has just barely broken through! He's been working on that for over a month which has not been fun for baby or parents. He loves to play with other babies/toddlers at church, he knows how to play peek-a-boo, and his favorite thing to say is "yah". Adam and I entertain ourselves by asking him crazy yes or no questions which he always answers with a confident "Yah!" hahaha. We are starting to introduce to him more table food and he is getting better at learning how to chew. He also learned how to use a straw! Its fun to see how he learns these simple skills that we take for granted :)