Should've seen it coming...

So take a look at these pictures. Look closely. Do you notice anything? (besides the cute little boy) :)

Okay, so did you get it? Nate and I have been observing over the last few weeks and we are now pretty much sure...Kelton is left handed! We really shouldn't be shocked. My grandfather and little sister are both left handed (along with some cousins) and Nate has a left handed brother. But it's still a bit of a surprise. Now before any of you think, "now wait a minute, he's way to young to make that judgement. Kids that young switch back and forth all the time before they decide on a dominant hand," just hear me out. Natalie did that. She would sometimes use her left hand, sometimes her right. A lot of times she would switch back and forth during one sitting. But, here's what we've noticed with Kelton. He never uses his right hand. Seriously, never. When he does things like eat or color, it's always his left hand. We've tried putting the crayon right next to his right hand. He will pick it up with his right hand, but only to put it in his left. We have put the crayon in his right hand and no deal. He just moves it to the left. No matter what we do to try to get him to use his right hand, even if only for a moment, it doesn't work. The kid is left handed. Not that this is a bad thing, but how on earth do I teach him to do things completely opposite?

Softball is supposed to be fun, right?

Okay, so I had quite the adventure last night. Some friends in my ward decided to put a team together to play in a softball co-ed city league. I was a little nervous to participate with it being co-ed. In my experience, men are generally much stronger when it comes to hitting things with a bat. Anyway, they thought they might be short handed on women for the game on Tuesday night so I decided to play so they wouldn't forfeit. So we are playing and its getting late and the game is almost over. I get up to bat and I hit it. I can see that it is going toward either the short stop or third baseman--both of which are men. So I realize that if I am going to be safe I need to look straight ahead and just sprint as fast as I can to first. As soon as I hit the bag I feel this crushing blow hit the side/back of my head. I instantly knew that the throw to first had been off and I was in perfectly the wrong place. All I knew after that was that I had no control over my movements and I was falling. The blow had actually paralized me for a short time. I guess what actually happened, so I was told, was that I kept going for a few steps before my head and upper body fell forward and I rolled over and landed on my neck. Everyone was really worried and was telling me not to move--not that I could have anyway. After a minute or so I could tell that I could move if I wanted to. Oddly enough, my head didn't hurt but my left knee was killing me. So I layed there flat out on my back for over 20 minutes waiting for the paramedics. Then I had the pleasure of being strapped to a backboard. I tell you what, over the next hour and a half or so, I grew to hate that thing more than should be possible for an inanimate object. I then rode to the hospital in the back of an ambulance--no sirens. Nate followed us there. I then waited forever for a doctor to come in. I was still straped to the backboard and the thing was causing more pain to my head and neck than I would have ever dreamed was possible. I am not lying when I say that for me, it was much worse than being in labor. I'm not sure I've ever been in that much pain before. It was amazing how instant the relief was when they took it off. By this point, a new problem has come up. The doctor was wanting me to tell him what had happened. I for the life of me could not speak coherently. I knew exactly what had happened but I couldn't get my brain to form the words. At one point the doctor even asked me if I had been drinking! Nice, huh? After he left, Nate started talking to me. He asked me what his name was. My first thought was, wow that's a stupid question, of course I know who you are. Then he repeated, "what's my name?" I went to answer and...nothing. I couldn't come up with it. After a struggle, I finally got it. He then asked my name, our kids names, middle names, friends and other famliy members. Initially, I came up blank every time. Sometimes he had to tell me because I just couldn't get it. It was wierd because even after I would get the name right, I had to have reassurance that it was correct. If he would have lied and said no, I would have believed him. It was so crazy. And incredibly frusterating. I knew who every one of these people were but there were just no names. Thankfully, that only lasted about 40 minutes. After that it started coming back to me much quicker. Anyway, they didn't seem to think anything was really wrong. My knee seems to be messed up pretty bad. They gave me a brace thing and some crutches. I can't walk on it. Also, my whole upper back feels completely out of place. That makes it hard to use the crutches to walk. I have a pretty sore spot on my head and neck and I have a nice scratch on my back. Other than that, I am great! Nate has been so helpful. He's cleaned the house and taken care of the kids and gotten me anything I have needed. I am so thankful to have him around for the rest of the week before school starts. There is no way I could take care of anything around here without him. Thanks Nate. I love you!

So I guess I learned a few lessons. Softballs are not soft. And don't play softball with men. There is no way most girls on the field could have thrown that dang ball that hard.

Sorry about the lovely picture, but this is about all I have to show for my troubles. What's funny is that this is the least of my troubles. But all of the things that really hurt look totally normal. My knee isn't even swollen.

Pre-School

Natalie went to her very first day of pre-school today! She was so excited and had so much fun. I am doing a pre-school co-op with a bunch of other moms from church. There are 8 kids total and we all take turns teaching. The pre-school is on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 1/2 hours in the morning. So we each teach the class once every 8 weeks! It's great--I'm really excited too. It will give me some time to get stuff done and spend some alone time with Kelton--which he rarely gets from me. It was strange not having Natalie here at home, but it was nice to only have to keep track of one child.

So in these pictures you can see Natalie all ready to go to her first day of pre-school. She fished out that backpack from the toybox and was very excited to take it with her. You can't tell in the picture, but she actually has it on upside down and it is STUFFED full of her favorite toys. Of course I had to dump them all out back in her room and have her choose just one to take for show and tell. She chose her Sleeping Beauty Barbie--not a big surprise.

And here are some pictures of Kelton. I just wanted to put them on here because they are cute. Babies and toddlers are so cute right after they come out of the bath. I think it has something to do with the hooded towel. Plus right after the bath when Kelton is wrapped in a towel is about the only time when he will actually just cuddle and let you hold him.