conference weekend

I had a wonderful weekend watching general conference. It seems like each conference I get to listen to more and more of the sessions. I guess that is a good sign that our kids are getting older. Legos, blocks, and snacks kept L and P occupied enough that I got to enjoy at least  half of the talks. I was nourished by what I heard and I am excited to read the talks again.

We pulled off perfectly matching pajamas! (Thank you, Target little boys section and an adult size captain america shirt for eric from the big boys section)

We were quite the sight taking a walk along the power line trail. Six people with the same clothes. Except for Eric who changed out of his shorts.

happy conference weekend!

these days

"Look at my castle beautiful!"

She makes a lot of different kinds of "castle beautifuls".

Eric, Kyler, and Kacin finally finished their summer puzzle. One piece was lost along the way. We always lose just one piece.

Perry went through a stage in which he put his cars to sleep all over the house.

He parked them and covered them with blankets. Once he even sang lullaby to them.

This is his favorite car as of late. He has slept with the white car in his bed with him the last two nights.

The white car needed a nap.

I have learned not to clean up blankets strewn throughout my house because I should never wake a sleeping car.

Layla spends a lot of time creating art.

One sunday night game night Kacin convinced us to play the game of Life. I was rich.

A couple days ago Perry's therapist/behavior coach was at our house to help with a play date. Perry had a meltdown at the start. And it lasted all but 10 min of the hour with the little friend here. We tried all sorts of things. Then the therapist said she didn't know what to do, and she was the professional. I don't know if I should be comforted by that (see, it's not just me!) or worried. We both know the best solution is a bigger house with a safe space/room for him to calm down. Insurance doesn't cover bigger houses. We are thinking on other solutions.

In the meantime, I get a break when Handy Manny or Curious George are on.

Layla plays library.

One day two of my sisters posted pictures of their children sleeping in funny ways. So we sent them this one so we didn't feel left out.

When therapy was canceled one afternoon, I felt like dancing. An unexpected free afternoon! We went to the zoo. Layla and Perry loved seeing all of the animals, and taking pictures with the fake ones, too.

Layla's Name

Layla's birth parents gave her the name Layla. We couldn't imagine calling her by anything else. Eric asked her birth parents once if they named her after the Eric Clapton song. :) They didn't. They just liked it. Fair enough.

Her middle name had been Atlas. Which made me think she was destined to be a world traveler one day.

We talked as a family, though, and decided we would love to give her the middle name of my sweet grandma Allen, Belle. So we could call her L Belle. Layla's great-grandma Allen was a nurturer. She was sweet and organized. She loved shopping, but she was very frugal. She always loved kids. I remember her always being calm, soft spoken, and put together.

Layla's little personality already exhibits a similar disposition as a sweet nurturer.

At two years old, she became Layla Belle Allred.

Perry's Name

We took a long time to think about what Perry's name would be when the adoption was finalized.

We prayed a lot about changing his name. Just like with Kyler, we were conflicted about changing a child's first name. We worried a bit more because Perry had some delays and we didn't want to confuse him. In the end, we did feel that it would be right to change his first name.

We had a lot of conversations as a family about what that name would be. The boys had lots of suggestions. We threw around a lot of names. E vetoed most of them. Perry was one of the first names I brought up that Eric liked. But our boys weren't the biggest fans at first--they would lovingly tease and sing "Peeerrry" from Phineas and Ferb.

During that time period in which we were trying to decide if Perry should really be his name, we felt like the name "Perry" kept popping up around us. For example, I was talking to my parents one day and heard that they went on a short trip to Salt Lake City. While they were walking around temple square, they were stopped by Elder L. Tom Perry who struck up a conversation with them about the birds in the area. This, coupled with other similar instances, kept the name Perry fresh in my head.

Then we decided to try out the name on him. As a two year old coming into our home, he didn't respond to his given name. As time went on, this improved, but he definitely responded better when we used his nickname--Damo. As a three year old, he still wasn't always consistent in responding to his name. One day I called his name, "Damian". He didn't look up. I said it again. No response. So I tried "Perry"  and he looked right up. On a separate day at the park, Eric had a similar experience getting his attention.

We felt a reassurance that his first name should be Perry. We decided to make Damian, the name his birth parents gave him, his middle name.

He became Perry Damian Allred.

Kacin's Name

Kacin was three, almost four, when our adoption was finalized.

This three year old was a bundle of energy, fun, and love. The name Kacin just fit him well.  We honestly didn't even consider other names. We kept the spelling the same, too. Like with Kyler's name, we wanted him to have something from his birth parents and something from us.

The boys' birth dad's name begins with a "K" and ends with an "in". Ky, Kacin and their older brother's names all followed the same pattern --a "K" name ending with "in". It might have been a lot confusing when all three boys were together, but it was a nice connection.

Since he kept his first name from his birth parents, we changed his middle name to be Allen, my maiden name. He carries on the Allen name proudly. It's a name that represents fun, honesty, adventure, integrity, service, kindness, silliness, and love.

He became Kacin Allen Allred.

He wears the name wonderfully.