Jimmy * Esther * Zeke * Lilly

As I was thinking this morning, I realized that both Jimmy and Zeke have clothing brands with their names as the brand. “Jimmy Z” was a big surfer brand in the 90’s and it is still around, but not as common. I found him this green “Jimmy Z” shirt on ebay a few years ago.

(I couldn’t find one of Jimmy wearing it, but I found these that I took after I bought it in 2004.)

I thought “Ezekiel” brand shirts were so cool when I was growing up, and that’s a big reason why I liked the name Ezekiel for a boy. Plus, I thought it would go great with our last name, I like the double ‘z’ sound. When we first met with Zeke’s birth mom, Sam, we briefly discussed names. We told her we were thinking of the name James, to have a Jimmy Jr., we also mentioned some of our other favorite baby names. Ezekiel was the one that she seemed to like best, so we thought maybe James Ezekiel. The first time we saw Zeke, it was in the hospital and he was only a day and a half old, but he looked more like an Ezekiel than a James. We always thought that it was silly when we would hear about parents changing their baby’s name at the hospital because the name they had chosen before birth just didn’t fit, but James didn’t fit for Zeke. Later we found out that Sam had put “Ezekiel James” on his birth certificate when he was born, she said we could always change it, but that is what we liked best too!

Other reasons we love the name Ezekiel are:

-The meaning of Ezekiel, is “Strength of God” I love that!

-The Bible Prophet Ezekiel was a righteous, faithful guy, and a good example.

-It is so masculine. It seems like such a solid, strong name, and I don’t think there will be any confusion as to whether he’s a boy or a girl when people who don’t know him see his name on a roll, or other document, they will know he’s a boy. (I can’t imagine a girl named Ezekiel)

I like the old style of Ezekiel shirts better than the new style. I found these old styles on ebay too. I think it’s neat how they spell Ezekiel with numbers (even though some are backwards and some are upside down.)

Here are Jimmy’s 2 Ezekiel shirts, I have one too, but I couldn’t find a picture. Both of these photos were taken back in August, it is so crazy for me to see how much Zeke has grown since then, it seems like just last week!

If we want to continue this name trend, our next baby will have to be named something like Gap, American Eagle, or Roxy…. I guess we won’t continue this trend.

I have a feeling Zeke will be the kind of kid who begs to go sky diving for his 12th birthday! He is fearless, I am going to be watching him play sports from the sidelines, trying not to have a heart attack as I see him get broken bones and other ouchies!

Zekiel Knievel

King of his bedroom

Showing the dishwasher who’s boss

This really gets my heart rate up, he stands up with his heals hanging off the edge of his slide, then flaps his arms! In this picture, I think Zeke is mimicking what my faced looked like as I watched him do this.

getting ready

“Is it too late to change my mind?!”

“Weeeee!”

Short version: poor little sweetheart has been sick all week with flu symptoms which include: diarrhea, throwing up, and fevers.

I feel so bad for Zeke because he doesn’t feel well, but I love how he lets me snuggle him when he’s sick. He’s always wanting to be moving, and playing when he feels healthy, it’s nice to just hold him, and try to comfort him.

Zeke had a huge throw up this morning while I was holding him, and it went all down my right side. It’s hard to see, but it’s on my shoulder, thigh, backside, knee, lower pant leg, and socks.

*Warning about the next photo* I know it’s gross, but I took a picture of the floor anyway. (It’s mostly just his soy milk. He hadn’t eaten much of anything else since yesterday, but trust me, it’s not like baby spit-up, it’s a lot stinkier!)

So, that’s the “short version” of how my week has been and you can get the gist of things from that. The long version is just a whole lot more detailed. If you have time to read it, I hope it brings a little comic relief to your day!

Long version: (believe it or not, this is a shorter revision of my journal entry)

This week has been very eventful. Zeke woke up Sunday morning with throw up on him, and in his crib. I took the Rav-4 over to Wallgreen’s to get him some pedialyte, and I stayed home from church with him. I tried to use Jimmy’s car to go get the pedialyte, but his car wouldn’t start. It didn’t start the prior Sunday either, so I decided we needed to take it back to the repair shop. On Monday morning, I got up, showered, and got Zeke ready (who was still not feeling well). I called the repair shop to see if I could bring the car in, and called Jimmy’s mom to see if she could meet me at the repair shop in Draper to bring Zeke and me home after I dropped off the car. We planned on meeting in a half an hour. I loaded up the diaper bag and set it, and my purse by the door while I took Zeke and his car seat out to the car. I buckled his car seat in, and then strapped Zeke in his seat. Then I prayed that the car would start at least once so I could make it to the shop. I tried like 7 times, but it never started, at this point I felt like kicking the car!

I took Zeke out, went inside and called the repair shop to see if they would tow it over. I was holding Zeke on one hip, because he didn’t want to be put down. While the man was telling me that it would be $50.00 to have them tow it over, Zeke threw up a huge throw up on me, and him, and the carpet. As soon as I got off the phone I cleaned up the throw up, and called our car insurance to see if they would tow it for cheaper. Thankfully they came and towed it for free!

After a few hours, the repair shop called to say it would be about $400.00 to fix because it needed a new decompresser. He also said in order to find out why the “check engine” light was on they’d have to do a smoke test to see if there was a leak. That would be another $85.00, not including repair costs and labor if there was a problem. I was so discouraged because we had just taken the car in to them a week and a half before so they could fix the problem that was making the “check engine” light stay on.They said it was the catalytic converter which we had them replace for $450.00, as well as something with the brakes for another $150.00. I told him to go ahead and fix the decompresser for $400.00, so the car will at least start, but to wait on the smoke test.

The next afternoon (Tuesday), they called to say they thought it might just be the key because it wouldn’t start even with the new decompresser. When Jimmy got home from work at 6pm, we took Zeke to the doctor to see if there was anything we could do to help Zeke with keeping his food down better. We didn’t want him to become dehydrated with all of his throwing up, diarrhea, and fevers. The doctor told us just to feed him small amounts of non dairy liquids, and he gave us some soy formula which has been working well so far. After that we dropped off the other key to the repair shop. It was closed so we slid it under the garage door.

Wednesday morning at 8:00 the repair shop called to say the car starts with the other key, even with the old decompresser in, and we could come get the car. Jimmy took our Rav-4 to work, so I called my mom to see if she could ride the bus downtown to get our it and drive it here, and then help me with getting our other car from the shop. She was so nice and said she could do it, and that she’d leave in a few hours.

The rest of my Wednesday goes as follows….

I put Zeke down for a nap, then I got online to find phone numbers to call a few places like a car paint shop, and the Honda dealership. The check “engine light” error said it was something to do with the gas, and it could have been that the gas cap wasn’t sealing tightly so I decided to buy a new gas cap from the Honda dealership to see if it would fix the problem instead of doing the smoke test at this point. I called a few dealerships and found one that had the part I needed.

Then I found the phone numbers for about 5 car paint shops, (when we bought the car last year, it had a big scrape on the bumper) I wanted to get a few estimates on how much the bumper would be to paint. I just wanted to fix up the the car and sell it and be through with it!I found out that it will be about $400.00, so I decided that we could sell it the way it is after we fix the other mechanical problems. I remembered that you can buy touch up paint from the dealership. I called and found out they just do tiny bottles, but they recommended a place near them that will mix up your color in a spray paint can for $20.00. Cool!

Next, I logged in to our bank to order more checks because I only had 2 checks left, then I went to take a shower. While my hair was drying, I read my scriptures, and got dressed. When Zeke woke up I gave him a little lunch and did my hair. Mom arrived at about 12:30. We ate lunch, packed up the car, and headed for the repair shop. (Zeke was really excited to be out of the house, and he was really good the whole day, which made everything a lot easier to know he was happy!)

All the way to the shop I am dreading the time when will I hear how much the bill will be. It feels like a waste of money because the car would be in the same condition as when it got there. (They put back in our old decompresser when they found out it was just the key). Surprisingly, the guy said they wouldn’t charge me anything this time! I was very happy, and I thanked him and left. Both cars needed oil changes so mom followed me over to Jiffy Lube and we waited while they changed the oil. While they were changing the Honda’s oil they said they found a major oil leak that needed to be fixed as soon as possible.

I was too embarrassed to take it back to the other repair shop because they do oil changes too, but I didn’t think they did as good of a job with oil changes as Jiffy Lube does. Meanwhile, both of our cars are done, and I go pay for them. When I get back into the waiting room, it stinks really bad. Zeke had done a diarrhea mess in his diaper. Mom and I changed him in the front seat of my Rav-4, and I took his full, messy diaper to an outdoor dumpster. I cleaned and sanitized my hands, made Zeke a bottle, then mom followed me to look for a new repair shop to take the Honda to. I stopped at the Honda dealership and found out that it would be $90.00 just to diagnose the problem, and they wouldn’t have time to fix it until Saturday or Monday. I say “no thanks because I need it done today”. I went in to their parts store and purchased a new gas cap. I put it on, and it looks identical to the old one so I don’t think it will solve anything unfortunately.

Mom followed me over to GT Automotive, we had gotten the safety and emissions tests done there for the Honda a week and a half earlier. They were pretty nice, so I thought I’d try them again. I told them the problem and they said they would call me when they found out what was wrong. I went to get in with mom and Zeke, and Zeke had thrown up all over himself, and his car seat. Mom was changing his clothes, and I cleaned his seat. We loaded him back in, then headed off to Murray to the paint shop. We found the shop and I went in while mom and Zeke waited in the car because Zeke was sleeping. It took about a half an hour there, but I got the paint, then we went to my mom’s to take her home. Zeke and I went in for a while, and we went on a walk with my mom because it was a beautiful day. Oh yeah, I found out it would be another $400.00 for GT to repair the leaky places. One of the repairs was $200.00 and they would have to drain the oil to replace that part and put new oil in. I told them I had just come from an oil change and they said I could wait to do that repair until the next oil change was due.

After our walk, I packed up the car, and we went to get Jimmy from work. He was working until 5:30, and GT closed at 6. I really wanted to get the car before they closed so Jimmy could take it to work the next day instead of taking the Rav-4 again. Jimmy’s work ended up going a little over, and I picked him up downtown at 5:47. GT is in Sandy, so I called to let them know we are about 20 minutes away and see if we can still get the car. They say they will still be there, and to come on over. I was really happy because I also wanted to see the new paint on the bumper, and I didn’t want to wait another day. We got there and paid the bill, and then drove home.

We got home at 6:40, and I tossed a frozen lasagna into the microwave for dinner. I had a meeting at 7pm, so it was going to be close. I scarfed down my dinner, then I went to my meeting and got back at about 7:35. There was still a little light outside so I asked Jimmy if we could spray his bumper. He reluctantly agreed, and went out and sprayed it while I held Zeke in his blanket and watched. It looked a lot nicer! Then, I made Zeke 2 ounces of formula, got him ready for bed and got him to sleep. Jimmy usually likes to help with Zeke’s bedtime, but he had a meeting at 8pm. I went downstairs to load, and start the dishwasher, and clean the house.

Jimmy got done at 9:30 and we ate Oreos and milk together while we talked and laughed about the silly car. We both agreed we should just keep the car. Hopefully it will be a good car from now on, but if not, neither of us like to feel like we sold someone a lemon. After Oreos, we read our scriptures together and got ready for bed. Zeke didn’t wake up until 3:50am (he’s been waking up a lot in the night since he’s been sick) I gave him 2 ounces of formula, and he slept until 7, at which time I gave him another 2 ounces and changed his diarrhea diaper, and he went back to sleep. Zeke woke up at 9:20 with another big diarrhea diaper, and so I gave him a nice warm bath. I put him in new jammies, and we went downstairs. I gave him 2 ounces of formula because he was doing his sign for eat (it’s really cute by the way).

A few minutes after his 2 ounces, I was holding him in the kitchen and he was reaching for his bottle, and doing his ‘eat’ sign. I was debating on making him some more or not. I thought he might be better today, but just then, he threw up a huge amount (see pictures above). He kept going and going. All down my shoulder, onto my leg, and my feet, and all over the floor! I didn’t know he could have that much in him after such small feeding amounts, and 2 full messy diapers! Poor little guy! I took off his wet jammies, and washed him off and cleaned up the floor. A few minutes later I gave him 2 ounces because he was really hungry and signing ‘eat’ like crazy. Then I put him down for a nap, brought the baby monitor into my bathroom and took a shower. After my shower I ate some breakfast.

Whew! That was a really, really long story, not everyday/week is this busy and eventful, but it does add a little spice to life to have these days occasionally :)

We took a quick trip up to Rexburg last weekend so Jimmy could help our brother in law Josh teach his class at BYUI on Friday. We had a great time, and it was especially fun because we were staying at Josh and Suzy’s home the exact same time last year while we were waiting for the “ok” from LDS Family Services to go home. We were we told on the 16th last year that all the necessary paperwork had been completed and we were free to leave the state with our brand new son. It was fun reminiscing about last year, and seeing Zeke as a little toddler at their home this year. It was so wonderful that we had to stay in Idaho for that week and a half when Zeke was born because Jimmy was able to be there the whole time and didn’t have to go to school or work, it was like he got a paternity leave. Josh and Suzy were so accommodating too, they helped us feel so comfortable and made yummy meals for us. We love talking about that week, and remembering how amazing it was to have so much time together as a new little family.

These first 3 pictures are of last year staying at Josh and Suzy’s home

Suzy made Zeke this darling blanket

It was quite the contrast seeing Zeke this year at their home from last year! He loved playing with his cousins, and following them around.

We went to this awesome frozen custard place in Rexburg called BRC’S. I loved the atmosphere! It was also connected to a pretzel place, hot dog place, and a candy shop. Zeke had a lot of fun exploring, and he even went behind the Pretzel counter one time, he liked it so much he was ready to work there :-)

The whole group from left to right: Josh, Suzy holding Mallory, Taylor, Carter, Jimmy’s mom, Jimmy holding Zeke, and me.

Has anyone else been to this place before? If you’re ever in Rexburg, you have to go there, it’s so cool!

The candy shop was closed when we went, but this is a picture I took of it through the gate.

Zeke was so good in the car both ways! He slept a lot of the way there, and 3 hours on the way home, we were shocked! It was a fun little trip, thank you Josh and Suzy for being such great hosts!

Zeke makes us laugh so hard! Lately, he does this pouty face when he wants to cry, but he’s not quite sad enough.

It almost looks like a really cute happy face

He tilts his head back to make it more dramatic

It looks like he’s losing momentum in this picture. Sometimes he can make himself cry when he does his pouty face, but usually he goes back to normal, and looks a little disappointed for a few seconds because he didn’t make it all the way to a full on cry. He’s so funny, and so fun!