Our son Beckam was born last month, and if you were to ask us a couple months ago about what was going on, we probably would have said something about how were just sort of getting ready for Beckam to show up. He was born the 15th of May, and now that he's come, if you were to ask about what's going on, we're going to tell you something about how we're spending our time taking care of Beckam. He's a fantastic baby, and it's such a beautiful experience having a new spirit enter your home, but the not-so-beautiful 8,000-times-per-day diaper changes are still happening, and the middle-of-the-night feedings are still happening (you're amazing Mel), and...well that's about it. This little boy is pretty amazing.
The reality, however, is that while Beckam is sort of the daily main event in our lives, he's by no means all that has been going on.
Speaking of pretty amazing boys, Jaden and Kyler keep us busy too. We've been talking a lot about Kyler lately, since he's been experimenting more and more with boundaries. The thing about Kyler is that he doesn't really seem to have any sort of sense of consequence - yet. For good, he'll do just about anything. He's fun to watch as he experiments and tries new things, because there are a lot of new things he tries. For the bad, he'll do just about anything. Sometimes it's crazy to hear the stuff that comes out of his mouth or to watch the way he just sort of bulls his way through people whether they're asking him to stop or threatening him with his life (OK, so we haven't seen that one yet). He’s a great kid. He's got a strong will, and he's very strong physically (really, the kid should play rugby), and he's also a sweetheart. He's a charmer. He's the boy that will melt you in an instant with a smile, and if we turned around tomorrow to find Kyler holding hands with some cute 3 or 4 year-old little girl, it wouldn't be the first time. Kyler seems to be doing very well with the idea of being booted out of the baby spot in the family.
Jaden finished Kindergarten in May, and he's kept us busy as we've tried to be part of his soccer and t-ball games and practices. It's been a treat to hear him come home from school and speak excitedly about what he learned. He stuns us as he puts together simple math problems as he's walking around the house, he's got a big vocabulary, and he gets excited about learning - and playing too. He's a phenomenal athlete. He takes to just about any sport quickly, and some of them he's just a little stunning to watch. He'll come home from soccer practice and ask if Dad will come out and kick the ball with him for a while longer, and that's after already staying at practice to run and kick the ball around with anybody that will stay longer to play with him. He just wants to run and play, and he especially enjoys it if hegets to kick hard, hit hard or run fast. During soccer this season, Jaden was blowing everybody away with his big left foot, and his speed until he played a game against a friend who was lots better at dribbling than him. The other little boy dribbled circles around Jaden's team for a a few minutes until Jaden realized what was happening and shut his friend down with some pretty amazing defense. Then he went home and all he could talk about was how this other boy dribbled, and he wanted to learn. It didn't take much to twist Christian's arm for some extra lessons, and by the next game Jaden was running circles around all the other boys. It's always fun to see our boys being the stars of the show, but it's especially fun to see them finding spaces that they enjoy challenging themselves and growing up.
As we mentioned in our last email, Christian is back full-time at BYU getting his MBA, and we've decided that it makes sense for him to go on and get a PhD. That means that he's at BYU this Summer working with a few professors on research and a couple other projects like preparing for the GRE exam (for PhD programs that require it). He also has a professor who challenged him to read some classic works in economics literature by David Ricardo, Adam Smith, and Alfred Marshall. He's enjoying the books, but 3,000 pages of 18th century academic English has been a considerable mountain to climb. Christian is working on two research projects related to business in developing markets and another helping a BYU professor finish up a book on innovation. He just returned from a trip to San Diego to present the paper he's writing with one of the professors at an academic conference organized by the Strategic Management Society. He was really excited both to present the paper and mingle with some other big names in academia, and also that the conference was honoring C.K. Prahalad, the late University of Michigan professor who wrote a book ("The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" for those interested) Christian read a couple years ago that was a powerful catalyst for Christian's interest in working with developing markets. The work has been exciting, very demanding, and so far all valuable. We'll see how it all pans out after applications go out this fall, but the hope is that all of this will give him some good experience working in the academic space and also with professors who will hopefully give him good recommendations to go with his applications. Beyond the long hours preparing for PhD programs, Christian really enjoyed taking Jaden to soccer practices and even got to coach the team for one game.
We could sum up Mel's work for the last month or so by saying, "See above about Beckam, Jaden and Kyler," but that wouldn't really do justice to how creative she is and some of the other fun things she does. Mel is a phenomenal cook, and she has all sorts of healthy recipes that she's put together on a "Good Food" recipe blog, which we mentioned in our last family email too. The blog has given her all sorts of opportunities to both share the creativity she has with food and also much of what she's learned about healthy eating. It's also been exciting for her to find how many people are interested in healthy eating too. Mel is also the person behind the vast majority of our family blog, and she spends a lot of time making sure that our family's adventures are recorded there. A couple years ago Mel started putting all of each year's-worth of posts into books, and we just received the 2009 book. Those family journals have become real treasures for us.
We're really lucky to be in this adventure period right now. Our family keeps us busy, and Christian's school is pushing us into some new paths, but we feel very safe, and we've already witnessed the Lord's hand guiding us many times, and so this is becoming an exciting crossroads for us, and we can't wait to see what else is in store. Here's to a great rest of the summer.
All the best to all of you.
Mel, Christian, Jaden, Kyler, Beckam
Jaden with his coach on the last day of outdoor soccer! She just kept saying how amazing Jaden was and that the foot and eye coordination he has just isn't normal. She is sad she won't be his coach again next year! (Jaden seems to know he's good too, because he said to me after the game "The other team can't even score when I am playing!" And he's right!)
Apparently this was the jail!
Oh...aren't we....uh....cute! :)
Beckam, again, was fantastic!
And as you can see....Beckam is loving it all!
