Family Pictures

Sorry it's taken awhile to get these up. This time of year is always so busy despite the fact that I finished the Christmas shopping BEFORE Thanksgiving. Anyway, here they are. We had our friend Dana Sorensen take the pictures. It was supposed to be an hour long photo shoot, but c'mon, these are my kids were talking about. It was more like 15 minutes; but Dana is that good that she got some good shots. :)

I Keep Forgetting to Share This: Cruise's Story on KOTM.org

Click here to see Cruise's story on the Kids On The Move website.

Jett's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Jett's 1st Birthday last week with a small family party. I did the usual "stay up and make the cake" ritual which I welcome for every one of the boys' birthdays. For Jett we had a Winnie the Pooh themed party since he just loves Pooh. I remembered I had a cake topper from when I was younger of Pooh on a balloon, so I dug that up and made a little scene. I made the tree out of tootsie rolls and green fondant (I softened the tootsie rolls in the microwave, rolled them out, and wrapped them around a toilet paper roll and then froze it so it would stay in the shape I had it in). I colored coconut green for the grass (thanks Dad for the idea), used black, white and yellow frosting for the bees, and blue fondant for the name. It was a fun cake to make.

We had my mom (my dad was out of town on business) and Jett's local aunts and uncles over for cake and ice cream. Jett didn't really know exactly what to do with the cake, but he sure liked the Pooh topper.

Cruise blowing out the candle for Jett

And then Jett got to open his gifts. He got a Little People Farm from Grandma and Grandpa Greer. We actually already have one that belongs to Cruise that the boys are always fighting over, so it was great to have another one so they both can play with it without the constant pushing and whining.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Joseph gave Jett a cute roll and crawl snail that he absolutely loved.

Uncle Dan and Aunt Sofia got Jett this cute inflatable horse punching bag that has balls inside. And for some reason I never got a picture of it. But, it was pretty cute.

Dan figuring out how to set up the inflatable horse

Aunt Abby and Uncle Casey got Jett an adorable Fall outfit which he wore for his 12 month pictures this past weekend.

And Mommy and Daddy got Jett a Learning Mailbox since he loves to put things in containers and open and close everything. However, I am already regretting buying the thing since the "songs" are pretty obnoxious.

After the party, I looked at all the toys and said, "Well, shoot! Let's wrap them up and give them back for Christmas!" But, I was a nice Mommy and let him keep them all. However, I did have to rearrange his room just so he could have all of HIS toys in one place so his stinky big brother wouldn't touch them. I wasn't too successful.

Enter To Win from Soft Clothing

Need some sensory-friendly clothes and toys? Just enter to win this awesome package brought to you by Soft Clothing and Hartley's Life With 3 Boys :
http://www.softclothing.net/products/sale/giveaways/

Today You Are One

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

One year ago today, Jett Michael Ybarra made his speedy entrance to the world. I honestly cannot believe it has been a year. It really has flown but I am grateful for all the time I get to spend with my little guy.

Jett, as most of you know, is one of the world's happiest babies. I sometimes consider that maybe he came to our family to keep us smiling and to remind us that no matter how hard life gets, we still have each other and we can still share a smile. Dave and I are not morning people, but when we get Jett out of his crib every morning, it makes waking up so much easier and definitely happier.

Here is a list of some stuff about Jett at 1 Year Old:
1. He is finally 20 lbs. and can now sit in a forward facing car seat! And he LOVES it.
2. He still loves to be snuggled and held.
3. He is extremely attached to Dave and I, has incredible separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. He is VERY clingy, which means we spend a good portion of the day carrying him around or holding him.
4. He is a Daddy's boy.
5. He follows Cruise around all day and wants to do what he does, which includes CLIMBING which Mommy is not too excited about.
6. He has started to walk, but still finds crawling much faster and more efficient.
7. His newest acquired skill is drinking through a straw.
8. He can say 'that', 'ball', 'mom', 'dad', and 'dog'.
9. He bites.
10. He LOVES to be tickled.
11. He likes to throw balls back and forth, and especially loves to throw tennis balls for Lucy to fetch.
12. He likes to do Patty-cake.
13. He loves taking baths.
14. He is a people person. He is extremely social and enjoys playing with other babies.
15. He enjoys riding on his Mater push car and his sit and spin Zebra.
16. He loves putting in, taking out, opening and closing things.
17. He just found out that he is allergic to milk.
18. He loves Elmo and Winnie the Pooh, but he chose Pooh for his birthday theme this year. (Seriously, I asked him THRICE).
19. He loves to dance, wiggle, and explore.
20. He loves Lucy the Dog and she is a trooper since he pulls, climbs, and annoys her pretty much all day.
21. He hates to be left out of anything. He MUST be in on the action and fun at all times.
22. He likes getting his teeth brushed.
23. He likes doing the opposite of what we tell him to do.
24. He doesn't like crackers all that much.
25. He LOVES his brother and even though Cruise can be mean to him at times, he still thinks he's the best!

Jett-Man, we are so grateful that we get to be your parents! Thank you for always having a smile and loving us no matter how crazy we may be.

Hugs and Kisses Forever,

Mom & Dad

Halloween!

Halloween this year was pretty fun. Both of Cruise's schools had Halloween parties, so of course I took a bunch of photos from his Bridges class party. His teachers, Ari, Megan, and Brittany, dressed up as a skiing gorilla, a witch, and Ms. Frizzle.

The Gorilla started circle time, where of course, each kid takes turns dancing:

 Then they gutted and carved a pumpkin, which Cruise was pretty much grossed out by:

So gross!!!

Yeah, I don't think so.

Then of course you gotta get more sensory in:

Then they ate donuts hanging from strings, 

had Yoga (one of Cruise's favorite things at school),

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

and went trick-or-treating for their snack.

Halloween came and it was raining cats and dogs! I honestly didn't think it would let up long enough to go trick-or-treating, but we got lucky and around 6:30 it finally stopped. We got Batman and Robin ready and went trick-or-treating in my parents' neighborhood since the houses are so close together and it is well lit. I guess there weren't a lot of trick-or-treaters because every house we went to, they handed the boys fistfuls of candy. So one street was enough.

I don't look tired, do I?

I Love Lucy

Okay, so YES we bought a dog!!! Everyone meet the newest member of our family: Lucy!

We had been talking about getting Cruise a dog for a long while and felt that it was finally time. We didn't want a dog just to have one, but to aid in Cruise's therapy. We had always noticed that Cruise was calmer, happier, and less prone to meltdowns around animals, particularly around dogs. We looked into getting him an Autism Service Dog, but the cheapest one we could find was $10,000. So we settled on $65 Lucy from the Lindon Animal Shelter instead. Lucy is about 5-6 years old. She is very calm and well behaved. When Cruise and I went to the shelter, we walked in the door to the dog area and instantly all the dogs started barking and jumping...all except Lucy. She sat there wagging her tail, looking hopeful, but as calm as can be. Her cage didn't have her name or information like the other dogs, and instantly, Cruise connected with her. I talked to the staff there and they gave me her info. We took her into a "get to know you" room where she sat nicely while Cruise brushed and hugged her. The last test was the cats. We are tending my in-laws 3 cats while they are on their mission, so we needed to be sure the dog we got was good around cats. The staff said I could take her into the cat room, which I did, and she acted cool and calm. It didn't even phase her. So I signed the papers, paid the $65, and took her home. She definitely has her quirks though, like never wanting to let go of the ball and wanting to explore the neighborhood from time to time, but she is an amazing companion for Cruise.

Since getting Lucy, Cruise has been sleeping through night, his meltdowns have decreased quite a bit, he screams when Jett cries only 50% of the time (compared to the 100% of the time as before), he will play outside on his tree house by himself now when Lucy is outside (whereas before he would only if someone was playing with him), he has been learning responsibility (he is the one who feeds her, takes her out to go potty, walks her, and brushes her), and he has a friend who genuinely understands him. She sleeps on his bed and therefore when he gets up, she does. I like to think of her as the Mother's Helper. She really has been a huge help to all of us, and Cruise just adores her.

Lucy, Jack and Meister (one of the more aggressive cats). They all get along at a distance.