Miles' Birthday and Party

Dave and I had a hard time trying to decide what gift to give Miles for his birthday since we have plenty (too many) toys. So of course we decided on a fishing pole and a book. On his birthday (Thursday), we gave him a donut and sang "Happy Birthday" to him and then Dave and I took him up to Deer Creek to take the boat out and had him open his presents on the boat. He was actually excited about the fishing pole and loved his new dinosaur book (we have almost the entire collection).

So he and Dave did a little fishing. Unfortunately, the fish were not biting. The water was just glass that day. The water was like a mirror. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. There were only two other boats on the lake and they were fishing as well. So when we got going fast, we pretty much had the whole lake to ourselves. The boat is running so well! Dave sure did an amazing job bringing that boat back to life! Next summer is going to be awesome. Miles loved going fast and kept asking for more. Mommy loved it too.

On Friday, Miles had his 3 year check up. He is doing fantastic! He weighs 31 lbs. (49th percentile) and is 36 inches tall (22nd percentile). When he got home, he got a card in the mail from Grandma and Papa Greer that was really cool! The propeller on the nose of the plane spins when you open it. He thought that was really fun! He also got a gift card to Target so he can pick a toy out that he would like. Thanks Grandma & Papa! 

We had his party in the evening. I had invited the Ybarra clan and Abby & Casey, but unfortunately it ended up that no one could make it. So we went out to dinner at Cubby''s and then came home and invited Braeden over to do the cake & the piñata with us. This was the invite that I had made for the party:

We had A LOT of cake left over. Luckily our neighbors were happy to take some off of our hands. I made Miles a dinosaur cake complete with white chocolate dinosaur bones on top and in between the cake layers. The kids loved it, and of course, Miles took two bites and was done.

 The piñata was pretty fun. I have never done one for any of the kids, but they really had fun with it. However, at one point it got a little violent but luckily that was at the end. Ha ha!

Then Miles opened Grandma & Grandpa Ybarra's gift: a super soft Star Wars blanket and a little pillow. He definitely enjoyed snuggling with Daddy in it. Perfect timing because it got COLD this weekend. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

So happy he had a great birthday!

Today You Are Three...

Dear Miles,

I keep having to remind myself that you are no longer a baby. Although, you insist that you are the baby and make sure every one knows it. The past year you have grown a bunch (except those little feet...why don't your feet grow?), you learned how to talk and boss people around, you started potty training but decided you were too busy for that nonsense, and you went from being a super picky eater to actually enjoying food! You are still a sweetheart, you're laid back and silly, but you are also very decisive and stubborn. You love to cuddle and give hugs and kisses, you love to play with anyone who will give you one-on-one attention, you love rough housing with your brothers and following them wherever they go. You are smart and observant, and have an excellent memory (you always know where you hid stuff you don't want anyone else to touch). 

Being my last baby, I have been better at soaking in every milestone and little moment. With your first anything, I know that it's my last as a mom. And as fun as it is to witness all your new skills and new discoveries, time is going faster every day and I find myself realizing that you're getting to be a little boy and not a toddler anymore. But no matter what stage you are in, I will always love you from head to toe. And really, you will always be my baby; whether you're 3 or 33.

I love your cute little voice asking "please" for a sippy, saying "excuse me" after you fake burp, and telling me "love you" when I kiss you. I love your little hands when they grab my big mama hand and place it on your head for me to pet you. I love your giggles and outright laughter. There really is no better sound. I love you so much, Mr. Miles. And I am grateful you are my last baby. You really are such an easygoing kid and I am so grateful you are mine. 

Happy Birthday, Baby. 

Love,

Mama

Updates!

It's been awhile and I'm sure I'm going to miss a whole bunch of stuff, but here is a quick update one what we've been up to lately!

Dave

Earlier this summer, we took Lucy to the vet to get her teeth looked at and her health checked. The vet told us that she would need some teeth extracted and that it would cost up to $500. So Dave decided to sell his blue and yellow boat so we could pay for her surgery. He was able to sell his boat for $1500, so of course he turned around and bought a bigger boat for $200. Obviously the boat didn't work. The engine was toast, so he needed to find another one that would work for that particular boat. He bought a cherry-picker for $80, bought an old truck for $150 and had it towed to the house for $50, he removed the engine out of the truck and then sold the truck for $200. And luckily, Lucy's surgery was $340 instead of $500. So, not bad! 

Oh, and the truck he bought came with a bed full of empty beer cans. Yay. So he and the boys smashed those so they could turn them in for money. There was about two weeks there where my garage looked like we're a bunch of alcoholics.

Dave was able to put the new motor in and hooked it up. He and Joe took it out to Deer Creek last week and Dave got to wakeboard! The boat runs great and Dave is really excited about getting to spend a lot of time on the lake next year.

Dave goes fly fishing about once a week in Provo Canyon and enjoys taking Jett every once-in-awhile. In fact, we bought a pair of waders that would fit he and Cruise, however, Cruise shows zero interest in going fly fishing. Jett, on the other hand, asks if he can go with Dave and got to try out the waders a couple weeks ago for the first time. He did fall and get wet his first go round, but other than that, he thinks they're pretty cool.

Emily

I've been playing with my band, The Swoop, since April and it's been a lot of fun! We got our band pictures taken in June by my sister-in-law Linsey. She did a great job! These are a few of my favorites: 

We did a live recording in July which was put on YouTube. Here's one of them. We did 4 in total. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rqzJgLwRso

We did an Open Mic Night at a coffee shop in West Jordan that proved to us that we were more than ready to play shows. We were invited to play at the Chalk the Block festival in the Riverwoods this weekend and we are also scheduled to play in the Riverwoods again on September 30th, which is exciting. We are trying to get gigs and as much exposure as possible. I get to go into the studio in October and record for the re-release of our album. Once we do that, we can start putting our album out there for even more exposure. Oh, and here is our website: http://theswooptheband.com/home 

Other than that, I've been busy making sure I don't go crazy and that the kids don't die. So I think I've been doing a pretty good job at that. I start up therapy again this week and I have been trying to find the motivation to exercise everyday, but unfortunately that hasn't been happening a lot. Hopefully my therapist will help. I haven't been sleeping well for the past few months. It's a great night if I can fall asleep by 1 AM. It's frustrating and I hate being tired all the time.

The peaches turned out amazing this year and so far I've made peach freezer jam, peach pie filling, and peach crisp. I still have a TON of peaches. I would can them, but I really don't have 7 hours to devote to canning. But I think I will freeze a lot of them.

Cruise

Cruise has had a rocky start to the school year. We took him off of his ADD meds because they were making him irritable. His attention has gotten worse, his anxiety A LOT worse, and it has made for a difficult school year thus far. He was given inclusion for math this year, so he goes to math, science, social studies, art, computers, and p.e. with the rest of the 4th graders. However, he said he gets bored in math and doesn't ever know what the teacher is talking about, so I have tried to work with him after school reviewing the things they work on in class.

I took him to his 9 year check up a couple weeks ago and spoke with his pediatrician who recommended he get an aide to go with him to class as well as meet with a pediatric psychiatrist. He started therapy a couple weeks ago with a great therapist and will begin going to his psychiatrist in about 2 weeks. I contacted the district about hiring more aides for his classroom, so hopefully they are doing something about that, otherwise I'm gonna have to get on their case again.

Since then, we've joined the world of essential oils and as much as I hope they would work, they probably don't do a lot. All I know is if Cruise thinks they work, then they will. So we have an anxiety roll stick, a "Good Thoughts" roll stick, and a Sleep roll stick. He also has a diffuser in his room that I use for bedtime, and actually, I love the smell so much that I put one in my room and the other boys' room. It's relaxing.

Other than that, Cruise is doing okay and enjoys being home. He has really been into Nerf guns/Nerf wars and really enjoys playing with Braeden from next door. He still loves going out to explore. He found a very interesting bug in the backyard the other day and he took him to his lab where he wrote down his observations, then released him back into his habitat. I try to get him to focus and sit down and read every evening, and when I am successful, he really enjoys reading and has gotten very good at it.

He is doing well in Scouts. He earned his Wolf and a ton of other badges, so now he is on to the Bears. Luckily my friend, Alicia, is in charge of the Bears and is a special ed teacher, so she works really well with him.

I started giving him drum lessons and I was floored by how easily he picked things up! We went over finding the beat in songs, holding the sticks correctly, and I introduced the single roll. He picked it up just after a few minutes! After his first lesson he said, "Now I feel calm! And happy!" I am thinking this is going to be a really good thing for him and give him some extra self-confidence.

Jett
Jett is loving school and told me that he is friends with everyone in his class. He does his homework and rocks his spelling tests every week. His last spelling test he got 11/10! He is getting very good at reading and writing, and is doing very well in math as well. In fact, he seems to enjoy everything academic and doesn't seem to struggle a lot in any areas.

Jett enjoys going fishing with Dave, cooking and baking with me, and playing Minecraft. He still loves playing with Braeden and playing Nerf wars with Cruise.

Lately he has been very good and finding and pushing everyone's buttons. He must know the reason behind every single demand or instruction. He asks questions constantly, some of them legit and others just ridiculous (and he knows it). He definitely tries my patience some days, and other days he is as sweet as can be and extremely helpful. I remember back to when I was 6 going on to 7, and I too was obnoxious and annoying. So I am confident this is just a phase.

Jett is excited to be starting Jr. Jazz next month!

Miles
Miles has made so much progress this past year. He is talking quite a bit. His first 2 word sentence was "I toot" and can now tell everyone who tooted ("Dad toot", "Cruise toot"). Ha ha! His personality is coming out a lot. He is bossy and stubborn, but sweet, silly and funny. We tried potty training him and it got to the point where he now knows when and where to go, but doesn't really seem to care about the why. So I'm just waiting for him to be 100% dedicated. He has gotten pretty good at going #1 in the toilet, but #2 is a whole other story. It's a work in progress, but he has until next school year to nail it down.

He still loves nursery at church and is pretty easy going. He loves following his brothers and their friends around and doing what they do. This can also be a bad thing since they taught him the word "stupid". He loves for anyone to just sit and play with him. He really likes dinosaurs, Big Bird from Sesame Street, playing with his Hot Wheels, and he loves Daddy more than anyone!  

First Day of School!!!!

Well, it finally came! The boys went back to school and a consistent routine and schedule reappeared! I have come to realize that I probably need routine more than the boys do. It really does wonders for me in so many ways.

August is a magical time where back-to-school sales abound and the school supply section is the most heavenly place on earth for three weeks. This year, however, I did all the boys school clothes and shoe shopping on-line. Because I can. And as I was shopping, I asked Cruise what color shirts he wanted this year and he said, "You know Mom, I think I want to wear other colors. Like blue or something." I was doing a mental happy dance! I cannot tell you how thrilled I was that the era of Green Shirts Only had finally come to an end! He still needs activewear, but now it can be in pretty much any color! AND, he is wearing one with a graphic on it! He never would let me buy him shirts with graphics, so this was a HUGE deal! Jett luckily didn't need any new school clothes, but I got him a few just because it's nice to have some new clothes to wear to school. Both the boys' feet grew an entire size over the summer, so I ended up having to buy them brand new kicks again. Luckily their old ones are in great condition still, so those can be passed along.

Cruise started 4th grade in Mr. Middleton's class and Jett started 1st grade with Mrs. Hiatt both at Eaglecrest Elementary. Miles also thought he was going to school, but alas it was not so and the poor little prince had to return home despite his protesting and screaming. It actually was my fault, really. The boys were getting ready and I did their hair, so Miles wanted his hair done too. Then I got their backpacks, and of course Miles wanted one as well. Finally, I had them go outside for pictures and obviously Miles had to be included. But through all of this, not once did I think, "Oh, maybe I should remind Miles that he's not actually going to school," so when I dropped the boys off in front of their school, Miles had the ultimate breakdown. Poor kid. But he got over it quickly and he had a lovely day playing and helping Mom and Dad around the house.

Their version of "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil".

Cruise hasn't had to deal with a lot of change since he has the same teacher as last year and pretty much the same classmates. He has, however, been struggling with anxiety, irritability, and negativity more than usual. The first week was super hard and it kept me up night after night crying and researching. The first week of every school year is a hard adjustment, but this year was something else. He was almost out of control and so of course that put me on a mission to figure out how to help him. Summer was a watered-down version of all these behaviors and emotions, but with school starting, it amped up and I realized I needed to find him a therapist and try to figure out solutions for all the negativity and meltdowns. Appointments are set up, but what do I do for the next few weeks? So I looked into something I always made fun of: essential oils. Or, as Dave calls them, Snake Oil. Ha ha! But really, I am desperate. So I asked the LDS Autism Parents group on Facebook if any of them had tried essential oils, and one lady told me about a great company that doesn't cost too much. Apparently she does oils with her child and it helps his anxiety quite a bit. So I bought a few different things, ordered a $17 diffuser off of Amazon, and got started! We've only been using them for about 3 days, but I can already see a difference in his moods, his ability to fall asleep, and even my anxiety levels. I've been using the anxiety roll-on oil quite a bit myself and I am shocked at how well they work. And they smell amazing! I went into it very skeptical, but now I see why so many people sing their praises.

Jett has been doing great in his new class. When I picked him up after school the first day, Jett jumped into the van with a big smile on his face and exclaimed, "I made new friends!" He couldn't remember their names, of course, but he was already happy about school, his classmates, and his super nice teacher. I think he's going to have a great year. Luckily his teacher this year doesn't give out homework but only requires he read 20 minutes a day. That was a relief because he had so much homework last year it was ridiculous! So both boys don't have a lot of homework and that is great news for me (and them. But mostly me.).