Cruise Ages Out, 1st Day of 2nd Grade, Boxing, Miles is 11 Months, & Some Random Pictures

Cruise Ages Out
Cruise has been in the Medicaid Autism Waiver Program for the past year and a half. This program allows up to 18 hours a week of ABA therapy. Over the summer, Cruise typically did about 15 hours and during the school year only 3 on Saturdays. We are so grateful for this program and it has helped Cruise immensely. Sadly, Utah does the waiver program as a lottery, so it's sheer luck if you get these services. Of the thousands of children in the state of Utah with an autism diagnosis, only 400 get these services. Hopefully this program will continue to expand because it is desperately needed throughout the state.

Yesterday I had Cruise's ABA tutors, Jodi, Nathan & Tori, over for a 'Thank you' dinner. I cooked them my eggplant parmesan, angel hair pasta, and green beans, IBC rooter & cream soda to drink, and zucchini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Sadly, the only picture I got of the evening were the cupcakes.

We are going to miss having that extra help for Cruise and wish we could get him more services. But we are really grateful we even got at least some for a little while. And we truly are blessed that Cruise has a wonderful teacher, which really makes all of this a little easier. 

1st Day of 2nd Grade
Cruise started 2nd grade on the 19th!!! We all needed school to start, even Cruise. Back to a routine and a predictable schedule. He is still in Mr. Harris' class, which has now combined 1st thru 4th grade. This year they changed the time to "later-gator" which means their class starts at 9:15 and they get out at 3:30. I thought it was wonderful until we had an issue with the bussing time. It was taking him 1 hour and 20 minutes each way on the bus. So I now have to drive him back and forth which is a little frustrating, but Cruise is much happier not having to spend so much time on the bus.

The first day of school, Cruise came home all smiles and seemed to be happy to be back in school. He did say it was too long, but that is typical for the first couple of weeks. It certainly is nice having the same teacher again though. One less thing to have to stress over, right?

Boxing
With the start of the school year, I was able to start focusing on exercising. My psychiatrist has been on my back about me working out more and my dad was generous enough to offer to pay for me to go to a gym. I really hate regular gyms. I think they're a waste of money, at least for me. I walk into a gym and am so intimidated by everything and everyone, that I dink around and not really make a lot of progress.

Every week when I go grocery shopping, I always drive past a small gym called Legends Boxing. I thought I would check it out since I had done a little bag work in college and really enjoyed it. The gym gives you a free introduction and class. It is HARD WORK I tell ya, but it felt really good and it was definitely a good fit for me. The way it works is, there are class times and you show up, the owner/coach has a white board with the work out for the day. It's a whole body workout, so you're not just doing bag work. He takes you through the entire thing with the rest of the class and is there to make sure you do the workouts correctly, safely, and to make sure you aren't over doing it. During my first class, I made it 45 minutes into it and then had to sit out the rest because I thought I was going to throw up. I woke up the next day so sore! I mean, my pinky toe muscles even hurt! But it was a good hurt and I'm excited to continue!

I got my new gloves and wraps and I'm already losing them because the boys keep finding them! So I've been finding hiding spots for them.

Miles is 11 Months
Well, we're almost to a year! Crazy how fast it's gone! Well, for starters, Miles got his 2nd tooth at the beginning of the month. He's been biting pretty much everything in sight now, including Mommy & Daddy.

Miles still loves baths. He cries if he doesn't get one and the other boys do. Cruise was really reluctant to bathe with him, but in the end actually enjoyed it. He has fun putting soap on his head and brushing his hair.

Miles is a professional stair-climber and has started learning how to go down them now. The boys always forget to put the gate back when they go up and down the stairs, so Miles always sneaks through and ends up at the top within a matter of seconds. 

Miles also loves being outside, especially if his brothers are out there. I wish we could let him out more often, but we'll be able to once he's walking. He just puts everything in his mouth and gets into everything he possibly shouldn't. Oh, and then there are bugs. He likes bugs. 

Miles has learned how to shake his head "no" and has put it together that if he smacks you in the face, Mom and Dad will say "no, touch nice" and shake their head, which he then in turn can shake his head "no". He thinks it's hilarious.  

Miles started practicing his walking skills! He's still really wobbly, but he is now independently using his walker and loves the attention he gets when he uses it. 

Miles loves to play, preferably with someone, but he still loves playing with a ball or wood blocks. He is great at getting into everything and pulling stuff out all over the floor. And, as always, he loves playing with his brothers. 

Some Random Pictures

Cruise the Bee Keeper

Jett the Bee Keeper's Assistant

Three Days of Birthday!

Cruise had an awesome birthday, despite the anxiety he had because of the changes in schedule. But he loved all the wonderful things he got to do and the awesome gifts he received. Here's how the three day extravaganza went:

Thursday: Thursday was Cruise's actual birthday. Dave & I had stayed up late the night before blowing up balloons and making the modeling chocolate figurines and the fondant for Cruise's cake. We blew up green & white balloons using our air compressor. Good thing too because I think we would've passed out just after a few! Since Cruise wakes up around 5:30-6 (and we don't), we thought a good surprise would be to fill his playroom with balloons of his favorite colors! So that morning he was so excited to find a sea of balloons to play in. All the boys loved it, especially Miles! It was like baby balloon heaven!

After Dave & I woke up, I made pancakes and then we had Cruise open his presents. We got him the complete series of the Magic School Bus t.v. show. I also got him his first chapter book called the 13-Story Treehouse which he is loving! Once he's done with that, I'll get him the 26-Story Treehouse.

Typically on the boys' birthdays, I take them to JCPenney to get their picture taken. Cruise refused this year. He refused to wear what I wanted him to wear (which was what he would normally wear for school). He wanted to wear basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. And he did not want his picture taken. So we had to cancel. Hopefully his school pictures will turn out okay.

So instead of doing that, I got started on making the cake. For the cake part, I made a chocolate pound cake, which I hadn't tried before. I prayed the whole time it would turn out okay. It cooked and looked perfect! It wasn't the exact flavor or consistency I was hoping for, but it was good enough.

Once the cakes came out of the oven, Grandma & Grandpa Ybarra came over to wish Cruise a happy birthday and to give him a very special present: a microscope! Cruise loved it so much he hugged it! Thank you Ybarras for the wonderful gift!

After their visit, Cruise for some reason wanted to go to the mall. We needed to get lunch too, so we decided to visit the South Towne Mall in Sandy. There wasn't anything good in the mall, so we walked next door to Mimi's where we had horrible service and not very good food that we had to wait about 45 minutes to actually eat. So that was a bummer. But afterwards, we went back to the mall and Cruise & Jett rode the carousel.

We went home and Dave had to leave for work and I got started on decorating the cake. I wouldn't say it's the easiest thing to watch 3 boys, decorate a cake, and make dinner all at the same time, but somehow I was able to manage it. I put the finishing touches on the cake at about 9pm and I was finished! I was happy to be done with it before midnight, because I was tired!

The cake itself was, like I mentioned earlier, a chocolate pound cake. I also made a regular vanilla buttercream that I frosted between layers as well as on the top and sides. I made four colors of fondant: light green, green, brown & dark brown. I used gel food color for the greens and cocoa powder (regular and dark) for the browns. I used scissors to fringe the green to make them look like grass, and then I had to measure and hand cut the squares for the checkered pattern. I made the modeling chocolate in red, black, yellow, and white. The fish/shark was all modeling chocolate, the rings I made by taking licorice ropes, connecting them together with toothpicks, and wrapping modeling chocolate around them. I bought some yellow edible glitter and dusted the rings with it. I used blue gel to mix with the buttercream for the water. I bought the flavored sugar crystals at Zurchers to be the Chaos Emeralds from the Sonic game. I placed Sonic on top using a toothpick and frosting. I thought I was done, but Cruise pointed out that Sonic needed a chili dog (Sonic's favorite food), so I grabbed some brown fondant, red modeling chocolate, and made a hotdog to put on top. This was such a fun cake to make!

Friday: Friday was the big birthday party! I got up early, got ready and headed over to the store with the 3 monkeys to pick up the balloons for the party. We got home and I fed the boys some breakfast then we headed out to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. 

(Cruise obviously wanted a Sonic themed party this year. So all the plates, cups, napkins, etc. were Sonic. I also got each of the kids their own water bottle with Sonic on it. I figured parents don't need more stuff sent home with their kid that they'll just end up throwing away. Anyway, here is the invitation for the party I had made on Etsy:)

We met Cruise's friends at the museum and they got to play for about an hour and half. His friends Nico, Leif, and Jack from school were able to make it, as well as his friends from the neighborhood, Aiden & his little brother Connor. Quite a few siblings and all the parents attended as well.  I left the museum early to pick up the pizzas, grab the cake, balloons, and party stuff, and booked it back to the museum. Dave met me curbside and helped me unload and set up at the outdoor tables. We ate lunch, had cake, and Cruise opened his friends' presents.

By then I was completely drained and needed a nap!

We went home and that's exactly what I did: I passed out. I was so tired!

Saturday: Friday night my folks flew in from California. So Saturday after Cruise's ABA therapy session, we met my parents and my sister Abby & her husband Casey at Tucanos in Provo. We ate as much meat as we could stomach, and then Cruise & Jett inhaled a giant piece of chocolate cake. I mean, the thing was gone in about 5 minutes! It was incredible! Cruise opened some presents from my family. He got some money from Grandma & Papa Greer, money from Grams, some legos and a water game from Aunt Abby & Uncle Casey, and an awesome knitted snake from Aunt Ruth that Cruise named Agent, after his real snake. Thank you for the wonderful gifts family!

Cruise with his snake.

After eating, I put the boys' swimming suits on and they got to play in the splash pads outside. Once they were bored of that, my parents took them to Provo Beach Resort where they got to play in the arcade and ride the carousel. They had a blast! We finished off the afternoon at my parents' house where they got to play with Grandpa for awhile.

And that was Cruise's birthday! Whew!