Dave's Boat and Some Family Fun

Dave's boat has entered a new phase: motorized paddle. He bought a small motor from Harbor Freight and has been working on the boat for the past couple of months. He and I took it out a couple weeks ago and although it worked, I would hate to be sitting in the seats behind. Once that motor starts, it is all water in your face! The chain was thrown off after a bit, so I didn't get to ride it, but it was fun to see it move around in the harbor.

Every Friday we go do something fun as a family. Tired of the usual museum visits, we decided to go do something we don't normally do the past couple of Fridays.

A couple weeks ago we drove up the canyon and visited Bridal Veil. The boys had a lot of fun walking through the ice cold water, exploring, and helping Daddy catch a fish with his bare hands. And yes, they threw it back. Miles really loved playing in the water as well. I think he wanted to go swim with the fishies.

Then this past Friday, we took the boys to the Provo Beach Resort and let them boogie board. Cruise still had his birthday money, so we let him use it there, and of course we had to let Jett do it too. They had a blast!

Today You Are One

Dear Miles,

Happy 1st Birthday! This is the first letter of many more that I will write for your birthday each year. And even though you won't read it for many many years, I want you to know just how much I love you and how much you mean to our family.

Miles, this past year flew by super fast. I saw you grow from a tiny little baby sleeping in my arms, to a crawling, giggling, silly, wiggly little person. It's all going too fast, but I love seeing how much you learn and grow every day. Your sweet little personality is so apparent and I find myself wanting to just hang out with you than doing anything else. You are such a good baby and such a sweet little boy. You love to give Mom & Dad kisses and you get so excited when one of us comes home from being away for a bit. You love to give snuggles and loves and you want every minute of attention we have.

You are a very smart and observant baby. You pick up on things quickly and are taking everything in like a little sponge. You love your brothers SO MUCH and are content just being near them. In fact, they are the only ones who can consistently make you laugh. You love practicing your walking and want so much to be able to do it on your own. You are a rockstar at going up and down stairs and especially good at squeezing between the baby gate and the wall just to climb them. You love being outside and playing in the grass and the dirt. You find so much joy in just exploring the world around you, especially if your brothers are with you.

Miles, I can't imagine not having you in our family. You are such a joy and I find that you are such an easy baby. My only wish is that there were 48 hours in a day and I could just snuggle and play with you for 24 of those.

You are going to grow so much more this next year from a baby to a toddler. And this next year is going to fly by just as quickly as this one did. You are such a wonderful little boy and I am so grateful to be your Mom. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he gave me you, and I am so blessed to be able to have you as my son. Thank you for putting up with the crazy schedules and the noise and over-abundance of sensory input this house has. You are a trooper kiddo, and I am grateful that you are willing to endure this crazy family. But, I think you secretly love it.

Happy Birthday Chubs! You're my favorite one year old ;-). I love you more than you can imagine.

Love,
Mama

1st Day of Preschool (Year 2)

He just looks too grown up. And quite the handsome fella.

Jett started his 2nd year of Preschool this week at Harvest Elementary in Mrs. Randall's class. He was so excited for his first day and rocked it with this blue and white ensamble.

He actually picked out every article he is wearing at the store. We had walked into Old Navy to do the back-to-school shopping and when it came to his turn to pick out some clothes, he turned to me and said, "Mom, I want blue pants." I looked at him and said, "Yeah, blue jeans. Here are the jeans." "No, Mom. Blue pants! Those aren't blue pants." After talking him into blue jeans and he picking out a few shirts, we began to walk towards the check-out line when I walked past a mannequin wearing BLUE PANTS. Blue skinny jeans to be exact.

Jett walked up to it and said, "Mom, I want these blue pants." Apparently those were the first things he saw when we walked into the store and had his little heart set on getting those blue pants. Now, I would never voluntarily buy my children skinny jeans, but Jett really wanted blue pants. So I walked around the whole store looking for a 5T in these blue skinny jeans and couldn't find them anywhere. They only had them in the big boys. So I grabbed the smallest size they had, read that they were 100% cotton, and figured I'd wash and shrink them before he could wear them. I think he pulls them off quite nicely. 

Jett loves his new class and is so excited to go to school every day. He goes about 3 hours, four days a week and he is loving it! We have fun little chats to and from school usually spurred by some of the funny questions he asks. Today on the way to school, he asked me why there were so many churches everywhere. Which led to us counting how many LDS church buildings there are between our house and his school (there are 6 to be exact). On the way home, he asked me what would happen if there was a giant cricket. So we had a whole discussion about that and ended with him coming home and drawing his very first book about a giant cricket who steps on Jett. It was the cutest thing ever. I'll have to try and get some pictures of it.

Love that kid.

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