Sad Day

Jared has decided to stop calling Miles Kevin. This morning he was playing with him and said, "Hi Miles" and then turned to me and said, "Mom I called him Miles. I don't want to call him Kevin anymore." Just like that and he's done calling him Kevin. Just yesterday he was still calling him Kevin. I was really sad when he said that and I told Chris. Chris then told Jared, "You can call Miles Kevin if you want." And Jared said, "No I don't want to."

I thought it was so endearing and honestly hoped it would last forever! I'm glad it lasted while it did. Maybe someday our Miles will be known as Kevin again but for now I guess he's Miles to everyone.

Also Miles started to roll over again yesterday and has been rolling over lots this morning (front to back not back to front yet)

Jared's Christmas Concert

Here's Jared at his school concert. So weird attending a program for my oldest. He's really growing up. It was fun to watch him. At the end Chris stopped recording a little soon but you see Jared peeking his head out the curtain. He really liked performing. I thought he'd be shy and maybe do nothing because earlier in the day he practiced on the stage and he said it was really scary doing in front of all the other students.

Kevin, I Mean MILES

Yes Jared still calls him Kevin for the most part and I have even slipped and called him Kevin on several occasions:) I haven't recorded enough about Miles. This little boy is such a happy content little baby. He absolutely delightful! He's my little smiler and cuddler. I don't remember my other two boys being this cuddly. I LOVE it! He will lay against me and I'll think he's asleep but he's wide awake. He is also very versatile as far as falling asleep. He can fall asleep in almost any circumstance (crib, arms, bjorn, bouncer, and with brothers all over him.) He truly is a blessing as the third baby! (For record keeping purposes Miles rolled over several times on November 19th but hasn't since then.

Below is a video capturing his adorable little laugh.

Jared's Four!

I can't believe he really is four. I miss those days when he was a baby but love him as a little boy. Chris and I looked at each other one day and it hit us that Jared is no longer a toddler but a little boy! I love how I can talk with him and have conversations.

The last few days I've had little conversations here and there that I've loved. One I was asking him questions about school and asking him the rules he has to follow. He was telling me a bunch of the rules and got to one,
"Don't throw rocks... or blocks cause then you have to go to the thinking chair."
I then asked, "Did you have to go to the thinking chair?"
Jared, "Yeah, I threw a block at Bryan."
Me, "Oh, that's not very nice I hope you didn't mean to. Do you have to go to the thinking chair often?"
Jared, "No, I don't like it."
Me silently, "few!"

Some other not so cute conversations but cute at the same time:
Jared, "You're a bad mom!"
Me, "I'm sorry, why am I a bad mom."
Jared, "You say bad words and put me in time out."
Me, "What bad words do I say."
Jared, "You say no, and that's a bad word."
Me with inner chuckle or relief, "I'm sorry Jared but I have to try and teach you sometimes."

I don't like to say no too much, I'd rather say yes but I guess I say maybe or later a lot because whenever Jared asks for something or to do something he hates it when I say later or maybe. He replies, "No not maybe either yes or no!"

This little boy is my little boy and still after four years sometimes it strikes me as weird that I'm a mom and that he really loves me as his mom and doesn't want anyone else to be his mom. Even when he's mad at me for being a bad mom. When he tells me I'm a bad mom I ask him if he wants someone else to be his mom and I name a few of his friends mom's names. He says he doesn't want any of them. In fact one time he told me, "You're a bad mom. But you can still be my mom." I love you Jared and will always love you and I hope you always love me just like you do now, even when you think I'm a bad mom:)

Birthday Day: Opening Presents Eating Chocolate Waffles Eating Cupcakes at school Day 2: Party!

You'd think a home made pinata would break! They ended up punching it and Chris helped it out a bit. (It also didn't help that we couldn't find Jared's bat so they used this stick with a pony on one end. A little awkward for three and four-year-olds.) The loot.

And of course cake and ice cream. Jared chose an airplane and has his 5 and 6 year birthday cakes picked out too. (I need to stop doing chocolate cakes, they look horrible with the icing.)

Jared's taught me a lot. I really do need to become as a little child and be like Jared. I'm going to share a story that I'm so, so ashamed of myself but proud of Jared.

When getting ready for his party I thought it'd be fun to make a pinata together. After the second of three coatings of newspaper and goop Jared was playing around with it while it was drying and punched it and dented it which also popped the balloon inside. Needless to say I was not very happy. I got after him in not the kindest way to which he replied sadly with his head down, "I guess I won't get a pinata. Sorry mom. It's my fault." And how did I respond? "You bet you won't!" I continued to be frustrated and not very nice to which I'm so ashamed of myself.

Later I repented and felt HORRIBLE! We decided to try and fix it. That too was a little frustrating as I tried to apply the third coat as it kept con caving in everywhere without the pressure of the balloon, but I was able to be a little better. So Jared got a funky looking pinata and I got taught a huge lesson. I love you Jared and ALWAYS will!

Gethsemane

My mom sent a forward to me of a clip of a song called "Gethsemane". During the song there 's a slide show of pictures. The boys love the song and the pictures. The clip is of Jared singing with the clip unaware that I had the camera going. He's listened to the song a lot seeing he's got as much memorized as he does in just two days. It's really sweet and I'm so glad I was able to catch it! This song has taught him some good lessons on Christ and helped think of good questions to ask. Music is such a good teacher.

Halloween Take 2

The boys had oodles of candy from Jared's school Halloween party and the ward trunk or treat but we nonetheless went trick or treating again on the actual day. Before going to a friend's house for dinner we hit a street by our house. I was hesitant to go because we were already late but Chris really wanted to take the boys. After calling our friend and she told me dinner was going to be late so I decided to let them go and I'm so glad I did. It was awesome! There were so many people and everyone was standing/sitting outside their houses handing the candy out making it really convenient.
Most people thought Spencer was Robin Hood. I can see that. And people LOVED his costumes. He by far got the most looks and comments. Both boys loved their costumes and wore their hats, in fact they insisted on their hats, especially Spencer which surprised me.
After dinner, a round of Ticket to Ride played by the boys, and a big mess made by the kids we went out yet again for a small round of trick or treating.
We then made it home in time to catch our neighbor, Terri, and again they loaded up on candy with SEVERAL handfuls of candy.
By this time we were all beat but all three boys were awake and two were in costumes already so I hurried and dressed Miles and this is what we got of the three together:
If the crocodile costume looks big it is. It says for 18-36 months but we still got it cause it meant one less costume to make. I totally wanted to dress up too but only got part of my costume put together so I didn't. I was going to be Tinker Bell and Chris was going to be Smee. Maybe in two years when Spencer is a pirate and Miles Peter Pan will I be prepared with adult costumes:)

P.S. Let the holidays begin! I hope nursing helps keep off the weight because I've already downed way too many sugar calories!

Peter Pan By Night

Lost Boy by Morning

Peter Pan and Pirate Wannabees

What a busy/fun day. Remember when I said my mother-in-law made Spencer's costume well... wala: Isn't he the cutest Peter Pan ever? And didn't my mother-in-law do an awesome job and let me mention she did it all in a day, hat, pant, and shirt. Amazing!

We found Jared and Miles costumes at Costco. They too are an awesome looking pirate and crocodile:

And together they complete each other. I'll have to get pictures of the three tomorrow when Miles isn't sleeping.

Love these boys!!! At school Jared had a party and I got to be there for part of it. Below is a clip of them doing part of If Your Happy and You Know It.

Getting lots of candy from classmates (they were nice enough to include Spencer.)

And here's a picture of his class:

Later in the day we went to our ward trunk or treat. The boys loved it and already we have too much candy! Spencer was beaming from ear to ear showing me all the candy in the car. Chris left from the church back to work :( but it wasn't too bad handling all three boys. Spencer was asleep and Jared had heavy eyes. I first took Jared in and laid him on our bed. Then I carried in a crying Miles, and then a sleeping Spencer and put him to bed costume and all but managed to put a fresh diaper on him. Then I put Miles to bed and then got Jared ready for bed and he managed to help me enough to get it done. After today they were exhausted and tomorrow we get the real Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

It would be an understatement to say Chris has been busy. So busy that we just barely carved our pumpkins last night. I got him to come home by saying, "I guess you just don't have time for pumpkins, we're going to do them tonight." I didn't try to put him on a guilt trip nor did he feel like I was but he wanted to be there and made it home last night:). Below are pictures of the process except for the finished product, oops! Maybe I'll update this post later. We did a scarry free handed face and a castle which was really cool but already it's starting to wilt so my two day later picture will not do it justice.
Below is a clip of Spencer enjoying the smell of pumpkin

Tight Frenulum

aka tongue tied. That's what Miles had until Thursday when I took him in and had it snipped. All they did was numb him a little bit and after it was done they brought him to me to nurse to help put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. Then after awhile they checked to see if the bleeding had stopped and sent us on our way.
We weren't sure if he was tongue tied or not because he's been eating fine and growing at a normal pace but we could see the frenulum when his tongue was down. I asked the pediatrician on Monday what she thought and she said he very well could be and looked to be tongue tied but sent us to the specialist/surgeon to confirm it and see what our options were. She wasn't sure if we'd be able to do the procedure because often they prefer to do it on 6 week or younger babies because they move even less and are smaller. But when I called in and told him his weight they said he'd be fine even though he was 9 weeks.

We decided to go ahead and do it because it's a lot easier to do now versus later if we needed to. Chris had his done in college (not necessarily needed and didn't make much a difference) in hopes of helping him roll his r's. Miles was a lot worse and could've given him speech problems or may not have. Who knows but we did it and it went well and this was our boy later in the day so he didn't even have it too bad either.

And later cuddling next to dad after a long day:)

Miles stats at two months:
11.9 pounds 50%
23 in 25%
Head 30%

The Teacher Pulled Me Aside...

... and said Jared is being a little too rough on the playground. I wasn't too surprised but interested to hear more. She proceeded to tell me he runs too fast :). And that was it. When was running fast defined as too rough? I see their need for concern because today he knocked a kid down and he got a bump on his head from the fall.

In the car I told him he was super duper fast (as he would say) and told him that he couldn't be too fast at school and why we needed to slow down. I talked to him a little more; we'll see if he gets it.

When I told Chris he laughed and said, "At least he's big enough to knock a kid down, I wouldn't have been able to knock a kid down at his age." Hopefully we can teach Jared to put the brakes on before he does anymore damage.Jared and Spencer running with their dump trucks.

Happy Birthday Spencer!

Spencer turned two! I've felt like he's been two and acted two for awhile but now it's official. The day started off great. We opened presents first thing (Trains from Jared, scooter from mom and dad, and tool set from grandma and grandpa B.) and then had chocolate chip pancakes. We then rushed the rest of the morning to get to school for Jared's first field trip. I think Jared was more excited to ride a school bus than go to the pumpkin farm. Spencer, Miles and I followed the bus with our friend Linsey and her kids. The day before was gorgeous but when we went it was rainy and mucky. We still managed to have a good time and I fed Miles right before I put him in the stroller and he slept the entire time, Nice! I had the boys dressed nice and warm and we enjoyed all the animals. They had lots of exotic animals. My favorite, the giraffe. Jared even fed this animal and stuck his whole hand in it's mouth. After lunch it was time to head back and Spencer was tired and wanted me to hold him. He slept for 30 mins in the car but I knew he was still tired. When we finally got home it was almost 3:00 and I debated whether I should put him down that late but decided to. He was so sweet when I put him down too. He just curled into me and when I laid him down he didn't complain and fell asleep immediately. During the nap Chris called and said he was swamped and wanted to know if we could come downtown for dinner. So as soon as Spencer woke up, just after 5:00, I rushed us all out the door. Spencer was really whinny and I didn't think much of it at the time.

We went to Rainforest Cafe and it's great for kids, but... not so fun if you're sick. Spencer was so hot and miserable. I was in such a rush to go that I didn't notice how hot he was. I think Jared was the only one who enjoyed the scenic restaurant and dinner that night. Chris and I felt horrible that Spencer felt so bad and we tried to get out as quickly as possible. We did end up staying for the Sundae for Spencer's birthday, mainly for Jared.Spencer's attempt to blow out the light.When we got home I put Spencer straight to bed and he went willingly.

The next morning we did cake, no ice cream. I had even brought the cake downtown the day before so Chris could be part of it but Spencer was in no mood to enjoy it then. My proportions are off and it's a poor job as far as smoothness but he knew what it was and that's what I was going for :). Spencer has had a never ending birthday with presents arriving periodically. He's loved the Diego car from Aunt Ashley and plane from Grandma and Grandpa M, and I've loved the clothes :).

Spencer is still my BiG boy and is my heart melter. He is definitely harder and more stubborn than Jared but wipes away most, almost all, of my frustration by just smiling and saying, "Love you mommy!" I love my little guy and I'm so glad he's part of our family.

He continued to be sick through the weekend throwing up Sunday/Monday morning so he was unable to get immunizations at his check-up Monday morning. But here are his stats:

31 pds- 80%
36 in- 90% Whahoo
Head- 90%

Keep it up little/big guy!