1st Day 2nd Year

In Chicago you have the option of going to preschool for two years before kindergarten (free might I add) so Jared had his 1st day of his 2nd year on the 8th of this month. Jared is very into his looks and cares what people think of him. I used to spike his hair just in the front but he won't have any of that now. He insists on wearing it straight down, boring... Jared had no problems going into the classroom and was excited. He was a little bummed after his first day though because they didn't get to play (It was just for an hour instead of the two and a half.) On the second day when I picked him up he looked at me and said, "I did a beautiful job today." He wasn't talking about a project or anything tangible, that was just the way he expressed his overall behaviour for the day. Every day after that he did fine until Friday. He got in line and I asked him for a hug and then after that he did not want to go. He ended up going home with me. I gave him two choices, stay and learn at school and go to recess or he could come home stay in his room til school gets out normally and all he could do was read and look at books.

He did better than I thought he'd do. I was worried about what I set myself up for when he still insisted on coming home. I was back in his room a lot of the time working on reading with him or reading a story to him but left him a lot too. He complained a fair amount and escaped a lot but if he didn't get right back to his room or did it a couple times right in a row I added a minute to the timer. Needless to say he went willingly into his class the morning and had a good time.

Miles Turned 1

I want to post highlights of our summer but I'm finding lack of motivation because it's a lot of work when you fall this far behind. I'm going to start with current events and hopefully here and there add excerpts from our summer, maybe chronologically, maybe randomly.

Our most recent exciting highlight is Miles' birthday:) Already?!?! I Love this boy and it's hard to imagine a year ago he was so little and new to our family.

He really is a perfect third child. He's mellow, loves his brothers, and self entertains better than any of my boys at his age. But one of my most favorite things about Miles are his hugs. He gives the BEST hugs. He just curls right in to me and lays on my shoulder for several seconds. The only problem is he rarely gives them to anyone but me making his brothers very jealous. Jared often wants to hug Miles and gets frustrated when Miles does not reciprocate his hugs.

Highlights of Miles in the last months:
Started crawling right on his 9 month birthday.
Got his first tooth while in Idaho (July 22nd or 15th?) (Right now he has 3 bottom teeth, 3 top teeth)
Took his first steps August 29th, currently he still prefers crawling to walking
Miles doesn't say any words but babbles all the time

1 year stats:
Weight: 21 lbs 10 oz 30%
Height: 29 1/4 in 40%
Head: 90%

Now for his big day:) His brothers had more fun opening his presents than he did (dump truck, wooden blocks, Signing book) but he enjoyed playing with them. Later we had our friends the deGuzmans over for dinner and cake and ice cream.

(Sophie, Jared, Anna, Miles, Peter, Spencer)

When it came to his cake he did awesome. I LOVE it when babies dig into their cake and make a huge mess. He didn't hardly eat the cake but he destroyed it. It was a really long process but I think he had fun. (I could've sworn I took a picture of the front of the bear the night before but I can't find it anywhere. It's a panda bear just like what Spencer had on his first birthday.) I wanted to put some video clips up but our internet is crapy so I decided it was time with or without the videos to do a post.

I am so grateful for this Angel child. Miles, I love you, I love you, I love you and so does everyone else in this house!

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!

SPENCER!!!

AHHHHHHH! Was my first reaction and, "What did you do!"After he started crying from my reaction I started laughing. It was funny but I was worried we'd have to redo our bathroom before selling because he got it on the cabinets, the tile, the bath. Ughhhh. But with a little clorox we fixed the problem except for the rug, but that's ok.

Luckily this was the first night this week Chris was coming home for dinner. I called him and asked him where he was. He had just gotten off the train and I told him to hurry home. He wanted to bathe Spencer but I said let's just eat and soon the purple spread to his mouth. We then bathed him:)
What is it? Gentian Violet. Yesterday was my last day of applying this penetrating, stain medicine to Miles mouth in hopes of getting rid of thrush. All I can say for that is ouch! I hope I heal soon too! Below is a (fuzzy) picture of my purple mouth boy. He started smiling at 6 weeks (now he's almost 8 weeks!) and this is the only picture I've been able to get to capture it.