'Smiles for Kids'= Smiles for the Shivers!

 Today the boys had their dental cleanings. It was Max's first and Miles's third cleaning. This was Miles's first cleaning with the hygienists actually using the dental tools. We found a new dental office as a result of suggestions from friends, and we absolutely LOVED it. Highly, highly recommend Smiles for Kids westside (we saw Dr. Rowan, but I'm sure anyone there would be awesome).

Here we are 'practicing' for the dentist on the way

Getting ready for X-Rays!                                                  

Both the boys were scheduled at the same time, and we were in and out in 30 minutes! No waiting to get called back (in fact, they called us before I was even done with the new patient paperwork), no waiting in a back room for X-ray, no waiting for the dentist. FANTASTIC!

Miles and Max both did fantastic with their X-rays.

               

The dentist had DVD players over each chair, so the boys got to watch Toy Story and Shrek while they were getting their cleanings done.

Time for Dr. Rowan

And of course, no dentist trip would be complete without a 'goodie' bag. New toothbrushes, toothpastes, floss, bubbles, & tattoos! 

The boys had a BLAST and we are so thankful for such a good experience for them!!!! 

                                                   

Mason's 4mo well check

Ahhhhh a month has passed with many thoughts of blogging... if only thoughts could write themselves! We've been super busy, having a GREAT time enjoying FALL, and I have a post in the works about all the fun fall stuff we have been doing. But that is for another day. I wanted to document Mason's 4 month 'stats' from his well check yesterday. It turned out to be a really fun day. Mimi came over to babysit since we had to leave during naptime, so it was awesome for Miles and I to have some alone time with Mason. We headed to the appointment and got to spend some time with our awesome pediatrician.

Here we are waiting to be called:

Miles and I think that Mason is a little bigger than the other boys, who have always been on the TINY side (off the charts small). He is the only one of our kiddos who has adorable little fat rolls on his legs. In reality, he is really in line with where both Miles and Max were at this age. Mason's height was 24 3/4 inches (50th percentile) and 13lbs exactly (12th percentile). We looked at Max's chart yesterday again and it wasn't until his 9 month well check that he 'fell off the charts'. So we will see where the next few months take us!

We also spoke with Dr. Koil about the fact that Mason went from waking up only two times/night to waking up every two hours on the hour the past two weeks. As I suspected, Dr. Koil recommended we start him on baby cereal. After putting Mason on his tummy, he said that he has the motor skills of a 6th month old (as evidenced by the fact that he can already 'scoot' himself a little bit when he is on his tummy). He thinks that maybe he is just hungry. So, we tried cereal last night, and maybe it was the shots, but I'm optimistic thinking that he only woke up twice last night as a result of the cereal. One can hope!!!

After his appointment daddy and I snuck away and took a quick walk at the mall.... and then had a quick dinner at Chipotle before heading back to our other boys. It was a fun day, and such a blessing to see how healthy Mason is! Thanks Mimi for your help!!

He was all tuckered out from his big day at the doctor!

What the heck is this you are putting into my mouth?!....? LOL

Camping, Cousins & Children's Museum!!

The last few weeks have been BUSY BUSY BUSY! Two weekends ago, we got out for our first, and last, camping weekend of the summer. With Mason being born and visits from family, we were very limited as far as time away this summer. But we did manage to get away, and Papa, Geez, and Miles were even able to take an extra day off of work so we had a three day weekend. While it was kind of stressful and time-consuming to pack up five people, coordinate food between all of us, and actually get our feet out the door, making the memories and being away from home made every second worth it!

Our favorite place to camp is El Vado lake in Northern NM. The lake is generally cold, but also not very crowded and big enough to ski, wake board, jet ski, tube, etc. When we arrived on Friday night, we were SHOCKED to see how low the water level was. It was so sad... the lake was probably 70 feet down from where it normally is. Here's to a wet, snowy winter so our 2013 skiing season is better!

Miles and Max both got out on the jet ski and the tube... and while the littlest boys were napping during the day, Miles V came out on the boat with us while Geez held down the fort at camp :0). Here are just a few pictures from that weekend! Our first camping weekend as a family of 5 was a huge success!!!

So handsome!!!

Awesome skiing!!

Miles loved playing with the soap bubbles from the wake board!

Mason loving the outdoors, and his Geez, as usual!

Playing outside the camper on our beautiful lake

And of course, S'MORES!!!

Thanks PapaGeez for making it such a great weekend!

Labor Day weekend our sister, brother-in-law and nephew came into town from Tucson for a much overdue visit. It had been way too long since we had been together! Friday we took the kiddos to the zoo:.

Waiting for Amber, Charlie, James & Gma Jean!


Watching the monkeys!

Now if you know me at all, you know I have an fear of birds, bats, butterflies, really anything that has the potential to fly at my head. And no, it doesn't have to start with a B. :0). Irrational fear, yes, but fear none-the-less. So when Amber & Charlie wanted to take the kiddos in to feed the birds at the zoo, I was very happy to sit outside, hold Mason, and take pictures. And I was very thankful that I did stay outside after a bird decided to land on Amber's head. Let me tell you, I would have needed my diaper changed if that had been me in there!!! :0) Anyway, below is a picture where you can kind of see Miles V feeding the birds.



After the birds, Miles read his first word! He is very interested in sounding out words lately, so he walked over to the Koala sign, sounded out the letters, and then said "Kooooaaaaaalllllla". "Koala!" I am so proud of my big guy!




Of course the weekend wouldn't have been complete without some sprinkler and Costco fun :0)

Finally we rounded out our busy weekend with a trip to the local children's museum, Explora. I have been wanting to take the boys for over a year. Somehow we just never made it. Miles wanted to go with us too, and Monday mornings they have 'Toddler Time' at 9am for kids 4 and under. Since Miles was off for Labor Day on Monday, it was the perfect time to go. The boys LOVED it so much that we bought an annual pass... they could have stayed for hours. Can't wait until we can go back!

Mace had a blast too :0)

Did I mention that this place has the biggest, coolest elevator that I've ever seen?!?!



Daddy got in on the action by riding the high-wire bike!



I love the pure joy and wonder in the boys faces in these two pictures!

I could go on, and on, and on in pictures but frankly, this post has taken me a span of four days, and WAAAY to long to complete so I'm stopping here. Hope you enjoyed it... until next time.....

Isotopes Baseball

A few weeks ago I won 4 tickets to the Isotopes baseball game through our local library. We had been wanting to go to a game all summer, but its been so dang hot, and everything is just a little more expensive these days. So free tickets, hurray!!! The boys were soooo excited about it the whole weekend. Unfortunately, we woke up to one of the very rare gloomy, rainy, Albuquerque days. It rained on and off all day, which was a wonderful change of pace but not the best when planning to go watch baseball. When we got there, it was pouring, and the game was delayed about 30 minutes, but that was ok. It was 50 cent hot dog night, so we enjoyed some hot dogs while waiting for the game to start.

We had fabulous seats on the upper level of the field, and the boys loved it! Mason was a champ too. We were a little worried about him since his bedtime was the same time as the game starting, but as usual he was very content if I was holding him. He loves being outside too, and is almost always happy outside, so it worked out perfectly. Here are a few pictures:

My littles and I. :)

The boys were fascinated by the covered field

Waiting out the rainstorm!

Cover was coming off!!

Our amazing family

These boys have the best daddy to learn from

Once they finally got the field uncovered and the game underway, the sprinklers came on. Ooops!!!

Of course, ice cream in a baseball helmet!

It was a great night!! We had fun and the boys did too!!!

School Days...

As a parent there are THOUSANDS of decisions that need to be made starting on the day your baby is born. Actually, from the moment you find out you are pregnant. Should I drink soda while pregnant? How much caffeine is too much? Prescription or over-the-counter prenatal vitamins? What color should we paint the nursery? What should we NAME our baby? On and on and on. Obviously some are more important than others, and some have more long term consequences than others. But the bottom line is that you, as parents, need to evaluate each decision and weigh the options for your individual child and family. Each family is different, and each child within that family is different. What might be right for my first child might not be right for my third...etc. Anyway, that being said, one of the biggest decisions that Miles and I have faced so far in our parenting journey is school for the boys. Miles V is 3 1/2 years old, and he is very smart. Of course I think so :). But truly, he loves learning, he absorbs things like a sponge, and is constantly asking questions about his world. That is one of the things I adore about him. About 6 months ago Miles and I started praying and talking about options for Miles V for school. Of course our main options were public school, private school, or home school. Most pre-schools in town start pre-K at age 4. We also did a lot of reading about putting boys in particular into school too early, vs too late, etc. I've always felt that I didn't want to homeschool exclusively. I had a horrible expeirence with a homeschooled roommate in college (NOT you, Char!!!) ;) and I also know my personal limits as far as teaching goes. While I know that I could home school if I set my mind to it, I just didn't think that full-time homeschool was for me. Miles and I have since found the perfect school for our boys. Oak Grove Academy is an accredited private school in Albuquerque which is a combination of homeschool and classroom time. Starting in pre-K (next year for Miles), the kiddos will be in the classroom for full days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while we 'co-teach' at home on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Miles and I attended the informational meeting about Oak Grove this spring and we fell in love. We love their classical, university style of teaching, and we were super impressed with both the curriculum and what we got to see by sitting in on some classes.

Anyway, this brings me to this year. Since Miles won't be four until January, he wasn't eligible to attend Oak Grove this year. We still felt like he was ready to start pre-school this year. So we did some research and enrolled him into a Tuesday/Thursday program at a local church. We LOVE the program that he is in. There are two teachers per classroom, each classroom is about 15 kiddos, and it is the ideal place for Miles right now. He started school on Tuesday and was not ready to come home when I went to pick him up.

As I mom, I have to say I have struggled with this decision. Most of my struggle was based off the extreme guilt that I felt for 'turning him over' to someone else 8 hours a week. After all, he has been with Miles or I at home all but 4 hours a week since he was born. OF course, occasional trips to Grandma and Grandpa's houses don't surround me with guilt as I am confident the boys are in good hands... but I struggled with turning him over to strangers for sure. As we dropped him off on Tuesday and spent a very unusual morning at home, the guilt was large and present. But God has given me a peace about it, and I really enjoyed my time today with just Max and Mason. I think the 'break' from Miles as big brother will be good for Maxwell. It did break my heart dropping Miles off on Tuesday, and having to tear screaming Max away from his brother's classroom. It is incredible what great buddies those boys have become, and their relationship to each other has exceeded all my wildest expectations. I am so so so thankful that God gave us these boys!

And so, I leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from his first day!

First school lunch

 

Little brother wanted some of the action :)

I adore this little boy!

2 yr & 2 mo well checks

Today we saw our pediatrician for Mason's 2mo well check and Max's 2 year check. I'm so happy when I can get two of them in at the same time!  

Miles and I both think that Mason is a little chunkier than the other two boys--we don't remember either of them having those adorable little fat rolls on their legs. But, we were wrong. Mason at 2 months weighs 10.8lbs, which is the 30th percentile, and his height is 22 1/2 inches which is the 25th percentile. This is consistent with both of this brothers. Max has always been tiny, but it wasn't until his 9 month checkup that his weight went off-the-charts little. Today, Max weighed 20.2lbs and was 32". His weight was again off the charts---this time negative 10th percentile. He has gained consistently though.. his 18 month check was 17.9lbs and 30 1/4".  

I love my small babies so much!!  

Brothers:

Coloring while waiting

Mason got three shots plus his oral rotavirus vaccination... this is my third baby but seeing him get shots was just as hard as my first. But once I picked him up he was back his happy self again. And Max received one shot, and he didn't even flinch. I was so proud of him--no tears, just utter facination with his 'Bunny Bugs' (aka Bugs Bunny) bandaid. In fact, all that Miles and Max could talk about on the way to Chick-fil-a were their 'Bunny Bugs' bandaids!! Thanks to the smart nurse for giving big brother a bandaid too. :)