Happy Birthday Mike!

Mike turned 32 today. Wow he's getting old. Just kidding. I like being 2 years younger than him. We had some family over and had Mike's favorite cake made by his parents not me. I guess it's time for me to learn how to make it.

Happy Birthday Merrill!

Binky Yucky

So after our trip to the dentist, I was determined to be done with Tanner's binky. I thought the idea of having the binky taste gross made sense. I would still give the binky to Tanner. It would be his choice to not take it because it tastes nasty. My fear was that Tanner wouldn't mind the yucky taste.

A couple of days ago we put Tanner to bed as usual. I didn't give Tanner his binky until he asked for it. "Binky," he said. I handed him his binky and he immediately put it into his mouth. He started sucking away on it and I feared he might not notice the taste.

Tanner took it out of his mouth and just looked at it.

Tanner put it back into his mouth and then immediately took it back out and said, "Binky yucky." He started crying. I had one spare binky I hadn't ruined and I almost went and got it because of his sad face but I held strong. Tanner just kept saying, "Binky yucky" over and over.

I took the binky from Tanner and placed it next to him on his bed. I wanted it to be his choice that he didn't take it. He fussed a little bit, but then went right to bed. The next day I gave him his binky at nap time and he immediately said, "Binky yucky," and wouldn't take it. He did this for a couple of days. I even asked him once or twice if he wanted his binky and he would shake his head no saying, "binky yucky." I can't believe how easy it was to get rid of this habit. I remember with Gage we took it away over Thanksgiving weekend and it was days of screaming for an hour each night. This was so much easier!

Landen's 2nd 1st Day of Preschool

Landen attended the Syracuse Montessori Preschool last year. Today was the first day of his second year going to this school. He was so excited especially since Gage had been going to school for over a month now. It was finally his turn. Landen knew he was going to be one of the "big" kids this year and would have to help all the new students. Landen had a couple of friends joining him this year that he was excited about helping.

Here's Landen looking handsome in front of our door.

Landen in front of some trees at school.

I know it maybe hard to believe, but Landen is actually 3 months older than his friend Collin that will be attending the school this year.

I am a little nervous about these two best of friends going to school together. Hopefully they will behave themselves.

Landen didn't even say goodbye. He was tired of all the pictures and hurried into school to start working.

Landen learned a lot last year in preschool. I am so proud of how hard he works. I can't wait to see all the fun things he will learn and do this year!

A Trip To The Dentist

Gage and Landen have been to two different pediatric dentists. I haven't been really happy with either one of them. My sister Brandy has always taken her kids to dentists that like to see kids at age 1 while mine don't like to start regular checkups until age 3. I know you aren't going to get much of an exam until age 3, but since I have always had insurance I wanted someone who would start at least getting my children used to checkups so they would be pros by the time they were 3. Well, I recently took my kids to Atlantis Dental in Syracuse and I have finally found my dentist! They said they like to start seeing kids 6 months after they get their first tooth.

I took Landen and Tanner first and then Gage a week later. I was worried about Tanner getting an exam, but I was determined. I had Landen go first and made Tanner watch Landen get his teeth cleaned. Landen did great. No cavities. We just need to work on flossing. I'm not very good at doing that.

Tanner was next and was a little apprehensive. He didn't want to sit on the chair so I sat down first and Tanner sat on my lap. They were so cute with Tanner. They spent time showing Tanner how the spin brush "tickled" on my finger and then his. After doing that, they were able to clean his whole mouth and take x-rays! The dentist then took a look. He said everything looked good, but asked if he still took a binky. I have been holding onto the binky way longer than I did with Gage. I only use it for naps and bedtime because Tanner goes to bed so easily with it. The dentist said it was affecting his bite and I should try to break the habit. He said they had a bottle of nasty tasting stuff I could dip his binkies in so I wouldn't have to go buy a bottle. Nice huh? So when I went back today for Gage's appointment, I took all of Tanner's binkies and painted the yucky liquid on them. We will see how it works tonight. Tanner also has a big gap between his two front teeth. The dentist said there is a piece of his gums that will need to be clipped at some point. He said it could wait until sometime in the future when he might need another procedure so they could be done at the same time.

Gage's teeth looked good. No cavities. However, the dentist said he is a little behind on losing his teeth. Gage has only lost his two bottom front teeth and the two beside those were pulled to make room for the first two to come up. The two that were pulled don't have any room for his permanent teeth to break through and his top teeth should have been out by now. He said he would wait and see what happens within the next 6 months before he starts pulling more teeth. I asked about kids getting braces earlier now a days and he said Gage would probably be a good candidate for that. We will see what the next 6 months brings. Hopefully the tooth fairy will make a few appearances.

Maybe Next Year

Mike has been training for the Logan marathon that occurs in September all summer. His foot started hurting the end of July and some people thought it might be the dreaded plantar fasciitis. Mike started going to physical therapy and still kept training. Well, his foot wasn't getting better so the physical therapist referred him to a Sports Medicine doctor where x-rays were taken. The doctor thought he saw a possible fracture in his foot that could possibly require surgery. Mike was ordered to stop running and an MRI was scheduled. The doctor wanted to put Mike in a boot, but Mike promised he would be good. In reality, Mike really just wanted to play in his soccer game that night which he did. Not smart.

Good news is the MRI showed no signs of a fracture or anything that would require surgical intervention. Bad news is the MRI showed early signs of arthritis in his foot stemming back to an injury that occurred on the soccer field 10 years ago when Mike and I were first married. Mike was kicked in the foot pretty badly by a guy who missed the ball during a coed soccer game. Mike was in a foot cast for 6 weeks followed by a boot for a few more weeks. 10 years ago that is what doctors did. The doctor told Mike that now a days with the same injury he would have had surgery on it. Nothing can be done now but continue with physical therapy and stop running. This is a problem Mike will have to probably deal with for the rest of his life. He will be able to run again, but he will have to work into it slowly.

Mike is pretty upset that he won't be able to run in the Logan marathon. He had intensely trained and his long run was already up to 20 miles with really good mile times. He has his eyes set on the Ogden marathon next May. Hopefully his foot will cooperate and he will be able to achieve his goal.

Where's Tanner?

A couple of days ago I heard a small voice saying over and over, "Help mommy, help." It took me a few minutes before I found Tanner.

He was stuck on a pantry shelf and couldn't get down. Tanner was pretty distraught because it had taken me so long to find him.

Apparently not as distraught as I thought because he did it again a few days later. This time Tanner thought he was pretty funny.

Joint Birthday Party

This is year two of trying to celebrate 3 birthdays in 6 days. It is proving to be difficult. Gage is having a hard time understanding that he doesn't get a huge birthday party every year. If I try to plan a party for Tanner when Gage doesn't get one, he doesn't really understand the concept of, "you'll get a party next year." Thus for the second year in a row we celebrated birthdays jointly. My birthday just gets skipped quickly over which I don't mind because the other two are so exhausting.

I had planned on having family and a few friends over to Mike's Aunt's house for a pool party. You would think the weather would be perfect for a pool party in the month of August but the day I planned one the weather didn't cooperate. It was in the 50s today so we quickly moved the party to a nearby park where it was even a little too cold for that. We made the best of it.

A few of my friends helped me make bats for the cupcakes.

Lots of people showed up and we ate pizza.

I had visions of Gage and Tanner opening presents one by one so I could get some good pictures but it turned into mass chaos. All the kids like to help open presents.

Tanner is thinking about all the things he could possible use these markers on.

Gage got more batman stuff. He was pretty excited.

I thought Tanner would get into the opening presents thing a little better this year, but he didn't. Maybe for Christmas.

We gave Tanner this water wheel table.

I think Tanner was enjoying his cupcake a little more than his new toy.

Still the best of friends!

Happy 2nd Birthday Tanner!

My baby isn't a baby anymore! Tanner turned 2 years old today. Mike always jokes that in my eyes Tanner can do no wrong. I hate to admit it, but Mike might be right or at least up until now. I could just squeeze or snuggle Tanner all day long. He makes everyone who watches him laugh. Some of his facial expressions are priceless. Tanner thinks he is just as big and strong as the other two boys and he usually hangs right in there when they all wrestle. He looks up to his older brothers so much. Tanner loves to play with them even when the feeling isn't mutual. I don't know where we would be without Tanner in our family and I am so glad to be the mother of three such wonderful boys.

Tanner's Stats:

Weight: 25 lbs 20th percentile

Height: 34.5 inches 60th percentile

Head: 18.5 inches 5th percentile (small head)

Some things Tanner enjoys are:

1. Tanner loves cars and trains. He is really into Lightening Mcqueen.

2. He is starting to watch a little more tv which is a bad thing but can be a good thing at times. The second he wakes up he says "Watch King mom." (Lightening Mcqueen)

3. Loves to be outside. He stands by our back door and says "Side me. Side me." (Outside me).

4. Enjoys helping Mike with whatever project he has going on, especially if it consists of being outside. He "helped" Mike adjust some sprinklers and loved to say "Sprinkler on."

5. Loves to play sports. He is always picking up a baseball and saying, "Play B ball (baseball) mom", or throwing a football around.

Happy 7th Birthday Gage!

Gage turned 7 today. I am still in shock that I have a child that old! It seems like Gage has been talking about this day for weeks and it has finally arrived. We are planning on a joint birthday party this weekend with Tanner, but try telling Gage or anyone for that matter to wait until then to celebrate and open presents.

We let Gage miss school today in order to be able to celebrate his birthday as a family at Lagoon A Beach. We love that place! Especially during the week when it isn't as crowded.

Gage awoke to the house being decorated. Of course I didn't get any pictures of my wonderful artistic ability but Gage enjoyed the balloons on the floor and the crepe paper hung from the ceilings. We let him open the gifts from Mike and I before we headed off to swim.

He got just what he wanted! The Bat Cave. I don't know why, but he is so into Batman right now. Gage and Landen are admiring all the features the Bat Cave has.

After opening presents and eating a quick breakfast, we rushed off to Lagoon A Beach. We like to be there right when it opens to ensure we get our shady spot.

I am always too busy wrangling Tanner in the kiddie area to be able to take pictures of the kids going down the slides, but the kids had a blast. Only Gage is tall enough to be able to venture out of the kiddie pool, but everyone has so much fun even if the water is freezing.

Since Mike's parents live so close to us, there is no telling Gage we need to wait for his party to open presents from Nana. We ventured over there after our long day of swimming to open a few more presents.

Gage got more Batman stuff to go with his Bat Cave. He was pretty excited.

Gage's Stats:

Weight: 43 lbs 10th percentile

Height: 48.3 inches 60th percentile

Some things Gage is into right now are:

1. Loves anything batman and acting out scenes with Landen

2. Enjoys watching tv and playing his DS (I really try to limit this)

3. Still loves to do crafts, color, paint and anything else artistic. He says he is going to be an artist when he grows up.

4. Likes to be outside playing in the backyard or jumping on the trampoline.

5. Gage is a fish. He loves the water and would swim all day if I let him.

I am so grateful we have Gage in our family. He keeps us laughing. I am so proud of him and can't wait to see what the future holds.

Boating At Pineview

My brother has an awesome boat. I couldn't tell you what the name of it is which I am sure would depress Mike who practically grew up on a boat. Anyway, Todd was nice enough to take the entire family on a boating adventure up to Pineview. We had so much fun. I am sure we will be hitting Todd up for more fun soon!

Tanner had never been to the beach. I don't think he knew where to begin!

Here is Gage's impersonation of "Firepower" off of Night At The Museum 2. I laugh every time I look at this picture.

Here's my man! Good thing he knows how to drive a boat or else Todd would have never been able to wake board.

These two can be so silly!

Tanner didn't really like to boat much or maybe it was the life jacket he had to wear.

Here's Landen acting all cold and sad in order to snuggle up to Cami. Landen will do anything to be close to a pretty girl even if it is his own Aunt.

I was surprised Landen was so daring. He jumped off the back of the boat. The water was perfect!

Landen, Ava and I were the first to try out the tube. Unfortunately, there were kinks to be worked out and we ended up going under the water. Needless to say none of us enjoyed the tube too much and our ride didn't last long.

I don't know why I don't have any pictures of Gage riding the tube, but he absolutely loved it. Todd was going so fast and he just hung on tight.

Todd catching some air.

Mike catching even bigger air. Take that Todd. Just kidding it

looks about even.

My absolute favorite picture. My beach baby.