Cory gets married and Axel pitches!

 Axel has started pitching during games. He is one of 4 players who is able to make it over the mound. He is about 50% for getting it over the plate. I downloaded these two photos rather than the video that I took because I was amazed that my phone was able to capture Axel going from early to late cocking phase. I was even more amazed that my little guy with hardly any experience is getting about 120 degrees of external rotation while pitching. The body never ceases to amaze me.

 Last Thursday morning bright and early I said good bye to Keith and Phoenix (Rubix and Axel were still sleeping) and headed to the airport. It was a little weird driving myself to the airport and parking in the economy lot by myself, but it was even more weird being alone without anyone else to worry about except myself. I have never left the kids (except the 24 hours I was in the hospital delivering) and I really haven't gone anywhere without Keith for the 10 + years that we have been together. I had to use all my effort not to break down and cry as the plane was taking off. I was sad I wasn't going to get to enjoy the kiddos for three days, but happy that I was going to get to see family and friends I hadn't seen in years.

On Thursday night I had the privilege of getting together with my dearest friend and roommate from college. We met for dinner just after 5pm and ended up talking until the restaurant closed at midnight! We had such a good time catching up.

On Friday we headed to Utica to Grandpa Bruce's and Grandma Sonia's "Villa" that they own at Grand Bear Lodge. We had the pleasure of catching up with Sonia's brother, Jay and his wife Gretchen. We all had such a good time. We even had the privilege of hearing Jay and Gretchen sing and play the guitar. You can tell how much they love music and each other. Finally, the time had come to get ready and head to Cory and Anne's Wedding.

Here are Grandma Sonia and Grandpa Bruce all ready for the big event!

 Here is Uncle Jay and my new Aunt Gretchen!

 The three of us.

 Sonia and I.

 The three girls!

 Here is Dan and Gina, Sonia's sister coming down the aisle. Gina looked beautiful and was glowing despite the stress of being the mom of the groom.

 Here is the only picture I got of Mia, Cory's sister.

 The bride and groom saying their vows.

 Mr. and Mrs. Uranich!

 Gina and Sonia.

 Cory, Anne, Great Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jerry (Sonia's parents)

 Cutting the cake!

 My wonderful grandparents!

 The first dance!

 Grandma and her lovely son Jay sharing a lovely moment!

 After more visiting on Sunday, I headed home. Jay and Gretchen happened to be flying out of Midway taking Southwest at the same time I was so we shared another couple of hours of visiting. It was really a wonderful weekend and I am so glad that I was able to share in Cory's special day and see family and friends. I wish Cory and Anne a life full of happiness.....may they remember the positive and not sweat the small stuff!

At home Keith had a great time with the kids. He had a bit of help with babysitters, but he did great being the mommy and daddy for the three days I was gone. We are hoping for a relaxing weekend as I will be at the annual California Physical therapy conference next weekend.

Rubix is 6 months!

On Wednesday, September 14th, we had Back to School Night. Here is a self portrait that Axel drew. He wrote a little note about himself as well. With more clarification, he thinks that he is a "funny weird", or that he has different humor than most. 

For the third year in a row he still wants to be an "Arktect". Keith and I agree that we need to teach him how to spell architect this year since he still wants to be one and he has the capacity to remember and learn how to spell it. 

 On Thursday, September 15th Rubix turned 6 months and Auntie Shannon turned....39! Rubix continues to sit well. He can sit longer periods of time without any support, but he still falls to the side occasionally when he is not paying attention. He is 27.5 inches tall (85th percile), 17.5 inch head circumference (84th percentile) and 17.4 lbs (44th percentile). He is squealing and screaming more than he babbles. I think he likes to mimic Axel and Phoenix with the squeals and screams of delight!

 He is now able to go from sitting to his stomach by himself. He can spin around in a circle while on his stomach. He still tries to propel himself forward, but after some time he reverts back to doing a super man and kicking his legs and flailing his arms in the air. It is really cute! His is constantly sucking on his fingers. He typically has 2 to 4 fingers in his mouth if he doesn't have a toy in his mouth. He loves to play with hard plastic toys that light up or play music. He is more interested in biting books than reading them right now, but I am sure he will come around once he is a little older.

 I purchased big 9 oz bottles for the first time ever! I had to spend an arm and a leg to keep the same ventaire standard bottles because they were discontinued for wide bottles by the manufacture. I am glad that you can buy discontinued products on Amazon, regardless if they are double the price. It is better than having to switch bottles at this stage in the game. I finally have a big child who drinks more than 4 or 5 oz at a time. He is now drinking 4 bottles that are 6.6 oz and has 2 meals a day. He is still eating the Neocate cereal and sweet potatoes went well this week. Today we start butternut squash, so we will see how that goes. He has slept through the night (all 12 hours) 4 times now. If I can get him to take 7 oz bottles I think he will regularly be sleeping through. If he does wake, it is after 8 to 10 hours of sleep. I am still feeding him mostly water with 1 or 2 scoops of Neocate to hold him over until he wakes at 6:15 am.

 Rubix continues to take 2 naps a day. He has decided his nap times are around 9 am and 12:30 pm and that his bed time is 6:20-6:30 pm. I find it really funny that all of my children have liked the extremely early bed time the first year of their life. I feel very blessed that I was able to just go with the flow for Rubix and follow his cues, rather than trying to put him on a schedule myself. I think he picked a great schedule for himself because he is the happiest baby and is thriving!

 Yesterday we went to visit Auntie for her birthday. We had a great time visiting and relaxing with the Jolleys. The kids had a blast playing with each other as the always do. Phoenix and Braylin played especially well together. Typically, Braylin only wants to play with Axel, but yesterday Phoenix and Braylin played almost the entire time together with Axel playing with them here and there.

 Here is a cute picture of the cousins together. We are looking forward to more fun times together as the holiday season approaches.

We had interesting car rides to and from Aunties house yesterday. Rubix is now in a big car seat because he outgrew the infant car seat. Normally he falls asleep within a few minutes in the car when we leave at his nap time or bed time. Yesterday, we left for Auntie's house at his nap time and left her house at his bed time. He did not sleep either way! I am hoping he gets use to being in the middle between Axel and Phoenix and that the excitement dies down so that he can get sleep. Otherwise, I am thinking of trying to retrofit the infant seat umbrella to his new car seat in order to block out Axel and Phoenix and the view out the window. We will see!  

Axel's first AA baseball game, his first permanent tooth and Rubix sleeps through the night?

Rubix continues to become a more and more chill and adaptable baby. Here is Phoenix feeding Rubix for the first time. She absolutely loves playing with him and helping him. Since Rubix has been at Angela's she has stopped throwing tantrums and appears to be listening and cooperating most of the time. 

I was a little nervous about going to the dealership for a couple of hours with Phoenix and Rubix, but I had to get two recalls fixed and an oil change. I can't remember the last time I was so proud as a parent. Rubix and Phoenix were amazing. We played inside a little and then Rubix needed to sleep. He slept brilliantly in the carrier while Phoenix and I played outside. Before we knew it the Tuscon was ready and we were headed to the park for some quick playtime before Rubix's second nap and Pheeny's quiet time.

I had to go through baby clothing and get out 9 month clothing since Rubix is outgrowing the 6 month clothing. In the process I found this onsie that we received from our friends for Axel. It is completely inappropriate, but I felt he had to wear it at least once before he grows out of it. I think Axel wore it only once as well.

Rubix appears more aware of his surroundings, is talking more, and is improving his hand eye coordination. However, he still can't figure out how to move very much. He rolls and turns himself around, but can't quite seem to figure out how to propel himself forward or backwards yet. He loves to sit and play and he loves interacting with other people. I love this picture of him!

Axel and Phoenix are taking showers together rather than baths. Axel is either the most caring, loving brother who is helpful, or he is a little tyrant. I never know what Axel I will get, but here I caught him washing the shampoo out of Pheeny's hair. I love how sweet he can be!

The kids are in full chore mode. They are both working hard at earning their keep around the house and earning the fun activities they want to do. Axel has earned $135 for his engineering class and is now working on the $75 for cub scouts. Phoenix is working on earning $139 dollars in order to start ballet in November.

Here are Axel and Phoenix putting the groceries away. They did a great job!

After dropping Axel off at school on Friday Phoenix and I decided Rubix should try out our swing. I think he enjoyed himself.

Yesterday morning the kids decided they wanted to go to El Quito Park for a change. We all really enjoyed ourselves.  Phoenix and Axel rode their bikes, climbed on the big play structure, swung, and did flips on the small play structure.

Rubix played a little bit on the swings and down the slides with me and then played on a blanket in the shade the rest of the time.

  On Monday this past week Rubix was so tired from Angela's he went to bed at 5:30 pm without eating. His last bottle was at 3:20 pm in the afternoon. You can imagine I was shocked when he didn't wake until 3:45 am the next morning. I couldn't believe he went 12 hours without eating! The next day he went from 5 pm until 4 am without eating. He continues to go about 10 hours a night. I have been offering him 3 oz of water with one scoop of formula when he wakes at 4 am so that he will eat a full bottle when he wakes at 7 am. If I can get him to consistently eat upon waking I am hoping I can get all of the calories he needs in during the day so he will sleep all night. I am so excited that he is at this point already! I am excited for his 6 month milestone in just a few days! He seems to be tolerating the Neocate cereal and can take up to a 6 oz bottle now. He can eat as few as 4 times per day. I am hoping to start sweet potatoes tonight or tomorrow and see how he does on his first real food!

 Today was Axel's first AA baseball game. It is kid pitch now. The coach pitches if needed, aka, too many walks, etc. Axel got one pitch right on the helmet in the head. He had a great attitude about it. Axel was frustrated though that he didn't get on base, but he did get his first RBI. It is tough for the kids who are use to hitting well off the coaches pitching. I hope Axel is able to have better luck next time so he can build some confidence.

 Phoenix had a great time playing with Sola, a teammate's sister, and Macey. They ran around almost the entire morning.

The other big news of the week is that Axel's first permanent tooth is coming in! On Friday upon dropping Axel off at school he asked me to look into his mouth. He said that he felt something. When I looked I thought, well, his gums are either eroding away or he has teeth coming in. After school, I was able to get a better look and decided yes, he had his bottom, front two teeth coming in behind his baby teeth. I immediately called the dentist and brought him in for the dentist to ease my thoughts. She said this happens all of the time and that it is best to let nature takes its course. That means his baby teeth should start to become loose over the one to three months as the permanent teeth come in. If they pull the baby teeth then his other teeth could fall into the open space which would create more problems. Luckily, we have our next cleaning on October 14th so she will be able to take another look and give us more advice depending on what state Axel's teeth are in.

We are looking forward to seeing Auntie Shannon next weekend for her birthday and for another baseball game next Sunday. Axel has his nutrition appointment on Thursday. We postponed his endoscopy for later in the year. Rubix has his 6 month check up on Thursday as well. This is going to be a busy, action packed week. Until next time......

Axel, our 2nd grader and Pheeny, our gymnast

On Wednesday August 24th Axel started the 2nd grade. I dropped Phoenix off at Angela's and then hurried home to capture our typical front door picture. Here is our cute 2nd grader in his fancy new shorts. He loved them so much he wore them on the 2nd day of school too, but with his tie dye shirt.

Axel really wanted a picture with Rubix too ,so here are my favorite two boys!

Daddy bought me a new shirt so we could be super hero, Captain America, parents for the first day of school, together.  We left Rubix at home with Annika and then headed over on our bikes in order to avoid the extra busy traffic that the first day of school always brings.

We are excited that Axel has Mrs. Hunt this year. I believe Mrs. Boehm, his first grade teacher, helped get Axel into the right classroom. Mrs. Hunt uses positive discipline and is nice and strict at the same time.

One of the other parents saw us trying to get a selfie family picture so she kindly offered to take a picture for us.

We are so excited for Axel and can't wait to see what this year has in store for him.

And here is one last photo of him at is desk before we left. 

Rubix continues to grow like a weed and make more and more milestones. He can sit for 20 to 30 minutes playing. He still looses his balance so I like to have the boppy around him just in case he timbers over.

Last Thursday Phoenix went to her first gymnastics class. We signed her up for West Valley gymnastics where her best buddy Macey goes. She is in the 3 year old tumble bugs class and absolutely loves it. She wants to go every day. They do obstacles courses, walk on the small balance beam, and jump into the foam pit. When we were back to school shopping for Axel I saw this leotard on sale for 8 dollars and snatched it up. She absolutely loves her fancy leotard.

Here she is last week with Coach Allie. We did a free drop in class to make sure she likes it. We now have Coach Carlos because Phoenix wanted to be with Macey on Thursday mornings.  

Last Friday Rubix swung for the first time. He absolutely loved it! He is such a fun, easy, happy baby. I am so amazed at how different he is now that he is no longer in pain. He is a great sleeper and eater. He is still waking once a night, but now it is at 3am after 8 hours of sleep. He goes to bed every night right at 7pm and wakes at 7 am. He drinks 5 oz bottles and still eats 6 times per day. Just about every 3 hours during the day plus the one bottle at night. I have been off and on with feeding him the Neocate cereal because we are so busy, but when I do feed him he eats it right up. He sleeps about 4 hours during the day. It can be 2 long naps or 3 naps with one that is long and two that are shorter. He can nap in the car, in the carrier or at home. The naps on the go are typically shorter, but it is great that he is so flexible.

After park time last Friday I made a yummy shake (frozen banana, almond butter, oatmeal and milk) for lunch. I was feeding Rubix a bottle when I took this picture. I think it is so funny how girly and proper Phoenix is.

Last Friday night was the annual Marshall Lane back to school picnic. Axel was running around like a mad man so I wasn't able to capture a picture of him, but I was able to capture a picture of Phoenix enjoying her fudge bar. 

With the first week of school under our belt and Axel being extremely mature we were excited for our first laid back weekend at home. We have been extremely busy all summer and were looking forward to time at home. Unfortunately, it was one of the worst days we can remember as parents. Axel was absolutely a disaster. He was rude, disrespectful and inconsiderate. We started the day at Big 5 Sporting Goods because he needed new cleats for baseball, which started this Wednesday. He was out of control running around, being a horrible example to Phoenix and not listening. We ended up having him spend the rest of the day in his room or doing chores to make up for all of the lost time. We also decided he had to earn the cleats that we bought for him through chores or physical activity (doing laps, playing baseball, etc.) since he was ungrateful. I was bummed that we didn't get to skype with Grandma Sonia and Grandpa Bruce or do anything else that we had planned that day because of his poor behavior, but it was an emergency! On a side note Axel and I did 1 hour of much needed yard work and I am looking forward to having a little helper help me slowly clean up our side and back yard :)

The lock down on Saturday helped Sunday go much more smoothly. We spent Sunday morning Marshall Lane. We played baseball, rode bikes and played on the play structure. We made sure Axel knew it is not about what we do, but the attitude we have doing it. We aren't into having him do things to make us happy, but want him to do things that make him happy. The catch is we need him to have a good attitude regardless of what he is doing. We think he is slowly starting to understand.

Here is a cute picture of Ms. Phoenix pulling our wagon full of fun!

Rubix did great. He played and then took a nap in the carrier for an hour. I love how adaptable he is!

The kids started playing on the play structure because it was cold and overcast in the morning. Here is Axel finally mastering this spin thing!

Happy boy!

On Tuesday after work I was rushing to get dinner made so that we could go and say goodbye to Annika. Rubix happened to want to eat when I was in the middle of cooking. I was excited that he took the bottle from Axel. Axel was able to feed him 3 of the 5 oz and then I had him finish the bottle after I was done cooking.

Axel created a little castle out of clay while he was waiting for dinner to be done. His attitude has been much better and he has earned his cleats for baseball by helping around the house and doing laps with me at the Y. I am looking forward to more Axel and Mommy swim dates. It was really fun doing laps with him. I haven't swam in years so swimming behind him and going nice and slow made it easier for me. We also are starting off with only 10 laps and will slowly build up as we both get back into shape!

Here we are saying goodbye to Annika. Phoenix still hasn't 100% grasped the concept that she is gone for many months and asks to go see her every day. I am sure she will stop asking soon. Phoenix has officially given up naps at home. She still takes naps at Angela's. She is back to sleeping through the night. I think she only wakes once a week scared. Daddy helps her get back to sleep so that I can get my sleep and don't have to wake multiple times per night. Phoenix has also been showing a lot more maturity the past week. Since Rubix started Angela's she has not had any tantrums or crying. She has been an absolute angel around Rubix and I. I think having Axel in school really helps him and the other two kids thrive.

Baseball started on Wednesday and the first practice was a success. We have a good group of kids that mesh well together. Over half the team has never played, but that just makes for more fun! Last night Axel went to his first Scout Meeting. He is pretty sure that he wants to join this year because his best buddy Nico is also in cub scouts. We will see how the year unfolds. For now we are looking forward to the holiday weekend and getting together with friends!