RazNoggle

I went in to Myle’s room after nap one day and found him sleeping like this! Of course I had to get a picture!

He gets to read books during his nap time, but apparently this day he simply couldn’t make it through the “Six by Seuss” book, ha!

I can almost imagine a snoring noise, can’t you?

Sometimes I feel like asking for prayer for “minor” things is asking much when there are so many ‘bigger’ requests in the lives of people everywhere. But I know that God delights in the prayers of His people, and I suppose no request is “too small” to pray for, right?

Anyway, this request is for us and our Myles. You remember that our kamikaze child took a head dive into a pile of rocks recently. Well, we took him the next day to the dr to check it out and she told us, much to our relief, that his nose wasn’t broken! Yay! Didn’t want him to have issues with a deviated septum. His face was nice and bruised and nose swollen for a few days after that.

It’s been a couple of weeks now, and the swelling has gone. However, it has become apparent that his nose did not escape unscathed. After being away from him for a few days during our get-a-way, Stu and I have really noticed the difference.

This is the worst photo, please don’t freak out! I had him make this face to accentuate the difference.

We have a doctor’s appointment for him on Friday to get his nose reevaluated. Here’s where the prayer request comes in. Dealing with doc’s offices around here can be nightmareish. Please pray that the lady we see will have the same concerns that we do and will be able to refer us to someone who can help Myles nose. Also pray that something CAN be done about it. I realize that we can’t go through life unscathed, but it seems a little harsh to have to have your nose messed up at such a young age.

Having a mommy’s feelings about this makes it hard. I realize that in the grand scheme of things this is NOT a ‘big deal’ but it’s something that I would like to have a nice ending to. Even if we can see a specialist who can tell us that his nose won’t be ‘so bad’ as he grows, that will help. My concern is that it will get worse, not better, with time. So hopefully we can sail smoothly through the waters of doctors and insurance and get some help and answers. The good news is that Myles doesn’t complain of pain in his nose at all. He’s completely oblivious to it even if I pinch it, so at least that isn’t an issue.

Thanks for your prayers!

Before the smash…

After the smash…

He’s still adorable, even with a crooked nose!

I’m glad that kids face is mostly cartilage! Myles fell right on his nose apparently while monkeying around outside. He usually has stellar balance, but this day it didn’t kick in in time. Poor dude! He’s been very brave through it all anyway. Grandma was there to comfort him when it happened, and he spent most of that evening with a tisue stuck up his nose. I held him for some time with an ice pack on his face while he attempted to watch “Lightning McQueen.” He complained more of not being able to see because of the ice pack than of his nose hurting.

The next day we already had doc apts for Qade and Ella since they’d been feverish and coughing a bunch. So we brought him along for the doctor to look at his nose even though they told us that the “couldn’t get him in” that morning. The doctor looked at him and then told Stuart to go tell them at the front to admit him because he might need an x-ray. Turns out, though, after looking at it with the scope and cleaning it a bit with saline (which I’m glad she was able to do because he’d pitch a fit when I tried to clean it a bit) she told us that it wasn’t broken and he didn’t need an x-ray! Whew!! Nice to know!

So he’s a bit bruised, and scabby looking these days, and his nose is still swollen, but not misshapen which is a relief! Because getting this lad to slow down and stop careening around at 100 miles and hour is absolutely impossible!!

I got a chance to do Myles and Aiden’s birthday pictures last weekend! I’m glad it worked out for Aiden to be here so I could snag his as well. They both had similar set ups to Qade’s because I was going for a homogenous look for Qade and Myles and since I was too lazy to set up a different thing for Aiden, he got the same as well. It works. They won’t always be this easy to accommodate, ya know?

Anyway, I thought I’d do “Toy Story” with Myles instead of cars like Qade. While the boy loves his trucks and cars, he’s a huge Toy Story fan, so this works for his 3 yr old pics.

I can’t decide if I like the big grin or the quieter happy face better. He’s just so stinkin’ cute!

The big 3. I have plans to do number poses with them till 5 at least, but since I have the numbers, I may just do them till they decide to move out so mom can’t take their photos any more.

I liked this one because it was a serious moment when he wasn’t really expecting me to snap one.

Gotta love his favorite Scooby Doo’s as he calls his crocs.

Happy boy!

I love this expression!!

Yeah, he’s a little bit silly, and I love him to bits!!

This year we did something fun and had a joint b-day party for Myles and his cousin Aiden. Aiden’s birthday is Nov. 19, and with it being so close to Thanksgiving and other factors, (SNOW) we’ve never been able to go to one of his parties. I’m glad it worked out this year for us to do it like this. In fact, Tiffany and I are contemplating just doing ONE giant birthday bash for all the kids once a year and having it over with. Ha ha ha!! Well… it’s a nice thought.

Anyway, it worked out for us to head to Colorado and have the party right on Myles birthday! How often does that happen? We woke up about 2am the morning of and saw fluffy white snowflakes falling, and sure enough in the morning was a beautiful blanket of snow. That was exciting and it took a lot of talking to convince the boys that we didn’t bring gloves/boots/scarves and such to go roll around in it. It was gone by noon so we were able to do some of the partying outside, like piñata. That is NOT an indoor activity, oh no.

Tiffany’s MIL made an amazing cake that was Peter Pan themed. The party had a Pan/Pirate theme and it was fun, but this cake was awesome!! The boys spent some time just gazing at it when it arrived. Myles had his own personal piece with a treasure chest on it and actual edible treasure! It was cool!

Captain Hook came to visit the party and promptly scared Myles to death. The voice might sound a bit like Popeye, but it certainly didn’t LOOK like him. Ha ha!

It took a bit of convincing, but finally Myles warmed up to him a little.

Candles!! Three for my big boy!

The cake was delicious too! As you can see. (On a side note, I made those little “Pan” hats, but I can’t really take credit, Tiffany came up with the idea, I just followed her instructions.)

Piñata time!! Woo hoo!! Myles wasn’t quite sure what to do with it at first. This was a “built FORD tough” kind of piñata as well, and we were all surprised just how long it held up to the beatings of all the kids.

Qade taking a whack at it.

Like ants on a picnic!

Myles and his “loot”

He was very spoiled on his big day! Thanks to everyone who got him gifts!! He has had a blast playing with them all. Thanks Ina for finding the elusive Tonka Truck as well! He loves all the stuff he got.

Us and our birthday boy! He’s resigned himself to being “Free” instead of four for now.

I have a zillion more pictures of his party, and I’m going to post some in the upcoming days. I just can’t not post some of the “game faces” I caught at the piñata and such.

Thanks again Tiff for making it such a wonderful party! Oh, and I have to get the recipe or whatever for the drink with fruit and berries in it that you made. Yum!! Thanks to my amazing MIL, Ina, for the awesome Navajo Tacos she made. I love those!! It was a great party, and the boys had such a good time, and so did we. Ella basically slept through the whole thing, but I think that was best.

So I’ve realized that Qade seems to be the star of most of the kid-flavored posts lately. Sometimes his issues or accomplishments DO tend to stand out. Firstborn ya know, he can’t help it. But I thought that today needed to be a post about Myles. Because he has some pretty impressive accomplishments for his young life too!!

One thing that he figured out way early (in my opinion) was climbing out of his bed. I know I mentioned that he did that this summer at camp. I should have been more prepared for it to happen because from the time he finally decided to get moving he has been a little monkey trying in every way to keep up with his big bro. His upper body strength is amazing!! Stuart has a pull-up bar that fits in a doorway and he’ll hoist Myles up to it and that little lad will actually do pull ups!!! Oh, and can I just tell you that I am SO jealous of that kid’s abs!! He’s the strongest little guy! Built Ford tough too! He’s like a cannonball! If I’m squatted down to “kid level” to play with them it’s not uncommon for him to completely knock me over! Tough little dude! So all of that to say that since the baby beds weren’t really working anymore we transitioned him to a “big boy bed” about a month ago. He and Qade now have matching beds! It’s cute, though it took me back a few times at first when I’d walk in and see those beds. My “baby” really is gone.

Now I had a feeling that Myles might have a few rough nights learning to sleep-still in that bed. He seems to be an all over sleeper, and sure enough there were a couple of nights when I heard a distinct plop followed by a wail. Poor guy! He recovers quickly though, but one night he had fallen off on the wall side and when I came into his room he was crying, “Stuck!!!” Ha ha ha!! Had to smile over that one! After that I moved his bed completely against the wall so he only has one way to possibly fall off. He did the next night, but the crying stopped almost right away, and when Stu went in to check on him he had just put himself back to bed! Awwww, what a big boy!

We finally have a playset outside with swings and a slide for the kids to release their energy on. Myles was ready to get at it before we even had it ready! He monkeyed right up the ladders and would “hang” from the beam across the top. He’ll pick up his legs and just swing there, looking ever so much like…. a monkey! The slide tends to be a little fast and if he goes down on his bottom he’ll just kind of shoot off the end, which is terribly funny to watch, but he doesn’t like it that much. So he devised a new way for going down on his tummy! Qade has gone down the slide a few times, but our little OCD child prefers to feel in control so it might take him awhile to really enjoy the slide. Myles however has decided it’s the best and he’ll go up and down and up and down. I enjoy watching.

Myles’ vocab is coming along very well too. He’s saying actual phrases now which is helpful. We had a couple/few weeks of frustration in there when he was trying to communicate to us, but we couldn’t “get it.” Stuart would work with him on saying words because he commented, “He doesn’t know how to say more than one syllable!” Which was pretty much true! He would say “guk-guk” for blanket, now it’s very clearly “bank-it.” He said “bup” for cup, now it’s “cup.” And he’s very good at saying his own and Qade’s name. For awhile when he would call Qade it would be, “Myows, Qade!” He’d have to say both of their names. He’s pretty much got it worked out now though. One thing that thrills me about Myles is his good manners. He has always been SO good about saying thank you for pretty much anything. It didn’t matter if you were giving him a snack, changing his diaper or helping him get his shoes on, as soon as you were done he’d have a hearty “gink-oo” ready to go. It sounds much more like the real words now, and I always smile when I hear him say it to one of his friends or Qade when they hand him something. Another thing he’s been doing for some time now is to say “ess you” when someone sneezes! It’s his version of “Bless you” and he says it so fast after a sneeze that sometimes you can barely catch it, but it totally cracks me up!

We’re still working on both boys to get them to use words when frustrated or needing help instead of whining or throwing a fit. It’s a process for sure, but Myles seems to be catching on pretty well. Sometimes, I think, Qade would rather just throw a big fit, and that’s not cool. Myles though usually really does want whatever-it-is to be resolved so he is quicker to actually use his words and ask for help once we remind him. They are both making progress in their different ways and it’s interesting to me to see how they respond differently to similar situations.

The boys are generally buddies, and while they both like to push each other’s buttons at times (Myles gets a LOT of glee out of getting reactions from Qade let me tell ya!) they really are good friends and play well together. I’m very happy that they are close in age, and I’m hoping that having Qade there as his constant will help Myles through the transition of becoming a big brother. Neither of my lads has been very snuggly lately and I miss that! Myles will like to sit on my lap for short moments, but he doesn’t like to be snuggled. We’ll see how that changes once the little one shows up. I could do with a few more cuddles from both of my boys.

Here’s one of the most recent shots I have of Myles. He’s still a two handed thumb sucker when he’s tired. He uses the fingers on the “other” hand to tap on his top lip, and it cracks me up to watch him because he does alternate fingers till he gets through all but the thumb. Sometimes when I’m trying to put him to bed I just have to not watch because it makes me laugh! Believe it or not I’ve been VERY bad about taking pics since we’ve been home from camp, so this was right near the end of camp this summer. He’s a tired boy, can you tell?

My littlest buddy brings so much energy and joy to each day! I’m so happy to have him in our home and watch him grow and monkey around! Looking forward to seeing him become a fantastic big brother as well. He’s our life lover! Even though he does have stints of grumpies like everyone, most of the time he is a very happy lad, and he LOVES to make just about everything fun! I love that! If only I could be more like my Myles!