Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Memorial Day Weekend

This is a super long post…be prepared…

**********

What Memorial Day Weekend has looked like for the past 6 years…


The past 6 years, we have taken a group of teens to SNU in Oklahoma for Extravaganza. 

And just for fun, this is what Jaxen was doing this time last year...


 So here is what we did this Memorial Day Weekend -

Our Saturday started out foggy and cold! But Nik signed up to play on the church’s softball team, so we headed out at 8:30 for the first game of the season!

Nik, getting ready to warm up.

Jaxen loved running around on the field playing.

He was ready to help out!

The team.

Once the game got started, he had to play on the sidelines.

Nik, in the middle, sitting on the bench.

Nik played really well this game. I think he was a bit nervous because it had been years since he played last! But he caught the softball, hit the ball, and even got on base, and ran home! I saw about 2 plays that he made….I was busy keeping Jaxen entertained! That is why there is no pictures of Nik actually playing. Thankfully, there were 2 other little boys who came (they brought toys with them…now I know for next time!) and Jaxen had fun playing with them.

After the game (and cleanup) we grabbed some lunch and hit the road to check out Sackets Harbor. It is a small town, about 20 minutes away that sits on Lake Ontario. This was the day that everyone had garage sales, so the town was packed with people. Because Jaxen was passed out, we only stopped at 2 garage sales. But we still had a great time seeing the town.

Jaxen passed out on the way.

We drove around the docks to check out all the boats. Very cool.

Lake Ontario!

After awhile, we stopped for some ice cream (the best we have found yet) and parked at the lake. 
We enjoyed the quiet and had a really good time talking and 
hanging out while we ate and Jaxen slept! 

As we were headed back to the house we stopped so Nik could buy some cleats (maybe should have done that before the first game…!) and I stayed in the car with Jaxen since he was still napping. I was checking out our cute boy and noticed the socks he was wearing….


They are his warm, fuzzy, winter socks (his feet were wet and cold after the softball game, so I put his winter socks on, to keep his feet warm) but they were a bit too small I guess…see his leg puffing out of them?! It is pretty cute and pretty sad all at the same time!


I learned of a gas station that was giving away free sodas through the month of May!
It was a soda-kind-of-day!

Nik wanted to head to the driving range (he is playing in a golf tournament soon, and decided it would be a good idea to practice!) and Jaxen was still sleeping, so I just went with him. Once Jaxen woke up, we met up with Nik and Jaxen had a few golf lessons!

Watching a pro daddy!

Taking a swing himself!

And then, of course, smiling for the camera!

As you can see, the weather turned around, and it became a beautiful day! That evening we went to a friends house that has some kids around Jaxens age, for dinner. We grilled out, played with all their fun toys (playground, power wheels, trampoline…), sat around a fire and had a wonderful time getting to know more people in the area!

On Sunday, Jaxen was looking like a stud, in his red-white-and-blue! But the only picture I snapped was of him crying. So don’t look at his pitiful face…just his cute outfit! 


Another note from our Sunday…Nik got to preach in big church (for both services)! It was his first time, preaching on a Sunday morning here. The pastor was here, but he was working with Children’s Church that morning. He did a great job, and I know of at least a few people who were encouraged from his message!

After church we joined a Sunday School class for a BBQ and then I brought Jaxen home for a nap while Nik stayed and hung out. Then he came home and stayed with Jaxen while I went and watched an indoor soccer game. Indoor soccer is pretty big here and a few of the ladies from my Bible Study group were playing. I had fun watching them! 

That evening, we went out to the Chandlers for dinner and a bonfire. Jaxen was entertained the entire evening between 4 boys, 6 adults, 2 dogs, basketball, campfire, bonfire, fireworks, 4-wheelers, trucks, a lawnmower and a field to run and play in!

Jaxen running around, playing with the helmets.

The boys took turns driving him around on the 4-wheeler.

He loved playing in the fire and “roasting” like the rest of us. 
I had to take the food off his stick though, because he was just pushing the wood around.
But he kept the fire going!

This is my yummy s’more that I made!

And here is the bonfire!
They were trying to burn a bunch of old wood and trees and brush, 
so why not have a bonfire! I’m thankful for the smaller fire, though, that we could sit around!

Sunday was a late night for us…because no one wanted to leave the good company, food and fire! So we slept in a little bit on Monday and then headed to one other house for a BBQ. We did not know very many people at this gathering - so that was nice to meet new people.

That afternoon I helped a friend paint part of her house and then we had dinner and ice cream and came home and crashed! We were all pretty tired after our busy (very social) weekend.

But what a fun weekend it was! This weekend helped made Watertown feel even more like “home”. The fact that we got to spend so much time with people, and the fact that people were kind enough to include us in their plans and invite us over - was just so nice.

I know it is probably a little different here - the fact that it is a large military area, many people do not have family close around to spend holidays with…so they seem to be more open to including and inviting people to make the holidays even more fun. And we are so glad they did!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Random Pictures

Update on Jaxen’s hip issue: He is still showing improvement, although yesterday he stepped off a step that was pretty big and I could tell he was in some pain. After that, I had to carry him down those  certain steps each time. But still, overall, he is doing okay!

**********

Here are some random pictures from the past few weeks….

Jaxen and I decided to have a picnic lunch at Watertown’s Riverwalk!

He enjoyed running around and watching the river!

I finally took him for a haircut!

He sat in the chair, on a booster, like a big boy, all by himself!

This was a mess I made on my stove. I could not believe that I did that!

I was making macaroni and cheese. After I drained the macaroni - I went to pour it back in the pot and ended up spilling the macaroni out of the strainer. When it landed on the oven, it landed on my hot burner. Instantly burning everything that touched it. Bummer!

This was the finished product though, yummy!

These are just a few of the scrapes on Jaxen’s legs these days. 
Thanks to a fall last night,  he now has a goose-egg on his head to match!

Some of our favorite people, Rusty and Diane, sent Jaxen this rocking
chair last week - this was Rusty’s when he was a little boy!

A trip to Home Depot…Jaxen cannot stay off of anything motorized!

We pulled out these ugly bushes that were in our front yard.

And now the area looks pretty lonely. 
We need and will add something to the space!

Jaxen wanted to help and do what daddy was doing - 
except he wanted to use the snow shovel!


We have had lots of Memorial Day Weekend fun these past couple of days! 
I will share pics and stories later!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Jaxen Happenings This Week

This was a kind of hard, and weird week with Jaxen.

He was diagnosed with Synovitis. Don’t freak out…it is not anything bad, just something we have never heard of and it’s not a huge deal and he will be over it soon.

Synovitis is the medical term for inflammation of the synovial membrane. This membrane lines joints which possess cavities, known as synovial joints. The condition is usually painful, particularly when the joint is moved. The joint usually swells due to synovial fluid collection.

Basically, in Jaxen’s case - he has synovitis in his left hip. Which means he has some inflammation in his joints. We are giving him some pain medication and trying to keep him well rested (which he does not want to do). He should recover in about another week (typically) - although, he is already doing much better. 

Tuesday night I noticed that Jaxen was crawling around on the floor. Which was a little weird, because he never crawls anymore…but I thought it might be because he saw some babies doing it earlier in the day. I did not think much about it. Then Wednesday morning Jaxen was ‘unloading’ the kitchen drawer and when I told him it was time to put the utensils away - he just stood there, pointing at the utensils, and would not pick them up. I could tell it was not a defiant thing and I knew something was wrong. I immediately started looking at his knees (he has taken a few falls lately and bruised up his knees). I could not see anything wrong and when I poked and prodded at his legs - nothing hurt. He acted fine. So we went on with our day. At another point that morning, I noticed when he was down playing on the ground, he could not stand back up, unless he held on to something. Weird. I had Bible Study that morning and so I went a few minutes early and tried explaining to Nik that I thought something was wrong. As Nik looked at him - Jaxen acted fine. So I put him in childcare and I went on to my study. 

About 30 minutes into the study time - a childcare worker came and got me. I could tell something happened, she looked very concerned. She explained to me that when Jaxen walked, he fell over. She put him down and he took two steps and literally started falling over, sideways. That was a scary moment for me. No lie. My kid could not walk. I put him in the car, headed to the doctor’s office and called on my way. (I actually had no idea where the office was - I just started driving toward the ‘medical’ section of town). I was pretty much not going to take “no” for an answer if they could not see my child. Thankfully, they made me an appointment for one hour later. So I headed home. I could tell Jaxen did not feel good and was really confused. Again, I tried to get him to walk, and he would just fall over. 

Nik came with me to the appointment and by that time, Jaxen had started walking again, but with a limp. After the doctor saw him and did his exam, he sent us to the hospital for some blood work and x-rays. (Most people who knew about this - thought it was his ears. It was not his ears. They were clear and looked very good. Everything else checked out as well.)

So off to the hospital we went. They had to take a lot of blood from him (because thankfully, the doctor went ahead and ordered his 2 year check-up blood work to be done at the same time). Jaxen was the best ever - at the hospital. He was so still while the needle was in his arm, collecting all his blood. And he was also super still during the x-rays. I was amazed at how good he did. 

We received a call first thing Thursday with the test results and we had a checkup on Friday. 

Jaxen is doing well. He still limps a little, and still has some trouble bending down and getting back up - but each day is better and better. Like I said, we are trying to keep him rested (but he is very active right now!) and on some pain medicine, only when we think he needs it.

Also….

Through the blood work, we learned that he is Vitamin D deficient. Really, that is not a surprise. He is not out in the sun much here, since we moved. It is a common problem in this area. But we have started him on a Vitamin D gummy every day. 

And….

We have officially started the process of getting Jaxen into speech therapy. More about that later - but it is time. And we feel good about this.

I think that is all the Jaxen updates. 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A Morning Video

I know I don’t post enough videos of Jaxen...

It’s one thing to see pictures of how he is growing and changing, but a video can tell you way more about his personality!

The other morning when I went to get him from his crib, he was “talking" away. So I ran and got Nik’s phone and started recording him.

So here you go - This is Jaxen saying “Good Morning!"



A couple of side notes from the video…

* Yes, he still needs a haircut. In a bad way.

* And no, he cannot climb out of his crib yet. It looks that way from the angle of the video.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

District Assembly

Wednesday thru Saturday we were in Rochester, NY at our District Assembly. For those of you who are Nazarenes - you might be interested to know that Dave Sharps is our District Superintendent, and JK Warrick was the General Superintendent for this Assembly. Both of those men, I enjoyed hearing from. They gave wonderful reports on what the Nazarene Church is doing as a whole, and great vision for where the church is headed on a local and global level. The messages they gave were challenging to me, in my faith. And I am so glad I had the opportunity to hear from them.

Jaxen went with us, and the earliest he went to sleep at night was 11pm. This kid would not sleep! I guess he had too much fun playing in the hotel room. He went to childcare each morning and then after lunch I skipped out and took him back to the Hotel for a nap. Then he was back in childcare for the evenings. It was a pretty rough schedule on him - but overall, he did really great. I had a friend back in Watertown agree to keep Jaxen Friday night and Saturday until we got home (because they did not offer childcare on Saturday). So Friday afternoon, I sent Jaxen home with people who were leaving Assembly and they met up with Becky. Becky and her family kept Jaxen for us - which freed us up to go out after service Friday night with our church group, participate in a service project on Saturday and then attend a few more meetings! We were home by 5:30 Saturday afternoon - but were so tired! District Assembly is a tiring couple of days!

It was fun. And it was nice to meet people on the Upstate New York District. We had some great food and really enjoyed the area of Rochester that we were in!

All in all, I only have 3 pictures for you. Boring, I know. But there is not really that many exciting things to take pictures of at District Assembly! So here are my three…

Picture before we started the service project
Leah (Michelle and Michah’s daughter), then Michelle, Nik, Micah and me in front!
Michelle is the part-time Youth Pastor here at the church. 
Nik and her are now working together in the Youth Department.

I sent this picture to Nik one afternoon while Jaxen was taking his nap.
Those eyelashes.

 And this is a picture Becky texted me on Saturday.
Jim was taking Jaxen for a ride on the 4-wheeler!
Notice the sweatshirts?! It was rainy and a cool. Around 50 degrees all week.

And that is all I have for you tonight. We are recovering from District Assembly! That included a long afternoon nap; I had cereal for dinner; Jaxen had an apple; Nik is watching baseball at a friends and Jaxen and I went on a long walk and to the park.

Tomorrow will be filled with laundry, cooking and planning for the week ahead.

Am I the only one who likes to plan for the week? I seem so lost and not focused at all if I don’t have the time or energy to figure out what our week looks like and what needs to happen!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Weekend Pics

These pictures are all pretty much from the garage sale this past weekend. But they are so funny! He had a great time playing outside and being in the warm weather!


That. Face.
“Was I not supposed to clean out this drawer?"

Jaxen enjoyed playing during the two days of the Garage Sale at our house!
He is sporting his new summer shoes. Love them!

He cracked me up!


He is one cool dude.

Organizing all the army toys.

Mr. Jim was helping him on the Total Gym.

So Jaxen decided to help Mr. Jim and Nik carry the chair.


Jaxen wore this helmet pretty much all morning.
He loved it.

Who knew a soccer referee flag could be so much fun!

Jaxen wanted his snack of cheese crackers in a bowl and in the box.
He would eat one out of the bowl, and then would replace them from the box!