Better…But Not Great

I wanted to give everyone a quick update on us here…

Jaxen is still having bad diapers. Although he finally did eat today. He has not had a fever and acts fine…but whatever kind of bug he has, it is really hanging on!

And then I got a small dose of that bug today. No fun. Crackers and sprite for me.

Pray for Nik. He cannot get sick! He is preaching on Sunday and needs to stay well. He had to make a store run for wipes, Pedialite, and diaper rash creme. Basic needs. And then had to take care of Jaxen tonight while I went upstairs and rested. It was a hard day - being sick myself and still changing dirty diapers!

In other news….

A sweet lady passed away this week from our Church in Temple. She was always such an encourager and prayer warrior for us. She will be missed.

And Nik’s uncle Gary passed away this week as well. Please pray for his family during this time. My fondest memories of him were playing games during the holidays. He loved playing games and was competitive just like me!

And our sweet niece, Kyleigh, turned one this week!

Oh, and it’s snowing. We are only expected to get a few inches.

That is all for now…

We have some plans this weekend but we will see how everyone is feeling. So far, Jaxen and I have had to cancel friends coming over for dinner, a play group, bible study, watching a friends baby and Wednesday night church. Bummer. I’m ready for some normal life again!

A First

Last night was a first for us in the parenthood realm. Jaxen woke up sick. And by sick I mean vomit.

I heard him whimper for just a minute - and then it stopped.  Then came the something-is-wrong-cry. Usually when that cry comes, he dropped a blanket or something trivial along those lines. Nik woke up and told me it sounded like something was wrong - I agreed but instead of getting up I said: "I would get up and take care of it, but I just don’t want to get cold". (No awards to me for super-mom in that moment. Haha.)

Thankfully, Nik is awesome and got up to check on Jaxen. I'm not really sure what happened in the room, but I think Nik may have made contact with the vomit. I heard my name called and up I got. 

I will spare you the details of the vomit. But it took us both awhile to clean up. 

Long story short and minus details it happened 3 more times last night.

After awhile, Nik was in the guest bed and Jaxen and I were in our bed (with towels under and over him). We all finally got a little sleep. 

So, that was a first. Jaxen has never been sick like that. And definitely not during the night. 

He was still not great this morning. We had 8 dirty diapers in less than 3 hours - if that tells you anything. Poor boy! 

So that meant lots of Lysol, laundry, cleaning, washing hands, lotion on those hands, diaper rashes and movies (Toy Story 2 - twice) this morning.

Comfy on the couch watching a movie. 

I put him in the bath before nap time and it seemed to perk him up a bit!

And then…

He had an incident in the tub.

Again, a first.

 Finally, nap time. And he slept really well for a little over 2 hours.

After nap it was a few more cuddles while he finally put down 

a little liquid and a few bites of cereal.

Once Nik came through the doors, the energetic Jaxen returned…and has not stopped since.

You can tell he does not feel good still, but is starting to act more like himself.

After dinner - Nik told me to go to my favorite gas station (on the other side of town)

to get me a soda. It was nice to be gone for 30 minutes. And my soda is yummy!

It is about bedtime for Jaxen (and myself). 

I hope this little bug is gone and we can have a normal night and day tomorrow.

Sunday Selfies and Other Pics

I forgot to include our Sunday Selfie from 2 Sundays ago...

And from this past Sunday...

And a few other pics for your enjoyment…

Those toes.

Those eyelashes.

That icicle.

Just an evening nap while Nik tends to the fire.

That bed-head and smile.

An afternoon snack - apple and granola bar.

Thursday

Thursday started off as a semi-normal day.

Except Jaxen woke up at 6:45am. Should have been my first clue.
Thankfully, I was able to put him back to sleep for awhile.

Then I woke him up at 9:15am. Should have been my second clue.
We headed off to Bible Study.

I had to carry him to the car - he would not walk. Should have been my third clue.

Bible Study ended and we came back home. I let him watch a show while I prepared lunch.
When it was ready, he came to the table….

And threw his food off his plate. Screaming.

I don’t even know…

It just started. Quick. And went downhill from there.

I couldn’t even try to get him to eat, because he did not want what was on his plate and he thought it needed to be completely off his plate and out of his sight (and done in a not-appropriate manner).

I am all about time-outs and even spankings - but this was beyond that. I can’t even explain it, but it was like he went crazy for about 20 minutes and didn’t even know what he was doing. He was so irate at one point that he almost fell out of his chair because he was acting insane (no better word). It scared him enough that he let me pick him up and comfort him and he finally calmed down.

Once calm, I told him his food needed to stay on his plate wether he ate it or not. And then he chose what he ate off of it. Some days I push him to eat what I want him to. Today I just wanted the food to stay on his plate and not be thrown off!

All was well. Finally.

Until after his nap.

He woke up and I always get him a cup of juice and normally a snack. The minute I handed him his juice he started screaming at me (top of lungs, red-faced, shaking) kind of screaming. After awhile I realized he wanted a different juice.

No sir. Not with that attitude.

Again with the insanity. (For 34 minutes)

In his anger (I had left him having a tantrum in the kitchen) he learned to open the fridge! He brought me the juice he wanted from out of the fridge. I laughed so hard (inside) because he has been trying to open that fridge forever now…and he finally figured it out - in a fit of rage.

He kept throwing his juice cup and trying to open the juice bottle and I was not having it. Time Out. And again. And again.

He finally calmed down long enough for me to take him out of time out and change his diaper and clothes and put his shoes on him (we were headed to a basketball game soon). Then he remembers his  juice.

Repeat.

I think he finally realized he was not getting the other juice until he finished what he had. So he settled on his juice with some cereal and a banana.

And then he dropped his banana. And refused to get down and pick it up.

Thankfully, no screaming. Just crying and whining.

All is well. Again. 

Then I gave up my parenting duties for the day. Nik took over. And we headed to a basketball game!


Thankfully, days like that are few and far in between! Friday and Saturday have turned out to be pretty good days for him.

Nik and I have been pretty low key this weekend. I went out Saturday morning and helped a lady clean her house - and earned a few extra bucks. That was nice!

Tuesday

Here are some pictures from our Tuesday…

I taped some paper down on our table and throughout the day Jaxen and I colored all over it!

Jaxen is really into banana’s right now (and apples). 

The other day, I went upstairs to change and not long after, here comes Jaxen…

carrying all these bananas! He wanted one right then!

After being cooped up in the house I decided to take Jaxen to run the mall.

Our first stop was the game room - where Jaxen had to touch and try out everything!

And then we went to the bathroom and washed his hands!

We walked one length of the mall then stopped for a snack before heading back!

Window-looking is a tiring sport I guess!

He ran his little heart out and by the time we were almost to the end,

his pace slowed waaaaay down! I thought I might have to carry him out!

Once home, he decided to try on my boots and Nik’s gloves. Funny boy.

Jaxen is so funny sometimes.

And he wants to be just like his daddy.

Example:

Nik was putting on his shoes and proped his foot on this chair.

While he was doing that, Jaxen grabbed the other shoe and tried doing the same thing!

Too bad he was too short. 

He pushed Nik over, and climbed right up!

This kid likes to play “Nap”. Thankfully, he still takes real naps!

Snack time!

I decided to work on some fine motor skills. 

Play-do with spaghetti stuck in it, and cheerios - a fun afternoon activity and snack!

He kept “blowing it out” like it was a candle. Ha ha!

Almost done. Look at that concentration. He did such a great job with this task!

Now…time for the snack part!

That night, Nik had a meeting - so it was just Jaxen and I.

Jaxen put together this train track by himself (minus connecting the last piece together)!

Also -

“Here You Go” is his new favorite phrase and uses it all day long for everything! Example: When I told him I needed to change his diaper, he laid down for me - “Here You Go”. Then after I pulled the diaper off of him, he opened his little legs right up - “Here You Go”.

The last couple of times when Jaxen has seen Nik put on his coat as he is getting ready to leave - Jaxen runs to the door and opens it for him. Also saying “Here You Go”.

These are some great moments I don’t want to forget. 

There are not always great moments.
Stay tuned for our “Thursday”.

EXACT OPPOSITE KIND OF DAY!

My Blog Journey - Happy Blog Birthday!

January is my Blog’s Birthday. Happy 4th Birthday, Blog.

I have recently had some new readers (I only know who a few of you are…but the number of hits to my blog have risen, so I’m assuming I have new readers!) and I’m so happy I do!

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine people reading my blog - especially because I’ve always been told I write how I talk. Which means, it’s probably not grammatically correct at all! And it’s hard because I’m scared of what people will think after they read something I’ve written. True statement. Will they think I’m a bad mom or terrible wife or that I’m trying to make them eat flaxseed (my sister)….you get my drift. It can be hard to be open and real with a random page on the internet.

When I first started blogging, I really just thought it would be fun and I thought our families might get a kick out of reading about our life. Plus, it is really cool that I can go back and see what we were doing this time last year, or the year before. I love going back and reading old posts. Some posts were serious with updates on our life and others were just fun…what I was wearing or my favorite new candle. It was fun having a blog.

Then I became pregnant and I realized that this blog was the best way to keep our families informed on the pregnancy and it made the distance-gap not quite as distant. Get it? It helped to know that they knew what was going on. And honestly, it was much easier to write a blog post and update after doctor appointments to let everyone know how I was doing than to call each family member. I know that sounds bad and lame, but it’s the truth. It was easier. And they were able to watch Jaxen grow in my belly!

And then, once Jaxen arrived, this blog became less and less about anything other than him. It was filled with pictures and updates! Again, just a great way for our families to feel connected with us, and us with them because we knew that they knew about our kid. Not just weekly 10 minute phone conversations.

Now that we have moved so far away from both our families and friends - and in (what I feel sometimes is) a whole different world - I try to use this blog to not only update on Jaxen, but on us as well. Our life here. And sometimes that includes real thought-provoking posts and sometimes it is me bragging on the beautiful colors of the leaves, or showing many snow pictures. It is our life and I want to share it with as many people as care to read about it!

That being said, I love blogging, but wish every single one of our family members and friends would do the same thing! So if you are a secret blogger that I’m not aware of…please tell me - I would love to keep up with you through the blog-world!

And if you are a blog stalker (whether I personally know you or not) I would love to know who you are (I stalk blogs as well)! So leave me a comment and say Hi. Because I actually only know of a very few people (outside of family) who keep up with us on here.

So - that’s my blog journey. In case any of you wondered why I blog or how I started!

A Bit of Random

I bought this new mug last weekend. It was on sale and I’m a sucker for cute mugs. 

Like the huge marshmallows in my hot chocolate? It’s all I had. Ha ha!

Sunday Selfie. I think this is my new favorite picture of us.

I love his sweater. And hair. And him. I mean. CUTE, right?!

Guess what is in Nik’s job description here, that was not in Temple? 

Shoveling snow off the roof of the church! Seriously. This snow is crazy!

Jaxen was finishing off some of my hot cocoa the other day and it started spilling the minute I snapped this pic!

Mom-problems, right there. He was doing so good…!

Monday morning, I kept this cute-4-month-old for a few hours.

Rachel was so good and sweet. Just like the rest of her family!

Funny pics from Jaxen - 

Good thing this boy takes a nap everyday!

Speech Therapy 103

The day Jaxen turned 2 1/2 - I was on the phone, making the calls to start the process for Jaxen to have another speech evaluation.

Jaxen has improved and even says a few more words/phrases than the last time I posted an update. However - he is still not there. So I made some calls.

His evaluation was today.

And the official reports have not been submitted, but one of his evaluators (he was evaluated on speech, language and development) told me that he did definitely qualify for some speech therapy.

That made me very happy! I know he needs some help, and I’m so thankful that he will finally get it.

The whole process is a bit draining on me. Lots of questions, lots of information, lots of listening and watching your child - wanting to help and push - but just sitting there, allowing another person to evaluate him. I’m probably making it more dramatic than it was. Oh well.

Now we are waiting on reports to be submitted, a committee to meet, and then they will schedule a meeting with me to work on Jaxen’s individual plan. That should all happen within a couple of weeks. Yeah!

On a different note…this cracked me up this morning - so I took a picture to show you.

See number on bottom right. 1.

At 7:54 this morning, it was 1 degree outside.

I found that funny for some reason.

What is not funny - is how cold 1 degree is! It is freezing here!

What I Have Been Up To

After seeing all those snow pics, you are probably wondering what I’ve been up to here lately (since I  have basically been trapped inside for a few days!)….

I have unpacked from our trip.

Caught up on laundry.

Taken down and put away all our Christmas decorations.

Our mantle looked bare - so this is my “winter mantle”.

Complete with a picture of Nik and I from our snowy days in the mountains :)

I have rearranged Jaxen’s playroom to make room for a few (large) Christmas presents he received.

And tried to organize the rest of our house (which always means moving a few things around).

I was tired of seeing an open shoe rack in my kitchen everyday, so I took this shelf from Jaxen’s room and moved it into the kitchen. Now we all have our own “shoe bin”. And I just have to put up with the snow boots while they dry out. But that’s ok. It looks better than before. Plus, what do you think of my new sign?! I think it is kind of fun!

So I have been pretty busy!

It has been really nice though, to have a few days to recoup after a trip. Normally, we hit the ground running and I have really enjoyed those few "snow days"!

Jaxen has been tuckered out since our return. He is happy to be home and is having a great time playing and running around everywhere but I think he has been exhausted. The whining, not listening, or obeying have been turned up a few notches!

This is Jaxen on Thursday. He fell asleep the minute we put him in the car to run a few errands.

So we let him sleep and I just ran in a few places and grabbed what we needed!

Friday after his nap, he stood in this spot, and told me all about his dreams.

Complete with hand motions!

 After bath, we had a visitor -

This is Matthew. He was visiting some friends here and stopped by to see us!

Jaxen has enjoyed having his playroom and TV back.

And of course, he needed a snack before bed.

And if you are wondering…Yes, Jaxen stays in footie pajamas 90% of the time.

It’s cold here, people.