30 Months

As I've mentioned before... one of the purposes of this blog is to keep our friends and family up to date on our little man and to serve as a "memory book" sort of thing for myself.  With that said... my little boy is officially 2 1/2 (30 months) so here are 30 facts about him...

1. He's quirky to say the least. He likes random hats (the more bizarre the better), sunglasses, goggles... you think quirky... and it fits him to a T.

2. He loves to ride his bike.... and he ask to do it about 50 times a day. But how can I say no when he looks that rockin in his shark helmet and shades?

3. He finally.... at 30 months... has all of his teeth! This boy didn't get his first tooth until he turned one.... and only had 8 until about a month ago... and bam... they all came in at once!
4. He is a wild man for sure. 110% little boy. Wrestling and racing are some of his favorite activities. Luckily he has figured out that those games are more fun when Daddy is home so most of it only takes place in the evening when I can run and hid.
5. He, for the most part, is really, really easy to discipline. He doesn't argue much and will usually only protest once ("I don't want to clean up") but as soon as we tell him that's not a choice and he has to... he does. Hopefully this personality trait stays around for awhile longer!
6. He has a huge, huge heart. I can so much as look at him wrong and his heart just breaks. Precious boy.
7. He's potty trained!!!!  Almost...   He's been in underwear for a week now and is doing awesome. The only issue is with #2... which is typical for kiddos. He's even waking up to go potty and is telling us when we're out running errands and he needs to go.
8. He requires a lot of accessories at night time.... music box, puppy light, cars blanket, pillow, nahnees, cup of water, and usually 2 small toys.
9. He still loves his "nahnees"  (his blankets he's had since he was born). I hope this doesn't end for a very long time. I love it.
10. He also still loves being outside. He would stay out all day, every day if I let him. You can bet that when spring gets here I will.

11. He is starting to become a daddy's boy. I love it and I'm pretty sure daddy does too. He still wants me most of the time when he's tired or hurt...  but he certainly thinks his daddy is pretty awesome.
12. He loves anything Cars.... but just sort of loves the movie. It's the personification of the cars that intrigues him a lot.
13. He always has been and still is a little chunker. He has some major thunder thighs (thanks to a mommy and daddy who both had them as well). We actually have to go up a size in underwear (he has 2T/3T but we're going to have to get 4T) because his little booty and legs are so big.
14. He still has the strange fascination with school buses.
15. He's starting to come up with great excuses lines... like saying "I'll love it tomorrow" when he doesn't like something.... "My tummies full of ____" fill in the blank with whatever activity he doesn't want to do (pottying, cleaning, sleeping, etc).... and "______ said I need to" fill in the blank with Mommy or Daddy or Sophie (our dog), but really no one told him anything. This last one happens usually when one parent tells him no to something.
16. He's really goofy..... yet cautious and a thinker too.
17. He loves making his toys talk. They have really deep conversations with each other
18. Loves to fish (he's mommas boy for sure!)

19. Likes to pretend he's an airplane and "fly" around the house. He usually has mommy or daddy doing it with him. I make sure the windows are closed when this is happening.
Favorites:
20. Color: Orange
21. Food: Pizza
22. Fruit: Blueberries and Watermelon
23. Veggie: Corn on the cob
24. Book: Dinosaur Diner & Goodnight Train
25. Show: He is limited on TV still... but he really likes Bob the Builder and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Mommy doesn't like either of these so I try and encourage Barney. He loves Barney.
26. Drink: Juice (ugh).. he's limited to one small cup a day.
27. Song to sing: Wheels on the Bus... again with the bus fascination
28. Toy: A wooden Cars track he got for Christmas, unit blocks, and puzzles.

29. Animal: Dogs... he loves his "sisters"
30. Place to go: Mall and Reasors (grocery store with race car shopping carts)

Well that's my boy.... he's growing way too fast and it makes me super sad....

Dear Daxton

Dear Daxton,

Last Friday was the saddest day of your little life, one of the saddest of my life, and will remain in history as one of the saddest days for this country.

20 sweet babies, only 4-5 years older than you, the same age as your best friend/cousin Zain, became angels in a horrible, horrible tragedy.

Luckily you're little enough that it didn't phase you. While mommy listened to live coverage streaming online, you watched Rudolph with all of your 2 year old innocence.

Mommy cried.... and you watched Rudolph.

I first pictured myself being the parents waiting at the fire station to be reunited with their little ones.... only for that to never happen.

I then pictured you being one of the babies in that school hearing the things they heard and seeing the things they saw.

I then pictured mommy as a teacher in that school. Most people don't realize how much teachers love their students.  We love each and every one of those kids like they're our own. I never called the kids in my class my students, they were always my "babies". And this year, as I got a Christmas card from a little girl I first taught 5 years ago I told your daddy that it was a picture of one of my "babies". The kids in our classes are our babies for the rest of our lives. And I couldn't imagine that happening to my babies.

This weekend, I appreciated all the small things. I watched you play in your toy car and smiled. I watched you lay on the couch and watch movies and smiled. I watched you throw your body down on the ground in a fit, and still smiled.

On Saturday night you were up every hour. And each time I walked into your room half asleep, I was thankful. 20 families don't get to wake up during the night with their little ones because of bad dreams or not feeling well. I sat in the dark in your room and cried tears of thankfulness that I still have you, and tears of sorrow for heavens new 20 angels.

Mommy is still having a hard time dealing with the emotions. I worried about your cousins as they went to school today, I worried about my teacher friends as they returned to work, I worried about all of my past babies that are now elementary schools. I picture you as a 6 year old each time they show the faces of the sweet angels on tv. I worry about the future and your safety.

But for now I'm going to be thankful. Daddy and I left today to go out of town for interviews and it was hard.  I asked Melissa what to do, daddy what to do, and mawmaw what to do. You're not feeling well so that made the decision hard, but I think deep down it came down to me not wanting to be separated from you.... because 20 families are now separated from their families forever. We left and as we pulled out of the neighborhood I cried. But we can't live in fear.

I've called mawmaw about a million times already and I get to hear you in the background each time. I can still hear your voice and smile. 20 other families can't.

Daxton, mommy loves you very much. From loss, great things can come. For me, it's a better appreciation for the small moments in my life with you. Appreciating your fits, your tantrums, your cries in the night, your hugs, your smiles, and your "I love you"s.

Love you forever,
Mommy


Sleep in heavenly peace sweet angels. We will never forget.

Two Years Old

I have so many things I'm wanting to blog about and fill you guys in on but I've been sick and now little man is sick so we haven't had much extra time.
But I wanted to make sure I got a Two Year Old update in on my little man before he changed too much (cause boy is he changing and growing fast!)

At two years old....
* Dax is 90% in height and weight. No concern about him being chunky because he's tall too. If his percentage in height was lower then we would be concerned about a 90% in weight... but he's just an all around big boy (he got mommy's height when she was little and daddy's weight)   :)
* He sleeps about 11 hours at night and takes a 2-3 hour nap during the day. He tells us when he's tired, we go through our bedtime routine, and he goes right to sleep on his own.
* Says 4 word sentences like it's nothing
* Knows most shapes (square, circle, oval, triangle, diamond, star, heart)
* Can count to 9 completely on his own.
* Loves to wash his hands.
* Loves the vacuum.
* Is starting to soak in everything daddy does and imitates him.
* He loves Eebee's Learning Adventures on Netflix
* Favorite foods are Pizza, cheese sandwich, veggie corn dogs, watermelon, strawberries, cheese, yogurt.
* Favorite snacks are "hop hops", pretzels, and "bars".
* The boy drinks water like it's going out of style.
* Favorite books are Dinosaur Diner, Noahs Ark Big Book, and Little Quacks Opposites.
* He loves bath time and likes to lay on his tummy and "swim".
* He loves sitting on the potty and reading his potty book but has only actually gone a few times.
* He loves writing with pencils, painting, and cutting with scissors.
* He loves to be outside.
* He is still a HUGE music boy. If there isn't music on he ask for it and can sing several of our favorite songs on the radio.
* His favorite kiddie song is Wheels on the Bus
* Speaking of buses, he loves school buses and gets really excited if he sees a real one on the road.
* He's not a fan of bugs.... he says "shewing bug" and wrinkles his face all up when he sees one :)
* He asks, "what's this" and "what you doing" all the time. I love it.
* He is starting to use "me" and "my" when talking about himself.
* He holds a pencil the right way and can draw a vertical line and circle.... sometimes a horizontal line.
* His best friends at school are Blake and Parker and he loves his old teacher "Miss Cupcake"  (a name he gave her randomly... her actual name is Kaitlyn).  He started in a new two year old class this week with a new teacher.
* He ADORES his cousins "CheyChey" and "Nainer". He lights up around them.
* He still is very attached to his "Nahnee"  (his blanket)  and as of Friday no longer has his binky!
* His feet are huge.... 7 extra wide.... that's right.... not just wide.... extra wide
* He knows how to unlock mommy's Ipod, slide the screen, start and work with Eebee App. all on his own.
* He doesn't have just one specific sort of toy he likes to play with (cars, trains, animals, etc).  His interest change from day to day. If someone asked me what three things Dax just loves I would say art, playing pretend, and books...... those things keep his attention the longest. Maybe he'll grow up to be analytical like his mommy & daddy :)

Dax's Top 21

It's been over a month since I last posted! Sorry friends... I one, haven't had time... and two, haven't been inspired by much to write.  But thanks to another blog I follow I got inspired to post Dax's Top 21 in honor of him turning 21 months old (thanks Ivory!)

Dax's favorite....
1. fruit: blueberries & watermelon
2. vegetable: peas
3. drink: water
4. snack: "bars"... they're baby granola bars from Earths Best... and he goes crazy over them!
5. song to sing: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.... he does the motions and it's pretty adorable :)
6. song to listen to: "Hey Ducky"   It's a youtube music video and he's obsessed!
7. place to be: the lake!
8. thing to do outside: walk around and pick up sticks to give the dogs :)
9. thing to do inside: make a mess... I've decided it's his mission in life ;)
10. place to go: Target!  He loves riding in the shopping cart and goes "WEEEEE" the majority of the time
11. game: Tackle mommy and daddy. yikes
12. show: He doesn't watch much TV, but if he does he loves to watch Eebee (and it's one of the few shows I agree to let him watch!)
13. toy: A big ice scraper that was in my car... he calls it his "vacuum" and carries it around the house with him.... strange kid :)
14. animal: his puppies :)  But he's also a fan of fish and birds
15. word: "mine"... he's def a toddler!
16. way to make mommy go crazy: acting like his daddy ;)   He's extremely stubborn and strong willed... and it makes me want to pull my hair out sometimes!
17. person: Mommy when he's sleepy or sad... Daddy when he wants to play!
18. friend: Blake & Parker .... he has been in class with these boys for about a year and everyone calls them the three musketeers. He asks for them each morning and gets so excited when he sees them!
19. book: Llama Llama Nighty Night
20. thing to hate: Diaper changes... ugh
21. comfort items: "nah nah" (his binky) , "nah nee" (his blankey), and dino (a stuffed dinosaur he got for Easter).

Happy Friday Yall!!!!

20 Months

Woah... typing the title for this post seriously caught me off guard for a minute. In 4 short months and 7 days my little boy will be 2! How did this happen?! Just last week he was wiggling in my tummy.... and just yesterday I was planning his first birthday!  And now it's already time to plan his second birthday?  Yikes.
The past couple weeks have really hit me that he's getting big. He's now more a "little boy" than a baby for sure. But I'm not sure how I feel about that...

Only a few hours old...

Almost 20 months old...

 The conversations I can have with Dax now are what I feel blows me away the most. We have amazing back and forth conversations where we both understand completely what one another is saying. He's putting together great sentences, words are really clear, and he knows how to work the tonation of his voice to show a question and emotion. If he doesn't know the name of something he'll pick it up and say, "this?" until he gets an answer from one of us. Most of the time when we're in the car I'll jsut turn the radio off and talk with him. There is nothing more amazing to me than listening to his thoughts.

Daxton has such a loving heart. I know a big thing for Daniel and I both is to raise kids that are compassionate and empathetic towards others... and so far, Dax seems to get it. He has such a tender heart. He doesn't like to see others sad or hurting whatsoever. He worries about others. Daniel and I can't play fight because Dax gets really concerned. The other day at Smashburger Dax was watching a baby at the table next to us when it started crying. He started looking very concerned and saying, "baby" over and over. I eventually had to hold him and calm him down until the baby stopped. Precious. 

"Discipline" is so far so good for us. It's a word I hate to use but can't think of one to use in it's place. I don't think of it as disciplining him.... it's more us redirecting him, understanding where he's coming from, and helping him learn the appropriate ways to act. This is a big, new, scary world for him so we have to teach him the right ways to handle situations, not just "discipline" him for responding in a way that makes sense for him.   His two big problems right now are hitting and fits.  His hitting is usually a way of trying to play more so than hitting to be mean, so we just change our facial expressions and let him know "that hurts" and he is super, super quick to try a different way of playing. You can see in his face that he gets it. The fits I know are completely age appropriate. I usually just try to give him words to describe his emotions, take him to a quiet place (if we're at home) where it's less stimulating, redirect him, or just verify his emotions and then walk away and go about my business (once he sees he's not getting a big dramatic reaction from me he stops) .

My little boy has become quite the daredevil! Anything fast or high, or dangerous is something right up his alley... yikes. Him and daddy laugh... but I get knots in my tummy!  It must be a boy thing!

He's really into writing and painting right now. He also loves cars, books (this has never changed), baby dolls, his broom, phones, and balls. His love for music and nature continue to blow me away. He's fascinated with trees and birds. Music in any form, whether it's songs on the radio, a toy, singing songs, or playing instruments, is his passion.

He's a great helper!! If he finds trash on the ground he picks it up and throws it away, he has started putting his own dishes away (in the sink) after eating, and LOVES helping with laundry. He gets so excited when he sees me gathering clothes and says "laundry" super loud and will either 1) Pick clothes up and put them in the basket, or 2) take clothes out of the basket and start dragging them to the door of our garage (where the washer and dryer are).  He helps put the clothes in the washer, move them to the dryer, and then take clothes out of the drying and put in the basket. Adorable.

Super excited teacher mommy here!  This little boy can identify a circle and square! I was just drawing with chalk outside one day (and working with two and three year olds my "doodles" just happen to be shapes) and he asked "this?"  I told him once and he has them down ever since! Me and Daniel still get a little amazed each time he tell us.

Sleep is great for the most part. He's going to bed at about 7is, sleeps until 6 or 6:30, and is taking one 2-3 hour nap during the day. He's still putting himself to sleep great in his big boy bed! He has also quit taking his binky during naps at daycare (YESSSSS!) Next step will be at night.... yikes! He's in the middle of getting teeth so I'm not sure when that will happen. He just got his bottom molars (he's finally up to 9 teeth) and one other is right on the brink of coming in. Because of this we've had some restlessness at night... I'll be glad when teething is completely done that's for sure.


Well that's where our little man is now! He's getting way too big, way too fast.... but the process is so much fun! Tods and twos are my favorite ages so I'm loving every minute of it!

Godspeed Little Man

Today our little boy is 17 months old! I just realized that I haven't done an update on him for a month and a half and so much has happened since then!
This little boy makes me so, so, so incredibly happy. There are really no words to describe the feelings he gives me... all I know is I love them. No matter how busy or stressful my day has been, he can instantly make it better. It's incredible. He's incredible.
And he amazes me each day with all he's doing and how smart and loving and just plain wonderful he is (not that I'm partial or anything).  I know I sound like a ranting momma when I write these things but I just want to remember (in writing) all of the amazing things he's doing each month... because, boy, does it go fast.

* Dax is completely task oriented. It's actually pretty ridiculous. I often catch myself just shaking my head and laughing at the things he does. Things have a certain spot and way that they should go (this includes the food on his plate.... which should not mix).  And if you mess with it... he'll fix it. He likes toys and experiences that have a direct result and that allow him to really see cause and effect. He's fascinating to watch.
* He ways almost 27 lbs and is 31 inches long! Such a chunker!
* He's great at scribbling. And he doesn't like to use crayons or markers... he much rather work with pens or pencils (which I LOVE by the way!) I think he'll fit right in at his new school in the fall :)
* Talking is insane. Like literally out of control. He repeats anything and everything you say.  He has a huge vocabulary of words now that he uses regularly (like 20+) and combines 2 words often (occasionally 3). Even his teachers at school comment on how vocal he is. I guess his screaming fits at 6 months old should have been an indication that he was going to speak his mind as soon as he could! Some of my favorite things he says are please, thank you, nah nah, strawbees, puppy, and chey chey.
* He absolutely adores his dogs! He officially calls our big dog by name (Sadie) and our little dog "Puppy". He never refers to her by name.... just puppy. It's precious. He will also let me know when their dog dishes are empty... he's a good brother :)

* My parents came in town last weekend and we made our first trip to the aquarium. We loved it! Especially the parts where we got to touch things in the water!
* He loves school. Just loves it. When we pull in the parking lot in the morning he starts saying "school school" and tells everyone hi on the way in. At the end of the day he tells everyone on his way out bye bye and blows kisses. The other day his little friend Blake was watching me get Dax's coat on him to leave and Dax said "bye bye Blake" and Blake said bye bye back and then they started blowing kisses to each other. Melt.My.Heart.
* Points to his eyes, nose, ears, head, mouth, teeth, tongue, toes, fingers, belly, and hair when asked.
* The boy is strange. He loves hats, shoes, and socks. Most toddlers really enjoy just taking these things off.... but he insist on wearing them most of the time.
* He has started really liking to play pretend. He loves getting bags (or anything with a handle for that matter), keys, or daddy's watch and walk around saying bye bye. He also pretends his food is a car and "drives it around on his tray. Adorable.
* We have a potty we've began introducing. We are not by any means beginning the potty training process.... just trying to get him comfortable with it. He enjoys sitting on it and once actually peed in it. He knows the sign for potty now so that's pretty cool :)
* Temper tantrums have got much better. About a month ago they were hard core. Everything led to a melt down... at least it felt that way to us. I've really worked with him on validating his feelings and using words with him and encouraging him to use words and showing him that there are other ways to get help or tell me what he needs. We still have them every now and then and I just try to breath and keep my calm and remember why he's having them.
* He loves to brush his teeth.... and will do it multiple times a day on his own. Speaking of teeth.... we now have two on the bottom, two top molars, and his two from middle teeth! We are slowly but surely getting there. We also went back to the dentist to check his battle wounds from his fall at daycare (read about that here). She said one of them might be a little stuck but she wants to see him back in 6 months when it has grown in a little more to see if we need to talk about surgery or anything. Prayers that that doesn't happen would be awesome!
* Likes to play with buttons, dials, doors, pouring, and scooping. I think he's going to be like daddy in wanting to know how everything works.
* Food has been interesting. This boy is picky... but in a good way I guess. It's a blessing for sure... but sometimes it's not very convenient. Restaurants don't always have the healthy options that Dax prefers... and good Lordy
* Will tell you the sounds of a cow, sheep, horse, fish, dog, elephant, monkey, lion, tiger, bird, and crocodile.
* Sleep.... oh precious sleep. Between teething and being sick we've had a lot of sleepless nights. This last week (he had RSV... which I'll talk more about in a minute) I spent two night sleeping on the floor next to his bed... waking up every 30-60 minutes with him. It.was.awful.
* He's really exploring movement with his body. He's walking backwards, stopping his feet, spinning in circles, and has started the rave-like motion with his hands. It's so fun to watch him explore his body!

Ok... now RSV. Ugh. So a year ago (almost to the date) Dax had a his first few visits the ER with RSV. Well Tuesday evening he started running a fever (low.. like 101). I stayed home with him Wednesday and took him to the doctor. Well the doctor couldn't really listen to his lungs because he was crying (he now has a fear of anyone in scrubs or white coat) and decided that maybe it was a nasty cold, maybe turning into bronchitis (this wasn't our normal doctor by the way). We got some antibiotics and headed home. Over the next few days the cough continued to get worse, runny nose continued to get worse, ear were draining pretty good (thank God for the tubes or I'm sure we would have had another ear infection), his breathing got really labored, and his fever spiked to 104 a couple times. We both knew at this point that it was RSV again. It was the same exact symptoms as last time. On Thursday he actually didn't eat or drink anything but a waffle all day. It was pretty scary because he was showing some beginning signs of dehydration, but luckily Friday morning he began drinking again. The difference between this time and last time was that Daniel was now experienced enough and comfortable enough to assess Dax at home and treat him ourselves (for RSV there's nothing you can do but watch their breathing and hydration). So we began giving him breathing treatments a few times a day, Tylenol when his fever got high, and lots of fluids.  I guess Daniel knew what he was doing (shhh don't tell him I said that) because Dax is doing better. Fever is down, runny nose isn't as bad, breathing is drastically better, and cough isn't as bad. RSV is no fun (it's actually super scary to me) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will be the last time we get it!

A little overdue....

Well our boy is now 15 1/2 months old!! He's getting so stinkin' big way too fast! Here's a little on what he's been up to lately...

* Is 30 inches tall and weighs 26lbs.  That's between 10-25% in length and 50-75% in weight. Short and stocky.... that's our boy :)
* Will be getting tubes in his ears next Tuesday! EEK!  I'm nervous just for the simple fact that it's surgery.... but apparently they bounce back super quick from it and are feeling pretty good by the time evening comes. After 5 ear infections in a 6 months span.... I think I'll take the surgery over more ear infections.  At the ENT doctor he didn't do very good on his hearing test but they think that may be because of fluid in his ears so they'll test it again after the surgery. Prayers that no damage has been done so far!
* He runs ... all. over. the. place.
* He can now repeat pretty much everything we say.... including the work "sucka!"   Daddy learned that one pretty quick.
* He is still doing wonderfully at sleeping in his big boy bed. In the evening he'll often say "night night" and get his blankie and binky and walk back to his room when he's ready to go to bed. We do our bed time routine, walk out of the room, he'll usually play for a little while, and then will lay down on his bed and go to sleep.  Nap time on the weekends has gotten better but it has it's moments when it's still a  battle. I think his little body is slowly making the change to one nap a day so we'll be there before long.
* Food... boy does this boy love his food. His teacher comments on it pretty often too so apparently it's not just at home. His favorite things to eat right now are peas, veggie mini corn dogs, organic cheese pizzas, waffles, mandarin oranges, peaches, pineapple, berries, graham crackers. He's sort of weird on his veggies though.... he'll eat pretty much any veggie if it's pureed, but not any other way. I think it's a texture thing... in that case... he gets it from me ;)
* He absolutely loves to write! He carries pens and paper around the house a lot... it's pretty adorable.
* He loves to sing and dance.... and his dancing just keep getting better.
* His signing is really taking off. This was by far one of the best decisions we ever made. He now does milk, water, more, eat, please, swing, and help regularly. 
* Teeth... he is slowly but surely getting teeth. He now has the two bottom middle teeth, two upper molars, and one of the teeth that was busted through the gums on the top is now "usable" so I'm officially calling that a tooth now. 
* Christmas time has been super exciting for us. He's enjoying all the Christmas books and songs and lights and trees. He's been practicing his "ho ho ho's" as well :)

Well that's about it for our little man!!! This is my last week student teaching and then I'm off into the work of being a big girl.... I'll be posting on this adventure soon!

14 Months

Well our little man was turned 14 months on the 30th! Each month I get blown away at how fast the time is going.... and I'm not a fan of that.   Here's a few little updates on what our 14 month old is up to these days...
* Talk, talk, talk. This boy is quite the talker... at least around us. I think he is going to have my personality in that I'm more of a listener in situations where I'm not completely 100% comfortable. It takes me awhile to come out of my comfort zone, and even then I'm still not that big of a talker. But at home with me and daddy he talks our ears off. A few of his words he loves right now are outside, golf cart, bye bye, more, all done, bird, puppy, cracker, shoes, hello, hi, ball, book. And he makes the sounds of cars, elephants, monkeys, lions, and puppies.
* He has officially given his binky a name. It is now his "nah nah".  Where in the world this came from I have no idea! We have always called it his binky but for some reason he has named it his nah nah.
* He is still our little Linus. He loves his blankies!  In fact when we got home today I looked in the back seat and he was holding his blankie up by his head and leaning his head over on it. It's pretty adorable if I do say so myself.
* He's not only walking... he runs. Precious.
* He loves to sit on things. Like child size chairs or steps. Just anything his size that he can get on and off by himself is a hit with him.
* Still loves to read.... especially animal books and his night time story
* He would live outside if we let him. We spend time outside every evening. He loves finding sticks, leaves, rocks, and listening for the birds. I don't know what we're going to do this winter.
* Sleeping in his big boy bed is still fabulous! And he now quickly falls asleep after our bedtime routine each night. He's still going about 12 hours at night as well.
* His eating is getting much better again. We have finally up'd his menu from veggie corn dog nuggets, peas, and bread items to include ham, cheese, carrots, spaghetti, sweet potato fries, pineapple, oranges, and grapes. We're almost back to where we use to be! YAY!!
* Favorite toys at the moment:  Ring stacker, balls, his big yellow dump truck, play phone, his push popper lawn mower, and any sort of up or tube (i.e. toilet paper rolls) that he can put up to his mouth and talk into.
* He has become super lovable. He's always been a kisser, but lately he's become a snuggler too which I'm a huge fan of! He will lay his head on my shoulder or chest and pat my back. Sweetest.Thing.Ever.
* He's really funny... at least to us. He has figured out that he can do certain things to get us to laugh and he'll randomly look straight at us and do it. He occasionally throws it out at random ladies in Target too....
* He knows that when the dogs bark at the garage door daddy is home. He runs to the door and starts saying Dada over and over.


We had some major activities going on Sunday in the Freno house.... here's what they consisted of...

I guess daddy got inspired by all of momma's Reggio and Montessori talk and built this fort for Dax in the backyard out of sticks and string. I was actually totally impressed and Dax really likes it. He thinks it's pretty funny to go into. :)

Someone found his way into the dog house... and while he was in there found this patch of sunlight shining through. He was very intrigued by it. This discovery got my teacher heart going like crazzzy. I'll probably try and do some more light activities with him  pretty soon since he was so interested in it.

So Dax is very into trees and leaves and collecting things in the backyard. So Sunday we (as in the entire family) collected some things in our back yard and on a walk around our neighborhood and created these little jewels for his room! Since being outside is one of his favorite things I wanted to bring a little nature into his bedroom. So I used all of the materials we found... even the two sticks, and tied them all together with fishing wire and hung them over his bed. He really likes it.... and so do we :)

We then took all of the left over things we collected and put them in a basket in the living room for him to explore on his own.

I also added this basket to the living room. It's a collection of all the random things Dax has found around the house. He obviously finds them interesting for some reason so I wanted to keep them all together so he has access to them whenever he likes. Some of the things are toilet paper rolls, tiny flashlights, a cell phone case, a pop bottle, the cardboard from around baby food, a door stopper, and an accessory to my blow dryer. Weird stuff... but to Dax they're treasures.

So super long post but a lot has been going on around here lately. Look for another one soon on my conference I attended this last week.... I'm super excited and super inspired.

Naptime Update

Hello all of my non-creepy readers!!  Sorry about having to make reading the blog a tad bit more of a hassle with a password but a super, super creepy happening took place a little too close for home with a friends blog so I decided it was time to make this one a little more protected! Plus... I might as well make you guys work a little for all of the cute little boy pictures and tips I put on here ;)

Here's a quick update on what's been happening in the crazzzzy world that is our life this semester...

Me....
So I have two weeks left in my second grade classroom. Geez louise has the time flown by!  These last two weeks I'm teaching the class 110% of the time so prayers for me as i step into my new role!  Second grade has really grown on me and my class and coworkers are simply amazing!  I've survived second grade without being eatin alive but I think my heart is still with pre-k!  I have a class on Tuesday evenings that is kickin my tushy!!  It is a research class and it is IN-TENSE. It is taking a lot of my time. It's suppose to go along nicely with our student teaching.... but I feel like it is taking away from the experience a ton.  I am so wrapped up in getting stuff done for this research project that I can't give student teaching the attention it should require. It's pretty frustrating. But overall I am enjoying my time and my confidence has come back. One thing this experience has confirmed for me is that public schools aren't for me. I had always thought this but actually being in one has set my mind even more. I love the kids, love the teachers, but don't love the way the system works or their approach on education.Yesterday I took the last of my licensing exams. I'm waiting on the results of the last two (OSAT & OPTE) and if I passed I'll be on the last leg of being a certified teacher in Oklahoma :)

Daniel...
Daniel has now completed his time with OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and this week has started Psych. Luckily his schedule has yet to be real bad  so we've all been able to spend some time together each evening and on the weekends. I know things won't stay this way for long so I'll just enjoy it while I can :)  As far as what he wants to specialize in he's still undecided. I think he does know for sure that he rather work in a hospital setting than in an office. OB/GYN was actually really interesting to him.... and he's for sure not going to do pediatrics or psych. I think his heart is in surgery and if I was making bets on it I think that's what he'll end up doing.

Daxton...
Well I'm not going to post a whole lot on him because I gave you guys a pretty good update in the last post. But he's just as awesome as ever :)  He has the funnest personality and now makes this face at you when he wants you to laugh at him

He is signing more, all done, eat, and has done water a couple times. He has also started saying a couple 2 word sentences, "all done", and the other day "hi dada".   Our little piggy though has decided to become little mr. picky butt and only eat a select few things. Even things that he use to love he has decided are just disgusting. In my 13 month email from babycenter the other day though it mentioned this exact thing may be happening and that it's only a phase..... so I'm just waiting for that phase to end!  I also think he may be teething again which is a bummer but good thing all in one. This boy also loves his Mawmaw!! She came to visit us for a couple days and he was just in heaven the entire time.... I think he thinks she hung the moon... and I think she thinks he did the same :)

We also had a little parrot run loose in our house the other night.... I think we'll keep it :)

Our 12 Month Old

So it's pretty depressing not having as much time to blog anymore as I did this summer.... but tis life I guess. Well since our last post I have started student teaching (which has gone great and I am gaining my confidence back day by day.. more on that on another post), Daniel is finishing up his weeks of Pediatric wards (which he has decided is way to depressing for him), Dax has is still a rock star at daycare (I'm pretty sure he's a fav among the teachers), I have started my class on Tuesdays (which is going to be the DEATH of me), and then there was this little known event called, Daxton's first birthday!!!

That's right folks... I have a toddler.  Here's a quick run down of where our boy is at 12 months (that feels much easier on my heart to say than one).

* Walking... all. over. the. place..... and with this walking brings even more disaster to the house. I thought he was into everything before.... yikes... that's nothing compared to now.
* We are down to our morning bottle (which is going to be hard to break.... we both love that time a lot) and the rest of the day is finger foods, the occasional puree, milk, and water.
* As of yesterday he has two teeth! I thought we were going to have to buy this boy some dentures but turns out he just likes doing things on his own time :)
* He has a girlfriend at daycare..... they're often seen playing together and I caught them holding hands at the snack table yesterday....
* He just talks and talks and talks. He mimics pretty much every sound now and is super good at mimicking the tonation of your voice. It's pretty fun.
* It sleeping so, so, so good at daycare!! He takes an hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon!! This is way better than he ever slept at home! And did I mention it's on a cot?? Such a big boy! Bedtime is still great. He goes to bed between 6 and 7:30 and is up at about 6:00 in the morning.
* His favorite toys right now are balls (especially his ball pit), dump trucks, books, blocks, musical instruments, walking toys, and anything with a door that opens and closes. Bubbles are still one of his absolute favorite things too.
* His little personality is so funny. He's getting where he laughs at himself and will do things just to get you to laugh at him. His favorite thing right now is to pretend like he's eating. He'll hold food up by his mouth and make a smacking noise and laugh. Pretty. Cute.
* He is quite the dancer now and has moved on from the raise the roof move to full on bouncing my body.
* When we go outside of look out the window he looks up at the trees and says, "bird". Melts my heart.
* He has a yucky virus starting the end of last week until yesterday. Started with tummy nastiness and moved on to a nose that dripped like a faucet, sore throat, congestion, and coughing. Thankfully that's over.
* He will randomly walk up to you and lay his head over on you and say "awwww". It's. adorable.
* He's a climber. He tries to climb on anything and everything he can.... so daddy and I got him a toy made just for that for his birthday (more on that later too).

Here are some recent pics of our 12 months old....

sweet boy...

Mommy & daddy's entertainment

Dax's favorite hang out

My newest nephew Kason Ryan!!

Big boy on his birthday!!

Almost a toddler

Our little boy turned 11 months old a couple days ago. So now, in less than a month, he'll be one. He'll officially be a toddler and I don't think I'm ready for that. Here's a little run down on where he's at at 11 months...
* According to our scale yesterday he weighs 22.8lbs. He's fitting 12 month clothes perfectly right now and is in size 4 diapers. We usually have to move up sizes in pants in diapers sooner than usual because his little thighs are so fat everything gets super tight on them.
* Walking. He will walk a couple feet before he gets nervous and sits down. I really think he could just take off but I think he freaks out and decides to go back to the trusty crawling.
* He has always responded to signs when I've done them or just said the word but this month he actually signed "all done" to me when he was finished eating... without me even asking him to. :)
* His form of waving before was flopping his entire arm up and down but now he has the "open, close hand" wave down and it's super cute.
* He says a lot.  But my favorite thing is what he calls his daddy.... "gah gah".  He has yet to say the 'd' sound which has me sort of freaked out b/c that's usually the first sound a baby makes. It has me so freaked out that I plan on asking the doctor about being tongue tied when we go for his next appointment.
* His little personality is getting cuter and cuter. Has has the funniest facial expressions and he now thinks that he's the funniest thing there is. He'll be crawling around the house or riding in his car seat and just laugh and laugh at himself. It's really funny.
* Still no teeth.... sighhhh. But there is a pretty good bump on his lower right side so maybe one soon?
* The not having any teeth isn't stopping him from eating that's for sure. In the last week we have really up'd the finger foods and have been able to cut a bottle out. He's now doing 3 bottles a day and we're transitioning into whole milk by giving him a sippy cup with half formula, half milk at all of his meals. He also loves his water and likes going over to the table, getting it down to get a drink, and then putting it back up.
* His favorite toys are ball, cars (esp. dump trucks), blocks, books, stacking rings, the dog bowls, and playing in the pot and pan cabinet in the kitchen.
* He's fast... super fast. And disappears in the blink of an eye. I can usually find him in the bathroom or in my closet. He will also go back to his room and play on his own too which I think is so cute but sort of makes me sad that he doesn't need momma to play with him all the time.
* We're still at 2 naps and for the past week he has been putting himself to sleep at nap time. It is usually a pretty big process of me going in and out to lay him back down and comfort him but it's dropped from being a 45 minutes process to about 25 minutes. It's still a work in progress but I'm happy with how it's going and that we were able to do it without making him cry it out.
* He's super, super lovable and will randomly walk up to me and kiss me. He also loves to kiss his books... especially the pictures of monkeys and dogs.  He's a pretty big fan of mommy and daddy kissing each other too and will smile super big and then give each of us a kiss. I love it. :)
* Since Saturday he has been fighting a nasty summer cold and I'm afraid it may be starting to settle in his chest (everything he gets tends to do that ... the doctor said that's probably because of his TTN he got at birth that put him in the  NICU for a week). So his little cold has turned very yucky sounding.

Well little man starts back to daycare in 2 weeks and I'm super sad our time together is coming to an end. I could def do this stay at home mom business all the time.... maybe one day :)  Here's a picture of our not-so-little 11 month old playing in the rain/mud for the first time

So I know it's not the normal time for updates on Dax (usually once a month) but he has done so much in the last week that I feel the need to write about it... in particular to keep our family updated on his life. So if you're not ready for a little mommy bragging than I would skip over this post ;)

* He "dances"! WOOHOO!! It's not quite the stand up dancing yet but he holds his arms up in the air and flaps them while he bounces his body. It's pretty cute. It's also his go to anytime he gets really excited.... which lately has been a lot.
* Walks with his new walking toy! He does so good.... when he wants to. He has now figured out that he can push it around while on his knees so when he's feeling lazy that's what he does. He gets really excited while he's doing it and talks/screams the entire time. I highly recommend this toy at target for $17.

* Our little dare devil will now let go while he's standing up and stand all alone for several seconds. It catches me off guard and I get way excited everytime. He also tried to take a step while doing this a couple days ago.... was unsuccessful... but tried. I'm afraid we're going to have a walker before i'm ready! He also was squatting on the ground the other day and stood up without touching anything. Wowzer...
* He's really into cars and makes a car sound now when playing with them! He especially loved this little dump truck we had and would try to put toys into the back of it but it was so small they wouldn't stay. So today we bought a BIG dump truck at Target and he's in loading heaven!
* Naps are sooooo much better! We switched to 2 naps, one at 9:30 and one at 1:30. They last anywhere from 45 minutes to 115 minutes. This is huge improvement from his previous 30 minutes naps. Those were not working for momma or baby.
* He's eating everything! He has done absolutely amazing with table food and I'm so proud of him everytime he eats! I was really worried the first few times b/c it seemed he didn't like any table food but puffs.... but he will now try anything and loves it. As far as finger foods go he has had, pasta, peas, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, cheese, strawberries, peaches, mango, and butternut squash. He has also tried kiwi and bananas but isn't really a fan of those. He'll eat them purreed.... but not at finger foods... it must be a texture thing :)
* He might be a bit OCD... like his mommy :)  He has an obsession with putting toys/food/whatever he can get his hands on into buckets/bowl/dumptrucks. For example, I had layed out 6 pieces of butternut squash on his try. He put them all back into the bowl and then ate them. And like I mentioned earlier... he loves to load up his dump truck with toys.
* He absolutely will not go to sleep if his feet are covered up. This has been going on for awhile but has become even more evident lately while putting him down for nap. He will kick and kick and kick until he gets the blanket off of his feet.
* He has finally got the stage where he puts everything, and I mean everything, in his mouth now. I have taken away plastic, grass, leaves, fuzz, paper, and the skin of garlic and onions. I.Am.Terrified.


Well that's it for the mommy bragging. Lots of exciting post coming soon with all of my arts and crafts activities I've been working on lately! Get excited!

Our 18 Month Anniversary

Well yesterday my little man officially became nine months old! It was sort of a big deal to me because  nine months is how long this precious little miracle grew inside me, and now he has spent nine months eating, sleeping, talking, learning, and exploring in this world we share! We have had a beautiful 18 month relationship and I can't wait to see what the next 18 hold.
Here's a little update on what our nine month old little boy is up to these days...

* Crawling like a mad man. He's super fast and gone in the blink of an eye. He has also decided to branch out and explore on his own now and a couple times I have found him wondering into the kitchen or bathroom all on his own.
* Pulls up and tracks like a pro. He's been pulling up for awhile but he has just now mastered getting down. In fact, it's pretty much is favorite thing to do now.... stand up, get down, stand up, get down. Oh the simple things. He is also tracking between pieces of furniture and has started getting brave and doing it with only one hand. I'm afraid he'll be walking before we know it!
* He is just fascinated with drawers, doors, and cabinets.... leading to lots of smashed fingers! :(  He doesn't get into the things in the drawers or cabinets, just simply opens and closes them over and over.
* He really enjoys the game "I throw everything on the ground and watch people around me pick it up". Mommy is not such a fan.
* His favorite toys right now are a shape sorting cookie jar (that he loves opening and closing), a rubber spatula (lol), the dog bowls (eek), and his little wagon that he really enjoys flipping upside down and investigating the wheels.
* He's really into books right now and loves looking at them. He's a boy after my own heart <3
* Sleeping is going great. He sleeps from about 6 or 7pm until about 6am without making a sound!  Right now he takes about a 45 minute nap at like 9am, 1 1/2 nap at around 12pm, and a 30 minute nap at around 3. I'm hoping to start trying to get into two naps here before long... but we'll go with the flow and right now his flow is screaming for 3 naps :)
* Food, oh food. It feels like all I do is feed this boy! He has fruit and cereal or toast in the am, veggies for lunch, and yogurt and fruit for dinner. He also munches on puffs, yogurt melts, or mum mums when he needs a snack. We're starting to do a few finger foods now because all signs from his little body are saying he needs to! So far we've done banana, kiwi, toast, and cheese. He does absolutely awesome with them and deciding what to do and when is so stressful!
* He says "more" and "momma" and knows exactly what they mean! I love it and still get so excited when he says them! He knows what "all done" means but hasn't signed it himself yet and he also knows who "dada" is but hasn't said it yet. He is making some of the funniest sounds now and I love listening to him "talk"!

That's all the updates I can think of now but I'm sure I'll come up with more as soon as I sign off from here :)   Look for a post soon on how we're settling in and some pics of how the house is going!

8 Months!

Well in three short days Dax will be 8 months old! Wow! We'll be in Bixby painting the new house then so we're doing his 8 month update now :)

* Boy does this little man love his food! He's having a 6 oz bottle every 4 hours, 2 cubes of fruit and cereal for breakfast, 2-3 cubes of veggies at lunch, and a protein for dinner. The protein switches between tofu and a veggie, or yogurt and a fruit.
* He also munches on Organic Mum Mums and Organic Puffs, both of which he LOVES. We're working on picking things up with his finger and thumb and actually getting it to his mouth. He picks it up pretty good... but getting it in the mouth isn't quite there yet.  He does really good with the Mum Mums and will hold it all by himself and take bites off of it.
* He's drooling and fussy at times like he's teething... but no teeth poking through yet!
* Sleep is going really great! He's been going to sleep at about 6:30 or 7:00pm and sleeping until anywhere between 5:45-6:30am. He'll usually wake up at about 4:45am but the desperate side of me wishing for one more hour of sleep before I have to get up for work puts him in bed with me and he goes right back to sleep.
* He's officially a crawler! He's so stinkin fast! He still rotates between the lizard crawl and actually crawling but whatever he does it's quick. If I want to see him crawl all I pretty much have to do is open the front door and he takes off as fast as he can to it! This includes climbing up a small step from our living room to entry way! I was way impressed the first time this happened... who am I kidding... I'm way impressed every time this happens!
* He likes to spit now. lol.  Another little one in his class at daycare started this and now Dax does it all the time! It's really cute right now but I'm sure the first time he does it with food in his mouth it wont be so cute anymore!
* Makes all sorts of crazy sounds... but still has yet to say Dada, and only says Mama when he's crying.
* Naps are going awesome and all of them are in his crib now! We turn on his sound machine, pat his butt for a couple minutes, and he's out for the count! We actually just packed the swing away and it was sort of a sad day :(
* Dax wants to stand up all the time! He has pulled up successfully a handful of times on his own but is constantly trying to pull up on anything and everything he sees! Even when he's crawling he gets his legs under himself and tries to stand up.
* Bob Marley still works miracles for him...
* His favorite toys right now are baskets that his toys go in, plastic Easter eggs that I put beans in and sealed, Scout (of course), his sensory bottles, and a small tin bucket I found the other day. Who needs all those fancy expensive toys when you have things like buckets, baskets, and water bottles??
* He has had mango, pears, applesauce, peaches, banana, plums, avocado, butternut squash, sweet potatoes,  tofu, parsnips, zucchini, green beans, peas, broccoli, yogurt, and blueberries. Up next are honeydew, carrots, and some new fruit... any suggestions??
* He's in 6-9month clothes and size 3 diapers during the day and 4's a night. His pants are starting to get a little short... but the next size up are still too big in the waist... so lets just say if a flood comes through Dax is prepared :)
* And possibly the most exciting part for me.... I def. recognizes when I sign "All done"!!  A couple days ago when I signed it he automatically started reaching for me to get him out of his seat. I thought that maybe it was coincidence... but he has done it a couple more times since them! yay!!!

 Well the next couple weeks are going to be sort of nuts for us! We'll be making trips to Bixby this weekend and next to paint and clean the house, next week is my last week of work, I'll have one week at home to finish up getting things done, and then the big move! Eek!   Continue keeping us in your prayers as we face all of the changes coming our way!

Happy Wednesday!!!

27...26...25...24.....

The count down is on..... 27 days until the big move. YIKES!  This is coming way too fast and I'm not ok with that! And I'm sure those 27 days will go just as fast at the last month has....  *big breaths*

Starting with last week we have so much going on all the way until the move! Thursday I went to my adorable nephews t-ball game.

He's pretty darn cute in that uniform... but I think he rather find every rock on the field than play ball itself. His nickname is Rocks because that's all he does when he's in the field... search for rocks. You can usually find a back pocket full of rocks by the time the game ends. Thursday night while we were there he hit a home run and was very proud of himself... as was I :)

Dax loved watching the boys run around on the field.... maybe we have a future ball player on our hands??
Friday was, well Friday... therefore, we busted out the ole' moon bounce in the Superstar room...

 

With my time quickly coming to an end as their teacher I'm doing as much as I can to get lots of smiles and fun memories in with these kiddos... boy how I'll miss them!

That night we had dinner with some amazing ladies that I work with to celebrate baby Teagan coming soon! We had so much fun and lots of laughs... plus good food... what could go wrong??
Saturday my wonderful husband watched the baby for  a little while so I could meet a couple girls that I went to school with for lunch! The last year in college I got super close with 3 special ladies and would have gone completely insane without them! They also gave me the cutest baby shower when I was pregnant and I thank them so much for that!  Anyways, I got to meet two of them for lunch at the old stomping ground (The Mont) for lunch! It was SO much fun to catch up with them, reminisce on good times, and talk about our crazy lives we're all living now. I also found out that there will be a new little on come November and I couldn't be happier for Mr. & Mrs. Martin :)     It was really refreshing to get out with friends and not worry about all of the stresses going on right now in life!

So this week includes Easter festivities at work all week, completing my applications for Grad School in the fall, getting the house clean (the landlord is showing it to a potential renter Thursday), Easter egg hunt Saturday morning, niece & nephew birthday party Saturday afternoon, my going away party with work ladies Saturday night, and Easter on Sunday. Man oh man! After that is my birthday, a week of work, a weekend in Tulsa painting the new house, my last week of work (tear), and then the big move! Wow!

Dax is handling all of this chaos like the little trooper he is! Since the last post he officially got his first haircut!

 

BEFORE...

 

and AFTER...

His aunt Kelly did such a good job! My little baby is becoming such a big boy!

He also now how mastered the lizard crawl. For those of you who are asking, "what exactly is a lizard crawl?".... I like to think of it as a step up from the army crawl. Unlike the army crawl.... all four limbs are moving in the correct motion instead of just his arms... but it isn't quite a crawl because he just drags his belly on the ground while doing it. It's surprisingly effective and he gets around pretty quick. Today he actually crawled like a normal child for the first time for a few seconds... but then quickly went back to the lizard.

He's also now making all kinds of fun sounds and is really quite funny. He makes me laugh.. a lot. Especially when he does things like this...

We've also started some snacking/feeding ourselves in the last week! He does so good chewing on his puffs, frozen yogurt bites, and mum mums and LOVES getting to eat them. The mum mums he has mastered eating on his own but we're still working on picking up those tiny puffs and yogurt bites on our own. And I'm one happy momma because I was able to find all three of these things in organic form.... I was like a kid in a candy shop!

Also, a big "winning" moment in the Freno house right now is that all naps are now in the crib!  YESSSSS.  Before he was only napping in his swing when at home and he was quickly out-growing that!  Now we lay him in his crib, tell him night-night, turn on his sound machine, he plays for about 15-20minutes, and then he's asleep. Every once in awhile we have to go in there and pat his butt for a minute but usually he does pretty good just going to sleep. 

Happy Sunday!!

Life in the Fast Zone

Man time has been flying!!  (hence the extremely cheesy title).  We now have a chunky 7 month old that is in full on teething mode (yay for a new milestone... not cool for mom and dad and baby). We took Dax to the doctor again this week for what we thought may be another ear infection. He had gained a pound in two weeks! WOW! He's up to 19lbs, 5 1/2 oz! Such a little chunk! Luckily there was no infection.... only allergies and teething. He now takes allergy medicine everyday so hopefully that helps out! We've also been chewing on lots of fresh frozen or cold fruits to help out with the sore gums and Dax LOVES it!
Also since the last post... we found a house!!  This was such a weight on our shoulders and finding has made things much less stressful! It's a three bedroom, 2 bath house in Bixby, Oklahoma. It's on a half acre lot with a big back yard and lots of trees for the dogs. It has a fireplace (a must for daniel and I) 2 car garage, and a big covered patio. We're pretty excited. Finding this house has definitely made the idea of moving an easier one for me so hopefully as time goes I'll get more and more comfortable with the idea.
So my very best friend in the entire world is a pretty awesome blogger ... you should check it out ourlovelystory .  She does a ten on ten where on the tenth of each month she post ten pictures from that day. I LOVE this and plan on starting it myself. Since I don't have ten pics from today my first ten on ten will be ten pics from the last month ... ready.. set... go.

 

A couple weeks ago our theme in my class was Bugs. One day we made bug eyes using egg cartons and pipe cleaners. The kids LOVED them and it was pretty darn cute to see them running around the playground with them on :)

 

These are the other two rugrats of the house, Sophie and Sadie. They're my other children and I love them as if they only had two legs and didn't stink.  Look how cute they are?? They're def. enjoying all this spring weather!

 

Hopefully this is a sign that getting Dax to do chores will never be problem. He loves the vacuum cleaner. He'll jump out of your arms to try to see in and just smiles at it. Oh the little things...

 

This was Dax's first experience with frozen fruits and as you can plainly see he loved it. He was quite the fussy baby and pulling on his ear this evening so I assumed it was his teeth hurting. I put some frozen cherries in his mesh feeder and he went to town! He was quite the sticky red mess afterwards but his little gums felt much better.

 

Such a man... such a man. Two of his favorite things... being naked and the tv remote.

 

We had our first zoo trip Friday and had so much fun! Dax loved it! He and this gorilla had quite the stare down for the longest time. His favorite animals were the monkeys, deer, and sea lions. 

 

This was after our zoo trip lol. Daddy and Dax were both pretty wore out and I walked into the room to find this cute sight :)

 

More soothing of the gums went on yesterday. We went for the less messy alternative of a fresh cut pear from the refrigerator. Dax was in heaven! He loved this just as much as the cherries.

 

We're in the process of transitioning Dax from taking his naps at home in his swing to in his crib. He takes his naps at daycare in his crib and will soon outgrow his swing so crib it is! He does really well! He'll usually play for about 15 minutes and before he ends up falling asleep. It's a lot of fun to watch

him over the video monitor. During his 15 minutes of play time he has figured out how to pull the bumper down so he can peak through the bars of the crib and take a peak at what else is going on in the room. Today he got caught in the act.

 

The beautiful sky this evening! I really think Oklahoma has some of the most beautiful evening skies possible! This evening after Dax went to bed Me, Daniel, and the dogs enjoyed the perfect weather outside and I caught this gorgeous picture! What a way to end the day!

Hope you enjoyed my first ten on ten! Next time I'll try to get ten pics from that day.... try at least :)

An Update on Life...

So I realized that I haven't had a real, solid update on our lives lately... so here's a quick run down on Dax, work, family, moving, and life in general... enjoy :)

Dax-man

Dax had his six month check up yesterday. At 6 months and 22 days he now weighs 18lbs, 5 1/2 ounces. He's 27 inches long and head circumference is 45cm. He's 59% in length, 56% in weight, and 85% in head circumference (big head lol). He has had a cough for about 2 weeks now and for the last several days had a runny nose and runny eyes. We had also noticed a couple days prior to his appointment that he was playing with his ears so we were unsure if he had an ear infection or had just found his ear. Well come to find out he has an ear infection AND an upper respiratory infection. yuck. The poor little guy just can't breath and has a horrible cough.  He is now on antibiotics, Tylenol for the pain from his ear, and breathing treatments as needed.
Other than being sick, Mr. Man is doing so good and growing just way too fast! He now can get up on all fours for a few seconds... but then falls back down lol.  Rolling around is still his main form of transportation. He is exploring with his voice so much and I just LOVE it! He currently has two favorite sounds.... a real high pitch screech that he does with his mouth shut, and this really fast, chipmunky giggle. lol They're both pretty awesome and I'll have to try to catch them with the camera to share with you guys. Our wiggle worm still refuses to sit up for longer than 30 seconds at a time. He much rather be rolling around or standing. If you try to sit him down he'll instantly start turning or he'll stiffen out his legs so that he stands up. I think it is very likely that he'll crawl... and possibly stand... before he decides to sit up on his own.
Sleep.... oh sweet precious sleep... has FINALLY returned to us! You can't hear me but I just sighed really loud after typing that.  He isn't quite as awesome as he was at 8 weeks... but is WAY better than he has been the past few months. He is now going to bed at 7:00pm and waking up at 6:00am. Usually during the first hour or two after he falls asleep we have to go in there a couple times and give him his paci back, and some nights at about 3:30am we have to do the same thing. Those times literally take like a minute though so it's not so bad. Much better than the every hour he was waking up before.
Dax is on this amazing schedule that he does NOT stray from and I love it! We didn't really push him into a schedule, it just sort of happened with our daily daycare/work routines. It is really pretty nice to be able to know what he's going to do at what time (for the most part). We even went out of town for four days this past weekend and he still stuck to his schedule.  Dax's day right now looks like this... Wake up & bottle at 6:00, get to daycare at 7:00, cereal & fruit at 7:30, bottle at 8:30, nap at 9:00 for about 30min- 1 hour, veggies at 11:00, bottle at 12ish, nap around 12:30 for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, bottle at 2:30 or 3:00, get home from daycare at 3:30 and play until about 4:30, then a 30 minute nap. Bottle at 5:30, cereal at 6:30, and start our bed time routine at 7:00.    I love it and it works out SO well for us.

Work

All but two of my precious kiddos! The cutest 8 girls and 4 boys you'll ever meet!

Work is so great and I absolutely ADORE my kids! They are truly a group that LOVES learning and it's amazing to watch them. I do a name writing sample each month with them and they have amazed me looking at the difference in the past 5 months! The last couple weeks we have been talking about Going Green and they have just taken off and ran with the idea! I love hearing them remind one another to "take care of our Earth"... it literally melts my heart... and I love seeing them run to the recycling box with their paper, put it in, and look so proud of themselves! Three and four year olds are amazing and I don't know if I'll ever be able to teach another age!  Almost every child in the class can now properly identify all uppercase and lowercase letter of the alphabet and numbers 1-20. Many can also write those letters, and several can tell you the sound that each letter makes. I get a little sad each day when I think about leaving those little stinkers in a month and a half :(  May 6th will be my last day there and I can pretty much guarantee there will be tears.

Family

For the 100th time..... I have the best family in the world! We recently all just spent 4 days together at the lake and it was just perfect! We spend the entire 4 days playing games, laughing, talking, and just simply hanging out together. There's never a dull moment. I also really love the lake b/c I get to spend quality time with my nieces and nephews that I wouldn't get to otherwise. My nephew Kole spent a loy of time haning out with Daniel and I. He is becoming such a GREAT young man and I know there are big things in hid future! My niece Brinyn is so great with the younger kiddos. No matter how old she gets she still finds time to spend with and hang out with them doing things they love. I think she'll make for a great teacher one day. My niece Cheyenne is the biggest diva around.... that can also talk more smack than a grown man when playing games! She is just hilarious to watch! And my nephew Zain is one of the most lovable, ornery, hilarious little boys you'll meet. He's fully of hugs and kisses all the time... for no reason whatsoever. One of my favorite moments this weekend came when his mom (my sister) was nagging him for picking at his sister. He leans over and kisses my sister on the cheek and says, "there, will that make you shut up?"  I laughed SO hard! It was simply brilliant!  I love them all!


Moving

Well, I can't same I'm glad and happy and excited about it... but I can say I've come to terms with it and am preparing myself and family for the move. I know it's for the best and I am glad I get to support my wonderful husband in reaching his dreams, but it's still hard for me. Prayers would still be appreciated.



Well... that's life... I hope you enjoyed :)