Jon's 29th Birthday

Jon is 29 and so fine! :) Happy birthday to one of my most favorite people in the world ever!!! I am so grateful he was born and we found our way to each other. I felt so bad because I had the flu the day before and on Jon's birthday. We did make it to the movies the day before Jon's birthday and saw the Avengers (thanks Brooke, "Auntie", for watching our crazy, separation anxiety ridden monkey). Thankfully I did make it to the store and was able to pick up stuff for his cake and make it. Kind of felt like a dead beat wife but Jon reminded me he had the flu on my birthday last year. Apparently we are starting a new tradition of having the flu on each other's birthdays :). Good thing we are pretty easy going about that kind of stuff at our house!

7 Months!!!!!

Okay I was just getting used to Jaxson turning 6 months and I blinked and he turned 7 months! It is killing me how fast my baby is growing up. :( He is truly at such a fun age and we are enjoying him so much. Well, most of the time ;). He does have a little terror side to him, which drives me a little bonkers but Jon has told me the zoo will not take him, so we are going to keep him :). But in all seriousness he is a sweet little guy, with a wild adventurer heart!  Here are some of favorite moments/things over the last month.

-He is the busiest little boy. I don't think I have sat by someone without them mentioning what a busy little guy he is. And it's so true! He is usually climbing up me or reaching for a million different things or trying to roll/crawl away (he can't crawl but in his mind, he totally can!). I love seeing him take such an active interest in EVERYTHING around him.
-We have a family picture on our TV stand (we have yet to baby proof!) that Jaxson loves to hold and touch it. We go through the picture and I point out momma, dadda and him. He loves it and always smiles and then tries to put it in his mouth.
-He loves, loves the Watson's turtles, TT & Tyrone. Seriously could watch them for hours.
-He gets stuck all the time! Right now when he wants to get some where, he rolls, pushes off stuff, pulls himself forward, pretty much anything other than crawl to get there (thank goodness!). This usually results in him getting stuck....A LOT!
-He had his first two real babble words. The first being momma, which he has said a two-big-whopping times and dadda which he says about a million times daily.
-You can tell he is a first child because sometimes I will look over at him and he will be holding his own hand...it's so cute. And it's even cuter when I look over and he is folding his arms. Never during the prayer but cute none the less.
-He still loves books before bedtime. He loves to turn the pages and then smack them. He also loves a very animated story teller, which results in giggles and tushy jumping.
-He loves, loves, loves SOLIDS!!! The kid literally smacks his lips when I am getting his food ready or bellows and hits his high chair.... depends on how hunger he is. He would seriously have nothing but solids if he could. He now thinks milk is for the weak. I swear this kid kills me!
-He thinks sitting is for sissies. I work with Jax everyday, every awake time on sitting. The kid doesn't like it. Sure he will do it if I sit behind him. Not touching or supporting him, just behind him. But if I stop being his cheerleader for one second, he finds something he wants just a little bit further away, flops on to his tummy and pretends to crawl, usually in a circle until he finds something to push his feet off of or something to grab, pulling himself forward. And if the kid is pretending to crawl, he is pretending to walk. He loves to stand.
-He has started doing something I adore. Before his babbles kicked in and he was more or less just making lots and lots of noises, he started a silent babble. He would (still does) puts his hand or a few fingers in corner of his mouth and move his little jaw up and down. We don't know if he imitating us talking or chewing. He laughs every time he catches Jon or I chewing food, he thinks it's the funniest. Now that he is babbler, he switches between silent jaw talking and babble jaw talking, either way I think it's so adorable! Probably my favorite thing he does right now. :)
-He thinks everything is a toy. If the light is away in his room, the crib suddenly becomes a toy used for squirming, lots of giggles and peek-a-boo. If his high chair is unbuckled (supervised of course), the buckles become an instant toy, usually going into his mouth. If we put him down on the couch, it becomes let's see how close I can get to the edge. The kid makes everything fun for his little world.
-We also through a HORRIBLE cold! I think it's the third one since he was born, but the worst  by far. The poor kid was born congested. This one sent us for a doozey, we even debated whether or not he had allergies because nothing seemed to help. We did a lot of steam showers, nasal spray, aspiration, mommy cuddles, rocking, etc. The saddest part is we still can not get him sleeping at night the way he was before. Which means our house is really, really, really tired.
-He has decided he is done with his third nap (which he should be, despite what his 7 month self thinks). So Jon and I are being tortured with a 4 to 5 hour stretch at the end of the day where he won't nap. We have tried everything but the kid is STUBBORN. Yes, I know, what did I expect, being so stubborn myself. But I wished for a child more like Jon, not me :).
-Jax loves being outside. Seriously would stay outside all day, every day. He is happier baby outside. He loves going on stroller walks, he loves standing on the balcony watching the birdies, he loves swinging at the park and he loves swimming. We recently took him swimming for the first time at the pool in our complex and it took him a couple of minutes but in no time he was splashing and kicking away, loving every minute.
-He has a major case of separation anxiety. I was really hoping he would skip this stage but unfortunately he has it bad. It's getting a little (I mean just a smidgen) better with time. I hate it because he is such a happy, social baby, flirting with almost every lady he can find when we are out and about doing errands but as soon as Jon or myself leave the room, it's the end of the world. Sometimes when he is really out of sorts, he doesn't want to be held by anyone other than us. Thankfully we have a lot of people who are willing to sacrifice their ears with the crying so he can hopefully get over it sooner rather than later.
-The kid loves Elmo. Now has he every watched Elmo, NOPE. But does he love him so much, YUP. We have one toy with Elmo on it and it's his favorite. He smiles every time he hears his voice. I swear it's hard wired in kids to love him.
-There are a lot of things that remain the same....he loves his jumper more than anything, loves to watch himself in the bathroom mirror as well as the mirror above his car seat,  love tubby time and splashing, loves to relax in his swing holding both feet out with his hands (best ride ever!), loves rolling around the big bed in the morning when he wakes up, loves mornings, loves his binky, I honestly could go on and on if you couldn't tell. :)
***All and all we love this guy. He has such a sweet spirit. He is physically tough, inquisitive, tender hearted,  and loving.

Jax's @ 6 Months, 5 Months, 4 Months, 3 Months, 2 Months & 1 Month  

Oh Walmart....

About every other time I go to Walmart I leave with a bad taste in my mouth. The biggest issue being entitled and rude people! I really do try and let every one and their mamma merge in the aisle and let people with a couple items go ahead of me. Now I know I am not perfect but I know how I feel when I leave Walmart and I don't want others to feel that way. So just when I was convinced Walmart brought the worst in people I was proven wrong. One day, when I was particularly worn down and Jax refused to sit in the cart, I encountered the kindest people at Walmart. One gentleman moved two or three times for me when I encountered him in the aisles and was so kind about it, smiling and waving at Jax as I held him. And the real kicker was a lady that helped me unload my cart at check out. I told her I was okay when she offered to help and she said, "I know you are okay and you can do it, but the great thing is you don't have to do it by yourself, I'm going to help you." She made my day and made me smile. How grateful I am for people that take a few minutes out of their day to help others. I was the beneficiary of one such kind deed and I couldn't stop thinking about and feeling so grateful. I hope I can be one of the people that takes those small moments to help others....something to work on! :)

Mother's Day

It was my first official Mother's Day! Yes, I had the belly bump last year and have always had a mini-momma inside me, but this year we have the monkey mister! Oh how grateful I am to be Jaxson's mom. He is a mover, jibbe-jabber, crazy little monkey but he makes me and my life better. While his crying might make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, his smiles make me feel like I must be doing something right and his giggles put me on cloud nine.  What a special and divine gift it is to be a mother (in any shape or form) and how grateful I am to my own mom. She is such an amazing women, an example of perseverance, kindness and unconditional love. Throughout my life, she has been a constant stream of support and love. I know that I am a better mother because of the mom she was to me and the woman she chooses to be everyday. I am also very appreciative of my sisters and other women in my life. They are all so amazing and great examples to me and again help me to be a better mom.

Trafalga Fun with the Fam

 

I love the way the kids played mini-golf. Seriously I could barely keep up with them because they were "playing" so fast. I think the adults were 9 holes back! :) The pictures might not be the best but with how fast they were moving, it's a miracle there were any!!! :) But definitely a fun adventure, as always.

My 28th Birthday

I am going to brag a minute and say I have the best husband ever! He took work off for my birthday and planned a day of fun. After Jax slept in (wahoo & happy birthday to this mommy) and finished his first nap, we headed up to City Creek so I could pick out a birthday gift and go to lunch. Well because we are currently building a house and all I can think about is decorating and buying stuff for the house (that I am cheap!), I wasn't able to find anything worth getting. But we did have a great lunch at Kneaders and picked up cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory on the way out. After City Creek we headed up to the outlets in Park City to see if we'd have better luck on the birthday gift. I did find a couple of cute shirts, which made this lady happy. As we headed home Jon spilled the secret that he had gotten me a massage for that night. And it was the best massage ever, topped off by birthday cheesecake when I got home! Also a couple of days later the celebrations continued and we were able to go a date and see a movie (our favorite past time). Big thanks to my Mom and sister, Shauna, for watching our monkey. He has some major separation anxiety that we are praying gets better and are grateful for those dates alone!! Happy 28th Birthday to me and while I don't love my birthday (I really don't like getting older and this is the first year the mirror betrayed me and is showing my real age), I am grateful for the people who help me celebrate it! :)