Lots of Pictures!!!

Brent has been working a lot, he started his surgery rotation the Monday before Christmas and has been working an average of 14-15 hour days. He is such a hard worker the hardest part is most days he leaves before Jaxon wakes up and doesn't get home until hours after Jaxon is in bed. Unfortunately Christmas Eve was no exception, but he was lucky enough to get the whole day off on Christmas. That was the first time since he started this rotation that he was able to see Jaxon while he was awake. We had a great day together as a family and then we went to a friend's house for dinner. Jaxon's first Christmas was so fun, he loved the wrapping and tissue paper, and boxes. He also loved all of his fun new toys. Here are a few pictures from Jaxon's first Christmas.

9 Months

Time just keeps going by way too fast, Jaxon is already 9 months old. He is so much fun and he is very busy. He loves his beanie and he is really pretty good about keeping it on when we go run errands. He is getting so big, I'm excited to see how big he really is at his Doctor's appointment next week and I'm excited because this appointment there won't be any shots!

It's a Parade

We live in such a fun neighborhood. As I was sitting at the computer tonight I keep hearing a honking noise, it sounded a lot like a semi truck's horn, sure enough that was exactly what it was. They had Christmas music cranked up and were driving up and down the streets honking their horns. There were only about 5 or 6 but it was fun to see and they were very festive.

Santa!!!!

We decided since this will be Jaxon's first Christmas that we would go to the mall and splurge a little and got a picture of him with Santa. As we were waiting in line Jaxon was all smiles, then as soon as Brent put him on Santa's lap the smiles were gone. This was the best they could get out of him before the crying began. Our option for pictures was this one or one of the back of his head as he turned to look and see who was holding him, then he started to cry. He was so sad he wouldn't even take the candy canes that Santa was trying to give him.

Snow Day

Saturday it decided it was going to snow all day long. I'm not a big fan of the snow or cold weather, but I decided that I needed to get over it because it wasn't going to stop just because I wanted it to. We all got dressed in our nice warm clothes and went out to play for a while. Jaxon really seemed to like it except that he couldn't get down and play in the snow so he and I only lasted a little while, just long enough to make a pathetic looking snowman.

By the time the snow finally stopped we ended up with about 4 or 5 inches, poor Brent went outside to shovel the driveway but luckily we have a very nice neighbor who happened to be out cleaning off his driveway with his snow blower and was kind enough to come help Brent out.(This was before our neighbor came to help; Brent had been out there for about 20 minutes and not even half the driveway cleaned off. Then after 5 minutes with the snow blower it was completely clean). Then on Sunday the sun was shinning and it was warm all day so now the snow is almost all gone.

We also had a Tacky Sweater Party at our friends house this weekend, which was tons of fun. There was lots of yummy food, a white elephant, and of course all of us dressed in our finest.

8 Months

I love this cute little man so much. Everyday is so much fun with him. Jax is 8 months old now and doing so much. One of his favorite toys is still Patyon food container, other favorites include any box that he can get his hands on and the patio door.

Yesterday we spent at least a good 20 minutes hanging out at the door watching the snow fall and the cold wind blow. Jax just had a blast giving the door lots and lots of kisses.

Brent and I decided since Jaxon's hair has filled in pretty nicely that we meaning I would let it grow out for a while to see what it will look like. I have been giving him a haircut every month for the last 6 months, and every time I took at least a good half inch of hair off. Let me just say that I didn't think it would be this hard for me, but everyday I see all the little hairs that I have to brush behind his ears and it drives me crazy, also it is getting a little too long on top to try and style it. At least I thought so, but Jax and Daddy think that it is fun to do it for church.

Jaxon is really doing great, this last month he has started to clap his hands, which is so adorable. He will clap and then look at you with the biggest smile just waiting for your approval. He also loves to give mom big slobbery kisses on the cheeks. He loves to get into trouble too, he will sneak off down the hallway to try and pull books off the bookshelf, or try and sneak into the bathroom or office if I forget to close the doors. As I mentioned before he really likes boxes especially big ones that he can push and walk with all over the house. This last week I also decided to start trying to get him to sleep through the night. I was getting up with him about once a night still but I decided to let him calm himself back to sleep. So far it has worked pretty well, two of the five nights he has slept straight through the night without waking up. The other three nights he has waken up once each night and will cry for 5-30 minutes and then is asleep for the rest of the night. It is going a lot better than I thought it was going to, and I am handling it much better than I expected. I hate hearing Jax cry, I always feel so bad so the first night when he cried for 30 min. it was a little difficult for me but it is getting better. Brent continues to work really hard in school and Jaxon and I are just having fun hanging out at home together.

Trying Something New

This is how we've had our TV set up ever since we got married and it has worked well until the last couple of months. As you can see the DVDs were right in Jaxon's reach, which didn't bother me, but his constant need to pull himself up and play with the DVD player and TV, and trying to crawl behind it to play with all of the cords is what drove me crazy. I was getting his fingers out of the VCR part of the DVD player and taking him away from all of the cords in back at least a few dozen times a day. So I have been looking for a new TV stand that was wider so it would reach the wall that way he couldn't get behind it, and something taller so he wasn't trying to hit the TV anymore, and something a bit more sturdy. This cart was a little wobbly, I was getting nervous that the TV was going to fall over. I also needed the new stand to be pretty cheap. Well after lots of searching I wasn't able to find anything so instead I decided to take a dresser that we already had that we weren't really using right now and refinish it and use it for the TV. I was a little nervous to stain the dresser because I've never stained anything before, but I think it turned out ok.

Jax loves to watch football!!

I forgot to get a picture of the dresser before, but this is a nightstand that went with it, so it looked like this...

Now it looks like this. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not but I think I do, plus now it matches with the rest of our furniture in our livingroom. We left the old hardware on it for now but that can be easily changed. I love that now Jaxon can't reach the TV or the DVD player and all the DVDs are put safely away in the drawers for now anyway, I'm sure it won't be long until he figures out how to open them, but I think I'm ok with that. I also redid our kitchen chairs but I'm not sure if I'm going to do another coat of stain on them or not so I haven't moved them back into the house yet. I'll post those pictures when I'm all finished.

Tough Guy

These days Jaxon is all over the place and pulling himself up on everything. He is walking along side the furniture and loves to push boxes and containers around the house as he uses them to help him walk. Well with all this comes many falls, lucky for me Jax is a pretty tough guy. For the most part he just needs a hug and a kiss from mom and he is off again, but the other day he had his first big fall. He was playing at our patio door and his hands slipped and I thought he had just bumped his head a little. Well I ran over and picked him up and gave him his hug and kiss and then the screams really started (which is not like Jax) so I was telling him he was ok, while I was giving him a hug then when I pulled him away to get a good look that's when I saw that Jaxon had blood running all down the side of his face. It took a while to get cleaned up and the bleeding to slow down enough to see just how bad it was. In the end all he needed was a band-aid, binky, his blanket and mom to hold him for a while. I have to admit that when I first saw all the blood on his face I was pretty freaked out, it really amazes me how much blood such a small cut can produce. After about a half hour or so of cuddling with mom he was back to his usual self and ready to play.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween, we had a fun night at our ward Trunk-or-Treat. There were lots of kids and we handed out tons of candy. Jaxon was Superman again but Brent and I decided to go as Napoleon Dynamite and Deb (as in Glam shots by Deb). I have to say Brent did a fabulous job, he makes a great Napoleon. I love Halloween, getting dressed up, the candy, and seeing everyone else all dressed. This year was a fun one!

It's a me, Mario!!!

Some friends of ours had a Halloween party the other night and we all got to dress up. I had already started getting Jaxon's costume ready before I knew that Brent and I would also be dressing up this year, so not all of our costumes went together. Next year I will plan better so that we all go together a little better.

I saw a really fun Woody (from Toy Story) costume for Payton, but Brent didn't think that he needed it. It's probably true but I I still think it would have been cute. Maybe next year???

7 months

Jaxon is now 7 months old and busier than ever. He is all over the house and loves to get into anything and everything. He discovered the alphabet magnets on the fridge and that if he pulls himself up with the door of the fridge he can pull them right off and scatter them all over the kitchen floor. He now knows that he can pull off the mixing bowl set that is kept on the kitchen cart and they make great toys.

Now he is off to make a mess somewhere else.

He still absolutely loves Payton, he lights up every time Payton comes in the room. He is really good about sharing too.

He loves Payton's toy frog and plays with it whenever he gets the chance.

I was telling a friend just the other day that being a mom is the best job I've ever had, it is definitely the hardest and most demanding at times but I wouldn't trade it. I'm grateful that I am able to get to stay at home with Jax and watch him learn and grow. He gets into everything and loves to make messes and I love every minute of it.

On The Move

These days Jaxon is always on the go. He loves playing with the door stops, Payton's food and water (which mom hasn't always been fast enough and he has dumped both out a few times). He also enjoys exploring Payton's house which Payton likes to guard. He is also pulling himself up. He is just so busy and loves getting into everything.

Behide Bars

Normally when I put Jaxon down for a nap I'll turn on some music for him, give him his blanket and binky, then we rock in the chair for a few minutes, then I put him in his crib and let him fall asleep on his own. Typically it takes him just a few minutes and when I don't hear anymore noise I go to check on him. Well today I was doing something when I heard him quiet down so it was about 20 minutes before I went to check him. When he is still awake he is always talking and laughing to himself and the frogs on the crib bumper or crying. So imagine my surprise when he has been in his room not making any noise for the last 20 minutes and I walk down the hall and find this...

Jax has recently figured out that he can pull the bumper down and see out the sides of the crib. So he will crawl to the end by his door and pull it down a little to see whats going on.

Jax is getting so big.

Look who is sitting up all by himself!!! Just in the last few days Jax has learned how to sit up with out any help from mom. We had his 6 month doctors appointment this week and this kid is getting big. He is 16 pounds and 26 inches long. He also got shots, 4 total, which he like his mom hated. Unfortunately we have to go back in 4 weeks to get one more (the second half of his flu shot) and mom will probably also be getting hers as well. Let's just say I'm really not looking forward to it. Brent was lucky enough to have already gotten his flu shot and just last Saturday Payton and I made our annual trip to the vet where he was also tortured with shots. So by the end of October the whole family will have had their turn and everyone will be taken care of for a while.

Just recently Jaxon has decided that he likes to suck his thumb, I've found that he is particularly partial to his right one. This morning his hand was stuck inside of his pj's and that didn't stop him from shoving his thumb into his mouth pj's and all.