Cute cards from Shutterfly!

I am so excited about these cards I just made at Shutterfly!  I was able to have them sent directly to the folks who live far away plus made a few extras for upcoming local birthdays.  So easy & very personal!

Birthday Lime Birthday 5x7 folded card

Shop birthday cards and invitations at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Conversations with an (almost) two year old

Actual conversation with my almost-two-year old one morning while I was still in bed:

JP: (crying, just barely)
Me: what's wrong?
JP: I cryin
Me: I know you're crying, why are you crying?
JP: I sad
Me: yes I gathered that, why are you sad?
JP: (pointing at the TV and no longer crying) Star
Me: (mumbling) I'm going back to sleep.

Next day at bedtime:

After reading Goodnight Moon as we do every night (lights are already out and he is tucked in)
Me: Goodnight Jaxon
JP: Good Night Ma Ma
Me: (awww first time he's said that) good night sweet boy
JP: Good Night Mama
Me: Goodnight
JP: Good Night Mama
Me: okay buddy go to sleep
JP: Gooood niiight Mommmy
Me: *sigh*

During snuggle time before bed the next night:

JP: (laying on the bed between Jack and I, points upward) Hi Fan!
Fan: (no rsp)
JP: whatcha doin Fan?
Fan: (no rsp)
JP: (turns to me) ceiling fan!
Me: yep that's the fan
JP: (looking back at the fan) eyes. Nose. Mouth.
Me: nope the fan doesn't have eyes, a nose or mouth.
JP: Hi Fan!


-- Post From My iPhone

No Resolutions

Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath.  Today, we are a pious and exemplary community.  Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.  ~Mark Twain

I can't believe how fast January flew by already!  Even though I tired of all the talk of resolutions & goals on every tweet, blog & Facebook status last month, January really does seem like a good time to take stock of your life, your dreams & make goals.  Jack & I have never really jumped on the resolution bandwagon but this year I'm really trying to make some improvements in my life primarily to reduce stress.   Since I have a hangup about 'resolutions', I held off on this post for a month which gave me more time to think about it and make plans for the year.  It also gave me time to see how quickly I can get off track just like everyone else!  

"What does this have to do with the baby and where are the pictures?" you might be thinking.  

Well, the pictures are mostly still residing on my camera (bad mama!) or worse, I've been lazy and thought I'd just get the pictures from the other people in my life (my brother & uncle have the best cameras, yes I'm jealous.  Oh Papaw, if you are reading this, I need some pictures from our trip to Alabama *grin*).  But I do have a few here to appease everyone since we all know a post without a picture is no fun. 



Now to the point, I have plans to change this blog and that is part of the reason that I have not been putting effort into it these last few months.   


What exactly are my plans? Well that is still in the works.  I can tell you some of the ideas though.

1.  Close or move the blog: Many of you followed me here from our infertility blog.  During our 'adventure' in infertility, I blogged about the process, my feelings, and fertility resources.  I had a passion for it at the time (and still do to some extent, I add posts there occasionally still & often tweet/FB about fertility).  Of course we finally got pregnant & it became a pregnancy blog.  Again I had a passion for it.  Once Jax was born, we came here & though I love my little guy.. I am no longer enjoying blogging here.  It's come to feel like I'm trying to document his life here instead of in an album.  Which leads us to number 2...



2. Start a new blog: I really want to document Jaxon's life, but in a way that we can enjoy it as a family & it can be saved for generations.  And a blog just doesn't do that.  So instead of spending my time writing on a blog, I'm going to write in an album.  I still love being on my computer so I've already pretty much switched from traditional scrapbooking to digital.  But I'm not here to talk about that.  I still want to have a blog, probably along the lines of a 'mommy blog' format.  I love sharing pictures of the little dude, but I want to be able to share about more than just him.  (Plus who knows, if we go back through treatments, we may have another child.  Then it would just be silly to have a blog called "Jax").  

3. Move to a new blog platform: I'm not convinced here yet, but I'm considering moving to WordPress (feel free to comment if you have advice on this item!).  I'm a Google fan and I'm comfortable with Blogger.  But I've seen some neat things on WordPress & I'm feeling a little limited here.  We'll see where this ends up. 

4. Redesign: Regardless of the platform, I'll be doing a redesign using Creative Memories digital products.  I've already got some ideas & sketches.  I've got to make up my mind on the above items before I can get to this fun part!  




So those are my blog ideas.  My other personal & business goals are higher up on the list though so it may be quiet here for awhile.  In general, the main purpose of my personal goals is to simplify my life.  As I mentioned earlier, stress has been an issue for me (Jaxon is learning emotions & has started to ask "Mama mad?" Nothing like a child to put things in perspective).  I'm not going to spend anymore time on this post about my stress level, but suffice to say it's a combination of my personality, my 'day' job & wanting to do too much.  I've been reading some great self-help books (reviews to come on my new/updated blog) that are helping me come up with concrete plans to simplify & focus on what is important.  I also have some work goals between my regular job & my home business. 



Finally as promised:

Here's JP 'reading' a book in the car as we headed home from Alabama last week.  He's in PJs since I had the bright idea of leaving before dawn (yes Dad, I actually got up at 3:45AM!) so that he would sleep.  He did not sleep.  Well, not until the sun came up.  That book is one of his new favorites from the 'How do Dinosaurs.." series.  Not sure offhand which one that is in the picture.  I went a bit overboard so we have about a 1/2 dozen of them from the library right now. I had my real camera with me, but I knew if I reached around to the back seat to get it, the moment would be lost.  He was so cute sitting there reading.  The book had just been in the seat next to him.  He picked it up & opened it.   He'd look at a page for a minute, then turn to the next one.  Cutie pie.










One more... this is from a few weeks ago.  Our absolute favorite Mexican place shut down, along with a few others locally (local 40/42-ers know why!?).  This was almost devastating to us, really.  We've been unable to completely agree on a new place & since we eat there at least once a week, it has been an issue.  This was taken at one in Garner (it had recently changed ownership too - but was closed when we tried to eat lunch there since this picture - what on earth!?).  Anyway, we were waiting for the highchair & little dude was heavy.  So I let him sit in my seat.  He immediately opened up the menu & started pointing.  It was really adorable, more so than my little iPhone camera could capture. 

Mr. Manners

Mr. Manners, aka Jax, remembered to be polite even when he woke up crying tonight.

We've been working on 'please' and 'thank you' but ended up actually teaching him 'please' and 'you're welcome' by accident. Basically he uses 'you're welcome' in place of 'thank you' right now. It's pretty entertaining.

I came to check on him when he didn't settle back down on his own & found him looking for his paci. I found it quickly (by the light of the iPhone, hehe) and handed it back to him. "Here it is hun, shhhh you're okay" I said. He immediately replied, "You're welcome" in the sweetest and most pitifully sleepy voice.

Aww.

Of course that goes both ways too. It's not quite as cute when he's screaming 'PLEEEEEEZE!' thinking that will make us give him anything he wants.

-- Post From My iPhone

Word of the day

Julie Quinn: That's so funny! That's so funny! Look how big that pancake is that's so funny
J.D.: [whispering at Turk] Make-her-stop

Funny is the word of the day for Jax. Like in the Scrubs episode quoted, he's been announcing when things are funny to him instead of always laughing. I love how he says it too.. Funn-ee. Sometimes I'm not even sure what's funny, but I know he's said it at least 20 times today.

He's also starting to interact more with the animals which is too cute. Tonight he was saying something about Raven who was in the kitchen (behind the baby gate). I wasn't sure what he wanted, but we reminded him that Sierra was right in the room with us to distract him. (Did not want him to rile up all the dogs in the kitchen). He said "Sera, sleepin" and then ran over to her. He had a car in his hand so we watched close to make sure he wasn't going to toss it at the sleeping dog's head. But she was well aware of him & he just sat down next to her. He held up his car to her & said "Look, Car". It was so sweet. Sierra did still get up to move away, just to be sure she didn't get bonked in the head with a car.

Funny boy

Tues night as we drove away from dinner with family, Jack honked the horn twice. From the backseat JP piped up with his own 'BEEP BEEP'! We laughed so hard that it encouraged him & he said 'beep beep' all the way home.


-- Post From My iPhone

My 2nd Halloween!

Our little lion! Since this was the first Halloween that Jaxon would sort-of know what was going on, we thought it would be more fun if he was dressed as an animal he could name, plus he makes a great roaring sound! Of course he wouldn't roar for anyone hardly that day.

We had tried the costume on just before I left for Brazil to check the size and see how he handled it. He kept pointing at his feet & saying 'shoe' (he says it so sweet - shew). I guess the paws at the bottom of the pants were funny. The hoodie part he was less sure about, the first time I pulled it up, he stood very still & did a funny head shake. Almost a shudder really. We showed him in the mirror & he didn't seem to understand that.

We took him around to see grandparents & other family but did not actually make it to do any trick or treating. That was fine with us though. He really enjoyed giving out candy at my aunt & uncles house & then running around with the big kids at Papi & Gigi's house.

More pictures are posted on Facebook. Everyone should be able to see via this link here without requiring an account. And to get the full appreciation of this picture, click on it to see the full version. I was so excited with how this one turned out. I love my new Memory Manager software!! So much more user friendly than I was used to with Photoshop.

BTW Mamas & Dads, we thought the costumes by Old Navy were fantastic! The quality is amazing, especially for the price. ON didn't have the size we needed in stock so we actually got this on eBay & it looked great! Mostly I had picked it out because it is basically just a hoodie & pants. So I wasn't too worried about him pulling off a hat or fussing about having his hands covered.