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.

18mos Checkup

Little JP is 18 months old! I was in Brazil so Jack took him to his checkup. Thankfully our doc sends a nice little report card so I could see all the details myself :)

Weighed in just over 23lbs (25%)
Height was also 25%
Head circum was 70%

He also had a TB screen & a flu shot. He's got to go back for a followup flu shot in a month. Apparently they were also out of one of the shots he was supposed to get, but they said it could wait til his 2yr checkup.

I had planned to get a flu shot & a Tdap booster this week myself. But the folks doing the IBM clinic (read: free shots) were completely out. So the clinics have been rescheduled & are still only tentative based on supply at the time. But hopefully we'll both be flu-resistant by the holidays. (We're pretty sure Jack already had the flu this year, he definitely had all the symptoms).

Jaxons 1st Haircut

At 18 months old, Jaxon finally got a haircut! He had needed it for awhile but there was some dissension in the ranks about it. Poor kid didn't even have enough hair to warrant paying for a professional cut so I did it myself. It actually worked out fairly well that way because he was able to watch Go Diego Go the whole time. The hardest part was that he decided to chew on the comb while I did the snipping. Next time I'll get two combs.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Walkin in High Corn

Fall is here which means corn mazes, pumpkins & sweet potatoes in the farms around us. We thought Jaxon would enjoy Ken's Korny Corn Maze down the street from us. At the start of the maze, he ran ahead & we let him 'choose' which path to take (aka pick the path straight ahead most times). That lasted maybe 15-20 minutes and then he decided it was more fun to sit down to play in the dirt and sand! Jack ended up carrying him on his shoulders for the majority of the maze. Throughout the maze, you look for the letters & then punch them off on your scorecard. And they time it, we finished in 1hr 3 minutes. I think it's better for older kids. The ones that seemed to be having the most fun were in the 4-12 range. Jaxon had more fun playing in the playground areas especially on the tractor. Here's a slideshow of our pictures.

Sounds like life to me

It's been one thing after another around here lately. I won't go into all the little things but my coworkers were swearing I'd better not drive or I'd end up with a flat tire. Suffice to say it was a patch of bad luck at the end of the month. In that string of irritations, the video card on my main home computer burned up, literally. The screen went gray which is never a good sign. Then it cut off & I smelled something burning. I had a moment of panic (please don't be my hard-drive!) while I opened up the case to see what was wrong. At first it looked like my TV tuner (lets me watch TV on my computer) but closer look revealed it was the video card (the thing that connects to your monitor). The fan had melted off the card & was hanging by the wires. Thankfully when I removed the card, the computer booted up fine (except I couldn't see it since I had no monitor connection now). Skip ahead to UPS bringing a new one (and even got to upgrade it a little, thanks Newegg!) and now I'm back! I'm a bit of a computer addict so I was unhappy while my primary computer was down. But I did learn a lot about video cards while I tried to decide on which one to order.

So now that you know why it's been all quiet on the blog-front, let me update you on the fun stuff:

Vocab - Jaxon's adding words all the time, pretty much tries to mimic any one syllable word he hears. Bear, taco, ding, car, etc. We tried to teach him 'Go App' in time for the football game but no luck there. He did pick up on football (booball).

Signing - I've been showing him some new signs. 'Bath' was a sign he picked up on with only a few tries (search youtube for 'sign bath' if you are curious) and he runs to the bathtub signing it and saying 'ba'. I've also been teaching him signs for words that are harder for him to say like drink, milk, thank you, airplane, grandma & grandpa but he hasn't repeated them yet. He's close on 'drink', but it still is hard to distinguish from 'eat'. Anyone have a copy of Signing Time I could borrow? I have it on my iPhone but he constantly flips away from the app.

Advances - He can now tell you the sounds made by not only dog & cat, but also cow, lion, & tiger. He understands to take something to someone (whether he'll do it is another thing). He loves to shut doors & open drawers. We often open our dresser drawers to find something odd like a paci, diapers, sippy cups & toys. Mostly though he just rearranges all the clothes (baby clothes in the sock drawer, socks in with pjs, etc) or pulls them all out on the floor.

Physical - Climbing is still his favorite activity & can be the most frustrating (like when he tries to climb onto the end tables from the couch & then screams when you make him get down). Sitting still (like at a football game) is not likely to happen. Even when he watches TV, he stands still for a minute or two at a time & then goes to find something to do. He's especially wound up outside & doesn't want you to hold his hand. We've been dealing with some teething too. Doc had noted that at his 15mo checkup but now he's working on (I think) four teeth. There are definitely two molars, one on each side on the top, that are nearly in. But I think two canines are coming in on the bottom as well. Poor little guy sometimes holds his hand to his face & fusses.

Now that I'm back up & running with my computer, I've got a few other posts to make soon. I still don't have my camera back (Best Buy warranty was still good so they are working on it) but I still have a few pics to post, some from friends & family too. I'll try to get those up soon. Jack & I are not feeling well (and trying really hard not to get Jaxon sick) so it may be next week before I get to those.

August update

My main camera is broken so I have not been taking many pics lately. (Anyone know a local place to get that looked at?). But here's a pic of Mr. Busy playing in Fayetteville last weekend. More to come on that later.




So what's JP up to lately? He's been working mostly on expanding his vocabulary. I've long since stopped bothering to count his number of words but I'd guess that it's nearly doubled in the last month.

Some of my favorites:

Green beans : mean meeens
Cat : caa
Meow : aaow (high pitched & funny)
Oh man (from Swiper on Dora the Explorer)
Bye (used for outside, let me down or just bye)

He's also become an expert at the sign for food. He uses it to mean food, more food, different food (as in I'd rather have fries than a burger), drink, and paci. Now if we can just get some new signs or words to replace those extra meanings.

He's also into everything as can be expected of his age. We constantly find something new that he's able to do. He loves to be outside especially to play in the rocks on the driveways in the neighborhood. Playing with other kids is something he does not get to do daily since he's not in daycare. But he loves it when he does get a chance. Last night one of the neighbors stopped by with his kids about some home owners stuff. When they left, JP followed them right down the front steps, up the driveway, and out into the street. Barefoot. So we both ended up following them up & down the street while they talked to all the neighbors. Both barefoot. At one point we even had a neighbors cat join the procession. It was a trip. He just loves to be outside.

-- Post From My iPhone

15 mo. checkup

Jaxon had his 15mo checkup this week. He's doing great healthwise and is still small. He was a little shy with the doc but didn't even make a peep when he got his shot! JP was more interested in trying to pull off the bandaid than anything else.

Weight: 22lbs 4oz (25%)
Height: 29 3/4in (10%)
Head: 47.7cm (70%)

Next checkup is at 18mos.

I'm a big boy

Everyday it seems like JP's doing or learning something new. Here's some of the fun things he's doing now:

- Says Bye, Dog, Ju (juice), & Pretty (sorta). Signs 'eat' and 'more', often at the same time. Also will sign 'all done' but usually only if we have signed it first. He pretty much tries to mimic anything anyone does or says.

-Helps put on his clothes, he can put his arms through the holes with little or no help & will try to put his feet through the pants too

- Brings you a book to read to him. If you don't take it, he'll pull open your fingers & push the book into your hand. Snuggle Puppy is his favorite I think. One of the first few times I'd read this book to him, he laughed hysterically as I did the song part.

- Understands more words than we realize! For example, one day we were talking & said the word 'outside' in our conversation, JP jumped up & ran to the front door. Another time I was asking him if he wanted a few things (cuz it was funny that he said no to every question). When I asked if he wanted some oranges though (mandarin), he started signing 'eat' very adamantly. I ended up getting him some oranges!

- Knows a dog says Woof Woof. But ask him 'what does a ___ say (insert animal of choice) and the answer is also Woof Woof. If he hears a dog, sees a dog, thinks about a dog, he'll start saying 'oo oof'

- Will whisper if you whisper, sometimes. One night recently I was trying to get him to sleep & whispered something to him (about it being time to sleep probably) and he whispered back some gibberish. It was so sweet & now I can only get him to do it again when he's really calm.

- Climbs. Ok this is not really a fun one, but it can be funny for a minute or two. Mostly it's just tiring & frustrating. He climbs up the back of the couch, on the side tables, stands on anything he can get to, climbs on & over us in bed & will try to climb out of your arms onto anything nearby. Thank goodness we don't have stairs in our house!

- Dances & drums. See the attached video of him drumming. He will drum on anything and sometimes randomly start dancing. Of course he dances to music but sometimes I think he's got songs stuck in his head (Noggin is particularly bad with the catchy kid songs but I like that it has no commercials, plus Yo Gabba Gabba is still his all-time favorite).

Some typical toddler struggles we are having: hitting, head-butting, tantrums. This story is for you Grandma - If JP has a particularly bad tantrum, he'll start by stomping in place while he scrunches up his face. Then he runs straight for the nearest bed or couch & flings himself onto it to scream into the pillow or mattress. I don't have the slightest idea where he got that temper from. :)

It's always an adventure around here. You just never know what an animal, baby or husband (love you!) might do....

The kitty likes to get up in the highchair. Sometimes he even curls up & sleeps there.


This shirt on JP cracks me up. Jack couldn't find a shirt to put on him so he grabbed this white one. It looked a bit big to me so I asked him where it came from (I didn't remember buying him a white tee that big). Turns out it was one of mine!

JP can now reach the power button on the TV in the bedroom so he can turn on Noggin anytime he wants. It was funny the first few times, and convienent in the mornings, but it gets a little tiresome at naptime. He either stands there staring at it or backs up & sits down leaning against our mattress (which I think is too cute).

And the boy loves music & dancing! Here he was providing backup dancing to our Guitar Hero band. Grammy & Mama got a little addicted & stayed up all night until we beat the first level.

Guitar Heroes

While trying to concentrate on my digital album (which has been failing tonight), I found this cute picture. Taken 6/12.. this was the first time Jax 'played' Guitar Hero with Daddy. He really was more interested in the guitar that Daddy was holding.

Sweet Boy/Wild Boy

I am completely behind on updates. I've been working a lot & not spending much time on the personal computer. I'll be posting some pics from June & July over the next few days.

Isn't this a sweet picture? I really love how this one turned out. (Though it would have been a little better if he had not knocked the blinds all askew. It's funny how sweet & innocent he looks there, but below is what he was really doing when I managed to capture that shot (and you can understand why the blinds were messed up)

Sing-a-long

This has to be quick because my lunch break really should be over already.. but JP has been funny this morning & I wanted to share.

This AM while I was changing him, Daddy & I were talking about the goofy kid songs we had stuck in our heads. Daddy started singing the one over & over that was stuck in my head (just to make sure it stayed there) & my cute little boy started singing along. Of course he couldn't sing the words, but he was gibbering along to the tune & was swaying while singing. His first performance!

bumps & bruises

Living with a 13 month old boy keeps you on your toes. And teaches you to keep a stocked first aid kit.

Jaxon loves our kitty, Thumbtack. He follows him around pointing & laughing. If the cat stays nearby, he'll 'pet' him which is really more hitting until we remind him 'gentle'. But Saturday he decided something more along the lines of a tackle was in order. The initial tackle didn't seem that bad, the cat had already been laying down so he didn't really move much. It was too close to the wall so Jax ended up bumping his head (since he didn't seem to mind, it was a little funny). But I guess in the process of trying to get up, he did something the cat didn't like (looked like he used the cat as leverage to push himself back up), so he got a quick swipe to the head. He's got two small scratches on his forehead which are already fading. Kitty is amazingly patient with Jax, and even his scratches seem held back, like he didn't really want to do it but just had to. Of course, Jaxon is still following the cat around everywhere.

Yesterday afternoon, Jaxon tripped on a DVD on the floor (he pulls them all off the shelf) and landed on a metal trash can (which he had put in the middle of the floor, upside down so he could climb on it). Jack & I both were right there in the room but could do nothing to stop his face from hitting the lip of the bottom of the trash can. Actually, we both thought we saw him hit his forehead so when I rushed to soothe him, I was looking for a bump on his head. As the tears & sniffling gushed, I noticed the trickle of blood out of his mouth (at which point I starting counting tiny teeth). Jack got some ice & a cloth and we got him all doctored up. It was really very minor & stopped bleeding quickly. I couldn't even tell for sure where the cut was at the time. And he pretty much forgot about it after that. Of course this morning when we woke up & he took out is paci, we saw it had turned a nice purple color. I couldn't get a good picture of it, but the bruise even has a little bit of a curve up his cheek, like the Joker, to show where he hit the curved lip of the can. Thankfully he still seems oblivious to it.

Of course here's the punchline: we have portraits scheduled this week.

root beer floats

On Wednesday, June 3, 2009, Sonic Drive-In is giving away free root beer floats from 8 P.M. - Midnight.

http://www.sonicdrivein.com/prmtns/2009/frbf/index.html