Paxton, one month

Paxton,
I'll be honest, I was viewing this newborn stage as something we just needed to get through to survive and get to the more fun stages, but you, little one, have made me change my mind. I am loving every snuggle, sound and even little newborn cry, as I know it will all change too fast.

You are such a good baby. Since day one you have been a good eater and a calm baby. You rarely cry or fuss. My favorite time with you is right after you have nursed and you pass out on my chest while being burped. You have started to have more awake periods, but mostly you sleep. You like to lay on the ground. You move your arms and legs like crazy. You also love to lay on my bathroom counter top and look in the mirror. You like to be snuggled close in the wrap, which is good, because sometimes wearing you and tending to Jack is necessary. You love to tuck your legs in close like a frog. I love those frog legs!

Jack loves you, and asks to hold you, but only for very short periods of time. He has too much energy to stay still long.

Eating: every 2.5-3 hours

Sleeping: waking every 2-3 hours to eat; you sleep in the rock 'n play in my bedroom; daddy has been working nights, so it's just you and me in there.

Stats: At your two week appointment, you had surpassed your birth weight and were doing good.

Clothes/Diapers: Newborn for both

Likes, Dislikes, Milestones, etc:

• You don't seem to like the pacifier. You tolerate it sometimes.
• You also don't seem to care too much about whether you are swaddled or not. This is way different from Jack who needed to be swaddled and have a pacifier.
• You went on your first big trip to visit family.
• You celebrated your first Father's Day and Fourth of July. We can't forget Jack's birthday too!

Since I'm writing this a little late, (6 weeks) I already know some of what the next month holds for us and it's all good! We love you and are so glad you are ours!

Love,
Mommy

Jack: 2.5 year update

Jack,
You are two and a half! You are a funny, sweet, loving, little boy! Your speech has taken off and the things you say are hilarious. You talk about our trip to Boston a lot. I love that you have some memories of that trip! Twice, you have randomly said "You're the best!" to me. It is truly the best compliment. The other day you told me I was sweet.

You know you will have a baby brother soon, but you have no idea what that really means. I love to make you say all the names on the short list to help us determine which name to pick. You make them all sound so cute that it isn't very helpful! You came with me to a doctor's appointment in early December, because you had run a fever the day before and couldn't go to daycare. You were so well behaved and sat still in a chair while the doctor was in the room. We were able to go to your Daddy's hospital the week of Christmas and have an OB resident determine the gender. As we were walking in you talked about how you were going to sit in your chair. The things that stick with you are so surprising to me.

For a while when we would place you in your crib at night you would unprompted (because neither one of us talk to you at this point for fear of getting you riled up!) say "love you too" and blow a kiss. You sleep with your bunny each night and we take it to daycare for your naps. We got rid of the pacifier in September right after our trip to Boston. It went a whole lot better than I thought it would. We cut the tips off of all them and they eventually all made it into the trashcan...except for one. The wubanub puppy dog has stuck around and you have recently become attached to it and like to carry it around and call it Paci. The other night we went to eat dinner with your daddy at the hospital and you told me that Paci was sick and he needed to go in with you. You were very adamant about having doctor Daddy take a look at him.

We have a few movies saved on the DVR and you were on a Tangled kick for quite a while. You would pat your hair and say "I've got long hair" or your would touch mine and say "Like Tangled." I think it's a cute movie, so I didn't mind watching it over and over again. I took you to your first movie at the theater while your daddy was out of town at a conference. We saw The Penguins of Madagascar and you did okay. I won't be taking you back for a while though! We went to the theater with the big recliners. You didn't want to stay in your seat and at one point somehow managed to get your legs stuck in the chair. I thought I was going to have to leave you in the theater and go get help just before I finally got you free. You talked about the movie for weeks afterward, so I guess you enjoyed it!

You love to sing! Your favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABCs. You have learned the words to all of the lullabies we sing you and now it is a sing-a-long at night before you go to bed. You can count to ten, love to color, and use scissors.

You love your Batman shirt, any sort of boots, playgrounds, "adventures", and bandaids (ban-ban). You love to play with cars, go on bear hunts and sword fight. You like to say that you've seen a dinosaur or a monster and we run and hide. You also see these things when you are in the car and we pretend to draw our swords and get them. You love Nuts and especially like to give him hugs.You love to go to Target and we let you go down the toy aisle and play. We don't buy anything, but you have so much fun looking. Your newest thing is going to dance class in your room, an idea you got off of Despicable Me and having super powers. Not necessarily connected, although sometimes you do need super powers to dance. :)

You like school and your teacher Miss Aya. Although, there are a lot of mornings that I go to get you up and you tell me you aren't going to school today. I know you have fun there though and it is fun to see you interact and learn. Your favorite part about school is the extra activity we pay for-- the Fun Bus! It comes every Thursday and is a school bus that has been painted green and converted to a mobile gym. You talk about it frequently and are so excited every Thursday when I pick you up to show me the stamps you get on each hand for visiting the Fun Bus.

You are very in tune with others feelings. Anytime I sigh or mumble something under my breath, you always ask, "What happened, Mommy?" I have to be pretty careful about expressing my emotions while driving. Haha. You are very concerned if people are sick. Your daddy has become the "church doctor" and helps a lot of people when they get ill during church (which is suprisingly a lot of people). One day we waited after church was over for an ambulance to come pick someone up and you talked about the lady not feeling well the rest of the day.

The biggest thing that has come with you being 2.5 is you are potty trained! We had been introducing the idea to you here and there, but really worked with you the week after Christmas. You had a sticker chart and got to pick out which stickers you wanted at the store (Bubble Guppies). You had also gotten to pick out underwears (you call them underwears, plural) and chose super heroes. You weren't quite as motivated about the stickers as I thought you would be, but you were excited when the whole chart was full and you got to pick out a toy. You chose a set of hot wheels cars and have played with them a lot. You wear a diaper at nap time and at night. We'll conquer that when you are ready.

You are a pretty good eater, but prefer snacks to actual meals. You like pizza and french fries, but will eat healthy things too! You love to help make smoothies and request them quite frequently. You snack a lot on squeeze pouch applesauce and cheese sticks. It is so cute to hear you say the prayer before dinner. 

You are a happy, go with the flow, sweet boy! Each new stage with you is my favorite.

We love you so much!
Love,
Mommy

A couple of recent videos that we just love:

"I'm going to jump!"; "Amazing, Amazing!"; "C'mon super powers."


We did a countdown to the new year several hours before midnight and you absolutely loved the video! We did it over and over for about a week. 
"Happy New Year!"


Now get ready for a picture overload from the last six months.

Jack, 2 years old

Jack,
Today you are two! You respond happily with two when we ask you how old you are and can hold up both pointer fingers to make two. We are still working on holding up two fingers on the same hand. You keep trying and say, "hard." Of course, it is adorable!

You are such a blessing to your daddy and me! You have the sweetest personality and are such a good boy. I pray that you always have such a sweet demeanor. You bring so much joy and laughter to our house. We love you!

I think I'll just bullet point a few (by few, I mean lots) a things about you to avoid long paragraphs.

• We think just about everything you do and say is the cutest thing ever. A few things that stand out to me are calling clouds--snow, bunnies--hop hop, Danielle (your summer nanny)--Dan Dan, pa pa--pacifier, fishies, fishie pole, ew!, oh my!, aw man, okay, choo choo w/ the hand pump, this way (you've become a little bossy with directing us around), and my favorite calling dada--Ty. You've even named one of your dump truck driver's Ty. It's hilarious!
• When we are in the car, you are always pointing out trucks and saying "big truck". I've also taught you that green means go and red means stop and you love to say it at every light we go through. You also say "whee!" when we are on a big on ramp or exit ramp. 
• Your favorite songs are the Ants Go Marching and If You're Happy and You Know It. You love to march along and call out certain parts of the Ants song with enthusiasm--Hurrah! and Boom, boom, boom... You've also picked up on all the motions to the If You're Happy song. I especially love to see you put your fingers to your cheeks to the "your face will surely show it" part. 
• A couple of months ago you loved saying 1, 2, 3 Go! and that has led to you counting things. Well, counting to two. You also randomly throw out other numbers. Last night in the bath tub you said five, six while playing with your Splash Jack cards from Aunt Amy.
• You love to read and we read several books every night. You go through cycles of favorite books. Right now, you prefer the Lucky Ducklings and Steam Train Dream Train.

• Every night after your bath, you run to momma and daddy's room to interrupt Daddy's study time. He always welcomes you with a big smile. You play for a few minutes and then I whisk you off to read and rock before bed. You always have to give Daddy and Nuts a hug before you go into your room.
• I've been praying with you at night and a month ago you started saying your own prayers. "Dear God, dada, Nuts. Amen." It is mirrored after the prayer I have been saying where I name things I think you are thankful for. One night you said Grammy and Grandma and I couldn't wait to tell them. You've also thrown in a few silly things like poo. Such a boy.
• You are a good sleeper and it rare for you to wake up at night! (Unless, we are away from home, but I'm sure that's normal.) You are an early riser, but I know a lot of that is due to the fact that we leave the house at 7 am during the week. You extended your bedtime to 8 pm and I'm sure you would like to stay up a little longer. These summer days have you longing to stay up later.
• You have a toddler pillow and a couple of stuffed animals in your crib. You have the bunny we bought you for your first easter and a stuffed penguin I bought you at one of our Barnes and Noble trips. The bunny is named Peter and the penguin Happy, but you call them hop hop and hap hap. 
• You love to help and are always willing to throw things in the trash. I've found your cups and other items in there before. I'm also convinced that you have thrown away one of your Sperry's, as it has been missing for two weeks!
• Last night, while we baked cupcakes together you leaned over to me from your step stool and gave me two big hugs. It melted me!
• You love to be outside and are pretty obsessed with your new bubble lawnmower from Aunt LeAnn. You love to jump on your trampoline and run. My goodness, you love to run! You also turned your water table into a swimming pool by climbing inside it. Silly boy.
• You like pretty typical boy things--trucks, trains, blocks, your barn and animals, dinosaurs.
• You love to play hide and go seek, and you love for one of us to chase you and roar, while the other one runs with you to your room, jumps into your chair and hides under a blanket. 
• You also love anything that you can push--toy vacuum, shopping cart, wooden push toy, suitcases, etc.

• You love your pacifier and we've started to become pretty strict about only having it at naptime and bedtime. You do not like this. 
• You still like to watch Bubble Guppies and also like Jake and the Neverland Pirates (yo ho), Chuggington, Paw Patrol and Mickey Mouse. You love to watch random things on YouTube like Winnie the Pooh, 10 Funniest Scenes from Tangled and some random playdough egg video. We try to keep our iPads out of sight, because you love to play on them.
• You've learned to drink out of a regular cup, but would prefer to put your hand or toys inside the cup to play with the water, so we don't give you a regular cup very often.
• I was not planning to start potty training for a while, but you are showing some interest. You like to flush the toilet and sit on it. You tell me that you need to pee and I've been sitting you on there with your diaper. Twice you have told me that you need to pee and I've actually taken your diaper off and you have gone! 
• You are still a pretty good eater, but you could always eat more veggies! You love ketchup and chicken nuggets, fruit, peas, cheese, cheddar bunnies, veggie straws, hummus and popsicles. 

18 Months

Jack,
You are 18 months old! A year and half! This month a lot of things have started to click for you. You have really started to pick up on some words and animal sounds. Some of your favorite words are snack, Nut (the "S" is silent when you say his name), Momma, NO, stuck and shoe. You say more and more each day. It is getting hard to keep a running list of them all!
I think bullet points are going to be the best way for me to document what you are up to right now.

• Animal sounds--mooo and eek! In one of your books there is a page about a cat and in the bottom corner is a small mouse. Anytime we are on that page you always say eek! I pointed the mouse out to you once and you have never forgotten it.
• You love shoes, especially your red rain boots you just got for Christmas. You can put them on all by yourself! Usually on the wrong feet, but I'm proud regardless. :)
•  You also still love to put on your hats!
• You love to get high fives and just the other day gave me one unprompted when I found a missing puzzle piece.
• You still love Bubble Guppies and have started saying bubba for bubble.
• You love to put money in your piggy bank.
• You love to color. Almost as much as you like to eat the crayons.
• You love stickers.
• You got a small table and two chairs for Christmas from my Nanny and you love to sit at it. You have started requesting to eat all of your snacks at the table.
• Speaking of snacks...you want to snack ALL. THE. TIME. You like to take my hand and pull me to the pantry. I'll pick you up and let you choose your snack. You take your time and pick carefully. Haha.
• You like to dance and your moves are so funny. Your favorite move is "roll 'em up" from pat-a-cake. 
• Your favorite songs are the Itsy, Bitsy Spider, Pat-A-Cake and Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. 
• I've started saying on your mark, get set, go and you take off running.
• You've been able to open doors for a while and we are pretty good and keeping the outside ones deadbolted. I let Nuts outside the other morning and didn't lock the door back. I was picking up things in the living room and noticed it had gotten quiet. I looked around and noticed Nuts sitting in the floor. The back door was wide open and you were outside jumping in your trampoline!
• You are a tech baby and love our phones and iPads. You love to watch videos of yourself on our phones. There sure are plenty of them! I typically let you play with my iPad while I'm cooking. It's almost scary how quickly you have picked up on how to work it. 
• You give the sweetest open mouth kisses!
• You sleep all night and mostly take good naps for me. You take amazing naps for Miss Joanie. A one hour nap in the morning and a three hour nap in the afternoon. She is the toddler whisperer. 
• You love being at Miss Joanie's house and especially love Holly, a three year old girl from our church. 
• You are a good eater and love fruit, meat, and snacks. Snacks are usually goldfish, applesauce pouches, or vegetable straws (not really vegetables). 
• You still drink soy milk and we have cut out cheese. You seem to be doing much better in the dirty diaper department. You can tolerate very small amounts of cheese.
• You love to be outside, especially when Nuts is out there with you. 
• You are obsessed with the vacuum. In fact, I try to vacuum when you are napping, because if you are awake you want to be held while I vacuum. When I'm done you get so upset. Uncle Derek bought you a toy vacuum for Christmas and you love it!
• Sometimes when we are rocking before bed and you don't want to go to sleep you will fake snore. It makes me giggle every time!

This is such a fun age! You are such a sweet boy and bring us so much joy.
We love you!

Love,
Mommy

Stats:
Height: 34 in (88th percentile)
Weight: 22 lbs 6 ounces (9th percentile, your highest yet!)
Diapers: 4
Clothes: Your 6-12 months clothes are becoming too short, but the 12-18 months are still too big; 18 month jammies

This is from when you snuck outside!

Happy First Birthday!

Jack,
You are one! This has been the fastest year of my life. Each month brought so much love and lots of fun to our lives. Before I get all weepy about you turning one, let's recap the past month.

Somehow you have become a toddler. I swear it happened overnight. You are such a sweet boy who loves to give hugs and hold my hand. Yesterday at church, Daddy picked you up from the nursery (which you don't seem to care for) and brought you back into the auditorium for the closing song. You reached for me and immediately went in for a kiss. It was so cute!

Reading has been the theme for this past month. You have always loved to read, but that love grew by leaps and bounds this month. Anytime I am sitting on the floor you will go grab a book and sit yourself down in my lap for me to read. You have your favorites and have started to vocalize when you want me to read a certain book again (and again and again). Mouse's First Halloween (you love the eeek! parts) is your favorite book. You have started to mimic the mooo sound in one of your farm animal books. It's not quite a mooo yet, but you are trying.

You are trying so hard to communicate. If something is not going your way you will arch your little back and try to throw a tantrum. We haven't had any all out tantrums yet, but I know they are coming. To help combat miscommunication between us, we have started to teach you a few baby signs. You have caught on to "more" and "eat". You have also started pointing at things that you want.

Just this past week you have really taken off in the food department and are eating more food and less baby food. You tried and liked hummus, nutella toast, and squash & corn from our favorite summer veggie and chicken tostadas.  I am trying to get you to eat more meat and tonight made you quesadillas from our pork tacos. You were a big fan. Your favorites are watermelon, peppers, mum mums, fruit pouches, cheerios, and apple slices.

You aren't too interested in your current toys and I think it is time to put some of them away. You would much rather play with things like your Daddy's belts, or Nuts' food and water bowls. We have to keep several doors in the house closed off to you and if one of them happens to be open then you take off so fast toward that room. You really like your Pottery Barn Kid's chair and you look like such a big boy sitting in it.

You love to play chase. It gets you so excited that you can't even walk and you just fall down. Peek-a-boo and being tickled are other things that you love right now. You have a couple of Fisher Price apps on your phone (my old iPhone) and on our iPads, and you love them. You are going to be a high tech baby! You also love the tv show, Bubble Guppies, and have started to dance to it and other songs and sounds that you hear.

Being outside is something that you love! Going on walks, swinging in your swing or being on the back porch is something that will keep you occupied for a long time. You have started to request bubbles and are slowly figuring out that you should try to pop them.You continue to try to be friends with Nuts and he is warming up to you. He will at least come around to give you a lick. :)

(You and the alligator slowly slid off the chair. I thought it was so funny, because it looks like the alligator is trying to hold you down.)

You have adapted nicely to your new daycare. I think you love being around the "big" kids. You are part time with Miss Joanie this summer and Danielle takes care of you two days a week. You are such a good napper for them and nap for an hour in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. I think being around all the big kids wears you out. You seem to be thriving with them.

You HATE bath time. It is the weirdest thing, because you used to love it. There have been a few nights where you have been fine in the bath tub, but if I wash your hair it is all over at that point. I introduced you to brushing your teeth and you love it. I let you do it and I'm so proud that you actually want to do it and can actually move it around and somewhat get those (4) teeth clean.When it is time to put the toothbrush up you get quite upset.

You don't really care to be rocked anymore. You cry for a bit when we put you in your crib, but then you fall right to sleep. I miss rocking you! You are a good sleeper and sleep through the night. You have discovered the video monitor and it's funny to see you walk right up to it. 

 Jack, you bring so much joy to our lives. You are such a sweet boy who loves to smile. I am excited to see you continue to change and grow. Just don't grow up too fast, baby boy. Thank you for making this the best year yet!

We love you!
Love,
Mommy


Weight: 18 lbs
Height: 27 1/4 in
Clothes: mostly 9 month clothing, 6 month shorts, 12 month jon jons, 9-12 month jammies
Diaper size: 3
Nicknames:  Jack Attack, Jackie Jack, sweet boy, sugar bear

A year in review

11 months

Jack,
Eleven months means only one more month until you are a year old! That is crazy! You have changed a lot this past month. Really, this past week!

Clapping is something you do quite a bit. It is adorable! You clap during singing at church, randomly during diaper changes, during movies, etc. You love to clap! Your favorite toy at the moment is anything that is a household item. Forget the toys, you love the tupperware drawer, pots and pans, etc. You also love your books. We read quite a bit and you have a big collection of books.

See that cat in your mouth. You tore it out of a pop up book and were 

insistent that it be a part of the photos.

You started walking this month! It started with a couple of steps at a time and now you are officially a walker. Your daddy and I were both home to see your first steps and we cheered and cheered for you!
Speaking of your daddy, he is really loving this age. He can finally throw you around and you are both having so much fun with it! With the new found walking comes lots of tumbles and bruises. You currently have three bruises gracing your face.

Your appetite is increasing and you are no longer satisfied with just one package of baby food. I can see into the future and how you are going to eat us out of house and home. You have caught onto drinking out of a straw. Your favorite foods are cucumbers and watermelon. I recently gave you a spicy sweet potato fry and I was worried it might be too spicy, but you loved it! You are working on a bottom tooth, but it hasn't popped through yet. You still only have two top teeth and they are starting to come down a little bit more.

You completed your last day at the daycare by my work. You will start at a small, home daycare soon. While, the change will be good it was still sad to leave the place you have been for the past eight months. Your teachers wrote you a nice goodbye card saying how much they would miss you. I will no longer be able to see you at lunch every day, so the change is bittersweet. It was so nice to drive over, feed you, and snuggle for a bit. 

I went to see you at lunch the other day and walked into your classroom, picked you up, and immediately went to look at your info sheet. I guess I didn't properly say hi to you, because you leaned your body around to look at my face and just grinned. It melted my heart.

You have started to give eskimo kisses unprompted. It is so sweet. You give the best hugs and have started hugging your stuffed bunny, Peter, whenever we hold him up to you.
 

We took a vacation at the end of this month. You experienced your first airplane ride and first visit out of state. You were so good on the plane! You slept the entire flight to Colorado, and took a short nap on the return flight. You are a good traveler!  I think your favorite part of vacation was the pool! A close second was the game room.

We got home from our trip and realized just how much you had changed while we were gone. You were all over the place, exploring, walking, etc. You developed a love for balls while we were on vacation and it is so cute to see you carry one around with you.

You also got your first hair cut this month. The hair around your ears was getting quite long. Daddy gave you a little trim. :) Speaking of long, you have the longest eyelashes. They frame your baby blues and are just precious.

Jack, it is so fun to see you develop and grow. I could probably write several more paragraphs about all the cute things you do. We are gearing up for your big first birthday and we can't wait to celebrate YOU! Your daddy and I love you very much.

Love,
Mommy

Weight: 18 lbs
Height: We'll find out at your 12 month appt, but you have definitely gotten taller!
Clothes: You are in a wide variety of sizes. 3-6 months shorts (you have a tiny waist), 9 months shirts, 9-12 month jammies
Diaper size: 3
Nicknames:  Jack Attack, Jackie Jack, sweet boy, sugar bear