The chasing begins

Damn that retro rocket that he loves so much! He is quickly beginning to learn that by using the retro rocket he can get places much more quickly. Enjoy.

The art of the dismount

Jaxson has learned to stand as many of you have read about earlier. He is popping up everywhere you look now. He is even beginning to cruise along the table and the couches. So he has learned that up is easy, down is not so easy. He attempts many different things to go from standing to crawling, his most used technique if falling. Today he tried a dismount that was to say the least acrobatic, and hilarious. Lucky that I am always only an arms length away from my camera because this one was a can't miss kodak moment. Enjoy!

Zero Miles

This weekend has not consisted of much. It has been the most non-eventful weekend I have had in a long time. Wednesday afternoon I picked Jaxson up from Carols and after that never left the house, didn't even walk outside for any reason. By last night I was stir crazy and so we decided to go out to dinner. I found a couple coupons online, one for free appetizer at O'Charleys. We had never been so we decided to go for it, at least we would have a free appetizer if nothing else.

We jump in the car at about 6:30pm and get on the bypass heading towards Jordan Creek area. As soon as we do my heart skips a beat when I look up and it says 6 miles to empty. I have never ran out of gas, it makes me nervous when I am at a quarter of a tank. Dave was nervous but insisted that we would make it to the kum and go right off the bypass exit on Mills Civic. I know that usually cars have a few extra miles in them after they say "empty" but I never wanted to test it out myself. My eyes were peeled on the display as the miles counted down. Dave said that he used to have a truck that when it said empty it would just shut off. Great timing for that story! When we were about 2 exits away the car finally beeped and said 0 miles to empty. At this point I was a wreck, we have a baby in the car and we wouldn't even be able to run the heater while we wait for AAA. I was relieved when we made to Kum and Go and filled up the tank. I would have much rather had that happen without Jaxson in the car and maybe not in the middle of winter either, if it was going to happen at all. Dinner was decent, nothing exciting enough to almost run out of gas for though. It was definately good to get out of the house and breath some fresh air, although I am enjoying my 68 degrees inside versus the 20 degrees outside.

Retro Rocket Style

Wow! With three breathing treatments down he is a whole new kid. He is still wheezing, coughing, and has a nose that is still running but he can breath.. better anyway. It is amazing what a little oxygen can do. He has so much more energy in comparison to what he had the last five days. The treatments are getting easier, he screamed the first time, slept the second, and played through the third. We have put together his "retro rocket" to use and so he sat on that while breathing his wonder medicine in the nebulizer machine. It was a very interesting sight that I thought I would share with everyone!

Valentines Day

Many of you know last Valentines day Dave proposed, so that makes Valentines more of an anniversary of our engagement than anything else. This year I didn't get any jewels, I am still caught up in the one I got last year, and he stuck with things he knew I would love. Chocolate covered strawberries, tulips that are gorgeous and when it gets warm I can plant them outside, and a giftcard for a 1hr massage. Perfect! He also made dinner Friday and Saturday night. Friday he made amazing salmon, he put some type of crust on it with cheese and bread crumbs that was soooo good, and on Saturday he made a very tasty chicken pot pie. Both were great and meals we will put on our normal rotation for sure!

I took some pictures of the tulips as they were in the sunlight and opening up their petals. Some of them I might print and hang in the bathroom to add color and some "springness". It is nice to be able to see them everyday and they aren't flowers that will die so it is a reminder of spring every morning when I see them open up for the sunshine.

The Doctor Says..

Our visit to Dr. Fred's today went as well as it could have I guess. We know he is sick, now we know what he has. Bronchitis, which is caused by a virus called RSV. Basically, he got the cold and it turned into this RSV, which then caused Bronchitis and now he can't breath. This not being able to breath he has been sleeping and doing not much else, including eating. He has lost 2 oz so far, but not to worry, we just have to make sure the little guy keeps eating when he has the energy. Unfortunately there is no treatment for the RSV virus, it just has to run its course which is usually 2 weeks, but to make it easier on Jaxson he is now on breathing treatments with that little machine that mists the medicine. This all started about last Thursday so we are a little less than a week in, but we are closer to having this be over than we were yesterday. Can't wait to see him smile again. We are on the track to recovery, I know my next update will be much better!

The bug continues...

Jaxson is still very sick. He slept ALL day, hardly ate, and just looked sick. He is coughing up a storm still and is still quite congested. What has us a little worried is that the fever is sticking like glue. I just took his temp again tonight and it was back up to 101 only 5 hours after giving him Tylenol. At this point we have to assume that the fever is telling us there might be something more wrong then just a cold and will be making a doctors appointment first thing in the morning. It seems this might not be running its course, and will need some help to boost up his little body back to health. Fortunately he was sick over the weekend so I could be with him, unfortunately he is not getting better and I may have to call in to work tomorrow and bring him in to the doctors. I can't wait for him to be better so I can hear his giggle again. Can you believe I haven't heard him giggle in three long days. :( Will be posting happy news again soon!

Making Tom Cruise jealous

TONS

It sure doesn't seem like coincidence that TONS spelled backward is SNOT. That is simply because when you have snot you have tons of it. Our poor little Jaxson has come down with a cold. We have stuffy nose, coughing, the works. This is the third day in a row he has had a temperature, even without a thermometer you can easily tell that he is one hot cookie. Even though he is sick, which I wish I could be sick for him, he has been one lovey little boy which is kind of nice. He doesn't want to do anything but lay on you, be cuddled and kissed. Reminds me of when he was just a little guy and would just lay in your arms forever. He does the same now, but for all the wrong reasons. He has been sleeping a ton, all night the last few nights. I can't deny, that is kind of nice and I know he needs lots of rest to beat the bug. I talked to Dr. Fred today, just to check in on the third day of a fever. My directions were to continue tylenol on a 6 hour basis and keep an eye on him. If he is getting worse than it may not be just a cold but for now that is what the diagnosis is. Luckily he came down with his first fever on Thursday so I have been able to be here with my little baby all weekend.

Dave imitating Jaxson. Pretty good huh?
When you just can't "stand" it anymore. Try Jaxson's strategy, just sleep!

We had some help this morning. While I was making breakfast Dave strapped Jaxson to him using my wrap. ( I helped, I am the only one that can figure that thing out) I boiled a big pot of water and they took a steam bath together under a towel. Jaxson got his first taste of juice today as well. I figured it was Valentines so he could have something special. I put 1oz of orange juice in a sippy cup and let him have at it, I figured maybe a little vitamin C would do some good. I had to switch to a bottle because he was getting nowhere with the new cup. We will work on that. I hope to bring some good news soon, but until then I will enjoy cuddling my little love-bug back to health.

Dinner time!

We finally got Jaxson's high chair set up. It has been a long time coming. We have been using the bebe pod chair to feed him but now that he is absolutely impossible to contain we decided we had to get out the big guns. So I tore it out of the box, looked at the directions for one minutes, then gave up and Dave had to put it together. He did what would have taken me an hour in about ten minutes. Probably much safer if Dave did it so that is good! We put him in the corner and each took at seat at either side. It was one bite for me and one bite for him. He was actually eating, can you believe it?! I would say bite, swoop in the spoon, and he would open up. It was a sight I haven't seen. He would scrunch his face and act like it was the worst ever tasted but would go again for another bite when he finished. I also mashed up a piece of banana and he was taking small pieces of that, but he sure didn't act like he liked it. Tonight was our second night eating at the table, we broke down and ordered a pizza, Jaxson stuck with the same old cereal. It is nice to be able to talk, and enjoy our time with Jaxson. Sitting at the table makes me feel even more like a family than I have ever before.

Bundles of Mud

The backyard is beginning to thaw, which means the frozen ground is turning to wet thick mud. The dogs are enjoying the time to play outside but unfortunately they aren't allowed to come upstairs anymore. Once they go out in the morning, they come in to the basement and have to play in the dog room. Bandana, the yellow one, looks as brown as Niley on his belly. Yesterday we let them upstairs at the end of the night after the mud dried and made them promptly lay on their bed and touch nothing else. This is what Bandana looked like after a day outside, and this picture does no justice, believe me. This will continue all spring, oh joy!

Seeing eye to eye

Since Jaxson has started to stand he has become so anxious to explore everything that is new to him, including everything on tables etc. We visited Holcomb and Leah's last night to grill steaks and Aubrey had some great "standing" toys. Jaxson immediately took to the table that played music and had lights everywhere. The best part, Jaxson and Aubrey were able to play. He was there fasinated and Aubrey would come and show him how to open the book and stand and smile so proud. She has probably been waiting for him to be able to see her eye to eye.

Aubrey is also learning how to immitate words that you say and it is the cutest thing. She copies what you say in a very sing songy voice but is pretty good about repeating you. She continued to point to Jaxson and we would all say "Jaxson" She finally started to say it, Jaaa sun. It was so adorable. Next time we are there I am going to do my best to get video!

Enjoying the weather

I used to walk the dogs daily, sometimes for an 1 1/2 or more. I used to love it and still would but don't have the time or patience to walk two dogs and a stroller. It is one of my goals to begin doing it again at least both days on the weekend when Dave is home. Dave was never really that fond of taking the dogs for walks, he would join occasionally but would never want it to be one of my longer walks. To my surprise Dave came home on Thursday and asked if I wanted to take the dogs for a walk before it got dark. I looked at him with a funny look and said "really??" He was serious so we got the dogs ready and Jax all bundled up and off we went. It was a nice evening and such a good feeling to be outside after a cold winter. Even though this weekend was a complete tease it was a nice tease and makes me anxious for spring.

Down goes the crib

He weebles and he wobbles and eventually falls down. But he gets right back up. He is a standing machine, pulling himself up on anything he can. He usually doesn't sleep through the night (unfortunately) and cries at about 3-4am to eat. Thursday night was no different, Dave gave it a minute thinking he may fall back to sleep, which happens occasionally. When he just cried louder Dave got up to grab him and plop him next to me to feed him.What he found was out of the ordinary. Dave yells, oh my gosh after entering Jaxson's room so of course I jump up thinking something is wrong. What we found was little Jaxson standing in his crib crying his little face off. At 4am you are a little cloudy anyway so you can imagine our surprise when we found him standing there, awake and crying. So down goes the crib tonight so when he stands he can't fall out. We also had to take off Jaxson mobile that hung above his crib because he could now reach it. That was placed there before he was born and he loved to watch it sing and dance above his head. Just so hard to believe I am talking about my baby standing. Here are the pictures after the crib is lowered, its amazing how tall he still looks, and of his absolute disbelief that we are taking his mobile.

Oh joy Oranges!

Jaxson is going to be a picky eater. I can see the writing on the wall. He shivers with disgust, eyes tear up, and begins to gag when anything besides his mommies milk is offered to him. We have tried tasty treats such as cereal of course, sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, and bananas. He just seems to be set on having milk only, until today. I peeled an orange and was enjoying a piece when I noticed jaxson seemed interested. I let him taste a little on his tongue. At first his face scrunched up and was unsure. Only seconds later he went back with a vengeance and was trying to eat my orange. For obvious safety reason I didn't him continue but I remembered that for my baby shower someone had given those fruit holders that have holes in it so they can chew and get juices without choking. I quickly put a piece of orange in there, punctured a few holes so the juice would flow easily and Jaxson went to town on it. So, he doesn't like anything at all, except for oranges.We are going in the right direction.

SuperNacho Mania

We didn't have much going on this past Sunday that was family friendly so we threw a party of our own. The only people invited were Dave, Jaxson, and myself. It was probably the best party we could have gone to really. We watched the game, Jaxson crawled, played, and occasional took a glance at the T.V. Dave made huge pan of nachos at halftime, and we ate them until they were gone. We probably ate the same amount of food as if we did have people over. Oh well, I guess that is what you do at Superbowl parties, even if they are only at your house.

We, like many Iowans, were rooting for the Cardinals. Although that feels very unnatural to Dave since the Steelers look so similiar to the Hawkeyes. In general I root for the underdog, this year that was obviously the Cardinals. I also like the story of Warner, makes football seem more realistic in a way, since he was just a normal guy working at HyVee before he was throwing TD passes on Superbowl Sunday. We cheered when they got the touchdown pass and took a slight lead, and thought that they really had a chance. It was fun to watch the Steelers think this team that they were supposed to beat like a breeze, was winning with only 2minutes left on the clock. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Steelers work well under pressure and went on to win it. It was a moral victory for the Cardinals, work hard and you can make it to the superbowl, just not win it. Moral victories are the worst kind aren't they?

Touchdown Cardinals!

Just another year

We celebrated Leah's birthday with her last Saturday night at Dueling piano bar in West Glen. The group of about 10 people all arrived at 5 to make sure we could have a table and get something to eat. We have heard that the tables fill up quickly and anything later than 5 you are out of luck. We all talked and ate until the music started at 8pm. Once the pianos started the whole bar was full of energy, people singing and dancing, and laughing at the somewhat funny jokes the pianist/singers/comedians were throwing around. Everyone was telling Leah that on your birthday you are forced to go to the stage and do something, usually a something embarrassing. Leah escaped the wrath of the stage, but others didn't and it was really funny the ridiculous stuff they made they do. Thanks to Joanne for watching Jaxson for a few hours while we were out.

He conquers another first!

The other day about two weeks ago we were eating dinner on the coffee table and watching tv. Jaxson was crawling around nearby and all the sudden eyes appeared from under the table. jaxson had pulled himself up to his knees and was just tall enough to peek above the table to see what was going on. Only a few weeks later he figures out just how those legs work, and now he is a climbing, crawling, standing machine. I have a feeling it won't be much longer until I am putting up video of Jaxson taking his first steps. Exciting and sad all rolled into one. Enjoy the video and pictures of another first for Jaxson.

P.S. I always forget when taking video I can't hold the camera vertical. I apologize in advance for the kinks in your necks when having to turn your head sideways to view the following videos. I will work on this problem for future videos.

First Attempt




Second Attempt