Today I went to my friend Ashlea's baby shower. She is having a girl. Mel and I had TONS of fun shopping for her! They plan to name her Raygan...and haven't chosen a middle name yet. I can't wait to meet her, and hoping she gets her mama's gorgeous eyes!

Anyway. I wasn't sure if there would be kids there, and knowing how wild and all over the place calm and sweet he can be, I decided to just make it a 'girl' thing and leave him home with daddy. After walking in and seeing there were in fact other kids there, I thought "well I guess I could have brought him." While visiting with some other ladies, and adoring their cuties, I was missing mine. Kent had said he might go to town, so I even broke down and called to see if he was close by and would drop him off :p He wasn't, and told me "to just have fun" so I was dealing with it. I really felt the need to show him off. I mean, he is pretty cute! Kent was adventurous enough to tote him around to about 4 different stores, looking for boring stuff like guns and ammo. Jaxon of course was ready for a nap, and daddy rocked him to sleep once they got home. He barely woke up as I was walking in the door.
I think she liked it :)

Mel, Ashlea and I

And my baby boy, SO happy to see his mommy..almost as happy as I was to see him :)

sprinkler fun

I hadn't thought much about using the sprinkler as a fun way to cool Jaxon off, being that I thought basically all kids were scared of them. Since they pretty much just spray you in the face, I don't blame them! Well last night we were watering a dry patch of the yard with house water. It caught his eye and off he bear-crawled across the lawn to check it out. As he got closer he made a few 'Uh' noises but no crying. We let him be to see how long it'd last. He just sat there letting it drench him! It was a little breezy out and late evening so he had a sweatshirt on, definitely not good for getting wet. So today after he ran around town with me I turned the sprinkler on low to see what he would do. Once he noticed it, he got to it as fast as he could and picked the hose right up and proceeded to get soaked. No fear. From now on I know to have him dressed for the occasion!
Let the fun begin!
*******
*******

"I can drink it!"
"I can even stand, all sopping wet!"

By the time he was shivering pretty decent I got his towel and it was time to come inside for a nice warm bath He probably would have stayed out a bit longer if he had his way. Tomorrow I think I'll try it in his pool...and in the sun.

OH! And a little story of how wild he is getting, more adventurous every minute! I was cooking supper at the stove and he pulled open the drawer below me, which is nothing new. But then he reached up to the handle and pulled himself up so he was standing on the drawer peering over the edge! Of course I was right there, but my goodness..MONKEY! And he now thinks it's so great to climb under the chairs too, usually getting tangled up on the footrest things. He also loves to play "I'm gonna get you!!" So much fun :)

94* weather can really wear a guy out....

It became clear he needed a nap more than he was willing to let on. I guess today seemed like a good day to him to just go ahead and try skipping them. He barely took one this afternoon on the way to his chiro appt (which went well), then after this episode I decided we would go on a little drive and see if he would rest some. Rest he did, for about another half our.

Our garden. Well it is making some progress, thanks to Kent. I'm feeling a bit guilty for not being as involved as I anticipated. Since the watering system is on a timer I don't even have to do anything! Except pull a few small weeds once in a while. He comes in from work and almost everyday has some sort of news on how it's looking. Some reason the sprinklers keep getting clogged so they need cleaned out every other day. And of course, you guessed it, Kent does that part too. I think I'll be more in to it again when we get to pick stuff and I have proof something came of our little investment.

Jaxon has a re-check scheduled for Fri to see if his antibiotic did its job. I'm really, really hoping so. Well praying actually. I know there are other options and this is not by any means the end of the world, just frustrating. I thought I had done all I was supposed to do to avoid this. Kept him out of daycare, breast fed until he was 8 months old, and is around smoke on extremely rare occasions, to name a few. Oh well, it could certainly be worse. I just need a push in the right/best/healthy direction. Someone to say "this is what should/has to be done, so do it!" I know that's probably not how it works, but hey it would be nice at times! Unfortunately his appt won't be with his actual pediatrician again, but he does see her for his 1 year well check, so if it's not too urgent we could wait it out until then to see what she thinks.

Some reason I'm looking forward to his very first haircut! Lately it seems to really be growing, and as much as I like the longer shaggy style on boys, his is a bit out of control. All sorts of lengths. When I crop pics of him I have to accommodate for the extra couple inches right on top :P I'm pretty sure I will be sad to see it go, but rest assured it does...or it better, grow back! Maybe even not so wispy!

fathers day and the wild child

Kent got to sleep in..a little. More than me anyways! But I burnt his waffles. I would have tried again, but by the time he decided to crawl outta bed, I was in the shower. My niece had stayed the night Saturday and my dad came over for lunch on Sunday. We bbq'd, played ping pong and just relaxed. The last holiday that his gun purchase qualifies for as his gift, so finally from now on we can actually get him something cool ;)

quality time w/ daddy
"I figured out how to climb IN....but I think I'll try getting OUT! My mom will just love that!"


And out he went! Without a scratch!
This was the first time, and since he has done it 2 more in 10 min. Greaaat!
Finally someone else loves vacuuming as much as me!
Little mechanic. After a close look, he thinks mom needs a new vacuum ;) ;)

"Watching the neighbors mow is way more fun than swimming, mom"

Baby J has been quite busy lately. With just under 3 wks to go, I'm trying to decide on the details of his 1st birthday bash. Keeping in mind he could really care less about the 'party', so I don't wanna go overboard.

Double

Both ears are indeed infected, although the right one is worse. Seemed like she barely got the light to his ear and immediately said, "Definitely an infection in that one..." Poor guy. It had been 6 weeks since he had been in, and really just started seeming sick the last few days. So hopefully we caught it early enough. Other than a low grade fever and a little crankiness, he has been good. I told her that I was really not wanting to do the surgery if possible, and she agreed and said as long as it's not causing him developmental issues, putting it off would be fine. As far as I'm concerned he is extremely active, so I don't think it has caused him any problems in that department. He of course isn't walking, but I think it's still a bit early. His weight was down to 21 lbs something. Not too sure what that's all about. I forgot to mention it, but she would see it in the computer and didn't say anything to me about it. I promise he doesn't go without! Maybe becoming more active would cause that.

He will start an antibiotic tonight and I plan to get him back to dr. when it's gone to see how things are looking. If they're not 100% we will be considering our options.

Here we go again

As I was hoping Jaxon was only having troubles from yet another tooth, my gut had other thoughts. I'm quite certain it is in fact his ears again. This afternoon I took him back to the chiro to see what he thought, first. Whatever was out before, that he got back to where it should be after a handful of visits, was out again. Obviously he can't shake this completely. I had really wanted to avoid the surgery, if it wasn't obvious. Mostly because I wanted to try other options to see if he would possibly out grow the ear infections in the mean time, or they might at least keep him from continuing to get them. But it appears that won't be the case, for us anyway. I'll be calling first thing tomorrow to get the details taken care of, so he just might have surgery before his 1st birthday. Poor lil' lad.

He did seem better at times today, but I know he isn't feeling well. I've had to keep rotating between Tylenol and Motrin since yesterday. This being a mom thing is tough work! Not knowing what the right, best choices to make are. It's no fun seeing him sick, and feeling like there's nothing I can do to help. But at the same time, I didn't want to be putting him under for surgery if there were ways around it. I'm sure this will seem like such a small task someday, but for now it has me all in knots!

Enjoying some fresh air out back, while daddy mows.

Jaxon had a low fever yesterday and today, and hasn't been acting quite himself. Has been pushing off his wonderful sleep schedule previously mentioned, too. Finally got him to eat decent today. So with that, Motrin and Tylenol; I'm really hoping it's just another tooth that I can't see rather than rotten ol' ear troubles. I did give him some garlic drops in his ears tonight. Figure it shouldn't do any harm either way.

Today Kent celebrated his 26th birthday! Well, I'm not sure how much he actually celebrated, but you know what I mean.

We finally got a little pool for J to splash in. Well actually my dad got it for him. He really liked it yesterday, but today not as much. I suppose with his other issues I didn't push it. Other than that life is as usual around here.

cupboards and drawers

So I fooled myself into thinking Jaxon would never care about pulling drawers open and opening up cabinets, to of course empty them. Well he taught me today. Normally I can shower and let him run crawl loose in the bathroom with his toys, as long as the toilet seat is down, and he is fine entertaining himself for the whole 10 min. I take. But not today. Today was different. He found the wash cloths and first aid kit. But that was just the beginning. Tonight he managed to climb on to the dishwasher door. I stood back to see what he would do next, and he proceeded to try rescuing one of his bowls off the top rack. Ugh! Wild kid, I tell ya. After that was all taken care of, he then found the cupboard. I was trying to get the dishes I let pile up done, so I let him be, figuring he couldn't do much harm. I'm rather certain he had a blast.

I doubt that is meant to hold his weight :S
*******
"hmm...now what?"
*******

Standing!!
My cameras sooo slow, most pics I got were of him falling.

And today is...

.....Jaxon's Happy 11 month Birthday! This is the last 'month' birthday before he turns a whole YEAR, ya know! Yikes! Our baby will soon be a toddler..sigh.
His grammy got this swing for him, and I was sure he would love it. Well the first day he was not at all in to it. Clenching his fists and shaking when it was barely going, I felt so bad for him! I figured I'd give it a try everyday this week, hoping to slowly ease him into the butterfly feeling in his tummy. Well, it only took one day! He was a little unsure at the beginning but I distracted him by tickling his feet and now he thinks it's tons of fun.
*******
Some reason today his appetite was a little goofy. Barely ate anything. I did start adding milk to one of his formula bottles today. He drank it down no problem, so the taste must not have bothered him. We'll see if he gets constipated though.
*******
I noticed yesterday that he is trying to hit balls/toys with the hockey stick. Well he swipes at them anyway, or pushes them along. And it's of course not always the right end of the stick, and has no idea the right way to hold it, but he's gotta start on his coordination one way or another. Must've learned from watching Landyn and all the big boys.

South Dakota and such

This will be picture overload, don't say I didn't warn ya!

The morning before we left to SD. He is becoming more of a monkey each day.

Kolby and Jaxon
I thought this was too cute of the two of them.

He LOVED playing with this. He told me he wanted one on his bday wish list ;)

"does the dirt on my left hand taste better than the whats on the right? Maybe I better find out.""Come on, come on!" Says Landyn.
I'm not too sure how, but he managed to push him. He thought it was the greatest thing to push it around the yard...but not with a passenger! Must be somewhat strong!
Letting him get a break from his seat and stretch out. He figured it was necessary to use the left blinker.
I did capture one happy moment in the car! Kinda blurry.

I think Jaxon had tons of fun playing with his cousins, but also seemed happy to be home. The ride back was better. Still long and tiring, but better! I'm really hoping he's not still trying to catch up on rest, and is just going to keep up his good sleeping habits he developed while gone. Having a bedtime of 11ish out there, means 9ish at home :) So far, so good. Even had two naps today, and was snoozin' by 9:30. Posting this quick, then off to bed myself to take full advantage of his early bedtime.

After an interesting journey traveling out to the mid-west, we indeed made it safely. Only took us about 26 hours..eek. We made it to Post Falls, ID just fine. Jaxon had fallen asleep by the time we were out of the sub division. So far so good. We stopped to feed him supper, and Kent and I each ate a sandwich that I had packed. I thought, all is well. This won't be so bad. Ha. That changed as soon as we got going again. We turned his seat around to be forward facing, although this isn't the safest way, it was that or we were going back home. The rest of the trip went decent, he still had his moments, but ended up doing better than I expected. Ritz crackers were are a life saver.

The boys seem to be having tons of fun playing together, including Kent and Eric. Not that I'm not enjoying myself, it has been refreshing to get away from 'home' and see what South Dakota is all about. And of course getting to meet the faces of the names I've put on Christmas cards is quite nice too :) Having someone to visit til the early hours of the morning, And last but certainly not least- showing off our handsome lil feller, too. Speaking of him.... again, he hasn't shown any signs of being home sick. Fitting right in and sleeping wonderful.

Unfortunately, we will be heading back this weekend instead of next. I'm just finally figuring out how to lock the bathroom door on the first try!! Before I had said if we were only able to come for a week I didn't want to bother, BUT as it happens, I am glad we did come even for just a week. Otherwise who knows when we ever would make it out. And needing to leave because there IS work, I'll adjust! Hopefully things will be busy for a while, and we will have learned a few lessons from last winter.

Last night the guys got off early and we were able to go to Sioux Falls. We had supper at Fuddruckers...which was AMAZING! Probably a good thing we don't have them in Washington. Then the guys headed to Scheels to play; while Debbie, the two youngest boys and I went to Gordmans. What a fun store! I could do some serious damage there, but Kent had to remind me to be sure there was enough room left in the car for us. Shoot! Not that we have the means for such shopping, anyway. Jaxon must have inherited his fathers attitude about shopping. Thanks for that, Kent :) I ended up letting him out of the cart and crawl on the floor while I was scoping out some pillows. He then decided to try to help and began pushing the cart down the aisle. He was happy as a clam, however happy they are, as long as I let him. It was pretty funny, and cute....but that's just my opinion.

Since we've been here Jaxon has shown much more interest in standing on his own and will walk along with you some, while just holding one of his hands rather than both. Maybe he will be walking before his birthday, we shall see!

I believe the next couple evenings will be spent visiting, and plan to head for home sometime on Saturday. So a few pics should be up sometime next week.