11 Months Old

Well...my next monthly update post will be about his first birthday! But, to cherish today first...Jaxson is 11 months old! My sweet baby boy is not a baby anymore. He's such a big big boy...so big that he underwent surgery this morning. Only minor surgery, but surgery none the less! This morning he had tubes put in his ears for the never ending ear infections he has had to endure over the past several months. We are really hoping they work! He looked precious in his hospital gown and if I can figure out how to get the picture off of my phone I will post it.

What Jaxson is up to...

- trying to walk but doesn't quite have it yet
- self-feeding and using his fingers to pick up the food rather than his whole hand
- drinks out of sippy cup with his meals
- loves water more than juice
- LOVES to EaT
- loves to play, crawl and get in to everything!
- doesn't miss anything!
- not saying "moma" yet
- loves to bang on things and make lots of noise
- betime: 6:30 p.m.
- still drinks 7oz bottles
- size 3 diapers
- size 12 mths and 18 mths clothes
- size 4 WIDE shoe :)
-loves the camera

Jaxson, you continue to be the joy of our lives! Your laugh is contagious, your smile is heart warming and you are possibly the sweetest most lovable thing ever! Bias-yes. You are loved soooo much by our families. I love how you reach for me, how singing silly songs can  make you laugh and smile, how just opening the pantry door and showing you your food excites you, how you are a struggle to dress but always look adorable in anything, how you love to take a bath and play with your bath toys but most of all...how you still like to snuggle. I love you...

pre-surgery...

post-surgery...disliking the world!

New Favorite Thing

This is Jaxson's new hobby...destroying organizing my cabinets! Such a sweet boy!

First Christmas!!

Waiting to see Santa...

Santa dropped these things off when he passed through Hopkinsville

Christmas Morning

Jaxson got so many good things for Christmas this year! I think he ended up with four riding toys, a room full of other toys, money and clothes! He's a very spoiled lucky boy!

On Saturday, December 18 we were in Bolivar celebrating Christmas with the Overton family. My entire life it has been tradition to go to MawMaw's (my grandmother) on Christmas Eve; however, since we have all gotten older and started our own families, we decided it would probably be easier on everyone to have the Overton Christmas a week early. A little sad to break our tradition but I was ecstatic to be able to spend Christmas weekend and Jaxson's first Christmas in our home! We spent Christmas Eve day with Emmett's family in Clarksville. We opened some many gifts and ate some AMAZING buffalo chicken dip that I'm now obsessed with! My parents and Jason stopped by for dinner and then we headed back to Hoptown (it was sleeting/raining by this time...) We opened gifts with my parents at our house on Christmas Eve night and Jaxson played with wrapping paper.

Christmas morning we woke up to a white Christmas! We had a lot of snow-not as much as when Jaxson was born-but enough for a snowman! Jaxson woke up around 7:00 a.m. and checked out his gifts from Santa. Around 9:30, Emmett's parents came over and Jaxson finished opening his gifts from everyone. Aunt Megs and Chris also came over and spent the day with us. Emmett spent the day putting toys together! It continued to snow ALL day...which was great and fantastic to look at through the windows. Jaxson got a lot of gloves/hats/scarfs for Christmas and I really wanted to bundled him up and take pictures outside in the snow but my poor baby wasn't feeling well. He ran a fever all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. His fever finally broke Christmas night. He started feeling much better the next day and was "wild man" again!

I took off work on Monday to be able to spend the day with my Jaxson and attempt to put his toys in his room...failed...no room for toys. But we did have a good day! Jaxson has an appointment with an EN&T doctor on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 to be assessed for tubes.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Our Second Home...

has become the doctor's office...with an ear infection...that never goes away :( My poor poor baby, he hasn't been as fussy and miserable as usual but it's definitely affected his sleeping. I don't think either one of us has slept all week. He's been on antibiotics for about 6 weeks now and since they aren't helping, he is now getting a shot 3 days in a row that is really thick and painful :( Our next step is tubes. I AM SCARED TO DEATH. I know that it's a simple procedure with a super fast recovery...but they are going to sedate my 10 month old baby...I don't know if I can let him go behind closed doors with strangers...I know he will be fine and I will be more upset than him but it's just scary. I've heard a lot of good things about the ENT doctors in our area. We have a consult scheduled for Wednesday, December 22, 2010 in Madisonville with Dr. Logan. While I'm scared to death, I can't wait for him to get this done to hopefully cease all of these ear infections. I think he would probably be a walking pro by now if he had better balance which may be a side effect of fluid on the ears. Anyway...I'm praying that all goes well and it's super fast procedure with a speedy recovery for my baby. I'm hoping these shots work well and he's ear infection free until we can get the tubes in.

ON A HAPPY NOTE...we have our first family Christmas function this Saturday!! Jaxson will get to open his first Christmas presents and I'm sooo sooo excited!! And he will get to wear his cute Mud Pie Santa romper I bought him :)

Christmas Card 2010

This is the Christmas card we used this year from Shutterfly. I LOVE it!! 

10 Months!

Jaxson Cole- you turned 10 months old on November 29, 2010...another month has slipped by us and we are that much closer to your 1st birthday. You are sooo energetic and on-the-go. You love to play, pull up on things, crawl really fast and play with things you aren't supposed to (cords, breakables, Christmas ornaments, everything in the cabinets.) You have taken a couple of steps but as soon as you realize what you are doing-you fall on your bottom. You are such a little doll and love the camera! We adore every single minute with you. I can't wait for Santa to come see you soon! You still love to eat, baby food & real food, you are taking 7 oz bottles in the morning and before bed, you are wearing 6-12 month, 12 month and some 12-18 month clothes. You are still wearing a size 4 wide shoe and have just about outgrown your first pair of little white walking shoes. You are still wearing size 3 diapers and now have 3 almost 4 teeth!! Every morning at daycare, someone comments on how cute you look. Your teachers have said you will be the best dressed kid at school one day! You look precious in your winter hats and do not mind wearing them. You don't like to be cold and your little hands and feet are always cold-just like your Mommy's! I'm not sure what you weigh right now but I would guess between 20-22 pounds. I know you get really heavy and Mommy's arm hurts when I carry you for more than 5 minutes. You love to be in crowded areas because you love to people watch. You are extremely nosy and will look around me if I'm standing in your way of seeing someone at Wal-Mart...you still give strangers your Daddy's blank stare when they try to talk to you :)

Happy 10 months baby boy! We love you!

Mommy & Daddy!

Sick day at home=Jaxson playing with pots :)



UPS & downs...

This week has definitely had it's ups & downs for my little Jaxson. Mommy instinct told me that he still had an ear infection, even though he's been on antibiotics for 10 days. Since he's allergic to pencillin, he has to take Ceftin when he needs antibiotics. Thanks to our insurance, that's on the 3rd tier; therefore making it $40 every time he needs it. So at Jaxson's last appointment I mentioned this to the doctor. He decided that we could try another antibiotic that would not be as strong but only $5 and just see how it worked. Well- it didn't. So, back on Ceftin.

But, before that -Jaxson had his first really bad boo-boo. Wednesday at 4:30 I got a phone call from daycare that just makes your stomach flip, "Mrs. Shaffer, Jaxson has gotten hurt at daycare. He has a gash above his eye." I hurry to go pick him up and it looked HORRIBLE! Somehow, the door or the gate or something cut his eyelid, right in the crease. I wasn't sure if he needed stitches so I made a few phone calls for advice and decided to wait it out. It did stop bleeding and it didn't seem to bother him because he played all night as usual. It still looks awful today and his eye lid is bruised. Well, after his doctor's appointment yesterday (ears again, runny nose still, gashed eye, 2nd flu shot...we make our doctor's trips well worth it!) I took him back to daycare. Mr. Jaxson thinks he's a big boy and can stand up alone and walk...well he's not as stable as he thinks. He head-butted the cabinet at daycare and now has a bruised knot on his forehead. People at Wal-Mart are going to think I abuse my child! Anytime Jaxson is sick or gets a boo-boo it's very stressful for us as parents because we want to protect him. I'm thankful that his accidents this week weren't serious!

Yesterday afternoon while playing in his floor, Jaxson took 2 steps towards me all by himself!! He's such a big boy for trying to walk at 10 months old! I plan to post his stats soon since he just had a birthday :)

Thankful for so Much!

November comes and goes so fast and with the anticipation of Christmas, sometimes we forget to slow down and just be thankful...the things our family is thankful for in 2010

- Thankful for semi-easy childbirth, recovery process and all the help and support we had during that time
- Thankful for our beautiful healthy baby boy that we have been blessed with
- Thankful for our families-honestly don't know what we would do without them!
- Thankful for our own health and the health of our family members and friends
- Thankful that we continue to have jobs during these hard times
- Thankful that we do not go hungry like so many do and that we have a place to call "home"
- Thankful that Jaxson has awesome loving grandparents
- Thankful that Jaxson has a good doctor who doesn't mind that I call biweekly :)
- Thankful that Jaxson is growing everyday and learning new things
- Thankful that God watches over us while we travel- we are always on the road going somewhere!

We have so many things to be thankful for and there's no way I could list them all. We will be spending the day with the Shaffer's tomorrow and will have our Thanksgiving dinner with the Overton's on Saturday. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy THANKSgiving!

Recalls Recalls

It seems like something is always getting recalled these days. Today I learned that another important item in Jaxson's life has been recalled...let's start from the beginning

The beloved Nap Nanny: Jaxson's best friend for several weeks/months. Luckily it was only the 1st generation so we were safe...

http://www.napnanny.com/

Our cherished Similac Sensitive: Originally I had hoped to switch him at some point to Gerber Good Start so I thought since the Similac had been recalled...why not! I will tell you why not: fussy gassy unhappy baby...so we are glad to have Similac back on the shelf in the normal size container. Only about 8 more weeks of that expensive crap good stuff.

http://www.similac.com/

Today I see that his teething tablets have been recalled. If they recall Orajel, we will be in A LOT of trouble!

http://www.hylands.com/

Our First Weekend Apart

A couple of weekends ago (Nov 12-14) Emmett and I went to Columbus for the Buckeye vs. Penn State game and while there we did some a lot of shopping! We also did A LOT of walking. While it was a much needed getaway I really hated leaving Jaxson and had a lot of first-time-mommy anxiety: what if we have a wreck on the way there, what if something happens to us, what if something happens while we are gone, what if what if what if. We had a great time at the game and had GREAT seats. Emmett and I actually got to catch up on what was going on with us J It was nice to spend time with Emm again and laugh about silly things (our trip to Target and the crazy random things Emm says sometimes).

I’m pretty sure Jaxson’s hair grew a couple of inches while we were gone (of course only on the one side). I am really trying to hold out until his first birthday for his first haircut, but the left side of his hair looks ridiculous because it’s so much longer than the right side and it flips out constantly like a little wing. Anyway, back to our trip….we got started on our Christmas shopping and the 1 toy we bought for Jaxson we ended up giving it to him as soon as we got home! We are such suckers! I was so ready to get home and see my baby boy so we left Columbus at 5:15 a.m. CST and were home by 11:00 a.m. I know how much I missed Jaxson but Emm missed him a lot too because every time we weren’t talking, Emm was looking at Jaxson’s pictures on facebook.  J He loves his baby boy…

Game Day