Birthday Week!

It's Jaxson's Birthday Week!!!

I'm so excited for his first little birthday but soooo sad too. We are having a "Milk & Cookies" party and I got a lot of inspiration from another blog that I follow.

On this day last year, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions. They were 3 minutes apart and they last 4 days. I also had my first of three false alarms on this day last year :) I was ready to have that baby out! I was told to stay home and relax...really? Is that possible?! So, I did...but I was bored...luckily my  mother-in-law was nice enough to babysit me so Emmett could work. All three times that I went to the hospital the nurses took one look at me and said "you aren't ready yet you are still smiling". But I was having contractions couldn't we just go ahead and do this thing! Nope, had to wait until January 29 to meet my precious baby boy.

Birthday post later to come...it will be picture overload!

Walking...

Jaxson started really walking on January 1, 2011. Three days after getting tubes his balance was much better and he was taking more than just a couple of steps. His walking got even better the days after that and now he can pretty much walk where he wants to but still falls and crawls when he gets lazy.

Friday, 1-7-10, we were back at the doctor with an ear infection. I partially blame myself for this because I was not plugging his ears during bath time so he probably got a little water in there which caused this infection. Plugging his ears is a pain in my rear-end….you have to cut the cotton ball in half and then coat it with Vaseline and then shove it in his ears…and then he pulls it out and the process starts all over. I know I shouldn’t complain especially if it keeps my baby from having those nasty ear infections! *Fingers crossed*, this will be our last time on antibiotics for a while!!

Jaxson has been really cranky the past week-ear infection and 3 teeth coming in! He also has a new thing-throwing fits! It is absolutely the funniest thing I’ve seen but I know I should “nip it in the bud” before he’s throwing these fits when he’s 16. When we tell him “no” he will look at us-squint his eyebrows together-plop down in the floor-bend his back-scream and cry. When I ignore him and turn around, he will look up at me and stop. I dread the terrible 2’s if this is any sign of the way things will be! I’m not sure where he learned this fit throwing thing, but I sure hope it ends soon. He has also started to refuse the bottle some and only wants to feed himself. He doesn’t like for us to feed him baby food that much anymore and will reach for the spoon. That’s wonderful for development but what in the world am I supposed to feed him? He can pick up food using his fingers instead of his whole hand so he will eat the Gerber Puffs and depending on what we have for dinner I will give him some table food (green beans, mashed potatoes, roll). I guess I will try some of the Gerber Graduate meals. I’m just so worried he’s going to get choked. That brings up another new thing-putting everything in the mouth! In the past week, I have scooped out a knob, kleenex and paper out of his mouth.

Our best friends right now are Orajel, walking shoes and sippy cups of water!

From our infant carseat to our big boy carseat! He doesn't care for it too much right now because it's still backwards and my seat has a little incline so he sits straight up.

We finally got the child locks on the cabinet doors! That has helped a lot!

Christmas Eve/Day snow

The Parking Garage

Bath time!

Waiting to see the doctor...

3 teeth with 3 more on the way!

Resting with Dada

2010=Happiness

I wanted to do a little recap of 2010 since a new year has snuck up on us! 2010 brought a BIG change to our lives…a change that I would do over again in a heartbeat…a change that took my heart and is now walking around with it…my Jaxson Cole was born in January 2010. A year ago today Emmett and I were going to our first parenting class at JSMC. And now we are planning a birthday party- It is so unreal to me that 2010 is gone! I remember the week we brought Jaxson home I thought “how in the world am I going to do this, what was I thinking, can I really pull this off?” I was absolutely scared to death and knew almost nothing about babies. I was so thankful to have my Moma there the first week and she did the night shifts so I could “rest.” We have had a lot of help over the past year and grandparents are always willing to stay the night to “help with the baby” a.k.a spoil him rotten. By February, we I was stir crazy and needed adult conversation and contact. We spent a few days in Bolivar so that he could meet family/friends and Emmett and I had a date on Valentine’s Day-our conversation consisted of “what do you think he’s doing, I wonder if he’s okay, should we go to a movie or just go home?” We did a lot of shopping because there just wasn’t much else to do in the middle of February when it’s freezing outside. I started back to work at the end of March and it was okay. I knew that Jaxson was being taken care of at daycare and I was ready for the daily routine to start. Jaxson went to his first baseball game to watch Uncle Jason play in April and then attended his first family reunion and wedding in May. We also traveled in May to Center Hill for the weekend to spend some time with family and to enjoy some time on the boat. This was the first trip away that wasn’t to a family member’s home so packing was a lot of fun! Jaxson spent June, July and August on the boat or in the pool. In September, Emmett and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary and it seems like Jaxson has been at the doctor’s office since then with allergies, congestion and ear infections since then! Jaxson made his first Ohio trip in October and was able to meet Emmett’s family! In the midst of all of this, Jaxson was trying to walk and ended up with lots of bumps and bruises on the head! In November, Emmett and I headed back to Columbus for an Ohio State game and had to leave Jaxson for the first time-it was HARD. Thank goodness it was only 3 days because I don’t think we could have made it longer than that! November also started our good eating for Thanksgiving! In December Jaxson had to get tubes for his ears. We cannot wait to see what 2011 has in our family’s future. Last night Jaxson asked for a little brother or sister to play with…haha…just kidding! It was a good thought for a minute and then it passed.

We have a birthday party, celebrating another year living in our house, celebrating another anniversary and many other upcoming events to look forward to in 2011! Happy New Year and may God bless your family this year with peace, happiness and health!

Checking in at JSMC on 01-28-10 at 11:30 p.m.

Jaxson Cole has arrived!

01-29-10 at 12:09 p.m.

7 lbs 12 oz 19 1/2 inces

And the snow started falling that night...and continued to fall all weekend!

Our New Family!

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 :)