Easter 2014

Jax had quite a few Easter events to go to this year.  One with the cousins, our house, and both Ahma and his Grandparents houses.  Here is Easter in pictures.

 Cousin Easter egg hunt at the park.

 Easter at Ahma's house

 Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Making Easter eggs and getting his basket at our house.  We had an egg hunt too.

 We are all egged out this year.  Still have lots of candy left over.  It will probably last until Halloween. :-)

My sweet Jax

My sweet sweet boy.  He is growing like a weed and his personality is shining through so much more lately.  At night when I put him to bed, I have been laying down with him in his little bed and hold him and we say prayers.  Then he says mommy I want you to lay with me, so we just lay there face to face with our heads touching and we have little talks about nothing and everything for a few more minutes.  We tell each other how much we love each other and just give each other lots of cuddles.  It's the best part of my day.

Tony has been teaching him how to play some video games on the TV.  Very kid friendly games but now I have to wait for 2 people to play their games before I can have the TV in the living room.

Jax has been telling me lately that he loves our new dog Tessa and he loves our old dog Sadie.  But he misses Sadie.  I told him it's okay to love them both but Sadie is in doggy heaven and once you go there, you live there forever.  He asks if she can come back and I have to tell him no.  But she is happy there.  Now, we just have to make Tessa as good of a dog as Sadie was and love her.  It's kinda sad for me because I miss my old dog too.

He has been going to gym for about 4 months now and he finally moved up to the independent class where the parents watch from outside the wall instead of doing everything with them.  It took a few classes but they say he is doing well.  I think it is really helping him open up more, although he is still my shy little boy.  It still takes him a while to warm up but it's a little easier now.  Even his teacher at school has said that she sees a difference in him.

He loves to sing.  My mom has taught him this months of the year song that he really likes but they are the only ones that know it.  So he just goes around singing and we have no idea what he is talking about.  He still likes me to sing You are my sunshine when he is sad or going to sleep.

We all got passes to Disney Parks.  So far he has been to Disney World, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom.  I think it is a tie between Disney and Animal Kingdom for his favorite so far.  We still have to hit Hollywood studios.  I think Tony and I are gonna take him there.

He is very into trains rights now.  They have one at the gym and sometimes he would rather play with that than do the class stuff.  We had a small figure 8 train set at home but Tony decided it wasn't big enough.  So he bought Jax this huge set with like 80 tracks and bridges and tunnels.  Jax was amazed when he saw that his train set grew so big.  He will sit out in his play room and play with the trains for an hour.  Tony's philosophy is go big or go home when it comes to buying things we really like.

He goes to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa almost every Wednesday lately.  He has ridden a camel a few times. He loves the train and the carousel.

We got his class picture this year.  He is so cute.  Sitting up so tall and smiling the best smile ever.

Just as I said.

Only a week or two after my last post about pooping on the potty, guess who is a potty pooper now?  JAX, that is correct!  For some reason, I don't know if it was the peeps or extra shows or he just decided to go himself, he has been going on the potty for over a week now.  We are so proud of him and he is proud of himself.
Next up is the overnights.  he still wears the pull ups for overnight but from what I hear, that is normal at this age.

He will do it when he's ready.

Lately, we have been trying to get Jax to poop on the potty.  For reason, he just refuses to do it most times.  He has done it a few times, we even had a week were he did it the whole time, but then he just decided he would rather crap in his pants than go on the potty.  He has had some digestive issues where he gets constipated a lot so we are on Miralax for that.  He will probably have to be on it for a few years according to the doctor.  Every time we stop using it, he gets constipated again.  So now we have finally got his system working correctly but he won't go on the potty. He does pee on the potty, it's just the poop we are having an issue with.

I am so over poop.  Poop in underwear, poop in diapers, poop in pull ups, wiping poop off of his butt. Wiping poop off my hand.  I just want him to get this one yucky thing but he is stubborn.  I know he can do it because he has done it before. We've tried everything, bribing him, a star board, having him clean his own underwear after he poops in it, (he thought it was fun), sitting in it (he doesn't care), being nice about it, being aggravated about it, praise and disappointment.  Nothing is working.

I have decided that this is just the way he is and has always been.  He will decide it is time to be a big boy when he is ready.  As I look back at some of our other obsticles, he was the same way with riding rides at the fair.  He was very scared and needed mommy or daddy to go with him or just wouldn't ride it at all.  Then, after a couple of trips, he decided he was ready and went on some of them by himself. Each time he will ride a bigger ride now.  He used to sleep on the floor in the hallway, rather than his bed so he could be closer to us in the living room.  We tried to make him stay in his bed but he would just end up on the floor by the time we were ready to go to bed.  I never understood why he thought the floor was more comfortable than his bed but he just does things his own way and wanted to be near us I guess. Then one day, about a month ago, he started sleeping in his bed and staying there, at least until about 3am. Then he would end up in our bed, which Tony did not like.  But then, about 2 weeks ago, he started sleeping in his bed all night.  We have pretty much been sharing our bed with him since he was 8 months old.  Now he has decided to be a big boy about it.  Same with naps, he used to put them off and sneak around in his room when he was supposed to be asleep but now he just says it's nap time and gets in bed and turns over.

So, after looking back, I just think he is his own little person and is gonna do things his own way in his own time.  He isn't really hurting anybody by pooping in his pants.  He just needs to get it done right before he goes to his next class at school.  And that is a while away.  I'm almost proud of him for knowing when he is ready and not ready to do things on his own.   Although, I'm still sick of poop, poop, poop.

Body parts

Funny for the day.

Yesterday, my mom, Kylee and I were talking to Jax and the conversation turned body parts. I said Jax what do boys have, he said boys have a penis. What do girls have, he said girls have no penis. Well, that is correct. We schooled him on what girls have. Then all of a sudden he busts out with boys have BIG penises. I have a BIG penis. Our faces just dropped and we could not stop laughing. Then he said it again since everyone thought it was so funny. All I could say is we can only hope Jax. We can only hope that one day you are correct on that.

I love this kid. He thought he was pretty funny too.

Anatomy questions

So, yesterday, Jax was in the bathroom and after he finished his business he looks at his penis and says mommy I think my penis is broke.  I said Jax, your penis is not broke. He said, but mommy I think it is broke. I said, I guarantee you that your penis is not broke. Why do you think it is broke?  He said, there is a hole in it.  I said, that is just where the pee comes out of it.  Then he asked, who put that hole there?  I said, God put that hole there so you could go potty.  And that was the end of that conversation.
I guess they have to learn somehow.   I thought it was so cute and innocent.  It is amazing how their brains work and how they try to figure things out.

He also saw Tony's chest hair and asked why he had hair on his chest.  We told him when boys get older, that's what happens.  We said one day you will have it on your chest too.  He just said ewe and no and laughed.  Then he looked at me and said you have hair on your chest too?  And I said no, only boys get that.

tori amos - butterfly

Some mornings

Most mornings, I get up alone in the darkness of my room, get ready for work, and then I go and kiss Tony goodbye and tell him to have a good day.  Then I go to the other side of my bed where Jax has scooted into my spot and kiss his little face and tell him I love him.  Sometimes he manages to say I love you too but most of the time he is fast asleep and then snuggles up to daddy.

But, some mornings I get the privilege of Jax waking up when I do for work. He will snuggle up to my head in bed when the alarm goes off and says you gotta go to work mommy?  And I say yes. Sometimes he doesn't want me to go and others he is okay with it. When I drag myself out of bed, he follows me and watches me get ready and we have a little chat.  When it is finally time for me to go, I go give Tony a kiss and tell him to have a good day like I always do and Jax walks me to the door.  On these days we get to give each other a big hug/lovin, and a big kiss and I tell him to be a good boy and have a fun day and then he watches out the window as I leave. 

I like those days best.  Makes me sad I have to leave him, but happy I got that little bit of alone time with him.  I got to do it with him today.  So today is a good day.....so far. :-)

Christmas 2013

CHRISTMAS AT OUR HOUSE

CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA'S HOUSE

WITH UNCLE MARK, AUNT JEN AND LEXI

 CHRISTMAS AT AHMA'S HOUSE

WITH AUNT KRISTI, UNCLE TONY AND KYLEE

There really is a Santa Claus.

This was the first year Jax really "got" the whole Santa thing.  The night before Christmas, we set up a plate of cookies and carrots and some egg nog for Santa and his reindeer and put it by the tree.  Jax was so excited to think Santa was coming that night.  He didn't go to bed until 11pm or so.  When we woke up, Jax watched one of his shows and then we made our way to the living room to see if Santa had come.

When we get out there, the plate had only a little bit of cookie left and the carrots are half gone and scattered around the table and the egg nog was half gone.  Jax said Santa was here! He ate my cookie! But didn't make that big of a deal about it.  Then he just continued to look at the presents that Santa brought him.  After a bit, he was looking on the ground and saw something that to him looked like "poop, reindeer poop". (It was actually a lovely hair ball from Joy the cat, but we just went along with it.) He yelled, that's reindeer poop daddy!  Santa let his reindeer poop on our floor!  We all laughed and then he saw another piece of "poop". Look! There is some more reindeer poop!  I said, well next year we are gonna have to tell Santa to clean up after his reindeer, aren't we.

Then he said, Santa really did come.

I just think it's funny that the "poop" is what made him truly believe.  Some people have hoof prints on their roof or driveway, we have reindeer poop in our living room. :-)

Cousin Cookie/Gingerbread house decorating party

Last year, since we no longer exchange gifts with everybody (too many kids), we wanted all the little cousins to get together during the holidays, so we did a party at Jessi's house and it turned out really fun for the big and little kids.  So this year, we did it again at our house.

We set out all the decorations, candy, icing, etc. and let them go at it.  This year we decorated gingerbread houses and cookies.  Some of the older kids were very creative and artistic.  But they all did a great job.

If they needed help, the mama's were right there to help.

Three generations of decorators.

The grandmas.

Showing off all their houses and cookies.

He's so proud of his little house.

All the cousins with their mama's.

Hopefully this can become a new tradition every year for a while.  I think we all had a lot of fun.

Toy Parade

THE TOY PARADE
The past few years we have gone to the toy parade in Daytona by Tony's parent's house. They have a Santa Claus, airplanes, lots of different decorated floats and food.  This year we had our newest addition to the family there, Lexi.  Jax had a blast and got to meet a live Toy Soldier and said hi to Santa.  We all got to play with Lexi as we watched everything go by.  It was a fun day.

Jax's first trip to Disney

The date was December 1, 2013.  We had decided that it would be best to take Jax to Disney for the Merry Christmas Parade thingy that they do since it is less crowded and he would get to ride most of the rides and see all the characters.  We stayed overnight at the contemporary so we could just come back and crash after our long night.

We got to the hotel around 4:30pm but somehow even with the Magic Kingdom being only one monorail ride away, we didn't get there until around 6pm.  We had to take the monorail over there and Jax loved it.  When we got there, the end of the daily parade was happening.  Jax was interested but didn't want any of the characters anywhere near him.  He was so excited to see all the Christmas lights and decorations though.  We got to see his favorite characters, Chip and Dale right away.

Once the parade ended, we took a bunch of pictures and went on to get our free cookies.  We each got 2.  We went to the Monsters Inc show and then we went on our first ride, the People Mover.  Jax thought it was so cool that we were so high up and he could sit all by himself.  We even went through Space (Space Mountain). :-) While we were on the People Mover, we showed him all the other rides and stuff we could do that night.

Our next ride was the Race Cars.  I let Tony and Jax go by themselves.  I didn't feel like getting crashed from behind again.  Tony let Jax steer and he pushed the gas.  Jax's little face just beamed, he was so excited.  He could barely see over the wheel but he drove that car.

Next up was the Teacups, a favorite of mine.  On our way there, we see a dance party was happening in one of the restaurants with Goofy and Pluto, so we decided to go in.  Jax was in a daze, just watching them dance.  He still didn't want to go anywhere near them, and he made us hold him the whole time.  But he was shaking his booty in our arms and on Tony's shoulders.

Once we left, we made it to the Teacups.  We spun around pretty fast and Jax tried to keep up on the wheel but we finally told heim to just sit back and get dizzy.  He did and he loved it.

Then we ate dinner.  Jax had a glass of whole milk with his dinner.  This will be important later.

Our next stop was Dumbo, another favorite of mine.  We all got to sit in one seat together.  They have redone Dumbo to be more smooth and less jerky when you go up and down.  I like it better the other way.  We still had a good time.  Jax liked flying.  Then we made it to It's a Small World and Jax was just fascinated by this ride. Our last ride was the Pirate's of the Caribbean.

After this we got some more cookies and made our way to get a spot for the parade.  On the way there, Jax complained that his tummy hurt and he didn't feel good.  Tony held him and we made our way through the crowd, as we are walking down the beginning of the parade route, jax once again complained about his tummy.  Tony told him he would probably through up in a few minutes.  Well, it took about 5 seconds and Jax puked all over Tony and Main street.  We tried to move out of the parade route but Jax puked again and then a 3rd time.  Finally, all these Disney people come over and start cleaning up the mess and I just said sorry to puke and run but I gotta clean them up.  So, we got everybody cleaned up and Jax said his belly felt much better.  Below is a picture of Jax after he got sick and feels better. :-)

So we watched the parade and then made our way to the front of the park where they had one more dance number for us to watch.  It was really cute and we got to see all the characters one more time.  It was almost midnight so we headed back to our hotel and went to bed. 

 The next day Jax made us ride the monorail one more time around the whole park.  It was a really neat experience for all of us to be there at Christmas time and for Jax's first time.