Thanksgiving

While Noah enjoyed four days of work, watching movies, sleeping and playing video games, Jaxon, Savannah and I went on a little road trip with my parents to Santa Rosa for Thanksgiving. Every year my family (on my Dad's side) get together on my Great Aunt Thelma's property to eat together. There is always amazing food, awesome scenery, and wonderful people. Some relatives are very distant and some are a little more closely related, but we all manage to figure out how on a giant family tree. People tell great stories, and its so nice to catch up a bit.


This was only the fourth time I have gone, and it was the first time since getting married. It was a bit of a challenge bringing my babies out there without Noah, but my cousins did not have too much of a problem passing Jaxon around while I handled Savannah's tantrums (and there were lots). I hardly knew my Dad's side of the family (other than writing to my second cousin Jessica) until I was 15, but I love each time I get to see them and hear of all their adventures and successes.



Between the 13 hours drive each way and having very little toddler proofing, I think it was a really great trip. I had a great time with my parents and I am glad they got to spend a little more time bonding with my kids. We had a fun little trip to the mall on black Friday, some really good laughs and overall a really good time.

Here are a few pictures. I did not take as many as I would have liked, but I will add more later when I see what pictures my Dad has. :)

Jessica, Missy (the dog) and Savannah

Aunt Thelma, my parents, my kids and me

Trying to destroy Thelma's house

Savannah was a fan of the Viking helmet

Jaxon and Sarah

Jessica and Jaxon

Karin and Jaxon

Erica helping Savannah get things out of the tree

Jessica and Savannah

Savannah and Megan's boyfriend Sean

Riding in the car at the Jelly Belly factory during our pit stop on the way home

My cute little Jaxon

So I just thought I should share some of the pictures Ginger took of Jaxon when he was 3 weeks old.

2 months!

So yesterday marked 2 months since Jaxon has become a part of our family. He is such an amazing little boy and when he is not sick he is so calm and sweet. Its been a busy few months and I have often forgotten about things going on outside my home, but I love it. I love having two kids! My family feels so much more complete and I love the time I have with both my little ones. Between tons of Dr visits, starting back to work, visiting the hospital, birthdays and spending more time with family, these couple months have flown by faster than I would have liked, but I certainly enjoy those little quiet moments at home.

Today was Jaxon's 2 month visit to the Dr/follow up from our trip to the hospital last week. He is doing well, but still is having some difficulty fighting off this virus. His throat is sore and he is still irritable, but the Dr said that should end soon. He is growing well and in the 79% for length, 41% for weight and 24% for his head circumference. Dr told me to "keep up the good work" and after a discussion of my News Years resolution being to visit the pediatrician no more than once a month, he wished me luck! We will see how that goes.

Some Videos

So a couple months ago we got a flip camera and I love it. We have taken a little collection of little video moments of our kids, but I haven't posted any yet... oops! So anywho.. here are my favorites.

Savannah dancing (like everytime she hears music), but this time she got a little too dizzy.

Jaxon after nap time. I love his little smile and as long as he is feeling well, he does it a lot!

Hospital... the full story

So this past Monday and Tuesday night I stayed the night in the hospital with Jaxon. It was a bit eventful and taught me who I can really count on. I really have great friends and family. Here are all the not so fun details...

Jaxon screamed all Saturday night throwing off his sleeping pattern. I put it off as something I ate and was not surprised when he slept a ton on Sunday. That night was another screaming fest from about 1:30-6 in the morning. Of course I was super tired when Savannah got up so I pushed off showering until later. Everything I put Jaxon down he was really mad and needed to be cuddled all day so nothing got done. By the time Savannah took a nap I needed one too, so Jaxon and I took a little snooze (once again prolonging my shower). We all got up around 4 and things seemed to be OK until I fed Jaxon at 5 and he immediately threw up all over me! He felt warm so I took his temp of 100.2 and then called the Dr to see what group was the after hours clinic assigned that night and to talk to the nurse. They said they don't consider it a fever until the temp is 100.4, but that I should just watch him. Two and a half hours later his temp was 101.7 so I called again and after they made me feel over protective and paranoid, I still made an appointment and brought him in at 9:20pm. I am glad I did.

When they took his temperature it was up to 102.7 and they started to be a little alarmed because there were no visible reasons why and he was still so young with a poor immune system. His chest sounded clear, ears were fine, no rashes... nothing. So I then got a warning from the Nurse practitioner that the Dr there had to come in too because Jaxon was so young and that he would probably have urine and blood tests done, a spinal tap performed and then we would most likely be spending some time in the hospital. She was right!
First came the urine test which made poor little Jaxon bleed, and then the spinal tap. They asked me if I wanted to watch but I couldn't. Instead I just sat in a little room tearing up while I could hear him screaming down the hall. Two hours after we got there, we were on our way to the hospital with his spinal fluid in hand. Luckily I am blessed with a super amazing sister who I had been talking with because the office on call that night was where she takes her kids. She jumped in her car right away and we pulled into the parking lot at the same time. After being shown to our room the tests began. First was the task of putting in his IV. After the hand and foot did not work, it ended up in his head. They drew a few tubes of blood and then came the chest X-ray and a test where they put a thing in him to suck out a bunch of mucous. My sister Erin held him still when I couldn't bare to watch and stayed to comfort me and let me shower, until she drove all the way to my house to drop off Savannah's car seat and pick up things I needed. I think she finally got home at 4am only to wake up a few hours later to watch Savannah because Noah had scheduled several interviews and could not stay home. She is a saint!! We had a visit from the pediatrician at 9am who said they needed to monitor him all day and wait for test results so we would stay another night. Jaxon and I just snuggled all day as I avoided all the tubes and cords coming from his head, chest and toe. I watched a lot of dumb daytime tv, played on the Internet on my phone and napped between feeding Jaxon and waiting for my hospital food (it was good). Noah came around 6 with some more clothes for me and held Jaxon while I showered. My parents took Savannah off Erin's hands and took her to eat before coming to the hospital so Noah could take Savannah home. They visited us for a little while too.
We finally got news around 8:30am that every test came back clear and we could go home in a few hours. Apparently Jaxon had a respiratory viral infection and between the tamiflu and IV antibiotics things were a lot better. He still sounds a little horse and is not his regular self, but I think he will be soon. We go back to the Dr on Monday for his 2 month appointment and a follow up visit. I am just really hoping he is better and no other sickness comes our way any time soon. We did have really awesome nurses and a cute little room on the pediatrics floor, but I would rather be at home and taking care of Jaxon without the cords.

Family Photos!

So two weeks ago my sister Kara's family was here for a wedding so we arranged for Jaxon's blessing to be Sunday and met bright and early before church for the photo session. My super awesome friend Ginger took the pictures. She really is amazing! She took time out of her birthday to do the shoot. Check out her photography blog! http://www.posiesphoto.blogspot.com/

We did the best we could on coordinating outfits last minute and it was a tad cold, but even with some unhappy children I think there are some fantastic pictures. I will definitely have to have her take some more of us when I get rid of the baby weight ;)Group shots

This one makes me laugh because no one is really posing. Little Ty was sad, Savannah was pulling my hair and screaming and their was lots of laughter

Our Little Family

My Mom and Dad

My brother Todd and his wife Megan

Sister Kara's Family (Abby, Natalie, Kara, Ty and Mike)

My parents with Jaxon

My sister Erin's family (Justin, Kaden, Erin and Eli)

Savannah wandering around

All the cousins together

Eli is so cute! I love his little crossed legs

Little Ty... he was not so happy at this point

My Little Boy and I

Pine Nuts

So I keep seeing homemade signs for Pine nuts. They always seem to be made on neon poster board and in gas station parking lots. One particular set up caught my interest yesterday. This guy was laying in the front seat of his car with the seat reclined, taking a nap and had his pine nuts sign leaning against his back tire. I'm just guessing, but I don't think he sold much. Who wants to go knock on some guy's window and wake him up for pine nuts in the parking lot of a Texaco???

Happy Halloween!

So we had a pretty fun past couple of days. Here is a little photo story for you :)

Friday we carved our pumpkin

Noah found this template on the Disneyland website

Then we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and had a little Halloween movie Marathon featuring Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and The Great Pumpkin.

Jaxon passed out during his tummy time

Saturday morning we got the kids dressed and went to lunch with my parents after a little photo session

Then came the neighborhood Halloween Party

Jaxon got cold so we brought Savannah's costume from 2 years ago and put it on him to keep him warm. I think wearing the same outfit at the exact same age shows how much they look alike. Jaxon is above and Savannah's old picture below.

Both of my kids were very awake when we got home. We watch Hocus Pocus while Jaxon chilled in his swing and Savannah insisted on eating while wearing her tights and a pumpkin bib. She is a little goof ball.