Was that a....giggle?

Buddies :)

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Today at Tender Transitions, Jaxon weighed 12 pounds, 1 ounce. So we didn't gain much in the last week...just 4 ounces. I suppose this means next week we'll be up 2 pounds cuz he'll be making up for what he didn't gain this week! ;)

Happy Bath!

Tonight was bath night, and I figured it was as good of time as any to post some bath pictures. Especially since he was happy during the whole bath. I usually use 2 wash cloths when I'm giving him a bath, so he's not exposed and cold while I'm washing him up. As soon as I put the washcloth over his chest or wherever, he takes it and puts it in his mouth. If he can't get it IN his mouth, he will stick his tongue out and lick at it instead.

Bubble bath! If bathtime is at night, I use that sleepytime bubble bath and WOW does it help a lot. The last couple times I've used it, as soon as he's out of the tub and wrapped in a towel, he falls asleep!

Mommy and Jax Lake Sleepover

I love how when I upload photos, it lists them in the blog backwards of how I listed them. So I guess....here's our Friday, only backwards ~ sunset to arrival.

Us playing on the floor. We'd go outside for a bit until the wind got to be too much for Jax and then we'd go back inside and play and cuddle.

Hanging out on the bench, watching the sunset. Below, Jax sat next to me on the bench. Obviously it was a little windy and a little sunny...either that, or he just doesn't like the view.

This is Jax's friend, Panda. They have many deep conversations, especially during car rides. Having recently discovered that Panda has a squeaker (meaning, Josh and I just discovered it), when we squeak it, Jax smiles and talks back at him. I guess he must taste good too, cuz Jaxon likes to chew on his feet.

Yay, we're almost there! And yes, this photo was taken from in the car, but I was at a stop sign.

We didn't get to go swimming, though the water was perfect. I was hoping that Jax would nap long enough so I could swim a little, but it didn't happen. Oh well. There aren't really any pictures from Saturday ~ it was gray and cold outside and SUPER windy, so we hung out inside until I got tired of waiting for sunshine and headed home. We spent the rest of the day at home, doing laundry and reading stories together.

Fledgling Water Baby

Like I mentioned in a previous post, for our anniversary, we went to the lakes for the day. We hung out on the beach for awhile, went into town for ice cream, did some more beach time, and grilled out for dinner. Here are some pictures of our water baby ~Hanging out after putting on sunscreen...

Tasting the air! Apparently there were a lot of things to taste that day, as his tongue was in and out of his mouth all day.

Hanging out under the umbrella
Tired after mom stressed me out by making me put my feet in the lake AND then in the sand! (He didn't mind the water until the wind picked up and there were some waves and the water went past his toes. So we tried toes in sand and that was ok and kind of fun to scrunch my toes in until I realized that they were touching that cold water again...)

It was a good day. The weather was PERFECT! Too bad the water wasn't a little warmer.

In the next couple weeks, Jax will get some more opportunities to learn that not all water is bathtub warm ~ as long as the weather forecast is nice, he and I will be going to the cabin for a couple days later this week and next weekend we will be visiting Grandpa Jim and Grandma Linda! At this rate he'll be swimming by September ;)

Silly faces :)

I know that watching this video could make you seasick, since he's busy swinging back and forth, sorry. Just wanted you to see how he makes faces (mostly sticking out his tongue) at himself in the mirror on the swing. Watching him check himself out makes me laugh.

6 years ago....

I put on a girly white dress (gross), Josh put on a (warm) black tux, and we got married (on the warmest day of July). It's hard to believe that it's already been 6 years of being married ~ 10 days from today, it will have been 9 years together total. Crazy!

We don't have any wedding cake left or honeymoon wine, so we'll be celebrating by going to the lake with Jaxon. Not as exciting as the cake and wine adventure, but I'm sure we'll make do. ;)

Dear Grandma Linda & Grandma Joy ~

Love You!!!

Photo Catch Up!

I decided that today would be a good time to try and get some of the pictures from our camera and my phone uploaded to share with the world.. We made pirate stuff at summer camp...and I'm pretty sure Jax wanted to be a pirate too (even though in the picture below he's got a "what the heck" sort of look)

We had gone to watch Braedon and Nate play t-ball, but went to the wrong place and the 2 block drive home was pretty tiring, so Jax fell asleep like this. I suppose the hat made falling asleep that much easier?

Cuddle time with mom!

Working out in the baby gym. If the music quits, he squawks at it. I'm pretty sure that he thinks that's how you make it go again.

Some naked baby party pictures...

Post naked baby party..

Warranty is Up!

Tomorrow, Jaxon is 3 months old. This means that our 90 day warranty on him is up and there's no way we can return him now! (Kidding. We would NEVER return him. I was teasing Josh that the 90 day warranty is up because he teased me about MY warranty after we'd been married 3 months. He figured he could get the dollar back that he'd paid Tanner to marry me in the first place if he talked to him before the 90 days.)

Besides that, even if you could return him, now wouldn't be a good time because he's starting to develop a little personality. I like that he's growing out of what I called the "blob" stage. Where I used to have to coax them out of him, now he spends most of his day smiling. It makes me laugh because he'll watch you and smile at you until you notice him and then the smile gets even bigger when you smile back at him. He also doesn't like if he can see you but you're not talking, whether it's to him or just to yourself (which is a good thing, cuz I talk to myself quite a bit). He's starting to interact with his toys more. It's just enough right now to make me excited for when he's more active. I know I'll be regretting those words when he's crawling around and torturing the dog, but for now it's fun to imagine.

I happened to wonder last night what Jax's game with his Grandpas and Grandmas will be. I used to play "Yipes" with my Grandpa ~ all it was was the two of us running around their dining room table. It was a made up game obviously, but sometimes those are the best kind. My brother, Jameson, used to play "Push It" with my Grandma ~ they just pushed a button back and forth across a table. And Tanner used to have my Grandma "pitch him some hits." I asked Josh if he had games that he played only with his grandparents and he says that being at his Grandpa's farm was his. He got to play farm on a real farm.
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At Tender Transitions today, Jaxon weighed 11 pounds, 6 ounces ~ for those that keep up with his weight. I always have to remember his weight because it's one of the first things that Josh asks me on Tuesdays or after appointments.

Sleepover/Baby Free House

Last night, Josh and I went to the Joey + Rory/Joe Diffie concert at the fair and so Jaxon had his first sleepover. My parents picked him up later in the afternoon and we went out to dinner with Mike and Brandy and then headed to the fair. I checked in with my brother to make sure he wasn't making them too crazy (though, at that point, what was I going to do? Go pick him up? By the time I got there he'd be sleeping, I'm sure). My only real worry was that he'd not sleep very well and keep my mom, dad, and brother up all night. Thankfully, he slept like he does at home.

I don't think we really noticed the difference in a baby free house Sunday night. This morning, however, was a completely different story. After Josh went to work and I got out of bed, it was quiet in the house. I kept waiting to hear the crickets chirp like they do during strange silences in movies. It was different with Jax gone, that's for sure. I kind of had a feeling like I forgot something all day.

Giving him up for the night isn't something that I'd do every day, but it was nice to go out with grown ups! We say thanks to Grandpa Scott, Grandma Joy, and uncle Tanner for the sleepover...and for Fidget for protecting Jax in case any monsters showed up while he was sleeping!

NICU Visit

Last night we made a quick trip up to the NICU to visit the nurses there and bring them some cookies.

When we buzzed the doorbell on the 6th floor, instead of being asked who we were there to see the person on the other end said "OH, it's you guys!" and unlocked the door. It was our birth class teacher. We stopped at the nurses station to say hello and so she could check out Jax and catch up a little bit. It's a good thing I could remember her name, since she remembered ours!

She let us into the NICU and we got pretty lucky that 5 of the nurses Jax had were on duty. They took his picture to put up on the wall and we did some catching up with Tom and Staci (the others were pretty busy). Jax showed off his adorable smile to them...which surprised me because it's nearly impossible to get him to smile later in the day when he starts getting tired.

It was a good visit. We will be going back again I don't know when. (I know for sure we'll be up there in December ~ I've decided that the preschool will be making Project Linus blankets for our holiday donating) Only thing is that I forgot to steal some ice when we left. (I love hospital ice!)

Independence!

We spent the 4th of July in Lakeville at Grandpa Jim and Grandma Linda's. Our first longer than an hour car ride went well ~ Jax slept the whole way, with the exception of when we stopped and woke him up to eat. (The drive home wasn't as quiet, apparently on Sunday he was attention starved and just wanted someone to cuddle him) Once we got to Lakeville, he got in all sorts of cuddle time with everyone. At the baby shower in April, we got the CUTEST swimming outfit ever (pictures posted below) from LouAnn and Shelby ~ he was finally big enough to wear it and he was ADORABLE! Not that we thought he'd look any other way in his swim trunks, shirt, hat and flip flops. I will be sad when he's too big for those flip flops! We didn't wear the outfit in the pool, but we dipped our toes in the little pool that Grandma had got for the little guys to swim in.

Yesterday was our 2 month NICU Free Birthday! We are planning on going back up to visit the NICU nurses on Wednesday night after Josh gets home. I am excited to see the nurses and for them to see how much he has changed in the 2 months that we've been home.

Today we started preschool summer camp. Jax slept through the first half and was wide awake for the second half. It was fun to be back with the kids and getting messy.

Tonight, I test drove giving Jaxon some water in a bottle ~ the pediatrician said to try it if he seems hungry between feedings and so he learns that he can't snack between feeds. After he realized it wasn't milk in the bottle, he looked at me like I had four heads. He'd try it again and then gag like he was trying to spit it back up. I guess the water trick won't work.

Bathtime smiles!

Finally, some huge smiles!!! Today, we were very happy in the bathtub ~ full of smiles and babbling.

Grandma Linda will understand this one...

All packed up and ready for our weekend in Lakeville! (Grandma Linda used to do stuff like this to daddy and take his picture ~ I happen to think it's cute)

We went to Kindred yesterday to watch Tanner's baseball game ~ we had to look good while we were there! :) (Daddy doesn't like this outfit as much as mommy does, big surprise)

Tanner pitching :)