Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

new blogger layout settings

Help! My blog is doing weird things. Ever since Blogger "upgraded" their layout options I've been having a hard time with my blog backgrounds. Has anyone else had this problem, and found a solution? I don't know how to get it to stop interfering with the blog backgrounds I choose from a website other than Blogger.

The biggest problem I'm having is the big blue strip across the top of the page....why won't it go away!?

Contagious Giggles

It's been a long time since I've posted!
Here's a video to give you a glimpse at where the kids are at now :)




The other day I bent over with Jada to let Jax give her a kiss before her nap. One of them started giggling and the giggling continued! SO funny. It made my day!

birthday boy!

Jaxon is 2 now!!

What fun to celebrate a 2-year old's birthday! He's been around enough birthdays now to understand what we were talking about when we told him that his birthday was coming up. He helped me bake his birthday cake and for a couple days afterward he would randomly talk about his birthday cake.

We were out at a friends' cottage for the week during his birthday so we had some friends out to celebrate with us. Here are a few pictures:








While we were at the cottage, Jax got a tick in his neck! Gross!!


...an up-close picture. We pulled it out with the tweezers and thankfully got the head out. PRETTY disgusting.



To see more pictures of our summer, you can look at my Facebook album here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=207655&id=643215447&l=845fb9ef40

mamma of two

wow, it's been a while since I've posted! We've had a crazy summer...lots and lots of company which has been awesome. We haven't had to travel anywhere for holidays this year because everyone has come to us! :)

The kids are doing great...Jada is smiling now and sleeping 8 hours at night, and Jaxon is talking up a storm and is learning his colors, shapes, and his favorite songs ("wittle star", "me" {Jesus Loves Me}, and the ABC song). It's a real joy to see him learning. And he loves his sister SO much. He's gotten really good at being gentle with her (though I still don't trust him 100%), and when he hears her cry he says "no cry, Jeeya", or runs and brings me her soother. He also loves to come into her room when I'm laying her down and sing his bedtime songs to her (with my help of course). Yesterday I caught him signing "I love you" to Jada and saying "uv you Jeeya".

I am of course loving having Jada around but it has definitely been an adjustment. I was very spoiled with how independent Jaxon has been the last 6 months or so...being able to trust him in another room by himself while I do stuff around the house...running errands just the 2 of us...picking up and just going somewhere fun together...having as much one-on-one time with Jaxon as we wanted...him feeding himself meals...etc...parenting him got to be quite easy. So going back to the newborn stage was like "oh yeah...I forgot about all this" :).

I think the hardest part is figuring out how to be able to give one kid my full attention while not being neglectful to the other. There's many times that I'll be feeding Jada and Jaxon will need me for something (potty or food or to clean up a mess or to get him out of the fridge or get the phone [that he so kindly answered for me] out of his hands...). Or vice versa...those days that Jaxon's bedtime routine gets dragged out (a toddler specialty I'm sure!) and poor Jada's crying on the couch waiting to be fed.

I think it will keep getting easier as we adjust to our "new normal". Having a kid is a big deal...it really changes the dynamic in the house and it takes time for everyone to figure things out.

I feel like I was majorly rambling...and I feel like my mind is in major "mommy brain" mode right now so forgive me for being all over the place. Unfortunately I'm not quite as smooth a writer as some of you. :) But I say all this to give my honest perspective on going from 1 kid to 2.

And despite all the adjustments, I am loving being a little family of 4. Well 5, really. Truly there is no better job in the world than being a mom. I am so blessed.










to see more pictures, check out my FB album here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198876&id=643215447&l=4ab65ebc1a

It's been a hot week around here...so this is where the lucky guy get to hang out :) He loves his little pool. Even though it's tiny, he manages to have lots of fun in there. Today he discovered what I call "butt flops". Pretty funny.



Little Jada about a week ago


canoeing on the lake. We got a great deal on a canoe a few weeks ago which is exciting for us...I love it that Jax can be used to a canoe so young. I'm sure this is just the start of many adventures with his dad.


Jada at 3 weeks.


Things here are going pretty good. I think Jada's working on her 3-week growth spurt right now. I had my first day alone with the kids today and it went okay.....but it seemed like both kids were having meltdowns at the same time, and when I was just about to get to nap, Jaxon woke up (early) from his nap. Plus some other minor things that added up and made me a bit grumpy. So I'm thankful for coffee and hoping tomorrow goes better.

To see more pictures, check out my facebook album by clicking HERE.

Dan's race

At the beginning of June Dan ran his first race...a 5km in Soo Michigan. I was so proud of him for doing it. It was a lot of fun watching and waiting for him to cross the finish line. He did really well...his goal was to make it in 27 minutes and his time was 24:47! Way to go Dan!

Happy Canada Day!

Introducing...

Jada Reese!

born Wednesday June 16th @ 8:53 am

7lbs 14oz 21 inches


(for some reason this picture won't fit in the screen but if you click on it you can see the whole thing. I LOVE the look on Jaxon's face here.)












To see more pictures, click here.

We're home now, and things are going well....Jaxon is getting used to the idea of having a little sister. Breastfeeding is going SUPER and that is such a blessing...breastfeeding Jaxon took a LOT more energy (and pain!) at first so this is so nice!

We are so thankful for these gifts God has given us (or more like is lending us!)

labor pains?

As I sit here with what feel like labor pains (for the 3rd time in the last few weeks) I'm curious to hear what YOUR labor pains felt like. I've never had real labor with either of my other two pregnancies so I really don't know WHAT real labor is supposed to feel like. And I know that lots of women feel it differently.

I know it's probably nothing what I have right now. But I'm a little on the paranoid side about being in labor because my doctor said it wouldn't be good - since I have a t-incision in my uterus from Jax's c-section. Apparently the labor could cause my uterus to rupture. And that would be no good.

The last 2 times I thought I may be in labor I made my way down to the hospital and wasted 2 hours while they did a non-stress test only to find out that they were NOT contractions...which made me even more confused because they felt like what everyone described as labor.

So, tell me - what did your contractions feel like?

bye, bye tv

So the other day Dan comes home from a run and told me that if I was okay with it, he thought we should disconnect our cable...

...he went on to say how he realized how much time he spent watching TV, and most of all, how much time Jaxon watches US watch tv...how how he's going to follow our example. Plus, there are MUCH better things to be doing.

My initial thought was that I would think about it and see whether I thought I could live without TV or not. Then I realized that was a dumb idea - I knew it was the right choice to make - whether I would like it or not.

So...today was our first day with no cable! When we saw the cable guy in the driveway today we both kinda thought to ourselves "crap...what'd we do?" but really we know this is the right thing to do.

I think the 1st month will be hard because we'll have to change our habits. But after that I think we'll wish we'd done it sooner.

So, ladies...any suggestions on any good books I could read? Right now I'm reading Shepherding a Child's Heart and my next one will be Everyday Talk, but I'm thinking I could probably use some good fiction now that I won't be killing as much time watching tv. Too much non-fiction will make my brain hurt.

a sun-filled weekend!

This weekend was by far the hottest, most summery May long weekend that I can remember. And we took full advantage of it! We swam in our friends' pool after a BBQ lunch on Sunday, followed by an afternoon at the park, on Monday we went to the beach, and Tuesday we went to our friends' camp for the afternoon! Loving it!


oh yeah....Jaxon also filled up the kiddy pool in the back yard.


BEACH!!!




Campbell's camp :)


the water was 70 degrees!






And just a cute picture of Jax this morning. I know boys don't typically wear night-gowns, but I think this one was made for boys...I can't help but find it stinking cute!

the rooms are DONE!

The most exciting thing that happened in our house this week is that Dan was able to 100% finish Jaxon's room and the baby room. He's been slaving away during all of his free time for quite a while now, doing some fixing up and painting in the kids' rooms. And now they are DONE!! Yay!

Jaxon is VERY excited to be into his room again, especially now that he gets to play in there whenever he wants (it's now child-safe).

Here's Jaxon's room:









Amazingly, the transition from crib to bed went SUPER well. We were expecting a hard week (at least!) as Jaxon got used to the idea of sleeping in a bed. I was worried about him not taking bedtime seriously now that he has the freedom (in his mind) to get out of bed and play in his room. Also, his room looks totally different now than it did when he last slept in there - so really it's like a totally different room to him. We were sure that all these adjustments would mean a few sleepless nights - but he did so great. We made sure to keep showing him the progress in his room as Dan was painting it, etc...and talking about his new room with him. We're starting to realize that he really does get it when we explain stuff to him - and it seems to make things go smoother.

The first night he was to sleep in his new bed I took Jax to his crib and we took the blankets that he used in his crib and I explained to him that we were going to put them in his new bed because that was where he was going to sleep now, and when we layed them down in his new bed he got all excited and layed down on them and cuddled up on the bed. It was funny :) Dan layed him down like normal that night, Jax said "bye!" and off to sleep he went! We were both like "what? That's it!??" Thank you Lord!!!!!!

His nap the next day didn't go as smooth - he was quiet for about 10 minutes and then started calling me and after I went in and out again he was quiet for another few minutes but then started talking again. He may have had a 20 minute nap and that was it. But the next day he napped like he normally does.

Here's a pic of Jaxon sleeping his first night in the new bed (it was dark in his room - the flash just lit it up!)



And here is the baby's room! All done!! Yay!






some stuffies I made for the shelf. The elephant has a hard time standing on his own so he gets to be friends with the owl.