Friday, December 30, 2011

Mama

"Dada" is the most common sound from Paxton's mouth. He says it when he sees Jared, when he wakes up in the morning, when he's sitting in his car seat, and as he chases his little toy car around the living room. It's his favorite. He says a few other things that sound like words too...but no "mama". For about a week, we were close. I would tell him "say mama" and he would say "mmmm" (which is his second favorite sound...he says it every time he takes a drink or a bite and he squeals it when he wants a bite of what we're eating).

But this week, we regressed. Now when I tell him to say mama, he blows a big raspberry.


YouTube Video

Good thing he waited til after Christmas to start that or he would have had a lot less presents.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Pulling Up!







Paxton pulled up for the first time today! We've known it was coming for a few days now...he has been reaching for the tops of things and he pulled up to his knees at my mom's house on Christmas. Today, we both watched as Paxton scooted over to the ottoman, grabbed the top and pulled. We both knew it was coming so we both scrambled for something to record the big moment. We ended up both getting videos with our iPads...apparently we're kind of spoiled in the technology department (thanks to Jared's dad) but it definitely paid off today as we caught the milestone from two different angles.

YouTube Video

Jared was so glad that he was home to see it in person. He usually just gets pictures or videos of the actual event and then gets to see it later. I'm so grateful that I get to stay home with Paxton so I can see all his milestones and take pictures. We all sacrifice a lot for me to stay home and days like today make it so worth it. I loved seeing the proud look on his face as soon as he did it (and then each time after that).






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, December 26, 2011

First Christmas

Paxton's first Christmas was a very busy experience and he definitely got spoiled. We started on Monday night at Granny V's house. She made a delicious dinner.


And Paxton got lots of presents.


He even helped open a few. He got some cute outfits, pajamas, toys and a first Christmas ornament.

Then Tuesday night we met up with one of mom's family members and Paxton got a Boomer outfit.


On the 23rd, Jared and I went out for our annual Christmas date.








Paxton got to stay with Grandpa for the first time. When he got over there, he had a brand new jumperoo waiting for him. Jared and I went to Red Rock and then to Wal-Mart to buy stocking stuffers for each other. We've done this for several years now and it's so fun to try to sneak around Wal-Mart and not run into each other. This year we ended up getting each other one of the same things.

Christmas Eve started out early at Granny Pat's house. The spread of presents over there is amazing.


Paxton got Granny Pat a plate with his footprints. She loved it.


Paxton got lots of OU clothes, a Thunder sweat suit, a toy iPhone, and lots of other toys.

Later that night we went to Granny's house for the annual Christmas Eve get together. Unfortunately, Paxton was pretty fussy from a long day with short naps and we didn't get to stay very long. I think part of his problem is that he has some separation anxiety and big crowds overwhelm him.


When we came home, we tried to get Pax to open his Christmas Eve present. This is a tradition we did in my family when I was little. Paxton wasn't interested.


Paxton woke up early on Christmas morning and we went in to see what Santa brought.


He wasn't really interested in opening his own presents...especially after he saw this:


Out of all the nice presents we got him, his favorite two things were this $2 ball and a container of puffs from Santa. He's easy to please.

After he had a little nap we went to my mom's house. Paxton got tons more toys and some books and clothes and he got this ball pit:


He also got a Cabbage Patch Kid doll. It was a little boy and he loved it.


He kept leaning over to give it kisses. I never thought my son would have a doll...but he sure does love it.









We spent today getting all his new toys set up and his room rearranged so he has more space to play. It looks like a big boy room now!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!






Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, December 23, 2011

Nine Month Stats




Paxton had his nine month check-up today. He weighed 21 pounds and 9 ounces and was 28 inches long. That put him between the 50th and 75th percentile for height and the 75th percentile for weight. His head is also holding steady in the 50-75 percentile range.



He has had a rash on his back for about a week that I have been pretty worried about but Dr. Campbell said that without a fever it was probably just dry winter skin and to keep lotion on it.



Other than that, everything looked great. He is developing just like he should. There were no shots this time, but he goes back at twelve months and will get shots then.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, December 22, 2011

NINE MONTHS!!

 Paxton is nine months old today.  It feels like I was taking his eight month pictures two weeks ago.  It seems like every month goes faster than the last month.  I think he's at my favorite age right now...it seems like I feel that way pretty much every month.  I am just really enjoying watching him grow up and learn new things.  I am doing my best to just enjoy every minute because I know it goes by faster than anyone expects.
 Here is what Paxton is up to this month:
  • His social skills are expanding so much lately.  I think this is the biggest change we have noticed.  He tries to repeat things we say and do.  He says "dada" to Jared sometimes.  Most of the time when he says it he is just babbling, but we definitely think he knows what it means.  Thanksgiving was the first time he used it correctly.  He looked right up at Jared and said "dada", it was precious.  He has done that several times since then.  If he's fussy in the car, we can say "dada" and he'll repeat it and then just take off babbling.  When he is told to say "mama", he just says "mmmm".  He'll get it soon.  He also says "mmm" when he takes bites of food or a drink.  He shakes his head no if someone does it to him.  He is still doing the "w" face and the fake cough.  Sometimes I ask him what Santa says and he fake coughs.  Jared taught Paxton to click his tongue, and Paxton will repeat that also.  If he isn't sure how to repeat something, he will resort to the tongue click. 
  •  He is taking baths in the big tub and he loves his rubber duck and splashing.  His fearlessness is definitely an issue in the tub.  When his toys float away, he tries to crawl after them.  We have to keep our hands on him at all times.  
  • He can still squeeze in to his six month onesies, but some of his nine month Carter's onesies are getting pretty tight.  His jeans are 12-18 months.  He has also grown out of nine month pajamas and is in 12-18 months.  We moved him up to size 3 diapers. 
  •  He is army crawling all over the house.  He goes from room to room now.  I've been waiting for him to crawl to come find me and that finally happened yesterday.  He was in the living room playing and I was in the bathroom getting ready.  He crawled all the way down the hall and into the doorway.  Then he just sat there and talked to me and smiled at me while I finished getting ready.  It was so sweet.  He chases his car that he got for his six month birthday all over the living room.  It's his favorite toy right now.  He plays with it all day and fusses when it gets stuck somewhere.  
  • He's getting really fast at going from laying down to sitting up.  Most mornings when I go in to get him, he's sitting up in bed.
  • He lifts his arms to be picked up.
  •  He is obsessed with the Christmas tree and is constantly taking off ornaments and trying to open presents.  We had a metal stocking hanger stand that we had to put up because he kept pulling it over on himself.  
  • He loves to play with balls.  He also chases those all over the house, but his favorite is when we sit across from him and roll the ball to him.  He rolls it back and gets so excited.  He flaps his arms and squeals.  He will roll it back and forth with us for hours. 
  • He is still on a very similar schedule to his eight month schedule.  He wakes up between 9:00 and 10:00 (usually at  9:30) and eats 7 ounces.  He plays until about 11:00 and takes a nap until about 1:00.  Then he plays until lunch at 1:30 (usually 4 ounces in a sippy cup and either rice cereal and a vegetable or a jar of something with meat).  If we have errands to run, we usually go after lunch.  He is up until about 3:00 and then takes a nap until 5:00.  He eats dinner at 5:30 (usually 4 ounces in a sippy cup and fruit and oatmeal).  Jared and I usually eat around 6:30 and he usually wants in on that.  We either give him some puffs and other baby snacks or pieces of what we're eating.  Last night we had spaghetti and he got some too.  He is usually a little fussier than usual from 7-9.  We give him a bath at 8:30 and he has a 7 ounce bottle and goes to bed at 9:00.
Spaghetti Night
"W" face


  •  He has perfected the pincher grasp and can pick up tiny pieces and slippery food and feed them to himself.  
  • He has had more table food lately.  He's tried grilled chicken and the chicken inside chicken nuggets, fries, avocado, shredded cheese, bread, and a lime.  He loves it all.  So far the only thing he won't eat is a Cheerio.
  •  He loves standing up still but is not pulling up yet.  He has great balance, so when he figures it out, I think walking won't be far behind...he's fearless so I don't think that will be an obstacle.
  • He has started smiling when I get the camera out or hold my phone up.  He only does it for me, but I am able to get pictures of him smiling pretty consistently.  He is also reaching for the camera most of the time. 
  • He can find "hidden" toys.  If I put one of his toys under a cup, he immediately knocks the cup over and gets the toy out.
 He is such a sweet and fun little boy.  Sometimes when we're playing with him, he'll stop for a second and lay his head down on our shoulder and cuddle.  Then he's back to playing.  He's a really busy baby, he doesn't like to sit still or be confined.  I love watching his personality develop and I wonder what kind of little boy he will be. 




Wednesday, December 21, 2011

New Trick

Paxton has been shaking his head "no" for about a week now...he doesn't mean anything by it, he just does it. All of a sudden, he started doing it back if someone shakes their head at him.

YouTube Video

And last night he stayed up about an hour past his bedtime and slept until 10:45! I kept going in to check on him because I couldn't believe it. When we woke up, he was in the best mood. He was so giggly and kept doing all of his new tricks right in a row. He would say "dada", "mmmm", shake his head and click his tongue. Then he leaned in to give me a kiss. He also was pretty insistent on trying to lunge off the bed and get to his bottle. The kid is fearless. I've got my work cut out for me trying to keep him safe as he gets bigger.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, December 16, 2011

Muffin Top

We went downtown today to eat lunch with Daddy (Friday tradition) and this little guy was sporting a muffin top with his new Gap jeans.






He's so outgoing and loves people which is amazing because he gets lots of stranger attention. Everywhere we go, someone will come up and talk to him and he always has a smile for them. I love it because I think it makes them feel good. It's also nice that I don't have to worry about him bursting into tears when a stranger approaches.

He is in a phase right now where he needs to be eating when we're eating. If we're at home, it's not as bad because he has lots of toys to distract him...but when we're at a restaurant it's a different story. I've tried bringing toys, but he just throws those on the ground. We usually have Puffs for him which works pretty well, but we thought we could try Cheerio's since they're cheaper and they come in a huge box. Apparently Paxton hates Cheerio's. He refuses to eat them when they're in front of him (which is very unusual for our little vacuum cleaner). So, every time we eat out, I spend most of the meal tearing off little pieces of the baby appropriate parts of my meal...I don't mind sharing but it takes a lot of time, and he is so excited about grown up food that he shoves it in his mouth all at once and then squeals until I replenish his supply.

So, Paxton and I went to the store today and bought this:



$17 of baby snacks. Hopefully that will last us for quite a while. (I'm sure all these snacks have nothing to do with that cute little muffin top)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The First Present of Christmas

We let Paxton open his first Christmas present on Monday night. We thought of a lot of good reasons to do it:
1. Our first Christmas celebration will be Monday night at Jared's mom's house. That would be where Pax would open his first present...and how could his first present not be from us?
2. He was bored of his toys and needed a new one.
3. He would be getting so many toys for Christmas that he might not even play with this one.
4. He had already started opening it a little anyway. (apologies to our families...most of the presents under the tree are a little bit opened or have teeth marks or are missing a bow...)

...But I think the main reason we let him was just our excitement. He was excited too.








Yep...that's a bow on his head. And Jared didn't object. Now I'll be satisfied if I never get a daughter.








What is it?


Merry Christmas!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad