Saturday, November 26, 2011

First Thanksgiving

Paxton's first Thanksgiving was a big day for him. He met people he had never met and tried foods he had never tried...all with only about a 20 minute nap.

Wednesday night, Paxton helped me in the kitchen:


He was mostly interested in his toys:


We woke up Thanksgiving morning and checked out the parade. Paxton was really interested in the floats. Jared had to take family pictures for his aunt and her family so Pax and I were on our own for the morning.

Our first stop was Granny Pat's house. We didn't make it to that Thanksgiving last year so we were excited to see people that we hadn't seen in two years. When we went in 2009, one of Jared's cousins had a newborn. This year, he was a little boy running around everywhere! We were also excited to see Melinda. She is one of Jared's relatives that was our nurse the second night in the hospital. She's the one that saved the day when Paxton wouldn't sleep that night. She hadn't seen him since then so she was surprised to see how much he's grown.


Then we went to Granny's house. They had already eaten so we just joined them for some of Aunt Debbie's amazing pie and some swinging.


Granny V pushing Pax:



Our last stop was my mom's where Paxton got to try several new foods. Gramsy had made Paxton some mashed potatoes without milk and he was a pretty big fan of those. He also got some pieces of a pumpkin roll, some sweet potatoes and some pink arctic freeze. His favorite thing was the turkey (his first meat!)! He looked so big sitting in his high chair and feeding himself bites of food.

When we got home and put Pax to bed, Jared and I put up the Christmas decorations. This is one of our favorite traditions and we were excited for Paxton to wake up and see the tree. He loved it! As soon as we brought him in the living room, he started staring at it and as soon as we put him down, he rolled straight over to check it out.


We put kid-safe ornaments on the bottom of the tree that he can take off and chew on...which is great cuz that's exactly what he did. We are definitely going to have to keep our eyes on him this year because he is into everything.


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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

First Bubble Bath

Paxton has been taking baths in the big tub for a few weeks now, and last night we decided to try a bubble bath.  Every kid likes bubble baths right?  Not Paxton.

He tried to eat the bubbles...which he didn't like:

He thought they felt weird...


He definitely did not enjoy the bath as much as he usually does.  We'll probably wait until he's a little bigger to try that again.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

EIGHT MONTHS!!

Paxton is eight months old today...only four more months until his first birthday!

This was the first month that Paxton paid attention to his bear:


At eight months Paxton is:
  • Moving everywhere.  He rolls and scoots all over the living room.  He notices things he wants (like cords) and rolls and scoots right to them. 
  • Not quite crawling yet.  He still gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth.  Sometimes he lunges forward in that position and face plants on the floor.
  • Eating four meals a day.  He eats a 7 ounce bottle for breakfast, a 4 ounce bottle, rice cereal and a vegetable for lunch, 4 ounces, oatmeal and a fruit for dinner and a 7 ounce bottle with rice cereal before bed.  We have introduced all of the fruits and vegetables available as well as some table food.  We are waiting to introduce meat until Thanksgiving.  The table foods he has tried are tiny pieces of wheat bread and wheat pasta, pieces of tortilla, Mexican rice and a few tiny bites of refried beans (which he hated), and avocado.  Now when we go out to eat, he wants to eat what we're eating.

  • Great at standing up.  He can't stand without support, but all he needs help with is a little balance.  He can stand holding onto something, but he can't pull up by himself.  He can stand up from a squatting postition. 
  • Loving the dogs and cat.  The dogs love him and like to lick his face.  The whole time they're inside he watches them.  When Scarlett is close to him he talks to her and smiles at her.  She takes this as an invitation to lick his face.
This picture is disgusting and hilarious at the same time...Paxton and Scarlett

  • Really good at imitating our volume.  He mostly repeats "ah" and will repeat it at any volume from a whisper to a scream.  He will also repeat "dada" and "who".  He also makes the "w face" if you make it at him.
  • Turning into a daddy's boy.  He loves his daddy more than ever right now.  He saves his biggest smiles for Daddy and loves playing with him.  Jared had to go to Virginia last week for work and the first morning he was home, we were playing with Paxton in bed and he was in the best mood he's ever been in.  He was cracking up and smiling and playing.  It was our favorite morning.  
  • Taking a bath exclusively in the big tub.  He loves playing with his bath toys and trying to eat the bubbles.






  • Doing great at feeding himself.  He has the pincher grasp down (a little awkwardly) and can feed himself Puffs or other little pieces of food.  We are going to try a banana soon.  
  • Not loving his morning nap.  He still gets fussy around 11:00 which is when he used to take his nap, but now as soon as he is put in bed he cries.  Sometimes I just let him cry until he falls asleep, but sometimes he just skips the nap.  He does okay without it, but we've also cut out his last nap (7:30-10:00pm) so I'm not sure one two and half hour nap a day is enough sleep. 



  • Still fitting in 6 and 9 month clothes.  Can wear 6 month pajamas but fits better in 9 or 12 month.  He can still squeeze into his 3-6 month onesies from Old Navy.  He is still in size 2 diapers but we will probably move him up to size 3 after this box since he weighs more than the recommended weight.
  • Able to drink out of a sippy cup on his own.  We started with just water but he wasn't interested, so we added a little bit of orange pedialyte.  We introduced it more as a toy, but showed him how to use it.  He was able to put it in his mouth and suck from the beginning.  Yesterday was the first time we tried it to replace his bottle.  He fed himself his entire lunch-time bottle from it and didn't seem to miss the bottle.  I think around 10 months we'll replace another bottle with the sippy cup and cross over completely at one.  I was worried that the transition would be hard, but yesterday was fine. 




  • Still loving his Jumperoo, any kind of ball, his swing (even though he's too big for it), and his construction site.  I think his favorite toys are a plastic bowl scraper and a plastic measuring spoon we gave him kind of as a joke.  
  • Throwing everything.  If he's on the floor, he throws things across the room.  If he's in his high chair he throws them on the floor and then leans way over to see where they landed and tries to reach them.  
  • Starting to cuddle his little bunny while he falls asleep.  I don't have a picture of it because he wakes up when we go in his room, but it is so sweet.


  • Still loving to be upside-down and will throw himself backwards if he's sitting on a lap facing someone.  He also leans backwards when I'm holding his hands while he's standing up.  He cracks up when he does that.  In the mornings, I sit him on my stomach in bed and talk to him and he will throw himself off of me and on to the bed.  This also cracks him up.  He is completely fearless.  
  • A big fan of being read to.  He stares at the pictures and then will look up and smile at the reader.
  • Really social.  If he is feeding himself, he will take the bottle out of his mouth and smile at the person feeding him.  He also loves babies and little kids.  He will stare at them and talk to them across restaurants or stores.  On the other hand, he is overwhelmed by big groups of kids or people.  He gets fussy at lapsit at the library and at our Connect Group at church, but as soon as he is home he is happy again.

  • Getting over the stranger anxiety.  He smiles at everyone now and when the inevitable old man (who knew they loved babies so much?) comes over to talk to him when we're out in public, he smiles at them and will sometimes talk.  
  • Letting me rock him at night.  In the past, he would just look at me and talk and try to play the whole time, but now we calms down and sucks his thumb.  I don't rock him to sleep because I read that getting him in that habit will make it harder for him to put himself to sleep.  I just rock him until he's sleepy and calm and then put him in bed.  I also don't rock him before naps because I don't want him to rely on it to calm down.  I mostly just do it at night because I like cuddling with him and watching him get sleepy.  Plus that sleepy love look he has when he looks up at me melts my heart.
  • Still the proud owner of just two teeth.  We think his top left tooth is close because we can feel it under the gum and he is super slobbery, but it hasn't poked through yet.


  • Loving being outside.  I take him out to the front porch every day and he loves looking around and watching the cars go by.  When he's fussy, I can take him over to the back door or window and let him look out at the puppies or the leaves and he's happy.  I'm kind of sad that it's getting cold because he won't be able to go outside all the time. 


 This month Paxton left Oklahoma for the first time.  We went to Dallas for our friends' gender reveal party and he did great.  He slept a little, but mostly played with toys and looked out the window the whole time. 
 He also spent his first night away from Daddy while Daddy was in Virginia for work.

 He's such a happy baby and we love laughing with him and sometimes at him.  Jared and I both have a hard time putting him in bed and leaving him there at night.  We love this little boy more than we ever imagined. 

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Mobile Baby

Paxton had a very big day yesterday in the development department. First of all, he has had a super runny nose the past few days which is what signaled his bottom two teeth coming in last month...so we knew his top teeth might be coming in. Sure enough, yesterday I felt the tip of one poking through.

He also made a huge step towards crawling. Lately, he has been rolling everywhere he wants to go:

To daddy's laptop:



To the front door:



Or just over to where Ronald McDonald is hanging out:



Yesterday, he started doing this:









Today, he figured out he could rest here in between push-ups:






So who knows....tomorrow he might start crawling...or he might skip straight to standing up. It's crazy how big he looks getting in these positions!



And look how big he looks in his hoodie with his sippy cup:






He's gonna be in high school before we know it.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Pink or Blue?

This weekend we drove down to Dallas for our best friends' gender reveal party. Ryan and Tabatha are having their first baby in May and we are so excited! We've been friends with them through our dating relationships, our engagements, our weddings, and now having babies!

Tabatha and Ryan had the doctor put the baby's gender in a sealed envelope and took it straight to the bakery. The cake was for Ryan's birthday and would have either pink or blue icing in the middle.

The party was at Main Event which was a really cool place with a bowling alley, laser tag, an arcade and more.

About to cut the cake:


Their faces when they saw the inside:


It's a GIRL!!!


We were so happy to be there to experience this with them. (and we're excited that Paxton has his wife reserved)

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

A Few Signs

Before Jared and I found out we were pregnant, it kind of seemed like something was trying to tell us it was coming.
Every fortune cookie we got had the same message...a short stranger was coming.

On our anniversary trip to Kansas City, we visited the Hallmark museum.  As we were leaving, the greeter showed us our free souvenir...this card:
We thought it was hilarious at first, but as more signs kept piling up it got a little weird.  Those fortunes were all from different dinners!

A little over a month after our anniversary trip, we were over at Granny Pat's house.  I can't remember the exact conversation that we were having...something about me selling my car and getting an SUV, and in that moment, I realized that I could be pregnant.  On the way home we stopped and got a test.  We were pretty sure that I wasn't pregnant, so we just got the cheap brand with the pink line.  I took it as soon as we got home.  At first we thought it was negative.  It didn't look like there was a second pink line.  As more time passed, a very faint line appeared.  It was so faint that Jared thought it was the outline of where the line would show up and we could see it because of the lighting, but I wasn't convinced.  We went to the store and bought some Clear Blue tests...the ones that say PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT.  I wanted to wait until the next morning so we went to bed.

When we woke up, I immediately popped out of bed to take the test.  While we were waiting for the words to show up, we both looked at each other and I told Jared that I was pretty sure it would be negative.  He agreed.  Right as he agreed, the word PREGNANT appeared.  Obviously we should have listened to the signs.

Once it was confirmed, we went to my mom's house to tell her and my sisters.  As soon as we told her, she disappeared into a closet and pulled this out:
It was a picture from my nursery when I was a baby, and she had found it earlier in the week and put it aside.  She said she had "a feeling". 









Monday, November 7, 2011

A Busy Weekend

Paxton is growing up so fast.  Last night, I got a little teary watching him sit up in his high chair and feed himself puffs.  When did he get big enough to feed himself?  I'm glad that he's getting more independent and developing like he should, but it makes me a little sad that he doesn't need me as much anymore.
When did he get this big?

He even takes baths in the big tub!
We had a pretty busy weekend.  Friday night, one of Jared's clients asked us to go to a dinner and silent auction to benefit a charity that their company was involved with.  My mom watched Paxton, and Jared and I went on a date.  
We missed Paxton immediately and were so happy to have him back that we kept him up way past his bedtime to play.

On Saturday,we ate breakfast at Old School Bagel (which we were so happy to see in Edmond because we love that place...but the one in OKC is far away).  Then Jared went to Granny Pat's to help with some things at her house while Paxton and I chilled at home. 

After a brief visit to my mom's house to help Maesynne pick out some outfits for her career fair in Minneapolis this week, Paxton and I joined the family at Granny Pat's for the OU game.  Grandpa Mark bought Paxton an Exersaucer to use at Granny Pat's house and he loved it!  We were a little nervous about his naptime at Granny Pat's house...usually he only takes naps in his crib.  But, Granny Pat fed him a bottle and then sat back there with him until he fell asleep.  She even let him sleep on her bed.  Paxton is so lucky to have such a sweet great grandma and a grandpa that loves him so much and is willing to provide whatever he needs.

When we got home Saturday night, we ate some chinese food and put Paxton to bed.  After he went down, we felt our first earthquake!  I was washing Paxton's bottles and I felt the floor vibrating.  My first thought was that it was our hot water heater...it doesn't work that well and I had been using hot water for the bottles.  Then Jared came running in and said it was an earthquake.  He was loving it.  I was freaking out.  I vaguely remembered something about getting in the doorway, but I didn't know if it was bad enough.  I also didn't know if I should get Paxton up...he slept right through it.

Sunday morning started early.  Paxton apparently missed the memo about daylight savings and got up at 7:45 which is super early for him!  By the afternoon, we realized that the time change was not going to be as easy with a baby.  We had a rough afternoon with him being super tired but not wanting to take his nap.  We took him to the park by our house for some swinging which he loved.  We ended up having to miss our small group that night because Paxton didn't go to sleep until 4:00 and slept until 6:00.  That pretty much put him back on schedule.  We were able to go to the grocery store and get him to bed at 9:30 (right on time).  From now on, daylight savings doesn't mean losing or gaining an hour of sleep to us.  It means adjusting to a whole new schedule.  We sure do love the reason for the adjustment though!
  

Friday, November 4, 2011

Baby Legs

I've seen these Baby Legs on tons of girl babies and I think they're adorable. Jared was kind of against the idea of getting some for Pax since they're not very manly...but then it got colder and Paxton was on the floor all the time, and my mind kept going back to Baby Legs. I saw some on sale at Hobby Lobby ($3.99!) and I couldn't help myself....so without further ado, BOY BABY LEGS:













Jared still isn't a fan, but I know that once he changes his first Baby Leg diaper he'll be converted. It's all the convenience of just a onesie with all the warmth of a pair of pants and how can you argue with that?

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Thursday, November 3, 2011

Adding a "W"

Paxton has added the "w" sound to his vocabulary. He started doing it on Tuesday and has done it all day every day since then. It usually sounds like "woo" or "who" and is accompanied by this face:






We think it's hilarious and can't get enough of it.

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