Friday, November 30, 2012

It's A....




We find out on Tuesday if we will be having a second son or a daughter. We won't be sharing until Saturday since that's when the big gender reveal party for our families is. To say we're excited would be an understatement. We have been counting down since we scheduled the appointment.

A boy would be great. We have boy clothes, we have boy toys, we know what to expect with little boys (lots of yelling and throwing). Plus, Paxton and his little sibling will be sharing a room for a little while and two boys would be perfect in a room together. I love the idea of having two brothers growing up together, wrestling in the living room, playing with cars and camping with Daddy.

A girl would be great. We would need tons more stuff, but luckily a lot of our big stuff is gender neutral. Plus, how cute are baby girl clothes? And bows? And tiny Mary Janes? Yep, a girl would be lots of fun. It would be neat to see how different baby boys and baby girls are, everything would be new. I like the idea of Paxton and Daddy playing football in the backyard while Poppy and Mommy bake cookies (not that I couldn't do that with a boy, but this is my imagination).

I definitely thought that after Paxton all we would want would be another boy, but I have been surprised by our open-mindedness. I think we will truly be surprised and excited with whatever announcement she makes on Tuesday (although I hope that if it's a boy she says "there's a stem on that apple!" like she did last time).

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Outside

It has been such a perfect fall day today and Paxton has been wanting to be outside constantly. After a quick baby doctor check-up (155 bpm and measuring right on track), we hit the front yard.

He loves this little light-up snowman on our porch.


And he has been carrying around this box of Dots since Halloween. We keep it outside for him...


I love this sweet face...even though I know he'll throw a fit as soon as I make him go inside.


He wanted to bring his car out today.


Ad he climbed on all by himself!


After his nap, we headed to the park that is a few blocks from our house. I let him out of the stroller as soon as we got there and he ran straight towards the playground all on his own.


And as much as he loves climbing up the slide, he still hates going down.


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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Thanksgiving!

 I am never as good at taking pictures during holidays as I want to be.  Ideally this pot would be full of pictures of Paxton and all his relatives, but that didn't happen.

On Sunday night, Jared had a bunch of his family in town so we went to Granny Pat's house for dinner and to see everyone.  Paxton knows exactly what he can get away with at Granny Pat's house and he hopped right up on the couch.  Jared's cousin's little boy that is about a year older, hopped up next to Paxton...he got in trouble.  Paxton is already THAT kid that gets other kids in trouble.

 It was a fun night and it was great to get to see everyone.

Wednesday night, Jared was at the Thunder game with his cousin, Caleb, while I was baking, so Paxton got to lick the spoon.
 He loved it.

Then, on Thanksgiving morning, we watched the parade together and had cinnamon rolls.  After finishing up all the cooking and baking, we took some family pictures...they were mostly a failure.
 But I did get an adorable one of Pax and Jared:
My mom and I made Paxton this turkey shirt because I waited too long to order one online.

 It was also his 20 month birthday so we had to take his bear pictures.

After a nap and all the pictures, we went to Granny's house to see Jared's mom's side of the family.  Paxton played outside for most of the afternoon and barked at the neighbor's dogs.  It was nice this year to just give him pieces of everything and not worry about what he could and couldn't have yet.  Last year I think he got some sweet potato baby food for lunch since he couldn't have any meat yet or anything with milk in it...

In the evening, we went to my mom's house and had our second Thanksgiving dinner.  Paxton went to sleep pretty quickly after dinner.  Once the Black Friday sales started, we left Maesynne at my mom's with a sleeping Pax and hit the stores.  We didn't really get any crazy deals, but we did have fun.  We usually put our Christmas decorations after we get home from Thanksgiving, but we had done it the weekend before.  I knew that being pregnant with a toddler this year, I wouldn't feel like staying up until 3 a.m. and I didn't.  It was nice to come home and just go to bed.

It was a great Thanksgiving and we have a lot to be thankful for this year.  We are thankful for our own house for the first time, a healthy pregnancy so far, a sweet and smart toddler and a wonderful marriage.  We are so thankful for having family so close that is always there for us.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

TWENTY MONTHS!!

Paxton is 20 months old today! I can't believe we're getting so close to his second birthday, this year is flying!  He is learning new things every day, it is really neat to watch all his new tricks. At 20 months, Paxton is:

  • Trying to say a lot of new words, a lot of them still sound like "dada" but have different inflections.  He says "na na" (night night) to me every night when I put him in bed or down for a nap.  Sometimes he says "love you" also.  His favorite words are "what's this" and "down".  He does not like to be carried, in high chairs or in baskets at the store, he loudly demands to get down.  He says "pop pop pop" whenever he sees a bubble in real life or in a book.  Some other words I can think of that he says are: banana, mama and dada, up, all gone, hot, bye bye, outside, hat, doggie, and as of today, no no.  


  •  Doing lots of tricks.  He can point to his hair, eyes, nose, teeth, tongue, hand, tummy, belly button, knee and toes.  He can point to lots of things when we ask him to like the light and Elmo.  He knows the tunes to tons of songs.  Some that I can think of are Twinkle Twinkle, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Old MacDonald, Wheels on the Bus and Elmo's World.  He "hums" these all the time and we can tell exactly what songs they are.  He knows certain lines in books and will say them as soon as we turn to that page.  He plays Peekaboo and can hide from us.  He responds to lots of commands and we can tell he understands a ton of words.  


  • Is not a picky eater.  He eats pretty much anything we put in front of him until he's full.  He has been loving peas and rice lately.  He still loves mandarin oranges the most.  When we go out to eat, he eats a ton.  At Cici's one night, he ate four pieces of pizza, some pasta and some veggies, and a bread stick.  At McAlester's, he ate an entire kid's pizza, mandarin oranges, yogurt melts and drank his entire chocolate milk.  He eats less at home, but still has meals where we're not sure if we will be able to fill him up.  
  • Is wearing 24 month clothes, 2T pajamas, size 6 shoes, and size 5 diapers.


  •  Even though he isn't learning a ton of new words, he is getting really good at communicating with us.  He will bring us things he wants, and he has mastered the one-finger point.  
  • Is a lot more cuddly lately.  He will come up and hold his arms up to be picked up and then just sit in my lap for a few minutes, he also cuddles up when we read to him instead of just sitting on our laps like he used to.  Sometimes, if we're playing in his room, he will point to his rocking chair and say "na na" and he just wants me to rock him for a few minutes.  Then he's back to playing again.



  •  One of his favorite things to do right now is to run in circles around things.  He cracks up the whole time he's doing it.  He still loves balls and has really started loving cars.  He will make an "RRRR" noise while he drives them around sometimes.  He is still carrying around his lamb a lot and is finally interested in other stuffed animals as well.  He cannot get enough of being read to, especially his Daddy Loves Me book and his Elmo bubbles book.  Our iPhones are still his favorite things.  This month he has figured out how to unlock them.  
  • He knows the sounds for dogs, cats, monkeys, lions, frogs and trains.  He will not do them on command for the most part, but he will do them if he sees a picture in a book or sees a stuffed animal version or hears the real thing.   

 We just love this little boy and are having so much fun teaching him new things.  He seems so big lately!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

More New Things!

Paxton is still obsessed with the Elmo book about bubbles. Now, not only can he fill in the "POP POP POP", he also points to his nose, toes and hair when the book says those words.


(And yes our Chrismas tree is already up)

Last night, Daddy was playing Peekaboo with Pax while he ate dinner and Paxton mastered it.





I love those chubby fingers and his eyes peeking out:





Then at the library this morning, he learned how to stack. He stacked piles of blocks and then these stacking cups (the rest of the time was spent running around like a crazy man).


I don't know if this was the first time he was capable of stacking or not, we don't have any blocks or anything so he hasn't really had a chance to stack at home (I bet Santa will remedy that).

Also while we were at the library, the leader brought out the bubbles at the end and Paxton kept yelling "POP POP POP!" It is pretty neat that he realizes that the drawings in his Elmo book are the same thing as real life bubbles. His little mind just keeps astounding me!

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Lambs, Ice and Another Black Eye

I have been hoping that Paxton would get attached to a certain stuffed animal or blanket for several months now. To my delight, it looks like it has happened.


He loves this little lamb. He carries it around the house, and he cuddles with it, and he gives it kisses all the time. He had to wake up early on Wednesday to take Daddy to the airport and we gave him the little lamb to hold in the car. He held it, cuddled up to his chest, the entire ride to the airport and back home...even while eating a donut. It was precious.


While Jared was gone, Paxton was jumping around on the couch and belly flopped and hit his eye on a cereal bowl. He officially had his second black eye...poor kid.


Then, sometime during the night, he scratched himself and had a scrape all the way down his nose. He looked like a mess for a few days...

He has discovered leaves...he loves to pick up handfuls and throw them.


And his new favorite thing to do is to take things out of containers and then put them back in. He played with this cup of ice for about 15 minutes on Thursday afternoon and then kept coming back to it until the ice melted.








He also learned how to unlock our iPhones yesterday...so they are no longer safe. I'm assuming most of my contacts will start getting random calls and nonsensical texts.

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Poppy Update (16 weeks)

So with this pregnancy, I found myself wishing that I had better documented my pregnancy with Paxton. I keep wondering if I'm feeling and experiencing things at the same time or not. Because of that, I am going to try to do a better job of documenting this pregnancy in case there's a third.

Feeling? I'm feeling tired and hungry...and thirsty. I drink water alllll day and pay for it with very frequent bathroom trips. I have been having to get up during the night less than in the first trimester but it still happens. I can still sleep on my stomach comfortably, so no pregnancy pillow yet. I have been feeling baby movements for two weeks now. They are not consistent yet, and they are very gentle. I'm not sure how I missed them for so long last time, I wonder what I thought that was. I have started getting that heavy and almost crampy feeling in my lower stomach that I remember worrying about last time until I read something about all the extra blood in that area and it made total sense.

Cravings? I still want fruit some of the time, but this week my strong craving has been bacon. Non-pregnant Caitlynne doesn't even like bacon that much, but pregnant Caitlynne NEEDS it which I think is hilarious. The pasta from Cici's is another thing I can't get enough of (which is probably why I gained 4 pounds this month). With the fruit cravings, I was definitely thinking girl, but now that they have shifted, I am back to undecided.

Baby Progress? I finally heard the heart beat at my appointment today. Last month, she couldn't find it and had to do an ultrasound. It was 160 bpm which is exactly what Pax's was at this point. I had the quad screen blood test today and pending the results of that, we can schedule the gender reveal ultrasound in two weeks! I think knowing the gender will make everything a lot more real.


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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Fountains and Hats

After our weekly Friday lunch with Jared last week, we decided to go by the fountains downtown. We never made it to a splash park with Pax this summer, and since it was a warm day, it was perfect.


He liked the fountains:


And he did much better than I expected about staying dry. He just put his hands in, he never ran through them or anything.


On Saturday night, we played at the park. Paxton still hates the slide, but always insists on going down...


And lately, every single time I get him out of his car seat in the garage, he feels like it's time to play outside. Since he usually is dressed with shoes on, I mostly let it happen (also a massive fit ensues if I refuse).


His newest trick is to put pieces of food in his hair and say "hat". We probably egged it on with our laughter, but it is hilarious.


His hair now has a constant sticky spot from various food.


And on Sunday night, he tried it with a sucker. It got stuck and he was not happy. He kept shaking his head trying to get it out and then he bent over and tried to rub his head on the ground to get it off.





Once I finally stopped laughing long enough to help, I just took him to the sink and rinsed it out.

He also did three things yesterday that I thought were pretty cool. First, he had his Elmo book about bubbles with him at breakfast. He was flipping through it while I made his breakfast. He turned to the page where it talks about the bubbles going "pop pop pop" and yelled "POP POP POP!" I don't know how he knew that was the right page, but he definitely did.
Secondly, while we were outside playing, cars would drive past and each time he would deliberately stop what he was doing and say "car".
Thirdly, he picked up a piece of the snack he was eating off the floor, pulled a little hair off of it and popped it in his mouth. It was cool to see him notice the hair and be able to pull it off.

He has also learned who Elmo is and can point him out in all of his books with Elmo in them.

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Friday, November 9, 2012

Enough

Last night, after my second bathroom trip (pregnancy is hard), I was lying in bed thinking about what I want for Paxton's future. Jared and I have talked about this several times before. We know that a big part of how he turns out will be based on our parenting choices and the experiences we provide for him. We have talked about letting him make his own choices, like what sports he wants to play, what kinds of activities he wants to be involved in, and even whether or not he wants to go to college. Obviously we have preferences in each area, but we really want to be mindful of not pushing him to be the son we think we want.




I want a lot of things for Paxton. I want him to be active in church, to be a good friend when it is easy and when it is hard. I want him to be good at sports and sweet to his little sibling. I want him to be a successful adult with a wife that I love and kids of his own. I want him to have watched Jared and I together and know how to treat his wife. I want him to believe that marriage can last. I want him to be an involved Daddy like his is. I want him to have enough money, enough love, enough everything. But, I think the most important thing I want for him is for him to be content, to know that exactly what he has is enough.
So that's my parenting goal: to teach him to be thankful for what he has right now, to not always be chasing the next thing. One way we have talked about teaching him this is to take him to the Salvation Army tree at the mall each year before Christmas. We will let him pick a name and pick out presents for his kid. We will tell him that he is going to have one less present because he is going to give it to this child that is having a very different Christmas than him. At first he will probably fight it, kids like presents, but hopefully as the years pass, he will start looking forward to blessing another child, and realize that he already has enough.
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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Shhhh!!!

Paxton learned how to say "shhh" yesterday and it is probably the cutest thing ever.

YouTube Video

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Election 2012

We started the morning off with some powdered sugar donuts...that is completely irrelevant, but I love how big he looks in this picture.


We went to vote right around noon, which I knew was a bad idea because everyone would be voting on their lunch break at that time. Fortunately, my little voting buddy was pretty happy.


Sure enough, we pulled up to a line out the door of the church and around the corner. I had packed lots of snacks, books and toys (and maybe some Halloween candy) in anticipation of the wait.

We walked up to the end of the line and an official-looking man came up and asked what neighborhood I lived in. I told him and he said, "Well, I have good news. This isn't your line. Walk straight in the door and to your right. That's your line." As I was walking past all those people, I felt a little guilty and a little bit like a rock star...we got inside and turned right and there was no line...zero. There was one single person standing at the table, being handed his ballot. I walked straight up, signed in and voted before I even gave Pax his first snack. We walked out, finished, and the people who were in front of us when we first got in line had moved about six steps. It was amazing.

I decided we needed a little treat on the way home for doing our civic duty, so we stopped at Sonic. Paxton got a tiny orange slush, and even though it took him all afternoon and evening, he actually finished it!


Jared and I watched the election coverage most of the night. It is crazy to watch the votes tally up in states where votes count. It is also amazing to watch something so huge be decided, regardless of which candidate wins.

I had to take a picture of Paxton with the election coverage because I had a heart-sinking moment where I realized that the next time we're doing this, he'll be in KINDERGARTEN!!!


Since he was still up, talking in his crib, when the winner was announced, we got him up for a picture. Again, regardless of which way it ended up, it was a huge moment in his life.


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