Play-don't

Santa brought Paxton some Play-doh for Christmas and we decided to try it today. Even though the first thing I told him was not to eat it, his first instinct was to taste it. Good thing it's non-toxic.


He wasn't really sure about the texture of it or what to do with it.


I showed him how to use the cookie cutters and he was vaguely amused.


Then he took off with his chair and the event was over.


We'll just have to wait a few more months to get the play-doh back out.

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Love at First Sight

 I started bonding with Paxton the second I saw the word "Pregnant" appear on the First Response test.  I read multiple books and websites every single week to see exactly how he was changing and developing.  I thought about him all the time.  We announced the pregnancy right away to everyone and Jared and I talked about it constantly.  Way before I heard that first heart beat or saw him on the ultrasound screen, I had a relationship with him.

On a very early morning at eight weeks pregnant, we made the long drive to Ada to our midwife's office.  I had no idea what to expect, but when she told us we would be seeing our baby and hearing the heart beat, we were ecstatic.  As soon as the little gummy bear showed up on the screen, we both felt it.  Not only did the pregnancy become 100% real, the first glimmer of love hit us.  We completely tuned out everything the tech was saying and just watched our baby wiggle around on the screen.  It really was love at first sight.  

Paxton--8 weeks

 With Baby #2, things were a little bit different.  We found out at about five weeks, just like with Paxton and we were definitely excited, but we were also busy.  I had a baseline knowledge about which structures were developing each week from my intense study of Pax's development and I had an app on my phone, but other than that, we didn't really keep track of what was going on.  We waited until about nine weeks to tell family and until about 13 weeks to share it with the world.  I think that had a hand in making it less real to us.

On a not-so-early morning at about nine weeks pregnant, we made the short drive to our doctor's office.  We knew what to expect this time and we were excited.  She didn't make us wait long before she brought the ultrasound machine in.  We watched the screen expectantly, waiting for the little gummy bear to show up.  As soon as it did, it happened again.  The tears flowed as the love struck.  The sound of the quick heart beat filled the room and Jared squeezed my hand, exactly like he did when Paxton first wiggled up on the screen.  It was love at first sight.

Baby #2--9 weeks

As both pregnancies progressed, the love grew.  The gender reveal ultrasound took things to a whole new level both times.  Not only did our tiny people look more like actual babies, we also found out they would be little boys.  We got to intimately inspect their hearts, their kidneys, their tiny femurs, it was definitely magical.

Feeling the first kicks and flutters from both boys caused the love to take another leap.  I was the one who knew them best.  As they got bigger, I could feel every move they made, and laughed every time they got hiccups.  I fell asleep knowing that even when they weren't hearing my voice, they were hearing my heart beat.

Nothing compares to the love leap that happened when Paxton was born.  When they put him on my chest for the first time, my heart was pounding.  Tears were streaming down my face.  He was mine.  A little later, after he cried through his first bath and his first diaper and his first swaddle, the nurse put him on my chest again.  As soon as I said hi to him, he looked up at me and stopped crying.  He knew who I was.  Beyond the shadow of a doubt, he recognized me and knew me and loved me, and I was his.

Yogurt, Elmo and Basketball

This is my favorite thing for Paxton to wear right now...mostly because I think it's hilarious that he has this many pieces of clothing featuring Elmo.


I have been trying to let Pax feed himself with a spoon more lately. I know this is an important skill for him to master, but it's hard to let him do it when he already makes such a big mess during meals, and this is even messier!


The past two days, I have given him a bowl of yogurt to feed himself with his lunch. The first day I supervised pretty closely and it was a moderate mess. On the second day, I made the mistake of doing some dishes while he was eating and I guess he tried to drink it? I'm not sure, but somehow it ended up in a huge puddle in his lap.


We immediately followed lunch with a sink bath.

He got a basketball goal for Christmas from Aunt Teig and Aunt Mal and we put it together for him a few nights ago. His favorite part is cheering for himself when he makes it.

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Random Update

Paxton has been a pretty big fan of his stuffed Mickey he got for Christmas. We thought for a little while that it might replace Lamby, but Lamby still holds a special place in Pax's heart.


Paxton loves playing at Gramsy's work. He is obsessed with the fishies. And he doesn't hate the time spent with Gramsy and Aunt Teighynne.


I had to take Pax to my baby doctor appointment today (142 bpm and measuring right on track...the baby kept kicking the wand while the nurse was looking for the heart beat and it was hilarious) and I thought we deserved a that afterwards. He loves Sonic slushies.


Paxton is a big climber and he thinks it's funny to make a bridge between the couch and the ottoman.


He has taken an interest in unloading the dishwasher. He will take all the silverware out of the basket and put it in the drawer (this was the first time he did it and he was very closely supervised with the knives. Now that we know he does this we keep the knives far away from his hands). Then, he takes the plates and other dishes out one by one and looks at us to ask where they go. We just open the drawer or cabinet and he will put it away. When he's done, he shuts all the doors and drawers and shuts the dishwasher and then claps for himself.


And he has invented a new use for his lawn mower.


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Shelves, Pretzels and Ice Cream

 Paxton got a ton of new toys for Christmas, and we needed a new organizational system especially since we are about to convert his room into a room for two little Miller boys.  We got him some shelves with bins from Target which helped a lot.  But first we had to move the old furniture out.

(Ignore our crazy hall mess--it was a post-Christmas disaster)

Paxton thought it was hilarious to help Daddy move out the old table.

 Once we got it all set up, he had some play time in his new Mickey jammies from Granny Pat.

 Yesterday morning, I left Pax in his room watching Mickey while I was getting ready.  He was alone for maybe three minutes, and when I came back to check on him this is what I found:

 He was sitting in his chair, concentrating on Mickey and snacking from a bag of pretzels that he had helped himself to OFF THE KITCHEN COUNTER! So apparently he can reach up there now...

Later that day, we hit the library and then stopped at the park.  I didn't realize how cold it was until we saw ice still on the slide.  We were there for about eight minutes, and then I told Pax it was time to go to the car.

 He took off running towards the car, but he was not ready to leave so he started throwing a fit as he was running to the car.  I thought it was pretty funny.

Today we went to lunch at Chick-fil-a with Aunt Maesynne and Aunt Bevynne.  Aunt Maesynne taught Pax to point to himself when we asked "where's Paxton?"  And since he already had the book that came in the kid's meal, we traded it in for ice cream.  Paxton reached out and touched it as soon as I set it down and I think it freaked him out that it was cold.  After that, he wouldn't eat off the spoon when I tried to feed him so I just gave him the spoon.  He sniffed it a few times and then gave it a few tentative licks.  After that he was hooked and kept giving me the spoon back for more.

New Year's!

 We aren't really huge fans of going out on New Year's...mostly because of the huge masses of people and the high number of drunk drivers.  We prefer to stay in and watch the ball drop on the TV in our pajamas.  This year, my family came over for a New Year's game night.  We had tons of fun snacks and played games way past midnight.  It worked out really well because Paxton got to stay up a little later than usual and then he got to go to bed.  We definitely paid for staying up so late the next morning when Paxton was ready to play at 9:30 like always.

On New Year's Day, we have a tradition of grilling out steaks and having black eyed peas by candlelight.  This was Paxton's second year to join us and his first year to try steak.  Last year he liked the black eyed peas, this year he wouldn't touch them.  We gave him some sparkling grape juice and he rewarded us with some loud burps in the middle of dinner.

I don't usually make resolutions for New Year's because I believe that if you really want to make a change, you should do it right then.  We decided that our goals for this year are to have a healthy baby in May and enjoy our family!

2012 in Review

2012 was a pretty amazing year for our family!

January:


We celebrated Paxton's first New Year's and watched as he pulled up for the first time.

February:


We celebrated our first Valentine's Day with a child and it was pretty special. Paxton experienced his first snow, his first trip to Orange Tree and his first box fort.

March:


March was a big month for our family! Jared celebrated his 26th birthday, we traveled down to Texas for Blakely's baby shower, and Paxton had his last first holiday: St. Patrick's Day. We celebrated his first birthday with a big party and way too many new traditions.

April:


Paxton got his first haircut, went to the lake and his first baseball game. He fell in love with plastic Easter eggs and he took his first steps. We watched Aunt Bevynne graduate from high school.

May:


Paxton got to go on Grandpa's boat for the first time and liked it. We spent lots of time outside with his little wading pool and his water table. He and Scarlett became good friends. He officially started standing without pulling up and saying "mama". We took a trip to Texas where he met his future wife, Blakely.

June:


We had lots of back yard picnics and pool time. We went to the lake again, this time with my family. Paxton learned to clap and started walking. Jared and I celebrated three years of marriage and we took a family trip to Tulsa and visited the aquarium. Paxton had a bad case of Hand Foot and Mouth disease, but overcame it bravely.

July:


We took another lake trip, celebrated the 4th of July with our families, and spent lots of time outside. Paxton and I went to the zoo with Granny V and Maddy and Jared and I took Pax to the circus and were very impressed with how well he did.

August:


We bought our house! We got to spend a whole week with the Thompson's and Paxton gave Blakely her first kiss. We painted and rearranged Paxton's room and he got to sit on Grandpa's motorcycle which he loved. He fell in his room and got his first fat lip. Paxton started saying "up" and "down" and we celebrated his baby buddy, Dean's second birthday. Most importantly, we found out Baby #2 was on its way.

September:


Paxton finally mastered the straw. He turned 18 months old and we celebrated with dinner at IHOP. We had our first ultrasound with Baby #2 and we celebrated my birthday. We left Paxton for the first time and took a trip to Chicago. We went to the fair and announced our baby news to our families.

October:


We took Pax to the pumpkin patch for his first time with Granny V and Maddy. Jared had to travel for work and was gone for a week. He brought Paxton a plane which quickly became his favorite toy. Paxton stayed in the nursery at church for the first time and it was a disaster. We announced that Pax would be a big brother to the world at large. We took another trip to Texas for the OU/Texas game and went to a pumpkin patch with the Thompson's. Paxton had some cousin time with Kaleb (and Teighynne and Mallory) at the Omniplex. He had two Halloween costumes and we did Haunt the Zoo and trick or treated at our mom's houses.

November:


Paxton discovered leaves and the joy of throwing them. He ate tons of Halloween candy and played in the fountains downtown. He enjoyed lots of Thanksgiving food this year.

December:


We had our 18-week ultrasound and were so excited to find out that #2 is a boy!! We made a video to reveal the gender to our families at our gender reveal party. Paxton fell in love with the Christmas tree and thought every evergreen tree or bush he encountered was a Christmas tree. He became obsessed with Mickey and begged to watch it many times a day. We visited Santa, made ornaments, looked at lots of Christmas lights and got amazing presents. Paxton learned to help unload the dishwasher and had his first white Christmas and then a bigger snowfall a few days later.

We are looking forward to what 2013 will bring, especially the birth of our sweet little boy.

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