Jaxson Loves Reading

My little boy is growing up so fast. Jaxson is smart. He has an amazing ability to memorize things. (We all know he doesn't get that from me.) He has an incredible thirst for knowledge. He has been reading now for a while but recently he has really taken off and become very fluent. He memorizes things so fast that if I read him a book a couple times he can then read it by himself with ease. He also loves anatomy, astronomy, and geography (as you can tell at the end of the video.) He knows all the 50 states and can place them on a map and he is obsessed with numbers. He will frequently tell me what time it is, how many degrees it is and while driving he says, "Mom, that sign said speed limit 35 and you are driving 42." Thanks my little speed police. He says he wants to be a pilot when he grows up. I tell him he can choose to learn anything he wants in college. I can't wait to see what he does in this world with his amazing gifts.

Valentines Day 2012

I love Valentine's day. It's a great reminder to do something special for the people you love. Our day was pretty typical but I tried to make it special for the kids and Steve. They woke up to a "heart attack" on their bedroom doors and balloons in the hallway. They were so excited.

I made eggs and heart shaped toast for breakfast and then we were off and running. Jaxson and Ehlana went to school and I went to the YMCA then came home and showered and got ready in record time. Jaxson rode the bus home with a friend so I could go to Ehlana's class for a little party. She then had a friend over and they played until I had to pick up Jaxson. I needed to make cake pops for a youth activity Wednesday night so I thought I had enough time to make the cake pops, clean the house, feed the kids, and have dinner waiting on the table for Steve when he got home. So I thought. The cake pops took for.ev.er. It turns out I didn't know what I was doing and after watching a couple tutorials online and borrowing some things from my neighbor I got the hang of it and finished. Steve then called to tell me he was on his way home.

My kitchen was a disaster.

First attempts.

A few hours later.

Seriously. I started to sweat. I hurried as fast as I could to get dinner on and clean up the craziness. I honestly considered throwing in the towel and going out to dinner but my steak had been marinating all day and I really wanted to eat it. I made queso, steak, garlic potatoes and sauteed green beans. I had a surprise of sees chocolates for dessert. Dinner turned out great despite it being a little late. We put the kids to bed and watched a movie Steve had brought home for me. We like our Valentine's day to be low key and simple. (It's a better way of saying we are too cheap to buy expensive gifts for each other.) It turned out to be a great day.

Having kids makes holidays so much fun and I love having a wonderful husband to celebrate Valentine's day with. I am very loved.

Very Important Person

At Ehlana's preschool instead of celebrating birthdays they have a VIP day. Ehlana had her VIP day last week and she was soooo excited. She got to bring 5 show and tell items, lead the parade, and bring a treat for snack. She chose cookies with pink frosting. She also answered questions from her classmates such as: What is your favorite toy? What is your favorite food? What is your favorite color? What is your second favorite color? And what is your other favorite color?

It was really cute. Our Ehlana is spunky, funny, silly, sweet, kind, loving, and is a very important person in our family. We love our beautiful little girl.

Can't Get Enough

Here's Jakob in all of his adorableness signing "more". He did it yesterday for the first time unprompted. He can also sign "all done" (or something like it) and when he waves he turns his hand toward himself and looks at it to make sure his little fingers are waving.

I couldn't love anything more.

Standing Man

Jakob is 10 months old and has recently mastered going from his hands and knees to sitting and pulling himself up to standing. He can now effectively crawl to the toy box, pull himself up, take out a toy, and sit down to play with it. At first, pulling himself up required all of his strength and concentration. Now it is getting easier and easier for him. It is really cute to watch him try so hard to learn something new.

Ehlana the "helicopter" loves that Jakob can play more and she uses him as her live prop whenever he lets her. She spends a lot of time taking toys from him and telling him that he can't have things because he might choke. I have to remind her that she's not the Mommy.

Jakob is also growing two top teeth and he's learning a couple signs. He can sign "more" and "all done" but most of the time he just throws his food on the floor. A couple days ago he came down with a pretty bad cold. He was up in the night from 1am-4am. The next day he was pretty tired and miserable. Yesterday he woke up from sleeping through the night (thanks to our new humidifier) and seemed to be feeling a little better. I went to a bridal shower and when I got home he looked a lot worse. Steve said he played on the floor for a little while and then just laid down on the floor. I took him to the doctor and he seemed to be getting worse and worse. He just laid on my shoulder trying to breathe. He has an ear infection and RSV. I have never seen a baby so sick. Steve gave him a blessing last night and he slept from 7:30pm to 8:30 this morning. He is feeling a lot better today and is playing with his toys. I hope we're over the worst. It's so hard to see him so sick. Poor little guy.