October

Dress Up!  :)

Such cool kids!

Sierra helping shovel 4 yards of mint compost with a tiny trowel.

Sierra eating an ice cream cone.  I was impressed that she drew herself from the side!

Outfit #47 of the day.....

Jaxon loves to swing!

Met Daddy for lunch at Avery Park!

Happy pumpkins!

A remedy for our leaf problem.

Jaxon does not like pumpkin guts this year!

My kitty and dino trick-or-treating in downtown Corvallis.

Jaxon is doing so well potty training!  He's going #1 and #2 on the potty and instead of having to follow him around and watch for signs, he's started to tell me before he has to go!  I love that part of the training stage!  It let's me off the hook a little.  There are still accidents but he has done very well.  He's also doing GREAT with his letters.  By the end of the month he could visually recognize all except V and Z.  He tends to turn his head sideways and say N when he look at a Z.  He also mixes M and N up frequently.  But I am so impressed.  He's still not speaking in sentences, but the boy knows his ABC's!  He also counts to 10, says "bless" if I sneeze and says "uuuurch" when I put the breaks on in the car:)  He's at a super fun age!  He's such an affectionate, lovable little boy. 

Sierra on the other hand is giving me a run for my money.  Aside from infancy, four has been the biggest challenge so far.  I've seen my sweet, kind child turn into a hostile and mean kid at moments.  If she gets sent to her room, she runs up the stairs, slams the door, and says things like "I wish you weren't here and daddy was home."  "I wish you weren't my mommy."  "I'm never going to play with you again."  The list goes on and on.  I expected the door slamming to be several more years down the road.  She is very good at saying she's sorry though and usually does so on her own without prompting.  But the ups and downs, drama, and emotional roller coasters every day are exhausting.  Some days I get so frustrated with myself because I find myself constantly telling her no, don't do that, that's not nice, why did you do that, and I really have to make an effort to say some positive things to her.  I'm supposed to be building her up but teaching her at the same time.  Some days I feel like it's impossible to do both.

I read an article this month that really struck me.  It was talking about correcting your child vs punishing.  Kids will be kids.  They will be forgetful, make messes, talk too loud, and be silly.  If they spill their milk or leave their shoes in the middle of the floor for the 10th time of the day, they need can be reminded without being punished and belittled.  We tend to want to say "I've had to tell you 5 times today to put your shoes away.  Why do you keep forgetting."  Well, they keep forgetting because they are a kid!  It happens.  When they do some intentionally that they know is wrong (ie hitting a sibling, lying, etc) then those situations need to be treated differently.  Those are the times for time outs, or sending them to their rooms.  I've been really working on trying to look at her actions and remind myself of the times that she is just being a kid.  She needs to get to be a kid!  This takes constant effort from me though.  And some days I fail.  Repeatedly.  But, I also work really hard on saying I'm sorry.  I'm a work in progress myself.  We are all works in progress while we are on this Earth.  Here's to hoping that tomorrow we are a better person that we were today.

September

Amy treated me to a pedicure for my birthday and Sierra had her nails done!  She loved it!

Sierra is a true Oregonian!

Jaxon did not like his coat, his boots, or the rain.  I think he's more like his mama and prefers the sunshine!

One of the longest thunder storms I can ever remember!  Sierra used her "noculars" to look for lightening strikes.

I.Love.Summer.

The kids (and zoey) playing in daddies mustang.

Jaxy did not want to get out!

Working on letters!

Happy boy!

The rain is here.  I'm not ready.  I'm never ready.  Jaxon isn't a fan of the rain either.... or his boots or his puffy coat.  Sierra on the other hand, loves puddles and boots and mud.  She was made for Oregon, I guess.  With the rains came our first colds too.  Another reason I'm not ready for fall.  I'm still trying to get over the panic attacks that come with sickness in this family.  I'm finally starting to feel secure, that Jesse will stay healthy, and like sickness isn't a part of our everyday life.  But every time one of the kids starts to get sick, I still really have to fight the panic. 

Jaxon had a well baby appointment at the beginning of the month and he weighs 26 pounds and is 32.5 inches long.  He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 97th for height.  The Dr's were super happy about his increase on the charts for his weight.  He's grown 2.5 inches in 3 months too - it's no wonder all of his clothers are too short all of a sudden!  He's getting to be such a big boy!  He had his first #2 on the potty this month, sings EIEIO!, says ouch if he gets hurt, calls all cats Olive, because that's one of our kitties' names, and is really starting to get interested in learning his letters!  He love to watch me draw shapes, letters, and animals.  He says horse, cow, cat, dog, elephant, bird, sheep, and mouse.  He makes the appropriate noises for each as well.  I think Sierra was around 11 months when she started doing all of this, they both have such different strengths!  He also finally started calling me mama this month!  I've been waiting forever!  He says dada, sissy, papa, pop pop, and GG, but didn't say mama!  I'm loving to finally here him call for me.

We still struggle with food and did discover this month that the terrible bum rash he has been getting is from wheat.  I had a multigrain cereal that I would mix with appleasauce and when I used the one with wheat in it, he would get the worst rash on his little biscuits.  Once I figured out what was causing it and eliminated the cereal we havne't had any problems.  He still does get hives easily though and has really sensitive skin.  I'm hoping he will outgrow that or we can figure out other things to avoid.

Sierra has been working on writing and numbers.  She doesn't like to follow directions.  If I get a packet of craft projects, she does not want to follow the steps, she wants to make her very own craft.  When we work in her workbooks, she follows the directions, but can't wait until she's done so she can go back through and make up her own directions.  When we make cookies, she doesn't want to follow the recipe, she wants to mix her own bowl of random ingredients.  It's hard because I want to encourage her imagination and creativeness, but the girl has got to be able to follow directions when she starts school next year!  Next year!  I think she will love school because she thrives on interaction with others, but I'm not sure if she'll be able to stop talking long enough to listen.....:)  We shall see!

August

Sometimes when I see her fast asleep and hugging blanky close, I tell myself that she is still a little girl and isn't growing up in front of my eyes.

Camping in the living room!

Sierra's block version of Grandma and Papa's river house.

Camo and a pink baby doll go together quite nicely:)

Sierra's potato harvest

Jaxon loves to draw!

Helping with Daddy's birthday cake

Jaxon  walked right up and stuck his whole hand in the cake.  Then, shocked at the frosting stuck to his hand, proceeded to shake it all over Grandma Shelly and PopPop's carpet.  Nice.

Celebrating Anniversary #11

Tiny "helpers"

They "help" by taking all the clean utensils and drumming with them!  Hey, I was able to finish unloading the dishwasher!

A Portland visit!

Sierra loves the fair!

A friend from High School visited with her two kids.  Sierra and Austin became fast friends!

First time holding a kitten!

Jesse came home and I told him I needed 30 minutes to myself to shower and paint my toes.  This is how it went: Sierra sat on the edge of the shower and asked me every 30 seconds if I was done.  Then, when she saw me get out the nail polish she decided she wanted her toes painted.  After her toes were beautifully painted and dried she bounced on the bed while I tried to paint mine.  That's how my half an hour of "alone time" went.  FYI those are my toes above.  Toe nail painting fail.

Silly!

Such a sweet bubby!

She loved her friends 4 wheeler.  I tried not to have a heart attack!

And we are in training pants.  They may be hand me downs with little flowers  - but still, TRAINING PANTS!

Car work is a family affair.

August was a busy month!  We spent several days at the fair, Sierra and I had an overnight trip to Portland, and we started working on potty training Mr. Jaxon.  He's about a month younger than Sierra was but he was acting ready.  He'd squat down and look at his diaper when he was peeing and would hold his poo until the second we got home from town.  So I started putting him on the potty after his bath and after a couple of days he peed on the potty.  So we just worked on peepee after bath time for the first couple of weeks.  Then one day I put him on the big potty and he pretty much peed every time I put him on it that day.  From that point I felt like there was no turning back!  He doesn't really want anything to do with the little potty, he prefers the big one, and he will go anywhere we go.  At someone else's house, the store, etc.  Poopoo is a different story at this point!  I remember that taking a lot more time with Sierra too.

It's been a big month for Jaxon!  He says "shhh" and holds his little fingers to his lips, says uh oh every time he drops something (whether it was on purpose or by accident), said his first sentence, "there it is", says brrrr, calls Sierra "rerra", and has many other words that he starts using more frequently at the end of the month.  He's also going through a yelling phase and will yell for fun, but also if I tell him no, if Sierra tells him no or takes something away.  I mean yell until his face turns bright red!  He also enjoys doing this in the store because it sounds different.  Shopping is so fun with two!  Whew!

Sierra loved the fair and was such a brave girl this year!  Last year, she was afraid to go on the rides and luckily one of my friends showed up with her kids and they talked Sierra into going on a few rides.  This year she went on them by herself and had a blast!  Amy and Ben came down and we all went on the bumper cars and the big slide.  We ended up staying at the fair until almost 10pm!  It's the latest Sierra has ever stayed up but we all had fun and she was a super good girl (my parents stayed at home with Jaxon and put him to bed).  Jesse worked over 70 hours during fair week, so we didn't see a lot of him at home.

Sierra and I also made the trip to Portland with my parents to visit her Aunties and Uncles this month.  We stayed with Ben and Amy who graciously gave up their bed and slept on an air mattress.  I was super thankful in the middle of the night when Sierra was laying sideways in the bed.  That's manageable in a king bed without getting kicked too many times.  We visited the children's museum the next day and then headed home.  Jaxon and Jesse had some good one on one time without us girls too.

Jesse had some more testing done at the end of July down here in Corvallis with his Gastro and went in on his birthday to get the results.  I was nervous about the appointment being on his birthday.  It would be terrible to get bad news on your birthday.  I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't think about the fact that good news on your birthday would make the day even sweeter.  He did in fact receive excellent news!  All the biopsies they took of his now healthy colon and small intestine showed no signs of Crohn's, cancer, or colitis.  He also tested negative for Celiac's disease.  His chance of having Crohn's now is less than 2 percent.   His Gastro said that everything looked so good that he doesn't even need to come back in five years to be rechecked!  He won't need another colonoscopy until he reaches the normal age for routine ones!  Such wonderful news!  We're slowly getting past the fear and worry of the last year.  What a great thing to celebrate on your 32nd birthday!

A total change in subject but some other big news this month!  Sierra asked Jesus into her heart.  We'd been reading a story and right before her nap she asked to pray.  She said she wanted to be one of God's children forever and wanted him to be a part of her life.  I wish I had written down her exact words.  They were so eloquent for a four year old!  There was no prompting on my part.  We've obviously talked about Jesus a lot, we've read Bible stories, and we pray every night before bed, but this was something she brought up on her own.  I was so proud and inspired by her prayer.  But I'm proud and inspired by her daily and I try to let her know that.  I hope that both of my kids always know how proud I am of them.  I sure am blessed to be their mama!