June

Sierra has her own raised bed this year.  She planted it full of potatoes!

A beautiful end to an evening!

Happy birthday Papa!

Story time

Beautiful brown curls!

Reading in the baby doll's bed.

Sand box fun!

Sierra helping daddy "chase a gopher out of his hole with water".  I was at the grocery store.....

Sure do love these two!!

A trip for some photos out to the refuge.

I got some sweet shots but then we noticed there was poison oak EVERYWHERE so we ran home and all took a tecnu shower!

Karaoke bright and early in the morning

One of the cutest cashiers around.

Just.like.daddy.

PEAS!

No nap today, so we had a mani/pedi instead.

Loving garden time.

Heavy late rains ruined our cherry crop:(

This is why our children sleep in their own beds!  Yes, that is Jaxon's bum on Jesse's head. ;)

June was a month of recuperation in our house.  Sierra and Jaxon both were sick well into the month.  I have never seen a fever last so long and I hope I never do again!  When the kids started feeling better we worked on the garden, cried when our cherries all split, and started to get back into a regular "non-virus" routine.  This meant less TV, normal naps/bed, eating food, and playing outside as much as possible.

I'm not sure if it was so much time feeling crummy, but Jaxon really has enjoyed sitting at the table to play this month.  If I set him up with some cars, small toys, or play dough, he will sit and stay in one place and play for up to 30 minutes!  This means sometimes I can get the dishwasher loaded in one fell swoop!  I have learned though, that three dishes in the dishwasher at a time, or two pieces of folded laundry, or one washed window will at least make a dent in the large household to do list.  When I had Sierra, I would get frustrated if I couldn't finish a project and so I just wouldn't start.  If I couldn't load all the dishes at once, or sweep the whole floor, etc.  Now I know that you MUST take advantage of spare moments even if it is one dish at a time.

Sierra remains in her princess phase and wears dresses and tiaras all the time.  Trying to get her to put on shorts or pants underneath her dress to go outside or to town is one heck of a fight.  Why you ask?  Why do I care?  You should see her legs!!!  She is one solid bruise/scrape.  She's a busy girl outside and we live on a gravel road.  When she doesn't wear pants she ends up with rocks in her knees.  And when we are in town, she is only 3 and doesn't understand what it means to be ladylike (nor do I really, which is why I prefer pants) and strangers get to see her underpants.  I really do worry what getting ready for school is going to be like as a teenager!  She tries on at least 3 or 4 outfits before she decides on one, it must match, not give her wedgies, not be too tight, too loose, too long, too short, too ruffly, too plain, the right color, and all accessories must match.  Did I really give birth to this child?!  It drives me crazy!  I had no idea that this would be so important to an almost four year old.  NO IDEA!

Both of the kids ate horribly for what has seemed like forever because they were sick, but Jaxon has been super picky since he turned one.  If he doesn't like the look of a food he won't try it and no matter how hard we try to coax, bribe, trick, or shove it in, it comes right out or the meal ends in a screaming fit (him screaming, me trying really hard not to).  All of the things he ate before his 1st birthday he won't have a thing to do with.  He also doesn't really like to touch certain foods.  This doesn't seem very abnormal to me but it is very frustrating.  At his 15 month well baby checkup the Dr asked about his eating habits and I shared my frustrations with her.  She said that it is possible that Jaxon has some texture aversions and that there are specialists that help children get over these aversions.  Since our out of pocket for our insurance is met, I decided to give it a try.  Jaxon's first appointment was at the end of June.  It's mostly teaching me different things to do over and over at home to get him used to different textures - not just in his mouth, but on his arms, legs, hands and feet as well.  There's a lot of massage involved using a little brush, food play, and getting him used to having dirty hands.  I have no idea if it will work but if he will eat more than yogurt and cheese it will be a success! Hopefully I'll be able to report next month that it's helping!

May

Hand holding in the back seat:)

He's a climber!

Plum blossom time!

I wonder why our whole hard is dandelions......

He loves his sissy's tutus!

I tried everything to get Sierra to eat!  She had a terrible appetite with her sickness and I had hoped a picnic would help.  Zoey enjoyed the company!

The garden is in!

Earliest my corn has been up EVER!

A baby Robin fell out of his nest early.  Sierra wanted to keep him so badly!  I told her I knew from experience that it would not end well if we kept him.

Reading a book together.

May is almost over!  Yay!

So here's how May went:  we puked, Sierra had a fever for two weeks (104.7 at it's highest) and was tested for Mono (a terrible blood test experience and she ended up not having Mono anyway), then Jaxon got whatever Sierra had and had a high fever too, Sierra got a tick, and other ickies went on that I don't care to mention.  Basically we were sick ALL MONTH LONG.  It's the 2nd time we've had a stomach bug in the last couple of months.  What the heck?  We had our water tested, I cleaned like crazy, and we contemplated having a germ exorcist come to our house.  Apparently it's been a bad year for tummy bugs (so says our Pediatrician) but this is getting ridiculous.  

This is going to be a short post because I don't want to go on and on about our family ailments anymore.  I'm tired of sickness and if next month isn't better, we are moving.  OK that might be a little bit dramatic but it's been rough. 

Despite the massive amount of cooties, I have some pretty happy kiddos.  Sierra struggled with exhaustion and fever but we still had some happy moments!  Some good news this month:  Jesse was released from the Dr's at OHSU.  They looked at his CT scan after his hospital stay in March (post surgery) and said that things look to have healed well and they released him to his Gastro in Corvallis.  He needs to wait until the end of the summer to have another colonoscopy and we will go from there!

We also did have an enjoyable trip to the coast at the beginning of the month!  We left our kiddos with my parents and spent 2 nights away (first time ever - well, excluding hospital stays).  The weather was the most beautiful I have ever seen at the coast.  It was GLORIOUS!  Ok that's as much as I can muster.  Good riddance May!

April

These two play so well together!

A homemade drum set.

Lip meets gravel:(

Self feeding fun!

"Mommy!  I caught a lizard!"

Helping daddy.  Her barbie flashlight came in handy!

Jaxon is getting more interested in books!  His favorite book is Thomas the Train.

A singing princess.

Snuggles before bed!

Sierra has been practicing her "underwater" skills.

I took about 30 percent of the normal amount of pictures I usually take this month.  I don't have enough hands for a camera!  Jaxon is on the move and into everything!  Sierra was very obedient and less independent which meant that she was stuck to me like glue and rarely out of eyesight.  Jaxon on the other hand requires LOTS of reminding to NOT open the cupboards, go up the stairs by himself, play with the cat food, play with the toilet, etc, etc.  He loves to be held and cuddled but is very good at entertaining himself with toys (or things other than toys) for a long time.  This means that when I hear his cars quit banging against the wall, the blocks not being flung around, I run to find out where he has gone.  It's a whole different ball game with child #2!

Jaxon still isn't saying much.  He prefers to grunt and whine:)  Both of those can sometimes mean no and sometimes mean yes.  He is very good at getting his point across, and we communicate pretty well without words which is probably one of the reasons he doesn't like to use them.  He can say quite a few words but he is not at all the conversationalist that is sister was/is. He has started pointing to his eyes and nose this month and can say both body parts well.  He says up, down, eat, yes, all of the basics.   He is starting to really enjoy books and I love to see him come at me with a book and start backing up to find my lap.  I remember the same little backward shimmy from Sierra.

As Jaxon is getting more and more mobile there are definitely more clashes between the siblings because Sierra is bossy and expects to be dominate, but Jaxon doesn't take her bossing.  He lets her have it.  Really for the most part, I am pretty blessed because my two littles get a long pretty great.  Sierra continues to be a wonderful big sister and makes me very proud. 

Sierra has started struggling with allergies this year.  As a toddler she would always sneeze when smelling flowers but once she put the flower down was fine.  This year she has a really itchy nose, it runs if we go outside, she's constantly sneezing, and is congested pretty much every day.  That might not sound like a big deal, but it is EVERY day!  We will have to see how the rest of spring and summer go, but I might take her to an allergy specialist to get some more information.

Sierra is really enjoying art projects right now of any kind.  She writes her name without any help and is getting good at writing most letters.  Numbers still are trickier for her.  She still loves to sing and has sang some solos at church!  I am still constantly awed at her outgoing personality!  She also started sleeping in a little all of  a sudden.  After her strep throat she was really behind on her sleep and she slept in for several days.  I kept thinking that she would go back to her 5am wake up time, but she is consistently sleeping until at least 6 sometimes 630.  Isn't that pathetic that that is sleeping in?  Jaxon on the other hand is still a 5am riser.  Now that she is sleeping a little longer we also had a few days without an afternoon nap.  Evenings on those days are scary.  I was hoping she'd sleep in even longer if she skipped her nap, but that hasn't happened.  I realize the time is coming when she will be done with napping, so I'm trying to be grateful of the 30 minutes to 1 hour of nap-overlap (on a good day!) that I have to myself.  

Jesse has been back to work all month without any hospitalizations.  He has a follow up appointment next month at OHSU with the gastro team.  I'm still having a hard time feeling secure at all right now.  Every time Jesse has a restless night I lay awake wondering if we'll be right back in the ER.  Sometimes if the phone rings at an abnormal time during the day I have to force myself to breathe because I'm hoping he's not calling to say he's headed to the hospital.  I'm tired of sickness.  And I'm terrified of it too.  Every time the kids get sick I panic.  I can't handle it.  I'm ready to move on and maybe after Jesse's appointment next month we'll get some good news and we can put the last 8 months behind us!