February

First sewing lesson with GG

Sierra's getting big enough that Olive enjoys some cuddles!

Holy hair tornado!  I've never seen it like this.  Grandma did something special to her hair:)

Grocery store!

And restaurant on the side!

Jaxon's birthday present from us.

Sierra "helped" him open

And "helped" him play with his new gifts

Cake time!

Some of it made it into his mouth, but mostly it got squished.

He needed a bath after this!

Jaxon is sort of/some days giving up his morning nap which means he's ready to sleep directly after he eats his lunch.

Big boy sits at the play table and is going through a phase of wanting something on his head.

A trip to the beach on a BEAUTIFUL day!

Even a dump truck needs a bow if Sierra gets a hold of it.

When one child is playing with a toy, somehow it ends up being the most sought after toy on the planet.

February was a month of recovery.  For all of us.  Jesse came home on the 2nd and felt better after surgery (besides being very sore) than he has felt in quite a while.  He's supposed to get out of bed by "log rolling", not hold either child or anything more than a gallon of milk, not bend down to put on his shoes or socks, for 6 to 8 weeks.  The doctor would have released him sooner for light duty at work, but for his job they require him to be 100 percent to return.  His surgeon agreed to sign papers to release him to 100 percent after 6 weeks, so unless there are some new developments, he should go back to work on March 12th.

It was so nice to not have worries after this surgery.  He healed so nicely.  We were warned how common incision infections are on colon surgeries, and despite some redness for a couple of days, they healed beautifully.  He never had a fever, went off of his pain pills as soon as he got home, and really felt good except for the expected soreness from surgery.  It's a little bit harder to keep from going back to your every day duties when you feel pretty good.  I had to constantly remind him to not pick up the kids and Sierra was good at tattling if Jess acted like he was going to pick her up.  About a week after he had been home her prayer before bed was that mommy would never have to stay away at the hospital for a long long time ever again and that daddy's tummy would get better so he could hold her again.  We both held back tears and thanked God for our sweet children.

Despite handling our absence very well, Sierra really struggled at night after we got home.  She started waking up and coming into our room 3 or more times a night sometimes.  As soon as she would wake up from sleep, she wanted to check and make sure that Jesse and I were still here.  She has loving grandparents that took wonderful care of her, but as a 3 year old, she needed to know that mommy and daddy wouldn't have to keep leaving.

Our big boy turned 1 this month!  We aren't big party throwers, especially for a one year old, but we did celebrate at home.  Jaxon enjoyed his cake (made by GG) and did actually help Sierra open his presents:)  He started walking last month but still did a lot of crawling until a few days after his birthday.  He all of a sudden started buzzing around and left crawling behind.  We do notice if we are away from home, he still does a fair amount of crawling.  Jaxon was weened from his nighttime bottle a few days after his birthday.  It was no big deal to him so I guess the time was right.  He is also transitioning from two naps to one.  It's been a struggle.  He still really wants his morning nap, but if I let him take it, he can't take his pm nap and then is a grump and ready for bed super early.  So when I can, I've been trying to get him at least past lunch (sometimes just barely) and then putting him down.  It sure isn't a fight to put the little guy down when he's worn out!  I usually don't even get through a whole song and he is out!  He learned to throw a ball this month, and when you ask where Jaxon is he pounds his chest and says something like "ADON".  If you ask where mommy is, he'll pat my chest but he still doesn't call me mommy. 

He is much more independent than Sierra was.  If he has toys, he's perfectly happy to play by himself for quite a while.  But he is also very impatient and if he cannot get something to work right he throws a fit and then throws the toy.  We are trying to teach him to ask for help rather than getting so angry.  He is learning!  Now if he gets frustrated he'll come running to the nearest person and ask for "hep".  But the impatience is still there and his tendency is to hit, throw, bite, or yell if things don't go his way.  This will definitely be something that we continually be working on I'm sure.

Jaxon weighs 20lbs 2oz and is 31in long.  His weight is between the 15th and 30th percentile and his height is in the 90th, making his BMI right about the 3rd percentile.  I'm kind of sick of the charts though - and feel like they are pretty much worthless.  I wish they would get rid of them and let babies grow at their own rates.  If a child is malnourished, it should be obvious.  Not only would they be thin, but unhealthy and behind developmentally.  I'll stop my rant here because I know I've written about this subject many times before.

Jaxon had two colds this month, one of them requiring a trip to the ER.  He had a really grumpy day and when I got him up from his nap had a temp of 104.  I almost had a heart attack.  We gave him Tylenol and headed to Immediate Care.  They said that it was probably a virus and that the Tylenol was working and sent us home.  That evening he developed a huge red lymph gland under his ear.  It freaked me out even more and so we decided to take him to the ER.  We were there forever!  It was his bedtime and the poor thing would be limp and asleep in my arms and one Dr would poke at him and then leave.  We'd wait another 45 minutes, he'd be asleep again, and another would come in.  In the end they agreed that it was some kind of virus and we went home.  Over the next few days the swelling got a little better, his fever went down, and we made a trip to see his regular Dr who said that she probably would have prescribed an antibiotic but since he was doing better we just needed to continue to keep an eye on him.  So far neither of my kids have ever had to be on antibiotics and I would love to keep it that way.  If the Dr ever gives me an option to wait a few days or give them an antibiotic, I've always waited, and they always start to improve without drugs.  I realize this is not always the case, but so far so good. 

Sierra went over to stay with my parents because we knew we were going to take Jaxon to the ER.  She's stayed with them plenty of times.  But she talked to Jesse right before she went to bed and realized that we weren't at home and she kind of freaked out.  When we got home, mom and dad were waiting for us and Sierra was sound asleep in her own bed.  Poor girl.

We have such good kids and I am so grateful that they have two sets of grandparents close to take care of them if we have to be away.  Hopefully after Jesse's surgery we won't ever have to be away for this reason again.   I sure love my babies and it is beautiful to see their similarities and differences come into play as they explore the world.  Happy birthday sweet boy!  Don't grow up too fast!