February

I tried everything I could think of to get rid of this poor girls cough :(

We didn't have power most of Jaxon's actual birthday and he was sick too.  Instead of cake he had a bowl of whipped cream.  That was all that I could muster.

Sierra's Valentine to her daddy

A few days after Jaxon's birthday we celebrated with an ice cream cake

Snow!  Sierra was finally starting to feel better and spent about 30 mins out in the snow.

She didn't enjoy it at all.

When all was said and done we had about 18 inches.

Jaxon's birthday party consisted of our family and grandparents

My sweet baker!

Fun times!  It's the perfect time of year for a swimming suit too.

Zoey had an injured paw for about a week.  Sierra was very concerned and gave her lots of love!

Oh winter!  Why must you treat us like this?  Sierra, Jaxon, and I all caught a miserable chest cold right off of the bat this month.  Sierra had the worst cough we've ever had in this house!  There were several days where I swear she didn't even have a 2 minute break from coughing.  She spent about 5 nights in our bed because she would wake up coughing and not be able to stop and sometimes throw up.  It was horrid.  Jaxon waited until Sierra's first night in her own bed before he started coughing and ended up in our bed.  I felt crummy myself and it was a miserable couple of weeks. 

Also during this time we got snow.  The most snow that I can remember in my lifetime.  And it was COLD.  We were sick so we hadn't really planned on going anywhere, but it's nice to have a clear road to drive your child to the Dr if you need to.  We ended up losing power for about 5 hours the day before Jaxon's birthday but it came back on and I started to do dishes and plan dinner when it went out again.  This time we had a feeling it would be all night, so we packed up, had the chains on our car, and headed to Jesse's parents to stay the night with power.  It took us over an hour to get there (usually takes less than 15 minutes).  On the way Jesse had to call 911 because a downed power line had caught a tree on fire and sparks were flying on the side of the road.  Yikes!  We went a different way and made it.  The kids handled the drive very well even though it was dinner time and they were hungry.

Jaxon ended up being super sick on the day of his birthday and we didn't have power come back on until after the kids took their nap.  So he didn't get a very special dinner, and I didn't make a cake.  The popcicles in the freezer were melted and so I ended up giving him a bowl of whipped cream.  I felt terrible but he called it ice cream and took "big bites".  Poor boy was sick, didn't get a party, and got whipped cream for his birthday.  Luckily he's only 2 and will not have memories of the day.  We did celebrate several days later with his grandparents.  

After his cold, Jaxon has been terrible about going to bed.  He's always been such a good boy about bedtime.  He was only 7 or 8 months old when we started putting him in his bed and he would go to sleep on his own.  Staying asleep through the whole night is another story, but he's always been so good about going to bed.  But after this cold, it would take up to 2 hours some nights to get him to go to sleep.  If I tried to put him in his crib and leave he would scream.  After several weeks of this, Jesse had success putting him to bed without a fit, and so I made him do it for the next 10 days or so before I tried again.   He was extra clingy before his nap too and I had to make sure he was VERY asleep before putting him in his bed or he would wake up and cry when I put him in bed.  I have no idea if it had something to do with his cold or the fact that he turned 2.  Whatever it is, we are still trying to get back to normal.

Some of Jaxon's new phrases are "I scared."  "Let's see."  "What you doing?"  and if you ask him how or what he is doing he says, "I don't know."  He sings along to songs on the radio and is starting to successfully connect dots to make letters (L, T, I, H, letters with straight lines).  

Sierra also struggled after being sick with sleeping in her own bed.  She enjoyed the safety that sleeping with mommy and daddy brings.  So we had to send her back into her room many times when she started getting better.  It's been exhausting!  

At the end of the month we took Sierra to her very first movie at the theater!  We watched Frozen.  Sierra still takes an hour nap most days but can go without.  The movie ended up being during her nap time, so she was kind of sleepy and spent half of it on my lap instead of in her chair.  But we all had fun and she slept really good that night.  It has felt like a LONG month but Spring is coming!