Jaxten is 7 months old!

Jaxten, you are 7 months old!

 

*You weigh 17lb 10.8oz (35%) and you were 26 1/4in long (25%).  I do not understand these percentages though because Caden was always in the 50th percentile on his weigh and he has never seen a day as chunky as you! (They said your head was 17 3/4in!  Lots of room for a smart brain!)

*You are wearing 6-9 month clothes now.  You could still get by with a few 3-6 month if your thighs weren't so chunky!  Everyone loves to squeeze your legs! (You can see in the picture above that I'm not lying about those thighs!) ;)

*You are still in a size 3 diaper.  You could almost fit in a size 4 but I'm going to squish you in a 3 as long as I can!  I think Caden was still in a size 2 at this point!

*You are still nursing some and taking formula.  You drink around 20 oz of milk each day.  You get cereal twice a day and you eat all kinds of baby food.  Your menu includes sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans, green peas, mixed veggies with corn, apples, pears, peaches, bananas, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mango, and probably some more that I can't think of.   You eat them all individually or any combination.  The baby food bananas smell terrible so we started just mashing up a real banana and you seem to like it much better.  You LOVE your baby food and would eat it all day!

*You go to bed around 9:00pm and I have to wake you up at 7:30am.  You take a nap around 9:30am and usually 1 or 2 more naps later in the day.  You sleep through the night most of the time but lately you've started waking up around 5:00am for a "snack".   We are gonna have to do something about these little "mid-night" snacks! 

*We have been trying to let you drink from a sippy cup but you are not too interested in it right now.  You chew on it and some of the drink dribbles out but you don't really suck on it yet. 

*You have started getting up on your hands and knees rocking back and forth so I know it won't be long before you are crawling!  You can scoot backwards really well though.

*You are sitting up really well now.  All of a sudden one day you got your balance and you just sat up for several minutes.  Now you can sit in a highchair at restaurants and in buggys at the store.

*We bought you a jumperoo and you are kind-of starting to get the hang of bouncing.  You still love the excersaucer but you've been done with the swing for a while now. 

*You have started making all kinds of new noises.  One of your new noises is "babababa" and   Caden loves that because he thinks you are saying "Bubba" which is what we say when we are talking to you about your brother.  Now you have starting saying something that sounds like "blahblahblah"!  It's soooo cute!

*You still love to take a bath.  I hope it stays this way too!

*Your favorite thing in the whole world is to be outside.  If you do get bored or fussy, all we have to do is walk outside with you and you are instantly better!  Caden is the same way so I anticipate having trouble keeping you kiddos in the house as you get bigger!

*You have really started reaching for EVERYTHING.  If I'm holding you while doing household stuff you will lean so far trying to grab things.  You want to hold the remote, drink cups, paper, keys, and anything else you are not supposed to have.  And if we don't give it to you or we take it away, you fuss a little.  You love cell phones.  Mimi puts the speaker phone on so I can talk to you while I'm at work and you smile so big at the phone and then you look at it like you're thinking "how did mommy get in that box!"

*You cried for me when I left for work a couple of times!  It makes me want to smile and cry at the same time!

*You love to grab mommy and daddy's faces and pull us close and "kiss" (or slobber) us!  It's wonderful!

*You are such a happy baby!  The only time you cry is when you are really tired or if we leave the room or you can't see someone and you think you are alone.  Even then you usually just fuss rather than actually cry!

 

I'm amazed everyday at how fast you are learning and growing.  In less than a year we will be celebrating your 1st birthday (jaw dropping to the floor)!!  I better get to planning now!  I love you so much and I'm so very blessed to have a happy and healthy little boy to watch grow up. 

Songs of Praise!! "Still Blessed"

***These are songs that my group, CrossView, sings or just songs that mean a lot to me. We only sing songs that lift up the name of Jesus Christ our Savior. I hope you can let the words minister to your heart even though there is no music.***

Still Blessed

(Performed by The Perrys)

Verse 1

Sometimes I wake up in the morning

I see I made it through the night

I listen for my family sure enough they’re alright

As we gather round the table

Bow our heads in thankfulness

With tear filled eyes my heart cries still blessed

Chorus

There’s never a day He doesn’t give me all I need

Even when I wake up to the storm

My soul cries peace

Sometimes I try to count them

They’re too many I confess

So with arms upraised I just say still blessed

Verse 2

Now I don’t want to leave my family

I don’t want to leave my friends

Oh but lately I’ve been homesick

How I long just to be with Him

So in the morning should you find me

With my eyes closed in death

Oh what victory, what glory, still blessed

Chorus

There’s never a day He doesn’t give me all I need

Even when I wake up to the storm

My soul cries peace

Sometimes I try to count them

They’re too many I confess

So with arms upraised I just say still blessed

Rain.

I'm learning some very hard, yet incredibly valuble lessons in life right now.  God is showing me things day after day about how short life really is.  Everywhere I turn there is sadness, sickness, pain, loss, death.....you name it, it's happening to someone I know. 

I have a friend who was pregnant with her second child and went to the doctor for a regular checkup at 16 weeks and they could not find a heartbeat anymore.  She and her husband were so excited and they are in a good place in their life to care for more children.  I just can't understand why God would take their precious little baby that would be loved and well cared for, but give other women a baby who cannot care for or don't want a child.  I even think of how in a way it seems unfair that God gave Scottie and I our "surprise bundle" in Jaxten when we were not at a place that we felt we could handle another baby (not that he wasn't wanted and we absolutely would not trade him for anything in the world).  I'm so thankful that God allowed us to have him and that he is perfectly healthy and such a happy boy, but sometimes I wonder why us and not someone more deserving.  

Last week, my best friend's (from my early childhood) father passed away.  Her younger sister went to his house early one day to check on him because he had recently been in an accident.  He was a truck driver and he was pulled over on the side of the road when another truck ran off the road and hit him.  It could have killed him.  But God spared his life and he was still healing from all the injuries he sustained in the wreck when his youngest daughter walked in his house that day and found him not breathing.  I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of pain she must have felt that day.  I love my daddy so much.  I'm 28 years old, but when I'm with my daddy sometimes I still feel like a little girl that just wants her dad to hold her tight and make the bad stuff disappear for a while.  I have always been, and will always be "daddy's girl".  My own dad is struggling with some very hard things right now with his marriage and the pain of having back and knee troubles.  It's all piling up on him and I can see his joy being sucked right out of him.  It hurts enough to see him struggling with these issues, but I couldn't imagine losing him and certainly not being the one to find him like that. 

Scottie has a friend from his old church that is in very critical condition right now due to an infection of some kind.  This is the son of the pastor of the church that Scottie grew up in. It is also the church where we met and the preacher that married us.  His son is 37 years old and has a sweet wife, a little boy and a baby girl due in December.  He had been sick and in pain so he went to the hospital only to be released within a few days with no real answers.  He ended up back in the hospital a couple days later and had emergency exploratory surgery.  They removed several inches of his colon with about 3 quarts of infection in it and got at least 1 pint of infection out of his stomach.  They had to leave him open for 2 days to irrigate and then went back in yesterday to close him up but the surgery did not go well.  So they had to induce a coma because they had to leave him open again.  He is on life support and his prognosis is not well. His mom and dad said they will not leave the hospital until he improves.  I have been thinking about his poor wife and how stressful this is to deal with under normal circumstances, but she's also 6 months pregnant.  What if he doesn't make it and leaves her with two kids to raise alone?  What if he doesn't make it and she loses the baby from all the stress? 

I was reading on facebook last night and came across a status post that made my heart drop.  One of my best friend's mom was involved in a car accident and was killed instantly.  My friend was sitting in church last night when her niece came in during the service and asked her to come outside where she delivered the news that completely changed her life.  When I called her to see what happened, she was crying so hard I could barely understand what she was saying.  Her mom was driving somewhere and a van crossed the center line in the rain and hit her head-on.  The paramedics said they are fairly certain she died on impact and that she didn't really feel any pain.  I guess that is somewhat of a blessing?  She just kept saying that she hoped her mom was saved and ready to go.  I think that may be one of the hardest parts.  Not knowing where her mom will spend eternity.  She said she talked to her mom everyday and didn't know how she would adjust to not doing that.  She said she didn't tell her she loved her enough.  It made me think of my mom and how she wasn't around for the better part of my life until the last 5 years.  But in these past few years she has become my best friend.  She is the person I can talk to about ANYTHING and I can be exactly who I am around her with the good, bad and ugly.  I realized that I take that for granted.  I called my mom when I got off the phone with my friend just to say "I love you" and to make sure she knows how much it means to me to have her be a huge part of my life now.  It just doesn't ever really hit me that she might not be here tomorrow.  I don't know what I would do if I lost her.

There are SO MANY more people in my everyday life that are struggling with crazy things.  I have hardships too but the past month has really started to put things into perspective for me.  I have blessings above and beyond what I deserve.  God has been so good to me and my family and even if he did take everything away from me, I still would have to say I'm blessed.  He has given me his love and forgiveness and he sent his ONLY son to die on a cross to save my soul from hell.  That alone is the greatest blessing of all, but he still has seen fit to give me "extras".
I have my health.
I have 2 perfectly healthy, smart children.
I have a healthy, able-bodied husband who works hard to support our family.
I have a mom who is also my best friend and would do anything for me and my kids.
I have a dad who is a wonderful man and taught me about the love of Jesus at an early age.
My granny has done more for me in my life than I could ever repay or give thanks for.
I have a good, secure job.
We have a house, that may not be just what I want, but is certainly all that we need.
I have a wonderful church to worship in that is on fire for God.
I have the best in-laws that anyone could ask for.
I have friends that I can laugh with, cry with and be crazy with.
My husband and I have reliable cars to drive.

I could seriously keep going on and on but let's just suffice to say, I'm abundantly blessed.  I really want to make sure that my friends and family know how much I love and appreciate them.  No one knows what tomorrow holds.  I also have a burden for my family and friends who may not be saved.  I truly believe in heaven and hell and it makes me so sad to think that people really do die and go to hell when it is so easy to just trust in Jesus.  

Ok, so that's my depressing post for the week.  I just hope I can catch hold of what God is trying to show me.  Thank you Lord for all your blessings and for the strength to get through the hard times.  

My Wonderful Birthday dinner.

Yesterday was my birthday and I must say it was a pretty good day.  I had to work (bummer), but it wasn't too crazy there so I guess it was ok.  When I got home from work Scottie took me out to eat at Longhorn Steakhouse. 

Yuuuuummmmmmmm!

Ok, I'm back from drooling now.  My mom came with us and my dad met us there.  It was just Scottie, Caden, Jaxten, my mom, my dad and me.  You just don't realize how momentous of an event this was.  My mom and dad separated when I was 1 year old and my dad has been married for almost the past 19 years.  They are having issues at the moment (which is not totally the point here but slightly relevant). 

What I'm trying to say is that in my 28 years of life I cannot remember EVER having a birthday dinner, or a dinner of any kind for that matter, with my mom........AND my dad together (other than family get togethers where there were bunches of people).  They have always been nice to each other and on speaking terms.  They've communicated for the sake of co-parenting if for nothing else.  But as far as a sit-down-together meal, this was a first.

At first I thought "OMW, how weird is this?!?" 
Then I realized...................
I kinda liked it!

I let myself imagine for a while what it might have been like to have a mom and dad together.  I think I've always been jealous of my little brother for getting to "keep" my (our) daddy at home with him when I could only have visits.  But I don't dwell on it alot.  It is what it is and I have a great relationship with both of them. So everything has worked out fine in the end. 

But eating dinner with them that night (they even shared one of the "Two for $XX" deals) just brought up a bunch of what-ifs and what could have, should have, or would have beens.  With all that swimming through my head, I just decided I was not going to over analyze it and I just wanted to enjoy a wonderful birthday dinner with my favorite people and that's just what I did!  The food was fantastic, the company was great, and we finished it off with the best cake ever from the best bakery ever (shout out to Fancy Pastry in Lexington)!  I got money and gift cards from everyone (one of the best presents you can receive) so I will be treating myself to a massage, a manicure/pedicure, and some Pandora bracelet beads!! 

This was one of my best birthdays so far! 

I hope next year, my (2nd) 28th birthday is just as great! 
;)

The Big 2-8!

I'm

"Like many women my age, I am 28 years old."
                           -Mary Schmich

I think maybe I'll just let this be my last birthday and stay 28!  Sounds like a nice, round, even number to me!

The Three Buccaneers!

We had Jaxten's 6 month pictures taken on Saturday.  (Even though it's just a little past the six month date).  Caden's 6 month picture was him in his little Buccaneers jersey so we thought it would be fitting to do one for Jaxten too.  Scottie is all about them Bucs!

 

We had Caden's picture taken with red jerseys in the background but this time we did both the red and the white.  There is a really long story about the jerseys and the players and one is retired and one was traded and one is dead and yada yada yada.  But, unless you are a major Bucs fan you would never know the difference.  So we'll just focus on the cute baby in the pictures!

 

The eye patch........SO NOT my idea.  But Scottie seems to think it's great so we'll let him have it this time!  I must admit the middle one is kinda cute with that "Grrrr, I'm gonna get you" look (which is actually just a "man, my gums kinda hurt so I'm just gonna bite down really hard" look!)  The one with just him and the football is my fave!

The photographer says this one looks like he is praying for a win!

Another praying shot!  I told Scottie to leave God out of football.  He says there will be football in Heaven, they just won't play on Sundays!  Crazy boy!

Scottie wanted a picture of all 3 of them in their matching Bucs jerseys.  It's our first official (professional) picture of my 3 boys!  I love my boys!

 

The photographer thought it would be cute to add a little message to this collage.  Too funny!

Can't wait to get my big picture of this to put up on the shelf!

****I just feel something is missing from this post FULL of Buccaneer red.........

Oh. I got it!!

*******************GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!********************

Girl time at Olive Garden...Yuummmm!

Every once in a while, some of us girls go out to lunch or dinner to one of my favorite places ever....Olive Garden (please excuse me while I slobber a little)!

Ok, I'm back.  So we go out for a birthday or sometimes just because.  We went yesterday since we were all off work for Labor Day and this time it fell right between 2 birthdays so it worked out pretty good.  It was delicious as usual and it was great company too!  We brought the kids and left the hubbys to their own devices.  It's a good way to unwind and get to talk outside of the work environment.  We had a great lunch and then some of us went to the mall afterward, where I got some pretty good deals at Baby Gap!

Here's a few pictures.  I meant to take pics of everyone's meal and the awesome desserts we ordered, but my tastebuds got ahead of my picture taking finger!

Me and my boys!  This was Jaxten's first time sitting in a highchair and he did great!  I think he liked it much better than reclining in his carseat!

This is Lori (who really didn't want me to take pictures, but how would I blog without pics?!?) (who also had Lasagna, which hello....Olive Garden has really great food and you can eat Stouffer's Lasagna at home!) LOL  ;)

This is Sonya who has the coolest Pandora bracelet and now has me hooked on beads!  She only had a salad which made me look like a pig!

This is Jenny and her 15 month old daughter, Addison.  Jenny had the never-ending pasta bowl, but don't let that fool you, she didn't even eat one whole bowl!  I think Addison snacked on everything!

This is Caden with his cheese pizza that he only ate half of, and I had to make him eat that.  He doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive!  He's also in his new Buccaneers jersey that his dad bought for him to wear when they go to his first football game in Tampa, FL later this year.  He's very excited about his jersey!

Here we all are!  Sonya, Addison, Jenny, Lori, Jaxten, Dillon (Lori's son, somehow I didn't get a picture of him at the table), Caden and me.

I'm so blessed to be able to go to work everyday with people that I love!  We are all women and we all get along wonderfully!  (We've had a couple of moments but they are few and far between and we know not to take it personal!)  It makes a real difference to work with great people since you spend the majority of every day with them. 

Love you girls!