Fun in Michigan

We were excited when we moved out here to Ohio to find that we were now within driving distance to our good friends Chris and Rachel, who are living in Michigan. It's been a while since we've been out here and I FINALLY got a chance to drive out to visit with them. It was my first road trip on my own with Jaxon and I was a little nervous, but I'm glad I did it cause it was super fun. It's only a 2.5 hour drive, so Jaxon and I just hit the road and went to give Jack a little bit of private studying time :o). Jaxon got to play with Allie and Chris and loved every minute of it.
Here's Jaxon and Allie.
Jaxon loved being held by Chris. Chris is like 6'11'', so I think Jaxon thought it was an adventure to be up so high whenever Chris picked him up. :o)
Funny story about Jaxon and Chris. Jaxon used to say "mama" and "dada" all the time, but in the past month or so, he's just kind of stopped. The doctor said it's most likely because he's so much more focused on motor skills and functions right now that he's just not thinking about verbal communication as much. Anyhow, when we went to stay with Chris and Rachel, Jaxon all of a sudden decided to bust out with his "dada" to Chris...not Jack. But now that we're back home, Jaxon is back into the "dada" with Jack...but we're still waiting for the "mama" word to come back into his vocab.
Here's one of Rachel and I with our kids.
We didn't get a pic of CJ, Rachel's newest little one, but he was a precious baby and I loved holding a newborn again. Makes you realize just how big my own "baby" is now.
But thank you to Chris and Rachel for a fabulous weekend and we can't wait to do it again!!

Props to a Wonderful Photographer

I hope my friend Rachel doesn't mind me posting these on my blog too, but I just wanted to showcase the wonderful talents of my friend Rachel Opdahl. If you need a fabulous photographer with lots of experience, she's your gal. You can contact her through her website here.
Anyhow, I did a photo shoot with her last weekend and loved every moment of it...except for it being FREEEEEZING cold and having to take off my coat for the pictures and smile like I was basking in wonderful sunlight. :o) Made me totally think of America's Next Top Model having to shiver away between pictures, and then pull together a nice smile for the camera. But opinion time! Which picture do you like the best?
1.2.3. 4.

Jaxon's One Year Pictures

We had an appointment at the photo studio to try and get some pictures of Jaxon and it was HORRIBLE! Jaxon refused to sit still and cried and screamed every time we tried to make him stay in place. So, we left without a single good shot of Jaxon. But, I was determined to get some nice one year pictures of Jaxon, so I decided to try and take some shots myself. So, after two hours of running after Jaxon, bribing him to sit still, running back to the camera to try and get a shot, and about 100 pictures later, these were the ones we ended up with. :o) And yes, Jaxon chose that flower as his play object and Jack thinks it's girly, but hey, it made Jaxon stay in place for a good 10-15 shots! I think it looks cute. :o)
Ahhh, isn't he cute? I can't believe my baby's a year old already!

Poop Story

Yes, you did read that right! I found out the price of a couple of seconds of inattentiveness to an active one year old leads to poop...in the very literal sense.
So, Jaxon was just playing around with his toys this morning and I was working on a crochet project right in the same room mind you, just about 2 feet away from him.
All of a sudden Jaxon gets very quiet...that's when I know there's trouble. I look up to find that he has opened up the dirty diaper that I had just changed and had squished poop between his hands, smeared on his clothes, and yes, the best part, IN HIS MOUTH!!!!!!! HE WAS EATING HIS POOP!!! I was MORTIFIED!! I don't even know if that word even covers the extent of the shock I was in seeing the scene before me. And what does Jaxon do as soon as he sees his mom freaking out at the mess he's made...yep, he starts laughing and goes to put another handful in his mouth. I could barely hold back my gagging as I cleaned him up, and the mess he had made. Wow, my first poop story with Jaxon and it's got to be the WORST poop happenings EVER! Now I can't seem to get the smell of poop gone. I'm smelling it EVERYWHERE even though I've cleaned and disinfected everything!!
Well, lesson learned, I've got to put those little diapers waaaaaay out of reach and not wait to put them away, and gotta keep a better eye out on our little guy.
Sorry if this grossed you out. Hey, at least there aren't any pictures, eh? :o)

Jaxon's 1st Birthday!

Unfortunately for Jaxon, on his actual birthday yesterday, Jack and I were quite sick and had to rotate shifts out of bed to watch him. Fortunately for Jaxon, he's still young and doesn't know the difference between today and yesterday. Best of all, he gets two day to celebrate his birthday! :o) Thank you to all our family that sent birthday well wishes. Here are some pictures of Jaxon's two big days. :o)