Family pictures 2010

last day of November!

WOW! I almost missed writing a post in November 2010! Good thing I'm doing it today. :-p

I've felt like I have nothing to write because really there isn't a ton going on in our lives right now. We do have a ton of snow which Dax thinks he can mow with his toy lawn mower. He does not like to be put in the snow. He cries and cries but he does love being outside, just not in the snowbank. Ha!

So Mr. Dax is a walking machine. He is getting very quick and has almost lost his 'drunk old man' stagger. :-) He's not quite up to running yet but will be very soon!

His word bank is getting larger too- he says Mom, Dad, Gigi, Papa, Bill, Dog, Kitty, Tractor, Duck, and Num Num... and we're going to be working hardcore on Grandma and Grandpa! He also knows how to sign for All Done... although it's more of waving at you than the actual sign but we know what he's saying so it works. Trying to work on 'more' and 'please' in sign language. The daycare ladies do sign language with them as well so hopefully he'll pick those up soon. :-)

He's FINALLY decided that 'big boy' food is good! He will eat just about everything we eat. It's made me actually cook dinner every night which is a good thing. :-) He loves eating Num Nums. cinnamon toast waffles and ritz crackers are probably his favorite.

We've also discovered that Dax has a sensitive side. He does NOT like it when the other kids cry at daycare. He either watches them very closely or starts to cry with them. Oh man does Dax love daycare. Now when I visit at lunch time he doesn't stay in my lap the whole time but will play with his friends and the toys and just come check on me a little. It's wonderful. I love that he is secure enough to not need to be right in my lap all the time. :-)

SO my struggle is trying to figure out how to write a Christmas letter this year. I used to do one every year but it's been 3 years since I wrote one...wonder if I still have it in me. :-p Stay tuned... maybe I'll post what I come up with. ha!

Happy Birthday Dax!

Oh my gosh I have a 1 year old! What on Earth?

Today happens to not only be Halloween but it is the day we finally came home from the hospital with Dax. Now he is a healthy little boy. Emphasis on the little- he is only in the 2nd percentile for height! Our Dr. told me "don't worry about this but... it seems he has your height." Poor Dax. Course his head is 95th so at least he's got some brains up there. :-)

We were planning a big birthday party for our little man but I came down with a horrible flu the night before. Dustin came down with it two days later. Such a bummer. We did have all the grandparents out for dinner, cake and presents. It was fun and Dax did such a good job opening presents. Was not a big fan of the cake once he realized it was cold- it was an ice cream cake.

Let's see Dax is 21 pounds and 26 3/4 inches long. This time last year he was 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 18 1/2 inches long. What a difference a year makes.

He is walking. Still like a drunk old man but walking just the same. He is a speed demon crawler and would much rather crawl than walk.

He is always trying to say new words. Just last night as I was opening a new tractor toy for him he said "Tractor, Vroom, Vroom" It was so cute.


Dax is such a good hugger. He loves to wrap his arms around your neck and put his head on your shoulder. This might be one of my favorite things that he does....although I pretty much love everything he does.

One of my not so favorite things that he has started doing is when he gets mad or doesn't like when I correct him or move him away from something he yells back. Oh it is NOT okay with me. Dustin and I both call him on it and tell him "No" so hopefully we'll nip it in the bud.

He is just growing so fast and is just so much fun.

It's raining and Dax is asleep

Rowdy


Roxie

So because of the weather and my son's long nap I thought I better write a post except... I had no idea what to write. Then it came to me... actually one of our new kittens jumped up onto the window sill and I remebered that they are the newest addition to our family.

I knew we would need kitties when we moved to the farm and there haven't been any kitty residents here in several year. We also had a mouse which is the quickest way to get me motivated to find some cats. Luckily Dustin's parents and their neighbor had 2 kittens dropped off at there houses which is how Roxie and Rowdy came to be ours.

Dax is in love with these kitties and will often crawl as fast as he can to the window to check them out. Roxie could really take or leave him but I think Rowdy loves him almost as much as Dax loves Rowdy. :-) Rowdy will rub on the glass of the window as Dax beats his chubby little hands against the pane. It really is so cute.

I sure hope they don't live up to their nickname (given by Dustin) of coyote bait....

back to school, in daycare and enjoying our new house!

I might cry! I had a more than 4 paragraph post written and all of a sudden it disappeared! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! All that remained was the title.... that is total crap y'all! It was a good one too! Let's see if I can recreate it....

Well I'm back to my 4th year of school. We are moved into a beautiful new building and I'm sharing an office (with walls and a door that can't be made smaller!!) my buddy Lynnette. Oh how I love 'living' with her each day. okay so this year is going well... ok that might be just a slight fib... it's going good now but ya know when you feeling like you're just barely hanging on with your finger tips? Oh yeah that was me the last umm 3 weeks? This week is feeling better, like my head if getting above the water. I think that is the start of every year just getting things back in the swing of things. So I must tell you, I'm trying to have a better attitude this year in so many different ways. I really believe that deciding how you want to live makes a big difference. I am deciding that especially with work I am going to have a good attitude- I want to be more positive, I want to be more of an encourager and remember to smile more. I'm hoping it works because I think that it will. SO if I start grumbling too much remind me to see the sunshine for the rain because that's what I'm gonna try to do. It's gonna sprinkle but I'm going to try to see those little rays of sunshine coming through. :-) CAN YOU BELIEVE I've BEEN HERE FOR 4 YEARS?!?!?! WOWZA!

Daycare... Daycare... DAYCARE??? Oh my gosh! Yes, Dax is in daycare and we are so blessed. The daycare is downstairs in our gorgeous building and we are blessed with some WONDERFUL ladies to love on Dax when I can't and to take care of him when I need to be working. I am just so grateful for that. I was truly worried that on the 2nd week (or 2nd day) of daycare that Dax would burst into tears as soon as we saw the building. That hasn't happened, in fact I'd say (if he could walk) that he has a little pep in his step. He really does love it. He was some sweet little friends including cutie Ruby who calls him D-aaa-x in an airy little voice and Ty who has some serious conversations with Dax (I guess it kind of sounded like they were cussing eachother out last week).

Speaking of Mr. Dax- he is growing like a weed! He is a speed racer crawler, walks around all the furniture, has stood by himself, but thank goodness still likes a good cuddle! Oh he is such a sweet boy. Can you believe that in just 11 short days he will be 11 months? WHAT?!? No way Jose, I'm sorry but I'm not ready for this but he really is just so much fun. He says Mom (when he is upset), Dad, dog and kitty but Dad and dog are for sure his favorite! He loves the "d" sound. Dad and dog are almost always coming out of his mouth. :-) As soon as we get out of the car at home he is already looking for Dakota. He is in love with her and can't get enough of watching her. We walk past the window and he says 'dog, dog, dog' it's too cute. Oh and he's mastered the two steps from the living room to the dining room. It was kind of funny though because when we tried to get a video of him mastering the stairs he of course tumbled down them (don't worry they are well carpeted and padded). He does this super cute crab walk down the two steps- oh I am giggling now thinking about it! It really is too cute!

Okay the house, I'm going to speak for the three of us and say that we are getting pretty settled in. The only room not set up is the 'man cave.' Maybe that will be his winter project. :-) It is SO nice to have so much more room and not feel like we're on top of each other all the time. Dax love crawling all over and thinks it's funny to crawl in a circle around the kitchen. Going to start some landscape projects soon- there were some scraggly (is that a word?) juniper bushes that just need to go so Dustin is excited to pull them out. woo-hoo! Already took the 'before' pictures.

Okay now for some pictures...

We moved!!

Woo-hoo we don't live in Colville anymore! No offense to anyone from Colville but I was ready for a change. :-)

I totally did not realize how much more work moving with a baby would be. Oh my goodness! Every other time I have ever moved (this was my 11th move since 2006) I have been unpacked and ready to roll 2 weeks later. Here we are, 2 weeks later, and I still have boxes to unpack and pictures to hang on the wall. Oh my! I know it's not a big deal but since this is my Grandma's old house I really want to get our stuff up so it feels even more like our house. So far it's working :-)

Dax is in 7th heaven living here. He has lots of room to crawl around and his toys are all accessible instead of stashed in different places. We are very blessed!

Okay short post but just had to put a new one up :-)

Blog stalker

Hello, my name is Becky and I am a blog stalker.

Ha! I love reading blogs and not just those of people I know. I read blogs of people I don't know and probably never will know. I just love reading how people write about their lives. I have several blogs that I read on almost a daily basis because the writers have a way of writing that keeps me coming back. I also follow a few blogs of family members to keep up on what is going on in their lives. I love writing my blog and I wish my blog was written as interstingly (totally not a word... at least I don't think it is) as those blogs that I stalk. I used to think it was weird that I was a blog stalker but I have found out that I have several friends that are blog stalkers as well. So I guess I'm not as weird as I sometimes think. :-)

SO do I have any blog stalkers??? Huh Huh do I, do I?

Dax is now quite the crawler. He definitely took is slow as I have told him many times that I need him to wait until we move. He didn't listen to me so much as we are still in the small house... but very soon we will be in our big house. Ooo that doesn't sound quite right haha! He also has 7 teeth! Holy cow! He pulls himself up on anything that will sit still long enough and we have started using the word "no" with him. He also now protests when I take things from him. Gosh I already miss those days of not caring one bit when I peeled something out of his fingers!


Okay here are some new pictures from this month!

8 months!

Dax is 8 months old as of yesterday! What in the world? I think every month I can't believe another month has gone by. I am SO in love with this little boy! He now has 5 teeth, is pulling himself up to stand, trying SO hard to crawl, can say Da-Da (even called Dustin Da-Da once) and Mom. That's right, he doesn't say ma-ma-ma it's Mom. My Mom says he's called me Mom before but I think it just happens that sometimes when he says Mom I'm holding him. Soon enough!

It is totally insane to me that it's already almost the end of June. I am LOVING being on summer break with Dax. It is so nice and relaxing to not have to think about anything else except him and Dustin... oh wait and cleaning... laundry... packing... dishes... moving... moving... moving.. Ha!

Ok y'all I better get off of here. Sorry this is short! :-) That seems to be my life.

I have a big boy!

So my wonderful cousin pointed out how crappy we both are at blogging and I SO agree. I'm hoping that this summer will bring more blogging but.. well... ya never know...

Dax learned to clap last night! He gets so excited probably because I of course say "Yeah Dax" everytime he does it. It is just so cute! I am so amazed at all the new things he does everyday. Some of which I don't even think about because they just happen. He is such a boy too. He would much rather play with hard plastic things, chew on everything rather than snuggle with anything soft... except Mom... and any other person who will snuggle with him... okay he does like to snuggle but not with toys. :-)

Dax LOVES food especially sweet potatoes. He will eat almost anything except peas (those don't last 2 seconds in his mouth) but will get bored with it or just be done eating before we get through a jar. BUT if you are feeding him sweet potatoes he will eat the entire jar! It's the food that gets sent with him to the babysitters because I know he'll eat it like a trooper. He is also a very noisy eater. You know for sure if he likes what he's eating because he will tell you! It Mmmmm as you put the spoon in and some other happy noise that I can't spell as he's swallowing. So much fun!

SO did y'all know that when a baby is teething they can get a hemotoma on their gums? I didn't know this until Dax got one and I took him to the Dr. He has a collection of blood between his 5th (yes I said 5th) tooth and his gums. While it doesn't mean anything bad for him I'm glad I went to the Dr. because when it does break through the blood will come out and that would TOTALLY freak me out had my Dr. not said it was totally okay. OOO THUNDER (sorry side note) hee hee! I love my Dr. He is so nice and played with Dax for a little bit and commented on how much he has changed. Truly I don't hardly except him to remember us from visit to visit because I know he is a popular Doctor and sees a lot of patients but he seems to always remember. In fact at one of our appointments he said "hey saw you at Super One last week but didn't get to say hi to you before you left" I love that! :-) It probably helps too that Dax is probably the only Dax he has as a patient. hee hee!

Okay here are three pictures from May... June pictures are still on my camera... I know.. I'm bad!

Oops! Got a little crazy with the carrots!


Pulls himself up to his knees on the crib rail!

loss

Isn't it strange how just when you think nothing could go wrong it does. This past weekend one of our family friends died. It was a tragic death and one that will be with many people for a very long time. I won't mention his name because I don't think that is right or fair to his family. And really this blog isn't about this one occurance.

When I found out about this persons death I was actually on facebook. I was stunned. Floored. Crushed. And my first thoughts went to my Dad. My Dad is such a great guy and worked very closely with this guy. They even commuted together this winter. My Dad, like many other people, has lost many people in his life. I have gotten to tell him twice about two of his friends dying. When I found out about our friend this first week all I could think was I CAN'T TELL MY DAD, I can't do it again. My parents were up camping and I was afraid they hadn't found out yet. I was afraid I was going to have to tell my Dad AGAIN that one of his friends is no longer with us. All three have been from tragic accidents. Nothing anyone expected to happen.

When I was a freshman in high school I came home with the news that one of my friends dads and my Dad's friend had been killed in a logging accident. Two years ago I was home sick from work when I got the call that one of my friends dads and again, one of my Dad's friends was killed in another logging/trucking accident. Both times I remember what my Dad said to me when I broke the news. When I was a freshman he called me a liar. I had no idea how to react to that. It was the reaction he should have had and the one I would have if one of my friends died. I wished I was a liar at that point. I will never forget sitting in that funeral and watching my Dads shoulders move up and down while he was crying several rows in front of me.

Two years ago I was at my parents house feeling icky so I didn't go to work. I answered the phone and it was a dear family friend who was surprised to hear my voice on the line. She then told me that our other friend was no longer with us. I remember sobbing in the phone. When Dad got home I asked how his day was then told him I was going to ruin it. This time he didn't call me a liar, he said that sucks, what happened and we both cried.

I hated, hated being the one to pass that news onto my Dad but I also didn't want him to find out any other way. Finding out on facebook (not that he has one), in a public place caught off guard or just by random accident is not the way to find out your friend is gone.

After I got off facebook Sunday I wanted so badly to jump in the car and go to camp but with a baby that wasn't really a good idea and I really didn't want to ruin the weekend. Instead I messaged a friend at camp and had my Mom call me. Someone needed to at least have a heads up of what had happened. When Mom called she said Unfortunately I already know why we're talking. While I was still so upset it felt like a weight was lifted. I didn't have to find the 'right words' anymore. There are no right words.

I have wanted to write something on here about this since Sunday but I didn't know what to write because if anyone who knew these people better than I did read this I didn't want them to think I was makin light of the situation or make it about me. It's not.

My thoughts and prayers are with our friends family. I wish there was a way to ease their pain.

OLD 5 month picture!

Goodness can't believe I didn't put this picture up! Here is his 5 month picture shot from a month ago!

6 months and sitting up!

LOOK WHO IS SITTING UP LIKE A BIG BOY!!!! He loves it too! Still a little bit wobbly from time to time but getting so big!

This morning was pretty interesting trying to get Dax to take his 6 month picture. This was the first month that he was REALLY interested in the sign with the date on it. I tried distracting him with a binky, a variety of noises but it really didn't help. As soon as the piece of paper hit his lap he was all over it! The picture I got this month really looks nothing like the other 5 before it but ya know what HE'S not like the baby of the last 5 months. He's grown up SO much! So here are some of the pictures from our morning photo shoot...

FINALLY a 'good' 6 month picture! I love this shot!

Almost 6 months!

Yet again I am sitting here writing a blog with the most recent pictures of Dax still on my camera! Darn!

Dax will be 6 months old tomorrow!!! Where did the last half a year go?

Dax is now rolling over AND sitting up! He doesn't roll back over from being on his belly but pretty exciting all the same. I can't believe how quickly he picks up on things-- not rolling, that seemed to take forever but he started one day sitting up for a couple seconds and now he will sit for quite awhile by himself! He gets so excited to and will throw his arms all over the place while still sitting up. I'm pretty impressed. :-)

This last week Dax and I had our first full day away from each other. Dax is too big to be in the office any longer and I really am okay with that. So Uncle Bill had him this past Wednesday and starting this Wednesday he'll get to hang out with my friend Bobbi and her sweet kids- Bud and Jacki. Then on Mondays Daddy will get Dax all to him self. :) I am so blessed and so is Dax to have such wonderful family and friends to watch him. I should not complain one bit about my work arrangements, my only wish is that I could be a 100% stay at home Mom. I am always worried I will miss out on him learning something new. Which I know will happen and I'll be okay with it when it does. Or at least I'll pretend to be okay with it.

Daddy has been trying to teach Dax to wave-- so far he'll sort of pick his hand up but mostly he'll just smile at Dustin. Which is super cute! Dax sure loves Daddy. After our first day away from each other I got a big grin when I picked him up BUT when Daddy got home Dax practically jumped out of my arms he was so excited. I'm blessed to have such great boys.

Okay so another random post, what can I say, that's how I roll. :-) I'll post pictures soon!

Later gator!

sitting here

I've been sitting here reading other people's blogs that I am a little obsessed with--I just love how people write about their lives-- and smelling my sweet little boy asleep on my shoulder. (I know I should go put him down but no!)

I was just thinking about how much I am going to miss the way he smells when he gets bigger. Dax got to take a morning bath today which almost never happens so he smells extra yummy. A combination of Johnson's shampoo, lavender Johnson's bedtime lotions, and that sweet breastmilk breath. I could just eat him up.

I also love and know that I will miss how he'll root around for me in his sleep. How he'll pat my face with his free hand or move his hand around until he finds something to hold on to- either my shirt or finger.

I just love this special time. Time he really doesn't get to spend or do with anyone else.

Ok going to stop writing and enjoy my sweet smelling, sleeping little boy. Later gator.

Spring Break

So on this last day of Spring Break and 2nd day of April I realized that I only posted one blog entry in March, what the heck? Hmmm could it be that March was pretty boring. Umm yeah that would be it. Dax is of course always interesting but really he didn't do anything monumental like rolling over or sitting up--- although he is SO close to doing both! I keep saying that he's SO close but he really is. I think he doesn't want to roll over because truly he's not a big fan of tummy time so why would he voluntarily put himself in that position? ha! he does LOVE to sit up so I'm sure that will happen shortly. I can't believe he's 5 months old already... I also can't believe that I haven't uploaded his 5 month picture yet, what the heck? I'll get on that soon! Before it's time to put up th 6 month picture!! Dax is a HUGE fan of raspberries--- he'll blow them on everything, his hands, his clothes, blankets, binky, toys, even my neck which was quite funny the first time he did it! He's also figured out how to blow air without make the slobbery mess. So fun! Oh did I mention he's curious about EVERYTHING and how quickly he can figure out the toys on his two exersaucer and how to get all his other toys in his mouth? What a smarty pants he is! It just totally fascinates me to watch him figure things out. I hope this is a sign of his future in education-- meaning I hope he retains that keep at it attitude! Love him!

Let's see what else has been going on... Dustin just got back from a trip to Florence Oregon and the sand dunes! Dax is still too little to make the big trek so we stayed with GiGi and Papa for a few days. Lots of fun was had by all but Dax and I stayed much warmer and drier than Dustin and Uncle Bill. Hopefully we'll make the trek down to Florence this summer when we can make lots of stops to stretch Dax's legs. :-)

What else... hmm... seriously it's been so boring in our lives! It's a good thing. :-)

New pictures... actually they are old now but they're the newest that I have haha!...

Whatcha doing Mom?
SO happy!!

I just adore this picture. I have a whole string of them of these two playing and Dustin going in for the raspberry smooch just makes me smile!

Look at this smiley boy!! How can ya not just LOVE that face??