It's Been Too Long!

Me, Suzie, Steph, Sadie Jane, and Sarah

He had so much fun running around with Aunt Suzie and Aunt Sarah over!

I think we were doing the Itsy Bitsy Spider here!

Sweet boy!

Loving on Daddy

Playing with Aunt Sarah

Looking out the window watching Daddy and Keith work

Hugging Elmo

The horsey visor

Full of hugs today--hugging the horse he got for Christmas

Paxton REALLY wanted Jacob to wear the horsey visor! Thanks, Jacob, for being such a good sport, and appeasing Pax! You were great with him today!

All of his toys are all over the floor, and he's digging for something specific in the basket!

You know they are having fun when the toys are spread out every where!

It's been too long since we have seen Aunt Suzie!! She and Aunt Sarah came to Douglasville for Sadie Jane's dedication, and then came over for lunch. Suzie pointed out that she hadn't seen Pax in over a month! We have, thank goodness, gotten to see Sarah within this time! It was so fun to hang out with them and Pax got to show off all his new tricks. They are so good about being excited to see all Pax can do, whether or not they really are! :-) Suzie had her camera, but it died half way through the afternoon, so she switched over to mine.

While they were over, our friend, Keith, came to replace our A/C unit. He brought his son Jacob (who was in my class last year) over to play, too. Last time he came, he brought his other 2 children over (the older one, Mandi, was in my very first class). Paxton loves playing with all three of them, and enjoyed Jacob being all to himself today! Even though he is gone, Pax is still talking about Jacob now, and wants him to put on the horse visor again! Now that our heat is all fixed, we're going to have to arrange a time for the kids to come over to play sometime!

On another note, after going to 2 church services to day, I would like to say how thankful I am! Period! Both churches talked about the earthquake in Haiti, and what a tragedy it is. In fact, one of our pastors was in Haiti at the time of the quake, and is lucky to be alive, and also safe and sound at home. It is so hard to always be thankful for what you have, and forget about your own circumstances. However, this really puts it all into perspective. No matter what we are going through, there are others out there that are going through so much more. So, when I'm having a bad day, feeling stressed out, or when life as a mommy seems a little overwhelming, I want to remember to be thankful for all I have, and all God has provided for me and my family!

My Favorite Past Time Revisited

Here he is crawling through the "fort" with spoons in hand. One of his new things is to open the silverware drawer and get out some spoons to carry around the house. He then pretends to eat everything in sight! So silly!

One of my favorite things to do when we were little was to build forts out of anything and everything we could find. Whenever our friends, the Grissinger's, would come to visit, we would always build a massive fort. Our forts always had rooms, and you could even stand up in them. They would stay up in the basement for months, and would be crafted out of baby beds, shutters, blankets, sheets, plywood, and whatever was in Mom and Dad's basement. We're talking big time forts, here! I started my freshman year of high school with our best fort in the basement. We loved it, and we built some good ones!

So, we've already begun instilling this into Pax, as Uncle Brooks and Aunt Rochelle built a fort with him when they were watching him at Mimi and Papa's one morning. He loves these, the most simple forts, and thinks it is so fun to just throw a blanket over the gap between the ottoman and the love seat in our living room. I can't wait to build real forts with him! We need to start collecting blankets and things to make it great for Little Man.

Captain's Feast Date Night

Live Maine Lobsters

The second one really stretched out when we got it out of the cooler.

The lobster with the bisque cooking in front.

Brad and me sporting our bibs! :-)

Mom and Dad bought us a gift certificate for a Captain's Feast Maine lobster dinner to enjoy, and we ordered it for tonight. They took Pax out to eat, and we stayed in and cooked the lobster. The two lobsters arrived live this afternoon, along with frozen shrimp and cocktail sauce, lobster bisque, cheesecake for dessert, lobster crackers, little forks, bibs, and wet naps! The food was all DELICIOUS!!! I could have eaten 3 bowls of the lobster bisque!!

We had a great date night with wonderful food! Thank you, Mom and Dad, for this great night--from the feast we ate, to watching Pax! We love yall!

Bedtime

Daddy and Pax (with his serious face)

The last 2 nights have actually been really good. I hesitate to type this because it will probably jinx us, but I want to document these nights. Paxton has stayed in his bed all night long. He didn't even wake up at all the night before last, and I only had to go in one time last night. We are so excited and hope that this lasts! I can't remember the last time he has slept through the night without waking up when he loses his paci or wants his blanket because he is cold.

I had to take these pictures as the boys were reading their bedtime story because they were just too sweet! Pax loves reading books, and he especially likes picking out the book and bringing it to you. Last night, he really wanted to read his elephant book that Aunt Sarah bought for him.

Frosty Family Fun

Pax and Grandma with Top Spin being jealous

I got some more of Uncle Adam's old toys out. Pax, Pops, and Daddy enjoyed playing with all these cars today.

Paxton's car and the back deck

Mom and Dad's lake--look at the ice! I don't remember seeing the lake with this much ice on it, even though Mom says that the whole thing has frozen over in the past.

Mom made Swedish pancakes this morning. This is one of my favorites that I rarely get to have, so I was really excited for Pax to get to eat them. He ate all these, and then asked for more! He even had syrup left with these. When we eat regular pancakes, he eats all the syrup first!

This is his "cheese" face, he hadn't even tasted the plettar at this point to make a "gross" face.

He unzipped his pajamas himself! We turned around and he was half naked. Too funny! I guess he wanted to wear something other than pajamas today!

One of the "meow-meows" snuck in today, and Pax thought it was fun to play with him. The cat LOVED being in the warmth, and hated it when he got kicked back out.

Weather reporters have been predicting this snow storm for a while, but I really didn't think that we would get any and that we'd be out of school. However, we saw on TV last night, that we were out for today.

We had gone to dinner with Mom and Dad, and were hanging out at their house. Once school was closed, we decided to go ahead and spend the night there.

It was fun to wake up at their house, and hang out all day with the family. Pax didn't even get dressed today! I wasn't about to take him outside when it was only 18 degrees for most of the day. Plus, there wasn't enough snow to play in, because it was all ice. He did, however, get to throw a snowball last night, and was amazed as he watched the snow fall.

So, these are pictures taken from the warmth of indoors, with a fire roaring!

A Few of My Favorite Things

This is definitely for the scrapbook, so feel free to skip this post!

These are a few (okay--a lot) of my favorite things that Pax does/says. I would like to do a list at the beginning of every year to document milestones. I think it would be fun to compare how much he has grown over the year!

--If you say I love you, he says a two syllable phrase that sounds like "I know". It's cute, and I really think he's saying "I love you".
--The other night, he woke up and called for me around 4 am. I went in, and he reached his hand up to give me something. Usually he hands me fuz, a dead bug (Gross, I know. I freak out when he does this.), or something that I don't care for. However, in the middle of the night, he found a pony tail holder I had lost in his bed, and that's what he was handing me!! He immediately laid back down and went back to sleep once I took it back! So silly!
--When he crawls in the cool tent in the playroom, he says, "Nea-no". I said "Neat-o" and he hasn't forgotten it!
--He knows when we are at either grandparents' house. He knows which one, and starts naming all the people/animals there before we even pull up.
--When he wants to go upstairs/down, he says, "Boom, Boom, Pow". This, he got from his Uncle Adam!
--I love how he is starting to use manners without being prompted! He'll say, "Up, please!" or "Help, please!" My favorite is when you hand him something and he automatically says, "Tank-u!"
--As I type this, he is trying to turn the TV off downstairs. Most of the TV's he can reach, and knows where the switch is, but we are in the playroom, and he can't reach this one. So, he is saying, "TV off," and then he moved his stool in front of the TV and stood on it trying to reach better. He was able to reach the remote, but is still very determined to reach the TV itself!
--He is starting to put 2 and 3 words together, and is communicating fairly well. He says things like, "Momma, get it!" (accents on the t's) or "Daddy drive."
--His love for all things Elmo and Mickey Mouse is just priceless!
--He can't go any place that has animals and not pet them. He even knows that there are horses on the road to our house. If they aren't out in the pasture, he gets pretty sad that he didn't see them. He loves all animals. I am just thankful that he's got them at Mom and Dad's and Mrs. Tracey's!
--I am starting to see his compassionate and caring side, as he likes to share his blanket or agua with other people, animals, or stuffed animals. Just today, he wanted to give the cat at Mrs. Tracey's some of his agua! Every night before he goes to sleep, he gives Elmo and his baby doll a kiss, says they are "dold", and covers them up. He then proceeds to rub the silky part of his blanket on them! This is his routine before bed.
--I love how he focuses on a task so seriously. He makes the cutest little face as he pokes his lips out!
--As a teacher, I really like how hard he tries to follow directions. If I tell him to go get his shoes, he usually does it!
--This morning was his first day back to Mrs. Tracey's, and he was so excited to see her, and all his friends at her house. This makes me so happy as a momma, and makes it a little easier to leave him!
--He says "Uh-huh" to everything you ask him, unless he definitely doesn't want to do it, then he says, "No." No matter how hard he tries to say yes ma'am, he just can't do it. I haven't figured out if this is strong will, or he plain can't say it.
--Pax is trying really hard to potty train. He loves getting a sticker when he goes, and he pushes really hard while he's sitting there! We're very proud of the progress he's made!
--He gives really great hugs (squeezes, as he calls them) and kisses with a smack now!
--Lately, when we have gotten on to him for doing something he shouldn't, he smiles and thinks it's funny. We have to work on that!
--He really recognizes people now. He can tell you who all is in a picture; and tonight, he pointed to everyone we named at Monterrey's.
--He has been able to do most of the animal sounds for a large part of the year now. He just learned that a bird goes "peck-peck" from his Papa yesterday. He still struggles with the pig sound for some reason.
--He is doing really well with silverware. His new fascination is a knife, either while he's eating or if someone else is using one. He even used a spoon to eat a whole carton of yogurt the other morning by himself!
--He calls his pacifier, his "psss"; and his blanket, his "b". He can now say paci, but doesn't call it that.

Party Like It's Two-Thousand And Nine

Learning to play foosball

Playing with Daddy-He's such a big boy standing on a chair to play.

Pat and Pops giving him pointers on how to beat Daddy

Learning how to play ping pong with Pops

Playing on his own

Here is an after shot of his awesome hit! Pops is looking at the amazing winner he hit!

Trying to do it again. Look at the proud little face! The girls were still watching and cheering!

To celebrate the end of 2009, we ate a yummy dinner at Mom and Dad's and then headed over to the Greba's house. It was a low-key evening, but really fun to spend it with family and friends! Thank you to the Greba's for having us over for a fun-filled evening!

Pax had fun at Uncle Pat's house. He got to see all of his cool cars, play the games, and pet the cat. He even got to sit in Uncle Pat's race car, and pretend to drive! He loved that, and insisted that Pops get in with him, and buckle up. At least he's being safe wearing his seat belt!

Ashleigh had several friends over, and Pax enjoyed showing off for them! He learned how to play ping pong with Pops, and loved the attention the girls gave him. He got the hang of it, and made contact with the paddle numerous times! We all cheered, and he was super proud of himself! One time, he made contact and smacked the ball for a winner! I would not have believed that Pax hit it if I hadn't seen it for myself! The camera was a little slow, so I got the picture AFTER he hit the ball. He has pretty good hand-eye coordination for a 20 1/2 month old!

Pax managed to stay awake and pretty cheerful until 11:38 (to be exact). Then he fell asleep in my arms, and stayed that way until we put him in his car seat. Then fell back asleep. So, I rang in the new year with a precious sleeping baby in my arms! He didn't even wake up with everyone kissing him! I guess he's just used to it!

We have had an amazing 2009, and are looking forward to everything that 2010 holds for our family! We wish everyone a safe, happy, and prosperous new year!

Love, Brad, Amy, and Pax