Happy 1st Birthday Jadon!!!

My baby is one today!!  I was telling Dave tonight that it flew by...but it didn't...does that make sense?? 
We had a party for him on Sunday and today we took him to the local aquarium...and introduced him to daddy's favorite junk food...Mcdonalds french fries!  He only ate about 2 and about 1 chicken nugget.  I then filled him with mixed veggies and fruit cause I felt so guilty!!!  Then Dave gave him some mint ice cream...oy!

This and that...

I can't believe one week from today I will have a 1 yr old!!!  He is so much fun right now!  I keep telling Dave, he sure is cute isn't he?!  Last night I then added, I wonder if in a yr or 2 I will instead be saying, he sure is lucky he's cute!  I hope not, but we'll see!

Where did the yr go, I ask myself!  Sometimes I look back and felt I missed out on some things with him being in a brace at 3wks old.  I didn't get to cuddle as much as others get to.  Between hip appts, physical therapy, and helmet appts I felt I didn't get to go out much with him other places because I was already throwing him way off schedule too many times a week.  But, I can now be thankful that his appts have slowed down, he is healthy, and I am trying extra hard to take advantage of getting him out to do "extra" things (like playdates, the park, etc.).  I am having so much fun right now, it helps me not look back so much.  It helps me stay in the moment trying to take in every detail now, cause we soon will be planning his second birthday before we know it!

Jadon has started to take steps...not slow either.  I think that's what's "slowing" him down from walking is that he doesn't want to walk...he wants to RUN! 

It's amazing to see him do things that actually take skill, like stacking things, or putting shapes into their proper holes.  It makes me nervous that I am not always teaching him the skills that he should be doing...but I guess I'm doing my best and he's obviously catching on to things. 

He loves to eat "big people" food.  The bottle not so much anymore, which is ok, but I just need to make sure he's getting enough liquid.  He's almost banned baby food.  Too funny.  It sure helps me to make better choices for meals when it has to go into his mouth now too! 

We had football on Sunday night while eating dinner...lets just say I was a little lonely!  Two guys zoned out on football...

 

 

Last weekend, my oldest niece was baptised.  We are so proud of her!  I teared up immediately when I saw her getting ready...sooo thankful God allowed us to be apart of leading her to Christ a couple years ago...God is so Good!

Big Boy!

It's been hard to get on here and blog...writers block I guess!  So much is going on, and sometimes I don't know where to begin so I just don't...but Jadon is 11 months!  We were out camping to celebrate my mom's 60th, and the next day we had an 11 month old..bam!

He's been cutting teeth like there's no tomorrow.  Two came in last week and for the first time they brought with the runny nose.  I'm ready to be done with the nose sucker, and I think he is too!

Jadon learned a new phrase last week too it's "ooooh wowwww"!  Too cute!  I guess we must say that a lot for him to pick up on it.  I've heard "baby" this week too.  Crazy!

He had a hip appt this week and his rt hip has gotten better, but there is still a difference between the two hips so we go back in 3 months.  The hip brace still fits thankfully and we all have a hang of it, so it is our "insurance" is what our dr. says.  I reallyyyyyyy pray that he does not need hip surgery.  If so, he will be casted for 3 months after.  Praying God will just heal that hip and we don't have to go down that road.  But if we do, I know God will give us the strength to endure that too.  It could be worse, Jadon's 2nd cousin will need a heart transplant soon, so I'm trying to keep everything in perspective. 

I think this weekend Dave and I are going to plan Jadon's birthday.  Seems so soon, but it will fly by.  We bid at an auction and won a cake by a very good cake decorator, so I'm super excited to talk to her to get Dave, errrr, Jadon his Packers cake.   It should be pretty easy to find decorations at least! 

That's all I got for now...but I'll leave you with some pics of my cutie!

10 Months!

It sure is getting harder to blog!  Little guy is everywhere and with trying to keep up with the house, I feel my down time is gone!  Oh well! Here's some bullets on Jadon, cause isn't life just easier doing bullet points?!

• Jadon is quick to pull up on furniture and getting the hang of walking along it.  He's starting to let go and learning balance.  He's stood a couple time for a few seconds not holding on to anything.
• He loves "table food"!  I can no longer eat in peace, he's like a dog begging for some! This past week we've really tried to have him eat some things off our plates for dinner.  What's the difference in 2 months when he is suppose to be eating a lot of what we do anyway?  He no longer likes the same thing a couple days in a row...
• Dave decked out his helmet last night and it's so cute! 
• I think all the attachments have proven Jadon's strength and determination.  Last week we started his hip brace and they said he should be able to roll in it.  Well, on day 3 he was standing in his crib with it on!!!  Nothing is going to slow this boy down and I am so proud of him!
• I think we officially figured out his first birthday party theme.  I had a hard time figuring out what to do since it's his first birthday.  I felt pressure to do something "babyish" since he's one...and even found an adorable cookie monster cake (3D) on pintrest. But that's not what my boy is into...he's into football!  I turned on the tv last week and the Packers were on (his favorite :)  ) and he plopped down in front of the tv and started dancing while they were playing!  He LOVED it!  So, Packer theme it is.  We will go with what he is interested in, not what we feel a first birthday should look like. 
• He's taking 2 naps a day and we've started having him go down about 8:30pm.  It sure gives Dave and I some more time together and Jadon is much happier in the morning.  He sleeps till about 8am. 
• He's got 6 teeth, and possibly 2 more on the way soon. 
• Jadon loves to play with rocks.  We got him a sandbox to play in and he got out and crawled back over to the rocks...hmmm...so I put some rocks in his sandbox for now. 
• Zander is still amazing entertainment for Jadon.  Zan isn't too thrilled all the time.  He walks around and around our family room trying to find a peaceful place to lay down while Jadon chases him around screaming!  One day Zander, you will love playing with this little guy too!
• We are still using cloth diapers and it's going great.  Diapering sucks cause this boy throws a fit everytime...also getting dressed is stressful, but it's all gotta happen!
• Jadon is in the big bath tub.  No baby tub.  He loves to "slide" down the tub with the slight angle that it has.  Only run into trouble when he tries to stand...
• He LOVES his books.  He would choose books over toys any day. 

Jadon, we LOVE you and feel so blessed that God chose us to be your parents.  We love watching you grow and learn new things and look forward to each new day as you continue to amaze us!  Happy 10 month Birthday Baby Boy!

Melt my heart!

9 Months!!

It's official...my baby now looks like a little boy.  He's growing up too fast!  Jadon's a speed crawler and is pulling himself up on things a lot.  I think we'll have a walker on our hands soon!  He is the cutest, sweetest thing out there...yes I'm a little bias!

I'm enjoying feeding time now since he's such a mover.  It's my cuddle time with him.  I suck it alll up!!  He loves to give his momma kisses...I cover him in them.  I figure one day he won't let/want me to, so I'm making sure I get enough in now! 

He has his helmet off for now.  Next week he will get his second one on.  It's from a different company so it will not be flashy, but as long as it works, who cares!  He should have it on 4 months max.  This compared to me thinking he may have a skull fusion and needed surgery was the best case scenario!  Plus we went to his orthopedic doc and now he needs to wear a brace for his hips overnight.  At this point, I'm like why not...bring IT ON!!!  Anything else?????  But I am reminded that we are sooo blessed to have a healthy baby.  So many other parents would love it if their child only needed a brace/helmet for 3 months.  Some (like our cousins baby) are waiting for a heart transplant. What Jadon has had going on for 9 months is trivial compared to that!

We went camping again, and Jadon did great.  Poor guy was teething again, so that kinda bugged him.  He has 5 teeth so far!  I think the teeth make him look like a little boy. 

Heres a 9 month update on Jadon:

• takes 2 naps about 1.5 hours each and goes to bed around 9
• enjoying cloth diapers still, but use size 4 or 5's overnight
• wears size 12 month clothes...I can still squeeze him into some 9 month ones, but not so easily!
• eats 7 oz with meals and loves his food!  Bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots are some faves.
• says "dadadada" when he's happy and "maaaam" when he's angry/frustrated/pooing :) nice!
• loves the outdoors
• throws a few fits...like when we come indoors! or diaper changes...man those are hard!
• hasn't gotten the stranger bug yet, but isn't always happy when mom leaves the room when we're alone. 
• loves to play in the dirt!
• enjoyes rolling around with daddy and playing cars with him
• all around is such an amazing little guy!

I am loving this stage and am so thankful God has allowed me to experience being a mom to Jadon.  What can I say...I am blessed!


Who put you in the dirt with socks on??? Daddy!!

A boy and his football!

Zander giving Jadon some love!

Camping fun!

We had a great first camping trip with Jadon!  I was a little nervous how he would sleep since he's never slept anywhere other than his crib overnight.  We made it nice and cozy and dark and it worked like charm!  He slept great...longer than he does at home! 

He loved being outside and I think it wore him out!  We went for many walks and we all enjoyed the benefit of a/c in the camper!! 

Jadon got to go in a lake for the first time and he wasn't so fond at first, but once he got use to it he loved it.  So much so that he threw a fit when we took him out!!! We've been noticing a few fits lately...thought those were to come after one..yikes! He also found dirt and rocks...trying to keep it out of the mouth is the hardest!

It was so nice to not have any modern technology...no internet (ok..it was on dave's phone but we tried to only check weather...there were some bad storms around us), no tv and our phone reception wasn't the best.  SO nice!  We read a lot and had a great time as a family.  What a blessing!  Bummer that we had to come home...it's hard to come back to reality sometimes!  Thankfully we have more trips planned this summer!  I can't wait!  We cherish the memories!