Petting Zoo

In the afternoon we went met up with Keith's sisters and their kids at the petting zoo. Jaxson of course loved every minute of this and wasn't afraid of any animal.

His favorite part was chasing the chickens. He was determined to catch one and came close a couple of times. I could hardly get him to look at the other animals because all he wanted was the chicken.

Cheesy Austin. Austin is the closest boy cousin in age to Jax.

Princess Sydnee on her horse. If you look close you can see Jax chasing chickens in the background.

I did get him to finally try something else. I can't believe he's old enough to sit in a regular swing by himself. We had a great time with everyone. I wish we lived closer so Jaxson could see his cousins more often.

Cousins!

After spending a couple of days with my family we made a quick trip up to Idaho to see Keith's sisters and younger brother and their families. Look at those cute babies! These three are the cousins that are the closest in age to Kennadie. They are 6-7 months older than her. Carter, Bryn and Dawson.

Paige and Kennadie.

8 of the 13 Nebeker grandkids.

The next morning we went to Kandra's house for a few hours and Jax and Sydnee had a blast together. I've never seen Jax get along so well with someone his own age. He loved playing with Syd and still asks about her and wants to play with her.

I love Jax's facial expression in this pic. Kandra has even more great pics of these two hugging, giving kisses and dancing. They were so cute together!

Saying Goodbye

Last night my wonderful and dear grandpa passed away. After a long and brave fight with cancer he is finally at peace again. We will miss him so much! Because of this I am packing my bags and heading home to be with family for a few weeks. (Wish me luck as I fly/travel 8 hours by myself with two crazy kids!)

And because Keith has school he can't come. So, I thought I would leave him with our most recent pictures of our two cuties.

I finally got a really cute picture of the two of them together. Kennadie was having some tummy time in Jax's room while we were reading his bedtime stories. Then he wanted to lay next to her. And yes, yet another picture of Jaxson with a cup in his mouth but at 7:30 at night there's no convincing him otherwise.

As you can see they are still getting used to each other.

And loving it!

All About Jaxson

Today was one of those days when I had to continually remind myself that I do love my son. We won't go into the details and just leave it at that it was an extremely emotional and frustrating day for both mother and son. So, now that he's sleeping peacefully I thought I might look at some pictures and remember a few of the good times we've shared lately. My dad took these pictures when we were home for Christmas. Jaxson loved going to great grandma and grandpa Shinney's house because there he got to be a cowboy like Woody. I love watching him play and use his always growing imagination.

He sat on this little toy horse and kept saying "I a cowboy, I ride a horse." He's always making me smile by doing or saying silly things.

He doesn't stop to look at the camera very often but every once in a while I catch that cute smile that gets me every time. He's being a turtle in this picture, in case you wanted to know.

He's very into robots right now and this day two pairs of daddy's shoes somehow made him a robot. Sorry for all the underwear shots. He hardly ever has an accident when he's just in underwear but when we put pants on it's a whole new story.

Playing superhero with daddy. He started this game by running around the room with a blanket. He was so sweet and wanted to share so he also got both me and Keith blankets so we could be superheros too.

This is a classic Jaxson, always with a cup in his mouth. This kid loves to drink! It doesn't matter what it is either. He prefers milk but will settle for juice and water as well. It always amazes me how he can sleep with it in his mouth without him holding on to it!

Paisley is Jaxson's best friend. She is sooo good with him. Sometimes they wrestle and sometimes they snuggle.

Jaxson is also very into the ABCs right now, he knows every letter and the sound they make. The other day while playing with his magnetic letters he tried to teach them to Paisley. He would hold a letter in her face and say "B says __?" since she wouldn't answer he would then make the sound, get another letter and start over. It was cute.

Looking in the pond at a nature center we went to for playgroup. He is continually reminding me to stop and enjoy the little things in life. I get so caught up in life that I forget how fascinating and fun the simple things, like looking in a pond with fish and turtles, can be.

I'm so lucky that usually Jaxson is very content to play by himself. The other day when I came to check on him I saw this awesome castle he built by himself. When I told him good job he said "take picture." He knows me so well. Of course, he had to grab his Woody hat first.

This day he was being a pteranodon (yes I'm learning all about dinosaurs) and going fishing like they did on Dinosaur Train. He played in the tub for almost a half hour quoting and reenacting the episode.

Well, I have to admit this has been very therapeutic for me. Although this boy can be so challenging I can't imagine not having him in my life. I am so blessed to be his mother because everyday he makes me smile, laugh, feel loved and he's always teaching me more about life and love. I LOVE this little boy!

2 Months!

Yesterday Kennadie turned 2 months old! I can't believe how quickly the time goes and how much she has changed. She's now sleeping about for 7 to 8 hours at night and wow that has made a huge difference for everyone! At her 2 month check up she weighed in at 10 lbs 6 oz and is measuring 22.5 inches. For both height and weight she's in or very close to the 50th percentile but her head circumference is in the 10th, so her head is very small but the doctor wasn't worried about it. Other than that she's completely average and doing great. Here's the monthly pic to show the changes. As you can see in her legs and tummy she's starting to get a little chunky. This is one of the few pictures we have where I think she looks a little like Jaxson.

Here's a few pics of her taken in the past week or two.

She's started smiling a few weeks ago, Feb. 21st to be exact. It took us a long time to finally catch one with the camera and even then it's not her best but still cute.

This is the face she made when Keith was holding her one day. I guess she finally realized how scary looking her daddy is!

This girl can win almost any staring contest.

Trying to catch that cute smile.

She's such a happy baby and for the most part is very content. But when she is upset she will let you know. Luckily she's usually very easy to calm down. Jaxson shows he loves her more everyday and is so sweet with her. Every time he's getting ready to go to sleep whether for a nap or bed for the night he has to give her a hug and kiss. It's so cute. We love this little girl!

Blessing Day!

On Sunday we blessed our sweet little girl. Everything went very smooth. We got to church early and were able to take some pictures, she fell asleep and stayed asleep for the whole blessing, Keith did a great job and the miracle was that Jaxson sat quietly through the whole thing. It was a special day!

The pictures aren't the best and have too many shadows but they work.

We were thankful that Keith's mom was able to make it out for this special day.

I love her dress! The flower actually was a gift from a friend that was supposed to go in her hair but I thought it added a nice touch to the dress.

I can't get over how much we love this beautiful little girl. She is such a good baby and brings a sweet spirit into our home. We love you Kennadie!

Grandma Nebeker!

Keith's mom came to visit us, ok really she came to see the grandkids. She's been visiting for the past week and we have had a great time and we'll be so sad to see her go in a couple of days. We've been busy showing her all the fun things we enjoy in Cleveland. We've been to the zoo, Westside market, Science Center, shopping outlets, Amish country, church sites and more! Here's Jax and grandma driving the space shuttle at the Science center. He's really into anything to do with space right now because he's figured out that Buzz comes from space.

Of course, Jax loved playing in the ball pit at the Science center.

Grandma and Jax at the pier overlooking Lake Erie and some lighthouses way in the background. As you can tell it was a little cold that day.

Dowtown Cleveland.

Us at the John Johnson farm.

We spent a day doing the tours out at Kirtland, it's such a neat place. Yes, I know I have my eyes closed but this is very normal for me. This is how I looked in both pics we took.

The sisters that gave us the tour had fun chasing Jaxson around.

The Kirtland temple. And yes Jax has bare feet. He's a two year old who decided to run and jump in a puddle so we had to take off his soaking wet shoes and socks. We snapped this picture just before jumping in the car.

We took a little day trip out to the Amish country and had fun looking at some neat stores and shops and of course had to have some great Amish food.

Jaxson was really disappointed he didn't get to ride a horse or in a buggy so we decided to take his mind off it with a promise to see a big cow. Only problem was the he was then upset that he didn't get to milk the cow.

As you can see from the look on Jaxson's face we've had tons of fun together and are so thankful to have grandma here.