Christmas & The New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Jaxon got a few really cool toys which was perfect- he has so many already- and lots of clothes which he desperately needed. He got a "car" with a handle for mama to push so we could use it for our walks, and even though it said 9 months to 3 years, he's way too big for it. :( We're hoping we can take it back and find something similar that he can fit into! We got clothes, jewelry, lots of gift cards- and a great unexpected gift- Brian's parents paid off his college loan for us! Now we can take that extra money every month and focus on Jaxon's college.
We had Christmas Eve at home on our own, Christmas Day at the Schock's with grandma Schock, and the day after my parents came to our house for Christmas. It was great! What a wonderful way to end 2004!

Jaxon - Milestones for December

Well, sadly this may be the last post devoted entirely to Jaxon's milestones. He's grown so much and learns so many new things everyday that it's hard to try to get it down in here! Of course, you'll still be hearing a lot about our favorite little guy! :)
Jaxon has been much more "talkative" and energetic this month especially since recovering from his surgery. He still loves to go outside (even when it's freezing cold and we want him to stay inside!) He enjoys playing on his swing and in his little house out back in particular. He has found a new passion as well- coloring! He grabs his box of crayons and colors everyday in a notebook, being sure to use all 24 every time too! He is quite the little artist! :) He's showing some "terrible two" behaviors- one we affectionately call the backwards inchworm- but he's learning quickly that tantrums do nothing to help his cause. He says lots of words now but seems to have lost "Mama" or rather replaced it with "Dada!" It seems he's become quite a daddy's boy (much to Mama's dismay.) Oh well... He is such a great kid- we're SO lucky to have him in our lives.

S

Jaxon's Surgery

Well, Jaxon's surgery went as well as it could and we're SO glad it's over! We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 and it's downtown which meant we had a very early morning. My mom and dad came down and stayed the night so they could go with us for the surgery as well. We arrived and were waiting in the lobby of Children's Hospital when the called us back for pre-op.
We had to wait for quite awhile and Jaxon was hungry and getting restless. Brian was getting annoyed to say the least and found out that our doctor had not been informed of the change in schedule...needless to say we ended up being about 2 hours behind schedule.
They had to put Jaxon out and give him a breathing tube for the surgery and we opted for a caudal block to numb the lower half of his body for several hours after the surgery. The whole operation only took about an hour and the doctor was pleased with how well it went. He removed the entire cyst and showed us pictures (he flung them out there before we could say we didn't want to see them!) He has a small incision about 2 inches long on his abdomen but the stitches are inside ("like a zipper" the doctor said.) It is healing up and he seems unphased by the whole ordeal.
We're all glad he's ok and we can finally put this unpleasantness behind us!

S

Moving?

We were actually quite torn about transferring to Nashville. On one hand, it seemed exciting to move to a new area and start from scratch... but on the other with a young kid (and planning on another one within the year) and both sets of grandparents less than 2 hours away, it's probably best that Brian took the promotion here instead. So since the transfer to Nashville has been put off indefinitely, we're thinking about moving into a new house here in Round Rock.
I love our house, but Brian is ready for more space. We visited one of his friends who lives at a nearby golf course and that got Brian itching. We're thinking of getting our house ready to sell in the spring and staying nearby. We love our location and are so spoiled... Brian drives 2 minutes to work, I drive a whopping 12 minutes to work, the grocery store is 1 minute away, etc. Anyway, we're looking at a few builders in our direct area and possibly others around town. We're hoping to move into a larger house (Brian wants 2200 sqft.+) but we're not totally discounting recently built resale homes either. I'll be kind of sad to leave here... I'll miss Jaxon's nursery most of all, but I'm sure as long as we do what's best for us in the long run, it'll all work itself out. I'll keep you posted! :)

S

Jaxon - Milestones for November

This kid never ceases to amaze us! He's only in the 95th percentile on weight at 28 pounds, but is still off the charts on height and head size (he has a big but cute noggin!) He's been running and climbing everywhere too! He loves to be outside and has been very disappointed with all the recent rain here in Austin. He has also become quite a flirt and entertainer. He's been making faces to get us to laugh and enjoys being the center of attention. I'm a bit worried as to how he'll react once he's got a sibling to deal with, but he's got about a year left before we have to worry about that. Anyway, he's having lots of fun and is looking forward to Christmas already! Just what we need... more toys!

Jaxon needs surgery :(

What a crazy day! I left work early to pick up Jaxon so hopefully he'd get a nap in. Of course he ended up rolling around and talking to himself rather than sleeping until about 5 minutes before we had to leave for the specialist. So, I loaded him up and headed downtown to Children's hospital. We were in the waiting room for 2 hours during which time Jaxon walked around as if he owned the place and lucky mama got to follow him around and around and around. We were finally seen by the doctor for a total of probably 10 minutes and he said he needs surgery in the following months.

Apparently, the surgery is the second most common surgery that Children's Urology does and it resembles hernia surgery. I think he's called one portion of the surgery laproscopy (tiny fiber-optic camera) which doesn't sound too bad. My biggest concern is how they'll have to put him under general anesthesia. The idea of my little boy being put totally out scares me! I've got it scheduled for early December, but need to reschedule so Brian can get the day off too. I'll keep you posted!

Halloween

Well, after much thought, I decided to keep Jaxon home on Halloween. Jaxon went with Rick and Carol to his great grandma Schock's house to stay the night so Brian and I went to dinner and a movie on Saturday. Then, Brian went to watch the football games on Sunday and got home just in time to help us hand out candy. I didn't put him into his "Bam-bam" costume as I'd planned (it consisted of a chamois for his caveman cloth and a club! Ha ha!) He was in his little skeleton skirt and that was cute enough! At first I was worried that he'd be driven crazy by the door bell ringing or be scared by the costumes, but quite the contrary! He LOVED having people come up to our house, was excited to see everyone even with scary bloody costumes, and even wanted to hand out the candy himself. He is too cute! :)

Jaxon-Milestones for October

I'm trying to update this pretty often as he does so many funny new things each month that it's hard to remember them all. Jaxon has really started "talking" this month. Lots of jabber when he's pretending to talk on the phone and when he's walking through the house...and especially when he wants something! He also is a future surfer or skateboarder. He takes the lids off his toy bins and even the tray from his high chair, lays them on the floor and stands on them. It's too funny! He's really enjoying playing outside in the yard in his Little Tykes house. And to think I got it on a whim at a garage sale for $25...it's definitely been worth it!
He likes to walk around the yard and talk to me about things he sees and is happy to hold my hand as long as I'm going the direction he wants to go. He's been screeching a lot to get his needs met, so I've been working really hard to redirect him by telling him the words for what he wanted...hope to nip this in the bud! He is really progressing in his receptive communication and seems to understand a lot of what we tell him. He's calling my mom "Mum-mum" and my dad "Papo" or "Papa" now too. He is really into throwing the ball- playing with a sensory nubbed ball, basketball, mini-football - any one he can get his hands on! He is growing up so fast that we just can't believe it!

My School's Fall Festival

Well, I wanted to do my part to help the PTA with the Fall Festival and I did more manual labor today than I have in quite awhile. I'll sleep good tonight! :) Another one who'll be sleeping good is Jaxon. Cheryl brought him up at around 4:15 and we walked around a lot. I carried him when he didn't want to go the way I was going (which was most of the time!) There were tons of kids there, lots of cool attractions and games for older kids...but the one thing I knew Jaxon would like was the Petting Zoo put on by Fry's Fun Farm. He got to walk around in the pen and pet a horse, piglets, ducks, sheep and goats. He was not at all interested in the chickens, geese or turnkeys. But he particularly liked one baby kid (I mean a goat of course!) It was white with black around it's eyes with tiny little nubs for horns. Jaxon followed him for awhile and smiled and talked when he pet him. Anyway, by that time it was about 5:15 and I was whooped, Jaxon was one big sweatball, and Brian was probably beginning to wonder where we were, so we headed home. It was lots of fun...next big event: Halloween!

Jaxon gets a haircut

Jaxon woke up fussy this morning and stuck to my leg... he's kind of going through this phase right now... but when I couldn't pry him off, I decided to wake Brian up to hang out with Jax while I got ready. As soon as he came downstairs, Jaxon jumped into his lap and sat watching the Wiggles while I got ready. They looked so cute together! He sure loves his daddy! Just the other day, he walked over to our side table where a copy of Rolling Stone was laying out. It had Tom Cruise on the cover and Jax picked it up, brought it over, pointed at Tom and said "Dada!" :) I mean he is a short, brown haired man...and does have the rugged look going on the cover... but to think Jax thought it was Brian was hilarious.

This afternoon, I took him to get his haircut (it's only his second one) and he did pretty well. He started fussing at the end, but he waved bye-bye and blew kisses as he left, so I think he was happy to get his "big boy haircut!" When I got him home and saw him with the haircut, basketball outfit and shoes it felt like I left my baby somewhere and brought home a three-year old version of Jax. He's big for his age anyway and it's so hard to believe how quickly he's grown up. When we came home, he walked in the yard, sat in his swing and started to "shhh!" Beau as he barked in the yard... he's just too funny! :)

Jaxon - Milestones for September

Gosh is this kid growing up! He's been entertaining us all with his antics lately! He does his "Excited Face" by opening his eyes up wide, making the biggest grin possible, and spreading out all of the fingers on his hands. It's too funny! :) Then he'll switch to his "Mad Face/Mean Face" where he tilts his head down to put his chin on his chest, looks up at you under his brow and growls. Also pretty darn funny!

He responds to directions- come here, sit down, bring me a book, get your milk/toy/food, etc. - which I'm glad to see. He still doesn't identify many body parts (like they say he should) but I'm not "working on" that kind of stuff. We're learning through play at this point and I'm not going to push him.

He dances to any music he happens to hear on the radio on or tv. He smiles and claps when we sing "If you're happy and you know it..." He is particularly fond of the "pump,pump,pump, pump, pump" song on the commercial for St.Joseph's aspirin. It's so funny... the song talks about the blood as it travels to the heart in follow-the-bouncing-aspirin style and everytime he sees it, he says "Pump pump! Pump pump!" so I'll rewind it! He also likes the "Bad Boys" theme on cops and says "Baa Bo!" when he wants to hear it again! Ha ha! That's my boy!

I finally got him some new shoes. Since he was learning to walk I didn't bother for quite awhile, but since his favorite past time is walking barefoot through the yard, I figured it was about time. I took him to Shoes 4 Kids, and surprisingly, he didn't fuss about putting on the shoes. I bought him some little white and navy stride rite sneakers with velcro straps. I saw some other really cute stylish shoes, but they had tie laces and I figure it'd be hard to get him to sit still long enough to get them on and tied! He wears a 6 1/2 kids shoe!

He's made friends with Wyatt now, the little baby Cheryl watches in addition to Jax and Alyssa. He was unsure about a baby taking any attention away from him, but now they're buddies. Cheryl said Wyatt was fussy and Jaxon walked over, picked up his pacifier and put it in his mouth! Too funny! He'll be a good big brother one day.

:) S

The visit with Dr.Cortez

Today was the visit with Dr.Cortez, the pediatric urologist that the ER and my pediatrician recommended. Jax had a fever over the weekend which had me a bit worried, so I was glad to get in so quickly. Even though the ER had recommended him and I thought I signed a release form, they did not send him the ultrasounds we had taken there. But he did a physical exam and determined that it is a hydrocele (fluid-filled cyst) of the spermatic cord. He says that this occurs in about 50% of infant boys early on and can go away on its own (usually within the first year.) But, he says it usually envelops the testicle and Jax's is in the cord above the testicle, so he wants us to schedule another visit in 6 weeks at his Children's Hospital location to check it's status and determine if we'll need to do surgery...keep your fingers crossed that we don't have to do that!

A night in the ER

Well what an exciting Friday night! I picked Jaxon up and when we got home while changing his diaper I noticed that one side of a certain sensitive area was enlarged. By this time it's Friday at 5:00, so the doctor's office recommended going to the ER at Children's Hospital. We decided instead to go to Round Rock Hospital figuring we'd bypass traffic and hopefully be seen more quickly. Bad idea... We got there at 5:15 and we're seen by a doctor an hour later. He said he was pretty sure that it was just a cyst, but that they'd need to do an ultrasound to be sure it wasn't an immediate threat. So then we proceeded to wait for 4 more hours to get an ultrasound!!! My poor little baby was such a trooper too. He didn't fuss hardly at all...in fact I think that Brian and I had a harder time spending 5+ hours in the ER than he did.
They've suggested we make an appointment with a pediatric urologist they recommended next week. I feel a little better now, but I guess we'll wait and see what the doctor says.

Labor Day

Well, three day weekends are great but they sure seem to fly by! My parents came up Saturday morning, had lunch with us and took Jaxon home with them. When they first walked in, Jaxon ran to my mom with his arms outstretched and almost made her cry! They love him so!

We had the fantasy football draft at our house Saturday and it went pretty well. It definitely was easier without Jax there to distract us and I know he had fun with his Grandma & Grandpa. We were planning on going out or playing cards on our night without Jaxon, but ended up having a few drinks and staying home! Oh well...it was just nice to not have to get up at 6:00 (even though we ended up waking up early out of habit!) I went to San Antonio Sunday and ended up spending the night. Jaxon has started refering to my dad as "Pa-po" but still doesn't call my mom by name yet. I think that made my dad's day! He had a great visit with his grandparents! :)

Back to school- week 2

I'm running out of steam big time this week! Being back at school has been a tough adjustment for me and for Jaxon. He's been a bit fussy and gets upset when I leave him at the sitter's house...but I also know the minute I'm out of sight he's playing and having a good time, so I guess it's just that he's not used to being back there 5 days a week yet. Neither am I! He's also starting some "terrible two" behaviors which I not too thrilled with, but be handled easily.

I'm having a good year so far though the kids are under control and seem to get along pretty well. I like my aide Susie's sub too, which makes for a smoother start. I need to get used to getting Jaxon up and around too...that has been the challenge. He wants to cuddle up with me in the morning and we just don't have the time. Or if he gets up early and we do have time, then he's awake and ready to play when I'm trying to get around. AARRGGGG!

Well, I've been looking around at new home builders in Round Rock (if we're staying here, Brian wants to "move up" this spring.) It's fun to check out floorplans and I want to go see some models in a neighborhood I like in particular. There are two neighborhoods just down the road a bit from where we are now that I find interesting, so I may go check those out this weekend just for kicks. I'm also hoping to start getting the toy towers under control and the rest of the house organized too! We have lots of space, we just have too much stuff! Anyway, wish me luck! I'll write back soon (hopefully!)

Jaxon- Milestones for August

Well, Jaxon has just taken off developmentally. I look back to when he was just a baby and it's amazing how fast they grow and change in the first year! He's officially a toddler at 13 months now, so here's the latest:

1. He blows kisses with his hand (before he just kissed into the air and looked like he was trying to spit!)
2. He walks very well and has started trying to run, but it's still a little herky-jerky!
3. He says "bye, bye" and waves (but only when he wants to!)
4. Other words he uses: Mama, Dada, Papa, Gaga (trying to say grandma!) Beau-beau, more, duck, thank you (sounds like gang goo!)
5. He loves being outside- either in his swing or his little house, or just walking barefoot in the grass.
6. He eats whatever you are eating...so you'd better be ready to share! :)

A Crazy start...back to work!

This week has been exhausting for me! It was teacher prep/staff development week. Between getting my room rearranged, making the visual schedules for the class, the Welcome Walk-home visits, and supply drop off night...I'm worn out! I went to school pretty early all week and didn't get home until 6 or so, and that's quite a bit to get used to after having the summer off! The good news is, I'll usually be leaving work around 4 now that things are basically back in order. This is the first week with the students and I only have 6 (as opposed to last year's 12!) Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well! :)

Brian's promotion!

I just found out that Brian got promoted to LOR-TSR... that's basically a server specialist like he was, but for "large opportunity" companies. It's a great step and he's excited about it. He's been very successful at work and they've definitely taken notice of that! This job is here in Texas, so that postpones a move to Nashville for awhile at least.

Congrats to him! :)

Well... I survived my first day back at work without Jaxon. I have this week for staff development and teacher prep and next week the kids return. I'm looking forward to a good year, but I'll miss being with Jax all day. :( Also, my support Susie (a.k.a my partner in crime! haha!) will be out until October with a badly broken leg. She's getting better everyday, but won't be ready at the start. I know she wishes she was, and I do too, but better safe than sorry. They found a sub for her that I don't know, but hopefully she'll be ok until Susie comes back.

Jaxon was a little nervous about my leaving him today (he was probably scared I wouldn't return for awhile like when we were on vacation!) Once he saw his "girlfriend" Alyssa at our sitter Cheryl's house, he was in a better mood and I think he probably had a pretty good day... it was just overwhelming. He's got her daughters (2nd grade Jessie & 7th grade Brittany) to play with this week and next week it'll be back to just him, Alyssa, and a new 6 month old, Wyatt. I know he loves being around the kids, so hopefully he'll continue to enjoy himself while I'm at work.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can get everything done! :)

It's been a wild summer at the Schock house! Jaxon and I had a great time home together while school was out. Jaxon had his first birthday party and had a blast! Toys have completely taken over my house at this point, but I guess that goes with the territory. I can't believe he's already one and walking all over the place. It still freaks us out sometimes when he just gets up and tears across the room! :) It doesn't seem that long ago that we had a tiny bundle of joy...now we have the supersized toddler version!

On one hand, I'm ready to go back to school- get the room together, see my class, talk to "grown up" people during the day...but on the other hand, I'll miss him even more this time around! No more sharing my toast and watching The Wiggles in the morning! I think he'll miss me too...at least until he sees his "girlfriend" Alyssa at the sitter's house!

Brian and I decided to use my last week off to check out Nashville as we may end up relocating there (we'll have to save world travel for next summer.) It was my first time away from Jax overnight (let alone 4 nights) but he was fine and I only called a few times to check in (ok...so it was a few times each day, but what can you expect?!?) We had a wonderful time... I had a preconceived idea about Nashville being just country singers and rednecks, but it's not. In fact, it's entertainment and people were similar to Austin...it's just much prettier there with lots of towering trees, lakes and mountains. Anyway, we had a great time and a day to recover and get used to the idea of going back at work!

Christmas/New Year 2004

We were a little sad to see 2003 come to an end. It was such a great year for us from moving into our new house to Jaxon's birth...so it'll be hard to top, but we're off to a good start!

Jaxon's first Christmas was great! Even at 5 months, he was really into it! He opened LOTS of presents and got some cool toys and new clothes...but his favorite part was the tissue paper and shiny ribbon. I guess he's easy to please!

Brian had a wonderful surprise planned too. My last package was a big box with a skillet (thankfully, that's not the surprise) and what looked like magazines in it. They were actually travel brochures and Brian told me I can choose anywhere in the world I want to go and we'll schedule a trip! I've always said "If I could go anywhere, I'd go..." here or there, but now that I actually have to choose, I don't know where I want to go! Depending on what we decide, we'll be going sometime between this summer and next, and grandma will watch Jaxon.

I've never been away from Jaxon overnight, so it'll be really tough, but I know grandma will take great care of him and put up with endless phone calls to check-up!

We are really enjoying our new little family! Jaxon has brought so much joy into our lives! His grandparents are completely in love as is his Aunt Lindsay! Jaxon "wants for nothing"...but he's not spoiled...at least not totally. They even babysit so mama and daddy can go out for dinner, to the movies or during poker night! Cool, huh?

Welcome to our new blog!

We are pretty savvy when it comes to technology, but have just discovered online blogs and what they are all about. I'm hoping this is a good way to keep everyone posted on what's going on in our lives and since it's basically logged in, I can update my usual webpage, but you'll still be able to read about anything you may have missed. Hope you like it!

Brian, Steph & Jaxon