The crazy lives of Brian, Steph, Jaxon & Marley!

It appears life won't slow down...

2009-12-23T09:35:00.002-06:00

So my blog posts are few and far between...sorry! :) Let's see since I last posted:
In November, Marley had pneumonia. We began treating her with antibiotics and headed out of town for the wedding in Kansas. When we were there, she still just didn't seem "right", so when we came home, I took her back and found she had two forms of pneumonia! Poor kiddo had to endure 2 different antibiotics, two HUGE shots in her legs of another antibiotic (Brian had her at the doc that day and said it was simply awful) and 3 x-rays. It seems to have subsided though her last xray still showed some streaking in her lungs. Here's wishing for a healthy year for Marley!

On that note, the wedding was wonderful! Both kids looked adorable and were both very well behaved (which is hard for little ones during a full Catholic wedding and mass!) Jaxon did a great job as the ringbearer and both he and Marley danced the night away at the reception. It was HILARIOUS- Jaxon had a full dance card with three little girls all wanting to dance with him! :) Check out my facebook or the link to my scrap blog for pictures.

Thanksgiving was at my mom's house and we had a wonderful time with the family. The kids stayed the night with my mom and dad and then we went home, let the dogs out, left them inside and went to Rick & Carol's to watch the UT game. We ended up at a neighbor's house. They were really nice and we had fun- it reminded us of what our old neighbors were like. Anyway, the guys stayed and played cards, so I came home to sleep. I took out my contacts and only meant to lay down for a second, but I fell asleep still dressed!!! I woke up at 3:40 and thought, "Maybe I'll go check out a Black Friday sale" as I'd never really shopped in the stores on those days. I started at Best Buy at 4:00- waited in line outside for an hour but was pleasantly surprised at how orderly it was AND to find the thing we wanted to get Jax (and Brian). Then I figured since I was awake, I'd check out Old Navy- got great deals on clothes right now. Of course, then I thought I'd go to Walmart to get some toys (the WORST place to go on Black Friday- or any day really- I know now, but not TOO terrible by 7:00). And finally, after finding Toys R Us sold out of many items, I went to one last place, Academy and got the kids a big surprise. I had SO much fun shopping- don't know why I dreaded the idea of Black Friday all this time! We're still looking at houses online but don't have ours on the market- again just waiting to see what pops up. :)

Now it's just two days before Christmas and I've got to run out and get a few last minute gifts for the grown-ups in our lives and take the kids to their new dentist. Other than that, we're on vacation now and having fun. I started knitting (already have a nice chunky scarf finished) and I plan on scrapping today. The kids are playing and enjoying the time off too.

Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Blessed New Year! ♥ S

Has it really been THAT long?

2009-11-01T13:57:00.004-06:00

I guess so! I've been SO busy with school, the family and just plain life I've not updated my poor, neglected blog. So here's the cliff notes version of what's been going on:

In August, we put an offer in on a short sale in a nearby neighborhood and put our house on the market, but when someone outbid us, we lost out and after much thought, decided to pull our house off the market and just keep an eye out. We couldn't find anything else we liked for the price as much as we like our house, but we'll check online every once and awhile. We looked at putting in a pool, but we're waiting a bit... if we DO end up moving, we won't get our money back out of the pool, so until we KNOW we're staying put, no pool either. We go back and forth, looking online, trying to decide what to do... wish we could live where the kids could go to school with neighborhood friends, or live in a neighborhood where we had a bunch of friends with kids, or maybe just scrap it all and live somewhere on a bit of land without neighbors or a neighborhood to even worry about... oh well, we'll see what happens...

School started up and we barely got into our portable in time to get unpacked- the school district is great, but when it comes to construction and maintenance, it leaves a bit to be desired. Let's just say I FINALLY got backpack hooks in my portable this week- two and a half months after school started. I like that we can be loud out there - seeing as how my class is a language program, we are always encouraging LOTS of talking (we're almost the anti-classroom if you really think about it). It's also very quiet out there - nice because no one bothers you, but also a bit isolating. We'll see what happens next year as we may or may not end up moving back into the building. Jaxon and Marley are doing ok with school, but they miss "their old friends" from last year's classes. Hopefully, it'll be a good year for them both.

October has been a pretty rough month for us- lots of stress, everyone getting sick, etc. But now it's November and we'll try to put all that behind us. We spent Halloween with both sets of parents by trick-or-treating in the in-laws neighborhood. The kids had a blast of course, but I also think the grandparents enjoyed themselves almost as much! :)

Next weekend, we're off to a family wedding in Kansas. Brian's cousin Cecelia is getting married and asked Jaxon to be the ringbearer! We're so excited and he thinks he'll "look jazzy" in his tux! The groom's family has twin 6 year old girls who'll be flower girls, so Marley's not "in" the wedding, but she's still excited about the pretty dress she gets to wear to the wedding.

The rest of the fall is mainly getting ready for family holidays, get caught up on scrapping and watching football... sounds good to me! :) Hope to be back with updates more often (if life slows down a bit!)

Halfway over...

2009-07-21T14:28:00.002-05:00

Summer that is, and I can hardly believe it! We just had Jaxon's 6th birthday party and had a blast. We'd done the sprinkler park and bouncy places, so when I asked him what he wanted to do this year, he said Chuck E Cheese. I almost talked him out of it (a friend said it best when she described her love/hate relationship with CEC- Kids love it/parents hate it!) BUT, I didn't and I'm glad- they had a blast and took care of everything for us. My summer has been SO busy that I needed a stress-free party, and that it was. Everyone seemed to have a good time and when I asked Jaxon if he had a good time we said "This is the best day ever!" Gotta love it!
We've been working hard to get the house ready and still a bit in the air about what to do. Our house is great with a nice, big backyard... if not for our neighbor moving in, I don't think we'd even be thinking about moving right now... Anyway, we're looking at houses again tonight and then deciding what to do. The house is "market ready" if we decide to put it up. Whether we move or not, this process had been great for me as it's making me get rid of "stuff" and get rid of clutter hot spots in the house. Of course, I'm home from work, so I have more time and energy to keep the house in tip-top shape, but as they say, it takes 21 days to change a behavior and I'm well on my way! Don't worry, I won't go all domestic goddess on anyone! :)
I also got my first Viovio photobook (a 10x10)- my Project 365 January-June and it is amazing! I ABSOLUTELY love it and I'm now sold on putting all of my layouts in viovio hardcover books. If you're on the fence about which printer to use, go for them- the quality rocks and they are very well priced.
Well, back to the grind... be back soon with more updates...

Summertime...and the livin' is easy...

2009-06-28T16:45:00.002-05:00

Mostly anyway! Sorry for the long delay in my posts! Let's see what's happened since I last updated... school is out for summer! YAY! My wonderful assistant Christy basically packed the room herself (she's unbelievable!) We hope our portable (or as we like to call it "the cabin") will be coming soon so we can set it up well before staff development days. I had such a great year working with Christy and Susan and look forward to another great one in "the cabin"!

Both kids are swimming every Monday night and Jaxon has advanced to the next level, Nitro 2. This is good news as it means he's made good progress, but bad news too because now instead of them having lessons at the same time and knocking it out in 30 minutes, they have classes back to back. But, it's worth it and they both have become little fish- even Marley, who was terrified at first, is comfortable in the water now. :) Jaxon had a week of tennis and we may sign up for more. We haven't started Marley in dance yet, but I think I've found a place and we'll go check it out soon.

We keep going back and forth about moving... should we move now because of the unwanted neighbor while interest rates are low? Or wait a year or two, when we could afford more? Do we want a little land and an older house or build in a new neighborhood? I'd like to be closer to school, but can't really find what I like for the $ nearby. There are houses I love in a newer neighborhood, but not a real sense of community there. We could live in a smaller section of a really nice community, but it's 20-25 minutes to school (and we'd be the poor folk in the neighborhood for sure!) What to do, what to do... We're going to finish getting the house ready and put it up on the market. It's a "wait and see" thing...

We just got back from a week in Napa, California for a family wedding. It was nice and not our usual scene, so it was a fun vacation. Who'd have thought a wine and cheese picnic would be so fun? The kids stayed behind with my parents in San Antonio- so my parents had the anti-vacation! :) They entertained the kids EVERYDAY- swimming, Incredible Pizza, and Six Flags for goodness sakes! Plus the trips to the store for more toys (you know, these poor kids have nothing, ha ha!)

So fun for all this summer. We've got to plan Jaxon's birthday party too- he'll be 6! Wow! Anyway, I'll try to do a better job keeping you posted!

So I'm a horrible blogger

2009-05-13T18:19:00.006-05:00

...but what's new right? :) Ok, so school has been VERY busy, but good too. Same goes for the kids. My house is kind of a mess right now but I'm too tired to really do anything about it. Seriously considering a monthly maid service! But... summer is ALMOST here so soon I'll have no excuse other than my own kids keeping me busy (but you know they really do keep you busy!)

So the end of March brought our anniversary- 8 years of marriage- and we went out to celebrate. Then my birthday in mid-April. 31. When I turned 30, I really considered it more like the end of my twenties, so 31 would officially be "in my thirties." I wasn't so sure I was excited about it. In fact, I had a terrible day-- it was POURING rain and even with an umbrella, getting my students off the bus I got soaked from the hip down. Of course I had no extra clothes so I was wearing wet jeans all day. Had a headache, looked like a drowned rat, etc.

I come home and Brian asks "Are we going to just dinner or dinner and a movie?" All I really wanted to do was hang around, but the inlaws had offered to watch the kids and maybe some kid-free time would help my headache, so I went upstairs, took a shower and quickly got around. Didn't bother fixing my hair as it was still raining so a curly-headed Stephanie went out with Brian. We headed to Alamo Drafthouse- hadn't been in forever and wanted a good laugh, so we went to see a comedy. We got in and Brian realized he left his phone in the car so he ran out to get it. As soon as he left they started talking about it being a "World Premiere Beer" night from a local brewery and I was hoping Brian wouldn't miss out. He comes back in with his phone, a PERFECT birthday card (the kind that looks like it was made just for you and makes you cry), a disc (I find out later it's Adobe CS3 Premium--YAY!) and then produces a box. I open it to find diamond studs. What a wonderful surprise!!! So I guess 31 isn't so bad...

School is finishing up June 3rd and I'm excited. I still can't believe how wonderful this program has been for me. We have had a very successful pilot year and are expanding next year. :) Nothing feels better than getting kids to an age-appropriate level and dismissed from special education. It is so wonderful to see these kids making such great progress. I absolutely love it! That said, I'm also ready for a little break! :)

Marley and Jaxon are doing great in school. Jaxon has loved his kinder teacher and wants to stay with her! Fortunately for him, even though he'll be in first grade, I assured him that he will still see her around! :) Marley thinks she's ready for kinder, but of course, she misses the cutoff so she has two more long years to go. She loves her class so I think she'll be ok, but I may look into private kinder that last year (of course that depends on the $). They both continue swim and are having a blast. Jaxon is finishing up flag football, and though I was worried at first, he really likes it and is doing very well! I think it'll be too hot for summer though, so we'll do it again in the fall. Jaxon wants to play tennis and Marley wants to dance, so between swim, those choices and possibly indoor soccer, we should be busy enough.

Gotta run, but I will post back soon (I think...)

Guest gig layouts...

2009-03-17T17:13:00.005-05:00

I have two fabulous guest gigs this month- Ziggle Designs and Amanda Heimann Designs- both at Scrap Orchard. So I thought I'd add some of my layouts here too. You can find all of the products used in these layouts at Scrap Orchard. Hop over now for the BOGO sale too! :)

Project 365 - Layouts

2009-03-11T20:06:00.001-05:00

March? Already???

2009-03-01T15:22:00.002-06:00

Well, I can hardly believe that it's March already! I've very busy- between home, work and trying to scrap- so I'm going to make this quick!

We've been busy with school and having a blast. I am so thankful that I get to work at such a wonderful campus and that my kids are not only learning, but enjoying school too. Jaxon is keeping up with swim and will be playing flag football this spring. We plan on starting Marley in swim soon too and hopefully dance as well. We'd REALLY like to find something musically inclined for the kids and are keeping an eye out for that. Brian is golfing again too and has joined the golf club with his dad, so he'll have more opportunities to play now too. :)

As for the scrap stuff- I'm currently working on my project 365 digitally (the physical album is collecting dust) AND I'm all caught up! I've already got 22 pages and that's just through February, so I think I may print the book quarterly afterall.

Also, I wanted to announce how excited I am to have 2 guest gigs this month! I'll be guesting for Ziggle Scraps and Amanda Heimann Designs- both at Scrap Orchard. Be on the lookout for some new layouts with their amazing products soon! :)

Gotta run!

Project 365...

2009-01-18T17:23:00.003-06:00

I'm so excited about this new project I'm working on. It's based on the photo-a-day idea from photojojo. Someone on one of my forums was talking about the CK kit of the month coming out- I don't paper scrap, but I thought I'd check it out. I went to read about it from Becky Higgins here and here to read all about her actual product and thought it was a great idea. Apparently they didn't make NEARLY enough of them, but I was one of the lucky ones who was finally able to get through the busy server to order mine (lots of people didn't, and some were even really ugly about it on the KOTM blog, so I felt like I had the goose who laid a golden egg or something!) It's not REALLY scrapping as the items are pre-cut, but you can arrange them in multiple ways and add elements to it.

I really am enjoying taking daily pictures and trying to improve on my photography as well... you'd think I could convince my husband (who minored in photography) to take pictures for me (hint, hint)... and maybe I'll try to have him take some pics, but I really want to get better with my camera too, so we'll see. I thought my family would like to have something like this too, but how? So I decided to make digital pages for my Project 365 too. Of course, the photos and journaling will be the same as my "physical album" which will actually make it easier for me, but the digital kit I'm using has endless possibilities. I got Gina Marie Huff's Life 365 from Weeds and Wildflowers. I also had Darcy Baldwin at Sweet Shoppe Designs make me a custom font- DJB Stephanie S script- so that journaling is really my handwriting. It's a little thing, but makes the project feel even more like me. :)

I hope to keep updating slides each month (of course, my family will then get a "sneak peek" of their end of the year photo book) but I HAVE to share because I really like the idea... I'm up to date with pictures, and printing out week 2 now for my album, but only have the first week done digitally. Look for the monthly slide which I'll probably have to post up top!

So it's been a month since I updated this blog...

2008-12-28T18:39:00.004-06:00

I know, I'm bad... but we've been SO busy! Here's a quick run down of our month:

We've all been busy with school- Marley absolutely loves her class and his constantly "playing teacher" at home, singing the national anthem and the pledge, giving "choices" to her baby dolls... she is having a blast and I couldn't be happier about it! They tell me often she's so smart (she's mine so I'm sure I'm biased) but her memory constantly amazes us. Now if we can just be sure she uses her amazing memory for good rather than evil (like repeating that bad word daddy uttered during the football game)... ha ha! :)

Jaxon is also loving school and is constantly wandering into his teacher's room after school to do "jobs" for her like stacking chairs, sharpening pencils, etc. Thankfully, she's a real sweetheart and doesn't seem to mind him hanging around, but you could definitely say he's a teacher's pet. He's doing very well in school and was very excited to be the narrator in The Gingerbread Man (his class play). I'm still totally loving my new class and new school. I'm also beginning to investigate masters programs in speech pathology (that is if I ever have the energy to go back for that while working full time and with 2 little ones!) Brian is still with his company and doing well, but still gets a little tired of the office life... thankfully no layoffs have come through his division. We have been competing in a few fantasy football leagues again this year and doing pretty well, but more importantly having fun. Brian will soon go into mourning as the football season winds to an end... the man is a full-fledged NFL addict... so here's hoping we find something else to keep him busy! :)

I almost forgot to tell you how Christmas was almost ruined! First, I was late getting calendars done so they still aren't here- guess they'll be New Year's gifts and one less gift for family at Christmas. Then I hadn't made Christmas cards until the last minute (they were quickly made, sent to the photo lab and sent out) but I didn't have enough made, so only a few folks got them (sorry!) Oh yeah, and they were in pajamas in the picture because we STILL haven't had our portraits taken. We had an appointment, but then Marley pulled a stocking at grandma Schock's house and it came crashing down on her face. No pictures with a fat lip!

Then we had another photo appointment, but Marley who had been coughing for a few days, suddenly got a fever. Cedar has hit here and since she has some seasonal allergies and didn't seem to bothered by the cough, I figured it was her allergies acting up. So, I take her to the doctor, and they say "She looks like she feels fine" as she was her usual silly, flirty self. They see she still has a fever "but she isn't acting like she has a fever"... I'm sure they thought I was just a mom over-reacting to a cold or allergies. The doctor comes in, checks for strep (which she didn't have thankfully), talks and listens to Marley and then proceeds to tell me Marley has pneumonia!!! My kids never complain and so the only way I know something is wrong is when they get a fever. With the holidays just 2 days away, she didn't bother ordering an xray, just got her a prescription to treat it. How terrible is that??? Going to the ER on Christmas would have ruined Christmas for sure! We're going to take her in tomorrow to double check that it's gone (since Marley never acted like she was sick in the first place, I want to be sure). Brian and I also got a REALLY BAD stomach bug- like a passage out of King's Dreamcatchers bad... it only lasted about 2 days and miraculously the kids didn't get it (whew!) Merry Christmas huh?

Anyway, as Christmas approached, the kids both made little lists for Santa and Jaxon even got to see him at our school's pancake breakfast. Marley was scared and clung to me like a little monkey hanging on for dear life and says "Santa's nice, but I don't want to see him!" They both made out like bandits of course, but they seem to appreciate all they have and in addition to picking out new toys to give to Brown Santa, they are now helping us sort through old toys to give to kids who didn't get any at Christmas. :) We had a great Christmas with both sets of families getting together at our house on Christmas day. We're on our way to the Alamo Bowl tomorrow and to spend some time at my parents house too. We'll FINALLY have those portraits made Jan.2nd barring any other catastrophe. Looking forward to a great new year (and be on the lookout for a new blog design soon too.. I hope to find time before January so the Christmas digi-stuff gets put away too!)

My biggest headache I saved for last- so if your not into the techie nerd stuff, feel free to skip this part! As most of you know, I'm addicted to digital scrapbooking (thus my fabulous looking blog, right?) Well, apparently my external hard drive (EHD) which holds ALL of my scrap stuff and lots of digital photos had died (actually it reformatted to RAW which is unreadable). So fast forward, I've got $60 software which recovers TOO much data (corrupt files making my 250 GB look like it's got 100GB of data on it). So for about 3 weeks, my computer has been on, searching for files and trying to weed out corrupt files (you can't "see" the files, only their names- most of which were replaced with numbers like this [478367492] so it is a HUGE pain). Well tonight it's FINALLY down to 400GB which I'm saving and then will weed through in my editing software where I can find duplicates and actually see file contents. Thankfully, Brian has not thrown my computer out the window (which I thought may cross his mind as I've been staring at the screen full of numbered files for weeks and trying to save them). Fingers crossed my good stuff is saved and this process is OVER. Go backup your important data right now at Mozy.com or on another EHD.

Wow... are you still reading this??? Go on... I'm done rambling for now... :)

Yes... I'm giving into to marketing...

2008-11-23T15:39:00.004-06:00

Or so it seems as I've already changed my blog to a Christmas theme. :) It seems to get earlier and earlier every year that we start seeing Christmas items going up in the stores... I can usually avoid those temptations as I rarely shop (Brian's lucky in that respect). But ALREADY, the Christmas commercials are on tv, and since we DO watch tv at our house, we can't escape!!!

We're gearing up for Thanksgiving with a long 5 days weekend and already have Christmas on the brain. I'm having the kids circle things they want in catalogs to get ideas, but I've already got some ideas. Marley is desperately wanting a new bed (as she rolls around so much that the toddler bed is not cutting it)! So she may get an early gift. Not sure about Jaxon yet... and since he can (and often does) read over my shoulder I couldn't write about it anyway. :)

We are FINALLY getting a family portrait taken as well, so I know our moms will be very happy with that! :) Anyway, it's a cool, rainy day and we're just hanging around the house- I'm on here updating stuff, Brian is watching football next to me, Marley is napping and Jaxon wants me to come play a game with him so I'd better run. I'll post again soon!

So I'm bad at updating my blog apparently...

2008-11-16T13:03:00.002-06:00

I've been busy and feeling kind of crummy overall lately so I've not been updating or scrapping or doing much of anything I guess! You know when you get so busy that when you have some downtime, you just want to hang out with your family and veg? I'm there!

Jaxon and Marley both had their first field trips this week and they had a great time. Jaxon went to the Austin Children's Museum and Marley's class teamed up with mine to go to the DinoLand exhibit at Zilker Botanical Gardens. They both had fun and at long last, got to ride the school bus which they were very excited about.

I hope to be back to update soon!

Halloween, tee ball and... oh yeah... DSD!

2008-11-02T08:26:00.003-06:00

I guess it's been busy around here because I've not posted in a month and a half! Here's a quick review: PEAR is going great- we're having fun and the kids are making tremendous progress. Jaxon is enjoying school and got the "Spotlight Stallion" last week (school recognizes one child in each class for doing a great job, showing school expectations, etc.) Marley is having a blast in her class too and is now trying to sign as she speaks. Unfortunately she talks as much, as well, and as fast as mom so the signing will take some time to catch up! :) Brian and I went to a party for Lindsay's birthday and had a good time, we've been enjoying attending all of the UT home games, and the kids enjoyed going to a "pumpkin patch" at Red Barn Gardens.

Now for the end of this month:
First we had Halloween- Jaxon was Peter Pan (which he picked because Marley was going to be Tinkerbell) but oddly it didn't come with a hat so I was stitching one the night before- the green felt doesn't match his outfit, but it had a red feather so it was ok with Jaxon. Marley ended up with 3 costumes: Tink, Sleeping Beauty, and Alice in Wonderland. She decided on the latter and if I do say so, she IS Alice and was adorable. We met up with our new neighbor and a few more neighbors down the street for trick or treating and had a blast. We went around for almost an hour, so there are lots of treats to be had at our house!

The next morning was Jaxon's semi-final tee ball tournament. 9am the morning after Halloween- talk about rough. Our team played pretty well, but lost. Of course, had they played fair it may have been different. Hang in there while I step onto my soapbox for a moment... the other team has to rotate players, but they just barely squeaked by that rule by rotating their best 3 players between pitcher, first and home. Those kids could catch hits, throw like big kids, etc. I KNOW that when they get older, you play the position you are best at, but 4 and 5 year olds? How will the other kids learn if they aren't allowed to play all of the different positions? I'd rather lose and have my kid learn all the positions... and as it turns out that is what happened. I think we ended up 3rd in the league, but Jaxon had fun and really is learning the game, so we're very happy. They got a trophy, which is his first one, and he's so proud! :) Ok, off the soapbox...

We had planned on meeting my parents out at Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls, but when I came home from the game, I had a TERRIBLE headache and felt kind of sick, so we're going to reschedule. Anyway, I came home and turned on the computer to check e-mail and realized it was DSD (Digital Scrapbooking Day)! I knew it was coming, but I guess with everything else going I'd forgotten about it. I rarely shop anymore (for anything really), but couldn't pass up some of the deals going on... so be on the lookout for more layouts coming soon. :)

Marley began asking to watch Santa movies this morning (even though he terrifies her) so I think we'll be more than ready for Christmas this year. :) I'll try to be better about posting updates too!

Busy, busy...

2008-09-11T18:32:00.002-05:00

I've been VERY busy so here's a quick recap of the month... more will come later! We're three weeks into school and we're loving our new PEAR program. It has been everything I hoped it would be. I had more families attend open house for the new program than ever before- it is so exciting to have such supportive families.

Jaxon and Marley are both enjoying school, though Jaxon is disappointed about the new playground. Apparently, it isn't as fun as his old one because it doesn't have a curly slide or balance beam. :) They both really like their teachers and are doing well.

Brian and I have season tickets for University of Texas football and we're thrilled to find out we have GREAT seats. Talk about a nice surprise! Of course, this weekend's game vs. Arkansas has been rescheduled for the 27th thanks to hurricane Ike.

Jaxon started t-ball this week. We had one practice this week- and amazingly all of the kids were having fun and learning for the whole practice. It lasted from 5:30 to 7:00, so I expected him to wear out and get whiny, but he loved every minute. Of course, chances are good that Saturday's game is going to get rained out, but if not, be on the lookout for our first game update. :)

I'll also be updating my blog with a new look (you may have already seen an update on my scrap blog). Got to run, but I'll be back soon!

Back to school!

2008-08-12T19:28:00.002-05:00

For me at least! I started back to school for staff development this week and I've got to say, things are looking good. Usually staff development is a bit of a drag, but it's been good. Everyone I've met is excited to be opening up the new school and all have been very friendly. We're coming together from about 6 different campuses so there are lots of new faces, but we're all getting to know each other. Last night was the ribbon cutting ceremony for my school and it was a really cool experience too.

I'm excited to get started! But I do have "a problem"... I have SO MUCH room that I almost can't believe it! I have laid out my room and moved furniture back and forth AT LEAST 8 times by now. I think I FINALLY have it the way I want it now, but it was tough to figure it out. I still have lots to move in, planning to do, curtains to find, make, or find someone to make... but we're getting there!

Marley is going to have so much fun in her new class. She already talks about her "friends" and her teacher ("My teacher is Ms.____ and she likes me!") I really like the kindergarten team and I'm sure Jaxon will do great with any one of them. He's excited too, but I think at first it may be tough as he's used to being with me. It will be very good for him though and I know after a day or two, he'll LOVE kindergarten too.

More updates to come (especially now that I know a few of y'all actually read this thing)! :)

Summer keeps on flying by...

2008-07-22T13:56:00.002-05:00

We've been so busy that the summer seems to be flying by. Jaxon is loving swim lessons and doing quite well. Marley is enjoying the kinder-dance camp we have her in and it makes me even more excited for her to start school- she's so ready to be part of a group.

I have lots of exciting changes coming up this school year and I'm actually ready to be back to work. I'm moving from PPCD at my school to a brand new elementary school to pilot a new cluster class called PEAR (Preschool Expressive and Receptive) Language. It will be an intensive program for language-delayed 3 to 5 year olds within the PPCD continuum of services. I am very excited, but of course, I'm also very sad to leave my old school and class too.

I'm used to dealing with students with varying disabilities- delays in language, social skills, self-help, fine and gross motor skills- and having to fit them all into the day. So now my focus will be primarily intense work on language skills. There is only one piece of "bad news"... and actually I'm not sure it's bad, I'm just selfish. Jaxon had been a peer model in my class for the past 2 years, which was great because he was in class learning, but still with me everyday. I was looking forward to seeing Marley at school too. But now, she'll be in the PPCD class as a model instead of mine. I think she'll do better in someone else's class, and she can still come for a 2 hour block into my room, I guess I'm just selfish! I'll miss seeing her with the other kiddos! Anyway, I need to be cleaning, so I'd better run. I'll try to update again soon. :) S

A little peek at our trip...

2008-06-24T15:29:00.001-05:00

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Back from a FABULOUS vacation...

2008-06-23T19:28:00.004-05:00

We drove 11 hours (my kids first long road trip) to Ruidoso, New Mexico late last week and met my parents and my mother-in-law at a big cabin in the mountains for 7 days (it was supposed to be 10 days but we came home a bit early to recover). So it doesn't sounds like TONS of fun from that first line, but it was great!

The scenery was unreal and we had a gorgeous view of the mountains from the deck. It was dry (unlike the humid conditions I live in) and only got into the upper 80s (where it was record breaking heat for weeks at home). We went shopping, sightseeing, hung out in the hot tub, took the kids to the Smokey Bear Museum and FunTrackers (race cars, bumper boats, etc.), went golfing, gambled at Inn of the Mountain Gods, hiked (but only around the cabin as Lincoln National Forest was closed to due extreme fire risk) and just enjoyed some much needed R&R. I've got literally hundreds of photos to scrap from the vacation so be on the lookout! I'm still working off the rigged-to-work laptop, so all of those photos I mentioned are on my son's laptop. I'll get it from him while he sleeps! :)

I have joined a new CT, but since its not been posted yet, I can't say who yet! :) More to come...

Jaxon starts swim tomorrow and tennis soon- and Marley will take her first class ever: Kindertots dance! Expect LOTS of pics from that! :) S

We're having fun already and a week of "firsts"

2008-06-10T16:02:00.004-05:00

We have had a good time this summer and its just started. We have been playing in the yard with the sprinklers for a couple of days which is about all you can do in the Texas heat. It's been a record month for high temps here so water-related activities are good!
Brian and I wanted to take Jaxon to see Kung Fu Panda, but when we started talking about it, Marley kept piping up "I want to go too with my Jaxon!" So even though she's a bit young, we decided to take her along to her first movie. Jaxon was COMPLETED engrossed in the movie and devoured an entire bag of popcorn single-handedly! He later said "That was AWESOME!" Marley was... well... at her first movie. She attempted to sit in the seat but then when it started to pop up a bit, she said "Ahh! It's going to rock me!" like a rocking chair I guess, and that was the end of sitting in her own seat. She went from Daddy's lap to my lap and back again probably 20 times. She kept asking "What his name?" not referring to the movie but to the man in front of us. She was much more interested in the theater experience than the movie, but that's to be expected.

Today we went to get Marley's first haircut. Jaxon always had such a hard time with them and since she's a girl, I'm growing her hair out anyway, but it was WAY overdue. She did great and they both look cute! Check it out below.

Make a Smilebox photobook

4 more days of school!

2008-05-25T08:36:00.002-05:00

So, maybe I did fall of the face of the Earth, but I've been busy! The last month of school is ALWAYS hectic and this year is no exception. I'm up to my ears in paperwork and have even brought some home in the hopes of getting it all done without having to work after school is out. I really need to get my room in order so I plan on weeding through things as well if I have the time. If you're not a teacher, you may not know that in addition to all of our other end of the year stuff, we have to completely take down the room. Nothing is left out unless its boxed up or shut away the cabinets so it takes some time.

We are getting ready for "potty training" boot camp style around here. We have 2 weeks after school is out before we leave for Ruidoso, and I'm hoping to get her trained by then. She's an all or nothing kind of girl apparently, so I'm going to have to go cold turkey on diapers and go straight into undies to get her trained. She'll tell me as she's going, instead of beforehand, and is definitely ready, just stubborn (I blame daddy for that trait! Ha ha)! She's already learning how to push her brother's buttons, but for the most part, she follows him around like a puppy dog. Anytime she gets something, she says "And one for my Jaxon..." or if we go somewhere, "Jaxon is coming too..." She just adores him.

My laptop had an accident and the screen cracked inside. :( Another reason I've been away. I tried using Jaxon's laptop, but it's slow and frankly, he wants to use it! I figured out how to hook up my old flat panel monitor to the laptop and that's what I'm using now. It's not pretty, but it works.

Jaxon is still blowing us away with his reading and I can't even rate what level he's on now because my materials don't go past second gade. He's a smart one (and I'm not just saying that because I'm mom). He is still big into his games, but not to the point of obsession like he was before (mainly because we don't let him). One day, he was playing one of his favorite PS games "The Incredibles 2: Rise of the Underminer" and I walk in to the credits rolling. I ask what happened and he says "I finished it." I thought maybe he he exited the game on accident and pull up the menu to find he had completed the game. He says "Mom, I already told you I finished it." Well of course you did. That's 3 games now that he's completed- he is quite the gamer. We are working on sports in the hopes of improving his muscle tone as he's a skinny string bean right now and he can't wait to get started!

Well, I need to get around- I'll post again soon (and hopefully it won't be a month away)!

I did not fall off the face of the earth...

2008-04-25T20:55:00.002-05:00

It just looks that way on the blog! :) So here's the month in review.
My surgery went well. I'm 15 days post-op and other than a little soreness, I'm fine. I feel much better than I expected I would. Brian was wonderful and took over for me completely so I could recover. He laughs and says "What did you expect me to do?" But really... taking over in every aspect of the child-rearing and running the house takes work! I only missed 3 days of work, but even after I went back, Brian took care of business around here. He is simply wonderful.
I had my birthday this month. The big 3-0. We kept it simple, just dinner and a movie, so I wouldn't go into shock or have a midlife crisis. Ha ha! Jaxon assured me that "30 is a lot" but that I'm "not old". :) I still don't feel like a grown up, let alone like a mom in my 30's (sheesh)! Ok... I need to stop now before I DO start to feel old.
We have had tons of birthday parties for Jaxon's friends (who are also students in my class) and the kids have had fun. Jaxon has started to think about his birthday since he'll "finally be 5". Last year, we went to a big place full of bounce houses and obstacle courses, but not sure what he'll want this time.
Summer is quickly approaching and I'm excited. Jaxon is going to be in tennis, swim and maybe flag football, but we'll have to wait until fall for t-ball. We are also going to Ruidoso, New Mexico with the family for a week and can't wait. The cabin we're staying in is gorgeous- I think cabin and think a little place, but it's huge. It's nearby the casino, horseback riding, hiking and the lake. I can't wait for that trip... of course, it'll be the kids first LONG road trip so it may be an adventure! I guess I'll dust off the DVD player in the roof of my van for this trip.
Well, it's already late and I need to head to bed, but more to come soon! :) S

Spring Carnival (as retold w/ Smilebox)

2008-04-04T20:24:00.003-05:00

If you've not discovered smilebox yet, check it out! I am a self-admitted digital scrapbooking junkie and love to make layouts, but this is SO easy- just drag and drop- so even those of you who do not share my passion, can share your pictures in layouts. Be sure to click the "zoom in" to read the journaling and "zoom out" to turn the page. This is one of the Spring Carnival... enjoy!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

World Autism Awareness Day

2008-04-01T21:43:00.002-05:00

Please spread the word! As many of you know, most of my students have autism, and it is rising at near epidemic rates, yet there are still many who know very little about it. Check out available resources, research and community support at Autism Speaks.

The busiest month is almost here

2008-03-29T11:12:00.006-05:00

...which is both exciting AND stressful! Let's see... I'm getting blond highlights back (the old reliable) so my mom will be very happy. My sister and I were referred to as "Brownie" and "Blondie" respectively as children and apparently we need to remain that way. ;)

I have tons of meetings coming up too for my kiddos headed to kindergarten and end of the year stuff. I am also presenting a few trainings for staff and parents with my teammates which is giving me gray hair (now you see that my reason for the blond highlighting is NOT to make mom happy)!

Next week I have surgery which I'm only moderately nervous about, but I'll be sore and out of whack for a bit, and that has me more worried than the process itself. It's tough to tell the kiddos to go easy on mama or the teacher for that matter- I think my title should include "child wrangler" and "human jungle gym"! That week is also when Jaxon has kindergarten round-up and kinder buddy day which I'm excited about. I can't wait to see what he thinks about the whole thing.

The last but not least of the stresses... I turn 30 this month. Yes folks, it's all downhill from here. ;) I wasn't all that concerned about it until my friends kept reminding me about it... and now I'm thinking I'll make 30 fun. Maybe it'll be my year to lose those last 10 pounds I want to rid myself of, and get more organized, and I WILL do more for myself this year. So, if I'm not around much this month, you'll know why. Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that all goes well. I guess I should finish up my taxes... :)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T15:49:00.003-05:00

Well this month has just flown by. Do I write that every month? It sure feels like it! :) We had our neighborhood Easter egg hunt today and will have everyone over to our house tomorrow as well. With Easter coming early this year, it snuck up on me so I've got eggs to color with the kids, laundry to do, need to get ALL of these toys put away, and make some pecan pie. Thankfully our moms are bringing almost all of the food so at least I don't have a lot of cooking to do.

And the next day is the 24th- our anniversary. We've been married for 7 years. It seems silly now, but when we were in college, I had it in my mind that I was not going to get married before I graduated. So we lived together instead all through college... don't ask why I was ok with that but not getting married, because it was basically just a test drive for marriage, but oh well! All in all, its been 11 years.

Wow do I feel old now! The big 30 hits next month, so I guess THAT is when I'll officially be "old". Argh... I STILL don't feel like a grown-up!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great Easter and enjoys time with their families.

A new look

2008-03-09T09:37:00.002-05:00

As most of you know, I'm a bit of a scrap addict (but at least it's all digital and I'm not freebasing on paper scraps! Ha ha!) I'm always coming up with stuff on my other blog and liked it's new look so much, that I made this blog to match. I just don't like the choices blogger gives you and would rather make my own. :) Anyway, it took longer than I remembered to fiddle with all of the html code (yes, I'm a geek)... so it'll probably stay this way for awhile, so I hope you like it!

Get ready for Spring Break!

2008-03-06T18:26:00.003-06:00

This month has flown by! I swear I feel like I say that all of the time, but with 2 little ones it really does fly. We've been busy getting ready for spring, but Texas weather proves to be tricky this year. It's warm and gorgeous one day, and then some cold front blows in and puts us in the 40s again. We just planted our beds out front, and thankfully we got it done on a nice day, because today we had rain ALL day and it's 36!!! Can you believe it's that cold in March?
Brian started a new corporate sales account manager position and seems to be enjoying it. He was ready for a change, but not really ready to leave Dell, so I'm glad this has worked out for him. My work is about to come to a screeching halt as Spring Break starts after school tomorrow. WOO HOO!!! :) I have no plans other than hanging out with the kids and having a fun and restful break.
I also have lots of CT stuff and ADSR layouts to work on so check out my other blog for pics soon!

Ladies and Gents, we have a Wii!

2008-02-16T17:03:00.002-06:00

Jaxon has seen the Wiis before, but after watching Luke play yesterday, he was really wanting one. I know they were near impossible to get around Christmas, but its mid-February so I figured it wouldn't be too hard to find. So we went out this morning and no one had it, no one knew when they would have it, no luck at all. This was bad news since Grandma B. had graciously offered to buy it for us (a few hundred bucks is nothing to shrug at, you know). Then Brian called his mom, Grandma Schock, and asked her to look around on her side of town. After a few phone calls, 2 or 3 stores and someone double-checking in the back, they were able to find it. They picked it up for us and then Brian met his dad at Golf Galaxy to shop and pick up the wii.
So I set it up (you know I'm the techie nerd around here so I get to hook up everything). Jaxon started playing Wii Sports Boxing and LOVED it! I've got some great pics to share that'll be coming soon. Then Brian tried it out and he liked it too (he wasn't sure he'd like the wii, but I think he's already found how fun it is). So we've been playing Boxing, bowling and now golf for a couple of hours already! :) This is really good news since the PSP had to be sent off for warranty service. I see a new addiction in Jaxon's future and maybe Brian's too!

February Update

2008-02-15T22:49:00.003-06:00

Well we've all had "the crud" at my house. Coughing, congestion, overall yucky stuff, but not sick enough to really warrant a trip to the doctor. The weather was starting to get nice again, so I was hoping that may help us get over this junk, but now a cold front has come in and it's getting down into the 30s at night. :( Hopefully we'll all be 100% again soon!

Valentine's Day was fun. Jaxon loved signing his name on all of his valentines. Marley just happily carried around the extra "Balentimes". I got Marley a princess puzzle and lollipops (she's got a sweet tooth like mama) and Jaxon a snake (one of those cool sand filled ones, not a real one) and books. I've not really screened him, but he is reading on at least a second grade level, so of course the books I got he read immediately. I'm thinking about beginning to read more complex books to him aloud to continue to challenge him... I don't want him getting bored in kindergarten next year.

Anyway, Brian and I were not going to "do" Valentine's Day. I really see no point in going to dinner and having to wait for 2 hours (WITH a reservation) to eat. And good luck finding a sitter, right? So Brian comes home from work with a new Sony Cybershot H3! That's great... our camera died and we needed a new one, I was eyeballing DSLR-like cameras... but it made me feel TERRIBLE. I didn't even have a card for him. He says he doesn't care, it's my day, etc. but I feel awful. So I called my mom and she's available to watch the kids next weekend for us so we can go run around and do whatever we'd like for the weekend... I guess a late gift is better than none.

If you follow my digital scrapbooking stuff, you know I'm counting down until ADSR3 starts and with the new camera, we're back in business with NEW pics to scrap! :)

Back just in time for the Superbowl...

2008-02-03T21:07:00.000-06:00

Well, most importantly, we are back from Kansas and Grandma's service was lovely. We got to spend a lot of time with Brian's aunts, uncles and cousins which was really nice as well. She was such a wonderful lady and it was great to think back on her life. We flew in during a snowstorm (they got 5 inches that day) and I was in shock. We don't "do" snow in Texas, and on the off chance it does snow, it lasts a day at best. It was 15 degrees when we flew in...eeek! Anyway, luckily it warmed up some ("warmed up" for Kansas is in the 40s by the way)! So we're glad to be back in Texas! :)

We made it home just in time to watch the Superbowl (thanks to TIVO we could rewind the first 5 minutes we missed and catch up during commercials) and the GIANTS won!!!! Since our teams didn't make it, Brian and I were both REALLY rooting for the Giants, but didn't think they'd be able to win. As the game went on and they kept sacking Brady and doing well on offense, we thought "Well this may be a game"... but holy moly they WON!

Well, I'm off to update my scrap blog then hitting the sack as I've got lots of sleep to catch up on. Talk to everyone soon!

Heartbroken...

2008-01-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

Sadly, Brian's grandma passed away this afternoon. Her hospice nurses and family were with her, and she was given medicine for the past day or so to be sure that she was comfortable. I think the hardest part is he memories it brings of my own grandparents. I couldn't see my grandmother when sh fell so ill... I just couldn't handle it... and now I regret not being able to say goodbye. I know she knew and that I prayed for her, but I still wish I had been able to pull it together to be there. I sat with grandma and held her hand last night, letting her know how much we love her.
When my grandma passed away, Jaxon was still too little to really understand. This time, we talked a little about it and he just broke my heart. He cried and said he wanted to see her. Then he starting worrying that I would die... it's just awful. I explained as best I could, but it's hard for anyoe to really understand. I talked a little bit about heaven (which since we don't attend church, it probably made him even more confused) but I think in the end, he felt ok about it. I'm going to go to school tomorrow and will get out my book on grief with children to see if it will help.
We will probably be headed to Kansas this week for the funeral, but I'll keep you posted. Please keep Helen in your prayers...

Visiting with the family...

2008-01-27T07:50:00.000-06:00

This weekend, some of Brian's extended family came in to visit. His aunt Pam and her boyfriend Jack, his cousin Dax and his wife Kelly, and his cousin Brieann all came in from California and Arizona. So Grandma S. wanted to come back to her house so hospice got a hospital bed delivered to her house and they brought her home. We spent Friday night visiting with them all at Grandma's house and she really seemed to enjoy herself. Jaxon was enamored with Dax as he makes video games for a living and played PSP with him. Marley just loved on grandma and Kelly all night, and Pam and Jack were both sick so we didn't have much time with them.
Yesterday, the plan was Brieann's flight would leave in the morning and we would leave the kids with brian's parents and go out with Dax and Kelly. Of course, Kelly is pregnant, so our usual tour of Austin would be limited, but we would have had a good time (it's just not fun to go to loud music venues with massive bars when your pregnant, you know?)
Brieann missed her flight, but it turned out to probably be a good thing. Brian and Rick golfed at Grandma's course and then about the time they finished, I brought the kids up to Grandma's. She was not doing well and we called Maria her hospice nurse/ They told us to get her "comfort pack" which is basically morphine to make her comfortable. She came out to see her and said she didn't think she'd make it through the weekend. We knew it was coming, but it still is so awful to think about. Then in the midst of all of this sadness, Pam has to call the ambulance for Jack- he's having a major asthma attack and can't breathe. The EMTs come in and find he's wheezing terribly and his blood pressure is skyrocketing, so they take him to the hospital. Talk about a rough day.
We end up spending the rest of the evening sitting around grandma's hospital bed, looking through old photo albums and reminiscing. This morning, Dax, Kelly and Brieann are flying back home. Jack is in ICU this morning- he tried to wait it out rather than calling for help sooner and the stress was just too much on his respiratory system. Brian's parents spent the night at grandma's house and will be there most of the day while Pam goes between grandma's and the hospital for Jack.

Be sure today to let your family know how much you love them as life is just too short not to share that each and every day.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T19:46:00.001-06:00

I hope you all had a safe and happy new year. Brian and I sent the kids to grandma B's house and went out to Cool River for dinner. It was wonderful. We ended up going to Opal Divine's afterward and then headed home. No real resolutions other than the usual- lose a little weight, get organized, etc.

But, we've already been VERY busy around here lately and the "home improvement" bonanza continues! I don't have pictures up yet, but I hope to post them soon of all of our recent projects. We have some great ones planned too, including flooring, so more to come on that.

Switching the kids rooms was hard work, but they have both really loved it. Its almost like when you move and you see all kinds of new possibilities... they have adjusted quickly and love their "cool, new rooms". Jaxon's room is now the larger of the two, and we painted it "Retro Colonial Blue" so it's nice color he won't grow out of.

Marley's room is tan now and is going to be painted too, but after all of this work, we may wait a week or two to do it. I converted her crib down to a toddler bed and she is doing very well in it. The first night I heard her playing and went in to tell her to lie down, she walked to the side of her bed where the comforter was draped over and peeked out at me from behind it. :) When she realized I meant business, she did lie down and went right to sleep. I think she was ready for the "big girl" bed too.

Anyway, if you're interested in seeing the calendar I made for our families for Christmas, you can click the link on the left to get to my scrap blog where its posted. Off to enjoy the weekend before Brian and I return to work... the break always seems to fly by...

Talk to you soon! :) S

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-22T17:03:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone enjoys the holidays with their families. The kids and I came to San Antonio for a few days to visit my family. Then Monday, we're off to the Schock's house for Christmas Eve (day). We will all be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning together. My family will come up Christmas day or the following weekend to celebrate with us too. Brian and I will also be working hard on the home projects we've got on the to-do list! Anyway, I was late getting my pics out, and we still haven't made it in for our family portraits, so if you didn't get my photo card through snail mail, here it is... Happy Holidays!

Has it been THAT long since I posted?

2007-12-22T16:31:00.000-06:00

Well, it HAS been a busy year, but I will try to do better keeping everyone posted with the blog. I'll probably add feedblitz to it too so you can sign up to get an e-mail anytime we update the blog. I am probably better at updating my scrap blog, but I've even been neglecting that lately. So let's catch up...
November was uneventful really. We had Thanksgiving at the Schock house and enjoyed spending time with the family. Then we blink and its December already. I tried to get most of the kids shopping done early but still find myself picking up "a little something" here and there. The adults in the family are much harder to shop for and it's to the point where I'd much rather skip gifts and just do gifts for the kids. Right now, I don't feel like the stress of holiday shopping is worth it. Ok, so there's my BAM HUMBUG!
That said, I am VERY excited for our kids this year. Jaxon has been reading on his own quite a lot lately and was reading on a website about the North Pole. He was telling me that it's much too cold there... will Santa be ok? Maybe he could move to Round Rock. Ha ha! He's too smart for his own good. Marley is scared to death of Santa (aka "Ho Ho") We have a blow-up Santa in the yard and even when it's deflated, she wants me to carry her to and from the car (you know, in case it pops up and comes after her)... what a cutie! They are sure to be adequately spoiled this year.
We are also working on some home projects for the holidays. We are planning on repainting and switching the kids rooms. Jaxon has much bigger furniture and his bedroom suite would fiot better in the other room, but since it was lilac when we moved in, we just stuck Marley in there automatically. They are excited and we hope to have the project done by the time we go back to school. We let them pick out the colors even (brave I know): Marley's room will be light purple (Behr Disney's One Enchanted Evening) and Jaxon's room will be a slate blue (Behr's Retro Colonial Blue). Fingers crossed they come out ok! We are also planning on replacing the carpet up the stairs, in the upstairs living and all bedroom with laminate. We've talked about it for awhile and think we're finally decided on getting rid of the carpet once and for all.
Anyway, I'll post again soon... no really, I will! S

A weekend without the kids... woo hoo! :)

2007-10-27T08:24:00.000-05:00

I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. I have 2 wonderful children and they are loved by so many. They have a close relationship with both sets of grandparents and their one and only aunt. So my mom called last weekend to ask if she could have the kids this weekend... um, no, we're busy. ARE YOU KIDDING?!? You can have them anytime you want. And kids, "Do you want to go to Grandma B's house?" They yell "YAY!" before I can even finish my sentence. :)
So last night after I dropped off the kids at the usual half-way point, I met Brian and a couple of his friends for drinks. We ended up hitting 2 spots for drinks and then headed home. It was great when you don't have to worry about when you get home or having little ones ready to get up at the crack of dawn. :)
Plus I was getting bored and don't want to take my hair shorter than the angled bob I've already got, so I went from blonde to auburn. If anyone sees us out without the kids this weekend, they may think Brian has a girlfriend or something! Ha ha ha!
Anyway, hoping to get some cleaning done around the house, some scrapping and maybe some shopping as well as a few more "dates!"

October...

2007-10-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe its been a month since my last post. Here's the "nutshell" version of the past month.

Brian had a good 30th birthday- uneventful, but good. He got rid of his truck... you know, the brand new one he's had for 6 months... and got a new Accord loaded out. To say he's spoiled may be an understatement! :) He loves it though, and I feel better driving it if I have to... the gas money will surely add up as well. But, looking back at Brian's pattern of car buying, good gas prices cause Brian to turn his attention to trucks. Then Brian buys a truck and the gas prices go up 2 weeks later. So if gas prices go down (we'll say hallelujah) it's all because Brian sold his truck and you can thank him. :)

The kids have had overnight stays with both sets of grandparents giving us some time alone to relax, get things done around the house, and go on dinner dates without them kids (as much as I love them, its nice to not be mom for a day or two.)

Marley had her second birthday and we had a small family party at the house. She had a princess cake, which looked great, but the food coloring they used on the cupcakes surrounding the small cake tasted bitter (which as you can imagine made for some hilarious pictures!) Marley was having a blast, but when we put on her tiara and started to sing happy birthday, she started to cry! And I thought she'd be used to being the center of attention! Ha ha!

She made out like a bandit (as usual) with tons of new clothes, 2 new baby dolls with accessories, a baby doll stroller, light-up princess shoes (they have a heel on them and she wears them like a pro!) Her "big gift" was a pink and purple trike and she likes it, but is still a little short when it comes to pedaling. She has been taking care of her "babies" since the moment she opened them. I think it's so interesting the way little girls just take to that.

Anyway, getting sleepy and so I'll turn off my computer (even though I really wanted to scrap tonight) but I'll try harder to keep the blog updated and current so you don't get these quick little entries. S

September...

2007-09-08T21:51:00.001-05:00

Well I can't believe how fast time seems to fly! Here's what's been happening since my last post... not much! :) Ha ha!

School is off to a good start. My PPCD lead e-mailed today and said the local newspaper is coming by to do a story on PPCD/TWC and she wants them to come and highlight our PPCD/TWC program. So fingers crossed I have a good hair day when they come! LOL! I'm actually very excited to spread the word about our program and hope that this will be a good way to do that.

I just returned today from the 3 day state conference on Autism that was being held in Corpus Christi. I'm part of the Region XIII PPCD Leadership Council, so they paid for our registration, the rooms, mileage and meals. I probably would have gone anyway, but going for free is better! :) I ended up rooming with a friend who taught PPCD and is now in a district support role. We had fun (except for a big headache episode on Friday afternoon - thank goodness for Excedrin!)

It was a great conference and I was so excited to see so many families there in addition to the professionals. It was really moving. Anyway, I also started thinking about ways to raise money for Autism research and thought I could make items with the "puzzle piece" to sell at our Greater Austin Walk for Autism and then donate the proceeds to Autism Speaks. Trying to think of what I could make that folks may want (like glass bead magents, car decals, etc.) That would be a good way to "use my talents for good" (you know rather than evil like usual, ha ha).

Brian flew with his friend Jason to Norman, OK to see OU (Boo Sooners!) play Miami. Jason's apparently a huge Miami fan and Brian just loves football regardless of who is playing, and since his birthday is coming up, it was his little present to himself. He's having a good time and will be back tomorrow.

So, my mother-in-law's birthday was today, Brian's is the 12th, and Marley's is the 28th... guess I've got some shopping to do!

Busy August update!

2007-08-18T10:39:00.000-05:00

Sorry its been awhile since my last post... here's what been going on since my last entry.

Jaxon had his 4 year old well check and is STILL off the growth charts for height. He's 44.5" tall and weighs 40 lbs. and 8 oz.(which is in the 75-90th%) He's just one tall kid! He did well with his shots and everything else is right on target.

We went to Port Aransas with my parents and sister from July 27th-30th and had a blast. A tropical storm has supposed to hit before we got there, but we had great weather the whole trip. Click my digiscrap blog on the left corner to see some pictures.

Just after our return from the coast, I got all 4 of my wisdon teeth out. Only one on the bottom was encased in bone, so it hurt and is still a bit sore now, but the rest are fine. Apparently it takes longer to heal as an "older patient"... yes, at 29, I'm considered an "older patient" for wisdom teeth removal.

Susan, my friend and speech pathologist for our school, worked with me on a "buddy group" for some of our students and Jaxon to participate in to continue working on social skills, playing and to just have fun together this summer. It was great and came to an end the first week if August. The moms in the group told me about this cool sprinkler park nearby, so we took Jaxon and Marley and the others out there and they had fun (Jaxon and Marley had to warm-up, and then Jaxon had to remember not to wander, but it was fun).

Last weekend (which coincidentally was the last weekend before I had to go back to work), we dropped off the kids at my parents house. They stayed one night and then I came down to spend one more night there with them. They just love hanging out with their grandparents!

This week, I went back to work which was both happy and sad for me. I was ready to be back for sure, but I'll miss seeing Marley during the day. Since Jaxon is in my class, I don't get the chance to miss him! Ha ha!

I've also been working on my digiscrap stuff, particularly making LOs for the DigiTreats Creative Team. Check us out on my digiscrap blog where there are links to the DigiTreats blog and store. I have been posting in a few galleries too, but I post all my LOs here too, so you don't really need to go there unless you want to see what other folks are doing too. Enjoy!

Jaxon is 4!!!

2007-07-14T19:37:00.000-05:00

Well, it's Jaxon's fourth birthday today and I can hardly believe it. Part of me almost feels sad as he gets older... its such a great age... but since we can't freeze time, we move on.

It was a GREAT day. We went to pick up the cake at the local bakery - it was Spiderman this year. Then we headed to the party at one of these big places full of bounce houses, slides and inflatable obstacle courses. It had just started to rain when the party was scheduled to start at 10:30, but it didn't keep any of the expected guests away. All of the kids had a great time running around, getting lost in the mazes of inflatables, red faced and sweaty. Then we all went to the "yellow party room" for pizza, cake and the opening of presents. Soon after, we left for home and opened presents from the family (we had planned on opening at home until someone voiced their concern about not seeing the presents opened).
Jaxon got TONS of fantastic toys as well - honestly too many to mention - and was beyond thrilled. It was a fantastic day for him.

July update...

2007-07-14T19:00:00.000-05:00

In addition to Jaxon's wonderful fourth birthday, we had a wonderful fourth of July (actually the celebration we attended was on the third). Brian and Jaxon went to meet up with Rick who was playing golf. Jax got to ride in the cart and watch them play while Brian taught him about the "rules" and golf etiquette. Jaxon was so well behaved on the course, that another player came up to compliment him and gave him a golf ball. He was SO thrilled with the experience that the rest of the night all he wanted to do was play golf. Marley, Carol and I joined up with them at the golf club where there were live bands playing, vendor booths and fireworks displays. It was raining on and off, so the course was a mess, and we got soaked, but it was still fun and the kids were great. Jaxon was worried about the fireworks being too loud (as they were the year before) so we bought earplugs like they use at gun ranges. It wasn't enough, as he was still a bit put off by the noise, so I had him sit in my lap and I covered his ears and then he could enjoy watching them. Marley seemed as thought she'd seen them a million times before with no worries... they are so different sometimes.
I also began a new hobby... or I guess I should say I have a new obsession. I decided with all the time I'd have on my hands that I wanted to teach myself something new. I read about Photoshop Elements and decided to try it out. Its only been about a month since I started using PSE to make digital scrapbook pages. I've yet to print any out, but that is my plan and I am also going back to do my kids' baby books. I'm learning new things each day and really enjoy it, but I still have much to learn. Even so, I'm adding a link to the blog where I'll post my digiscrap layouts so you can see me slowly progress to being "competent!" I hope you'll enjoy the pages like I do.

Jaxon's Swim Lessons

2007-06-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

Jaxon's swim lessons started this week and they are going great! He did such a good job holding his breath out of the water that he was in the first group sent into the water.

The other two boys he was with have siblings in the swim league and they were way ahead of him... but the thing like best about Nitro Swim is that they work in stations independent of the class, so everyone works at their own pace... and they were able to go ahead while he continued working on skill station 1.

When you finish a station, you get to go hit the gong, which makes it even more fun! He was trying to negotiate with the girl coach and wasn't quite ready to move on, so Coach Mike (the owner)took his group. He's a bit more firm and has a commanding presence, and Jax responded to him immediately. He only cried once and that was when it was time to leave! :)

Here is a pic of him at his first lesson with Megan.

Our new baby...

2007-04-27T14:26:00.000-05:00

Ok, so its furry and has 4 legs, but its the closest thing to a baby that we'll be having anymore! It's "2 and through" for us! :) Brian and I started talking about getting a friend for Bevo a long time ago. We kept going back and forth with the idea for a few reasons.

We wanted to have a friend for Bevo (since she's always taking "under-the-fence adventures" to play with the golden retriever next door.) BUT we felt that Bevo was a very good and balanced dog with some training under her belt. We didn't want to have to start over again if we brought a new dog into the house. We also wanted to be sure we could trust a new dog around the kids as Bevo has full access to them. We wanted a dog that would enjoy playing with Bevo, but also know that her "people" were in charge. Most importantly, we wanted another dog that would be a companion like Bevo...

And we think we've found one! After many e-mails to a fantastic rescue group called Austin Dog Alliance, we found Jett. I had seen a dog on their website that looked a lot like Bevo and wanted to adopt him, but someone else had already been approved and was about to take him home. So then I saw two other dogs that Brian and I thought were cute, but the great folks there said that they'd be too high energy and may not work well with our family. The fact that they worked so hard to find the RIGHT homes for the dogs made me trust them completely. So I wrote and asked which dogs may be a good match for us and they suggested an 8 month old purebred black labrador named Jett (formerly with 1 t but Brian thinks 2 t's are cooler!)

We went out to meet her and when we first arrived, she was very nervous, barked a little and tried to hide. The great lady who was fostering her at her training facility visited with her to get her to calm down. Then I got to meet her, Brian, Jaxon and Marley...once she figured out I was ok, the rest of "my pack" got easier and easier to introduce. We spent almost 2 hours out there letting the dogs get to know each other. We were happy to see that Jett had training (and actually has better training than Bevo). The folks at Southern Star Ranch are serious trainers who not only took lots of time to be sure the introduction went well, but REALLY know their stuff and we may be back to visit them very soon. By the time we left, Jaxon was walking Jett around by the leash!

Once we got home, we spent some time in the yard. Jett even got to meet our next-door neighbors. When we went inside, Bevo showed a little bit of the "little dog syndrome" and seems to be trying to establish her dominance, but that's to be expected as she's always been an only dog. Today, they're both happily chewing kongs and laying at my feet. They're both on leash just in case, but we haven't needed to correct them, so we're optimistic that this is a good match for us.

We're so glad to have found a friend for Bevo and a new GREAT dog for our family too!

April 2007...

2007-04-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well long time no post, but for good reason... first our laptop went completely black. Its only a little over a year old, just out of warranty, and the part that it needs, can't be sold separately so our laptop would basically be a $1200 paper weight! Then, while Jaxon was playing on the computer (his new favorite thing to do) it froze, got stuck on task manager and then went off. Now on start-up it says "Cannot locate hard drive" Eeek! Thank goodness I had backed up all of my digital pictures to the my book I got for Christmas or ALL of my photos may have been wiped out. We're still working on getting that fixed and meanwhile have a new laptop.

The kids are doing great - Jaxon is doing a fantastic job at school. He gets along with the other kids and is more advanced than some of the other peers in academics as far as letters, numbers, counting objects, etc. But he is behind a bit in writing (at least behind the girl peers - we all know they talk and write sooner though so no worries.) Marley is amazing! She is SUCH a talker already and went from only sating "dad" a few months ago to saying just about anything you say (she says "zja-zja" for Jaxon but most everything else sounds like the "real words.")

Bevo completed her training and has done very well. I want to be sure to continue her "training career" as she seems to enjoy and parctice makes perfect! She is still being Houdini - crawling under the fence as soon as we leave for work to play with the next-door neighbor's golden retriever Amber. We're hoping to work on that as it can get pretty muddy... but I can't blame her for being lonely.

My sister's divorce is hopefully going to be final at the end of the month as well. Its going to be a big relief for her and our family so fingers crossed that it ends as peacefully as possible. My birthday is this month too and probably will be uneventful, but we hope to get out and celebrate somehow! :) S

December update...

2006-12-10T14:15:00.000-06:00

Well its December already and I can't believe it. The weather was 80 degrees around Thanksgiving, which doesn't exactly put you in the holiday spirit, but it has finally started to cool down in Texas. We've even had a few light freezes in the evenings. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Schocks house with Grandma Schock and Aunt Pam was in from Arizona as well. Later that weekend, I took the kids down to San Antonio just for an overnight visit, but we had a good time.

I got one of my Christmas presents early...a Toyota Sienna XLE minivan. I know, I know... you're thinking "My God Stephanie! You WANTED a minivan?!?" But after fighting the idea for so long, we've determined that its a total lifesaver with 2 young kids. It has all the bells and whistles -power doors and liftgate, power sunroof, DVD, leather- so if the "family van" idea still makes you sick, you can appreciate that, at least, we have the "pimped out" version! Ha ha!

Marley has been walking around like she owns the place after determining that she can get her hands on way more "stuff" if she walks. :) Jaxon and Marley have both been playing very well together and keeping each other entertained as well. Its pretty fun to watch them. He'll even act like a teacher and give her choices "Marley, do you want you cup? Yes or no?" and then after watching her reaction, either say "yes" and give her the cup, or "no" and put it on the table. It's too funny. Before long, she'll be keeping him in check as she appears to have a little Diva personality (who did she get that from? You decide!)

I've reconnected with my sister as well over the past few months. I really enjoy getting to talk to her on the phone again as we now talk almost daily. It's amazing how easy it is to become so busy in your own life that you seem to lose contact. Anyway, she can't wait for Christmas and is joining the grandparents in the complete and total spoiling of my children (who she calls her "angels.")

We'll be spending Christmas with Aunt Lindsay and my family and either Christmas Eve or Christmas afternoon with the Schocks. Somewhere in between we'll have time for presents at our house as well as Santa and all of the relatives will be loading the kids up again this year. It should be a great holiday! Now... got to start thinking about the stuff we can get rid of to make room for all of the new toys... Humbug...
SS

October/November...

2006-11-10T11:09:00.000-06:00

I have been so busy that I haven't really kept up with the blog...sorry! Ok... let's pick up where we left off.

Bevo has a little notch in her ear but nothing too noticeable after her surgery. She has recently taken to crawling under the fence after we leave for work to play with the golden retriever next door! Thankful, my neighbor is wonderful and doesn't mind the dogs playing together in her backyard, but I think we may have a mud problem if it rains! :)

Marley's doing great. She finally took to one particular sippy cup, and since she's gotten the hang of it, she'll drink out of any sippy we give her. She has taken up to 6 steps at a time, but usually stops and slowly lowers herself to the ground so she can crawl instead! She can walk, she just chooses to crawl because she can do it faster I think. Her first birthday was great. We just had family over for cake and socializing. She got way too much in the way of gifts and clothing (as usual) but at least now she's got her winter wardrobe completely covered. Of course, it's now November and still 85, so hopefully she'll have a chance to wear those cute cool weather clothes soon!

Jaxon is still enjoying school, but testing a bit more. My assistants have been great about stepping in when they see him taking advantage of the situation. He is more whiny when I am trying to deal with a problem he may be having and I'm sure its because I'm mom. Its kind of a hard balance for me too... sometimes I see myself letting him get away with the whining when I shouldn't... so for now, I have to keep relying on Kendal and Christy for discipline when it comes to Jaxon. Its probably better that way too because then everyone will know the rules apply to him just like everyone else, know what I mean?

Halloween- Jaxon and I went trick-or-treating with our neighbor Shari and her daughter Megan. Marley was along for the ride in her stroller while the husbands visited in the driveway with some cold brew and candy to hand out. Jaxon went as a dinosaur with flashing shoes and necklace and Megan wore a brightly colored "nice witch" costume with a cat on the front (she insisted she was a cat, but that doesn't do her adorable costume justice.) They had an absolute blast. Jaxon as low at first, but was soon racing with Megan up to each door and knocking. They'd sometimes start to knock and then tell the other one, "That's enough..." :) At one point, Jaxon looked at Megan and asked "Did you get a haircut?" It totally cracked me up! Once they knocked on a door that hadn't been totally closed and proceeded to walk in! At every door, Megan said she was a cat and demonstrated how her cat basket meowed and then Jaxon would chime in "I'm a dinosaur...Roooaaaar!" It was great fun. The next day when we got home from school Jaxon said "I get me costume on and then we'll go trick-or-treat with Megan!" If only it came more than once a year...

Marley's daycare provider called me last night to let me know she was ill and wouldn't be able to watch her so I tried to call in to get a sub. As luck would have it, I woke up sick as a dog today, so the timing couldn't have been better. I would not have made it today. That said, my head is throbbing...I'm hoping Marley will nap for me so I can get some rest too... I'll try my best to stay on top of the posts... :) S

September update...

2006-09-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

This month absolutely FLEW by! Let's see... what happened this month...

Brian had a pretty uneventful 29th birthday. The concert we were going to see that evening was postponed and has yet to be rescheduled, so we just kind of hung out at home that night. Brian did get the Weber grill he has been wanting though, so at least he fared well in the gift department!

Bevo had to have surgery to remove a growth from her ear. She has had her head bandaged up for over a week and has to wear an e-collar and the new bandage for another day or two. The poor dog! She's dying to get that silly e-collar off. First, she'd look at us sadly, like "Take this off of me!" Then she was just plain MAD about it and trying to tear it off. Now she's not too bothered by it,but looks a little downtrodden. I'm hoping when we take the bandages off tomorrow that her ear won't have a big notch in it were he had to remove the spot.

Jaxon and I are both enjoying school. He has done a great job distinguishing between when I'm "teacher" and when I'm "mama." He always calls me mama of course, but he has been great about letting me do my job without interference. I was worried he may have a hard time "sharing" me with the other kids, but he hasn't. It has worked out even better than I could have imagined. :) He has several friends in class and really enjoys school. Its very cool for me to hear from a parent's perspective some of the things he talks about when we get home, the things hes learning, and the songs he loves to sing!

Marley turns 1 at the end of the month and I can hardly believe it. She stands no without holding on, but still no walking yet. She likes to eat "real" food, but will have nothing to do with drinking out of a sippy cup. I'm not sure what we're doing for her birthday yet, but I put together a slideshow for her first year to share at her party. You can click below to see it (but its about 9 minutes or so)... it has lots of cute pics, and several funny ones that I couldn't bear to leave out! :)

Edit video online at onetruemedia.com

Jaxon's First Week in My Classroom

2006-08-18T20:27:00.000-05:00

I haven't had a chance to post lately because we're back to work, but wanted to share Jaxon's first week in my classroom. He started as one of the 6 staff children/"typical peers" in my special ed preschool class. I have 2 assistants as well, so there are other "teachers" in the room, but I was kind of worried how he'd do and if he'd be able to really distinguish between whats ok at home and whats ok at school.

I'm so proud of him! He's done great! He's only done that whiny "Mama!" thing once this week and my asst. was there to step in. He has figured out that everyone else has to call me Ms.Schock and when I wouldn't call on him to answer today, he calls out "Ms. SCHOCK!?!" Ha ha! He even called me "Mama Schock" when he was talking to a friend about me!

Every morning he asks "Mama... can we go to big school today?" I am absolutely loving it! My assistants say I work too hard to be sure I'm not favoring him, so today I snuck a few kisses since everyone gets hugs... he doesn't seem to mind either way! I absolutely love having him with me all day (of course I still have to pay $400 a month to pay for my 2nd assistant like everybody else, but its worth it!)

July...

2006-07-17T15:16:00.000-05:00

I can hardly believe our little boy is 3 years old now! Jaxon always used to say "I 2. I be 3 in July." It took all day to get him to realize it WAS July and he is 3 now. :) We had just a small birthday party at the house for him. Everything was Superman - cake, balloons, decorations - he LOVES Superman and never tires of it! Both sets of grandparents came as well as Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Brent, Great Grandma Schock and the neighbors: Bryan, Shari and Megan. He had a BLAST opening presents (he got too many of course, but what's new?) He played on the playscape and ran outside in the sprinklers with Megan at the end of the party. Needless to say, he slept GREAT that night!

Marley had her 9 month well check (even though its more like 9.5 months because of their "scheduling conflict.") She is back on her growth curve and so they are not worried about anything at this point. She's 17 lbs.15 oz. (in the 25th %,) 27 3/4 inches tall (50%) and her head is 45 cm (75%.) So basically she's average height but pretty skinny with a pretty big head! Ha ha! Anyway, she's doing great and keeps getting better. Her reflux seems to have subsided, she started taking an interest in food, she's "talking" more, getting teeth and scooting around by any means necessary! She's dying to catch up with her big brother, so maybe she'll be walking soon? We'll see...

Summer's here and quickly winding down...

2006-07-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

We've really had our ups and downs this summer. The summer started out great- just hanging out at the house with the kids mostly. I was really enjoying being home but it was a BIG adjustment too. We had Jaxon in gymnastics through June and then stopped due to scheduling conflicts. We also have Bevo doing puppy training and look forward to doing basic obedience as well when she gets a little older. That was the fun stuff...

The summer started to take a turn for the worse in June. My grandmother passed away in mid-June at the age of 95. We knew it was coming, and thankfully she went peacefully, but it was still very difficult.

Brian and I were really hoping to get away for a vacation the last week in June, but because my grandma was ill, we didn't think my mom would be available to watch the kids and decided to just stay home during vacation. As it turned out, my mom was able to watch the kids during our vacation week, but we only had a few days to plan one. We didn't have passports and wouldn't be able to get them in time, so after an all-day search online, we ended up booking a trip to Las Vegas. We hadn't been in about 4 years, so it was neat to see all of the changes they've made since our last trip. The kids and Bevo stayed with my parents for a few days and Brian's parents that weekend until we returned. ALL were spoiled! :)

Soon after our return, our AC went out! As you know, Texas in July without AC is miserable! We lasted one night and by the following evening, I took the kids back to grandma's and Brian crashed on a friend's couch so he could still be close to work. It took the home warranty's AC repair shop 6 days to fix it!!! Argh! Meanwhile, I had a week long workshop in Austin and Brian had to work as well, so we ended up having to leave the kids and spend 2 nights in a hotel. We Are so glad to be back home! :)

Our new addition!

2006-05-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

Well, we said we were done having kids, but maybe not. Now that I have your attention... our new addition is an adorable puppy! (And we ARE done having kids by the way!)

After talking about it for a few weeks, we decided we wanted another dog. We have been checking out the shelters for a few weeks and couldn't find any adult dogs that would work (we found a great mix that was good with the kids and we really loved, but she couldn't handle other animals.) So, this past weekend, at one adoption site I saw a puppy I liked after Brian had walked in to get the kids into the cart. I pet her and then went into the store to shop. Brian saw her as we drove off and mentioned that he didn't see her outside.

We went to 3 shelters that afternoon and met a few dogs, but none that would fit in our family. So late that afternoon, we went back to the Petco adoption site and the 3 puppies were still there. I found the one I liked, got her out to meet us and we decided that since I'd be home this summer, I probably have time for a puppy after all. :) So we brought her home and she's just a doll! She is very low-key for a puppy and has many "Brina-like" qualities. She has been riding around in the car with us, playing in the yard and doesn't bother our other pets. We're working on crate training and potty training as she's only 10 weeks, but so far so good.

After going through many names, we decided to let Jaxon pick... so we have a lovely little GIRL dog named BEVO! Jaxon loves to yell "Hook 'em Horns!" so it fits I guess!
:) Just one more addition to be sure our "crazy lives" stay crazy! S

Oh my, its May!

2006-05-17T19:10:00.000-05:00

I feel like the past few months have just flown by! Let's see... what's new around here... a huge storm with golf ball sized hail damaged both of our cars and totaled our roof. Thank goodness for insurance, but we still have to get the deductible together and schedule the cars and reroof. Sounds like fun I know!

Marley is really getting around lately. Still no "real" crawl, but she "commando crawls" and rolls all over the place and is fast too! She has an appointment at Children's Hospital next week where we hope to get to the bottom of this reflux problem. Fingers crossed it goes well...

Jaxon's time at daycare is coming to an end and while I'm looking forward to having the summer home with the kids, I know he'll miss it. He'll miss all of his friends and the activities they do at school. We're continuing gymnastics this summer, but have to get a schedule going to keep him busy. I was planning on soccer too, but since for his age its a parent participation class, I can't enroll him (soccer with a baby strapped to my chest sounds like fun, but I should probably pass!)

We lost our "sweet mama dog" Brina at the end of April to lymphoma. After 7 years with us, she was still trying to put a smile on our faces up until the end. We had just found out about possible treatments, when she suddenly had trouble walking and collapsed in the yard. It happened so fast. Brian had to carry her back into the house and called the vet. He stayed home with her all day and had to take her in that evening to be put down. We all cried for days about it, but know it was best as she was suffering.

Brina and hail damage aside, we have been doing well. Jaxon continues to amaze me as he is the best big brother we could have asked for. Marley adores him as well and I think she'll be scrambling to keep up with him before we know it. Looking forward to a nice summer with the kids and a nice vacation for just me and Brian too! We'll keep you posted (at least I'll try to post more often!) S

March Madness!!!

2006-03-29T20:09:00.000-06:00

Well...not really! In fact, things are finally calming down around here.

Marley has really started to let her "princess side" rest and is much more laid back lately. Her reflux is better (still a spitter, but no prescription meds anymore.) She delights in sitting up and looking around, visiting family and friends and rolling all the way across the room. She has been cooing for quite awhile, but on Monday I noticed she finally started to really babble "dada." She made the move into her own bed and into her own room over Spring Break and is doing great with the move. She has been sleeping every night from 8:00 until about 3:00 am, but after a night nurse, she quickly goes back to sleep.

Jaxon has been growing leaps and bounds again too. We enjoyed spending a good part of Spring Break at grandma's house in San Antonio while Brian was on a fishing trip. We went to a drive-through Wildlife Ranch and every antelope, elk, etc. was "a Rudolph!!!" (Yes, I know its March, but Jaxon is obsessed with the old claymation Burl Ives Rudolph movie! Ha ha!) He also thought it was quite funny when the ostrich bypassed the food I'd thrown down and instead decided to bop his head around in my car. He loved getting to sit on our laps (actually crawl back and forth to mom and grandma's laps) in the front seat too.

Spring time fun is on its way too. Jaxon begs to go to the park in our neighborhood. We have only gone to the little one and I'm sure once he sees the big one, it'll be even harder to get him to leave! Knowing how much he loves the park, Grandma and grandpa ordered a big playscape for our backyard. It's going to be installed as soon I hear back from our HOA and I know we'll be spending even more time in the backyard once its here. Jaxon went for a trial gymnastics class this week and I think we'll get him started with that now and maybe do another sport in the summer. His low muscle tone and coordination need work and gymnastics would be a fun way to "work!" He really enjoyed it since its a mom and tot class, I'm getting an hour's worth of exercise too.

I'll try to keep you posted with our crazy lives! :) S

Christmas,The New Year and into February...

2006-02-08T20:33:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been almost 2 months since I've had a chance to update. We've been very busy! :)

The holidays were great this year... so much to be thankful for. We had Christmas Eve & Christmas morning in San Antonio with my family. On Christmas Eve, we went to see the New Orleans Saints play the Detroit Lions at the Alamodome which was fun. We had a nice quiet night at the house and opened presents the following morning. We had Christmas with the Schocks the day after Christmas upon their return from Kansas. Jaxon made out like a bandit (as usual) and Marley got lots of clothes (we still have all of the baby toys left from when Jax was a baby.) We had an uneventful New Year's Eve, but still managed to start the year off right.

We love our new home and neighborhood. We really couldn't have asked for more. There are several 2.5 year olds on our street too, so we didn't have to go far to find playmates for Jaxon!

Jaxon continues to be a fantastic big brother to Marley. He loves her so much and she just adores him! When we get in the car, he always looks over at her, smiles and shrieks "MARLEY!! Ah goo!" (I said once that babies can't really talk like big people yet and say things like "ah goo," so now he always says that to her!)

Marley is the polar opposite of Jaxon when he was a baby. She is already social and likes to be in on everything. Jaxon would just kind of hang out... sit in his boppy and play... not Marley! She wants to be moving! She likes to sit up and watch the people around her. Jaxon crawled late and hated tummy time... this little thing LOVES to be on her tummy, props herself up to swat at objects held above her, and at this rate, she should be crawling in no time. Jaxon over the 100th% on the growth charts from 2 weeks old... Marley is no where near her "off the charts" brother. At 4 months, she weighs about 14 pounds putting her between the 25th-50th% for weight, and 24.5 inches tall in the 50-75th% for height. That said, they were both great babies, just very different from each other.

I'll try to keep the blog updated, but with working full-time, two kids under 3, the house and a husband to take care of, I'm not making any promises! :) S

Home Sweet Home

2005-12-16T21:00:00.000-06:00

We closed on our homes without any problems, but the move itself was more complicated. The movers that were going to haul our "big stuff" over on Friday had their lights burn out, so they had to reschedule for Saturday morning. Then, our U-Haul truck overheated... at least it was in front of our new house so we could unload (it took them 2 days to tow it off- never use them again!) Our water and DSL service was delayed too.

The refridgerators were delivered on time, but we had to put in a service call to level the doors on both. The new couches for the downstairs living room came a week after we moved in, but the leather was damaged. We just got them switched out for new ones today.

On the Monday following our move, I went back to work. It is nice to be back at school, but tiring too. I haven't gotten as settled in as I would like around the house either, but we plan to work on that this weekend. Got to get some Christmas decorations up, do some shopping and more "settling in" this weekend too!
:) S

Finally...the move!

2005-12-01T10:59:00.000-06:00

We closed on our current house Monday and we close on our new home tomorrow. We've been madly packing, but I've not gotten as much done as I'd like. Marley has been quite demanding as she adjusts to her new reflux meds.

Anyway, we're going to stay up late tonight to finish as much as we can. We close tomorrow at 10:00 and movers are hauling our "big stuff" over between 4-6. We have the refridgerators scheduled to deliver that night, but unfortunately the new couches won't come until next week.

Tomorrow night, although we'll have just the basics, we'll be spending our first night in our new home! I'm excited but I'll miss this house too. I'll miss having a "dog room" right off the porch, Jaxon's nursery we worked so hard on, the big trees out back and of course, the memories we made in this house. But the new place is going to be great! I go back to work Monday, but hope to get most of the unpacking done asap! :) S

A Busy December...

2005-11-14T10:31:00.000-06:00

After trying to squeeze us for more $ off the sales price, our buyers finally gave up and have only asked for window screen replacements, toilets to be re-leveled and a termite treatment "just in case" by the deck. That's a rip, since they found no evidence of termites on the inspection, but at this point we figured we'll do it. Better that we give a little and keep the buyers since we have our other house already lined up & waiting for us. We have our inspection at the new house today so hopefully it'll go well!
I've not had much luck in the child care search for Marley. :( My mom has said she can come watch her in December as I only work from the 5th-15th. I think I'll take her up on it. It'll save me a month of paying for child care for Marley (even though I only would work for 2 weeks) and it will free up time to pack as we're still set to close Dec.15-16 and move that weekend. Then in January, if I still haven't found someone to watch Marley, I'll put her in at Stepping Stone. It's more expensive, but also has a low ratio of 1 adult per 3 kids and there are more eyes around watching... for some reason I'm kind of worried about her being alone with someone other than me.
So, this month I go back to work, we have mom coming to stay for 2 weeks to watch Marley, and then we move to a new house all before Christmas! It'll be pretty wild! :) S

We're moving...

2005-11-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

I went house hunting with my realtor last week and while we were out, we got a contract offer on our house! :) My parents came up that next night to take Jaxon for the weekend, so we decided to go look at houses again with just Marley. We looked in several different neighborhoods and saw a few possibilities, but nothing really jumped out at us. We went to see one last house before we were going to call it quits and grab lunch. Wouldn't you know it- the last one was it! I really like the neighborhood it is in and when we looked at pros/cons, we couldn't really list any.
So we put in a contract offer and barring any problems with inspections or our buyers, we got the house! Fingers crossed it goes smoothly! The sellers at the new house are moving out now and want to move up the closing - and if our buyers can do it, we may be moving around the end of the month! For now, the closing on our current house is set for December 15th and the new house closes on December 16th,. If all goes well, we'll be celebrating Christmas in our new home! I'll keep you posted! S

Halloween!

2005-11-01T09:15:00.000-06:00

We took Jaxon for his first trick-or-treat with Dylan, Shelby and their neighbors Zack, Xander and Kelsey. He was shy at first and had a hard time keeping up with the seasoned pros, but ended up having a blast. Marley wore a pumpkin sleep-n-play and slept in the sling while we went house to house. We had lots of fun! Now, if only I could keep out of the candy! Ha ha!

September & the last pregnancy update!

2005-09-21T18:44:00.000-05:00

How things can change in a month! Here's what's been happening around here:

Jaxon ended up in the ER this month after having a febrile seizure. He had a cold and started with a high temp. of 99, so I gave him some tylenol. About an hour or so later, he was up to 103- I took him upstairs to put him in a cool bath and before I could even get him in tub, he started shaking and was up to 105! It was terrible! He was lethargic and stopped talking to me, and overall he just looked out of it. They were able to get his fever down and he was fine... they expect no future problems resulting from it, but I just pray that it never happens again!

We put our house on the market this month and have had a couple of people in to see it, but no big hits yet. We worked very hard to get the house organized and looking good- I'm LOVING it! I swear to keep clutter free whether we stay here or move. I thought keeping Jaxon's toys under wraps would be tough, but he's handling it well and has been good about cleaning up before bedtime too (lots of his toys are packed away and the rest are in a big wicker trunk, so we can rotate them out.)

Brian was pretty sure he'd be getting a pink slip from work at the end of this month (which would obviously put an end to any ideas about moving.) The timing on one hand was bad- with the baby coming, the house would have to be pulled off and we'd be staying here, and he'd be looking for a new job asap. But on the other hand, with the terrible devastation so many are going through with hurricane Katrina, it's hard to be worried about something as little as a layoff. At least we'd have a house and family to come home to. He talked with his boss today and it looks like he should make it through after all, but in case the cuts continue, he's pipelining to find other jobs just in case.

My fantastic assistants threw a shower for me today- I knew they were going to have cake and well wishes, but didn't expect anything of this magnitude. I got so many wonderful gifts- and I was not expecting that- so of course, I ended up crying! Pregnancy hormones can be bad! :) It was a very nice surprise and definitely helps me realize that yes... I'm having a baby really soon!

Pregnancy update: I've been having some pains and contractions, but overall, I still think I'm doing remarkably well for being 9 months pregnant! I have only 2 days left before my maternity leave starts and 9 days until Marley's EDD. My doctor has scheduled me for an induction if I don;t go into labor myself. He has me set to go into the hospital the night of the 29th to deliver the 30th. Because I'm positive for group b strep this time and have a history of fast labor, he thinks this is necessary to be sure I get the dose of antibiotics before delivery. I'm ok with the idea as I think it would only take them breaking my water to get things moving, and since the order would be there for an epidural as soon as I ask for it, I'm happy. As long as I've got the epi, I'll be just fine!

The next time I write, Marley will probably be here! Keep your fingers crossed hurricane Rita doesn't do too much damage up here (or that I don't deliver during it!)

S

Daycare, pregnancy, moving and back to school!!!

2005-08-21T07:32:00.000-05:00

Well, the school year has started and except for being very tired, it's off to a great start! Well, Jaxon has been at the new daycare for two weeks and is slowly becoming accustomed it it. He still cries when I drop him off (but usually I hear him stop before I leave the building) and he screams "MAMA, MAMA!" when I come to pick him up. But, I do think he's getting better. They had a music presentation Friday and they said he LOVED it! Of course, later it'll cost if I want to keep him in the music program, but he loves "mu-gick!" so I may try it out. He started a week before the 3 year olds moved up, and he seems better now that there are kids his age in class. He said "Bye, friends!" when we left which made me feel better too. He has already gotten a cold though- one of the daycare drawbacks I guess.

I'm feeling pretty good still which is good for 8 months along! I'm definitely carrying this baby differently though... it's funny how each pregnancy can be so different. Here's hoping the labor and delivery goes as well with Marley as it did with Jaxon! I still don't feel like I'm going to have a baby (and it's only 40 days until my EDD!) I'm not sure if it's just because I'm too busy to really think about it, but I don't feel anywhere near as prepared as I did when I was pregnant with Jax. I've not gone to birthing class or done up her nursery either, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I know the feeling will change when Marley arrives- ready or not, she'll be here soon!

We met with our realtor yesterday and she suggested moving a few things and gave us a little bit of work to do before she puts it on MLS, but no surprises- they were all things we'd talked about doing anyway. Our listing will be up next weekend! We're the only house in our range in the neighborhood too- every other seller is either much smaller/cheaper or larger/higher priced. Keep your fingers crossed for us that the lack of competition helps us sell quickly!

The school year is off to a great start, but I'm definitely tired. My class seems to be running pretty smoothly with the new program and I'm really enjoying it so far. I hope all goes well when I'm home on leave. I plan on working until the week before I'm due and going back to work the first full week of December. I may try to get my mom to come watch the baby for those two weeks in December and hopefully will have a sitter lined up for January.

We'll keep you posted! S :)

Jaxon's 2nd Birthday!

2005-07-18T20:27:00.000-05:00

I'm new at posting pictures on here and so this is just a test! I'll have to get some good pics!

It's hard to believe our little guy is two years old! Time certainly flies when they're little. We had Jaxon's birthday party today at the house with just family and although it wasn't really planned well, we had a GREAT time! When everyone started to arrive he got SO excited and I think he knew we were all together to celebrate him! He started to clap his hands and spin in circles, smiling and laughing, stomping his feet... I've NEVER seen him that wound up! He opened presents first to make room on the table for our late lunch.

I thought this kid had every toy known to man, but apparently not, he cleaned up today! We got him a set of NFL sheets for his bed, 2 new Little Touch Leap Pad books, a Vtech discovery farm, some clothes and a Spongebob Squarepants fold out couch with sleeping bag. Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Brent got him 2 Sesame Street coloring books and 3 different Sesame Street swim floats. Grandma and Grandpa Schock got him a Little Tykes electric keyboard stand with a mic, Pottery Barn letter abacus, and an Action Sounds Trike. Great Grandma Schock got him a T-Ball set. Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin got him a Grow-to-Pro basketball net and a Naturally Playful freestanding slide. He LOVED everything and wanted to play all day! He was sad when "night-night time" came around for sure!

We grilled burgers, had fixings and cake late in the afternoon and then sat back and watched him play inside and outside until about 7:00 when everyone headed home. It was definitely a full day for all of us and hopefully Jax will sleep good tonight! What a great birthday for our boy! Now the only problem is finding what gift to give him from the baby when he comes to the hospital to meet her... maybe a guitar? Guess I'll have to find something!

Jax had his 2 year well check today and it went pretty well. His height is still off the growth chart at 38". She also said that doubling their height at 2 years is a good estimate of how tall they'll be as an adult (which puts him at 6'4"!!!) We'll all be looking up to him I guess! His weight was in the 90th percentile at 32 lbs. Anyway, just wanted to update you on our BIG little boy! :)

:) S

July update...

2005-07-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

Well it's definitely summer and boy is it HOT in Texas! We've had a solid week of 100+ temperatures and as much as I hate to say it, I sometimes wish summer was over already! See...the heat is getting to me! :)

Jaxon turns 2 next week and I just can't believe how much he's grown! I've had a blast with him this summer. His speech has really taken off in the last few weeks and it's so exciting to hear all the new words everyday. Sometimes at night when he's trying to fall asleep I'll hear him talking in his room. He has conversations with invisible mama and daddy and counts like "Count Von Count" on Sesame Street too (1 ah,ah,ah....2 ah,ah,ah! It's hilarious!) When he's awake he talks even more, labeling all kinds of things in the house and trying to imitate whatever we are talking about.

Even though it's very hot here, he still loves to go "Ow-side!" (outside- but when he says it, its like the samurai shouting "Bonzai!" It's hilarious!) He really loves playing in the pool (both the "real pool" and the kiddie pool in the backyard.) He also loves to get dirty playing in the sandbox, swinging in his swing and pushing anything he can get his hands on back and forth on the deck. He's too funny!

The pregnancy is going along pretty well. I definitely feel like I'm carrying her differently than I did with Jax, but I'm feeling pretty good. Of course, I feel as if I look like a buffalo but otherwise it's good! To think I was worried earlier because I didn't feel like I was showing or gaining enough! Ha ha! Anyway, we can't wait for our little girl and I just know that Jaxon will be a great big brother! :) S

Jaxon's "Big Boy Bed!"

2005-06-20T17:23:00.000-05:00

We've been wanting to get Jaxon moved into a "big boy bed" for a few reasons. First, he's big for his age and barely fits into his crib. And second they say not to try to make the transition around big life changes (like moving or a new baby)- and since we are expecting both, we wanted to get started. We ended up buying him a full size and putting the boxsprings and mattress on the floor in his room. Then we ran over to target to find sheets for his new bed and were disappointed by their selection, but since we bought the bed on a whim and wanted to try it out that night, we let him pick out a sheet set he liked. He opted for "Bob-bob" (or Spongebob Squarepants for those of you who don't speak 2 year old caveman!)
He was SO excited and before Brian could even put the mattress upstairs, Jax was pretending to sleep on the boxsprings! We put quilts on the floor around the bed and pillows on the one exposed side so he wouldn't roll out and he went right to sleep! Now, naptime wasn't as easy. He got out of bed, tried to open the door and threw some stuffed animals, but after 10 minutes, he figured out it was naptime as usual and went to sleep. It was too cute watching him climb up into bed on the video monitor- he was talking to "Bob-bob" for a few minutes and then finally went down to sleep! We hope to take apart the crib soon to make more room for him and to distance him from it so when the baby moves out of the bassinet, he won't feel like she's taking over his territory. I'm both excited and a little sad- my little baby is growing up! :) S

It's a ...

2005-05-23T21:03:00.000-05:00

GIRL! According to the ultrasound tech, she's "pretty sure" we're expecting a GIRL this time around so we'll have one of each! This time, the doctor put the ultrasound on DVD too, so I know the grandparents will be excited to see the baby in action. Now it finally feels like I'm pregnant again - work and a toddler keep me too busy to think about it!

Brian and I are thrilled and just wanted to share the news! Hope everyone is doing well and hope to hear from you soon too! We're not 100% sure about what her name will be yet and may decide to keep that to ourselves until she's born, but that's a hard secret to keep! :)

Meanwhile, I've got 2 days left with students and 1 work day before I'm out for the summer. I'm hoping to spend lots of time with Jaxon as it's our last summer as a family of 3. We're getting the house ready to sell, but I still may try to move him into a "big boy bed" in the extra bedroom. The baby will be in a bassinet next to our bed for a few months, but that way, Jax will be out of his crib long enough so it doesn't seem like she's taking over his territory. I'll keep you posted on any summer plans!

Pregnancy update - May

2005-05-09T17:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm a little over 19 weeks and I can finally say I'm starting to feel pregnant. This pregnancy is going by a whole lot faster than it did with Jaxon- I think life with a toddler and a full-time teaching job keep me too busy to think about it! :)
I've been feeling movement and I've starting to show within the last 2 weeks. I still have not gained any weight to speak of, which is strange since I don't get sick when I'm pregnant, but I'm hoping that I'll be within a normal range. I've definitely been eating enough so I'm sure it'll be fine! It is one week until the big ultrasound and we're very excited! We'll be sure to keep you posted if the baby cooperates and we find out if it's another boy or a girl, so be on the lookout for an e-mail Monday, May 16th!

S

April update...

2005-04-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

Well, its April and my birthday has come and gone, but I still can't believe I'm 27 years old now. I remember thinking that once I graduated college, I would feel "grown up," but no. After getting married, having a toddler and another baby on the way, I still don't feel "old!" I guess that's a good thing! :)
I went to the doctor and told him about my concerns- I'm 4 months pregnant and hadn't gained any weight. When I was pregnant with Jaxon, the doc had to tell me to lay off the Blue Bell or I'd have been huge! He said not to worry and that the heartbeat sounded great. So... now I just have to wait until May 16th to get the ultrasound and at that point, it should be easy to tell if I'm having a boy or a girl. I have no real "intuition" about it being a boy or a girl and have had dreams about having both. I guess I've got a 50% chance of guessing correctly anyway right? :) Brian took a half day of vacation so he can go with me and we're hoping that once we find out the sex, we can decide on a name. It is SO much harder to pick out names the second time around! I'm also ready for the baby to stop being an "it."

I'll keep you all posted! :) S

Finally some good news...

2005-03-27T16:51:00.000-06:00

I got accepted into the UT Masters program for Early Childhood Special Education (of course this baby postpones those plans for now, but maybe next fall.) I was very excited to get a spot as they are in high demand and I almost felt bad as 3 of my fellow colleagues did not get in, but maybe since I'm declining, one of them will get my spot. It was bittersweet, but I can always get back into the program later.

After much pressure from my PPCD Lead and my principal, the powers that be in RRISD have decided to leave 1 of the 5 programs scheduled to close open to relieve any crowding and it's my classroom! So not only do I get to forego the pregnant job hunt, but I'll get either a larger room or 2 adjoining rooms. Plus, it'll be a Together We Can program- that's where for low tuition, RRISD employees can bring their kids to PPCD to serve as developmental role models- and so Jaxon will be able to come to school with me once he's 3 for less than we'd pay for child care. How cool is that!!!

Brian and I are getting the house ready to sell after all. We went back and forth about whether or not to move. On one hand, we like our house and don't need much more than this, but on the other hand, we'd like more of a neighborhood feel and we'd love an extra playroom too. We bought this house when I was 2 months pregnant with Jaxon and Brian reminded me how much easier it was to move before the baby came. He thinks that if we put it off much longer, that the baby will be here and then it'll be even harder to move. Brian has convinced me to look outside of my "comfort zone" into Cedar Park, Leander and Georgetown as well as in Round Rock. Hopefully this will be our last move for awhile!

Jaxon is feeling better after a month's worth of colds and viral junk. Brian has had bronchitis twice this month and I've been keeping a close eye on him to be sure it doesn't turn into pneumonia- luckily he's much better about going to the doctor than I am. I've been feeling great- again I don't really feel pregnant. I'm starting to get a little pudge now, but still not really gaining weight. I did get to hear the heartbeat at the last appointment and go back after my birthday in April. I think the doctor is going to put off my ultrasound until the May appointment, so I have to wait until then to find out if it's another boy or a girl. I'm trying to enjoy every minute as this pregnancy will most likely be my last- so far so good!

:) S

March update...

2005-03-13T11:24:00.000-06:00

Jaxon got over his viral junk but it took almost a whole week. The poor baby was miserable! He's feeling better but having some teething problems right now. His top canines finally came through and his bottom canines are almost there. Hopefully he'll get his second molars soon so we'll be done with this! :) Brian and I went with Rick to the lake last weekend and Jaxon got to stay with my parents. He had an absolute blast and even managed to beat the rain and go to the zoo. He liked sitting on the big kimodo dragon statue and got to see several animals before the rain returned.
Brian's car ended up costing a little more than a grand. Typical- we get a car paid off and then something like that happens! It's spring break here and we're enjoying it. Surprisingly this is the first year in quite a while that I wasn't counting down to spring break, but even so, I'm glad it's here! Brian is at the lake again with Rick for a few days and when he returns, Jax is going back to his grandparents' house so we can have a mini-vacation alone. Brian says we can go anywhere I want, but I'm not sure where I want to go. It'll be short only 4 days and I don't exactly want to shell out big bucks at the moment, so I don't know what we'll do. First I though we could get a loft downtown and hang out there, but obviously I wasn't thinking- I'm pregnant and don't need to be around the smoke (but the live music and quiet dinners would've been nice!)
I'm feeling so good that I sometimes forget I'm pregnant...doesn't that sound ridiculous? I've not gained any weight either which makes me a bit nervous. I guess I should be happy. I go back to the doctor in a week to hear the heartbeat and I'm hoping that will alleviate some of my fears. In the meanwhile, I'm trying not to stress about everything else - job, moving, need new child care, having a new baby and a toddler, 2 in diapers- no worries right? Eeek!
Anyway, Jax and I are enjoying some time together at home while Brian is fishing and it's been really nice. We went to Todd and Wendy's yesterday so Jax and Dylan could play together and I could get some baby time with Shelby. It seems so foreign to hold a little baby again. I swear you forget that you ever had one that small. It won't be easy at first (and child care will be really bad) but I think the timing is going to work out really well after all. We've got about 8 weeks until we find out what we're having and that will make it more real too. I'd like Jax to have a brother, but a little girl would be nice too. I guess I'll just wait and see if I start having any intuition and then get confirmation at the ultrasound. I'll keep you posted!

S

It HAS gotten crazier...

2005-02-21T14:30:00.000-06:00

Remember when I said if it got any crazier, I didn't know what I'd do? Well...we're at that point now. First, Brian was involved it a hit-and-run accident (basically the other guy bumped him off the road and took off!) Brian didn't realize how badly he was hurt or the damage to the car, and since he didn't have his cell phone and no one else was around to help, he drove himself home. When I saw him the next morning, he had a huge bump and gash on his head from hitting the side of the car door and the front bumper was pretty seriously damaged. The swelling went down but he still has a terrible looking gash on his head. The car is in the shop and insurance will not pay for it because no police report was filed the night of the accident. Hopefully it won't be too expensive (it may not end up being too much more than our deductible anyway.)
Then, Jaxon gets sick while we're at a friends house. He threw up all over himself in his pack/n/play while sleeping. We clean him up as best we can and bring him home to give him a bath (of course it's about 12:30 by this time.) He got sick again at 4:30 that night. Jax has only thrown up once before so he was freaked out and the following day he didn't eat and still got sick 3 more times. I stayed home with him today and my mom will be up to watch him tomorrow. The doctor's office said to be sure he stayed hydrated and that if he had less than 3 wet diapers a day we'd need to go to the hospital (we're averaging once every 6 months with this kid!) Keep your fingers crossed that all gets better for us!

S

What a wild month!

2005-02-07T20:37:00.000-06:00

First, let me start by saying that if it gets any crazier, I'm not sure what we'll do! We're in hyper mode to get our house ready to sell and to move into a new house. We've found two neighborhoods we really like and both are within 15 minutes of our current location. Brian really likes that they're both golf course communities too...he can see himself with Jax on the greens already! :) We're hoping to get things ready and have moved in before the baby comes.
Yes...the baby. Little did I know we were already pregnant when I wrote in the previous post we'd be trying in the summer! It wasn't exactly planned, but we're both getting really excited about our little surprise too! Brian was much more relaxed at first about being pregnant again than I was. I guess the control freak in me wanted to plan this one out just like I did with Jaxon, but now I see that I should just be thrilled that I'm able to have children. So, now that I see that the baby coming a few months earlier than I had planned will be just as wonderful and we're excited. I can't wait to find some names and to hear this baby's heartbeat. We have a few girl names we like, but we're having a hard time with boy names. I kind of want another boy (because Jaxon was SO easy) but the grandmas desperately want a girl. I guess I'll be happy with either as long as the baby is happy and healthy. The first appointment is at the end of the month and I'll keep you posted!
S

What's new in 2005?

2005-01-17T14:48:00.000-06:00

We're off to a great start this year! Brian and I are trying to start a health kick- so far, so good. We're trying to eat better (for our sake as well as when Jaxon decides he'll only eat what we're eating.) Brian has been going to our local rec center to workout and I've been working out a little at home too.
I have decided to try for the longhorn grant to go for my masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education. If I get the grant, I'll attend school part-time free of charge and will receive a stipend for books too. It'll take me two years at that pace to finish. I wanted to go for Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders, but the ECSE program has been structured for working people with classes on campus only Saturdays (and not every week either!) That's too good to pass up! I've gotten my letters of recommendation and both UT applications done and now I've just got to get my resume in, write my purpose and take the GRE. I'm pretty nervous about taking the test, but I'm studying up a bit and hopefully that will help me. Keep your fingers crossed!
We're organizing the house and getting it ready to sell. I'm hoping to get rid of a lot of "stuff" to make the move easier. We're still not sure where we'l end up yet, but have found several new and "newer" neighborhoods that we really like. We're hoping to move in the next few months. We're also planning on trying for baby #2 in the early summer- still trying to plan around the school year, so we'll see what happens! :) Hope to hear from you soon!

S

Christmas & The New Year

2004-12-31T21:50:00.000-06:00

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

2004-12-29T21:50:00.000-06:00

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

2004-12-10T21:51:00.000-06:00

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?

2004-11-22T21:22:00.000-06:00

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

2004-11-22T20:37:00.000-06:00

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 :(

2004-11-02T21:12:00.000-06:00

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

2004-11-02T20:52:00.000-06:00

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

2004-10-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

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

2004-10-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-22T21:26:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-15T21:17:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-10T23:14:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

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

2004-08-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

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

2004-08-15T20:09:00.001-05:00

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:

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

A Crazy start...back to work!

2004-08-15T20:09:00.000-05:00

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!

2004-08-09T21:20:00.000-05:00

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! :)

2004-08-09T21:09:00.000-05:00

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! :)

2004-08-07T21:07:00.000-05:00

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

2004-01-09T21:03:00.000-06:00

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!

2004-01-03T20:42:00.000-06:00

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