Finally some good news...

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...

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...

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!

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?

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

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

Jaxon - Milestones for December

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

S

Jaxon's Surgery

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

S

Moving?

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

S

Jaxon - Milestones for November

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

Jaxon needs surgery :(

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

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

Halloween

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

Jaxon-Milestones for October

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

My School's Fall Festival

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

Jaxon gets a haircut

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

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

Jaxon - Milestones for September

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

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

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

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

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

:) S

The visit with Dr.Cortez

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

A night in the ER

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

Labor Day

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

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

Back to school- week 2

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

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

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