Surgery

Jaxon got his tonsils and adenoids taken out on the 27th. We have needed to do this for a long time and finally got around to actually doing it. Jaxon gets strep about once every 3 months and we were all tired of it...I really hope this will be the end of strep for a long time!

Jaxon was actually excited about the surgery...it could have been because Jason and I told him that he could have all the popsicles and ice cream he wanted for about five days. He was pretty much counting down the days until his surgery. We tried to explain to him that it would also hurt...a lot, but I think he chose not to hear that part!

The surgery went really well...the doctor said he rates tonsils on a scale from 1-4...1 being the worst...Jaxon's were a 3. I guess there were lots of pockets of yellow gunk in the tonsils that explain all the strep...glad we got them out!

He's actually been doing pretty well...as long as we keep the pain meds in him. The first night, we blew up the air mattress and put it on our bedroom floor so we would be able to hear him when he woke up...which was like 20 times that first night (at least it felt that way!). Jaxon had a hard time falling asleep, so Jason laid down with him and he stayed there for most of the night...it was sweet! It was a rough few nights, but he's finally getting better now...I hope we can all get some more sleep now!

A few of the side effects I didn't expect...his voice is REALLY nasaly (pretty sure I just make that word up) and whiny and it's kind of driving us crazy! I know his throat hurts and I feel really bad for him, but it's seriously almost more I can take...hopefully it will be back to normal soon! The other is the horrible breath! The nurse actually warned me about it at the hospital, but I didn't think much about it until today. It hasn't been bad until today and boy is it bad! We brush regularly and give him gum to chew, but there's no helping this breath. Let's cross our fingers it gets better soon...really soon!

I am so glad everything went so well and hope this is the end of strep throat for a while...a long while!

Camping Trip...

Our first ever "real" camping trip...real as in pulling off the side of the road, packing our "stuff" into camp, no toilets, no table, etc.

It was actually a success, for the most part! We went with our friends the Hmpherey's and had a great time hanging out with them. The kids loved throwing stuff in the fire, exploring the great outdoors and just getting dirty!

We spent most of the day Saturday fishing at Mirror Lake. Jason was sure he would catch his limit in a couple of hours and have plenty of fish for dinner. Well, after about four hours of fishing and nothing to show for it and some pretty bored/fidgety kids, we decided to head back to camp for nap time for the kids. That was a good idea in theory! We put Jordan and Brynn in the tent for their nap. After a few minutes of them not sleeping, I went in to check on them...our dear Jordan had climbed out of his pack and play and was jumping on Brynn...ugh! Needless to say, the kids didn't take a nap in the tent that day, but luckily Jason and Joseph needed a few fishing things from Kamas, so they took the kids in the car with them and they all took a good nap...yay!

Bedtime the second night however was not so good! I was hoping Jordan would forget how to climb out of his pack and play...no such luck! After about 10 minutes of Jordan climbing out of the pack and play and proceeding to jump on Brynn and Jaxon which resulted in crying and screaming, we decided to put Jordan in the car strapped in his car seat and hope he fell asleep quickly. Luckily it worked! He was asleep in about 5 minutes without a tear...it worked!

All in all, it was a great trip and we might even do it again sometime soon...like next weekend!

Jaxon at 5

I decided since Jaxon turned 5, it might be a good idea for me to jot down a few things about him at this age so I can remember what he was like when my brain starts going...oh wait, I feel like that is already happening. Anyway...here it goes...

• Jaxon is definitely a first child. My friend and I were talking about it one day and you can tell who the first children are in a family...they are the ones who always want to please, never want to go against what they think they should do or what is right. They are always concerned that what they are doing is the right thing and they are doing it correctly. I don't know if this is true for all first children, but it sure is for my first child!
• People always think he is older than he is...people usually guess that he is 6. He's just tall for his age I guess.
• He is old enough and academically ready to go to kindergarten in the fall, but after much debate, worry, and mind changing, we've decided to hold him back a year so he is the oldest in his class and not the youngest. I hope and pray this is the right decision, but I think it will be best for him when he gets older.
• Jaxon has already decided who his is going to marry...his best friend Lily. They talk about it all the time and have even decided how old they are going to be...if I remember correctly it's 22 or 23. So cute!
• He can read quite well, although I have to force him to sit down with me to read and he would much rather look at the pictures the whole time instead of actually read the words...stinker!
• He is taking swim lesson right now and is doing really well. I am very impressed and happy that he is getting more comfortable in the water.
• He would watch movies all day long if I let him. I hate this, and limit his movie viewing as much as I can
• Jaxon isn't quite able to ride a bike without training wheels, but he's almost there...just a few more practice sessions with dad and he should be good!
• He is really into superheros and will play for hours on end with his superheros and superhero toys that he has
• He loves having friends over and would love it if a friend could come over all day everyday.
• Jaxon is a very polite and well mannered little man, not perfect, but for the most part very good!
• He loves his sister and brother...even though she tortures him all.of.the.time! Today was a tough day with Brynn and Jaxon could tell, so he was so good and did everything I asked him to the first time...what a great boy!
• He loves to help Jason do anything...garden, fix anything that needs fixing, cooking, as long as he gets to spend time with dad!

He is a joy to our family and we are so blessed to have him in our family! Love you buddy!

Cherry Hill

We went to Cherry Hill last week with our friends the Humphery's. It was our first attempt at camping with all of our children. I say camping, but it wasn't really camping, it was more like sleeping in a tent. You can't have fires and there are about a million people all around you, so you feel like you have to be pretty quite (like if my child was crying I felt like I had to make him stop right away as to not bother anybody), totally different experience than camping in the mountains!

We got up there Thursday night, set everything up, let the kids play, put them to bed way too late, then played card games. Friday morning we woke up and spent the entire day at the water park. The kids loved it! Jaxon loved everything about it, especially the dragon slide and playing with his best friend Lily. Brynn liked playing in Pirates Cove and was unsure about everything else. She went down the dragon slide with Cami and hated it. Me, being the nice mom, made her go again! She liked it a bit better the second time and still talks about how she went down the dragon in Cami's lap and covered her eyes. Jordan loved playing in Pirates Cove and hanging out in the lazy river. He actually fell asleep on Jason's lap in the lazy river and took about a 20 minute nap...it was cute!

Jaxon had requested s'mores for his birthday which was Thursday, the day we got up there. Since you can't have fires, we had bought this little kit so we could do it without an actual fire pit. He liked it and it made him happy, so it was fun!

After the fun filled day of playing in the water, I thought for sure the kids would go to sleep without any problems, boy was I wrong. Jason and Joseph went to the batting cages and Cami and I attempted to put the kids to bed. Let me just say it was not my finest moment as a mother! Brynn, my sweet adorable Brynn, was awful! She is usually the best at going to bed at home, but she was a big stinker! Eventually they all went to sleep and Cami and I got to go miniature golfing then we all played some card games.

We had a great time and have planned our next "real" camping trip for next weekend. I say "real" because it will be up in the mountains where we can have a fire and not worry about our crying kids waking up other people, oh and let's not forget the joys of no bathrooms! Hopefully it goes well...wish us luck!

Happy 5th Birthday Jaxon!

Jaxon turned 5 only July 8th and we had a great time celebrating! The actual day of his birthday, he woke up to a very decorated room! Our tradition for birthdays is to decorate the birthday person's door. My birthday was the day before and Jason decorated the office doors for me and all Jaxon could talk about was what his door was going to look like on his birthday. I had a meeting the night before and when I got home Jason had not only decorated Jaxon's door, but his whole room...it was pretty cool!

On Jaxon's birthday, I walked downstairs to grab some cereal from the storage room and saw Jaxon just standing in his room looking at all the decorations...I think he was a little overwhelmed, but he loved it!

I made pancakes and waffles for breakfast (Jaxon's request), then Jaxon asked if he could open his presents. I texted Jason to ask him if it was ok if we did it without him and he had the great idea to set up Skype so he could see him open his presents through the computer. It worked perfectly! Jaxon was happy he didn't have to wait to open his presents and Jason still got to see it.

He loved all his presents and played with them until it was time to head to swim lessons then onto playgroup. My mom came up from St. George for a visit and Jaxon was super excited to go shopping with her for his birthday present. They went and came home with a toy I knew Jaxon would like for about a day then never play with after that. We set it up and it didn't work quite right, so after a lot of convincing, Jaxon allowed me to take him back to Target to get a new toy. with some nudging from me, he chose a game and a fun toy that he still plays with daily!

At around 4:30 we headed out for a fun filled weekend at Cherry Hill with our good friends the Humpherey's. More on that in another post (I know you can hardly wait!)

After our fun at Cherry Hill, we came home Saturday morning and Jaxon had his friend birthday party at Black Diamond Gymnastics in Daybreak. I had won a birthday party package last year and was so excited to use it!

Nine of Jaxon's cute friends came to his party and they had a great time. They ran through an obstacle course, played in the foam pit (most of the time!) and played an impossible game with foam blocks!

After they were sufficiently worn out it was time for presents. Jaxon loved all of his presents and he was sure to give most of his friends a hug after he opened their presents. I say most, because some didn't want hugs :) Jaxon's not a huge cake/cupcake person, so he requested doughnuts and chocolate milk instead. I thought it was a great idea and the kids seemed to like it also.

I think Jaxon had a great birthday and I was so glad to have a birthday party someplace other than my house! It was so nice to not have to worry about anything except making sure we were there on time with the doughnuts and chocolate milk! I think it's the way to go!

The pictures aren't great because I forgot my camera (I know, bad mom!) and only had my phone.