Returning to blogging

So it has been exactly a year since I last blogged. Whew, I have some catching up to do!! I stopped blogging because our computer had too many glitches and so blogging proved to be more of a headache then a pleasure.

At a glimpse, Jaxon is getting ready to turn 4 this coming May and really is quite wise for his age, a boy after his daddy's heart that is for sure! He really is such a unique, tender, loving soul that can capture the heart of anyone who spends 5 minutes with him. He still loves his cars, trains, and anything that has wheels attached to it really. He is immensely inquisitive...the questions just keep on coming! I have had to change up my approach to schooling him quite a few times, trying to figure out what will hold his attention since he is not real fond of arts and crafts (though he has gotten better) and that is what I love to do. We do a lot of cooking together, he enjoys that. I tried to start a letter of the week but after letter C, I realized that he is just not ready for it and so we will start that back up next year and now I am going to be working on themes. I will post some of the photos that I took from our A-C projects because I took so many of them and then I will return to posting once I figure out what themes I want to start working with him on.

Jillian, oh...lovely...Jillian! Total opposite of her complacent counterpart. I call her my little spitfire! She is very vocal about her dislikes, has learned quickly how to take revenge on her sometimes pestering brother and LOVES big HUGS from anybody that will give them to her. Seriously, I mean anybody. Strangers in the neighborhood, ladies in checkout lines, baggers at Publix. It is very cute! She is getting ready to turn a year in a half and we got the best present ever as her birthday gift, she is now able to eat whatever she wants! No more intolerances to soy, cows milk or whey.

Jason and I celebrated out 5 year wedding anniversary today. I feel so blessed for what we have and try not to ever take it for granted. We are on the market for a new house which many of you are already aware of. We had one that we absolutely loved, seller accepted our offer and then pulled out on us 3 hours before the inspection. You can imagine how crushed we both were but we realize that our future is already set for us and so now we just continue on our journey.

I guess that is all for tonight, I will be updating my blog regularly now that we got the new computer, yay! Love you all!

A peek at our weeks

Grandpas Visit

Grandpas visit, Easter and a few things in-between

EASTER SUNDAY
Spring is here! And just as the flowers are blooming and the butterflies are escaping their tight confined quarters of their cocoons so is my spirit and soul awakening and glowing. I love this time of year! Jason and I, very specifically, chose March for our wedding date four years ago just for this reason. And with this season comes a wonderful Holiday, Easter. I love holidays in general because they allow me to sit back and reflect on how blessed I am to have my family and the people that are close to me in my life. But this Easter seemed to have even more significance than others past. I spent a lot of my day (in-between taking photos and watching my son shoveling jellybeans down his throat) just watching my family interact with each other and thought...we are so blessed! I am so blessed! I am beyond thankful for my husband, working his tail off each and every day at a job, that he loves but that is beyond stressful. Jason rarely utters a word of complaint or exhaustion, just so that we can keep our children home with us. My dear Jaxon, so sweet, growing so fast. He can put his own shoes on and spell his name. He orders his own food in a restaurant and FINALLY goes down most slides. And then my baby girl Jillian, sitting up so pretty and constantly sucking her thumb...against my every effort in deflecting such a habit. She just loves watching her brother make goofy faces at her and I feel very sorry for every animal in our house for when she becomes mobile, she is going to terrorize them!
And then there was the Easter Bunny, aka, my mom. I don't know what we would do without her, she has stepped up to the plate each and every time we have needed her no matter what the cost to her. Yup...this was a great Easter Sunday and I am thankful for what has been given to me.

GRANDPAS VISIT
If you ever want your in-laws to get to know you REAL well, have them spend 10 days at your house with just you, your toddler and your 5 mo. old. Just Kidding, it went so well (I hope). Grandpa was picked up from the airport by Jason and Jaxon and although Jaxon was a little shy initially, by the end of the 25 minute car ride they were best friends. Jaxon had a full-time playmate for ten days, I don't think he spoke to me the entire time Grandpa was here unless he wanted food. Grandpa was also very helpful around the house, poor man, Jason and I had him replacing sink faucets, bathroom faucets and anything else around the house we needed repaired. We spent more time at Lowes and Home Depot than I have in my entire adult life. Thank you Arnold, we are very grateful for everything.

So far this month Jaxon and I have focused on what Spring is all about and the true meaning of Easter. Above are some pictures of Jaxon planting is own little flower garden.

Watching Jillian grow has me doing a lot of reminiscing about the last three years watching Jaxon grow so I put together a slide BELOW of pictures of Jaxon growing. I hope you enjoy them.

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter Sunday as much as we did. I hope it was one day that you were able to set your troubled thoughts aside to enjoy what really matters in life...your family and friends!
God Bless you all!

Reminiscing

Valentines Day 2008

Most Recent Playdates

AN UPDATE ON JAXON

Jaxon has been showing quite an interest in the "big boy" potty lately so I took him to pick out his very own potty. He went with the Elmo line and has been very pleased with his decision! He spent an entire day, LITERALLY, on the potty and I thought he was going to train himself. The very next day though, he showed hardly any interest in it, LOL, this is very typical of Jaxon of course. Since I am not going to start training him until he turns three anyway, between now and then it's pretty much just a free-for-all for him. I am planning on converting his crib into a toddler bed sometime in the next few weeks and I am optimistic that he will conform to the new arrangement pretty easily. My little baby is turning into a little boy and proving to be quite the charmer and comedic these days!


It will not be long before the time will come to start school with Jaxon, after all two years will easily fly by. As a sort of test run, I am going to start over the next 6 months trying to establish more of a preschool routine throughout the week. This will allow me plenty of time to get used to sticking to an itinerary and figuring out what will work best for our family. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about taking on such a commitment but I am thrilled to be able to dedicate such time into my children and I love that I will be able to work with each according to their individual learning styles. I wouldn't be able to do this if not for Jason working so hard in order for me to stay home with our children and I feel blessed to be given this opportunity!


AN UPDATE ON JILLIAN

Jillian is getting so big and really starting to show some personality! She has discovered her voice and loves to talk at high volumes while playing with her feet. She also loves sitting in her Bumbo seat and watching me do the dishes. She has FINALLY decided that MAYBE she will let me out of the house once in a while, so I have been taking Jaxon and her to the park almost everyday and the weather has been just perfect for it too!



We are sad to say that she is still having an intolerance to soy and cows milk. Her doctor had me add soy back into my diet for two weeks and than to retest her. Unfortunately the results show that her system is still not able to digest the proteins properly so I went off soy products again and will continue with the diet for another couple of months until we try again. The good news is that she was not fussy at all and never seemed uncomfortable. I am hopeful that by the time she turns one things will work themselves out.


Jillian will be getting her ears pierced this Friday. I think Jason is more excited about this than anyone. MamaG is just glad someone in this family is finally getting some diamond earrings...hint, hint, honey!!


AN UPDATE ON ME AND JASON

...Speaking of my husband, he deserves some props. Jason has been working so incredibly hard the last few months and it is greatly paying off. He and his team have done so many great things for their company. His market share for luxury brand is the highest in the Southern region United States and he reduced inventory cost by half , which with the economy the way it is, this is an extraordinary achievement!


Be fore-warned...my wonderful husband spoiled me with the new camera that I wanted and so I have been a picture taking fool the last couple of weeks and I have lots of pics that I want to share! I enjoy this so much that one day I would like to take some classes and make photography a hobby.


Finally, I hope that the start of your 2009 is heading in the direction that you all wish for it to be. Thank you for taking the time to read my blogs, I hope you enjoy them!!

Scroll down for more...

$5 day at the zoo

Sunday, January 11th, turned out to be quite an adventure for all involved. Jason and I decided to break free from our shell and finally venture out for an excursion to the zoo with Jaxon. Thank you for my mother, being the brave soul that she is, staying home with Jillian for over 5 hours. You see, Jaxon and Jillian are very different in two ways...she pretty much refuses to take a bottle and she is ALL ABOUT HER MAMA!! With Jaxon, I could have left for three days and return only for him to pretty much run the other way, luckily he is not like that at all any more or else I would be very sad. But Jillian doesn't like for me to be our of her site for more than a few minutes and she will let everyone know she is not happy. We lucked out in that my mom was able to get her to take a bottle but Jillian cried 4 out of the 5 hours that my mom was with her. Funny, she was all smiles once I returned home...


Things were not much sunnier on mine and Jason's side of town that day. Luck would have it that the day we decided to go to the zoo also happened to be $5 day, yup, only five dollars to get in the door and EVERYONE came to the zoo that day. It took us over an hour and a panic attack from Jason for us to get less that a half mile. Once we got finally got in the door though, things started smoothing out for us and we had a pretty good time. Jaxon rode on a roller coaster, per his request, but decided it wasn't really for him. He and I went on a camel ride and he was able to feed a giraffe. All in all it was a good afternoon with Jaxon. I know he enjoyed not taking second fiddle to Jillian for once and we enjoyed our one-on-one time with him.

Scroll down for the slide shows...

Christmas has come and gone and it was everything I hoped that it would be. Christmas Eve was such a beautiful day and since everyone had to work the early part of the day I decided to make the most of the afternoon with my children. I set up a blanket outside for me and Jillian while Jaxon pretended his wagon was a choo-choo train picking up his passengers (his stuffed animals). We listened to Christmas music through my car stereo to help keep the spirit flowing and we had so much fun. Christmas Eve is traditionally spent with our friends the O'tools but since Jillian tends to be a bit fussy at night and I wanted to be able to relax, we decided to keep it simple and spend the evening at home.
Christmas morning, the anticipation of seeing Jaxons face was killing me so at about 7am I started "coughing" loudly outside his bedroom door to wake him up. The first thing he went to, slowly, was his Big Wheel. I think Jason was more eager to see him take off on it then Jaxon was ready for, but within a few minutes Jaxon was spinning around the living room. He barely fits it, but he manages nicely. While we opened the rest of the gifts I surprised Jaxon with a nice cup of warm cocoa (his first ever), after every sip he would lick his lips ten times. I think that meant he liked it(; We finished up the morning with Nana's traditional Christmas Breakfast!
Finally, Jillian's Christmas present to all of us was that she was almost abnormally serene ALL DAY LONG!! Never a peep out of her mouth that wasn't a happy coo.
I hope all of you have just as wonderful memories to walk away with from this Christmas as I do. It's been a tough 2008 for I think everyone and so I pray for all of you to have a strong and prosperous 2009!

The skinny on whats going on...

So far our Holiday Season has been just what I would like for it to be. The only thing missing is being able to have the whole family together! I think Grandpa will be visiting us in January and I am really looking forward to Jaxon spending time with him, I know it will be a very special time for both!
The house is decorated and Jaxon has fallen in love with the Alvin and the chipmunks Christmas cd, just like his mama, it was always my favorite and I've discovered that it still is! We've started the Christmas cartoon tradition with Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer. Jaxon liked it I think, but being that it was an hour long he did seem to lose focus towards the end. To my surprise, not only was watching these holiday favorites like "Santa's Coming to Town," and "Frosty the Snowman" not a holiday tradition for Jason but he wasn't sure that he had ever seen one from beginning to end. This was very strange to me!
We have been talking to Jaxon about Santa, how he will come down our chimney on Christmas Eve and that we will leave out cookies and milk for the jolly fellow but this was not enough to convince Jaxon to sit on his lap at the mall. We have a Christmas party to go to tomorrow that Santa will be at so maybe he will warm up to him and give it a go.
Jillian is just so incredibly precious and she is already blowing through milestones much faster than Jaxon ever did. She has already rolled over once and now spends a large portion of her wakeful time trying to do it again. Our most recent appt with the GI specialist was very encouraging and the doctor feels pretty positive that she will grow out of her whey/soy/casein intolerance relatively early.
Look down below, I captured two of Jaxons lastest and most enjoyed art projects in a slide show and another slide show of Jillian. Hope you enjoy!

Our latest art projects

Jillian at 2 months

Ahhh, what a fabulous start to the holidays! I am VERY thankful for Nana cooking such a delicious meal...AND doing all the cleanup (; Seriously though, it really was a perfect day. We always like to get in Nana's hair nice and early so we were at her house by 11am. Some people complained (Jason) that I set the dinner time for 4:00 so we moved it to 3:00 and next year it will be at two. A dear friend of ours, Sean, joined us this year and we are especially thankful for his being with us since he and his wife, my longest time friend Kaitlin, are moving to Australia. I am going to miss them both dearly and wish that Kaitlin could have joined us as well. Jillian was such a dear and slept right through dinner so we were all able to sit and enjoy without any interruptions!! Please note her ADORABLE outfit, it is priceless...way too big on her, but perfect nonetheless!
I do want to mention how thankful I am for my families health! Jillian has really had a rough start to her precious little life and now she is doing so much better. Her acid-reflux is under control and now that I am on my special diet her protein intolerance seem not to be bothering her and although her heart murmur is still the same we are extremely optimistic that it will close up before she turns a year. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for her and our family, we seem to be heading down better terrain now! I am also very thankful for my husband who, no matter how tiring his days are at work, he comes home with a smile on his face ready to tumble with his son. He is a very dedicated father and husband and I am thankful when he comes home to his family every night.
Well, my FAVORITE holiday is right around the corner and the next few weeks have proven to be very challenging for me, the anticipation just kills me...AND I LOVE IT! I cannot wait to see Jaxon's face light up Christmas morning. Who would have known three years ago how much better my holidays were about to become!
Don't forget, if the slide show isn't playing just hit your refresh button!!

Thanksgiving

Halloween came and went so fast, but it was a joyful start to a much anticipated Holiday season! Jaxon seemed to have fun, though he enjoyed each houses' decorations more than the trick-or-treating itself. He would get very excited anytime a lolly-pop was dropped into his goody bag because that is the only candy he has had (while he gets his hair cuts). He pooped out about an hour into it and enjoyed being chauffeured in the stroller while watching the others. It was obvious just how tiring the events of the night were when he asked his daddy to put him in his bed after his teeth were brushed!

A Day of Halloween Spirit

What a fun day we had as a family! I am very excited for the Holidays this year since it is the first year that Jaxon really "gets" it. We started the day with our usual breakfast at Paradise in Safety Harbor and then headed out to the pumpkin patch. The weather was nice, there was even a cool breeze to help get us in the spirit. Jaxon had so much fun at the pumpkin patch! We told him that if he could lift the pumpkin then he could take it home and we also let him pick one out for Jillian. Included in the festivities were a hay maze, face painting and a hay ride. I was thrilled when Jaxon went on the hay ride with Nana!! We spent the rest of the afternoon decorating and carving out the pumpkins and topped it off by making and decorating some Coco Crispies Haunted Houses. Jaxon had more sugar today than in his entire 2 1/2 years of life and was loving it (; I am looking forward to when Jillian will be able to interact with us as well, you didn't get to see her much but she was there in the background soaking it all in.
Hope you enjoy, the pictures are not very good because I had to use my phone to take them but I still wanted to share them with you!

Looking for the Perfect Pumpkin

Carving Pumpkins

Jillian Lorelai-Anita Good
September 16, 2008
1:52pm
7 lbs 9oz.
19 3/4 in. long

Hello everyone, as all of you know our Baby Jillian arrived over two weeks ago and she stole all of our hearts within the first few minutes of her arrival. Although she was over 2 lbs bigger than Jaxon at birth, she seemed, and still seems so incredibly tiny. Jaxon, bless his heart, is doing so well with her. I am the one who struggles daily with the thought of him not feeling like he is number one in our life any longer. But he has truly adjusted like a champ. All of my nightmares of him picking her up by the foot and dragging her across the living room floor have banished along with visions of him poking her eyes out and shoving quarters down her throat. Jaxon is very gentle with her, he always gives her her kisses on her head and never touches her face. I am looking forward to the day that she first laughs because I am sure that Jaxon will be the cause of it!
Life at home is a bit more chaotic, to say the least. I am trying to adjust to keeping two happy instead of just one. She still sleeps much of the day and so I am a bit nervous for the upcoming weeks. So far she is easier at night (if you can believe that) than during the day. We have only had a few late night stints, or wait..I mean "I" have only had a few late night stints (; Jason of course is very helpful and always devoted to helping me out but I am on night shift and so far have been quite lucky!
Until next time...
PS. If you are having a hard time viewing any of the slides try hitting your refresh button and it should start the slide back up!

Jaxon and his art work

I am very proud of Jaxon, he has come a long way with his art work. Not only is he now willing to get his hands dirty, he loves to paint himself!! These pics are from the last couple of days worth of projects that we have done. Yesterday I took him for a "rock hunt" looking for rocks so that we can wash and paint them. I discovered that there are not many different styles of rocks in our area and that is what led us to Philippe Park. Although we did not find any rocks there either, we did discover the little crabs on the shoreline. It took some time for Jaxon to get to see them because they would burrow under the ground at every movement. Once he realized what I was pointing at though, he had a blast! He would stand quietly and wait for them to come out of their holes and then charge at them, giggling! We had a great time and he was sad to go.

Our visit with Jason's brothers family was too short! Other than that it was perfect. We spent the afternoon at Clearwater beach. Kaelan spent the majority of the time riding the waves, which were a treat since we don't usually experience waves in the gulf. Jaxon on the other hand did NOT embrace the waves like Kaelan did. They were a bit overwhelming for him. As long as either Jason or I had him in our arms though, he was in heaven! Makenzie, dear Makenzie, what a trooper!!! She held in there for all of us with barely a grimace. I was VERY impressed! After we left the beach , we showered and went to dinner at Casa Tina's. Kaelan and Jaxon played and laughed at one end of the table while Makenzie sat at the other end contently before finally succumbing to her daddies arms for a quick snooze. What a wonderful visit, I hope they enjoyed it as much as we all did!

Check out my Slide Show!

Jaxon makes fruit salad