Mailing Valentines

We have been busy little beavers at our house this week getting ready for Valentine's Day! Jaxon & his class have also been busy preparing for the sweetest day of the year at PreSchool too! Since we have lots of new friends this year, we decided to make homemade Valentines.

(This was Jaxon's idea. I would have been completely fine w/ buying the SpongeBob ones we looked at at Wal-Mart, but he wanted Monster Truck Valentine's and we couldn't find any! He asked if we could make our own at that point & I couldn't exactly turn him down!)

The theme at PreSchool the past 2 weeks has been "Mailing Valentines". The kids all made a special Valentine for a special someone and yesterday, got to mail that Valentine on their field trip to the Post Office in Linn. Jaxon was so excited about going to the Post Office! He had been telling us all week how he was going to mail Maddox's special Valentine. So I guess Max can expect his first Valentine in the mail! The picture above is of the PreSchoolers standing infront of the mailboxes... Jaxon is in the tan coveralls. They were pulled across town on sleds to the Post Office by their teacher and another Mom! I'm not sure which part was more fun... the Post Office or the sledding?!?!

Here they all are lining up to mail their Valentines. What a fun way to learn all about our postal service!

Copy Cat

Jaxon's been busy showing Maddox all sorts of new tricks!

This seems to be his favorite!

The Things We Do For Love

Now I realize this is probably way too much information, even for me, but if it helps another Mommy, then it'll be worth the humiliation of what I am about to type!

Poor Max has had a clogged tear duct since birth. I keep telling myself, "It'll go away!" But we wake up every morning to the same thing... a poohy eye! I've spoke to the doctor about it several times, she keeps telling me the same thing... warm compress and lots of massaging. Everyday for the past 3 months and some odd days, I've started my day off by doctoring Max's poor, poohy eye! Throughout the day, I clean the area and massage every time I nurse him. His poor little bean is as dry as sandpaper because of all the warm compresses!

So I decided to start doing a little research on the issue. I am always a bit skeptical when it comes to what I read online, after all, this is his eye we are talking about. I don't exactly want to make my child go blind because of some old wives tale I've read on the Internet! Most of the information I have been able to find says to continue doing what I have been doing and eventually it will go away on it's own. But there was always another suggestion that kept coming up that I thought sounded a bit crazy at first!

Since this idea kept popping up in my online research, I decided to ask around. I figured if it were as crazy as it sounded the individuals I asked would have no problem telling me so! I finally got up the nerve to call the doctor's office and request to talk to the nurse, again! I explained to her my frustration and asked her to be completely honest w/ me on whether or not she would try this on her own child. Since the nurse I was speaking to has no children of her own she said she'd be happy to ask the doctor and return my call.

When the nurse called back she explained that what I had read wasn't crazy and the doctor thought it'd be worth a try. She went on to explain that while it probably wouldn't completely unclog the tear duct, it would kill off any infection and clear up the snotty, green, pussy, poohy stuff that drains from the eye!

With the doctor's blessing, I preformed an at-home procedure on my little Max that will one day have him wanting to die at the mere thought of it! As Jaxon and I were playing Batman & the Joker this afternoon, I decided to go ahead and give the procedure a try. Max got hungry in the middle of our comic book heroes battle so I did what I always do when he gets hungry, I nursed him. When he was all finished, I sprayed a little breast milk into his poohy eye... told you this is way too much info!!! Jaxon asked what I was doing, because he witnessed the whole awkward procedure, so I told him that Max was pretending to be the Penguin and that the Joker, (me), was spraying "silly juice" in his eyes to keep him from stealing my weapon!

Don't worry, I also explained to him that only the Joker, (aka Mommy), has the power of the "silly juice" and that no one, I mean no one is to ever put anything in Max's eyes!!! He then asked if I'd spray Batman, (him), w/ the "silly juice"!!!

"Sorry Buddy, the "silly juice" only works on the Penguin! And no you can't be the Penguin!!!"

Ouchies

If there's one thing I could change about being a Mom, it'd be the dreaded "ouchie" (or shot) experience! If it were up to me they would all be given orally in flavors such as cherry, bubble gum or cotton candy! I know it's important for our young ones to be vaccinated and I do it to keep my little ones healthy, but must it be such a scary, painful way to keep them safe?!
Max got his first round of "ouchies" last week. He did remarkably well considering Mommy spent all morning worrying about what was to come. He sat there on my lap smiling and cooing, flirting w/ the nurse right up to the point of impact! The crying lasted only a few minutes and as a nursed him I apologized for the pain and promised one day he'd be rewarded w/ a slushy like big brother!

Jaxon insisted on being the one to pull the Band-Aids off before their bath that evening. (In the picture above, that's what he's doing.) Max bounced back much faster than Jaxon ever has from the experience and I guess I should just keep reminding myself of that when we get ready to go back for more. After all, it's much easier to hold down a 13 pounder than the 50 pounder!!!

Kindle Pick for January

One of my New Year's "goals" was to read more. And with that came the challenge of selecting books I wouldn't ordinarily read. I have a new "favorite thing", the Amazon Kindle, which allows you to read virtually anything you can get your hands on! That includes children's books! Jaxon loves being read to at night by this device! We are currently reading "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "The Velveteen Rabbit"... both are free for the Kindle. I am looking for some new stories right now for the month of February... suggestions are welcome!


My challenge to myself for the month of January, was to pick a non-fiction book to read. I am a big fiction reader and can honestly say I don't remember the last time I read non-fiction! One of the reasons I love the Kindle so much is because you can use the device to shop online for books! The Kindle Storefront gives you the freedom to shop by categories... fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, children's books, blogs, magazines, etc.!

As I began my hunt for the non-fiction book of choice, I was immediately drawn to a book entitled, "Heaven Is For Real", by Todd Burpo. Other than the title, what grabbed my attention in the description, was that the book is based on stories told to his parents by a 4 year old, about what he had seen in heaven. I don't want to give too much away but this book was AMAZING!!! I very highly recommend it to anyone, whether you believe in heaven or not.

Check out the link below to read more about this amazing piece of non-fiction!
http://heavenisforreal.net/

"Snow" Much Fun

What kid doesn't love snow?! Last week at PreSchool, the kiddos were discussing this wintry delight! Since we didn't have any snow on the ground at the start of the week, Mrs. Amy came up w/ a fun way for them to have an indoor snowball fight! Jaxon must have really been getting into it... he's on his hands and knees at the bottom of the picture!

By the end of the week, they had the real thing to go out and play in! Jaxon tells me this was their snow fort... "You need a good snow fort if you're gonna have a snowball fight, Mom!" When I got to school that day to pick Jaxon up this is what I saw! I sat and watched awhile wondering where everyone else was, he was all alone. The other kids and their teacher were walking back up to where he was sitting... guess he needed a snack! I'm so glad Mrs. Amy captured this... such a silly boy! Yesterday was another SnowDay! We got about 6" and Jaxon couldn't wait to get out in it! Daddy came home a little early to do some scooping so Mommy got to take Jaxon sledding! We had "snow" much fun!!! Daddy did his fair share of pulling the sled too when Mommy had to go back inside to take care of Maddox.

Hopefully we will get to go out again today!

3 Months

On Tuesday, Maddox turned 3 months! He has recently discovered his hands and has been spending lots of his time trying to get them in his mouth. He prefers his fists which can be a little frustrating for him, so Mommy has been encouraging him to try his thumb. He continues to try for the fist!

He is "talking" & cooing, smiling & drooling and almost busting out into those adorable baby giggles! He loves to watch his mobile, interact w/ big brother and take baths! There isn't much he doesn't enjoy but he hates riding in his car seat! Since I didn't do a "Watch Me Grow" photo w/ Jaxon, although I know for sure I have a picture of him from every month of his life, I have decided to include him in each of these pictures as well. I think his feelings get hurt a bit when I ask him to step aside so I can get one of just Max... after all, he's been the most photographed in our home for the longest! It should be fun to look back and see how he has changed from month to month that first year w/ Max as well!