Tiny Clothes All In A Row

After burying myself in boxes, totes and bags of clothes for the past two days organizing everything into sizes and seasons, here is the end result... tiny clothes all in a row! I had really planned on waiting to wash the newborn to six month variety, but couldn't help myself.

I had forgotten all about some of the sweet, little duds from when Jaxon was a baby. It was fun showing him the outfit he was brought home from the hospital in, and the outfit Daddy picked for him to have his picture taken in at the hospital. We held some of the sleepers up to him and decided they probably weren't going to fit anymore. And he tried on a few of the tiny hats that once fit on his head.

Jaxon asked me if I thought the "baby" would like his clothes and said that he would be happy to share them w/ "him" since they no longer fit. Now the hunt begins for the perfect "Big Brother" / "Little Brother" shirts for my boys to wear when they meet for the first time!

Front Page News

After a very busy time at the fair and a sad good-bye to my Grandma last week, the only thing that felt worth waiting for this week was the Washington County News! When Kent came home for lunch on Thursday he brought along 6 copies of the paper... Jaxon & "Nettie" had made the front page! Our local editor, Dan, had told me that he was planning to use one of the many pictures he had taken of Jaxon, but we were really surprised to see that it was the biggest photo on the front page! Jaxon now seems to think that he is some sort of local celebrity, of course Kent & I may have had a hand in making him believe that!!!

Fair Recap in Photos

Jaxon & "Nettie" spending some quality time getting to know one another!

Giving "Nettie" her first bath at home!Finally at the Fair comforting a very sleepy "Nettie"!The judge was asking Jaxon a series of questions about taking care of "Nettie" during the show!Jaxon recieved his very first blue ribbon!And after a very long couple of weeks, here is Jaxon telling "Nettie" good-bye and thanking her for being such a "big girl"! We can't wait till next year!!!

Lessons Learned at the County Fair

I am so far behind! It has been so long since I lasted posted, I had to go back and reread what I had written to refresh my memory! Every once in a while something comes along & I think, "Hey, I need to blog about this when I get a minute." Sadly, there haven't been enough of those minutes lately!

We have been having a very busy summer. We were gone for a week in June to Texas for Kent's sister's high school graduation. We had a great time exploring the Dallas/Fort Worth area and spending time w/ family and friends. A week or so after we got back, we found out that we are expecting another little boy! Jaxon is soooooo excited and can't wait to meet his little brother! And then began the preparation for Jaxon's first trip to the county fair.

I really shouldn't give myself that much credit! We only began preparing about a week before the fair started! But when it's 115 out and you are working w/ someone who has the attention span of a gnat... a week is a long time! We began our preparation by picking out a small, female, bucket calf. This process was really pretty simple. I based my pick totally on cuteness and Uncle Tony got stuck lassoing the poor animal! We then drug her out of her comfort zone into the front yard at Uncle Micah's house.

It'd been about 17 years since I'd shown a heifer at the fair. Things had changed but the one thing that stayed the same was the sheer frustration of halter breaking a small calf! After a day of working w/ "Nettie", (who Jaxon affectionately named all on his own), I knew we needed to get this little lady away from Uncle Micah's and back to our own place. Jaxon was more interested in what my brothers were up to then anything else that day and he asked a handful of times if he could go watch Uncle Micah's TV!

After our dinner break I decided it'd be a good time to give little "Nettie" a bath. This was something that Jaxon could really get into and it helped to cool us all off a bit. This became Jaxon's favorite part of fair preparation and I think we may have had the cleanest calf at the fair! We brought "Nettie" home that first night and spent the whole week leading her around our yard. She went to the clothes line w/ us, played in the dirt w/ Jaxon, got to go to the mailbox a few times and slowly became very well adjusted to becoming our little project pet!

The day had finally come for us to take "Nettie" to the fair. Jaxon was so excited, he couldn't wait to get up there to the "Vet", (he thinks everything in Washington is the Vet Clinic), even now he still refers to the fair as the "vet". Anyway, we loaded up the calf and all her belongings and headed up for a week of fun at the fair! Over the course of a week we made several trips back and forth feeding, watering and of course bathing "Nettie" in preparation for the big show. Jaxon made some new friends who he spent hours farming in the dirt w/. When I asked him what his favorite part of the fair was he responded w/... "playing in the dirt!"

On the day of the big show we woke up extra early and headed up to get "Nettie" all ready. We had her looking spotless just to find out that the show started an hour later then we thought. I changed Jaxon out of his white polo back into his play clothes and let him run around a bit before we herded him and "Nettie" into the ring. They were the first pair to head in. I nervously forgot to turn my video camera on when the show started and missed all 5 minutes of his first time showing at the fair! (I cried for almost an hour the next day when I discovered this!!!)

Jaxon was rewarded with a blue ribbon, a ten dollar check from the Washington Co. Dairy fund and a free ice cream cone! What an exciting time! When I told Jaxon that we were going to be bringing "Nettie" home from the fair in a few days, he cried! He had had such an amazing time he didn't want to leave. We plan to continue participating w/ the Dairy Show from here on out. Jaxon still has a few years before he can be in 4-H but Open Class is a great learning experience for us all. Kent has big plans for our future at the fair, he'd like to have a show box made for our boys and nieces & nephews to share. And next year he plans to use his week of vacation on the fair!

Baby Sighting

I thought today would be a good day to give an update on my diet (since it's been so long). The truth is, my diet hasn't been going very well lately. Infact, I am sad to report that I have gained back 5 pounds. For the past 7 weeks I have had no desire to workout and I have been unusually hungry (and have given in to way too many sweets!) I have been feeling sick a lot lately and most days Jaxon is waking me up telling me it's not time to sleep!

I am hoping to get back into the swing of things in about a week or so because at that point I will have reached my 2nd trimester!!! Yes, we are expecting!!! I am 12 weeks today and am so excited to finally feel like I can share our news. Jaxon and I heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time yesterday. He was really excited and told the Dr. that the baby is a boy and that he can't wait to play w/ "him" when he comes out!

At 8 weeks I was given a sonogram and Jaxon was there to experience our first "baby sighting" w/ me... here is a picture that I took when we got home!

My due date is November 4th and we are all so excited to meet him/her!

The Blue Cotton Ball

Kent and I took Jaxon to his first movie Saturday... How To Train Your Dragon (in 3D)! It was a really cute movie and I would recommend it to anyone! It was a first for me too, I'd never seen a movie in 3D... it was amazing! Walking into the "beeater" (as Jaxon calls it), I'm not sure Jaxon knew what to expect. We paid for our outrageously expensive tickets, a huge bag of blue cotton candy for Jaxon, Kent's Goobers and a large Pepsi that Kent was convinced we needed since we were all going to share. (Over half of that large Pepsi was still sitting on the bar in our kitchen the next morning... guess we would have been fine w/ the medium, huh Dear?!)


The clerk handed us our 3D glasses (which by the way were pretty nice, they were actually like a pair of sunglasses instead of paper), and we headed into the "beeater". I don't know about you and your child, but Jaxon can spot a claw game or one of those coin operated ride-on toys immediately anywhere we go! And of course why would this place be any different?! We managed to get him steered back towards the movie but by the time we had stopped to use the bathroom, the "beeater" was already dark when we walked in!


I sort of had it in my head that maybe since it was his first time we should be sat down before the lights go off and the loud music starts... luckily we got him seated w/ no meltdowns, or trips down the stairs. So now it was time to get our glasses out and ready. This child loves sunglasses! He wears a pair of 3D Crayola Chalk glasses around the house and outside all of the time, (how he sees, I'm not too sure)! He got a pair of sunglasses from the Easter Bunny that are too small and insists on wearing them even though they squish his melon! But do you think we could get him to put his glasses on?!

After we'd missed all the credits in 3D (due to us trying to convince our child to put on the glasses), and the 1st 5 minutes of the movie, we finally convinced him to just try it... and he did! So the movie has started and we are all enjoying ourselves. Jaxon has asked for us to open the "cotton ball" (as he calls it), so we do. The movie is almost 2 hours long and in that window of time I can't even tell you how many times we had to clean off this child's 3-D glasses! Every time we turned around he was smearing "cotton ball" stickiness all over the lenses!

So we made it to the end and as we headed out into the light we could see why we were busy cleaning lenses every other minute... Jaxon's face was covered in blue "cotton ball"! His clothes were covered, there were spot of still fluffy "cotton ball" stuck to his shirt! Needless to say I was much relieved to find a package of flushable wipes in our car!

And while we won't be rushing back anytime soon to the "beeater", it was a memorable experience for us all! And who knows, maybe by the time Toy Story 3 comes out, we'll be ready to try it again... minus the blue "cotton ball"!

Just Can't Get Enough

We went to see Alivia again last night... I just can't get enough of her! Jaxon held her for the first time (and even though he was busy trying to pass her off to Grandma so he could go back to playing w/ Uncle Tony), he thinks she's pretty special! We all do!