Pretty Keen At Month Eighteen!

September

What's new baby boo?

• Not eating. Or should I say having one single bite of anything offered and then spitting the rest out. 
• I'm pretty sure he says, "shoes..." in the cutest most unintelligible baby way possible. 
• Imitation seems to be a big thing for him now as he can copy a movement in just seconds where as it used to take him days/weeks/months. I'm impressed! He'll actually sign back to me now though I'm not entirely sure he understands all of them. 
• One thing I reeeeeeaaaaaaaaally love that he does now is runs smiling to me for hugs. Mmmmmmmm happy baby hugs. Finally it's not just Daddy we want to hug & snug all the time. 
• Chatting before falling asleep? He's up there hoo-ing and babbling up a storm for 15min to an hour! At first I was both alarmed and annoyed but then a ton of other Moms told me that it's just how they process their day and wind down.

Roadtrip To Gma & Gpa's House!!
We took a long weekend and drove down to Canon City to hang out at Gma Sylvia & Gpa Paul's mountain home. So many new things to explore! Jaxen really had a great time out there in the wilderness and did very well when Gma & Gpa watched him so Ben and I could go climbing at Shelf and then the next day at Voyager. What we found out the hard way on this trip is that it's now a bad idea to try to travel over nap time. It just won't happen. On our way down he only ended up sleeping for 30 min. As a result, he woke up pretty sick on Sunday and has since shared that sickness with me. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Luckily it was no more than a runny nose and scratchy throat.

October

• Down the stairs? No problem! As long as there is a railing to hold on to!
• Climbing on everything! I guess that's what I get for taking him climbing all the time in utero! Ben built him a climbing wall one weekend so we can start working on him.
• Trying to jump but not being successful.
• The newest craze at the playground these days is going down slides! He's not quite ready to do it himself but he'll go down holding my hands.
• Intermittent 6am(ish) wakings. Booooooooooo. At least they're short lived. Possibly teeth on the way?
• Project Daylight-Savings-Baby-Clock Reset: 
• [NIGHT]begin 10/22 new bed time = 8:45pm 
• 10/26 new bed time = 9pm
• 10/29 new bed time = 9:15pm
• 11/2 new bed time = 9:30pm 
• [NAP] 1:30/1:45/2pm     This worked VERY well. Next time I'll start earlier though. While everyone else was having a hard time the morning daylight savings time ended, Jaxen slept 'til 7:15. As usual, the things that everyone seems to struggle with the most are not an issue for us.

Gma J's Visit!
We had a nice long visit with Gma J this month! We took Gma to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins, saw some farm animals and got a little scared of the pigs. Thanks for coming to visit!

Halloween
I can't thank Kelsey enough for babysitting for us so we could go to a costume party!!!!!!!!!!! We had a great time!! Thanks to Jared & Tina for hosting an awesome get together too. Ben went as a zombie and I went as Lara Croft which was probably one of the best costumes I've ever put together. Before we went to the party we dressed Jaxen up in his triceratops costume and he helped us hand out candy. It didn't last long though. He didn't like the hat part. I already have ideas for next Halloween!!!!!!! There really need to be more Halloweens.

Click here for an excellent cooking video.

25lbs                         32.5" tall

      November

•  That guy is looking me square in the eyes and doing exactly what I told him NOT to do. 
• The only time Jaxen sits still is when he's trying to figure out how something works. Other than that we are GO, GO, GO all day long.
• Growing less in the horizontal plane and more in the vertical one.
• Started swim lessons at Swim Otters! First 6 lessons Kathy had to work through a lot of crying but it progressively got less and less. The work I did with him this summer in the pool seemed to pay off, he was somewhat used to floating and could hold his breath when going under. I plan to keep him in most of winter just for something to do and a way to get his energy out. He naps soooooooooooooooooooooooooo well on those days.
• There is a shortage on mugs and bowls lately as Jaxen can now reach the counter tops, pull things off, then throw them with considerable force.
• According to weeks of messy diapers, fussiness, and lack of eating there are definitely teeth on the way. I still don't see anything yet but I'm suspecting the cuspid's.
• At the indoor playgrounds, my kid is the one who's always trying to escape into the great outdoors. Having had our first batch of unacceptable single digit weather, this disinterest makes me nervous. It was a hard week to get through. Luckily, Colorado is generally NOT cold <3

A MT Thanksgiving
  Just like last Christmas, we split the drive into two parts and stayed in Casper.We decided to retest the "no napping in the car anymore" theory and left around 1pm. A 30 min nap happened and he held up like a trooper. I just get so nervous when we have to mess up our sleep schedule...it's sooooooo important to sleep! So far, Jaxen as proven to be pretty a pretty flexible guy though.
  Once we got to Gma & Gpa's house there were all kinds of new places to explore! There was a kitty to chase, MORE doggies to snuggle and Jaxen sure enjoyed entertaining Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, uncle Rory and aunt Michelle, uncle Ryan and aunt Kasey with his large smiles, giggles and antics of every kind. We even made friends with Chase next door who was nice enough to share his extra stroller, some toys and his sled! We had a really great time and a very delicious Thanksgiving and we are so grateful to have been able to be with everyone. It was very hard for me to leave. Wish you were closer Mom...
  All too soon, it was time to hit the road in our new black Friday purchase. That Rav4 made all the difference on the snowy trek back to Colorado. Stupidly, we re-retried traveling over nap time and he actually did nap for about 45 min just before we got to Casper. Next time I'm booking a hotel with a pool, making sure we can do an early check in, traveling in the morning and doing nap time at the hotel. THERE. It's in writing. Hold me to it.

Photos from the last three months are HERE.

Click here for our Xmas ideas! 

I update this list frequently so check back. If an item disappears it's already been purchased or I changed my mind and removed it in favor of something else.

HOWEVER, WE WOULD RATHER YOU BUY JAXEN SOMETHING ACTIVE LIKE SWIM LESSONS OR ACTIVE INDOOR STUFF.
He barely touches the majority of the toys we have now anyway.

+9 million accuracy

My Little Jelly Bean Turns Fifteen!

MONTHS...15 months   :P

12-13 Months

Off to a very clingy/whiny start with the inability to sit and play by himself so I can get a few things done. AGH!!! Back to normal by mid month though and all the meanwhile continuing to sleep through the night. I'M LOVING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like I can finally be the Mom I've always wanted to be.

We've been going to a lot of playgrounds lately. Jaxen loves to swing and pays close attention to what the other kids are doing and how they are doing it. Then he gets REALLY brave. We also tried going to the splash pad at City Center Park. It took him awhile to figure what to do but soon he was merrily running through the fountains!

Weaning notes:

6/8 - down to 1.5 total feedings. 1/2 upon waking, 1/2 before nap, 1/2 before bed

6/16 - down to one total feeding. 1/2 before nap, 1/2 before bed

6/25 - add 1 bottle of 4oz coconut tonic before nap. Down to 1/2 feeding b4 bed. This transition worked like a charm! Plus I moved him to the bottom of the pack n play too!

6/26 - Rough night last night! J woke up crying/screaming (hungry was my guess) for 10-15 before going back to sleep. Tonight I nursed 5-7 min on one side (or until empty) then switched over to a bottle of coconut tonic. (Started decongestant this week too...it helped dry up my milk.)
6/27 - Stopped nursing before bed. Just 4oz coconut milk.

6/30 - Excess milk on right side. Nursed 5 min then bottle.

It feels like it took forever to wean but in reality it was only 3 months.

*Lesson learned: a baby who is ready will take to new things easily. It was hard putting that ahead of my own needs for so long but sooooooooo worth it now! (Of course if you had asked me back then I would have said otherwise.)

J's Favorite Recipes Here!
 

At 13-14 months...

CAUGHT CLIMBING STAIRS!!!! One moment he's on the floor, the next moment he's 4 steps up! Since then we've had a few tumbles. First down the top half of the stairs then a couple weeks later down a couple of GG's stairs at the bottom.

WORDS: Da-da, Da-deee, [t]reeeeeee, eeeeeeeeat, mummum
Signing never really took but I could be trying harder. The signs he does do are all confused...oh well. Talking is better!

So I was sleeping great. Now I'm not. I think it is because I have weaned that everything is out of whack :(

Crater Lake Hike Photos
All this time I've been scared to take Jaxen hiking because I knew it was mess up his nap routine and I didn't really want suffer the consequences. But we decided to brave it and go up to Crater Lakes. He had such a great time, jabbering and pointing at things the whole way up, running around exploring through the wild flowers at the top and then a short 25 min nap on the way down. He held up like a champ (we even went to a BBQ at our neighbors for a few hours!) until bedtime, when he got really fussy for bath and had a really hard time staying asleep. He cried for about 40 min around 9pm. The next day was pretty fussy and nap time was extraordinarily long.

CT Visit Photos
This was his third flight experience but since he's older now, I didn't really know what to expect, especially not having Ben or Gma there to help AND having to connect in other airports. The first flight went well. He played on my lap, on the floor, walked around and hung out with the flight attendants. The second flight he screamed for an hour then fell asleep for the last 30 min. Luckily the guy sitting next to us was super understanding. He even bought me a drink!

Jaxen LOVED exploring GG's house and the beach near by! On one occasion, we waded into the water and he started collecting all the snails that were stuck to the rock. Had we not had to leave to get back for dinner, it seemed like he might have been there for hours. There was even a great play ground we went to very frequently. Gma J was there, Uncle Rory & Aunt Michelle...even Great Aunt Karen and cousin Lauren & Aubrey came over to visit! We were sad to have missed Mike, Jackie, Mila & Nico but they were sick so we couldn't risk it. On Friday Gpa Buggy came to visit and J had his first boat ride!!!!! What a natural.  He even did awesomely when we did a short kayak trip to the sandbar! This guy is really going to be my water buddy. I'm convinced!

One morning, I was changing Jaxen's diaper and talking about babies. When I was done I sat him up and noticed there was a picture of a baby on the diaper wipe bag so I asked, "where's the baby?"   He turned and pointed to the baby on the package all by himself! No one else seems to be impressed by this by it was such a profound moment for me as this was exactly when I realized he's not a baby any more but a REAL, LEARNING little person!

Jaxen also got to go up to the Cape for a couple days to spend time with Gpa Buggy, meet Great Aunt Donna, Great Uncle Mike, Lance (who was absolutely intrigued by Jaxen) and even cousin Lisa and her kids (which I guess would make them his second cousins?)

All too soon our visit was over and it was time to head home. The first flight he did great! THen the second flight...oh wait there was no second flight because it GOT CANCELLED! A bad T-storm rolled through (worst I've ever seen) and it left a lot of people stranded and having to wait in line to rebook their flight. Someone took pity on us and let me cut them in line to rebook sooner since we were all the way at the back of the line. Although we couldn't get on anything until the next morning, at least we got that! So we stayed at Hotel Indigo and had an early bedtime in preparation for our 8am flight out. That went great, Jaxen slept for half (even though I didn't have any milk left, I let him suck on the bottle when he got fussy and he fell right asleep) of it and played nicely for the other half. Then FINALLY we made it home!

The following 3-4 days were a nightmarish getting-back-on-track nap time experience.

At 14-15 months... 

More and more and more teeth! There are 7 now and it's caused on and off fussiness this month with a side of no appetite. When he does eat, he's been back to the basics (which he's refused for the last month or two while trying new foods) chicken, sweet potato, avocado, banana and applesauce. I randomly tried steamed broccoli again this month and he loved it! I just chopped it up into tiny trees and sprinkled a little vegan parmesan on it. Now if I could only get him to like eggs again......

Jaxen is also becoming great at climbing up stairs. He still hasn't quite figured out the down part yet but manages if there's something/one to hold on to. Also, we have a runner! Watch this guy because he'll dart out into the middle of the road at any random second!

Fun with helicopters [video]

Virtual Tour of our finished basement! -- Yes, it's true. Hotel Caron is finally open!!!!!!! Amenities include: private bath, a/c, in room Mini fridge fully stocked with beer, fitness room (complete with expert personal trainer for hire), short walk to the hot tub. 

More photos here!

 

See you in another three months!

nailed it.