He Got me Thinking

Tonight I was reminding Maddox that we do not shoot people (me in this particular moment) with toy or pretend guns.....with his big brown eyes expressing a very confused look, he simply responded "but YOU'RE not people...you're Mommy"

This simple statement started me thinking. My identity as I once knew it is no longer present or relevant....I am a mommy through and through...and this new identity is perfect for me. Sure, my purse is filled with Hot Wheel Cars, crayons and a burp rag. My clothes usually smell of spit up. My house looks like a mild tornado ran through it. I am not promised a shower everyday. I know more Barney songs than anyone should ever have to know. BUT I would not have it any other way. I am a mommy. I get to love on, pray for, hug, kiss, teach and play with two of the most adorable little boys. SO, I will gladly replace my lipstick with Hot Wheel Cars and my nice smelling perfume with the "lovely" smell my 6 month old decides to leave behind on my shirt sleeve. I will replace my gym going days with days with carrying a baby on my hip and chasing after an almost 3 year old. I will find joy in the clutter and mess that fills the floors, counter tops and every square inch of our house because I know the boys had a great time playing, learning and being creative. I will walk tall because now I know I am no longer a person, I am in fact a Mommy!!! 

Love that God chose me to be these guy's Mommy!

6 Months

Mr. Paxton, you are 6 months old and I keep praying for time to slow down just a little bit. I cannot believe you have been in our family for 6 whole months (but I cannot picture you NOT a part of our family either).
What are you up to these days Sweet P:

Height 25.4 inches (30th percentile)
Weight 18.1 pounds (70th percentile)
Head Circumference 18 (97th Percentile....gotta love those BIG brains).
You are wearing size 3 diapers
Wearing size 6-9 month clothes (you can still wear some 3-6 month pants)
You now are on Similac Alimentum formula because you are very sensitive to milk protein. This switch in formula has help tremendously and you are your happy self most of the time during the day.
You are sleeping in your big boy bed...on your tummy, and you are doing so well.
You usually go to bed around 7pm, eat around 5am, then snooze until around 8am
You are spitting or blowing raspberries a lot these days which is hilarious EXCEPT now that you are eating a little bit of rice cereal it makes things a little "interesting"
You can put your pacifier back in your mouth most of the time
You have a very strong grip and reach for anything that catches your eye
You are sitting up with support and are getting stronger and stronger everyday
You are working on a few teeth but none have broken the gum line yet
I know I say this all the time, but you seriously are the sweetest little guy. You smile and talk to me all day and your smile still takes control of your entire body...I love it. You love for me to sing to you or read to you. You are NOT a huge fan of strangers talking to you in the store if it catches you buy surprise, but you certainly love it when someone talks sweetly to you. You are definitely a crowd stopper!
Oh Paxton James Kalivoda, your daddy, brother and I love you very much and we have enjoyed every minute of the past 6 months with you! We can't wait to see what this month holds for you!
Love you Pax-Max, sweet P, HapPy, Smiley, Pax a Million...our sweet little P!!

Brothers

All for one and one for all

My brother and my friend

What fun we have

The time we share

BROTHERS 'TIL THE END

Maddox at 6 months old

Paxton (almost) 6 months old

   

 Paxton's feet

 Maddox's Feet

 Maddox

Paxton



How Paxton preferrs to sleep (on his belly or side with that sock monkey to cuddle)

How Maddox preferred to sleep (on his back with Raffie ON his face...he still sleeps like this)

Happy Maddox (smiling and laughing were occassional....such a serious and observent little guy)

Happy Paxton (smiling and laughing occur ALL the time. Such a happy little guy)

Girls Trip

Relaxed. Refreshed. Renewed.
This weekend I had the amazing privilege to take a girls trip to San Antonio with my best friend Sarah. Oh we had a wonderful time. This girl just "gets" me and we have so much fun together...we share our stories, our lives and our dreams of the future together. She motivates me spiritually. She encourages me when I need it, and she loves my family as though we were her own. Thank you Sarah for an amazing weekend.
We stayed in a wonderful hotel on the River Walk..it was very convenient for us..we didn't have to drive and could simply walk to all the fun places on the River. We ate yummy food. Had delicious beverages. Shopped shopped shopped. Saw a girly movie and just enjoyed being care-free and girly!!

I need to give "mad props" to my amazing husband for manning the fort this weekend!! Thank you Brad. You did an amazing job with the boys and I can tell that Maddox had a blast with you! Thank you for allowing this time for me and for being so gracious about it!! I love you so much!! (You are fantastic)

Hi There

Hi there, Maddox here and I am too cool for school!!

OH this boy keeps me on my toes and I am loving this age right now. He is mildly independent but still wants me around most of the time. He can put his shoes and backpack on by himself and he is learning how to get his pants off and back on after he goes potty (it gets tricky with pants that zip and snap). He has been so loving towards me lately and he will just sit beside me and rub my arm or pat my back and even give me kisses. He is learning he does NOT like to get in trouble or for me to have to get on to him...those big brown eyes just get so sad when he knows he is in trouble. After a time out I talk to him and make sure he knows why he was in time out and then I say "Okay, now, its over, lets go have fun" He really likes it when he knows the "talking to" is OVER and now he will ask after he gets in trouble "Mommy, is it over" (spoken in the sweetest little boy voice). I am really thankful he is learning that making wrong choices is not fun and doing what he is asked is MUCH MUCH better!! He loves loves loves Paxton and tries so hard to make him smile/laugh and he is just so sweet to him. Yesterday the 3 of us were in Maddox's room watching a movie and Paxton started fussing a little so Maddox got Raffie and said "Here you go Big guy, this will help you" WOW, that amazes me because Raffie is his most prized possession....so sweet to look after his brother! I just want to bottle this time up and never forget how much he loves me, wants to be around me, wants to help me, wants to make me laugh, loves to sing silly songs with me and just wants to be my friend. I know it won't be too long from now when he will be too cool for me, so for now I am soaking up this wonderful stage with my amazing BIG guy!!

Hello

Hello. My name is Paxton and I like to cuddle!

This is how Paxton sleeps for every nap and at bedtime. He loves to snuggle that little Sock Monkey on his sweet little tummy!! Oh I could just gobble him up!

Meet Scout

This past weekend, Brad drove to Dallas to pick up the newest member of our family! So far this new addition has brought a lot of excitement to our eldest child (and his daddy if I'm being totally honest) and the neighbors think that "it" is pretty awesome as well!! I believe this new member of the family is roughly 35 years old and needs a little tender loving care, but overall he was very well taken care of and in good condition! Without further ado, meet Scout:

 1975 International Harvester Scout-one of the first production American civilian off road sport utility vehicles

 As you can see in these pictures, Maddox LOVES Scout! He was able to "drive" Scout around the block, help daddy check the tire pressure, use the air hose to air up the tires and clean out some dirt trapped under the hood and talk about a hundred miles an hour about how much fun he was having with his daddy!(since I'm all about being honest, I will tell you the truth. I was not very excited about our new family memeber, you see a car is simply a car in my book. I know that Brad loves cars and I try to be supportive of him, but its just not something that strikes my fancy. However, when I walked outside and saw Maddox sitting in that drivers seat with a smile that can take your breathe away, I knew in that moment that this was a perfect investment for our family. What an amazing bonding time for Brad and his boys!!)

Paxton joined in the fun as well, but he and I stayed inside the garage most of the time as he showed his enthusiasm by jumping away in his little jumper-roo!

We are look forward to the fun adventures and the unknown journeys we will take with Scout



Corn Maize

On Sunday (10-10-10) we had a fun adventure at the Corn Maize and Maddox was beyond thrilled to pick out a pumpkin to take home! Paxton had a great time too and thought it was hilarious when they shot the corn cannon! It was a great time and I hope to do it again next year!

Our Trip to the Corn Maize

Go Red Raiders

Go Tech! Sheesh, our poor little Texas Tech team is struggling this year, but we sure had fun at GiGi's house yesterday as we cheered on our beloved Red Raiders and saw them through to a V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!!

Jason and Maddox would do push-ups after each touchdown.

33 Months.....Seriously??

Goodness Gracious Mr. Maddox you are growing up WAY to quickly. Yesterday you turned 33 months old...can it even be possible that I am 3 short months away from having a 3 year old. Wow! You are really a lot of fun these days. You constantly keep me on my toes and you make me laugh and smile at all your funny comments, questions and speculations. I love to sit back and watch your little mind work work work. You seriously are the smartest little guy I know and you ask me so many questions throughout the day on how things work, why things work and why we need them in our lives...to be honest, there are many of your questions that make me stop, think, and discover this world around me as well. You have been so sweet and have been giving the best hugs EVER! You run up to one of us and throw your entire body at us and wrap your sweet little arms tightly around us and even give a kiss on the cheek every now and then!! Such a sweet boy. You are doing really well at school and your teacher says you have the best manners and listen really well.

While you were in Oklahoma you picked up some deep southern twang and it cracks me up!!! (Well, we are going to blame it on your trip to Oklahoma since that is when you started talking that way, because it most certainly could NOT come from ME your mother with her own Texas twang...on no, most certainly NOT!! ha ha)

HAPPY little P

Sheesh, these past couple of weeks have been a bit interesting in our house. First off, I want to say how absolutely thankful I am for a healthy family and the sweetest little boys a gal could ask for. A few weeks ago Paxton started not feeling well and it was really hard to determine what was going on, I only knew he just wasn't his normal HAPPY self. He was very irritable, would not sleep at all (he has never been a perfect sleeper, but he was awake and crying in pain at least 2 times an hour during the night and not taking a single nap during the day). It was so hard because I just could not figure out what was going on. When he would try to sleep he would just cry and cry until I picked him up and he would burp and throw up a little every time I picked him up (and he was not crying hard enough to make himself get sick). It was so sad.  He is always such a HAPPY little guy. Well, our pediatrician thought it would be best to send him to a gastroenterologist to make sure he didn't have a blockage or anything going on with his little tummy. The gastro doctor said a lot of  his symptoms sounded allergy related and not as much reflux related. So, we switched his formula to the hypoallergenic kind and to be honest, I really did not expect that to help very much. I knew Maddox's milk allergy and Paxton had non of the same symptoms as Maddox and I was very skeptical that the switch would make a bit of difference. The doctor also scheduled an abdominal ultrasound to just make sure everything looked alright. The ultrasound looked great, NO blockages! And much to my surprise the formula switch has made things much better for our little guy. He is even off the meds for his reflux because it looks like he does not have acid reflux he is just allergic to one of the milk proteins!! He is sleeping MUCH better and is even sleeping in his bed the entire night. In fact, last night he slept from 8pm-7am, then he had a bottle and slept until 10am this morning! (can I get a hallelujah!!!) Oh we are so thankful to have our HAPPY little P back! He is such a sweet little guy and I am beyond grateful that a simple formula switch was all that was needed!! We are so blessed!!