Love, Joy, Peace, Patience....

We have had a rough time staying healthy this winter. Starting back in the fall, we just seem to be sick more often than not, and are just ready for the warm, healing winds of spring to give us a break. Many others around us have experienced a similar or worse winter with illness. It seems like both boys have been sick or teething or under the weather almost all winter long and continue to share germs back and forth.
It is pretty easy to start feeling sorry for yourself when you are dealing with sick children. It wears on your patience and can really affect your attitude in negative ways. I am writing this as a reminder for myself, and I wondered if others might need the same encouragement.

I believe that God is in control of all things, good and evil. He is incapable of evil Himself, but even those evil, nasty things that happen in our lives are no surprise to Him. He is capable of stopping them all, but chooses to allow the trials in our lives. Romans 8 declares that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. Christians can bank on that promise in everything that comes our way.

Since I have that hope and recognize that this is not just “bad luck”, I look at my often poor attitude during these times and need the reminder that the standards for my behavior towards my children and my husband do not change due to circumstances. I need to exhibit the fruits of the spirit ESPECIALLY during these times when my family needs me.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law… If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. – Gal. 5:22-25
I am going to strive today to remain joyful, patiently attending to the needs of my family while taking the opportunity of illness to pour out my love on them and encourage them. After all, while we were His enemies and giving him every reason to punish us, He chose instead to send His only son to suffer a horrible death on the cross. (Rom. 5:10) We know nothing of that kind of suffering, and should seek to live like Christ.

Not so Happy 10 Months, Little P

Well Mr. Paxton decided to celebrate turning 10 months old by coming down with the Flu! Bummer! Someone needs to inform this little guy that special days are for celebrating, not getting sick (he celebrated Christmas by coming down with croup). Sadly, there is nothing they can do for the little man because he is too young for any of the medicine out there, so we will rotate between Tylenol and Motrin and keep him as hydrated as possible (luckily, he has not refused to eat too much, so this has helped). Please pray the rest of us don't come down with the nasty bug!

Paxton is growing and changing so quickly. What are You up to these days Mr. P

You weigh 22.8 pounds according to the scale at the doctor's office today fully clothed and with shoes on
You wear size 4 diapers
size 12 month clothes
size 3-3 1/2 shoe
Still on Similac Alimentum Formula (A.K.A. Liquid Gold)
Eating chunkier foods and using your jaw to chew/chomp your food...your favorite foods are sweet potato, home made apple sauce, and yogurt


You are my little climber. You want so desperately to walk right now, but you can't seem to figure out how to get up on your feet. You do more of a tall bear crawl and push yourself up on your hands and just look back at your feet..it's pretty funny to watch, but you get so frustrated that you cannot stand up right yet!

You love to crawl under things...chairs, tables, anything that has a large enough space for you to get your head through and you try desperately to get the rest of your body to follow. You are constantly getting stuck underneath something, but it does not stop you from exploring.

You are so content to play with a few toys by yourself. You like to know that people are around, but you don't demand that people play with you unless you are ready to be held, then someone better be ready to stop what they are doing and pick you up!!

You  were sleeping so well through the night until last month when you caught RSV. We had just gotten you settled back into a night time routine this past week, and now you have the nasty flu bug so it looks like we will have to train you how to sleep through the night once again. It breaks my heart that you have been so sick this year, and yet it makes me so thankful that these are only minor illnesses...we are so blessed to have two perfectly healthy little boys!

You continue to laugh, smile and talk all the time. You are a fun loving baby and you LOVE your momma. I love that you snuggle so tightly on my chest when I hold you and it is hilarious how bashful you get around other people.

Paxton James, these past 10 months with you have flown by. We love you more and more every day and we are so thankful for you and your sweet spirit!!

Poor baby! You can tell by his eyes that he just doesn't feel good...still a cute little fella!

Attempting to learn to drink out of a big boy cup; however, the cup is used more as a teething toy more so than a drinking devise....all in due time I suppose!

A little Behind

I am sorry we are a little behind on this post, butt we hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and please know that we love you all!!

In fact, we love you to the MOON and back!!

6

Can you guess why the number 6 plays an astonishingly significant role in our family at the moment.

Could it be because this particular number is both the month and day of my birthday? While this is certainly true, it is not astonishingly significant at this time.

Could it be the average length of time I have slept in the past several nights? Well, this is not entirely true either. In fact, if you divide the number 6 in half you have a more accurate account of the consecutive length of sleep I have obtained the last few evenings. Bummer.

Could it be significant because it is the size shoe I wear on my little feet who feel the need to be in flip-flops this week because we are going to have some 80 degree weather....almost a 100 degree increase in the past week. Crazy. But no, while astonishing, it is not significant today.

So, what is the significance of this particular peculiar number 6?
       Well it would be the number of teeth that our youngest babe is working on receiving ALL at one time! I know this is astonishing and highly significant! Poor little guy. I guess 5 is too few and 7 is simply too many!!

Anyone for some popcorn??

More Similarities

The other day when I posted a picture of Paxton and Jovee I realized I had a picture of Maddox and Jovee that looked similar. I then decided to look at the boys at the same age and it is fun to see some of the physical similarities. (The way the boys look is the most similar, their personalities are so different from each other and are getting more and more diverse the more we get to experience Paxton's personality. Maddox was such a serious child who rarely smiled or laughed, he just wanted to observe everything going on around him, and never wanted to play independently (he always wants an audience) while Paxton is light hearted, is easily amused and laughs and smiles frequently, he is very sensitive, enjoys getting into everything and he is happily content to play independently. I just love how similar and different these two precious boys are and how perfect the two of them are for our family!!

Now for some pictures to see what YOU think!!



Maddox (5months) with Jovee



Paxton (9months) with Jovee



Maddox (9months) first picture of his two bottom teeth

Paxton (9months) first picture of his bottom teeth

Maddox 9months

Paxton 9 months

Ready for some Sunshine

We've had a few very interesting weeks in the Kalivoda house lately. With the subzero temperatures we unable to get out of the house for several days, which made things a little intense as we all enjoy getting out and about and at least enjoying the sunshine while riding in the car for a little while!

While it was difficult to keep two boys occupied all day indoors for several consecutive days, we managed to find some new activities and enjoy the time as a family.

We filled a cookie sheet with cheerios and let Maddox fill up one of his trucks and dump them out on the cookie sheet!! He had a great time.

Paxton also enjoyed playing with eating the cheerios while Maddox played

On one day Maddox colored a picture for Daddy and learned how to draw the letter 'M'

I dressed our baby cub in a super cute bear outfit and he was less than thrilled about it

Jovee (our dog) enjoyed time with the boys and followed Paxton around everywhere

Brad and Maddox enjoyed playing with every toy imaginable

Sweet baby blue is now the proud owner of two bottom teeth

(Can you see his pearly whites?)

Maddox enjoyed a nice horseback ride throughout the house. He even told us that there was room for us to ride beside him. He assured us there were seat belts on this horse so we would be safe (way to listen to your momma sweet boy)

Oh and yeah, we had to do a few of these breathing treatments because nasty RSV hit our house pretty hard. 



Whew, I sure am ready for a few days outside :)