To the Bat-cave!!

Happy Halloween from the Caped Crusaders  starring Batman and his crime-fighting partner Robin.  The superheroes have pitted their wits many times against arch villains such as the Joker, the Penguin and Catwoman, but they have always kept cool heads, high spirits and their own brand of witticism about them, despite facing great danger on countless occasions!!

"To the bat-cave, Robin! We haven't a moment to loose"

Sometimes...

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a SuperHero!!

Always Learning

I have mentioned in previous posts that Maddox is loving preschool this year. He is making a lot of friends and is learning so much (although he will tell you he "never learns anything at school. They just don't want me to learn there....hahha, I guess they are doing a great job making learning just feel like fun). Well, this evening while we were eating dinner, Maddox just busts out counting to ten in Spanish. Now, he has counted to 3 in Spanish for a while now, but he just continued on to 10. Then, after dinner, he was running around like a crazy person just playing away and he said "Let the children come to me....Momma, that's what Jesus tells us to do" (That was the bible verse they studied last week). And to top of the wonderful evening, while he was taking a bath he busted out singing "Jack and Jill went up a Hill."

It is fantastic to watch this little man learn and enjoy learning. 

Here is a quick video of Maddox and his Madd-singing skills and Spanish counting. It also includes little Paxton making sure he is a part of the action!!

Enjoy

Paxton is 18 Months Old

Oh Mr. Paxton, you are 18 months old today. How is it possible that you are half way to two years old?? You are a mess these days. What exactly are you up to?

-Weight: 23 pounds
-Wearing size 4 diapers
-wearing size 12-18 month clothes. You are needing more of the 18 month size for length, but it is pretty big around your belly. Very thankful for the adjustable waist band in your pants
-wearing size 5 shoe
-You take one nap a day between 1pm and 2pm for at least 2 hours
-You are a really good sleeper in the evenings. Put you to bed around 8pm and you sleep until 8am. (Except since the nasty dust storm on Monday your allergies have been acting up and you have a hard time breathing during the night. You have enjoyed the extra snuggle time with me, and I too have enjoyed holding you while you sleep)
-You are the most difficult eater and meal times with you are not fun at all. Please tell me this will eventually get better and it won't be a fight to get you to eat your entire life. (Soon enough I won't be able to keep enough food in the house for you two growing boys).
-You are still not talking very much, but you have made a lot of progress with trying to talk this month. You are making more and more sounds and attempting to say portions of some words.
-You can say:
       Momma
       Dadda
       Ball
       Hot
       Ice
       Gaga (for Gigi)
       baba (for paci...which you only get at nap-time and bedtime)
       mum (for more)
       ink (for drink or milk)
       bambam (for Batman...can you tell what toys big brother is into these days)
-You can sign:
       more
       please
       thank you
       drink
       sorry
       eat
       bath
       kiss

You have a very aggressive temperament, you know what you want when you want it and there is no other option...at least according to you. You have been throwing a lot of fits lately and have become very good "friends" with the time-out spot in our house. It is hilarious to watch you in timeout because you are so little and pretty darn cute sitting there; although, I hold all the cute comments to myself because I know this is a time where you need to learn a few lessons and learn the rules in our family (but you are just a doll sitting there in timeout. Sometimes I just want to go grab you up and love on you, but I know that will not help our current situation at all).

You are very frustrated with not being able to communicate and I am hoping your frustration will lead to more desire to learn and try to talk. I know you will start talking when you are good and ready, but could you do your momma a favor and get good and ready, like, NOW...please!!!

You have learned to run like a superhero with your arms stretched out behind your back like you are gliding through the air. Oh it makes me laugh every single time.

You give the best hugs and love to sit in someones lap, but only when it is your idea. You do not like to sit still for very long because there is just too much to explore.

You are not a fan of the church nursery; although last time they said you only started crying about 5 minutes before we came to pick you up. Progress.

You can point to your eyes, ears, mouth, nose, foot, hands, finger, head, belly and hair.

You would eat fruit snacks all day long if I would let you.

Soy milk is your new best friend.

Oh Mr. Paxton. You keep me on my toes. You are such a cute and sweet little boy (when you want to be) and you are also an ornery little mess most of the time. You are a perfect fit in our family and I wouldn't trade the most difficult days with you for anything on this planet; although, if you are reading this Mr. Paxton, I would be so very happy if we could have a few more easier days with you...your laugh is way cuter than your whine and your smile is much sweeter than watching you throw a fit. Thanks bud for listening, I know you can make smart choices :)

Seriously, Paxton, we love you more and more every day and you bring such joy to our family!!

Paxton at 18 months

Maddox at 18 months

Paxton's New Room

Well, Paxton's room is almost finished. I still have a few things I would like to hang on the walls and I need to take the curtains down to iron them, but overall the room is complete. I must say, I am pleased as punch with the results!!!

What do YOU think?

Fight Raiders, Fight!

Fight Raiders, Fight!

Fight Raiders, Fight!

Fight for the School we love so dearly!

We'll hit' em high! Well hit 'em low!

We'll push that ball across the goal

Tech fight fight!

We'll praise your name!

Boost you to fame!

Fight for the scarlet and the black!

We will hit 'em. We will wreck 'em. Hit 'em! Wreck 'em Texas Tech!

And the victory bells will ring out!

(well, the victory bells did not ring out this week. Unfortunately Tech lost (again), but is sure is fun to share the Tech Spirit with our precious little boys!!)

Something to Talk About

It is so much fun to watch Maddox's mind work. He is always thinking and asking questions about everything around him. Sometimes he asks and says some of the funniest things. I wanted to document some of these for our memories:

"Mommy, I know we use our eyes to see, but how come I can't see my eyes right now?"
"Daddy, I checked my calendar and it shows you don't have a meeting. So you can stay home and play with me!"
"Mommy, Jesus is in my tummy and HE is hungry for a happy meal" (well, okay, if Jesus wants it, who am I to deny Him a happy meal)
Brad and Maddox had a long conversation about how clouds "float" in the sky. Brad went on to describe the excited molecules and all the scientific reasons for how clouds float in the sky. Maddox continued to ask questions and asked, "well, then why are some of the clouds higher than the others" (Brad told him we would have to look it up....hahha....this kid never stops thinking).

I love being this little man's mommy, he is teaching me to stop and really question the things around me!

Paxton is fun to watch also. He certainly is a man of very few words, but he is gradually making more progress his expressive language, especially now that he is feeling a lot better.
He clearly says Momma, Dadda, Ball, Ba-ba (pacifier), ice, GaGa (for GiGi)
He signs: more, eat, drink, please, thank you, sorry
He can point to his eyes, hair, ears nose, mouth, belly, hair, hands and feet
Last night after we said his bedtime prayers he said "bam-bam" for "Amen"

Sometimes being a mom is just so hard, I'm not sure when he needs specialist intervention to help him catch up verbally, or when to step back and realize he will do all of this on his own time (especially now that we can get rid of the pacifier when he is not sleeping. This will help tremendously with his ability to communicate). I remember wondering if Maddox would catch on verbally because he too was a man of few words as a toddler and now the child NEVER stops talking. In fact, yesterday I listened to him on the baby monitor during nap time and that child never stopped singing/reading out loud/talking/role playing while he laid in his bed "resting."

Update

Hello there. Sorry I have seemed to neglect this blog lately...seems like life has happened and I can't seem to keep up these days!
Here is a quick update on what has been going on in our world.
Maddox is LOVING Preschool. It has been so fun to listen to him talk about all the things he does during the day while at school and playing with his friends. His teacher says he listens really well, is eager to do everything, and is always very nice to all his friends. It is truly is a joy to watch him blossom this season at school.
Paxton is doing really well. It has been a very frustrating season in our lives while trying to figure out what all was going on in his little body; however, it seems things have started to balance out for the little man. I switched him from whole milk to soy milk and he is doing fantastic with the change. He is eating more and laughing/playing/talking more and more every day. The most recent stool sample shows NO fecal fat. Yippee. The immunolgy results came back normal and they will check him again in three months to make sure things are staying on track. My total non medically trained mind believes that his little body cannot digest the proteins in milk properly (he was on special formula as a baby that had some of the milk proteins already broken down to make it easier to digest). My theory is that he still cannot break down the milk proteins....but what do I know! All I do know is that he is doing much better and for that I am extremely thankful!!
Aunt Kim and Uncle Austin (Brad's sister and brother-in-law) moved to Lubbock and we are thrilled to have them living so close!!!
We have painted the upstairs office, Paxton's room and just finished painting Maddox's room this evening! We have been exhausted by the end of the day; however, I LOVE all of the rooms and it is starting to feel like we are living in OUR home!!