Aliya Juel is 9 months

Aliya Juel at her 9 month check up...

Weight 15 lbs 2% 

Height 27 in 29%

Head 17.35 in 53%

Jaxon at 9 months...

Weight 16 lbs 10 oz 3% 

(1 lb 10 oz more and still in the bottom %)

Height 27 1/2 in 20%

Head 18 in 43 %

I am amazed everyday at how fast Aliya Juel is growing up and how sweet she continues to be. She is so dainty and sweet. I am in love with her. She changes daily and can do something new everyday. She continues to wave to everyone. The best is when I walk upstairs to put her to bed and nigh night and she waves. Aliya will go right to bed after she waves. It is amazing at how different she is from Jaxon in that area. Now we just need to work on her sleeping in her crib at Grandma's, to keep her on this healthy sleep pattern. She says Mama and definitely knows what she is saying when she is saying it. She tries to say baby. I think it is so cute how she looks at her baby doll (Jaxon said she could have his since she loves it so much). She loves staring at and playing with it as she says Ba Ba. Aliya is a very happy baby offering up a HUGE gummy smile. She still has no teeth and I am fine with it as I am still nursing. Aliya is crawling, but very content with just sitting and playing with a few toys as she watches the world. She is in no hurry for anything, except when I bring out a bottle. She grabs the bottle so fast and with such force. She does not mess around with eating. She loves any food and is a bottomless pit. She has a huge appetite, but that does not add any weight to her dainty little body. Jer weighed her the other day and she was exactly 14#, we will see next week when we actually take her for her 9 month check up. Jaxon weighed a little over 14# at 6 months and everyone commented on how small he was. It is funny how it is socially acceptable for a baby girl to be small, or maybe it is her chubby cheeks that deceive people into thinking she isn't that skinny. Whatever it is, I enjoy not hearing the judgemental comments this go around. We lowered her crib mattress last week as she was wanting to dive out of her crib as she would stand up. We are enjoying every moment with Aliya Juel as we are trying not to miss a thing. Aliya is slow to warm up, as is Jaxon still. She cries when I leave the room, unless I pop my head back in so she knows I will be back in a few minutes. She definitely loves her Mama. Both kids are feeling much better.  We are ready for spring so we can get out and enjoy some fresh air. 

Aliya Juel is crawling... no more army stuff

I looked into the video monitor this morning and she was crawling on her hands and knees. She has perfected the army crawl for the past 6 weeks, I honestly didn't think she would get on all 4's. She never showed any interest. Well, today she decided to crawl the "right" way. She also decided to go from crawling consistently. It is amazing how much she changes everyday.

Jaxon at 3 1/2

Jaxon is feeling better, but enjoying staying home one more day. Dylan has been sick the past 2 days as well so he has LOVED being with him. He has finally learned the importance of a space bubble. Aliya has also enjoyed having Dylan around. She will just sit and stare at him. I am returning back to work tomorrow, wether they are coughing or not :-)
Jaxon is at a great age. I love seeing him trying to sound out words. We have a book to help teach him to read and have yet to start it. I think he is ready so we will begin that in the next few weeks. He loves to practice all things academic. He is still very much a 3 1/2 year old, just a smart one.
On another note he loves is sister so much that he smoothers her. It is wonderful and terrible at the same time. He is always so concerned for her that he is constantly giving her smoothering hugs and kisses. I guess I will take that over hitting.
Jaxon is very shy, some of you that know him may not believe me. But he is like me in that area. Very slow to warm up, needs someone by him until the situation is comfortable. Once he knows you and is comfortable he becomes a very fun, yet rambunctious little boy.
He is sleeping in his own room and earns $1 for every night he sleeps in there all night without sneaking in our bed... He currently has $3 to go towards a Zhu Zhu car.
Jaxon is better at following directions at home, then when others are around. He definitely knows he can get away with more when others are watching/judging.
He continues to love gymnastics, but is still not to the point where he does the whole class without me. I do the warm up with him and then he will do the rest by himself, usually. It has been really good for him to get out of his comfort zone, especially when it comes to trying new things. Jax has always been a very cautious kid, will check out a slide up, down, in, and out for 10 minutes or so before, if at all, he goes down the slide. He won't jump without feeling the ground first. I am grateful for this with a boy, yet also encourage him to have confidence. Once again trying to find that balance.
Jaxon is such a handsome little boy with such a sweet heart, he comforts me often. I have been having a hard and emotional time with Juel recently and he will hug me and tell me everything will be OK. I try to do it behind closed doors but as of lately it has been a little harder. He has such a big heart and hates seeing others hurt.
Jaxon loves his friends. Some of his ongoing favorites are ALL his cousins, Parker and Morgan.
Jaxon is such an "awesome" addition to our family.
We love him to the stars and back infinity times!!

The Sick House

Yes, our house has become "The Sick House" rather than "The Napping House". It started with Aliya having two ear infections to both kids having a cough that still has not gone away. Last week Jaxon's cough got worse, then came the fevers. Now he has two ear infections. He started on some antibiotics last night and cried himself to sleep with an ice pack on his ear. He woke up around 1 throwing up from the antibiotics. So today we switched meds and are laying around watching movies. I am hoping these coughs, fevers, and bugs all go away... soon!

Jaxon did have all of Insta Care laughing last night, he will go from feeling fine to crying and feeling awful. He was having a good moment at the Dr. He was yelling because he had drops and cotton balls in his ear. He kept saying "WHAT?!" and asking why there was a sheep in his ear. (The nurse explained it in that term).

As for Aliya, she remains mellow and goes with the flow. She has been waving for a while now, but now she does it all the time, with her BIG cheesy grin. She also has signed milk and more in the past few days. We are starting a signing class at the beginning of March and am glad that we can bring Jaxon. It will be fun to see how fast he picks up the signs that he doesn't already know.

Back to watching movies. Any ideas on how to get kids to take antibiotics without a fight? 10 days is a long time when they fight it every time.

Jaxon is cool like that

- Posted from iPhone

Prayers, Good, thoughts, everything will help

Stephanie has babysat my kids for 3 1/2 years. Her and her family has become a major part of our lives, she has saved us on many days and she has helped raise my children. Her husband Pete is always so sweet with Jaxon. Jaxon loves it when Pete helps Stephanie out. Last Saturday Pete wasn't feeling very well and they decided to go to the hospital. They found out that he had multiple blood clots in his feet and brain (AKA strokes). He had emergency open heart surgery on Sunday. He is unable to recognize Stephanie or their four children. His status is touch and go. As of now his Temp is high and his liver, kidneys, and spleen are all infected. The Dr's are being realistic with Stephanie and telling her that IF he goes home he may be kid-like, IF he goes home he may... They are going to try something a little more aggressive tomorrow if there is still no change in his status. I am asking everyone to add Pete Cummings to their prayers, keep him in your thoughts. This is an emotional time and difficult time for their family.  Prayers and good thoughts are most important for this family. They have given so much to us, there isn't anything I could do to pay them back, but the best place to start is to step up and help them. Stephanie is having a hard time, the kids she watches is helping her keep her head up. She says she hates asking for or excepting help but was grateful for my offer to help with her little ones, since we live so close and they already know us as they have been being watched by strangers while Stephanie goes to the hospital every few hours. I hope that Pete recovers and is able to return home with his family. He is an amazing father and husband.

Thanks!  

Bye Bye Bad Guys

Jaxon has been sleeping in his room for the past two weeks. We just told him he couldn't come into our bed anymore. It has been good, when he comes into our room I make him sleep on the floor by our bed. He has told me that he is scared of the bad guys and I have just shrugged it off my shoulders until last night. I realized how serious this is. He cried for over an hour in fear of these "bad guys" it was sad and frustrating at the same time. I didn't want to give in and let him sleep in my bed so I slept in his instead. I couldn't let him sleep by himself after he expressed such fear. He told me that the bad guys come down from the fan. There was no talking him out of it. So tonight we got a spray bottle that he wrote his name on and drew a picture of a machine (the reward he gets for sleeping and staying in his room for a month). Per Jaxon's request I wrote "Bye Bye Bad Guys". He added some magic potion (lavender oil) that keeps the bad guys away. We will see how tonight goes. I will sleep with him again if that's what he needs, but I am hoping the spray works its wonders. Any other suggestions? It is so sad to see him so scared.