Thankful Thursday

So, I had this thought that I would do a "Thankful Thursday" post each week and started 3 weeks ago with my first post and have neglected it since. Oops.....I was distracted on each day. I actually posted each Thursday, but not a specifically thankful post. 2 weeks ago we got a chance to take Jaxon to his first Phillies game and last week we found out that our second child will be another son! Woot woot!!

This week I am finding myself thankful for a working body that can produce children. I have had 2 relatively smooth pregnancies thus far with no complications to complain about. However, this past week, I haven't been feeling well at all. Cramping every day and intense nausea. I am very thankful that these side effects come and go and do not stay with me throughout the 10 months. I have spent a lot of time, whenever I can afford to do it, laying flat in bed on the heating pad. Which lessens the pain/exhaustion a bit, but it never lasts long because there is a little man in the picture now who likes to interrupt :). That said, I would happily deal with any of it to be able to bring a child into our world. Jaxon has brought such joy to Josh and I; we just can't imagine what it will be like with another. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with the ability to have children, albeit painfully (thanks Eve), which I do NOT take for granted. What an amazing gift! God is good!

Grayson Cole!!!

I am growing our second baby boy and we could not be happier!! We had our 20 weeks ultrasound today and docs say everything looks great! The docs also say that he will likely be big like Jaxon. So Jaxon will have a "little" brother. He is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule and the computer told her to pull the due date up by a week, but they did not, considering Jaxon's size at birth. Which is interesting because the same thing happened with Jaxon, they pulled his due date up to Jan 28th and then when we transferred to TBC they pushed it back to the initial due date of 2.3 so that we would have a better chance to deliver naturally--which I did.

We are so excited for this news and the next chapter of our lives, thanks for sharing it with us!!

Jaxon meets Ava

We had a playdate with our friends Buck and Kim and their daughter Ava, who is 18 months old.Jax wore his new coat to impress his new friends. He was excited for all the new toys to play with, and Josh and I were excited for him to play in her ball pit. However, Jaxon was no so excited for the ball pit. We thought he just didn't like sitting on top of the balls so we cleared him a space to sit on the floor of the pool, but he was still very upset. Maybe next time....Ava was such a sweetie sharing her toys with him and bringing him balls from the pit one by one. We stayed through Jaxon's bedtime, so once he was changed and in his pjs Ava came up to cuddle with him. You may have noticed that he is stroking her head, which is what I do to him when he is falling asleep. You'll all be happy to know that I held it together and didn't cry.

It was kind of surreal to see an 18month old with a 6 month old...we got a glimpse of what next year at this time will be like. Yikes!

On another note, we find out who is cooking on Thursday, CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Jax's first Phillies Game

Jax went to his first Phillies game today! Josh took us to the afternoon game today and Jaxon was a HUGE hit with everyone he ran into. We had suite tickets, so the wind and rain didn't affect us. The suite hostess LOVED Jaxon and was checking in on him constantly and even held him for a while at the end of the game.

Jaxon had his hat on and was getting frustrated because he couldn't see, so he yanked it to the side, so cute! Also enjoyed a snack of soft pretzel before his dinner of peaches. He didn't nap all day and did extremely well at the game. He loved all the noise and new things to look at. He was getting compliments on his behavior all afternoon too; even got a "gold star" from the guy hosting the event.

They were giving away Cliff Lee duffel bags to kids, so Jaxon got one and they gave me one for my little peanut too. They also give out "My First Game" certificates, so we got one of those for Jax too. We are gonna need to start a little section in his room for all his Philly team memorabilia :)

Jaxon's Dedication (9.4.11)

Our blessed first born was dedicated to Jesus in front of our friends, family, and church family on Sunday September 4th, 2011. Usually there is a stage full of families, but this particular week it was just Jaxon and one of his birth center buddies, Owen. Which made the dedication portion of the service nice and quick. After church we had a handful of friends back to our house for lunch and fellowship. It was beautiful for me to look around and see all the people with their little ones and reflect on what a difference a year makes. I am so excited about Jaxon's life and what God has in store for him. I can't wait to see who he will become as he grows.

I, sadly, didn't get as many photos of the day as I would have liked, but here are a few. We are also waiting on the church to get us a copy of the video of the dedication. Once we have that we will post that here as well.

Jaxon is 7 months old...

Time is moving WAY too fast!! Jax continues to teeth, which he is great at. He pulls on his ear and fusses abit, but no huge tantrums or crying spells. He has 1 type of bink that he loves to chew on, and they have been a huge help. He still just has those 2 bottom teeth that he got 2 months ago, but the top two teeth are just waiting to pop through. He looks like a little boy with teeth, so grown up! He is sitting very well on his own and will roll across a room with no problem. He sits well on his own, but has started to topple over (on purpose) and then we catch him right before he hits his head. He has turned it into a game, which is not a good thing. So we just got him a large playmat for the living room, so now he will be able to play and topple without getting hurt on the hardwood floors. Jax has started to reach up for us when we go to pick him up, or when he wants to be picked up, which is so cute!! He is learning all about his voice and testing the volume levels he can reach and the different sounds and inflections he can make. Super cute as well.

Jax was dedicated last Sunday. We are waiting on the video from church and then will post that as well.

Baby #2 is doing well. Soon we will know who is in there and can call him/her by name instead of baby #2. Just got the second half of the sequential screen results today and all were normal. My risk levels were as low as they can be 1:10,000 for downs syndrome and 1:1,100 for open neural tube defects. We are very happy to hear this good news. Next step is the gender ultrasound on the 22nd.

Josh continues to work like a mad dog. He has landed a couple new clients and is actually thinking of "hiring" more contractors that he can offer the work to. We are so proud of Daddy!

(No monkey shots this month, but all of these were taken within the past week).

Thankful Thursday

I am stealing not only this decal, but also the "Thankful Thursday" idea from my friend Emily who writes a much better blog than I do :) I saw this on her page and thought it was a great idea. In addition to all the bragging I do on my little monkey (or gorilla as some call him) I will try to make sure every Thursday we are posting our gratitude for what life is bringing our way. I think this will mostly be cathartic and more for my than anyone reading it, but it will keep me accountable to at least be thinking meaningfully on Thursdays about all the blessings that have come into our lives.

Today I want to take my first Thankful Thursday post to be thankful to Jesus that Josh has a secure job that allows me to have my dream job~being a stay at home mom. I am still finding my way and working out the kinks in between playing with my beautiful baby boy and getting chores/errands done; but I know I will get there eventually and I don't want to miss a minute. I am sure that before I know it I will be aching for the days when Jaxon would play with me all day and be happy about it. Laundry can wait. I feel blessed beyond anything I could have hoped for to have achieved everything I wanted out of my life by 30. I have a husband who loves me, a healthy baby, and one on the way. God is so good.