Mother’s Day

What a GREAT Mother’s Day! It started when I dropped Jaxson at day care Thursday morning. When we walked in his daycare provider pulled him aside and handed him a bag that was full of fun things he made me, including the bag itself!

Jaxson only goes to daycare on Thursday and Friday so they must have worked on all of this the week before. He decorated the entire bag, including the bottom. He also colored the picture frame and painted the flower pot. Jaxson has an AMAZING daycare provider and I just love all my presents!!

Peyton brought home lots of really fun stuff from school on Friday. He made me a beautiful crown so I was a princess for the day! And he also wrote about 10 reasons why he loves me. He was so creative with his answers and I love getting all these little momentos to keep!

On our way to my niece’s birthday party Saturday night Jason was telling me about the flowers he picked up for his mom earlier in the day. He got her a bunch of gerber daisies, which happen to be my favorite too. He also mentioned the nice hanging baskets they had and I said “Oh, I wanted a hanging basket” to which Jason replies, “Yeah, I know. I got that too”! I think if he hadn’t been driving he would have literally smacked himself in the forehead. All Peyton and I could do was laugh! I thought it was so funny that he slipped up and told me about one of my presents that he worked so hard to keep secret. Poor thing…………

Sunday morning started off with breakfast in bed all courtesy of Peyton. He got up, dressed, and went into the kitchen to make me toast and a glass of milk all before anyone else woke up. He’s such an awesome boy!

We took Jason’s mom her flowers and spent some time there with his parents around lunch time. After that I met my sister at my parents house to make dinner and spend some time with my mom. We brought her flowers and a card and plan to take her to brunch or dinner next weekend with just my two sisters and I. This has been our tradition for the past couple of years and it’s so nice to spend a little time, just the four of us.

I feel so blessed to be a mom. It’s a feeling you just can’t describe until you experience it and I wouldn’t trade one moment. Thank you to my mom for giving me such an unbelievable example to follow. You are an incredible mother and I love you always!!

To my boys – thank you for giving me the most rewarding role of my life, your mom! I love you Peyton and Jaxson!

Latest Round of Doctor Appointments

Jaxson has been a very lucky boy and not had very many complications associated with achondroplasia.  This past Tuesday we went back to John Hopkins hospital for a round of checkups, which included his orthopedist, a hearing test, ENT and geneticist.  It was so wonderful of all the doctors to work with so we could get all of our appointments done in one day, although I’m not sure we will choose to do it this way again.  Four appointments was a lot on all of us!

Peyton has never gone to any of Jaxson’s appointments with us before because he usually has school and I never really thought he would do well with all the waiting.  However, last time we had an appointment, he made a comment about why he never gets to go and meet Jaxson’s doctors so we thought it might be a good idea to take him along this time.  I made the appointments while Peyton was out of school on spring break so all four of us were up, dressed and out the door Tuesday morning by 6:15am. 

First we met with the orthopedist.  We brought our x-rays with us, which I had done the Friday before at our local hospital, because our insurance won’t pay for John Hopkins hospital to do them.  (Yes, we have all had our issues with health insurance, right?!)  Anyway, we were a little concerned and wanted to talk to the doctor because we have noticed Jaxson’s right leg is starting to bow a little.  His left leg appears perfectly straight, but the right seems to be giving him some trouble and he has complained of his knee hurting him from time to time.  We were told that it was not really an issue right now and not to be too concerned.  The doctor says it is typical to see one leg a little more bowed than the other and that since he only complains of the knee pain on a rare occasion that for now we will just watch and see what happens.  As he gets older if the bowing becomes more severe than we will explore options at that point, but for now this seems very average.

Next up was the hearing test.  Jaxson had ear tubes placed last March so they’ve been in for a year and this hearing test was just a checkup.  He loved all the little toys in the room and the animals that played music when the technician wanted him to look a certain way, but seemed to be getting a little annoyed because she kept asking him the same questions over and over again.  All was good when she gave him his choice of stickers in the end and he found a Diego!

Immediately after the test we went to see the ENT.  The test results all came back great, but because the sound bounced off his ear drums the doctor could tell that the tubes no longer appeared to be in place.  When he checked his ears, he confirmed that the tubes were still in the ear canal, but neither were actually still in his ear drums.  So, off we went to the procedure room where we laid him on the table and the doctor asked me to hold his hands (because he was going to feel it……..)  I started to tell him to just leave them alone if it was going to hurt him and they would work themselves the rest of the way out on their own, but Jaxson was a CHAMP!  He never moved or tried to get his hands free from mine while they removed both tubes from his ear canals.

At this point it was a little after 11am and we had a nice break until our 2:30 appointment with Jaxson’s geneticist.  We decided to drive around Baltimore a little and find somewhere outside to eat and walk around a bit since the weather was so beautiful!

We found a little Mexican restaurant on a side street near the water so after lunch we walked along the dock and let the boys play with the ducks.

After such a beautiful lunch we headed back to see the geneticist and got more great news.  Jaxson is right on track of where he should be and we don’t have any major concerns right now!  So glad to hear good news and no more appointments for at least 6 months (fingers crossed!)

All in all it was a great day and I’m very glad we took Peyton with us.  I think he has a much better understanding of things and he was more than helpful in keeping Jaxson occupied while we waited for each doctor.  I couldn’t have been happier or prouder of both my boys or what was a very exhausting day for all us!!!

Easter 2011

Easter was such fun this year.  Jaxson is old enough now that he really enjoyed decorating Easter eggs this year, although I must admit they are still sitting in our refrigerator because I forgot to take them for our Easter egg hunt………Oh well, it was fun decorating them!

Peyton was never much into putting stickers on the eggs or drawing on them so the typical egg decorating kit of just plopping the egg in some colored water never really held his attention for long.  This year I found a really cool kit that came with sponge rollers and different colors of paint  so you just paint the eggs any way to wanted.  They both seemed to have lots of fun doing them this year so I guess it was a hit!!

The kit came with little round pink disks that the eggs were supposed to sit on while you painted them.  As you can see Jaxson couldn’t quite figure them out……..

I swear once the Easter bunny was done this year it looked more like Christmas than Easter, but at least everyone, including both sets of grandparents, cut back on the candy part this year!

 

The Easter Bunny was so generous to both of the boys.  Peyton really loved his new rain coat.

And Jaxson got a really cool Diego flashlight!

Jaxson sure loved the chocolate that was in his basket.

But, was not very happy when I told him that was the last piece for a while!

The boys had loads of fun hunting Easter eggs after dinner at my parents too! 

 

What a beautiful Easter!!

Peyton’s Week of Birthday Fun!

Birthdays here are definitely turning into a week long “festival”!  Peyton’s actual birthday is April 21st, but with it being so close to Easter we decided to celebrate with his parties, yes I said parties, the weekend before.  So on the 16th we scheduled his bowling party with his friends from school.  Unfortunately I can’t share the pictures of Peyton with his friends, but I did get some cute ones of Peyton and Jaxson together.

 

Later that evening we had a party with Jason’s family.  And then on Sunday evening we had dinner at my mom and dad’s with another party for my family.  Wow, what a weekend! 

Peyton got lucky and spring break at school started on the 21st, his actual birthday.  We made homemade pizza for dinner and he opened his presents from us.  The following night Jason and I took him out to dinner, just the 3 of us.  It’s important to me that we spend a little one on one time for their birthdays.  We decided it would be fun to go to Hibatchi’s, where they cook your dinner right at your table.  Unfortunately when we got there, it was an hour and a half wait for seating!  Unbelievable!!  Plans changed and we ended up at Red Lobster (15 minute wait) where he tried all kinds of new food – clam strips, scallops, crab legs, etc. etc.  It was kind of fun for him to be soooo grown up and try all the new feed, even though we were all pretty disappointed that our original plans for dinner didn’t work out.  All in all it was a pretty great night and nice to have the time to just sit and talk with him. 

Love you Peyton and I hope you had a great 7th birthday!!!

Hooray for Turning 7!

Introducing - My amazing 7 year old!!! 

                              HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEYTON!!! 

(It’s been a HUGE week of birthday fun so lots of party posts to follow soon……………)

Latest POLP Get Together - Baltimore Aquarium

We are so unbelievably lucky to live in an area with so many LP friends.  Our latest trip was to the Baltimore Aquarium where we met up with lots and lots of our friends.  Peyton has become quite the best bud with Preston so we got to spend our day checking out most of the aquarium with him and Kim.

Jaxson thought the turtles were the coolest!

I have no idea why the water turned out yellow in these pictures, but they were still pretty awesome.

Jude and Jaxson were having a great time pointing out all the fish.

 

Jude, Simon and Jaxson all hanging out.  I really have no idea what they are doing here, but they are cute whatever they are doing!

Jax loved the dolphin show too and Jason did a great job with the camera!!

We got separated from quite a few of our friends, but here’s our best attempt at a group shot.

Love you all!  Can’t wait for the next time!!

Lost and Found……

So I’m really not as good about blogging as I wish I was…….That being said, I’ve got quite a few posts to try to catch up on.  This is what we were doing a couple of months ago.

Peyton lost a few things………

He lost his two bottom front teeth about a month or so prior and has really been working on the top teeth.  He REALLY wanted to lose a tooth at school because they give you a little treasure box to put it in and take home.  So, one day I came home from work to find this beautiful smiling face!

About three days later we got this…..

Missing all four of your front teeth is the best according to Peyton because now he can put a straw in his mouth without even opening it! 

And at our house we also FOUND a little something……..musical talent!

Peyton’s Aunt gave him this paper jams guitar for Christmas.  It is the coolest thing!  Jaxson got a hold of it and ROCKED OUT!!!

Peyton joined in before the night was over playing on his guitar from Nashville.  We had such a great time at the concert!