6 Month Miracle...

Wow! Liam is 6 months old today!!!
There are no words to describe every emotion I have noting the most incredible 6 months of having Liam in our family; growing, learning, playing, and just being here in our world with us.

He is such a blessing to our entire family, and one that I am so thankful for every day, to be a part of his life!!

Happy 6 months monkey!!! We are so proud of all you have accomplished, the smiles you bring to our family and the joys of watching you grow!!

You are so loved Son,
Mommy and Daddy

Ward World...

It just occurred to me that I have not done a family update in a looooong time... So here is what has been going on in the Ward World...

Liam is 5 1/2 months. I simply can't believe how fast he is growing up!! I think for us, since we've only had him home for 4 1/2 months, it feels like that is how old he should be. He is such a sweet baby!! He's so much different than Jax as far as their personalities and what makes them happy, but he's still a pretty easy going baby! Liam has figured out how to roll both ways, and although he hates being on his tummy, he sure seems to constantly be on it by him rolling back to front. He's just learning now how to sit up unassisted, however he also doesn't like that! I joke that it's because his belly cuts off circulation to his feet. Every time he folds in half, I swear his feet turn purple! He's still exclusively bf'ing, so we haven't gotten to the fun messes with him, but I don't think that's too far away. We haven't had him weighed in a while, but last time we weighed ourselves w/him, he was approximately 13.8lbs!! His favorite person is Jax. Jax is the only one that has made him giggle more than once. He's very interested in what Jax is doing, and is fascinated by his long eyelashes. Liam is teething, and has been for the last 2 months, but so far no teeth. It's not been as easy for him cutting teeth as it was for Jax, and we've had a lot more restless nights, gone through more Tylenol and orajel and have to find creative ways to relieve his pain. He sleeps through the night most times 8:30-5:00 anyways, but then he usually cuddles with me till about 8. I can't complain about that!! He's such a beautiful baby and such a sweet sweet one!!

Jaxon is growing like a weed and so much fun right now!! Last time we measured him, he was almost 37", which is almost 3" in 3 months. He no longer wears 2T clothing as it's too short for his long torso!! He is really into Cars right now, and last week Dean and I treated him to Cars 2 at the theater. It was way over his head, and definitely geared for older kids (probably Cars 1 generation), but he did well and slept through the ending. Dean and I enjoyed it though. He's also really into Wonder Pets, and usually watches every episode we have recorded 3-4 times a day. It's pretty bad that I am constantly whistling or singing the theme song :/ On sunny days, we usually are outside by 10 am!! He loves chasing after the puppies, and I have to really watch him while he's out since he tries to do everything they do from eating sticks, rolling in the dirt, and drinking out of the pool! I've started calling him Mogli from the Jungle Book. Lol. We are in the process of looking at preschools for him right now, and boy am I looking forward to school starting!!! Jax is potty training right now, and fingers crossed we're actually already night trained!! Jax is still of course in to Letters and Numbers, and he can now count past 40, although we have to help him at 20, correcting him from twenty-ten to thirty!! He is starting to follow directions on tracing letters, but he usually loses interest in 5 mins. He is so much fun at this age, and a HUGE help with Liam. I can't tell you when the last time I threw a diaper away was :) When he's not being sweet, he's usually testing both Dean and I. He is sooooo good at manipulating, not to mention, he's SO much smarter when it comes to getting his way than Dean and I give him credit for!! For the most part though, he's a very loving, well mannered 2 1/2 year old. We are so proud of how polite he is and how we don't usually have to make him say please and thank you, he does it on his own! :D. We are about to move him into a twin size bed, and hopefully get Liam in the crib. I am sure that there will be lots of "Shylah/DJ" moments, where we catch Jax snuggling Liam, as that's one of his favorite things!! It's definitely a blessing to have two amazing boys, and watching them grow up! Dean and I are doing good! Dean just took a new job, still working for MECO, but as an actual employee now vs working as a consultant for them. His new job will have many more responsibilities, but he will get to continue to work with the Mexico plant start up which is something that he loves doing. Along with a permanent job title, we will have MUCH better insurance, and will no longer be in jeopardy of my bp care not being covered by our current insurance!! Dean is also playing summer soccer again, and has been talking about coaching and training eventually.

I've just been busy at home with the boys of course, and fulfilling my dream of watching them grow. That in itself is a full time job, however I'm looking into possibly going to work part time, more or less to meet some new friends, and start saving up for my "swagger wagon". (I never thought I'd be counting down till I had a mini van... Sigh). BUT trying to travel with two car seats, and wedging myself between the two of them is NOT my idea of a road trip! On the 30th, Dean and I are going to try out for NBC's The Voice singing competition! I'm really excited, and I'm hoping that my unselfishness to start a family and be a wife instead of trying out for American Idol over the years will finally pay off, and I'll have an opportunity to go somewhere. Aside from the tryouts, I've slowly started to do a few things with music again. I finally started to write a few new songs, and I sang the National Anthem the other night at our pioneer baseball league game! It'd been forever since I sang the NA anywhere, but I felt I did really good! Dean and I are toying with the idea of starting a mobile karaoke company within the area too.

Other than that, just another day! The weather has been CRAPPY since the calendar said SUMMER! We've had one or two days of sun for every 10-15 days of rain, clouds and overcast weather! ;( I'm not happy about that because I really enjoyed my naps on the lounge chair and my amazing tan that I had last summer...

We're planning a few more trips this summer. In Sept, I'll be flying home to WA with Liam. Still not sure how I'm going to survive w/out Jax for 10 whole days :(. Then we're hoping to get back to FL for another visit w/our family friends. In August, I think we will be headed to AL and GA to spend some time with my Dad and Dixie, as well as my sister and her family! Lots to fit in with really only a month and a half of summer left and before school starts for Jax!!

Adventures in Potty Training - Update...

One week ago today Jax wore his LAST diaper! He has not had one on since last Wednesday, and has done absolutely AMAZING in this new milestone!

He's had very few accidents, and most were hardly accidents at all, just bad timing, and not being fast enough to remove his britches!! We are still working with him on #2's, but that's probably the only true accident he's had when he's gone in his undies AND THEN told us. We knew that would be his hardest obstacle, but I think he's catching on.

The most amazing part of this whole process, besides not having dual diaper changes, is that he's already night trained!! We followed the advice of a friend and cut off liquids an hour prior to nap and bedtime, but the thing is, last Tuesday he was still waking up with sopping wet diapers, I mean like 5 pounders... And so the fact that from our first "trial" night on, he's woken up COMPLETELY dry every morning!!! I'm beyond elated over that!! Several people told us that waking up dry is when you START, and with Jax it's been the exact opposite!

For the most part I've kept him home and just in undies, but Friday night we had out first outing and went to a baseball game. He stayed dry, went potty 4x and that was with lots of distractions and a ton of playing! He also stayed dry while he was out on Sunday for a few hours, but then had his #2 accident :( I'm pretty confident that he's got the hang of it though and any accidents he does have will just be true accidents!! We did buy pull-up's, and thankfully he hasn't even "used" one yet! We put his undies under them for outings and sleeping only, and we've used the same one now for a whole week!

So, I think now we can actually clothe him and see how it goes with him telling us he has to go and working with him getting his pants off and on.

I'm such a proud Mama and hoping today is another accident free day! Tonight, we're treating Jax to an ice cream date at Dairy Queen!! :)

Boys... Boys... Boys...

Just a few of my favorites of the boys being so sweet together. Some of these you may have already seen, but I just thought I'd compile a few... More to come!

Adeventures in Potty Land...

Well the time has FINALLY come, and we are into our 2nd week of official potty training with Jax! (Today is day 3!! I started this post on Monday, Day 1.)

At 17 months after learning his potty patterns, we bought his first potty chair, a bunch of books, DVD's, sticker charts, candy, you name it... and he just wasn't ready... Then he turned two, and he still showed no interest in going to the potty. Then two and a half rolled around, and STILL nothing, nada, zilch!

I spent countless hours reading through potty training tips online, and talking with friends getting their experiences... and still to no avail; Jax just wasn't even willing to try. Then about 3 weeks ago, I found an article online that really interested me about a woman who's little boy, just like Jax, was far more intelligent than most, could do most things 3 and 4 year olds weren't doing, but he refused to use the potty... finally on this little boys own time, he came to his mommy and asked to use the potty... well that's kinda what we are going through now.

Dean started taking Jax in the bathroom each time HE went, and putting Jax up on the big potty just to try it out, when FINALLY last week, he went! We hooped and hollered and jumped up and down, and even though it was going on 10pm, we loaded him with candy and presents, and showered him with praises... The next day, we were driving to Nashville, and not certain that we were even about to start the process. I think Dean and I were just assuming this was a freak one time only thing, and we still had a ways to go before we really needed to be ready. On our way there, when we stopped to feed Liam half way, Dean was optimistic and decided to take Jax into the restroom and try... Low and behold, he went POTTY on a different toilet!!!! Thankfully, just in case, I had brought his Hershey Kisses along, and he didn't wait more than 2 seconds before his hand went out asking for his candy!
The rest of the weekend, we got a potty attempt here and there, and again, I thought ok... well see, we still aren't there yet. Then on the way home... well that's where Jax decided to use his new signal... 30 minutes into our drive, from the backseat comes... "My tummy hurts... I have to go Pooootttttyyy". Dean and I looked at each other, and pretty soon Dean was going 10 over and speeding to find the next bathroom. Dean took him out, and sure enough, he had saved a few dribbles to put in the potty. Then again... and again... annnnnd again... "I HAVE TO GO POTTY! My tummy hurts!!". Needless to say, it took us MUCH longer than 4 hours to get home that day...

Over the next few days, Jax retreated some, and learned it was ok to have accidents, but he would be rewarded if he came and told Mommy or Daddy he had to use the potty! He still isn't quite there when it comes to telling us he has to go potty, but we've figured that just telling him, "come on lets go..." usually results in something in the toilet.

Well TODAY... (Day 1) I decided to let him go diaper-less, and see what I got. I brought his potty chair into the playroom and instructed him to sit on the potty each time he thought he had to go. After about an hour of me checking in every 10 mins, I heard a "Mommmmmyyyy Jaxon went POTTY!!!". So I went in to check, and sure enough... he actually sat on the potty chair all by himself, and went pee!! Since starting this post, Jax has gone BY HIMSELF about 10 times!

I just hope that the amount of rewarding and treating doesn't end up in a ton of baby teeth cavities! Dean is off to the Dollar store to replenish our prize bag, and hopefully pick up some sugar-free treats for him! We are however, giving in to pull up's. While we are at home, I plan on keeping him naked, or in undies until he totally get's it... but when it comes to nap and bedtime, and his master plan of trying to get out of sleeping by asking to go Potty 200x, the diaper's lose their form, and the sticky tape, becomes, not so sticky. So we're going to try pull up's and possibly putting his potty chair in his bedroom at night to avoid an hour and half later bedtime!

Day 2 - On day 2, we had a great day! Jax only had two accidents, one in his undies attempting to get to the potty, and two, after jumping and running around playing, he was out in the living room, and thankfully got to the kitchen just in time to make an impressive puddle. He said sorry, and helped Mommy clean up. I explained that accident will happen, and it's ok. Then the BIGGEST part of the day... Jaxon had gone and hid in a closest and was trying to go #2. He got some out, and I think was really embarrassed it wasn't in a diaper, so I grabbed him real quick and sat him on the potty, staying with him until he was done. Drum roll please... Jax POOPED in the potty!!! The next big thing was getting him down for a nap. I told him his pull-up was just like his big boy underwear, and we needed to go potty before nap so he wouldn't make a mess in his bed. After he went potty (potty chair in his room), he took an hour and a half nap and woke up DRY! ;)

Today... Day 3 - we are off to a GREAT start! Jax slept from 10pm-8am, and once again, when he woke up from sleeping, he was completely dry! We had put his Elmo undies under his pull-up, and both were dry!!! So far so good today, and no accidents other than a little mess on the actual potty chair!

I'm so excited about Jax becoming potty trained, but know that it's still a ways off before he's fully day and night trained. I am so proud of just three day's progress and hope it won’t be more than a week before we get it down! It's such a little blessing to see his excitement over his accomplishments!!!

So for the Adventures in Potty Land... we're on our way!