Happy Birthday Jaxon!!!!

Wow! I can't believe Dean and I have a TWO YEAR OLD!!!! Even though we have witnessed him grow (and yes it took 2 whole years) we are still shocked at how fast the time really has gone by!
Jaxon is such a HUGE part of our lives. We can't imagine how we even lived now w/out him. Oh now he can have his moments and cause us to sit and ponder why we are even pregnant again, lol. But really, he is so much fun. He is such a big helper these days. We taught him a few things that will help once Liam gets here like; grabbing a new diaper, throwing diapers away, picking up his playroom, brushing his teeth, and helping mommy or daddy put clean dishes away, by putting his cups, plates and bowls in the drawer we have his things in. Of course we also are counting these things as ways that he can earn "monies" as he calls them. Pennies have so much more value now. He loves getting coins and putting them in his piggy bank!

So much has changed in just one year since his first birthday! He has learned and recognized all of his numbers (lower case and upper case); he can count and recognize numbers to 15. He can sing about 6-7 songs, or at least TRY to sing the words. He uses "scoops", aka forks and spoons. He's mastered unplugging, arranging and putting the RCA colored cables in from the DVD player to the TV, as well as taking out DVD's and playing new ones! He knows all of the Sesame Street characters by name, sound, and color. He has ALSO just recently figured out and mastered climbing out of his pack n play, as well as his crib! We're definitely in trouble now!

Over the last year, Dean and I have worked really hard with him and his learning. Some people call him gifted, but I just consider him a lucky only child that has two parents dedicated to his learning development. He really is excited about learning, which of course makes it fun for Dean and I to teach him w/out feeling like we are forcing education on him faster than he needs to. We're also extremely lucky that he has taken to learning so much. We've never pressured him into things, if anything it's the other way around! He loves anything to do with "A,B,C's and 1,2,3's", and yes, even I have forgone saying 'letters and numbers' and have retreated in Jaxon's language to saying "Oh, have you seen Jaxon's ABCD's?" Haha. Dean hasn't fallen victim to this yet!

Jax is starting to speak in more understandable sentences, rather than a few words here and there, and man oh man, if we knew that how you speak to your child, would come out in play, I think Dean and I would have considered a few things more carefully. Haha. Just the other night, Jax was in the bathtub playing with his water monsters, he was laying them all down on the side of the tub, then once all three were lined up and "sleeping", he pointed his finger at them, and said "Now you sleep, sssh. Go nigh-night babies, NOW!". There was a brief silence before I started busting up laughing, and as I stood there, I started questioning whether Dean and I yell at him too much to take a nap or go to bed, lol. This age really is so much fun for us though! Dean and I get a kick out of all the things he catches on to, or learns from his tv shows or even just watching the puppies. Yeah, try explaining to an 18 month old that, he doesn't need to drink water from a bowl on the floor.

With another year, we will now be entering the lovely "terrible two's"! They don't call it that for nothing after all right!?!? We are hoping that with the addition of Liam, we will be able to get through this so called stage at least half decently. We have already seen some of the attitude Jax has inherited from us... *sigh*. Of course this is 'just hilarious' for our parents to watch... (yeah yeah, I am sorry I was bad... but I am good now HELP!). We are doomed if he goes the same route that Dean and I did at this age! But we will just have to see how that goes. So to that, I say BRING IT ON!

Tomorrow we are headed to WA State to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Jax is so excited to go on an airplane! I told him he's been on a ton of airplanes in his life, but now that he understands more, and knows what they actually are, this will hopefully be a fun trip for him! Once we return at the end of the month we will be entering "the adventures" of potty land, sleeping in a big boy bed land, and who know's what else!!!

I have posted all of the pictures from Jaxon's birthday party to the right. Our good friend Brandi took most of them, and captured most of his party frame by frame for those who missed it! Jax had a wonderful birthday party with friends and family in TN! Up next is his WA party!!

We also want to share the video of a birthday card we sent in for Jax on Sprout TV. It was listed online, as well as shown on the Sunnyside Up morning show! Jax was able to watch it live; as well as watch it a few more times off the DVR. I wish I could have gotten his reaction on film as well! He was very excited and kept saying "Yook Mommy Yook!"

We Love you all!!!

Shylah

Happy Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday! We have been celebrating for the last three days with Jax! While I had fun, and I know Jax did too, I am glad it's finally over! This year we found Jax a really cute $3 Cookie Monster costume at a consignment sale, so we decided he would go as that. We were going to have him be Oscar the Grouch or the Count, but that might work for next year! At first he hated the costume because he doesn't like to wear hats, and he would rather play with it, but then after he figured out he got candy with it on, he decided it was okay.

I am gonna brag a little bit here and tell everyone that Jax was the ONLY person I saw that had any manners this entire weekend. Where ever he was, if he went up to Trick or Treat, he said "Trick or Treat" as best as he could, then ended the phrase with "please" or "nom nom nom". Then after he was given a piece of candy he would say "thank you". He also gave back most of his candy, haha, and if someone gave him more than one, he would keep the one he wanted, and give back the rest. I must say I was very proud of this, but now must take advantage of the 50% off candy sales tomorrow. He sure was cute and the only Cookie Monster we saw. Here is how our weekend went…

Friday all the businesses downtown had a trick or treating festival for kids that we went to. It was okay, but not worth the two hours of being in the wind and cold for the 7 pieces of candy Jax ended up getting. Then on Saturday, we went to the Chillin' N Grillin festival that was set up downtown. It's a little festival that has a bunch of local vendors, arts and crafts, music, bbq and chili cook off's and a place for the kiddo's to burn off their energy. Jax had a lot of fun while we were there, and bounced for about an hour and a half in one of those bounce houses. I've never seen him have so much fun jumping!

Saturday night, Dean and I went to our friends Rachel and Greg's third annual Halloween Bash. Dean dressed up as a Chilean Miner and I decided to rock the "beer gut" and go as an Alabamian Redneck! We went with those ideas since we didn't really put any time or thought into our costumes until a few days before. Dean had all his equipment and uniform pieces from both Metromont and working on the windmills, so really all he needed was a Chilean Flag and some soot on his face. I decided to switch my original idea of being a "barefoot and pregnant" redneck, and Dean being my redneck boyfriend, to taking full advantage of the pregnant belly and turning it into a beer gut. Both of our outfits cost us next to nothing, and we both pulled it off well! Matter of fact, I won me a box of Little Debbie Nutty Bars and took home the Funniest Costume Award! I think if there had been an award for most disturbing I would have taken that home too! I might have gone a little over board with the whole thing, but I had a blast. I had jerky chew, smelled like motor oil and bbq sauce, and even had my lucky Busch Beer boxers out for show! I now know why rednecks talk the way they do. For example, instead of darn, they say "dern" and I think it's because they have to keep their chew in, so it forces them to mispronounce words! Der!

The whole night was really fun. It was a good, clean, party with really good friends and family. Everyone had on great costumes. There were a bunch of "classic" Halloween costumes, but most were pretty original. Brett Favre and Jenn Sterger were there, "Quailman" from the cartoon Doug, The Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol, Lady Gaga, Colonel Sanders, Richard Simmons and more... My vote went to Rachel, our friend Brandi and their friend Emilee. They dressed up as discontinued Barbie's. Jailbreak Barbie, Rockstar Barbie and Construction Worker Barbie. Their costumes were amazing! The best part of the night is when they finally got out of their boxes, and Dean who had taken some of his costume off, decided to portray the "real" jailbreak Barbie. Haha, he resembled more of a Joe Dirt in a Barbie box look... but definitely had it right. Sara dressed up as Lady Gaga, and her husband, Al was another redneck and my "cousin Al". Haha. We all had so much fun. I was glad to come home and clean up though, and Dean was finally glad to be able to kiss me w/out feeling weird.

Today we took it easy and didn't really have anything planned to do until we got a call from Nana and Pop's about Jax coming to their Fall Festival. The church they go to put on a kids festival for pre-schoolers and younger ONLY, which was really nice to not have the older kids knocking the babies down for candy. There were a ton of games for them to do, coloring, bowling, etc... Jax wound up bringing an entire pumpkin full of candy home for Mommy and Daddy to "check over". I knew there were hidden benefits to having children! =D

All in all, this weekend was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed Jax's excitement dressing up, passing out candy, trick or treating, etc... but I am so glad it's over! Next year Dean and I will get to have fun with two little boys!!! Whoo hoo, that's even more pumpkins to paint and carve, and more candy for us!!! Hope you all are doing well! We love you and miss you all!

Shylah

(More pictures are posted. Click on our Pumpkin Patch album, then My Photos once open to view "Halloween Costumes 2010...")

Pumpkin Patch 2010...

Happy Autumn everyone! I absolutely love this time of year. The leaves are all starting to change colors here... I can't believe that it's almost November, and they are just starting to turn colors. I must say, that our every day beautiful view of the mountains is even more gorgeous right now. The mountain range is starting to show shades of reds, oranges and yellows. It's so pretty with the sun on them... We definitely have it rough out here :D

Over the past two weekends, we've had lots of fun sorting through Halloween costumes, and finally making our way out to a pumpkin patch. We found one that is just a little ways from us called Myers Pumpkin Patch and more. It's tucked away down a side road, and absolutely beautiful. I am not sure how big the "farm" is, but the corn maze they also have on their property is 24 acres!!!! They had an aerial picture of it in their shop, and it looked like an entire city!


They had a ton of stuff to do for kids, from the "kiddy corral", to the hill slide, arts & crafts, pumpkin painting and more. The first time we went, we took Nana and Pops with us, and sadly for us, Jax did not cooperate at all. All he wanted to do was play with the toys. Mistake #1 on our behalf for letting him go in there first. We were eventually able to get him to pick out a pumpkin, but not without pitching a fit in front of everyone. We only stayed a little while and were sad we left with a crying baby, and a cranky mama!

So then we decided to make another go at it since Aunt Rachel wanted to take Jax. We went out again last weekend, and it was much more enjoyable for all of us. We left early enough to have time to do all the things we wanted to, and not cut into Jaxon's naptime!

We went on a tractor/hayride; Daddy and Aunt Rachel took Jax down this humongous hill slide, we dug through hay stacks and found hidden gourds. We picked out real pumpkins from an actual pumpkin patch, and rocked on the front porch drinking hot apple cider, while looking at the gorgeous mountain views! We really had a great time. It was much too hot for my liking, but all in all it was a lot of fun. I am so glad that we have started this fall tradition with Jax!

Now we just need to paint and carve our pumpkins, and figure out how to make pumpkin seeds, and maybe even at attempt at a pumpkin pie from scratch!

All the pictures from both days are on the right sidebar. Enjoy!

Xoxo
Shylah

It's a BOY!!!

First off, I am extremely excited about bringing another baby boy into this world! Liam David Ward! We chose the name Liam based on Dean's Irish heritage, and the middle name David for my brother! Yes Deej - I love you THAT much to want to name our baby after you! I only hope and pray he will be as wonderful of a brother to Jax as you were to me!

Gender disappointment? No! Well not really anyways... Of course I had always envisioned myself with one of each. After all, I was raised with a brother, so naturally I wanted and expected God to bless me with the "all American family"... Well, I guess the big guy has other plans!

It is pretty funny to think about actually, because when it comes to girly-girls, I was it! I was a Barbie playing, doll loving, makeup-wearing, cheerleading, hates the dirt, LOVES glitter kind of girl! Seriously, if there were a picture next to the word “prissy” in the dictionary, it would have been mine! I was that much of a girl! I didn’t like getting dirty, I yelled and ran away from any type of insect, I ducked at any ball thrown my way. I was “that girl” that so many other girls hate!

I was content to stay inside and braid my doll’s hair, play with my Barbie Dream House, or read a good Baby Sitter's book, rather than join the neighbor kids outside. Outside meant dirty, and dirty wasn’t something I enjoyed. Rarely did I join the other kids in a game outside, and when I did, I didn’t stay long. Bugs, and bug bites. Yuck. Do you get what I am saying here? I was a total girl... well most of the time anyway!

Once I discovered "boys"... I quickly learned to like things like sports, dirt, video games, trucks, writing in microscopic hand writing, building things, tearing things apart to create cooler things, etc... Things I learned to love since DJ had no desire to play Barbie's with me, or dress-up, or any of the girly-girl stuff I liked to do!

Liam - "The determined protector"

Well, there was a time where he let me give him "clear polish only" manicures haha! He even had a "frequent visitors" card I made! Remember that Deej?

Had it not been for my brother brain, I would be the dumb blonde on the side of the road calling AAA, instead of changing a flat tire myself! I would know nothing about baseball, Jeep Rubicons, tires, shocks, struts and lift kits! About cheat codes in 'Golden Gun', pinecone baseball, trash can rolling, car dodging, and building forts! I also wouldn't be co-creator of our "rubber band cutting machine"!!! All of these things, and then some, I can only give thanks to my brother for! Things that I pray Jaxon and Liam will be able to do! Memories they will be able to make and carry for a lifetime!

I know several people who have two boys, and would never change a thing about them! I look forward to all the hand me downs of Jaxon's that we can share! To not having different room themes (at least for now), to Red, Blue, Green and Yellow! To trucks and trains... and no Barbie lying out on the "tracks of death" as I had :(. To sporting events where they can hopefully play as a team, to MULTIPLE BUG KILLERS! (Yes!!!), to yard work being done by "the boys", and on... and on... and on!

Will I miss things because I didn't have a daughter? Maybe. But then again, there are nieces for that :) My Aunt and I are extremely close, and so I can always look forward to that! I can spoil a niece in ways a mother might not be able to! I have several nieces already and hopefully many more to come!!!

All in all... I am VERY happy! As with any new baby, I have fears of favoritism with Jax... I've been reassured that this is a normal feeling, and that a mothers love does not divide, it multiplies... I am ready for Jaxon to have a buddy, to have a friend, and most importantly to have a bond that only Brothers have...

As far as the baby update: Liam was full of kicks and plenty of attitude this morning. He literally showed his parts the second the sonographer touched the wand to my belly... then immediately went to standing on his head, holding his legs above his head... (Hmm... sounds like another little boy I carried!). Our LMD puts us at 17 weeks, 3 days... but of course we're going off the 1st ultrasound that dated us 2 weeks ahead... Well NOW... we're dating even farther. I have been saying 19 weeks... but we had one date go all the way to 21 weeks, 6 days which is a full month and a half farther... LOL. I told the Dr. that the baby will get here when he get's here... But it is nice to know that the baby is growing ahead of the growth schedule for once ;)

My next prenatal appointment is Nov. 4th, and our next u/s is Dec. 1.

Hope you all are as excited as we are about meeting Liam!

Love you all, Shylah

Thing 3 to Thing 4...

Remember Dean and I's "Thing 1, 2, 3" picture?!?!

The first time I ever went to Disney World with the Wards, I was pregnant with Jax. I was able to ride most of the rides because I wasn't that far along, and my doctor had given me the go-ahead. So after going on literally every ride my first time there, (even the kiddie rides) and after getting off the Seuss-Trolly, lol... I saw these "thing" shirts... I decided rather than buy the shirts, to just take a photo moment and capture our growing family...

Thing 1, 2, 3...

So once I found out we were going to Disney pregnant again, I decided that it was definitely worth the cost of admission to take our new Thing picture... (only I got in free, thanks to doing a Wyndham survey!)

So here is our newest and last Thing Picture. Once baby #2 is born, I may have to order these shirts and we'll have to go and get our pictures taken with the actual "Thing 4" here with us!

Thing 1, 2, 3, and baby makes 4!

And yes... we realize our numbers are off... Lol. I told Dean that I was Thing 1 last time... but he seems to think our roles have changed *wink wink*