US

Brett has us going three times a week to sporting events. He's playing community basketball and football. Basketball is on Monday nights and football is Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that his knees will hold out. His basketball team is called the Thundercats and his football team is Morton Electric.

Last night was the first basketball game and they won 41 to 30. Go Thundercats! Jaxson loved watching his dad play. He sat on my lap the first quarter and just watched he hardly moved. The second quarter he watched but he wanted to be standing. I think he is going to take after his dad and LOVE basketball.

Jaxson has been having a few firsts thanks to Grandma. My mom has been telling Jaxson that when he turns 7 months old she would take him for a bike ride on her bike. So on Saturday, Jaxson's 7 month birthday we went down to Grandma's so Jaxson could have his turn with riding the bike. He enjoyed it although I thought it made him look really big riding this way.

My mom bought Jaxson some Dum Dum suckers (sucker are considered a "free" food for Jaxson just as long as they are made from pure sugar). My mom is getting ready to stuff her Halloween witch with candy and she is already thinking of Jaxson. My mom is one of the most thoughtful people I know. Even though Jaxson is too little to notice what candy is in the witch it's so nice of her to think about him and it means so much to me as his mom. Thanks mom! So on Friday we let him pick his first sucker. My mom held out a cherry one (my favorite flavor) and a tangerine one for him to pick. He took tangerine. I think you can tell by looking at the picture if he enjoyed it. =)

As for me I'm just enjoying my boys and my Fall shows staring back up. I thought ER (all though very sad) Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and Brother Sisters had awesome season premieres. Also I can't forget the Biggest Loser that show makes you want to be healthier and you've got to love that. Thank goodness for DVR!

Binkie

Who says the binkie has to be in their mouth to help them fall asleep. =) I was driving and my little back seat passenger was very quit so I knew he had fallen asleep. When I went to get him out I just had to laugh and grab my camera. Jaxson is very much a binkie baby so it just made me laugh that for this nap he went to sleep holding his binkie vrs having it in his mouth. After taking the picture I went to take the binkie out of his hand and he had such a tight grip on it I couldn't pull it out.

Happy 7 month Birthday!

Today our baby turns 7 months old. Wow time flies when your having fun!

Best Buddies

I had to post this picture of Jaxson and Brianna (Eric and Elizabeth's daughter)aren't they soooo cute! Jaxson just adores Brianna and thinks she is the funnest. He will giggle and laugh at her and sometimes it even seems like they are "talking" with one another of coarse it's in screams. One time when Brianna came over to our house Jaxson laughed for 15 minutes at her it was so adorable. Elizabeth and I go walking daily and we get to push around these two cuties! They are so fun to have together you can just tell they are best buds!

New Trick

We bought Jaxson a floor toy a couple months ago. It's been fun watching his development with it. At first he just laid there and looked at it, then he went to grabbing the toys that hang down the lion will play music if you pull on it, then he went to grabbing the toys on the side by arching his back and last night he manged to some how move himself off the toy. I only put him in this toy when we are eating dinner so I sort of missed exactly how he did this but I was very impressed with his new trick!!! I love watching him figure out his world!

Welcome to Holland

I struggling with knowing how much I want to talk about PKU on my blog not because I’m unwilling to talk about it but because I have no idea who gets on here and looks over my blog. I never want Jaxson’s PKU and what our family feels about it to become the latest gossip or topic of discussion. I want people to see Jaxson and not PKU. However PKU is a big part of our lives as we continue to learn and accept it.

A while back I went to a workshop for cooking low protein and I meet some fabulous people who told me I needed to sign up for an email help group. It’s called listserv and people with a connection to PKU can sign up and email each other. I get about 10 or so emails a day from people all over the world. Sometimes they are just questions to the group, sometimes answers to previous questions, sometimes updates on phe levels in food, and sometimes just inspirational stories.

Today I received this email and I thought it was too good to just keep to myself. I know that most people who read our blog are our family and friends who have been so helpful and caring about Jaxson’s diagnoses and it’s to you that I want to share this with. I think it hit a little too close to home for me I found myself crying while reading the end thank goodness Brett’s at work I know my crying about PKU sometimes stresses him out because he just wants to be able to take the pain way and he can’t. So to my extraordinary family and friends that adore our son, Jaxson I share with you this poem and thank you for being there for us!

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.
c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things .. about Holland.

FHE

Last night Dylan called and invited us to go to the rec center with his family to swim. Jaxson loved the water. He was kicking his feet as fast as they could go. He didn’t care so much for water splashing on his face at the first but after a while it didn’t seem to bother him. We put him in a small lifejacket and you could tell he wasn’t quit sure about that. He went down three of the kid’s slides with help from Braden (thanks Braden you’re the best). We had a great family night thanks for calling us Dylan---lets go again!!!!
This picture didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked but as a mom, wife, and aunt to these boys I still think it’s a cute shot!

Our weekend

Well it’s been another great and busy weekend. Thursday afternoon I took Jaxson in for his 6 month shots---I HATE those! He handled them like a champ. I gave him medicine before we went and for the next 24 hours but on Friday he had a fever and wasn’t his pleasant self. Shots always make me realize what a good-natured baby Jaxson is all the time. I was glad when Saturday rolled around and he was feeling back to normal. We also got some exciting news from Sharon this week that we could start our 1st food exchange, rice cereal. We can mix it with either: water, applesauce, or apple juice. We’ve tried all three options and it seems like apple juice is the favorite. It makes me feel like Jaxson is getting so big feeding him food on a spoon. He loves his spoon it’s so cute to watch him eat.
Saturday my mom and I practiced making Jaxson’s bread. We tried two recipes. My mom is such a great baker/cook she is going to be the BEST in figuring out this bread thing. The taste of the breads were great but we want to improve the look. Brett’s cousin got married over the weekend so we spent Saturday evening with his family.

Today was my grandma’s 88th birthday---WOW! We had a birthday party for her at my mom’s house. Here are a few pictures of Jaxson with his cousins. He has the very best cousins that love him so much and he loves them.

Jaxson with Dylan

Jaxson with Halle

Three of us had babies this year. Jaxson (in Feb) TaiLee (Brooke and Andy's girl in June) Austin (Jason and Stephanie's son in May) Wasn't 2008 a great year to have a baby!

Later that night Brett and I pulled out Jaxson next set of clothes. There were some adidas shoes in there so of coarse those were Brett's favorite item. Brett loves shoes!

Jaxson getting laced up!

I think he is going to take after his dad and LOVE shoes!

These shoes were made for walking...well maybe we'll see

our Superman!

Ending the night by playing with dad.

Top 10 things I’m loving about you in September…

I love that when you see your bottle you giggle and pull it towards your mouth.

I love that when we give you a toy with a tag you play with the tag.

I love that we got to see you roll this month, way to go!!!

I love that you watch and take everything in you’re our “Little Inspector”.

I love to hear you “talk” and scream. You’re the first one to make screaming sound so good to my ears.

I love that when I’m holding you and you see me drink water from my cup you giggle and then want me to let you have a turn. It’s fun sharing with you.

I love that when I nibble your jaw line it makes you laugh.

I love that this month you have done your blood work without any crying. You amazing me with your bravery!

I love that you enjoy being outside so much. It’s been so fun to take you on daily stroller and bike rides. I hope the cold weather doesn’t come for a very long time.

I love snuggling beside you at night and watching you drift off to sleep.