buh bye!

Jaxon has been perfecting his pageant wave as well as clapping the last few months and loves to show off at almost any one who looks in his direction! Last weekend we discovered that if you say "YAY!" he will clap. Today we also notice that when you say "Buh-Bye" he waves! He's hilarious because he totally stops whatever he is doing, waves, and then starts back up with whatever he was doing!

I know it's little but it was so cute. He is also has discovered splashing and how to push open our bedroom door (that doesn't latch). He is adorable!

Nothing much is new except I'm looking into becoming a medical transcriptionist. It would allow me to work AND stay home which would be absolutely great! I'm just looking into it at this point but it's looking promising!

Perfect Dinner

Does anyone else look on their Pinterest and make their dream dinner? I never have all the stuff in my kitchen to make things on a whim (our kitchen is SUPER SUPER tiny, with no storage) but here is what I would consider a perfect night:

Appetizer - Zucchini Oven Chips

Main - Chicken Gyros

Dessert - Dr. Pepper Cupcakes w/ butterbeer to drink

I would probably have a heart attack after this meal but what a way to go!!!!!

FIRST WORDS!

So Jaxon has always been a "talker". He is one of those babies who loves to hear the sound of his voice. Even when he was a newborn the whole time he was awake, asleep, eating, or anything he was constantly making noise. He has mastered many sounds. He had ba, da, ra, ga, go, do, dob, bob, etc.

About a week and a half ago, he started saying mamamamama. I figured it was just a new sound even though my heart jumped when he started because you dream your whole life of hearing that sound. I figured at first he didn't know what he was doing, just making noise like usual. Then I started noticing that when I left the room instead of whining he would go "MoM.... mama... mom!!" and I got a little suspicious.

I asked my friend when I went to her house what she thought as he was making the sounds. She said she thought he knew what he was saying because he was looking right at me while he was in the jumper she had at her house and saying "Mama!".

Then finally the other day, daddy was holding him and he was being quiet. He looked right at me, reached out his arms to me and said "Mama" and smiled.

YAY!!!

He has recently started saying "dada" but I don't think he has connected it with David just yet. For now, I am very happy that he knows who I am and that I have a name. It is so sweet to hear his little voice say "mama".

Big Boy Bath!

Jaxon had his FIRST big boy bath today. He did SO good and liked it A LOT better than he does in his baby tub. He thought splashing was GREAT and loved having free reign.

He loves to drink the water in the tub and tried to drink it right out of the spout. Besides trying to drown himself constantly with the faucet while the tub filled up he did GREAT!

ANOTHER UPDATE: We have a scooter! He is so close to crawling. He honestly wants to skip crawling and go straight to running but were really working hard with him to start walking first. Go Baby Go!!

Picture Perfect

Jaxon's Preferred Method of Dining

What Dog Blankie????


Someone Got Caught Stealing Nana's Visor!


This Is How You Put This Sucker In Right?


Play Mats Are Not Always for Babies!

Back to reality

It has been a CRAZY summer. I can't believe I didn't blog about ANY of it. I'll do a short catch up.

In the beginning of July we went on vacation to Gatlinburg Tennessee. David's parents have a time share and went up Sunday after church. We left right after David got off work Thursday and joined them. Then we got a a night to ourselves since they left early (with Jax) and let us have some alone time. We missed our baby a lot but it was definitely worth some alone time.

We had one week off and then Jaxon and I went to Florida with the women in David's family for TWO weeks! David was NOT happy especially since Jaxon grew up so much those two weeks. He REALLY started interacting more, learned to roll, started solid foods, and became a real busy body! We enjoyed the beach but were SO happy to be home.

August was pretty laid back and we started recovering from our previous travels. I started planning Jessie's baby shower and also planned ANOTHER trip to Pennsylvania to see my brother.

Now It's September and we are enjoying the fall weather! Jaxon LOVES being outside and loves playing in the grass and leaves. I love that I can take him out at noon and not worry about him (or me) getting soaked in sweat!

I LOVE fall because that means winter is coming and I cannot wait to have my first winter with my little boy in my arms. He's learning to crawl right now and has started scooting backwards! He decided to sit up at 5 months so he's been progressing right on track!

He loves to laugh and is learning to squeal. Sadly he sounds like a girl but I just LOVE it when he gets that excited. He also Flaps his arms like a penguin when he's excited and rubs his feet together at the same time. Just imagine this little chipmunk of a boy squealing on the couch while flapping like a penguin and rubbing those little feet. He looks SO stinking cute. I'll try to get a video.

Anyways that's us for now! I'll post pictures next post. I'm going to try to make this a weekly thing :)

I need some opinions..

So I have been noticing pretty much since birth that Jax does not sleep like normal babies and wanted some opinions. Newborns normally sleep ALL the time and he seemed to be the exception but it was definitely a schedule I could work with. He started sleeping through the night at 5 weeks so I am lucky in that department but I don't think he sleeps as much as he should. So far from the research I've done, a regular 3 month old's nap schedule looks approximately like this-

REGULAR CHILD:

Nap around 10:00 am for around 1.5-2 hours

Long nap around 1:30-2 pm for around 2-2.5 hours

Nap around 5:00 pm for around an hour

Bed time around 9 or 10 with a few wake ups depending on the baby

JAXON'S SCHEDULE

Jaxon rarely takes naps. He sleep from about 10:30 pm till about 6:45 am and plays in his crib by himself till 7:30

He'll take one or two, thirty minute naps through out the day and about an hour and a halfnap around 2:00 pm. He just doesn't seem to sleep. He amuses himself really well so I can get SOME things done but I hate just letting him lay on a blanket on the floor or in his crib or swing...

Does this seem abnormal to anyone else? I'm not trying to keep him up so he'll sleep longer at night (although I have heard of women doing that) because I know he'll get over tired and not sleep well. He may just be a kid that doesn't sleep a lot but I thought I would ask around and get some opinions.

I just thought 3 month olds slept more!! :)

New stuff

Jax is not quite 3 months yet and already has changed so much! He has started teething and his eye teeth are coming in. My little vampire! He has started to start to reach and grab for his toys as well. He found his thumb and while he is not very good at sucking it so much as sticking it in his eye he is improving. I am not encouraging it though because thumb sucking is hard to break from what I hear. I think he will grow out of it.

David is still loving his work although he does not like the hour drive to and from work. I am enjoying staying at home although I wish there were more time in the day! Since Jax is teething he isn't sleeping very well during the day and it is a little hard for me to motivate myself when my drool-ie little cuddly bug is in my arms smiling at me. He is starting to look a little more like me although he is still a "little David".

He has been the best baby and I am so lucky that he is all mine! He has started smiling and laughing more. He LOVES to talk also. He wakes up every morning and lays in his crib just talking to himself for about an hour. It is probably the greatest sound in the word.

I can't wait until he is old enough to take him to parks and let him play in the sprinklers and hear what he is thinking! I am SO enjoying his stationary stage and soaking up every minute but there are always great things to look forward to.

That's it for now. Hope there is more exciting news to report later!!

Is it worth it?

The other day David gave me the house bug. He said he was looking around at pricing and such and then I caught the bug as well. Anyways so I was looking at a few (hundred) houses the last few weeks and found one I really love.

I wanted to know if any one has heard or has opinions on fixer-uppers. Are they worth it in the long run? The house is an AMAZING price and the inside is VERY nice, it just needs cosmetic things on the outside from what we've seen.

Any advice at this point would be great. Should we wait, or can a nice project be a good thing? Help! :)

My little faker

Jaxon has discovered faking. He has always been a tricky little guy. He makes the most awful faces to make you think he is crying and then won't. While we are used to this little quirk that he has done since he was literally 3 hours old, it makes some people who hold him a little on edge.

Recently however his expertise has been fine tuned. He has now learned how to fake cough and also that sticking his upper lip out are both things that will get him picked up. I recently had a cold and despite my best efforts he got it too. When he would cry he would also cough so I would pick him up instead of letting him cry it out.

Now he has discovered all it takes is a few fake coughs (that always stop the second I pick him up) is all it takes to get some cuddle time. It took his mommy a little while to figure out that this is what he was doing though! I never thought babies this small would know to do that kind of thing but after close observation for the last week (which he has been cold free) I have determined my little boy is quite the little actor.

He also had his two month check up so here are the results:

Weight - 15.7 lbs (97th percentile)

Length - 23.5 in (90th percentile)

Head - 16.5 in (96th percentile)

The doctor also told me since he is so big I have to give him the same dose of Tylenol that a 5 month old would get and that he is the size of a 4-5 month old, not a brand new two month old. Crazy little guy!!

They also said he was advanced in his talking and motor skills. Maybe this is because he hasn't stopped talking or moving since he was born. We are very proud of Jax and hopes he keeps up the good reports!!

Feeling like Noah

Somehow I never seem to remember to blog about the big things that happen. I think my life is pretty uninteresting most of the time. I am VERY happy with uninteresting though because it means there is no drama!

Anyways last Wednesday it had been raining really hard for few days and the basement apartment we live in tends to flood. David's parents live upstairs and his mom came down to check the room where the flooding usually starts (food storage room) and all was dry.

She stayed down and talked for about 3o minutes and I decided to go to bed. I accidentally woke David up and when he turned over to turn off his lamp on the night stand I heard, "Did Myah pee?"

When I looked down I knew what we were in for.

Luckily we caught it in pretty good time. Unluckily our place is mostly carpet. With only one large shop vac and one small one David and his dad were losing the battle. I rushed to walmart to pick two more large shop vacs.

Four hours after the whole ordeal started and at 2:30 am we decided to put on the fan and HUGE humidifier we also bought and call it a night. Nothing was ruined and we were safe. The best news? Jax slept through the WHOLE thing and had no idea anything was going on. My amazing husband even went to work the next day. It was a long night for all of us (David's parents helped us out a TON) but in the end we are so lucky we were up to catch it!

Now we just have to put everything back in its place. LOTS and LOTS of work ahead of us.

Step 1- coupons

Before I got married I felt very domestic. I could cook, keep my area clean, do artsy stuff, scrapbook, etc. It was not until I got married and started paying attention to my married friend's domestic skills that I started to see how much skill I lack! I think in an lds society this is a more common feeling than people express. I refuse to get myself down and instead am starting to focus on one thing a month I can improve on. Small steps.

My first step is to learn to use coupons! I have been addicted to the TV show "extreme couponing" and was inspired. I have informed my husband I won't be going to the same extremes but if I save anywhere from 15-30 a shopping trip I would be happy. Since I am planning which coupons I have and what I need to use I also have started planning a menu of healthy foods.

This technically counts as 2 things this month but they go hand in hand. I ordered a healthy cooking magazine that I had purchased at the store a few times and LOVE the recipes. When the magazine comes I LOVE to get out the scissors and go to town! By the end of my rampage there is hardly any magazine left. I then put the recipes in a accordion folder that is filed in sections. I also love the organization and how easy it has been start.

I am still deciding what step 2 will be. I'm thinking I will start trying to do my laundry better. I have never been a great laundress so tips or hints would help!!!

Anyways Jaxon is doing great. He's been sick lately (I gave him my cold which was just a stuffy nose and cough) and he is such a trooper! He will cough and sneeze and have his nose running and sit there smiling at me and start cooing. He also has slept like a champion. I love this little guy and I am amazed that he is getting big enough that I can start seeing how much he loves me! Motherhood is AMAZING!

Things to remember

So I am absolutely horrible at not only blogging but journaling too. I know I want to remember all the little things that Jaxon is doing though so I thought I would jot some down. Here are some thing that I want to remember about my AMAZING little guy.

-He sleeps through the night and has since he was 5 weeks old exactly. (8-10 hours at least)

-He is SO smiley in the morning. He giggles and laughs and is so chipper.

-He just discovered his swing. He falls asleep almost the second he sits in it.

-He LOVES the light. Windows, lamps, phones, Ipods... anything will do

-He enjoys being out side. If he is fussy, he will usually calm down if he gets fresh air

-He is so expressive when he sleeps. He makes happy, sad, angry faces and scowls

-He makes tons of "David faces"

-He gets VERY upset if he has to wait for a bottle

-His whole body turns red when he dirties his diaper (gross I know but it is so cute to a mom!)

-He also straightens his body and grunts for a good 5 minutes (no he is not constipated it is a smooth soft poo he just is dramatic)

-He is 14 lbs

-He gets blessed tomorrow

-His hair looks red in the sunlight or camera lights

-He sleeps in his carseat and loves to ride in the car. Even if he doesn't fall asleep he just sits there happily talking to us

-He talks when he eats, sleeps, or is awake. The kid is always coo-ing and letting us know he's there.

-He recognizes David and I and will follow us around the room if he hears us or sees us.

Those are just a few amazing things we've learned about him the last few months. I know a lot is typical but it is special to us. He is such a great baby!!!!

Big Day Out!

Today Jax and I got out and about. We went to lunch with my best friend and FAVORITE person Kristin Kappes for her Birthday! We went to root-a-bakers in Morehead since I had a dr.'s apt today and was going to be there anyways. After that Kristin took Jaxon home with her so I could go to the Dr and not worry about Jax getting his nap. I then did a few more errands and got to go visit my old workplace and see most of my coworkers and friends!

It was so nice to go back and see familiar faces. My coworkers really were more than just people I worked with, we were all really close and really like family. They were so excited to meet my little guy. Speaking of which, I though I'd upload some pictures too. Nothing new if your my friend of facebook but if not, here he is!!

Sleeping

Smiling at his mama (notice the dimples)

Jax and Daddy's favorite past time. Catching some zzzzzzzzzz's

My two full time jobs

So for those of you who have wondered where I have been the last month I have recently gotten TWO (yes count them, two) new jobs.

Job #1 - Jaxon Applegate which is pretty self explanatory.

Job #2 - Breast feeding (unsuccessfully).

All I do these days is feed, pump, change a diaper, feed, feed, pump, feed, diaper. When I am not doing that I am eating oatmeal, taking herbal supplements, drinking 120 oz of water, drinking an additional 3 cups of herbal tea (24 more oz) and trying to stay relaxed and get sleep (HA!).

This is all supposed to make my breast milk production increase. Well guess what, It doesn't! My last resort was to see about prescriptions my doctor would give me but I called today and he doesn't prescribe medicine for low production.

I am anemic and have researched extensively the affects on breast milk production and all sources say the same that low iron is a very common cause of low production. I've even found articles of mom's who have gotten their milk supply up and have tried it ALL.

Yes I have tried to JUST breast feed him and not supplement but all that does is end the day with both of us crying and me extremely sore.

I pump throughout the day to measure how much I am getting (yes I realize you do not get as much from a pump but I can see the fluctuation this way) and I can pump 8-12 times a day (not including night feedings or when I feed him during the day) and only get 4 oz tops.

I never feel my milk drop or any need to feed because I have such low supply of milk. I was panicked the first week because I thought my milk hadn't come in but I was making such a low amount I just assumed it was just colostrum. WRONG. I had milk but just such a small amount I didn't notice the difference.

At this point, both of us are exhausted and I am not sure what to do. Like I said the last resort was a prescription so I am going to try to call around and see if any other doctors around here will know anything about the prescriptions I have mentioned and if not, I don't know what else I can do.

I have literally tried everything for almost 6 weeks and still nothing has changed. Yes I nurse ALL the time, YES I have tried not supplementing him, YES I stay hydrated, YES I try my best to stay relaxed, YES he is latched on correctly (I have had multiple people including nurses and experienced mothers check). I would appreciated it if anyone has advice besides the above list I would appreciate it. Other than that, I'm going to hang on for a couple weeks and then just stop. I have no life!!! lol.

I promise I am enjoying my amazing son and all that he has brought to my life, I am just tired of my own boobs! He is such an amazing blessing and a great baby and I couldn't have done this if he was not so amazing. LOVE HIM just not breastfeeding although I have been determined to get past this, I just don't know if I can at this point.

Sorry for the explosion, just thought you might want to know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth!!

Jaxon Ray Applegate

So a lot of you probably have already heard about our little guys big entrance into this world but for those of you who don't, here it is!

I woke up Saturday March 5th and felt some lower back pain. I thought I was just sleeping weird and ignored it for a while. Eventually we decided to call the hospital and see what they thought and they said to come in and they would check me. We got ready and made the 45 min trip up there to get admitted. They checked me and did some tests and said it was probably false labor and sent me home by 3:00.

We got home and I did some dishes, made some cookies, and did some laundry. I decided to take a nap since I had a long day and went to sleep for about 3 hours. I woke up around 7:00 pm and thought I was feeling contractions. Around 9:00 they became regular, about 5 min apart but not very strong. We decided to wait since we had been to the hospital and got sent home once already.

David and I watched the MSU game until after midnight and then went to bed since we had church the next day. I couldn't sleep and he stayed up with me until around 1:30. I said if I was still having contractions at 2:00 I'd call the hospital. By 2:00 am my contractions had JUMPED to 2.5-3 minutes apart and intensified. We decided to call the hospital and they said to get right in.

By the time we got ready and drove to the hospital again it was around 3:00 and my contractions were 2 minutes apart and lasted 45-55 seconds each. I was wheel chaired up to the maternity ward when the admissions lady out how close they were and got to go straight into labor and delivery.

They checked me right away and I was already in between 7-8 centimeters. I was worried that I wouldn't get the epidural but they said I was still okay to get it and paged the anesthetist right away. They gave me some medicine in my IV to take the edge off but all it did was make me loopy and puke for the next 5 hours. I was NOT a fan of the medicine.

The anesthetist came and told David to leave while they gave me the epidural. I was later told she showed up with crazy hair, combat boots and a shade of hot pink lipstick that should have been on a 6 year old instead of a 40+ Jamaican. I was all alone in a STEAMING room for the next hour and a half while they gave the least effective epidural in the history of labor. I got relief for the next little bit and began pushing at 6:45.

3.5 hours of pushing later and two failed epidural attempts the doctor told me that the baby was not past my pelvis and it didn't look like he would be getting past it at all. At this point I was exhausted, puking, still sweating because the ridiculously hot room, and ready to see my little boy. I practically walked to the surgery room myself (and could have since my epidural had come out for the 3rd time and I had full feeling in my legs).

The next little bit is pretty much a blur since the head anesthetist came in and fixed the epidural for the c section and the medicine finally kicked in. I was also nauseous still and felt better with my eyes closed. I slept until around 12:30 and met my little guy.

Jaxon Ray Applegate (Jax) was born at 10:29 am and was 9 pounds even and was 21 inches long. He has his mommy's nose and his daddy's everything else! He is SO sweet. He even sleeps for 6 hours stretches at least once a day so David and I can get a little sleep. I am recovering nicely (so I think) and hoping to get back to normal as soon as possible even though it is slow going.

David went and got a new camera today so we will be posting pictures later since he is sleeping right now. David has been an AMAZING help throughout this whole ordeal and I have never been so proud to call him mine. I am so lucky to have someone so helpful and encouraging in my life!

Thank you to everyone who has shown support and love at this exciting time in our life!!!

Applegate Update

It has been SSSSOOOO long since my last blog! Luckily it's all good things happening that has kept me away. David LOVES his job and can't wait to move a little closer to cut back on the commute. I can't wait to move so I can rest a little before our little guy gets here! No names picked out so far but we will keep you updated. Suggestions still welcome :)

We are moving into David's parent's basement apartment at the end of January when I am finally done with work. Moving when your 9 months pregnant will be stressful but the people at church have been so nice and supportive! I even have a girl who offered to help me come pack!

I have a church baby shower this Saturday. My first one and I am so excited! I'll have to take pictures and post. It has made this week go by really show but when I am finally done with the week I will be two weeks away from being able to stay home for a little while so I am still happy about the waiting.

Our little guy is good as far as we know. I was supposed to have a check up on the 3rd but they have rescheduled it FOUR times now and I will be going two months without a check up. That must mean I'm pretty healthy!!

We had a little scare at the beginning of December. I had a fill in Dr. for my November apt. who didn't tell anyone that I needed a follow up ultra sound. My little guy was just being difficult and didn't let the ultra sound tech get a good shot of the right side of his heart.

Well when I went back in December they told me they could squeeze me in that day so I stayed. She said the heart looked great but he was HUGE (even though my belly measured small)! She started asking me all these questions and got me a little scared at that point.

He was supposed to be just climbing up to around 2 lbs at that point and he was over 3.5 lbs. She said I probably had gestational diabetes and that I needed to get tested asap. Luckily that morning I was on my way to my first sugar test.

I barely failed that sugar test and had to go back for the 3 hour test. I passed that one and was told I just make big babies. That should be interesting in a few months. I'm fine with big babies as long as they do not get David's head!!

Anyways that's been our life so far. One tiny bit of drama but other than that our few months have been great! I'll post pics of the baby shower soon.