fabulous & F O U R

Jaxton James turned 4 on Monday. We celebrated by taking 9 buddies to Chick-fil-a for some lunch, army guy cupcakes, ice cream, gifts and playing. As we were leaving the restaurant Jax said, "That party was AWESOME!" -- I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself.

I took him to the doctor today and as we walked in the office he announced loudly, "Now I am NOT here for a flu shot!" and that was probably my 5th reminder for the day and he continued to give that same reminder to any nurse or doctor that he came in contact with. The poor guy had apparantly had it with shots between the seasonal flu shot and two doses of the H1N1 -- he was not going to let any of us forget. Jaxton weighs 42 lbs. (90th percentile) and is 41 inches tall (75th percentile). He is definitely our big, sweet, sensitive guy.

While Jaxton loves everyone in the family, I have luckily found a very special place in Jaxton's heart. He is so sweet to me and always says such nice things. The other day I was telling him that I had just bought some new pants for me. He replied saying, "Mom, can I see them so that I can say they're beautiful and that you're special?" I think this little guy is going to make one girl very very happy in the future.

Jaxton got to choose what he wanted for his birthday dinner. After much thought he decided on popcorn, hotdogs, and ramen noodles. Birthday wish granted, eat up, big guy!

We are so thankful for our Jaxton and can't wait to see all the wonderful things he accomplishes during his lifetime -- he's oozing with potential to do so much good! We love you Jax -- happy 4th!

Two and a Half

If you ask Beckam how old he is, he'll usually tell you either "5 1/2" or "3 1/2." But, Beckam actually turned 2 1/2 on Tuesday -- totally bittersweet! While on one hand it's sad to see my baby boy grow up, on the other hand he's so fun to watch as he experiences life and learns knew things. He talks and talks all the time and can say anything, but there was a while where his favorite words were "momma," "daddy," "pee pee," & "bum bum" -- put it all together and it doesn't make a very good combo. What's worse is that Beckam would go around chanting these four words over and over and over as loud as he could. When we were in public and he'd start doing it, I'd try to cover it up by saying things like, "No, Beckam, mommy and daddy don't need any PUMPKINS!" People would usually just smile, but I always had to wonder what they were really thinking. Beckam prayed for the first time all by himself a few months back. It was a very lovely prayer that went, "Heny Faer, momma daddy, baby sick, AAAAAAA-men!"

We love our sweet and sassy Beckam and think he's basically the coolest 2 1/2 year old around -- we're pretty sure we'll keep him around and just keep on lovin' on him!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Firsts for Jillian

Changes That Have Come With Having 4 Kids

1. In the chaos of life, I've also become a bit more forgetful. For instance, I drove 25 minutes to church with all four kids by myself and when I got there and started unloading the crew, I realized that I had forgot to put shoes on Beckam. Luckily, his nursery teacher insisted that he was fine and that shoes were only a minor detail and that I shouldn't worry about it (bless you Susan). Fast forward a week or so and now I'm driving Jaxton to preschool with Beckam and Jillian. We arrived at the school and I started unloading the kids when I realized that once again shoes were missing on one of my children. I quickly thought it through and wondered if shoes were really necessary for Jaxton to have for preschool and decided they were, so I had to go inside, explain to the teachers, return home to retrieve his shoes and take him back to school. It's now been a couple of weeks since then and I haven't forgotten anyone else's shoes. PHEW!
2. We had just walked in to the state fair when a man approached us and asked us if we wanted the remainder of his tickets for the rides. We accepted his offer, thanked him and were totally pleased at our luck. We hadn't walked 10 steps when a girl walked up to us and asked if we would like the rest of her tickets. Again we graciously accepted her gift but at this point wondered why out of all the thousands of people there at the fair, why was everyone giving us their tickets (25 total). Was it the fact that Nate was pushing a double stroller, I had a baby strapped to me in a carrier and holding on to a fourth child's hand . . . or unbeknownst to us did we have some kind of pathetic message written across our foreheads? Either way, it saved us $25!

3. In desperation for some extra time, I decided to cut 11 inches of hair off. I must say that waking up and having my hair done in 1 minute flat and not to mention keeping it out of my kids mouths and eyes is a beautiful thing!

4. Mac has given me a new super hero name, which I graciously accepted -- "MEGA MOM!"

5. Late one night I had a friend go on and on about how great Beckam was and how she couldn't see him ever getting in trouble. My instant reply, which even caught me off guard was, "Yeah, except that he eats like an animal and doesn't listen worth a crap." (Apparently it had been one of "those" days.)

Bottom line: While lots of things (from extra forgetfulness to short hair) have changed since the arrival of our fourth child, the truth is that it's our life and we like it! Slowly we are working ourselves into a routine and each day gets a little bit easier. We feel so blessed and grateful for all that we have!

More Fall Festivities

Halloween '09