Happy birthday, Collin!!

Today my wonderful husband is another year older! I just wanted to brag about him a little. He's one of the hardest working men I know. The kindest person I know. The best dad, who is always ready to help one of the kids with something or teach them something. Is patient, yet direct and firm. A wonderful leader. My best friend. And most importantly, a man who tries his hardest to follow God.

I am so blessed you that you, Collin, asked me to be your wife! We love you!!! Happy birthday!! May you have many, many more!

Love,
Marisa and the kids

Jackson is half a year!

Dear Jackson,

You are now 6 months old! I cannot believe you are halfway to being 1! Where is this year going? You are growing so well and are such a blessing to our family. I am lucky to be your mom! 

A little over a week before you turned 6 months, you tested positive for RSV. We had a couple of hard nights but you pulled through and are all better now. You also had an ear infection in your right ear. Thankfully, that is all better now as well. We decided not to give you the antibiotics for the ear infection. Since we didn't know if it was bacterial or viral, we decided to wait it out and since I breastfeed you, I know God provides mamas with the perfect mixture for babies. Breast-milk adjusts to what you need, especially when sick. When we went in for your 6 month well baby appointment, everything was healed and you looked great!

You started sitting up alone a week or so after turning 5 months old. You have really enjoyed your new view on the floor, especially while playing with Caden and/or Grace. You are a very happy baby, you love smiling and laughing. I can tell you'll have a great sense of humor as you get older. While on your tummy, you can get up on all fours, into the crawling position. You move backwards easily and can roll over, and move from side-to-side. It won't be much longer before you are crawling forward. You like listening to music and enjoy listening to books. You also like bath time. You are mostly now taking two naps a day for about 1-2 hours each and sleep from around 7pm to 6:30am. You like your Bible class at church and smile at the teachers and easily go without a fuss. You are growing well and eating well. We are slowly introducing you to solid foods and are doing baby-led weaning. Which basically means, we are mashing up healthy food that we eat for you. The other night you tried peas and carrots and liked them. You've also had avocados, guacamole, bananas, and a taste of apples and potatoes. We'll try fish this week along with more vegetables and fruits. You do not have any teeth yet but they are coming. You enjoy chewing on toys and they are bound to come through at anytime.

Friday night we took you to see your second play. We saw School House Rock, Jr., at Casa Manana. We normally do not get out late at night but decided to take you all for a treat. You enjoyed watching the show. 

Things About You!

Weight: 19.5 lbs (although when you got sick, you weighed 20 lbs so you'll quickly gain the 1/2 pound back) - (80%)

Height: 28" - (90%)

Head: 43.5 cm - (50%)

Clothes: 12 months clothing with a few 9 months, although they are getting tight

Diapers: We moved you up to a size 4, so now you and Grace wear the same size diaper

Car rides: They are going better overall. You still don't like them very much.

Nursing: You breastfeed about every 2-3 hours during the day and are sleeping through the night!! 7pm-6:30am.

Loves: You love being held, going outside, swinging, playing in your Exersaucer and Jumperoo, smiling, laughing, playing with toys on the floor, nursing, Bible class, music, watching and learning from everyone around you. 

Jackson, we love you so much! May you always have a sweet spirit and share your awesome smile!

Love,
Mom

Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day is always bitter-sweet. It's the anniversary of the hardest and saddest day of my life, losing my beloved mother, but happy since it's a wonderful day to celebrate love and loving those who mean so much to you. It's been 22 years and I still miss my mom every.single.day!

This year, Caden made Valentine's Day cards for his friends at school. They are doing a fundraiser so I thought it would be fun to incorporate the organic, fair trade chocolates into the cards. They turned out so cute! 

Jackson ended up catching RSV and tested positive for it last Thursday. Grace has a cold, which means there's a 99% chance that her cold is RSV, so the doctor advised us to mostly stay home and away from crowds through Sunday. We hated to miss church, but most likely that's where the kids caught RSV since it's going around there and we didn't want to risk spreading it even more! It was a 3 day weekend for Collin and the weather was beautiful, so we had some fun family time, mostly at home.

Collin was so sweet this year, he treated me to a one hour hot stone massage, which was heavenly, carrying two babies around is hard on your back! He bought some some chocolate covered strawberries, surprised me with cards the kids made and one he got me, and took us all out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. We timed it where it was around Jackson's nap so we kept him isolated from everyone. Thankfully Grace's nose is no longer running and she's not sneezing which is how it's mostly spread. 

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day as well. It's a great day to tell those you love that you love them!

Caden's Oral Surgery

Before surgery

Last week Caden had to go to the children's hospital and have some oral surgery done. This was upsetting to all of us. Last year we had a costly dental experience with him and he had to have two teeth pulled because of two abscesses. We had all of his permanent teeth and baby teeth sealed. We've been extra diligent about him brushing and flossing his teeth. So at his last dental appointment, we were very sad to learn that he had three more cavities and two of those needed to be pulled because of abscesses. It also looked like his teeth had never been sealed. We know they were because last year we watched everything happen. Considering the amount of work that needed to be, including adding spaces, the dentist recommended we take him to the children's hospital to have this done. He has anxiety when it comes to the dentist already so we decided to go this route this time.  

The dentist ended up pulling two baby teeth and went ahead and pulled out his very loose tooth that could have easily fallen out while the dentist did his work. They put three crowns on three baby teeth with spaces to keep his teeth spaced properly. They resealed all of his permanent teeth as well. The dentist thinks he's probably getting cavities because of two main reasons. 1) He breathes out of his mouth; and 2) He has some reflux. He said he can tell that we brush his teeth and the cavities are not from neglect. Some people are just more prone to them. Also he tends to sneak candy and go overboard when he gets it. That will then sit on his teeth and start rotting them. We've been encouraging him since this happened last year, to drink water after eating or drinking something. Apparently this isn't enough. We have switched to using an adult's toothpaste and will probably take him to the dentist four times a year instead of twice a year. We feel bad that he had to get all of this work done and really hope we don't have anymore expensive dental bills. For Caden's sake and our own, we don't have dental insurance. But like anything else, our children's health is most important. 

They don't allow other kids back but were kind to let Grace come say "hi."

My awesome and brave son!

Before he woke up. I could take a nursing baby back.

Popsicles, where the problems began!

I'm so glad my dad came to help with Grace and Jackson

MFW All Aboard the Animal Train Unit 1: Love

Grace is loving her preschool program. We are having so much fun and are even including Jackson in on some of it! We are finishing up Unit 1: Love. Each unit has a memory verse, animal, color, stories, music, and lots of fun activities to do. We don't do "school" everyday, but when ever I ask her if she wants to she squeals with excitement and will run get her school box. She's memorized her first Bible verse and her first poem, "I am a bunny." I love teaching and watching her learn and grow.

My Father's World All Aboard the Animal Train 

Unit 1: Love


Color: red
Animal: Bunny - which is really one of her favorite animals!
Memory Verse: 1John 4:21 - "Love God and love each other!"

Here are some of the fun things we've done as part of our preschool.

Coloring her first picture for the unit

Looking at the bunny and learning her memory verse

She got into the markers one day and gave herself a make-over

 

Let's remember, she is only 2!

Wedgits are fun!

We went to the stock show and she got to sit on a tractor

She saw some bunnies

We went to a friend's house who is raising rabbits

We even visited a dairy farm!

She loved petting the pig!

Her first time to paint

She LOVED it!

Some of the paintings she painted

Playing with the Discovery Blocks

We spend a lot of time outside! The trampoline is a favorite among my kids.

She likes her little bike

Loves going down her smaller slide.

Sometimes we give wagon rides around our yard.

Red sensory bin

Both kids loved this. It peaked Caden's interest when he saw it.

Sidewalk painting with big brother

 

They both got Play-Doh for Valentine's Day

Fountains downtown

Coloring the bunny red

She's a good artist

Musical shapes! She LOVED this game! We played it for probably 20 minutes!

More fun outside!