Merry Christmas 2010

Christmas is by far my FAAAVVORITE time of year! I love the christmas music on the radios, I love the people, and I LOVE the spirit at Christmas time. It was very exciting this year because It's the first year Grayden actually understood the concept of Santa and that santa brings presents to open Christmas day. He doesn't quite understand the TRUE meaning of Christmas and that we are celebrating Jesus' birth but at least he understood something this year! It was sure fun watching him all season get excited for santa. He saw santa 3 or 4 times at different occasions and he was a little shy but never hesitated to sit on his lap or anything. It was also the first year we left out milk and cookies :) Grayden picked out the plate, he wanted to use his HULK cup for the milk and insisted on being the one to bring it out on the table for santa to eat. This was also Daxtins VERY FIRST CHRISTMAS.......unfortunately Dax was sick with a cold this Christmas.

Christmas morning Dax woke up at 7 and Gray was still asleep but since everyone else was awake we were to excited to wait so we woke up Grayden and as soon as we said "Gray Santa came" His face just lit up and we all walked down the stairs watching every move and expression he would give. Christmas Is sooo exciting with kids! Anyway it was so much fun watching him open all his prezzies and he was spoiled by us and his Grandparents! He got a bunch of train stuff, clothes, and a big blow up ball you can roll around in outside from Nana and Papa! Our big gift was his very own ride on choo choo train!! He was ecstatic and absolutely loved it. I will never forget the smile or the PROUD look on his face as he sat on his train riding it the first time. IT WAS AWESOME!!! Grandma and Grandpa Beecher got him an ESCALADE and a bike!! Like I said SPOILED!!
Dax "helped" open a few of his own prezzies but I had to put him down for a nap half way through since he wasn't feeling so good. He completely missed opening presents at Grandmas because he stayed asleep in his car seat but he got a bunch of clothes and books and a few toys but the escalade was for both.

This Christmas came and went so fast! I cannot let myself go another year of doing last minute shopping!! I focus and stress way to much on things I still have to do or buy last minute and It feels like Im running around a week before christmas like a chicken with its head cut off. I don't think I actually sat down to soak in the moments until Christmas Eve! Other than feeling rushed and a little stressed at times this Christmas was wonderful!
I Love when my family is here and it was so nice to have everyone together (we were missing Kaden)
One of my favourite family Christmas traditions is finding a family who is in need and buying a bunch of food or whatever to help them out and drop it off christmas eve AND RUN! Dad went out and bought a TOONN of groceries and a family gift this year but they caught us before we left the stairs :)

Anyway Christmas was awesome this year! Here are some pics of our Christmas 2010!!

11 months old!!!

Are we really here already....the month before your first birthday?!! ...REALLY ???!!!

Oh Dax I'm feeling a little emotional about this one! This has definitely been one of the most challenging years of my life but more than that it has been the most rewarding, the most joyful, and the most happiest I have ever been!!!
Having two kids has definitely spun my world around (literally). I could have NEVER imagined how difficult it can be at times but at the same time I never knew the joy or the love I feel had ever existed. Having you in my life has made me a completely different mother, wife, and daughter. I am an extremely good multi tasker, more patient, less selfish, more trusting, just everything. I have learned to appreciate my family and parents so much more. I just feel like a much better person than I was 11 months ago.

You have achieved some big milestones this month baby boy!
You started taking your first steps this month....I think the most you have taken is 4. You LOVE to wave hi and bye to everyone. You started giving kisses this month and you even make the muuuaahhh sound as you lean in with your mouth open as wide as possible to give someone a yummy wet smoooch! Haha its so cute!

You love to laugh (always have) Both you and Gray have been extrememly happy babies! Your are teething really bad so lately you haven't been your happy normal self. Whenever you are awake you have to have my attention or you are crawling to wherever i am crying at me until I pick you up or pay attention to you. You are cutting FOUR teeth right now so I can only imagine the discomfort you are in and mommy is more than willing to squeeze in extra snuggles :)

There are certain things and places you absolutely LOVE around the house #1 would have to be mommies makeup desk! You LOVE to sit there while I get ready for the day and play with all the gadgets that are up there :) It makes for a mess but its fun to have you up there with me and HEY...i'm actually able to get something done!!!!

#2 would be the computer desk. YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH THE MOUSE! Everytime I walk by the computer desk (or makeup desk) you fuss and bounce in my arms if I don't sit you down.
#3 would be the laundry room because Kiaras dog dish is in there :) Ugh this is an annoying one because you LOVE to dump her dog dish everywhere and eat her food!

You haven't been eating a lot of solids this month either....I was a little worried that you weren't eating enough but your gaining weight fine so no worries there. Sleeping is the same too!

Well Dax ...... This is your very last monthly birthday and that makes me kinda sad :( You grew up much faster than I thought you would....... life with two boys will do that I guess :) I love you to pieces baby boy!
Happy 11th month Birthday
xoxoxo
Mommy

Daxtin's FIRST haircut !

Daxtin had his first haircut today on December 18th 2010 at almost 11 months old. You hair is so fine but you had so many extremely LONG pieces sticking out everywhere, so I figured it was about time to go. I remember taking your brother to his first haircut and it was horrible. He cried the entire time and I couldn't wait to get it over with. You just went with the flow and I got no tears from you. You didn't have a smile on your face like you usually do but you didn't make a single fuss. You would stare at the hair dresser a lot and probably wondered what this strange lady was doing to you but it was a much better experience this time around.

Here are some pics of Dax's first haircut

Little Moments...Special memories!

Grayden there are so many cute little things that you do, things that I never want to forget. I want to take the time to right them down so I can't ever forget them.

I love how when Daxtin wakes up from his nap you get really upset if mommy doesn't wait for you so we can greet him together. I love the way you get a really high pitched voice (probably learned that from your dad) and say " HHIII BABY" as sweet as possible while reaching out to give him a big kiss and hug. You love your baby brother so so much!

I love that when you wake up in the mornings you run into my room and sneak into our bed and tuck yourself in beside me for some cuddles and fall back to sleep with me.

I love how we can hear the choo choo train coming from inside our home. Every time you hear it you stop and listen for just a second, and then yell as loud as you can " CHOO CHOO TRAIN" as you run to the window to watch it go by. I especially love it when we are on a walk and we hear the choo choo coming. We RUN across the path to the fence to watch it up close. You want to ride it SOOOOO bad and I always get a kick out of watching you spank your little bum and as you say " choo choo ride PPLLEEASSE"

I LOVE that when ever we are driving around Airdrie you know EXACTLY where are the choo choo tracks are. Whenever we get close to one you say " mommy choo choo track" then you look at daddy "daddy choo choo track" and as we get closer we all yell " 3....2......1....WHOOOOO" As we throw our hands in the air and give fist pounds to eachother afterwards :) LOVE THIS!!

I love it when we tuck you in at night and how you make SURE we tuck in your dinosaurs, trains, and your baby (yes my son sleeps with a doll) Some times half an hour will have gone past and we'll hear you calling for us and when we walk in to check on you you'll say "daddy dinosaur BURR" because you moved the covers around! LoL

I love hearing your sweet little whisper as I walk out of the room from tucking you in "love you mommy"

This is what life is all about.........Little moments like this!

Let the countdown begin :)

Its officially December and the Christmas countdown is on!! I look forward to this time of year as soon as it comes to an end. Just the feeling you get when your outside, at a store, or around anyone. I can just feel the spirit of giving and goodness all around! The world is so scary and there is so much crap happening out there and when Christmas comes around.....it's like a breath of fresh air and reminds me of the good we have too.

FIRST steps!!

Big milestone today!!! YOU TOOK YOUR FIRST STEPS!!
DECEMBER 1ST, 2010 .........You took 2 steps and mommy captured it all on camera! You were walking around like crazy on your winnie the pooh ride on car and I decided to try again to see if you could do it and ......VOILA!! I was so excited and the fact I caught it on camera was just awesome!
So at 10 months and 11 days old my baby boy took his first steps!!
So special!

Double digits

Daxtin is 10 months old!!! UGh I can't believe that........ Daxtin Randall Beecher you are true to your middle name! You are 100% PRETE and I can see so much of my self in you at this age. You look a lot like me as a baby and you look especially just like your Papa! I have so many people, even strangers come up to me and tell me how much you look like Randall (your papa)

So whats new with you? You are BUSY BUSY BUSY!! You might as well be running because that's about how fast you crawl! Your climbing stairs, can somewhat crawl down the stairs and you are walking all around furniture and just about anything you can reach. You can stand for quite a while now and Im sure you will be taking your first couple of steps anytime.
You love to play with all your toys and you like to play independently. You LOVE when you are played with but you have no problem playing by yourself when mommy is busy. You love to walk around on holding on to the ride on cars. That is probably your favourite thing right now. You get into just about everything and your favourite things are getting into the bathroom and finding your way to the toilet to have a nice SPLASH!! Ugh, it has happened a couple of times and absolutely mortifies me! You love the dishwasher and how you can yank out all the utensils by yourself. You love taking things out of the fridge and just about everything that makes a mess for someone else to clean :) You love to play peek a boo, watch your brother, and most of all, you love to just be with mommy. You are a HUGE mommies boy!

This last month I think you were on a solid foods strike. You honestly didn't eat very much! You are a lot pickier than your brother was. You don't like your vegetables but if I add a bit of apple juice you don't seem to mind the extra sweetness. Usually when I feed you squash or green beans, pretty much any vegetable you stick out your tongue and your body gets all stiff as you give me this evil grunt. Man if looks could kill LoL.

You are a pretty good sleeper and usually you go down by 9:30 and wake around 2 for a feed and sleep until 7-7:30. So not bad. You have 2-3 naps during the day one around 10am, 4pm, and 7pm.

You are so much fun right now and just full of laughs. You LOVE to laugh and be centre of attention! These next couple of months are so exciting and I can't wait to share them with you and Grayden as a new family of FOUR! Your FIRST christmas, your first birthday.....ugh It's just so exciting. Christmas is so magical and by far my favourite time of year.
I love you to bits baby boy!
Happy 10th month Birthday
xoxo Mommy

Christmas and Friends...

Today we had our first Christmas get together with a few friends ( a lot of people we didnt know) and all of there babies. It was a house full to say the least! Everyone bought a gift for someone elses child and we had santa show up at the house and gave everyone a prezzie! It was awesome! Grayden was so excited about this and couldn't wait to see santa and ask for a choo choo. When Santa came through the front door Grayden was acting all shy and a LITTLE scared, but as soon as Santa came up to him to greet him Grayden didn't hesitate to give him a big hug! It was so cute and fun to see his first reaction to santa this year!

Here are some photos of the baby gift exchange!

Happy Halloween!

We were so excited for Halloween this year!! I have to say this is the first year that Grayden actually "GETS" Halloween and understands the whole concept of "trick or treating" It was so fun to watch all your reactions to the different and SCARY decorations that come along with Halloween and all the different candy you got from each house you went to.

This year the iron horse train track opened its doors for a few days for a halloween train ride. They close thanksgiving and I thought that was going to be Graydens last train ride for the year but when I heard they were opening for halloween I was so excited for my Grayden. He is always asking to go on a choo choo ride so I didn;t want to miss the opportunity. When I saw the add in the paper It read for ages 6+. I called to ask why I couldn't take my 2 year old and she said well its still daytime so bring him now. We just dont want the little ones to get cold or get scared of the dark. I asked if it was scary and she said it was a little spooky. WELL all i was thinking about was that my little man was going to get to ride his choo choo train so I sent Daddy to take him. Well they got home half hour later and apparently it was really scary and totally inappropriate for a 2 YEAR OLD!!!! I should have known better than to send daddy if I wasn't sure because there's NO WAY i would have stayed and took him through the haunted house to boot!

Apparently they had fake bloody limbs all over the train track and scary people with chain saws that popped out of know where, and witches and other scary masked men that came up to the children telling them they were going to EAT THEM!! OMGosh when Cody told me this I was MORTIFIED. WHY DIDN'T THE LADY ON THE PHONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS? Ugh, I guess it was 6+ for a reason. My gosh my poor boy! You know when you go to the movies, to a really scary and gory one and you walk out and see dads with there 7 year old sons or whatever and think OMG THAT IS JUST TERRIBLE.....Well......that was us!!!!! I can't imagine the glares cody must have gotten or all the people who must have thought what a bad parent he was for taking this poor little boy to that. LoL
apparently Gray didn't even cry or get too scared other than a few jumpy moments and he even wanted to go through the haunted house again (cody didn't take him) So he is a pretty brave boy and doesn't get scared easily but he will never go to something like that again until he is MUCH MUCH MUCH OLDER!

Since Halloween fell on a sunday this year (the sabbath) the church held a "trunk or treat" on the saturday for all the kids to do there trick or treating. It was fun and alot less walking (wish they did this every year)
Gray had so much fun!! On Halloween night we did take you to a few houses like Grandmas and Aunties but that was it and you had plenty of candy from the trunk or treat anyway. It was a fun night and you and Dax looked so cute in your costumes!
Heres some pics of halloweeen 2010

Buh Bye gummy smile !

Dax cut his first tooth today October 28th 2010 at 9 months and 8 days old. You haven't been overly fussy except a couple days that I can definitely remember and your cheeks were BRIGHT red! Anyway we were sitting on the couch about 20 minutes ago and you were grabbing at your gums and flicking them with your fingers and then you would let out a little cry so I checked to see if you had scratched your gums or something and felt your first little tooth pocking through. (BOTTOM RIGHT)

Awe Dax Im going to miss your adorable gummy smile :) CONGRATS on your very first tooth!
Loves
xoxo Mommy

Goodbye

9 months old!

Well here we are again.......another month come and gone and that much closer to your very 1st birthday!! You have grown up so much this month Dax and I can literally remember putting you down for a nap a couple times and when you woke up you just looked so much bigger!!!!

Lots of new stuff with you this month big guy..........
You started crawling Sept 29th at 8 months and 9 days old. NOW you are just everywhere!! It only took you a week or so to figure out the whole crawling thing and you just zoom by every one. You can pull yourself up on anything now and can even climb a few stairs! I have mentioned how I'm not a fan of this stage because of the whole dirty floors thing but I have to say its been a lot less stressful this time around..........With Grayden I was ALWAYS making sure your hands were wiped.....some floors I refused to put you on, I was just ONE PARANOID MOMMY and I can admit I was a little over board. When you have a second baby I've realized you care just as much but become a lot more RELAXED with little things like that. So it's not as STRESSFUL nit it still gets under my skin just thinking about the whole idea :)

You love to say Mamma AND Dadda....all the time. You are definitely a mammas boy but you LOVE LOVE your daddy too. You get very excited to see him when he gets home from work and even push away from me so you can go crawl to him.

You have quite the personality now and I love watching you try to express all your emotions. Frustration/ANGRY is a new one !! You get really angry sometimes and you like to lay there and kick your legs up and stomp them against the floor while you lay there and cry. You will also straighten your arms at your side and let out a big angry grunt when someone takes something from you or just ticks you off. I have come to learn you are a very express-full boy

Oh yah, you cut two teeth this month and Im pretty sure you have some others on the way! You also learned to wave bye-bye :)

You are so playful and you love to interact with people. You are a pretty shy boy and its so cute when someone your not familiar with smiles at you. You get all gitty and give off this cute little smirk as you lean your head against my chest as if your trying to hide! Its soooo cute!
Daxtin you are such a precious precious little boy. I look at you know and wonder where my little baby went. You look so much like a little toddler now and although it makes me a little sad, I'm so excited to watch you grow and become your own little independent self.
I love you more than you could ever know
xoxo
Happy 9 month birthday!
xoxo - Mommy

Happy Thanksgiving :)

This year our thanks giving was full of firsts......it was Daxtin's very FIRST Thanksgiving and MOMMY'S very FIRST home made turkey dinner turkey! It was fun and I was very proud of myself.....but holly cow is the clean up worth it?? ...what a mess! But anyway I surprised myself and I got to keep my very own left overs all to myself. (the best part of a turkey dinner are the left overs)
We spent sunday at Grandmas for dinner and then monday we had a dinner of our very own.

Here are some pictures of our thanksgiving 2010

On the move...

Dax started crawling today! I had just finished re arranging our basement to make more room for everyone to play. We were sitting down on the foam mats playing when you got up on all fours and made a couple crawling movements. I just so happened to have had the video camera rolling for the very first crawl!! I thought that was pretty cool and I was so excited. As much as mommy's not really a fan of having your hands all over the floors.......I love watching you grow and experience the world at a different view. It makes me so happy and blessed to know you are developing normally and healthy, and crawling just happens to be one of those developmental stages!!

Well let the crawling and dirty hands begin :)

Mr. Independent!!

The last few weeks Grayden has made HUGE accomplishments and has grown SO MUCH!

First of all you we got you back to falling asleep all on your own. It took one rough night but the next day you understood that mommy and Daddy can't be sleeping with you anymore. I took you to everyroom and pointed to everyones beds and said to you, "this is Graydens bed where he sleeps, this is Daxtin's bed where he sleeps, and this is mommy and daddy's bed where we sleep". I did that 3-4 times and you completely understood that and went to bed all on your own. After your bed time story and prayers we tuck you in give kisses and exchanges LOVE YOU'S and you watch us walk out the door!!!! We were so thrilled about this and we can't believe how easier life is just by that simple task.

Not only do you fall asleep on your own but ever since we stoped falling asleep with you, you don't wake up in the middle of the night anymore!!! YAAAHHOOOO............... You have ALWAYS ALWAYS waken up in the night since the day you were born, so that was a LOONNNGG time coming!

Last but CERTAINLY not least I think its safe to say you are OFFICIALLY potty trained!!!!
The only twerk is you have to be naked LoL. We started potty training you when you when you just turned 2 by sitting you on the potty every so often (sometimes you went, most of the time not) To be honest it was extremely difficult to be that committed to something and persistent with you with a brand new baby. Not only that but it was summer and we were always gone which makes that even more difficult so we never pushed it. If you didn't want to try to go on the potty we never forced you. Then all of a sudden out of the blue you had your pull up off and daddy was in the shower and you hopped on the potty and shouted, "daddy I poo poo" it was only a pee but thats what you call both. We were so thrilled (as any parent can imagine) and that was it. As long as I keep you out of a diaper you feel when you have to go and grab my hand to the potty. Sometimes you don't even let me know you have to go and I'll walk by and your sitting on the potty. I bought some Tigger underwear to see if that would still get you to the potty and I explained, "make sure and go pee on the potty because we don't want to pee on Tigger and make him sad" .........it didn't work!

I figure he'll get so used to that feeling of knowing when he has to go and rushing to the potty that eventually he'll get it and want to go even if he had underwear on. So In the mean time I've got a bottomless 2 year old running around the house..........AS LONG AS I DONT HAVE TO CHANGE THOSE MESSY DIAPERS AGAIN .........it works for me :)

Not only has he done all these crazy grown up stuff lately, but he has become CRAZY independent!! He has to (DEMANDS to) do everything on his own and by HIMSELF. Things like hanging up your coat, ( even insists on putting it on the hanger by himself) putting soap on your hands, turning water on, getting your own fork, getting onto the potty. etc, etc, etc, etc........
I love seeing you be so independent and its so cute to see you do certain thing all by yourself but at the same time it can be so frustrating at times. As a parent you are so quick to jump in to help them and when there not doing something right you want to correct them. It's been hard for me to learn to sit back and let you do things on your own and trust that you will figure it out eventually. I am learning not to be so quick to jump in. Im learning I need to let you make mistakes, therefore you'll learn from them on your own. Im just learning to let you be the big boy you want to be :)

I love you so much Grayden! I can't believe how much you have grown over the last few weeks and how proud I am to be your mommy!
Love you so so much big boy
xoxoxo
Mommy

Daxtin is 8 months old!

4 more months and I have a one year old!!! Are you kidding??

Daxtin you are huge LoL.....You are getting so big and more beautiful everyday! I love how alert and aware you are about everything around you.
Whats new with you?
Well we no longer have to worry about you sitting and falling over. You can sit up from laying on your back on your own and also get on all fours (the crawling position...uh oh) I'm sure you will be crawling in the next couple of weeks and to be honest I am NOT looking forward to this stage. I was not fond of the crawling stage with your brother at all. I think its adorable seeing you on all fours and the fact that its the only way you can get to point A to B, but I can't stand knowing your hands are walking around on dirty floors all the time and these days everything goes in your mouth including those dirty fingers :)

For now You roll and scoot yourself where ever you want to go but no crawling yet. Im sure in the next couple of weeks I will have a crawling baby!!

You got your first cold this month :( It was only for 2-3 days (thank goodness) I don't know what I would do without Saline drops!!!! You poor thing couldn't even eat in the middle of the night when you were hungry because your nose was so stuffed up.
You sleep the same but are now taking regular naps. still 3-4 naps during the day.
I have been a slacker in the food department but at the same time I didn't want to be giving you solids while you were under the weather. So you've been on just mommy's milk for the last 2 weeks.

Did I mention you are a HUGE mommy's boy just like your older brother was (still is) You can be the happiest and content baby when someone else is watching you but as soon as I walk into the room or you see me, you immediately start crying until I come see you. You have taken to a bottle really well which is amazing considering you never use one. Its good to know that the few times I leave you for more than three hours that I always have that option.

You are such a good baby and are always smiling. Your smile just lights up my life everytime I see it. You are such a blessing in my life and I love you more than you could EVER know!
Happy 8th month

-Mommy xoxoxo

Go Grayden Go

So this is going to be a really short post but I just HAD to blog about it since it is indeed a journal for me but Grayden went to the potty all by himself last night! YYYAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!

Mommy was changing Daxtin, and Daddy was in the shower. You walked right into the bathroom while daddy was showering hopped yourself onto the big potty all by yourself and went pee!
OMGosh we were so ecstatic! Daddy jumped out of the shower to come tell me and we both immediately stopped what we were doing to jump around the house with you. LoL WE WERE SO HAPPY!!
You did it again this morning and I am just PRAYING that this is it, that you have FINALLY figured it out on your own :) I am one PROUD mommy over here!

GOOD JOB GRAY, Mommy is so proud of you

White Rock 2010

We decided to take the opportunity to go visit Nana, Papa and Uncle Kaden this summer for almost 2 weeks since We didn't have to watch Jonah for the entire month of August! Daxtin had never met Uncle Kaden and Graden and I hadn't seen Kaden for over a year so it was sure nice to see him!!

Almost every afternoon we would walk or take the bus down to the beach. That beach would have to be the ultimate play area for you (and more me) There aren't many places you can take a toddler and just let them run free as far as they want. But we can do that there. It's the ultimate play place for any boy. Mommy sits in the sand with Dax and you go off on your own (with a couple dinosaurs of course) and your imagination takes off. I love to sit there and watch you play as you trap your dinos in the sea weed, dig them in the sand, stomp them on other kids sand castles, or just watching you run through all the puddles pretending to be a dinosaur and chase after all the birds. I wonder what goes through that little mind of yours and what you are saying to yourself. Do you really believe you are a dinosaur? Do you believe you are actually in the jungle? How I would love to be in my childs mind for a few minutes sometimes. It is so fascinating for me to watch you at play. I feel so peaceful over there in white rock sitting on that beach!! I miss you already!!

Mom and Dad sure spoil you both (and me) when we go. They would take you in the morning while Dax and I slept in and take you out for breakfast and probably treats galore :) We went and picked wild black berries in the back yard and some blue berries. ( you loved this) One of the days we went to pick Papa up from work and I loved watching the joy and pride in Papa's face as he showed you both off two off to all his co-workers :) That was fun!

Every part of me wishes and hopes that one day soon my mom and dad will get there butts back home, but a part of me will always miss that opportunity of having that beach around the corner to come visit whenever we wanted FREE ROOM AND BOARD! Of course we would much rather them live back home. Saying that we can only go to Nana and Papas house ONCE A YEAR sounds ridiculous!!!!

It was a nice vacation for us and even though we sure wished Daddy was there to share it with us we had a blast!
Hopefully we can ALL go next summer. LOVE YOU NANA AND PAPA