Camping!

A couple weeks ago my father and sisters were going on our annual "Father-Daughter Compout," but unfortunately my grandma (Father's mother) is sick and won't be around much longer so my dad had to bail to go be with her for awhile. That kind of ruined our father-daughter plans, so instead we called one of my other brothers and made it more like a sibling hang out! It turned out to be pretty fun, and the weather was of course BEA-UTIFUL! Can't beat Arizona White Mountains in the fall!

My two older brothers, Daniel and Jaron. They always make camp-outs the bomb! (And a SPECIAL thank you shout out to my oldest bro Daniel who brought along a lovely make-shift porta-potty so us ladies didnt have to SQUAT! Wahoo! :) )

My silly sis Alisha enjoying her hot chocolate. Yum!

Braxton all wrapped up by the fire. It was COLD!


Braxton and his cool wilderness man uncle Jaron!

Baby and Me in early morn...can you tell I only got about an hour of sleep that night? Thats what strange noises and not gettin' up to pee cause its FREEZING will do to ya..

My boy playing in the grass. He loved being out in nature!

I didn't get pics of everyone, but Daniel's kids and Jaron's boy were there, along with me and Brax, Alisha and my youngest sister Shaliah. We had a blast! Thanks for going with us everyone!

YES ON 102!

This astonished me. I of course am an advocate of Prop 102 and firmly believe in marriage between one man and one woman, but I had no idea that if 102 doesn't pass...these could be the consequences. It makes me sick and scared for the world my children will have to grow up in if this fails. PLEASE PLEASE register to vote (click HERE if you haven't!) and then vote YES on 102. Lets make sure our future is one full of hope.



Click HERE to watch the video

The Explorer

There once was a great explorer who wandered far and wide in search of new and exciting adventures. Then one day, he happened upon something he had never really seen before...What could it be?!?!


A door to the outside world! YES! Now if he could only figure out how to give the Mother the slip. Hmmm...he would have to think more on that one. But have no fear, sooner or later, he will prevail!


(Or so he thinks. Not if Mother can help it! He sure is trying though!)

Our Hero

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you:
The Future Olympic Gold Champion of the World!!

Just remember...you saw him HERE first! :)
(Picture courtesy of Justin)

Yum Yum!

Last Sunday I was making yummy yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (Thanks Heidi! I still use that recipe!) and Braxton got in on the action by licking his first beater. He did a great job lickin' in clean...

And thoroughly enjoyed it! :)

And this picture is just cause I was feeling left out since my face kept getting cut off in the previous pictures...:D

Braxton ate his first piece of dog food today. I washed his mouth out, and he still had doggie breath. Yuck.

This video is kind of long cause I don't have time to edit it, but this is B-rax in his little walker. He is so funny as he races around the kitchen. Usually he chases the dogs but they weren't in here at the time. He has it down so good and knows how to maneuver it everywhere and stuff...it makes me laugh every time I watch him.

This was hilarious. I was feeding him dinner and he started exaggerating his chewing and was making the funniest faces! Don't mind my fat arm right in the middle of the camera every now and then...

CUTE, FREE BACKGROUNDS!!

There is another AWESOME blog that just opened, curteousy of my good friend CORI, with adorable, FREE backgrounds for your blog! Its called Scrap-e-Blog, and you can check it out HERE! There are tons of varieties and lots of options and they are really easy to use, and whats cool is that they are all fresh and unique and have never been used before! AND...they are backgrounds and not templates so you don't have to lose any widgets! Check it out!

And the Sun Appears...

Well after one long and tiring month full of dreary days, the clouds are finally parting and the sun is shining its bright face on us once again! Braxton's fevers are gone, his bottom two teeth FINALLY popped through, his diaper rash is completely healed, and I think things are finally back to normal around here. Well, almost. We got into a bad habit while he was sick. . . I would pick him up anytime he woke up during a nap or in the middle of the night and hold him to try and get him to go back to sleep to comfort him, so he would be awake for hours in the middle of the night instead of going back to sleep. We are working on this though and are making good progress, so hopefully he will be sleeping through the night again soon and THEN we will be back to normal!

We had his 9 month well visit last week, and after another blood test (which went MUCH better than last time...he didn't even cry very much at all! It could be because another man was helping so Braxton thought he had to be all macho or something, I don't know, but whatever it was I am so grateful it went better!) he checked out nice and healthy with no sign of infection. It seems like just within the past couple of weeks, he has grown so much and has turned into a little boy rather than my tiny baby. Here are some things that I want to remember about this stage of his life:

- He is crawling all over the place now! Its adorable, but although it would seem like I would get more done since he can entertain himself more, 'tis not true. As soon as I put him down he takes off for one of two things: The dogs' toys and food, or the stairs. He is OBSESSED with the stairs and gets so mad whenever I put the gate up. He grabs it and shakes it and just cries like he is behind bars or something. Funny, but frustrating. So, I have to follow him everywhere to make sure he isn't eating doggy food or sucking on doggy toys or anything. Yuck.

-He uses his feet like a monkey, grabbing things and holding them or bringing them up to his hands. Its so cute and I laugh every time.

-I taught him a new trick - he can give kisses! He even puckers his lips and everything. My heart just sings every time he gives me a kiss. Aw, the love.

-Whatever I am eating, he has to have some. And after I put a little piece in his mouth, he will look up at me and give me the biggest smile like he is so proud of himself!

-He loves to play the piano. I will take his little finger and play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and he wants me to do it over and over again. I hope this means I have a little musician on my hands!

-He smells EVERYTHING. He will pick up something and smell it before he puts it into his mouth, he will take out his paci and smell it then put it back in, he will even sniff ME sometimes when I am holding him. Don't know why, but its dang cute.

-He loves anything stringy - cords, ribbons, string, and ESPECIALLY hair. He falls asleep with a big clump of my hair twirled around his fist. This has gotten a bit uncomfortable since I have cut it shorter...

Here he is in his new walker. He finally mastered it and loves chasing the dogs all around the house. I will have to get a video soon. Its pretty funny. And I know I am biased, but I really do think I have the cutest baby in the world. :)

As for me, I am taking piano lessons again. I have been feeling like if I don't use my talents soon I am going to lose them, so its time I start working on them again. I am really enjoying it so far and can't wait to be good enough to accompany people and actually play hymns in church.

I also am in a course for my writing to help me hone my skills and hopefully get some things published. It will take awhile of course, but thats my goal. Its nice to be challenged again and have something to work towards!

Life is Good!

When it Rains...

(WARNING: Sorry...this post is king of a downer...hopefully next one will be better!!)
Well whoever said that sometimes when it rains, it pours, sure got it right. I took Braxton to the doc on Tuesday since I was worried that he had had a fever off and on for two weeks, and they wanted to do some tests on him just to be sure he was ok. Teething, probably, but better to be safe than sorry, right? So I had thought this was going to be just a quick in and out thing, take his temp, check his ears, say yep its teething and I'm on my way home, but we were not so lucky that day. We ended up having to get a urin sample...definitely the worst thing I have seen since this guy was born. I was thinking "how in the world am I going to catch him while he is peeing and get him to aim into a container?" when they told me they needed a sample, but they soon answered my question when the doc pulled out a tiny little hose and asked me to take off the baby's diaper. I immediately started hyperventiliating and my eyes became all watery. Really? Is that really necessary? It was. One nurse held his legs still while the doc swabbed him down and prepared to insert the hated tube. I almost asked to leave, but knew it would be harder to hear him screaming and not know what was going on. It supposedly wasn't supposed to be all that painful, only "a little uncomfortable," as they always say. Yeah right. After the initial insertion, I couldn't watch. I just rubbed his head and cried right along with him. Thankfully she was quick and it was over in less than a minute, but it felt like forever. That was the first time I can remember Braxton actually reached out to me for me to hold him. And that of course started the tears all over again. Sheesh.
As if that wasn't enough for one day, the doc then directed me across the street to get another test done...a freakin' blood sample. "They are just going to prick his heal, right? Like they did when he was a baby?" Oh, no. They were going all out that day. And whats worse, I had to be the one that actually held his arm down while they drew their sample. He knew what was coming as soon as they put that rubber thing around his arm to make it all ripe and juicy for the prickin'. Ugh. We both actually cried more this time than during the first procedure...probably because I was an accomplice to his pain this time. It was horrible.
Lastly we had to go get a chest x-ray done, but thank goodness there was no pain involved. We were both exhausted and SO ready to be done with it all, so I was grateful when it was over quickly and the worst I had to do was hold his hands above his head while they took a picture. Finally we were on our way home.
A few hours later I received a call from the doctor again...their was an abnomality with his blood and they wanted me to come back in the next day to talk about it. I immediately started freakin' out again, thinking he had cancer or something. Justin was even more worried about it than I was, asking me if he was gonna DIE. Thanks for making it less stressful, baby. Come to find out, he just had a high white blood cell count, so he was battling an infection somewhere in his body. Both chest and urine looked good, so most likely a sinus infection. Then comes the prescription for anti-biotics....and of course they couldn't just do their job and make him better without causing problems. They had to get in on the fun of making this poor child miserable. Excessive diahhrea, causing a huge diaper rash and a raw, welted bum. I can't even use wipes or soap when I change his diaper...I just put him under the faucet and let cool water run over the red and swollen thing until it looks clean enough and then smear it with desitin and wrap him up again, hearing him scream all the while. Last night I finally had enough and called to doc to tell her I wasn't giving him any more medicine. He hasn't had a fever since Monday morning and has been just fine, so until I saw signs that he needed medicine, he wasn't getting any more. Luckily for her sake she said that was fine and to check back with her next week, and even was so kind as to suggest a couple ways to help with the diaper rash. Already today there is improvement...I have changed his diaper twice without him crying, and the redness is diminishing slightly. Hallelujah!!! I am so done with all this...