Paxton and I were hanging out at home last week. While I was getting a few things done, he was happily playing with his toys. He usually babbles a lot, but I heard him counting (or what sounded like counting), so I looked behind me to see that he had put his stuffed dinosaur in the timeout spot with him facing the wall. Paxton counted to ten, picked up the dinosaur, told him to say sorry, then said, 'Mama, bad boy'. I was cracking up! This kid picks up on everything, such a smart boy! Luckily, I was able to get the last part of his timeout routine on video.
This dinosaur has become Pax's best friend. He asks for his 'mitodore' (aka dinosaur, lol!) all the time. He will put him in his cozy coupe truck and push him around. I've even found him sitting in Paxton's desk. And when it's time to eat, he will push his dino to the side so he can sit with him.
Good news! We're expecting baby #2!!! I'm 20 weeks so far...halfway there. We're so excited to add a sweet little girl to our family. Blakely Madeleine will be here September 11th! Yes, I know, what a day to have a baby. We're hoping she'll make her debut a little early or a little late...not too late though, just one day would be fine :-)
Paxton doesn't really get it quite yet. We try to tell him he's going to have a little sister. When we ask where the baby is, he'll point to my belly. But then again, he'll sometimes point to his own belly and say, 'baby'.
We were able to find out we're having a girl at our 12 week sonogram. Although the doctor had a track record of being 80-90% accurate that early in the pregnancy, it was confirmed that she is a girl at our 15 week sonogram.
I love her profile! Looks just like Paxton's when I was pregnant with him.
Since Alan has been traveling a lot lately, Paxton and I like to go up to my parents' house to hang out. It's nice having the extra help. Paxton always has the BEST time out there. He loves the horses, going fishing at the lake with Pops, sitting on the tractors, playing with the dogs, and chasing the "kiggy" as he calls it...poor cat always tries to hide from him. He loves going out to feed the horses with Nana and Pops. And, of course, he has to sit on each and every one of them. And he'll let you know too...he points to the next one he wants to go to, then the next, then the next. So, either Nana or Pops will take him horse to horse...and once he's done sitting on all four, he wants to go another round. Nana taught him how to hold a tuft of the horse's mane so he won't fall off (even though they still hold him while he's up there). After he feeds them apples and carrots, he'll go and lock the gate back up, look back in toward the horses and wave to them as he says, "bye bye...horseee". Cutest thing ever!
Paxton is a wild little man. He runs everywhere, jumps on the couch, jumps off the couch (and not every landing is smooth), he hops around, sometimes runs into walls, falls all the time...this kid is always on the go. So, it was bound to happen..........
Last week, he was at daycare with a death grip on his favorite blankie, or as he calls it, his "baby". He was running around, slipped on the tail of his "baby" and fell smack onto the point of where two baseboards came together. Luckily, he hit his forehead, because if it were a few inches further, he could have landed on his eye, eeek! So, I had to post about his first major oweeee, so he can look back on it and realize how much he scared the heck out of us. I almost took him to the ER to get stitches, but after calling his doctor and sending her a picture of the wound, she said it will heal just fine on its own...whew! I'm sure this is the first of many oweeees.
For all you mommas on Pinterest, you may be familiar with the concept of the Busy Bag! If not, a Busy Bag is designed to entertain
your little one with a simple activity and can generally fit into a gallon size
Ziploc baggie. It could be anything from
lacing pool noodles and matching shapes to making puzzles and identifying
numbers and colors.
I recently attended a Busy Bag swap and
it was great! We’ve already gone through
a couple bags and Paxton absolutely loves his new learning activities. I was amazed at how much attention he gave to
each one, and the best thing is he keeps going back to them! I want to host my own swap so we can build his
collection of Busy Bags. Plus, I think
that a lot of my friends would love to have these for their kiddos as well!
So, here's how it works: each participant will make 20-30 (hopefully we
get that many takers!) of the same busy bag activity. This should streamline the process of you
creating and absolutely save on materials.
I have pre-chosen around 30 different
activities to make sure there is variety. I tried to pick bags that teach a specific
concept or can be used creatively AND that will hopefully be affordable ($3 or
less per bag for a total of $60-$90 for 20-30 bags--quite a steal when you end
up with 20-30 different activities in the end).
Each activity selected will meet the following criteria:
Self-contained. This way, you can just
grab a bag and GO! (without having to add a number of supplies to the bag
in order to make it useful).
Transportable.
Yes, they
will definitely be used at home, but you will also be able to grab a few
bags to take to a restaurant, a waiting room, plane trips, car rides, etc.
Convenient. None of the bags will have
supplies that require major set-up or clean-up: no paint, watercolors, liquids, sand,
dirt, etc.
Inexpensive. I don’t want anyone spending too much
money on this project!
Re-usable. I chose activities that will last a while.
Therefore, I avoided activities where you would have to buy new supplies
to re-stock the bag. This is why lamination is recommended for some
of the activities.
**PLEASE KNOW THAT ALL BAGS WILL
REQUIRE TIME, BUT NOT NECESSARILY CREATIVE GENIUS!**
Want to join the swap?
1. Email me (deidramaner@yahoo.com) by Saturday, March
24th and let me know you would like to sign up. Please let me know if you are comfortable with
a little bit of sewing, if you don't mind very light construction (chopping
small wooden dowels and sanding them), or if you really just want a simple,
straightforward bag.
2. Once I have all the spots filled, I will
assign everyone a bag, doing my best to match you with a bag fitting your
skills and wishes! I will include a link
to directions/templates/examples of a completed activity to help you along.
3. Everyone will have a little over a month to
complete their bags. We will get together at the beginning of May to swap.
4. Out of towners are more than welcome to
participate, you will just have to cover the cost of shipping and handling via
Priority Mail.
We took Paxton on a trip to Tennessee and Alabama to see some of Alan's family. His mom hadn't seen Paxton since he was born and both sets of his grandparents had never met him. So, we thought it was a good time to make the trip out there to visit everyone.
The plane flight went smoothly. Luckily, we got bumped up to first class (thanks to Alan's status) so we had some extra room to move around. Pax didn't cry once. He was interested in all of his new surroundings. He figured out how to move the window shade up and down and up and down and up and down. He saw me buckle and unbuckle my seat belt, so it was over after that...he would buckle it, unbuckle it, buckle it, unbuckle it, buckle it, unbuckle it...you get the point.
We first went to Kingsport to see Alan's mom and Patty. Paxton got to play in bounce houses at Wallabies and he went to Chuck E. Cheese. It even snowed while we were there! Paxton went sledding for the very first time. He had fun going up and down the stairs in their house and especially going to hang out with the cats. We went to a couple of really good dinners while we were there too!
The next stop was Chattanooga to visit Paxton's Great Grandma Joy. We got to hang out with her for the day and even got to see a few other family members, Richard and Florence (Alan's uncle and his wife). ...And we went out to eat a few more times.
The following day we drove to Decatur to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Maner. Luckily, this was a short 2 hour drive. This trip we had Pax's carseat facing forward, which is a first for him. He absolutely loved the new view! Every truck he spotted, he would point to it and say, "choo choo"...that's how he says "truck". We're assuming that since semi trucks look somewhat like train cars, he thinks they're trains. He's hilarious though, I asked him, "Can you say 'truck'?" His response was, "choo choo". Anyways, our trip to Decatur was great. We visited with the Maners during the day, then we met up with Alan's cousin, her husband, and his aunt and uncle for church and then...wait for it...we went out for dinner! The next day we went back up to see the Maners before we had to leave for the airport. They had given Paxton a mini golf club set, so he was having a great time playing with Granddaddy and Grandmama. They were so cute with him! Grandmama even pushed Pax around on her walker and he just thought that was the coolest thing ever.
The plane flight back was definitely not fun. Paxton hadn't taken a nap all day...in fact, we were hoping this would mean he'd sleep on the plane and everyone would be happy. But, because he was so tired, he cried and cried. All he wanted was a place to lie down, but the best we could offer was to hold the poor little fella. I was stressing out because we were "those people", but oh well...not like they've never heard a kid cry before! Thankfully, Alan was able to calm him down and get him to sleep.
After being gone for a week, it was so nice to get home and to sleep in our own beds! I think we all gained about 10 pounds from eating so much...well, except for Paxton who ate like a bird the whole trip.
Buckle, unbuckle, repeat
Grandma reading to me
My, what big teeth you have!
Got to meet Snickers, the cat
Weeee!
Visiting with Great Grandma Joy
Cool cat!
Love me some Mac and Cheese
Golfing with Great Granddaddy
Great Grandmama, Pax, and Great Granddaddy
He put Alan's hat on...too cute!
Daddy bought me a shirt that I can 'grow in to'!
Video of Paxton sledding on what was left of the snow
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Good news! We're expecting baby #2!!! I'm 20 weeks so far...halfway there. We're so excited to add a sweet little girl to our family. Blakely Madeleine will be here September 11th! Yes, I know, what a day to have a baby. We're hoping she'll make her debut a little early or a little late...not too late though, just one day would be fine :-)
Paxton is a wild little man. He runs everywhere, jumps on the couch, jumps off the couch (and not every landing is smooth), he hops around, sometimes runs into walls, falls all the time...this kid is always on the go. So, it was bound to happen..........
The following day we drove to Decatur to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Maner. Luckily, this was a short 2 hour drive. This trip we had Pax's carseat facing forward, which is a first for him. He absolutely loved the new view! Every truck he spotted, he would point to it and say, "choo choo"...that's how he says "truck". We're assuming that since semi trucks look somewhat like train cars, he thinks they're trains. He's hilarious though, I asked him, "Can you say 'truck'?" His response was, "choo choo". Anyways, our trip to Decatur was great. We visited with the Maners during the day, then we met up with Alan's cousin, her husband, and his aunt and uncle for church and then...wait for it...we went out for dinner! The next day we went back up to see the Maners before we had to leave for the airport. They had given Paxton a mini golf club set, so he was having a great time playing with Granddaddy and Grandmama. They were so cute with him! Grandmama even pushed Pax around on her walker and he just thought that was the coolest thing ever.
