11 Months...

Dear Jaxon,
It seems like just yesterday we were waiting for your arrival, yet you've been with us for 11 months already! I have no idea where those 11 months went, but you have certainly made the most of them. You are growing and changing so fast! It seems as though you learn something new every single day. You are walking (practically running) everywhere! I encouraged your walking, but now I wish I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry. You’ve gotten too big too quick and I want to go back to the days that you just sat and let me hold you. Now that you’ve taken those first steps, it’s almost like you aren’t a baby anymore, and as proud as I am of you, it makes me a little sad.
At 11 months old, you are amazed with many things. However your favorite things are toys that aren’t really toys. You love pots and pans, empty formula cans, the laundry basket, brooms and mops, emptying the towel cabinet, diapers, hairbrushes, and unrolling the toilet paper. You love taking baths. We have to spell b-a-t-h in front of you now, because if you hear the word, you either cry until we undress you and put you in the tub, or you start trying to take your clothes off yourself. You love making funny noises with your tongue and you love waving at people. Wherever we go, you steal the show. You love being the center of attention, and as long as someone is watching you or talking to you, you’re the funniest, happiest baby in the world. We’ve already decided that you are going to be quite the talker. Although MaMa, DaDa and an occasional “drink” are all of your words that we can decipher at this point, you jabber constantly. I wish I knew what you were saying. You also love climbing things. You are our little dare-devil, for sure. You are by far the most entertaining little bundle I've ever seen, and your curiosity and persistence make me very proud, even in the No-No times.
You have six teeth right now, and my goodness are they sharp! You are still not a good eater, nor are you a good sleeper. You do sleep in your own room, but with your 1st birthday quickly approaching, you still almost always wake up at least three times each night. And even though you aren’t a fan of food, you do love your bottle! Boy, do I dread the day that we have to take it away from you…
You are such a delightful little boy. Even though there are times that I miss my little baby terribly, I am so proud of and in love with the little boy that you are becoming. You are always smiling and your eyes always sparkle. I look so forward to watching you grow and learn! I love you so very much and I thank God for blessing us with such a precious boy! Words can’t express how proud we are of you. I hope you know how much you are loved (and spoiled)…
The big ONE is staring us in the face, baby boy! It just doesn’t seem possible…

Love,

Mom, ....or as you’re saying so sweetly these days, "MaMa"

We Have Cooties...

Well, the Mason family has been bitten by the cootie bug... We have been battling the stomach virus at our house since Wednesday night. As of today, everyone feels much better. Just kind of weak and tired... with headaches from dehydration. Instead of blogging, I should be washing clothes and disinfecting everything, but I just don't have the energy right now...

On top of the bug, Jaxon has something going on with him, so we've had lots of doctors visits lately. Last Sunday, 12 days ago, he started throwing up. And he has been for 12 days now... last Wednesday we took him to the doctor for the first time. They said that he was really congested and that he had an ear infection. They said that the throwing up was most likely caused by the congestion. They sent us home with amoxicillen and told us to up the breathing treatments to twice a day. The congestion improved, but the throwing up continued. On Monday, I took him back to the doctor. He had lost 8 ounces in 5 days. They did blood work, and it looked normal except that his hemoglobin levels were a little low (most likely due to being sick). They said that his asthma had most likely triggered acid reflux and sent us home with prevacid. Once again, the throwing up continued. On Thursday, yesterday, after 11 days of washing bed clothes every day and being absolutely exhausted from cleaning up throw up, I took him back again. They ruled out the stomach bug, since that doesn't last for two weeks. They did chest x-rays and stomach x-rays, and a stool sample was sent to lab. I haven't heard the results from this, but please pray that they will figure out what is going on in his little tummy and that he'll feel better and stop throwing up soon...

Jaxon and his daddy passed out in the bed...

Our Nephew, Kyler, at his little league basketball game Saturday...

My Cousin, Zachary, at his little league basketball game Saturday...

Jaxon at the doctor last Wednesday...

Jaxon, sleeping on a pallet in the floor at Los Pinos last Friday night...

Mommy and Jaxon, sleeping on the couch at church Sunday night...

Jaxon at the doctor, once again, on Monday...

Jaxon and Addi sleeping in the carts at Goody's...

Here's hoping for a puke free day!

A Cute Picture and A Funny Story...

It's really cold outside...

And could this little boy possibly be any more precious? I don't think so.

But anyway, on to the funny story. Yesterday Jaxon was taking his morning nap in our bed. Once he was asleep, I surrounded him with pillows, like always, and went into the living room to get some stuff done. When he wakes up, he always cries, and I go and get him out of the bed. No big deal, it's what we do every day. But yesterday, I was in the living room on the computer, and he just walked in and looked at me. Apparently he has figured out how to get off of the bed by himself. I just looked at him and laughed my butt off! Maybe you don't think it is as funny as I do, but I promise you that if you would have seen him just walk into the living room, you would have!

This Week in Pictures

I haven't blogged much this week. It's been kind of hectic. As you can see from my past two posts, our community has experienced a tragedy. I went to MHS on Monday so that I could be there for the teachers and students that were hurting. It is such a heartbreaking situation... Please continue to remember the families of these young men, as well as their friends in your prayers...

I have, however, taken lots of pictures this week, and I spent a little time editing them this morning...

On Friday night, the little dude started walking and he hasn't slowed down a bit since. His balance has gotten so much better, and walking has started to come naturally to him. You can tell that he really doesn't think about it anymore. He just walks...
Saturday night, Jaxon's cousin Mya was at Nana and Paps' house. These guys had so much fun together... Here they are looking out the window, watching Pappy grill. They are five months difference, but almost the same exact height and about a pound difference. They have gotten to where when we are out in public with them, people think they are twins.

This picture was actually taken on Thursday. It got a little out of order. Lately, it has almost been impossible to change Jaxon's diaper. As soon as you get it off, he takes off. So I thought I'd take a picture of his little naked squirrel butt, just because I think it's cute...


Here are Jaxon and Mya taking a bath together... They had so much fun splashing each other, but I couldn't get a smile out of Mya during bath time.

Here's Mister Blue Eyes. His eyes are not edited in this photo. They really are that blue...

I just love this picture. For some reason, it reminds me of God's grace. But that's another post for another day... Be expecting it, I've been giving it a lot of thought.

He was apparently really thirsty Saturday night. He was determined to drink the bath water coming out of the faucet...

Here is Miss Moo Moo smiling! Yay! I caught it on camera...

And here is this guy Tuesday night. He's sick. We took him to the doctor on Wednesday and they said he has an ear infection. His poor nose runs constantly and he has a horrible cough. He has also thrown up several times because he's getting choked on all of the nasty stuff in his throat. I really hope he starts feeling better soon...

And here little man is yesterday, hiding from me behind the tread mill. This is one of his new hiding spots...

Heavy Heart...

Tonight my heart is heavy. I ask everyone to remember the family and friends of Trevor Williams. Trevor was a special young man to many people, including me. He always had a smile on his face, and never failed to make me laugh. Also continue to remember Tyler Heathcott as he recovers and the families of Mckenzie Stanley and Jacob Scott as their bodies are still yet to be found...

And tonight, hold you kids a little bit longer, and hug them a little bit tighter...
And pray for the ones that can't...

Urgent Prayer Request...

I wanted to ask all of you to please pray for Trevor Williams, Mckenzie Stanley and Tyler Heathcott. These boys were all students of mine last semester. They were duck hunting at KY lake today. Their boat sank and they found Tyler but Trevor, Mckenzie and another boy from Graves Co have still not been found. They have suspended the search for the night and will continue it in the morning. There are still people at the lake who are searching on foot, but the rescue squad chief has suspended the search of his crews. I don't exactly understand why. If these boys are still alive, they could be dead by morning... Just please pray. Pray for these boys. Pray for their families. Pray for Tyler as he recovers. Pray for the students, teachers and administration at MHS... Pray that God will perform a miracle tonight.

It's all in HIS hands...

Walking Tall

"Hi! Jaxon here. I just wanted to let everyone know that life has become a lot interesting during the past two days because I am officially a walking kid. That's right guys, I CAN WALK! Let me show you, step by step (no pun intended), how I do it..."

"First, I stand up. This part is kind of tricky though because I have to be sure that I don't drop my ball."

"Oh man! I dropped my ball. Okay, pick up the ball and stand up again... I can do this."

"Easy does it now..."

"Balance, balance... Nice and steady..."

"Ooops... I fell down. Okay, if at first you don't succeed, try try again..."

"and I'm off. Watch out world, here I come!"

Now Announcing...

WE HAVE A WALKER, FOLKS!
REPEAT: WE OFFICIALLY HAVE A WALKER!

and I have pictures that I will post soon!

Subbing Shockers... Take 1

Today, my dear friends, is my first day of subbing. Ann called me last night and asked me if I would go to the high school today. I am broke so I happily obliged. The teacher that I am subbing for was not here when I attended so I was unsure about where I would go and what I would be responsible for teaching. After arriving at school this morning, I found that I am pretty much responsible for nothing. Mrs. A* (the teacher that I am subbing for) teaches senior focus. She has classes 1st, 3rd and 4th block and has 2nd block planning. Here are some highlights of my day so far:

-The only thing I am responsible for the entire day is making sure that the students sign the sign out sheet before they leave for community service.
-Once the students have left, I look at the sign out sheet to see who didn't sign out, and assume that they are absent. I then write their name on the absentee sheet.
-Half way through the class period, I choose 10 random people and call their community service site to make sure that they are indeed doing community service.
-In 1st block, there were only 7 students, so I called all of their sites. Of the seven, four were MIA. 57% of my kids were missing... not so good.
-During 2nd block, I studied for my small group lesson for Sunday night and I read a little Twilight... productivity!
-Now, it's 3rd block. I am in a different classroom. I walked in, and found this written, in the teacher's handwriting mind you, on the marker board:

What Ticks You Off?

Teen Pregnancy

Drinking Age

Parent Problems

Unemployment

Smart A$$es

No Pass, No Drive

Seriously, can you write THAT on the board? And by THAT, I mean THAT word minus the dollar signs, plus two s's... What is our education system coming to?

-I received a phone call from the office informing me that during 1st block, there were not just four students that did not report to their community service- but, yes friends, seven. 100% MIA.

Well, I guess I better go. I have community service sites to call and students to catch skipping... I'm sure there will be more to share later. The day is only half over...

Seriously?

Yes, right now, as I'm typing this it is 4:57 a.m. Yes, I am awake. Yes, my husband and my son are both sleeping like a rock. But yes, I am awake. And yes, I am blogging. Why am I awake? Who knows? But I've been this way since 3:14, and I couldn't lay in bed any longer. I may not be worth anything tomorrow, but during these wee hours of the morning, I am wide awake...

Wordless Wednesday...

Funny Baby...

So on this, the 5th day of 2009, you may be wondering what the Mason's have been up to. Well, on the 1st, we spent a lot of time sleeping, trying to recooperate from oour late New Year's eve night. On the 2nd, Daddy refereed at MHS and Mommy and Jaxon went with him so that we could see some of the wonderful students that Mommy spent 14 great weeks with. On the 3rd we went to cousin Kyler's basketball game, then cousin Zach's basketball game, then to the mall with Nana. Sunday, the 4th consisted of church, lunch, nnap, church and small group... Now here we are, the 5th, and I leave you with this hilarious video of this amazing kid and his new, fake laugh...

2009? You're funny already...

Oh yea, and exactly 50 days until the big 1st Birthday bash! The countdown begins!

I, Kendra Marie Mason, have officially dropped one jean size... And it feels so good! 30 pounds by March 14th, here I come...

The Year in Review: Jaxon Thorpe

2008 was full of firsts...

You were born.

You took your time and gave us all a great scare, but now you're here, and the world is a much better place...

You made us a family...

...and then you came home from the hospital...

You looked so cute in your first pair of blue jeans...

You were so tiny the very first time we took you to church...

You peed in the air, more than once, and I caught it with my camera- also more than once...

You celebrated your first Easter, in clothes that were ginormous on you...

You went to your grandpa's wedding. You wore a tux and you were adorable...

You started making facial expressions and your personality blossomed. You are so full of personality and I love that about you...

When you were seven months old, you started sleeping in this room, in this bed...

You were dedicated to the Lord during a beautiful special service at church...

You were always a good sport as you happily took part in a many photo shoots with your mother...

And you made her first mother's day so special...

You went swimming for the first time...

And you looked so cute in your tie at church on Daddy's 1st father's day...

You learned to hold your bottle when you were four months old...

You took a trip with your family this summer and went to the zoo for the first time...

And spent your first 4th of July watching baseball and fireworks...

You loved napping with your pancake bear...

You slept during the day. You could even sleep sitting up. But you did not sleep at night.

You ate your first popcicle...

You had your first taste of baby food. You absolutely loved it for four months, but now you've given it up. You think you're too big for baby food.

You danced at Aunt Ber and Uncle Josh's wedding...

You did this to your face and made me feel like the worst mom in the world... But you were still happy.

And we learned that you love to play in boxes... and squeeze yourself into tight places. Like on Christmas day when you got your head stuck in between the washing machine and the wall. Oh, the joys of raising a strong willed child...

And you made this face. But no one knew where it came from. And we haven't seen it since.

And you went to your first luau...

And this is my favorite picture of you to date... so handsome.

You got a new hat just like Daddy's

And you ate your first oreo (and loved it) on your daddy's birthday...

You were hospitalized for three days with pneumonia...

And you were the cutest puppy dog on your first Halloween that I have ever seen...

You celebrated your first Christmas...

And here you were on the last night of 2008. It was a good year, simply because you were here...

Here we go into the New Year boy. Can't wait to see what you get into...