Axel, Phoenix, and Rubix: Axel turns 7!

Last Saturday we had Axel's 7 year birthday party. As you can see daddy made a great cake as always. We went with the chocolate vegan cake with vegan frosting (coconut oil and non dairy soy free butter and powdered sugar). I made the chocolate vegan cupcakes with vegan chocolate glaze for Axel's classmates on his birthday last Thursday and both were a success. The teacher wrote me for the recipe she liked them so much.

Here is a few of Axel's friends he had at the party. He wanted the same big jump house and slide and again it was greatly enjoyed by everyone.

For a party favor this year we did tie dye t-shirts. I did not manage to get any pictures of the kids making a mess because my hands were full with managing the kids. I purchased a kit that allowed 6 kids to tie dye their shirts at a time. It was a little more stressful than the Lego kits and super hero costumes from the previous two years, but I do think the kids enjoyed it. The only bummer thing is that we did the shirts later into the party and a few kids had to go before getting their party favor. That is the only bummer thing about Californians. They are always late to parties and then tend to leave early because they have someplace else to go :)

Since Phoenix really wanted a jump house for her birthday we decided she could invite her best buddy to Axel's party. Axel was, of course, completely on board with inviting little Macey so that Phoenix could enjoy herself as much as he was. Initially the girls were intimidated by all of the boys so they rode bikes and played on the play structure. Daddy was able to get all of the big kids outs so that the little ones could enjoy the jump house too. Once the girls were comfortable alone, they didn't mind being in their with the big kids too.

I was really impressed that Phoenix was able to climb the ladder to the slides by herself. Axel needed help initially during his 5 year birthday party so to see Phoenix muscle herself up the ladder at 3 years old was really impressive!

The birthday boy had 2 hours of non stop fun with his friends. Unfortunately, because it was the beginning of Spring break most people had to leave by 5pm. That didn't stop our kiddos from playing for another 30 + minutes by themselves.

They jumped and slid down the ladder over and over until they got all of their bounces and slides out! Axel was being silly sliding and stopping every foot or two.

Here is Phoenix hitting Axel for grabbing her and pulling her down the slide. It is so hard as a parent because when moments like this happen they are both at fault. One was the instigator (Axel for pulling Phoenix down unexpectedly) and one was the person hitting instead of using words (Phoenix). Hopefully, one day they will both learn!

After we cleaned up the park and ate some dinner Axel opened his gifts.

Here is Daddy being silly with Rubix as we watched Axel open gifts.

On Sunday we were suppose to go to Aunties house for a late Easter gathering, but Grandma came down with a cold. Instead, Rubix got his first bath! His belly button was finally healed enough to tolerate being in water. He really needed it. He had gotten to the point where he had finger and toe fuzz!

I took this picture of Rubix because I wanted to do a side by side comparison of Axel in this same outfit. Can you tell which one is Rubix and which one is Axel? Rubix is 3 weeks and 2 days and Axel is 6 weeks in this picture. I think they are about the same size. Can you see why I think I have another little Axel again? To me it is hard to tell them apart!

Here are the cute brothers together.

We have had all week off from baseball because of Spring break. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to try the swim team at our new pool that we joined. Westgate Cabana club opened April 2nd and swim team started on the 4th. They have 3 weeks of preseason and Axel is doing week 1 and 3 of preseason and then is joining their practice swim team. We don't know if he will decide to compete at all this year, but we are just excited to see him really thrive at a sport. He was so good compared to the other new kids he got bumped up to the group of kids who were on swim team for 1 year. You can see from this picture he is passing the other kids who have done swim team before. He is the fastest kid with the kick board. Now all we have to do is to get him to remember to kick that well while doing free style!

On Tuesday Axel was suppose to have the peanut oral challenge test to see if he is really allergic to peanuts or if it is just an oral allergy. His blood work that looked at each component came back positive for the oral allergy and slightly positive for the true anaphylaxis peanut allergy. He was sent home because his outdoor allergies are so bad right now. To bad the doctor and nurse didn't listen to me when I told them this during several phone calls. We won't try this again until August before school starts in order for Axel to completely get over his seasonal allergies.

Tuesday late afternoon the kids and I went to the dentist. I lucked out with Rubix sleeping most of the time which allowed me to easily get my teeth cleaned and have Phoenix on my lap for her teeth cleaning.

You can see how much taller Axel is from this picture compared to last time we were at the dentist. We had his 7 year wellness check this morning and he is now 45 inches tall which puts him at the 8th percentile! yeah!!!! We hope he continues the faster growth rate so that he will eventually "catch up" to his peers. It would be great if he ends up taller than 5 foot 6 inches! Anyways, his weight is 38.4 lbs. which keeps him at the one percentile. Hopefully, his gut will continue to heal and he will start to eat more and gain more weight. Only time will tell.

Phoenix is growing like a weed. She has been dealing with a chronic yeast infection because she doesn't wipe well and doesn't want help either. I had the doctor take a look today and she agreed it is a yeast infection and that I need to apply the lotrimin 4x/day instead of 2x/day and up to 2 weeks, not just one week. This was a much different story than what I was told from the advice nurse 2 weeks ago. Anyways, we had to weigh and measure her height to have the doctor take a look at her privates. She weighed 27.1 pounds and if I am not mistaken was either 38 1/4 or 39 1/4 inch which means she grew either 1 or 2 inches since her wellness check on January 21st. She eats a lot more food than Axel on a regular basis so it makes sense that she is growing so much.