Pumpkin Patch, Louis turns 13, and Baby Brother

Last Sunday we had an impromptu party in the park. Axel invited a friend over, Kedar, and Daddy emailed the other Axel's parents and then some neighborhood grandchildren were visiting and before we knew it there were 8 children having fun in the park. Towards the end of the fun Daddy suggested a trail walk. Kedar, Axel S., Axel R., Phoenix and Rattler headed up the walk to the magic tree. The other kiddos and parents trailed behind. All of the families had a blast and said we should try to do this again.

It has been hot again the past week. Phoenix not only woke up with a mild cold on Monday, she came home with a heat rash from daycare on Tuesday. She was so overheated that she threw up on the way to Axel's soccer practice. We headed home and took a nice cold bath and before we knew it she was happily eating some dinner. 

I was able to get her to wear her hair up for almost 24 hours as I convinced her it would help the heat rash go away. By Thursday she was done with the pony tail, but luckily, the heat rash still managed to disappear by Friday. 

On Thursday Keith and I had our big ultrasound appointment. I have been very nervous about being pregnant over the past 4+ months as we found out on April 1st that our last little one had passed during that big ultrasound. With this one, at 12 weeks we received the news from the NIPT placental chromosome that we are having a healthy boy, but it was still hard for me to really believe. Now at 19 weeks I am feeling incredibly excited and blessed as if I just got back the positive pregnancy test on Thursday. Both Axel and Phoenix are extremely excited about their baby brother growing in mommy's belly. It is a good thing that I finally feel comfortable sharing the amazing news because I don't know how much longer I could hide my growing stomach.

On Friday I finally had the opportunity to volunteer at Axel's school. I was able to help out during computer lab and read the class a book during Project Cornerstone. Project Cornerstone is an anti-bullying campaign that runs monthly during the school year. The parents come in to the classroom to read a book and discuss tough topics like teasing and teach the kiddos different positive ways to respond.  Axel was very excited to have me there and I was very happy to be there.

Friday was also Louis' birthday. Our "little man" turned 13 years old! We celebrated by making sure he was able to enjoy some nice chicken liver. Today he got a nice bath and was able to enjoy some more chicken fat and meat.

This afternoon we took the kiddos to the pumpkin patch. We have been waiting for the weather to cool down a bit before going. Today's high was only 75 so it was finally cool enough to go.
We had so much fun as you can see from the pictures below.

 Pheeny checking out the baby chicks.

 Watching kids in life size air balls doing stunts on the water.

 Daddy's idea! Pumpkins to match everyone's outfit.

 Love this picture!

 Silly Daddy!

 Being Silly!

 Tough Axel!

 Watch out!

 Silly Axel laughing about the warts on this pumpkin.

In other big news, we have finally received all of Axel's results from all of the tests that we had done to figure out what is going on with his stomach. I believe I mentioned his throwing up over the past couple of months as well as his stomach pain and loose stools. Fortunately, but unfortunately, everything for the most part is good except that he is still suffering from outdoor and food allergies. The big news is that he is likely lactose intolerant. We are in the process of coming up with a plan on what foods to eliminate and if we want to put him back on daily antihistamine for his severe outdoor allergies. It is very hard to take away foods that he has been enjoying, but seeing his stomach get so bad where he hardly eats for days, has stomach pain, vomits and has diarrhea is just not worth it to me. So the food elimination starts again......

First Soccer Win!

Two weeks has flown by. Here is a cute picture of daddy and the kiddos skyping with Grandma Sonia and Grandpa Bruce. 

 We have been making it to Jack Fisher park every other Friday the past month. Here is a cute picture of Phoenix pushing Curious George in the swing.

 Easton was there and he brought his two "lovies", which are both curious George, in a little stroller. Both kiddos had fun taking care of and playing with George.

 The big excitement in our house was putting up the Halloween decorations. We started a bit on October 1st and finished by the 3rd. Here is a cute picture of my little vampires.

 Last Sunday Axel playing on the T-ball field per the request of the team they were playing. I had no idea the T-ball field was so small. The kids had a great time trying to hit it over the fence. One of the boys on the team was very close!

 The boys had a great game and got a ton of outs. One inning the boys had 4 outs (since they are not suppose to count we keep playing until the opposing team runs through their line up). Because they played so well they all got to pile up on Coach Keith.

 So much fun!

 The other coach not only wanted to play on the T-ball field, but he was also on a time crunch which meant the game was very short. Because it was a short we stayed and continued to play. Phoenix hit through an entire bucket of balls (about 30+). The two Axel's got a lot of fielding practice. Phoenix has an amazing natural swing. At practice a few days ago she also begged to join the practice and hit balls. I took her to the outfield so she could hit through a bucket before the boys needed the balls for their hitting practice.

 After the game last week I was able to capture a cute photo of Axel and Phoenix. Axel R. is also in the picture. I might see if I can crop him out and blow up this photo because both kids are smiling and look so good :)

 Earlier this week Phoenix found the costumes I got down from the attic. She went through and put them all on and looked at herself in the mirror. She decided the lion was for big kids.

 Woody fit her almost perfectly.

 But Spot the dog was by far the most fun to have on. It was really hard getting the costume off of her  in order to eat dinner and lots of tears were shed. I am not sure if Spot will win her vote for Halloween night, but this costume was hours of fun on this night.

 On Friday this week after dropping Axel off at school Phoenix and I had a leisure walk home and then read books while swinging. She is such a book lover like Axel is/was. When I finally convinced her to get off the swing we then took our weekly trip to the library to get more books!

We couldn't stay long because we were awaiting the arrival of the beautiful Amish table that I ordered this summer. It is absolutely beautiful. I still can't believe that I took the plunge, but Keith and I are super happy with the quality of it. This these table and chairs are sure to last a few generations. 

 The delivery men finished just in time for Phoenix and I to pick up Axel from school. Here Axel is with an awesome creation that he and his TK reading buddy build together earlier in the week. Him and Brody had the biggest three dimensional structure out of the entire 1st grade. He said it was because him and Brody used such great team work.

 After we picked up Axel we then headed to the dentist. Here is our growing Axel.

 Phoenix had her first check up. She was very hesitant but ended up doing really well.

 Yesterday the Orange Crush won their first soccer game. It was also the first game that they scored. Here is Axel running to Coach Keith to give him a big hug. You can see how excited Axel and the team were. Liam ended up scoring not only the first goal, but he scored a second goal to really help seal their first win.

 The boys really worked hard. Our Axel got an "A" for effort for really trying. Our big goal each game is that he tries and has fun. He did both yesterday!

This morning when I got home from my jog and found the kids doing this.....Axel was teaching Phoenix how to build one of his Lego sets. He would find the piece and show her where it goes and then she would put it in place. I was so extremely proud of both of them. Axel for being so loving and patient and Phoenix for being listening and following directions so well. 

I was excited to see that they successfully built the entire truck together, but as you can see from the picture Phoenix wanted nothing to do with being in the photo with Axel. She wanted to take a picture by herself. After an early lunch we headed to Axel's baseball game. Phoenix and I stayed for most of it but had to get home for nap time. Now we are just waiting for our sleeping beauty to awake in order to enjoy the rest of the day. 

The Start of Fall?

 The weather continues to be hot, and it is hard to believe that fall is already here. Over the past two weeks we have been busy with soccer, baseball, stomach bugs, and birthday parties.

Axel had his soccer team and individual pictures. I was able to sneak a picture of the team from far away.  He seems to be enjoying soccer less and less, but yesterday after his game he finally came out and told daddy that he is intimidated by the bigger kids and doesn't want to get hurt. We are glad that he finally opened up and shared his true feelings. I find it very frustrating that he doesn't share more with us, especially since he has always been a good communicator until the past year or so.

Axel took the picture below. This is the succulent that Grandpa Bruce was given for Auntie's wedding as a party favor. Since they were travelling by plane with kept both Grandma and Grandpa's succulents. Grandpa's seemed extra ordinary, but is quite beautiful in bloom. It is fascinating that almost all succulents have some sort of flower. I would have never guessed that it flowers based on how it looks. Last year there was only one flower, but this year there are three flowers in the center, although this picture only shows one.

Phoenix is at the age where she loves to help. I remember this age very well with Axel. I thought it was a trait that he has, but now I know it is an age thing and I am going to cherish these months with Phoenix a little more!

She was not happy only vacuuming our bedroom. She went on to vacuum hers and Axel's bedroom. I was very impressed that she did not lose interest!

On most Fridays, when I am not working Phoenix and I go to Jack Fischer Park and the library. It was suppose to be a hot one so we went to the park quite early. As we were waiting for "her friends" to arrive she cracked nuts from a tree. She said that she wanted to help the squirrels get their food. I love this picture of her cracking a nut with a sweat shirt on backwards. She insisted on taking her jacket off while swinging and it was just a bit too cold at 8:30am in the morning so some how I convinced her to wear it backwards and there it stayed for the next hour.

Phoenix calls all kids her friends, but we often see Easton. He is going to likely be in the same class as Phoenix for kindergarten because he brother was Axel's classmate in kinder.

I love this picture of them swinging.

Axel is loving baseball which is really exciting. He told daddy that he has learned he likes it more because he is bigger this year and he knows the sport.

He has also improved quite a bit.

He has already made three outs this year and has a lots of base hits.

For every out, coach Keith (daddy) does 5 push ups. Coach didn't know if the boys would be getting outs, but they have been getting outs every game, almost every evening. He has been doing a lot of push ups. If Axel gets an out he gets to go on top of daddy for the 5 push ups, however once Axel goes on top, all of the boys want to go on top. Thus, you have the Mos"quitos" dog pile!

This weekend I ventured off to Aptos for a friend's 40th birthday. She rented a house for her closest friends to come and celebrate with her. Here is the picture of the sun set on Friday night. I cooked dinner for 6 of the 8 women. We had rice, salmon and green beans. We then had yummy cake and lots of fun doing a cloths swap. 

On Saturday we enjoyed talking by the beach. While there we saw a pod of dolphins. They were hanging out for well over an hour. It was really cool seeing them. 

While watching the dolphins the cutest little sea otter swims up very close to shore. I just barely caught him in the picture below. He is swimming on his back in the upper left hand corner. Locals said the dolphins had been around since last weekend. I headed home after dinner and caught home in time to put the kids to sleep. It was my first time ever away from the family, except of course being in the hospital during labor a couple of times. I had such a great time chatting with some awesome women. I learned so much from them and was glad that I accepted the invitation. It was a really hard decision to make, but I was glad I went. While I was gone daddy had to manage baseball practice, a soccer game and a birthday party. Things went very smoothly with the help of our babysitter Monica. We were so glad she could help out as much as she did. The kids absolutely love her. 

This morning was another baseball game. I thought it would be nice to show what Phoenix is up to during the games. She had fun playing in the dirt/ sand with her sand toys. She was completely covered in it by the time the game was done. 

I noticed a few days ago that Phoenix had her first 2nd year molar come in on her bottom right hand side. I wonder how long it will take for the other three to come in.

In other Axel news, he has been struggling with stomach issues again. This blog starts with his team picture. After taking that picture he threw up over half a dozen times on the way home. This was the third time he has thrown up, but this time it seemed more viral than anything else. He has thrown up a few more times since, but usually it seems food related. He complains about his stomach and upper chest hurting often. We are very frustrated and are going to hopefully get some kind of work up done to figure out what is going on. He hasn't been eating much for sometime as well. We plan on starting him on probiotics to see if we can heal whatever is going on with his gut while we wait and see what the doctor thinks and can do for him. I weighed him at the YMCA before swimming last week and he weighed 35 lbs. I am hoping the scale was wrong, but that means he is one pound less than 6 months ago at his 6 year check up appointment. Hopefully, we will have some answers soon and nothing serious is going on.

Next weekend Axel only has a baseball game since he is not doing the soccer tournament. We are looking forward to doing something fun together if it is not too hot out. Have a great week!

Fall Ball

Last Sunday we had Eileen, Luis and Alex over for play time and dinner. Here are the three with Axel and Phoenix reading books before bed. We all enjoyed the visit. I was glad to be able to give belated birthday wishes to Eileen as well. 

I have been trying to get a cute photo of the kids together and every time I think I get a good one it looks like this....I would love to get both kids fully in the picture smiling.

We had last weekend off from soccer because of the Holiday and families going out of town. This Saturday we were all geared up to see Axel have a fun soccer game, but he did not feel well and spent half of the game trying to use the restroom. He "played" the first and fourth quarter, but you could tell he wasn't feeling well.

Luckily, today was a better day and Axel felt good for the most part. He still isn't eating very well, but he didn't complain of his stomach hurting. His baseball team uniforms were not in yet so the boys looked a little chaotic all in different jerseys. The good thing is that they all had fun and played really well for their first game.

They made outs every innings and scored almost every inning. The league does not keep track of either, but it is fun for the coaches to keep track. The boys really enjoyed coach Keith doing 5 push ups for every out they made. He had to do a total of 20 push ups this game.

Here is a shot of coach Keith pitching to Axel. I am amazed at how much Axel's hitting has improved. He has a significant increase in power when hitting. It is amazing what a couple of inches and a couple of pounds can do for a child's strength!

It was really bright out so I couldn't see any of the images I was taking. I had no idea I was zoomed in as much as I was,but I really like these images of Axel running around the bases.

I am so proud of him for not only trying, but enjoying himself at the same time!

Look at that smile!

In other news Phoenix has finally reached an age where she can do 24 piece puzzles on her own. It was like a switch went off during this past week and she is looking at the images on the jigsaw pieces and the shape of each piece. She is able to figure it out most of the time without help.

Axel received his first homework of first grade this past Thursday. He has weekly homework this year. He has been complaining of school being too easy and his homework reflects it. The good thing is if he focuses and engages repetition can only help. The problem is keeping his interest!

We hope this weekend was a big confidence builder for Axel with his improved performance in baseball and a big play date with his friend and teammate Logan and our neighbor Evelyn. He has been complaining about not having friends. Hopefully, he feels more and more confident as the year progresses.