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.

Here is cute baby Rubix who was patiently waiting for Phoenix to get done with her cleaning so that he could finish eating :)

Last I wanted to share some cute photos from the photo session we had on the 25th of March. I love this picture of Axel and Phoenix.

Daddy and Rubix are so cute and handsome!

One of the 5 family photos that we took.

Axel looking like a little man.

My handsome 7 year old!

This one is going on the wall!

Wow! Can you believe I have been doing this blog for over 7 years now?! Where does the time go?!

Happy Easter....He is Risen!

Easter morning the kids woke at 7:10 am. It was really nice to sleep in a little bit. They were both dressed and ready to start the day. "It is time to wake up, " they both repeated over and over. Somehow I was able to get them to wait for me to get up before they dove into their Easter baskets.

They both received bubbles, modelling clay and 2 small chocolate bars. Phoenix also received an egg chalk that Axel was given a year or two ago. She didn't put it away with the other chalk so I stored it back up in the attic and plan on giving it to Axel or Rubix next year and see how long I can keep the chalk egg appearing in one of their Easter baskets :)

Daddy made breakfast while I hid the eggs we colored the day before. Here they are after breakfast ready to start their indoor egg hunt. They were both pointing to an egg that they saw. 

 Here is a cute picture of the two after our indoor egg hunt was complete.

Daddy's picture of the kids and their eggs before putting them back in the refrigerator. We planned on having Easter devilled eggs later with our ham dinner. 

We had our annual out door egg hunt in the park. This year most of the people we invited were busy so it was just Tyler and his twins, Zoe and Jade, with our kiddos. 

Despite the low attendance and the fact that the twins lost interest after about 5 minutes, Axel and Phoenix had a great time finding the 85 eggs that I hid. This was our longest egg hunt, by far, and took well over 30 minutes.

 Axel being creative.

We had a great day together and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We our now gearing up for Axel's 7th birthday and party. I have portraits of him and the family that we took on Good Friday that I will post next time (Daddy still has to download the rest of the photos. He only downloaded a few that he posted on facebook, although I like the other ones better).

Rubix 2 week appointment and pre Easter fun

On Thursday, Axel had a baseball game. Daddy and Axel were excited for Rubix to go and be apart of the fun. They even picked out the proper outfit for him to wear. I obliged and made sure to put it on him before heading over to the game. 

 Here is a great action shot of Axel fielding the ball and trying to make the out at second base.

 Almost Axel!

 Here is a cute shot of the two after the game.

 Yesterday, Rubix had his 2 week check up at 10 days old because our pediatrician will be out of the office until April 4th. Rubix is doing absolutely awesome now that I have completely changed my diet. He measured 20 1/4 inches tall. That is 1/2 an inch in 9 days! Unbelievable! Rubix weighed 8 lbs 8 oz which is almost a pound up from the 7 lbs 9.5 oz that he weighed the last time we were at the doctor's office just 2.5 days after birth. I am extremely impressed at his growth rate because Axel and Phoenix have not historically grown like that.

Rubix has been able to sleep in the bassinet almost 2 nights completely by himself! I say almost 2 nights because I was too tired to put him back this morning after he ate at 5:30am. It looks like he will be getting up just 2 times per night around 12:30am and 4am between the hours of 9:30pm and 6 ish am. That is fantastic for not even 2 weeks old. I am very hopeful that we will be able to set a normal sleep/wake cycle over the next couple of weeks. As most of you know I am not good with unpredictable and the sooner I can get him into a routine the better for me and the rest of the family!

Yesterday Daddy and I really wanted to take the family to the Good Friday service, but decided it wasn't the best thing for little Rubix. Instead we celebrated our Lord with a picnic in the park and gave thanks to Jesus for his sacrifice.

My sweet boy wanted to hold his little brother. Axel just can't get enough of Rubix and how "adorable" he is. I just love it!

 Daddy and baby Rubix.

 Today Axel had another baseball game. Today's big news was that he finally switch hit during the game. Here he is up to bat....

 and here he is with the line drive up the 1st base line!

 This was one of his best hits so far this season. Daddy and I were super proud of him.

 When we got home from the game we decided to color eggs. The kids had a great time dipping, painting and decorating their eggs. We only had one casualty but Phoenix quickly learned not to drop her eggs!

Daddy and Axel are at a musical, Singing in the Rain, that our babysitter, Monica is in. Phoenix and Rubix are napping at the same time for the second day in a row! That means time for me to get things done. Yeah for me!

We are looking forward to a fun Easter Egg hunt in doors and in the park tomorrow as well as Axel's birthday party next Saturday and our little family get together next Sunday once the Jolleys return from Iceland. Check back soon for more Szolusha fun!

Rubix Photo Shoot

On Sunday one of the mom's on the baseball team came over and did a photo shoot of Rubix. She takes the pictures for the team and they have been great so when she offered to take pictures of Rubix I was more than happy to say yes. Here are several photos to enjoy.

These posts took me a week to get up because we had quite the scare with baby Rubix. Before leaving the hospital I noticed a rash on Rubix's cheek. I had the nurse come look at him and they said it was a normal baby rash so I didn't think much of it. When we got home the first two nights Rubix was extremely fussy and didn't want to be put down. On Friday morning Rubi's face was bright red and we noticed hives on his back, chest and legs. We had an appointment in the newborn club but we decided to cancel it and go see our pediatrician. She confirmed it was allergies.

I was fed on kinds of top allergic foods in the hospital. I had stopped dairy the day before out of suspicion. I was really sad when the doctor said that the safest thing was to go pick up the prescription formula, Neocate, that Phoenix started on when she was 4.5 months old. She thought because it was such a quick reaction it could be a more serious allergy and cause anaphylaxis if he was continually exposed. It typically takes 2 to 3 weeks to fully clear dairy and several days to clear other allergen foods. We picked up the Neocate and some new bottles and headed home. Luckily, he took both the awful tasting Neocate and the bottle really well. He had 4 bottles by 11pm that night and I could tell he was already doing much better because I was able to set him down for short periods of time.

He was hungry by midnight and I could not get myself to make him a bottle so I decided to nurse him. Luckily, in the morning he was looking better and he slept better than the previous two nights. We did the bottle thing during the day for 2 more days and now he is back to just nursing and is starting to sleep for 2 to 3 hour stents by himself! I feel so incredibly lucky that he is easy going enough to go from nursing to the bottle. Not all kids are like that...Praise the Lord!

In Axel news, he is starting to become more and more independent. He is learning how to cook. He is getting meals and snacks for himself as well. For example, after dinner last night (a burger, sweet potato fries and cucumbers) he was still hungry. I said you can go get yourself whatever you like because you ate so well. He came back with a bagel bar cut in half, toasted and buttered by himself! It might not sound like much, but I was extremely proud of him that he didn't ask for any help.

Axel received his report card on Friday and he continues to do well all around. The biggest improvement this year has been socially. We had quite a bit of social struggles in preschool and kindergarten. Although, this year started a little rough, he is finally adapting to more situations and learning to have more friends. Academically he continues to do well with his reading improving the most quickly. He needs to read between a 2.9 and a 3.6 (that is between 2nd and 3rd grade) reading levels in order to continue to challenge him. Now we are in the process of trying to find chapter books that he likes because he has gotten out of the habit of reading books that challenge him.

In Phoenix news, she is officially diaper free. She has had maybe one accident in the past 3 weeks. She made a decision that when baby comes she will no longer wear diapers and she has stuck to that. Knock on wood, she has been accident free since Rubix arrived!

We are looking forward to a three day weekend together and lots of Easter fun so please check back soon! We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do!