Axel Stats, Gma/Gpa Burgess Visit and Family Photos

On Tuesday this is how Rubix woke up from his nap at daycare. I took him to the Emergency Room for the third time in 2 weeks because there was no doctor appointments available and that is what the advice nurse recommended after she spoke with the pediatrician. He has been on prescription eye drops ever since. He is slowly coming around, but whatever virus or viruses he keeps picking up is really doing a number to Keith and I. We are exhausted because of the long nights of holding him to get him to sleep. We are thinking that he is healthy enough to start sleep training him again, but hearing him cry is very difficult for both of us. 

 On Wednesday I took Axel to the doctor and Keith stayed home with Rubix. I also had a car appointment for an update on a recall and an oil change and we thought it was best to keep Rubix home and on his normal schedule. The ER doc told us to keep him away from others for a minimum of 24 hours because of how contagious bacterial conjunctivitis is. Axel continues to grow at a more rapid rate. He is finally in the double digits! He is in the 10th percentile for height at 3 feet and 11.5 inches. He continues to be at the 2nd percentile for weight and is now 43.8 pounds. We are excited to see if he continues to jump another 3 percent in height in the coming year.

On Thursday Gma and Gpa Burgess arrived. Because of the rainy weather and Rubix's nap schedule we had a mellow day at home. We played outside for a little bit and then headed to Axel's baseball game.

 Unfortunately, the storm rolled in during the first inning and the downpour cancelled the game. Gma and Gpa did get to see Axel warm up pitching, but everyone was glad to get out of the pouring rain instead of playing and spectating the 2nd inning.

 On Friday, Gma and Gpa watched Rubix while Axel, Phoenix and I went to the dentist. I managed to get a picture of Axel. He is looking older and bigger by the day it seems. Because I was trying to get Phoenix to cooperate the entire time I was unable to get a picture of her. I am hoping she will be doing a significant amount of maturing over the next year so things like the dentist will not be such a chore!

 Rubix was exhausted when we left for the dentist. I was really worried that he was going to cry/ scream the entire time I was gone. Luckily, after 30 minutes of playing ball, Gma was able to walk him to sleep. She wasn't able to put him down, but she was able to get him to sleep for over an hour. Go Grandma! I ended up taking him to the doctor again on Friday afternoon. He threw up Thursday night and I was at my wits end to figure out what is wrong with him. Fortunately, he is healthy and well according to the doctor, but he does have fluid in his ears which might be causing increased symptoms with lying down, hence vomiting, snoring and coughing at night with lying down and why he feels better being held.

 On Saturday we took family photos and then headed to downtown Saratoga to go the the historic museum and the cemetery. Gma and Gpa enjoyed them both. Rubix and Phoenix liked the water fountain the best. It was a wonderful day and visit. We feel very lucky that they were able to come and spend time with us.

I will leave you with our 2017 family photo as well as 

 a super cute sibling photo and

 Father/ sons photo and

 mother/ daughter photo!

We are looking forward to a wonderful Easter celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior and of course a super fun Easter egg hunt!

Axel is 8 years old!

Here is Axel, Friday morning, March 31st. He enjoyed opening his cards from Gma Sonia/Gma Bruce and GGma Connie and GGpa Jerry while eating his pancake breakfast. 

 While Axel was at school Phoenix, Rubix and I had fun playing at the park. They are both getting so much bigger.

 Daddy joined us for the last 5 minutes. He took the day off to help prepare for Axel's sleepover party and to be able to take the boys to a 4:45 pm movie. Rubix was really needy all day and was melting down and Phoenix really wanted to play on the big rocks so Daddy took her as I was heading towards the car. She was so happy I had to capture the picture even if it was from far away.

 I was able to join Axel at school for the last 10 minutes of the day. Each child said what they like about the birthday boy and they sang a couple of songs, including the Happy Birthday song. Axel then passed out the chocolate cupcakes that he (I) brought to school to share with his classmates.

 Alex, Kedar and Nico arrived just after 4 pm and then headed to the Lego Batman movie. Axel has been waiting to see the Lego Batman movie since it came out because he wanted to see it for his birthday. What patience he has! They came back all hyped up so after dinner and singing happy birthday Daddy took them out to the park. Luckily, Rubix wasn't feeling well so he was asleep before they got back from the movies and I was able to get Phoenix to sleep while they were out in the park.

 The rest of the night was all about building the Lego kits that the boys brought him. They all worked together to get the kits built. It was tough to pull them away but they managed to finish most of the building by 9:30 pm and I turned the lights out at 10 pm. Daddy and I each had to talk with them once about falling asleep and the house was quiet of 8 year old boys until 6:48 am. I had a tough night with Rubix, but everyone else slept soundly. I was a bit shocked that they all got up so early, but whoever had to use the restroom woke up the other three and that was that.

 The boys enjoyed waffles, bacon and fruit for breakfast and another couple of hours of playing before they headed off to their Spring break adventures. Axel said it was the best birthday ever. I actually thought it was much easier to have a sleepover then a big party and hope he will have another couple of birthdays like this before he decides he rather do something else.

 Rubix woke up with a rash all over his face and chest and back. It got progressively worse as the day went on. I put him to bed the night before with a fever of 101. He had a fever off and on all day today. Phoenix was complaining about her throat again. I went ahead and checked her temperature and she had a fever of 102 degrees! I felt so bad. I was so busy with fussy Rubix and Phoenix was just more quiet then usual and not fussy that I didn't realize she was also sick. When I looked in her mouth she had red dots everywhere and the white and yellow in the back of her throat. For the second week in a row I went to the ER, but this time with both Rubix and Phoenix. They thought Phoenix had strep, but her culture came back negative. Her fever broke last night and she is much better today. Rubix woke with another fever and his rash has spread to his entire body. His fever appears to be gone since late morning, but I will have to see if it spikes again overnight. It looks like he will miss another day or two of day care again! Rubix luckily started eating today and his diarrhea is finally over. He had soft stools in almost every diaper for the past 5 days so it was a great relief today to not clean poop off of his cloth diapers!

Rubix has been very interested in putting things in and out of containers and seeing how things work. I love watching him play with this particular toy. 

He gets so excited when he is able to put the shapes on and take them off. I forgot to mention that his 5th tooth has been coming in all week as well. It is the tooth next to his right top front tooth. He has been pulling his hair and ear all week. It is hard to know if it tooth pain or discomfort from his virus. 

Last Thursday, Axel decided to spend Phoenix's practice with Rubix and Nicole. I have Nicole come to watch Rubix during Pheeny's practice. Axel sometimes has games himself or helps out with Pheeny's practice, but on this particular day he wanted to play with Nicole. It is funny that he enjoyed making a daisy loop. 

Last week I caught Phoenix dancing. She had herself accessorized with Rubix's stacking rings. It was all fun until she tried to take them off of her ankles during dinner. She was very upset that she couldn't get them off herself. Luckily, I was able to work mommy magic and slide them off her feet!

We have been so busy with baseball, play dates, Russian school of math, getting the yard updated and ER visits/ sick kids, that we really haven't had any down time. Last weekend we did manage to have a little family time in the park. I love Rubix's concentration on getting ball to stay on the tee. I also love Axel's desire to help his little brother.

So cute!

Phoenix enjoys playing baseball more with Daddy then on her team, but she is starting to do better each game and practice.

She has the capacity to be able to listen and follow instructions, but just like with any other child she has to want to cooperate. Here Phoenix enjoyed working together with Axel.

Rubix loves watching his brother and sister, but at the same time he can't wait to do what they are doing. You can see just looking at his face how excited he gets when it is his turn to hit and play ball.

After we had come in for bath time last Sunday Daddy was out moving the trash and recycle bins to the curb when he saw this beautiful rainbow.

We all hurried to see and I was able to capture a picture of Daddy and the kiddos.

This week is Spring break. Axel has two days of Campbell Care and then we have a Day date together on Wednesday. We will get to enjoy the day together getting the Tuscon worked on, going to his 8 year check up and then having the afternoon to do whatever our hearts desire. Thursday through Sunday we will get to enjoy time with Gma Sonia and Gpa Bruce as they are going to be in town visiting. With baseball games, swim practice all week, dentist appointments and family pictures, along with our guests, we are sure to have a fun and action packed week!

Rubix stats!

Rubix is finally better and done with his antibiotics! He has changed and grown so  much over the past month! We transitioned him to dairy/ cow's milk over the past 10 days. It was a pretty smooth transition. He is fully of the bottle and onto the sippy cup and straw cups. He has shown a great interest in learning how to do things himself, including eating. He is much better with a fork than with a spoon. Here he is eating his first grass fed organic hot dog!

He still loves balls. He now can not only throw them, but he also likes to play "basketball". He will play with our basketball hoop for over 10 minutes before going on to a different ball game. He is also starting to learning to catch and to bounce a ball in his hands. He is now showing frustration as well. He will sometimes attach the ball with his mouth and try to bite it and yell out in frustration when he cannot do the task that he is wanting to do. He can now play in the sand without eating it! He loves to mimic his older siblings. Here Phoenix was teaching him how to dig with the shovel and pour it into a container. He is walking hand in hand. He can stand for over a minute by himself. He can take 2 to 3 steps by himself without support. He crawls extremely fast. He still loves to climb and is mastering climbing up onto everything! He loves the slide and can now go down on his tummy, feet first. He is learning to turn around and get off higher objects feet first as well. He eats almost anything and everything and doesn't appear to have any food allergies or aversions. He eats a ton of food! He is an amazingly happy and charming child. He weighed in at 20 lbs and 15 oz, which put him into the 42 percentile. He is 2 feet and 6.75 inches which puts him in the 80th percentile for height and has a head circumference of 18.5 inches, which is the 74th percentile. He is wearing 12 to 18 month clothing and is a 4 or 5 size shoe!

Phoenix is showing huge strides in her alphabet and numbers! She is slowly getting over her fears. I am confident a lot will change when she is back to her fearless self over the next 6 months.

Apparently Axel took my phone and I found a bunch of pictures like these. I post this picture because this big boy got accepted to Harker Elementary! We are so excited for him and what the future holds. He takes a math placement exam on April 14th. They will then make his own specific class schedule. The school is designed like high school where the kids change classrooms for every period. The specialty teaching allows the kids to be taught to their level in every subject matter. Axel is most looking forward to Math Lab he said where he will get to use the 3D printer! We will have an information meeting on April 12th to learn about our buddy family and the enrichment programs that are during and after school. Axel will have the opportunity to take a language, learn an instrument, take ceramics or other art classes as well as sports after school.

We had baseball photos a couple of weeks ago. Here is Axel's photo.

Here is Phoenix with her fake smile :)

Because Keith and I coach we also get free buddy pictures. Here is Daddy and Axel....

and Mommy and Phoenix and Panda!

I reorganized the picture wall so that the kids ages line up. I love to see their similarities.  

You can definitely tell they are siblings! I am excited to get our next family photo in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of photos I will leave you with Axel's school individual and class photo. He was disappointed in his hair and said it looks too puffy. Luckily, this was a great learning lesson for him and hopefully he will continue to let me keep the sides and back short from here on out.

Happy Birthday Rubix!

On Saturday, Auntie Shannon, Uncle Ryan, Braylin, Grandma Susan and Grandpa Brian made the trek to Saratoga for Rubix's 1 year celebration. 

We had such a lovely time together. It was really nice to see everyone.

 Here is a fun picture of Axel and Uncle Ryan.

 We enjoyed a nice meal while Rubix slept. Once he woke we started the birthday fun. Daddy made a nice birthday sign for him and Axel made his birthday hat. Daddy also made a special effort to get balloons Friday night because we had baseball all morning on Saturday and our guests were arriving at 12:30, the same time we were done with baseball.

 I was especially wanting Rubix to sleep because he had been sick since the Wednesday the week before (10 days) and he threw up on Friday night so I wasn't sure exactly what was going on with him. When he woke from his nap and after we had our birthday fun I took his temperature and he was running a low grade fever of 100 degrees.

 He threw up multiple times Saturday night and to make a very long story short he ended up with an ear infection (his first) and three very sleepless nights from Friday night through Sunday night.

 Luckily, he is doing much better now and he still had moments of fun during his birthday celebration.

 He wasn't very interested in opening up gifts but he has really enjoyed the plate/tray/placemat that Auntie got him and the balls Gma and pa got him.

 We were lucky to have Annika home from school for her Spring Break. The kids have really enjoyed having her home and apart of the birthday fun.

 On Wednesday morning I was able to snap a couple of photos before work. I dressed Rubix in one of his new outfits Auntie gave him. You can still see his runny nose and he is holding the syringe I gave his antibiotic with. Daddy stayed home with him on Tuesday and I stayed home with him on Monday after taking him to the doctors.

 We sang happy birthday again Wednesday night, but Rubix was tired and ready for bed.

 Daddy was able to get his hat on him for a quick photo.

 Here he is saying "Mommy get me out of here!" Although, it does look like he is giving me a sweet hug.

 Today I brought him in for photos. Here are the three cute portraits I purchased.

 They had quite the special so most of the family will receive the shot below. I do have 5, 4 x 6's of the other two poses so if you want one of those please let me know and I will be happy to send that pose to you.

 Rubix was great for his photos. He smiled the entire time and was super happy and easy. I am excited to see what his stats are next week at his doctors appointment. I will also give all of his milestone updates as well.