Rubix is 14 months

Here are the lovely gifts I received from the kids last week. I was too busy enjoying the day to take photos of the projects, but wanted to include them so they can reminisce in the years to come. 

Daddy had them make the sign for me. Axel did a great job doing most of it. I want to point out how their hands size is are not significantly different considering the gaps in years. 

Here are all of the school/ daycare projects.

I know this is a little blurry, but I love what Axel choose to include on why I am important. His maturity is really coming along and he recognizes that the boundaries he receives is out of love!

 Phoenix made a booklet. The first page said she loved me because I take her to the park. This page says she loves me because I give her raspberries on her cheeks at night before bed. I love what they come up with!

On Monday it was a cold chilly day. Rubix turned 14 months. Here is a cute picture of him climbing up the ladder by himself. It is amazing how much he is growing up and becoming more like a toddler every day. Half of me is excited for the next chapter in our lives and half of me is said to say goodbye to the baby stage.

The bummer thing about this week is that we officially know that Rubix cannot tolerate dairy and that he cannot tolerate the Ripple plant based milk. Our allergist recommended 4 more months of Neocate and to strictly avoid dairy exposure to allow him to outgrow the protein intolerance. The other bummer thing is that Rubix caught another virus. He hasn't run a fever yet, but he was throwing up all night last night because of post nasal drip. I am praying that he is able to fight this virus quickly and avoid another ear infection. The more viruses he overcomes without an ear infection the more we are in the clear of needing tubes!

  

 I have been trying to take a few videos of Rubix to capture his personality. This one in the bath makes me smile every time. Enjoy!

Tonight was more fun at the Regester's. Axel actually enjoys the rope swing now. Phoenix was a little hesitant, but managed to ride the swing for a minute before asking to get down.

 Daddy loves the adult beverages and Rubix loves everything in their backyard.

 Phoenix also loves their backyard as well. Tonight this car ride was the highlight.

 Although the two Axel's still don't play together in school they are quite good friends outside of school. We hope this continues as our Axel is afraid of losing his old friends once he starts at Harker. I am very hopeful that their friendship will continue.

Happy Mother's Day

This week has been an exciting week as Rubix continues to become more and more of a walker. Phoenix also started swimming this week. She decided that she really wanted to join the swim team like Axel. She has been playing with a younger sibling of one of the other boys who swims with Axel. She likes Corey so much that she wants to not only play with her while theit brothers swim, but wants to swim with her as well. We were unsure if the coaches were going to allow Phoenix to join since she cannot technically swim on her own, but they have been very accommodating. She is learning how to dog paddle with her head in the water and is hopefully only a few weeks out to swimming independently for short distances. It is very exciting to see Phoenix so determined and willing to cooperate and take instruction. This has not been one of her strengths, but like everything with kids, change is always a constant and she is definitely maturing with time. 

 Rubix continues to work on his walking and independence. He is loving exploring the world on two feet. He continues to talk up a storm and has more words than I can remember. The coolest thing is hearing Rubix say Mommy, Daddy and Axel. He still doesn't say Phoenix very well or consistently. The big news with him is that we continue to struggle with dairy and have just given in to the fact that he will be off dairy for sometime. He vomits continually, stops eating and has yellow stools when he is on dairy. Within just a few days of being off of dairy he is his happy normal hungry self again. I still need to get feedback from his allergist and GI specialist on the right path for him, but for now he is on Neocate Junior and Ripple (which is pea based milk).

 Phoenix had her first official dance lessons on Friday. She absolutely loved tap. She has been practicing her shuffle toe and shuffle hop steps ever since leaving her class.

 She did not get to learn any official ballet moves, but she did practice walking on her toes and with a bean bag on her head. Hopefully next week she can learn a few of the first 5 positions.

Rubix continues to love balls. Here is a great video of him playing basketball at Marshall Lane. He is so much fun!

I finally took a video of Phoenix at bat. I have hesitated because I am suppose to be coaching. With only one game left I decided it was time to capture the moments on film.

I also finally took a video of Axel swimming and a few videos of Axel pitching. Unfortunately, all of the videos are too big. I do have a short video of Axel pitching one pitch. He was a little off last night, but you can see how much stronger he is and how much better he catches.

Today was a lovely day. The kids made heart felt Mother's Day projects for me as well as a big sign. Flowers, breakfast and a day filled with being together was the perfect Mother's Day.

 We especially had fun playing basketball at the Y. Rubix was in ball heaven and Axel was in Dude Perfect heaven and Phoenix was just silly Phoenix.

Rubix walks

Last Friday, Axel's school had crazy hair day. Phoenix wanted to participate as well so the kids had fun hair for the day. Axel was very responsible though and washed out all of the hair dye before swim practice Friday evening. 

Phoenix had such a blast at the park on Friday. Jack Fischer is closed for another month as they update the park and Phoenix has been bored at the other parks with no one to play with. Last Friday was her lucky day because there was 10 children playing the entire time we were there. 

Saturday was baseball and then a fun evening at the pool and then dinner with Eileen and Alex. Here is a cute picture of Phoenix playing after her swim time. I did not manage to get any pictures of the boys, but what you would have noticed is that Axel is finally taller than Alex. They have been the same height for years despite Alex being 18 months younger.

Rubix lasted about 15 minutes and then was ready to play on the play structures. He was very cold, which was surprising with the weather in the 80's and the pool a very comfortable 83 degrees. Maybe as the summer goes on he will kick and move more which will help keep him warmer.

I wanted to include the picture below of Rubix  because I think he is looking older and older. He unfortunately woke with a cold last Thursday and has been sick all week, but luckily with very diligent use of the suction he seems to be getting better. He has really been practicing his standing and walking as you can see in this picture as well.  

Rubix loves food and he loves to stuff his face. I love this picture of his cheeks completely full of watermelon. He usually ends up spiting it out as he realizes that he can't chew it enough to swallow. 

 This Thursday, Daddy, Axel and I went to the warriors game. We had such a fun time.

 We were up a little high, but it was still a great view and we were able to see everything.

 This Friday Phoenix was suppose to start her tap and ballet class. Unfortunately, the instructor no showed to her class! Apparently there was miscommunication. To make up for it Phoenix attended the Tiny tots class that was after her class with little girls age 1-3.

 Here she is jumping at the bars and ....

 helping Rubix with a ball. Although, it was a very big disappointment Phoenix handled the situation quite well. Hopefully we can get everything resolved for next week. If not, I am going to have to find a new location which isn't as close and convenient as the community center!

 On Friday, Annika arrived home. The kids were so happy to see her. Here Axel is being silly by putting Pheeny's tutu on her head.

 Here is a cute picture of Annika with Rubix on our way home from school.

 This morning while we were trying to get everything prepared for the kids morning baseball games Rubix fell and hit his chin on the hearth. He cried for much longer than usual, so I knew something was wrong. He hit so hard that his top two teeth cut open his gums behind his bottom two teeth. It took him 30 minutes for the bleeding to stop and for him to calm down. His teeth look like they are pushed forward, but they are not loose. We also saw the dentist today and she said that although his teeth may not completely straighten out to where they were the good thing is that they are securely in place. He will be on a soft diet for the next couple of weeks and hopefully his teeth will straighten up a bit more as the swelling in his gums subsides.

We had a really fun night at Axel R's house and are looking forward to more fun in the coming weeks. I will leave you with a video of Rubix walking.

Home Run Derby

I couldn't take the long hair anymore. With Rubix sick for so long the hair just got in the way with holding him in the night. I really wanted to wait for a work event, Seeds of Hope, on June 11th, but I just couldn't do it. If Rubix pulled another hair of mine I was going to lose it! So I went last Tuesday and compromised with Daddy and kept it around shoulder height instead of going to my chin like I usually do. So for my 20th anniversary and 9th donation I am giving 13 inches instead of the 16 inches that I was hoping for.  It is officially in the mail and on its way to Locks of Love so that some little girl will be able to enjoy it. 

On Saturday both kiddos had a baseball game. The entire day from 9 am to 3 pm the Home Run Derby Festival ran so that the kids could enjoy fun and games before and/or after their games. Phoenix was such a big girl this year and went right up onto the slides and in the jump house with no assistance or coaxing. It was great! She had such a blast!

She was having so much fun that she forgot to play the games to win prizes and was a bit disappointment as we were heading home and she realized that she didn't have any prizes to take home with her. 

To raise extra money Daddy got a dunk tank for the day as well. Did I mentioned that Daddy Keith organized and put on the entire event and was there at 6:30 am and didn't get home until 4 pm that night! He worked really hard to provide a super fun day for all families. Anyways, the dunk tank allowed all of the kids to dunk their coaches, which made for great fun. Here is Axel enjoying his slushy while we wait for Daddy to get in the tank.

Rubix was a champ. Our babysitters apparently became unavailable so we had to manage to get through the day by napping in the stroller. He managed to take a 40 minute nap which equated to him melting down just before 2 pm. Although, Phoenix, Rubix and I had to leave an hour early it worked out great, as Rubix managed to take a late nap at home and was back to his happy self by 4 pm!

Here is Axel about to dunk Daddy!

Mommy got to try as well, but was unsuccessful with my 3 balls.

Luckily, Phoenix got special privileges so after she tried to throw the big, heavier balls we manually dunked Daddy.

Unfortunately, Daddy had a big splash zone which caused both Rubix and Phoenix to get a little wet, which both of them were not happy about.

It is amazing how much better Axel is at swimming. His form continues to improve at each practice. You can see below how natural he looks now while swimming free style. You can also see he is way ahead of his counterparts. He is typically doing 2 full laps or 4 lengths of the pull more than his teammates. He would do more if they didn't stop him for instruction :)

Last night we had our first parent meeting at Harker. It was very exciting to learn a little bit more about how next year is going to go for Axel. Some things that I didn't realize is that Spanish is apart of the curriculum. You can also take immersion Spanish after school or learn another language like Mandarin or Hindu as well with beginner or full immersion after school classes. Movement arts (dance, theater, etc) and Music (including playing an instrument) is also apart of the regular weekly curriculum. You can also be apart of the band or orchestra after school and take private lessons in addition to what they will do during class. There was tons of additional information given to us which I would love to share, but rather not be a bore. All in all we are extremely excited for Axel to be apart of the Harker community with the focus in his education being about the process and journey that he is about to embark rather than the end result. I love that!

I leave you with Rubix playing ball. I always talk about it, but wanted to share a video of how he spends most of his waking hours, especially when he is at home!

Rubix 13 months, Easter and more!

Here is Rubix helping me clean up from his first real hair cut. I trimmed the front of his hair right before his birthday to keep the hair out of his eyes, but on his 13 month milestone I decided to give him a full on hair cut. I think he looks adorable despite it being quite short. 

 On Saturday morning the kids decorated Easter eggs. Rubix was still a mess from his double ear infection that after taking this photo I had to take him for a walk/ run to get him to fall asleep. He started antibiotics on Wednesday night after dealing with fevers every night, vomiting and sleepless nights. I had a phone appointment with a doctor who had us then come in to take a look. I was so glad that I was persistent and took Rubix to the doctor for the third time in a month (along with our 3 ER visits). It was an extremely difficult first month to the start off his second year of life. The doctor gave him a stronger antibiotic since it was his second time in less than a month of needing treatment. She felt it was a resistant strain of infection and that is why he seemed continuously sick the entire month.

Because of Rubix being sick Axel and I went to church alone on Saturday night for the Easter service. Daddy and Phoenix were sad to miss, but it was the best thing for Rubix to stay home.

 On Easter morning we woke and had delicious pumpkin donuts that daddy made and egg mcmuffins. The kids then opened their Easter baskets and had their indoor egg hunt.

 After we were done Jade and Zoe joined us for our outdoor egg hunt. This year Mommy Easter Bunny hid 94 eggs, 10 for Rubix on the grass and 21 for each of the 4 hunters.

 Axel had much harder locations this year. He was excited and up for the challenge!

 Phoenix was quite swift in her hunting and had a blast!

Here Axel asked for assistance and Tyler was more than happy to help while the girls just watched and pointed. 

Easter afternoon Axel had his Russian school of Math. Afterwards, I prepared our ham dinner and then took off to see my newest niece, Aya Rose Jolley. She was born around 2 in the afternoon on Easter day. She is absolutely precious and I was very glad I was able to go and meet her while Daddy stayed home with the kids. 

 Now that Rubix is back to his normal self I have had more time to take some photos. Since Phoenix received Elsa bubble bath for Easter, the kids have been enjoying fun bath times again.

 I love seeing them all having fun together. These are the memories that I hope they look back on and want to replicate with their families some day.

 This morning I was able to capture the kids eating breakfast together. Rubix is back to eating normally. He actually can't seem to eat enough. He ate an entire pancake and has enjoyed quiche, lasagna and even macaroni and cheese! We had to take him off of whole milk since he is on the Augmentum antibiotic because he has had terrible stomach upset. Luckily, we had 2 cans of Neocate Junior that we were able to give him and I just ordered 4 more cans. I am hoping after 4 weeks of being off of whole milk that he will be able to tolerate it without pain, vomiting or diarrhea. He is still waking once a night, but once he catches up with food after loosing a pound from being sick, I am very hopeful that he will be sleeping through the night.

The other big news is that Rubix started walking! He took his first 5 steps on Wednesday night. Last night at Axel's game he took about 15 or more steps before he realized that he was doing it by himself and decided to stop. He is also talking up a storm and started saying 'Mama'yesterday! He also says nana for banana, car, cry, and thanks to Phoenix he says NO! He continues to say up, down, off, on, cracker, caw caw, nigh/night, Axel, Angela and I do believe he has been practicing Pheeny, although it isn't very articulate yet. He amazes Keith and I every day at home much he is changing and growing. I am getting really excited for what the future may hold when I have no more diapers, cribs, baby food or naps! I do love the baby phase, but after lots of prayer over the past 6 months I finally feel at peace with us continuing as a family of 5 indefinitely. It is so nice to feel complete and be ready to get rid of all of our baby stuff slowly over the next year!

We continue to have baseball and now swim team. Axel has improved by leaps and bounds and is quite fast in the pool. I hope to get some good photos of the kids playing ball and Axel swimming. Until next time.... God Bless!

Sanborn National Park Hike

Last Sunday we enjoyed a lovely hike through Sanborn National Park. They have an unbelievable trail system. It is beautiful and quaint inside the Redwood forest. 

 We had several highlights. One was seeing a live banana slug. You can see Daddy's sense of humor and wanted the kids to see why it was called a banana slug. They are huge and slimy!

 Seeing all of the huge old trees that you can go into were also amazing.

 Axel had the privilege of going on a field trip here in Kindergarten or first grade. I can't remember, but I do remember hearing about the ghost rock. Axel couldn't wait to show us all that he had seen and the ghost rock was at the top of his list. As you can see it does look like a ghost. The family did so well that we hope to go on regular hikes throughout the year.

 Even Rubix did well considering he was running a fever still and not feeling well.

 We ended the hike with a silly picture and then some snacks and play time on the big rocks near the parking lot. We plan on taking little Grammy and Auntie Josie here when they come visit the first week in July.

  Rubix has been sick for such a long time. After a week of sleepless nights and vomiting and lack of eating and drinking we finally went back to the doctor to learn that he has a double ear infection. Because it is his second ear infection in less than one month's time it is considered a resistant strain so he was given stronger antibiotics. We hope that this will fully rid him of this illness and we can finally be healthy again. It has been such a hard month for the family with having to hold Rubix most of the night, but considering how much pain he has been in we understand his need for Mommy and Daddy help.

We are hoping the rain doesn't ruin our annual park egg hunt, but we are looking forward to a fun filled weekend of activities celebrating our Lord and Savior rain or shine!