Axel Win's Swimathon, Sacramento Trip, Boston Trip and Rubix turns 15 months!

On June 3rd, Axel participated in a practice swim meet and then went to his boy scouts over night camping trip with Daddy. Daddy has all of the pictures from both events on his tablet. I hope to get those downloaded so I can share some of the highlights from the first camping trip!

While the boys were camping, Rubix, Phoenix and I were in Auburn celebrating GG's 85th birthday. Here is a picture of our very young great grandmother Millie with her youngest great grand child, miss Aya Rose. 

 We met at Chevy's to make it an easy gathering and then headed to GG's house for yummy desert.

 Grandma Susan had the privilege of feeding baby Aya who is just the cutest little thing at 2 months old.

 Here is Phoenix and Braylin with their second cousin Vanessa. Vanessa will be in kindergarten next year after completely transitional kindergarten this year. Phoenix and Braylin get to go to big girl 4 year old preschool this coming year!

 It was nice to have almost the entire family together. We were missing Denise, Jame's wife and their little one Abigail along with Aunt Susan, and Cousin Carrie. We had a great time visiting and hopefully it won't be years before we are all under one roof again.

 After GG's gathering we headed to Grandma Susan's house where Phoenix and Braylin had fun trying on clothes that Grandma made for them. The Jolley's and I headed to Great Grandma/pa Burgesses house to give them a visit. It had been too long. It was so nice to see them despite the fact that Grandpa isn't feeling he greatest.

 After Breakfast on Sunday morning we headed home because we had to get back home in time for Axel's last RSM class and baseball swim party! Here is a picture of Coach Keith, aka Daddy saying a few words about Axel. It was an amazing exhausting weekend.

 On Monday June 5th Axel participated in his second swimathon fundraiser for the Westgate Swim Team. It was the most spectacular sight that we as parents were able to witness. Axel put all his heart and soul into 49 amazing laps in 30 minutes. He overcame boys hitting and kicking him as they competed for first place. With perseverance Axel was able to take the lead and won the 8 year old overall by 1 lap. He was crying in the pool off and on and when he got out the flood gates opened as he was emotionally and physically exhausted. Daddy and I were so proud to see him try so hard. We have never seen Axel display such a fight. Go Axel!!!! 

On Tuesday Daddy left for MA for work. I was solo with the three kiddos, which made for an interesting week as we were preparing to head to Boston on Friday to join Daddy for his 20th MIT reunion on June 10th. Here are the three kids and I headed to the airport in the Anza parking shuttle. The kids did wonderfully and were on their best behavior. I was a bit nervous about travelling alone with all three but would definitely do it again with how well behaved they all were. The amazing part is that Rubix took a nap. The other two never did from 1 until now.  The 1.5 hour nap in my arms made the trip "easy" because both of us got a break :)

It was hot and humid in MA. Rubix was a champ and took all of his naps the entire weekend on the go. I am so very proud of him. I am so glad that he is such an "easy baby". Because of this we can play other trips because I know he can sleep as we all go and have fun. Phoenix and Axel always had to sleep in a pack n play and were not good at sleeping on the go. 

 While Rubix was napping the other two had fun making their own germ cell and getting their faces painted. Here is our lovely princess and ....

 MIT Beaver!

 We all had fun participating in the family field games.

 Axel was key in making a track for a car race. His team won!

 Here they are preparing for a launch!

 After all of the fun in the sun we went into the infinite corridor to cool off.

We took one last picture in front of the main building where graduation was held earlier that morning. 

 On Sunday we enjoyed a lovely brunch and visit with the Petersens, Keith's sister's family and his mom and step dad.

Here is a picture of little Grammy and all of the grandchildren! Alex (who will be 14 in July), Hannah (9), Axel (8), Phoenix (4) and Rubix (1). So cute!

On Monday we headed home. We unfortunately had a two hour delay which made for an extra long day, but we all made it home without any major meltdowns which was huge because we were all exhausted from the long hot weekend. 

 Aunt Josie bought this antique barbie doll for Phoenix at a yard sale while we were walking to Alex's pick up soccer game. She is in heaven with this princess barbie doll.

While we were in MA I had to bath Rubix in a sink because they only had a shower. When we got home he wanted to get in our sink. I thought it was a cute picture so I had to include it!

Yesterday on June 15th Rubix turned 15 months! Here is a cute picture of him bright and early in the morning playing before the rest of the family woke. He is becoming more and more mobile. He loves balls still, loves to climb and loves the water. He has a huge vocabulary and he appears to be close to sleeping through the night. It has happened 3 times in the past week. 11 hours straight! He still requires 2 naps most of the time. He is growing so much every day. He is such a joy and brings so many more smiles to the entire family!

We are looking forward to a low key weekend and Father's Day with pool fun and a family hike. 

Hiking and the stomach bug

 Last week Axel missed two days of school because he came down with the stomach bug. He had to leave his baseball game on Tuesday night because he stomach hurt and within 20 minutes of being home he was in the toilet vomiting. He did the same thing Wednesday night. Because the norovirus is so contagious the schools are asking kids to stay out of school for 48 hours after being symptom free so Axel had a 5 day break instead of a 3 day break for Memorial day. Here are the three kids playing together last Friday.

 We had a very low key weekend for the first time in months. We had no baseball, swimming or cub scouts! It was a very nice treat especially considering Axel was recovering from being sick and everyone else appeared to be slightly run down as well.

On Monday we went for another hike in Sanborn Park. This time we checked out the camping sites and walked up the steep mile trail to see where Axel would be camping this coming week with cub scouts. I had to wake Rubix from his nap. I love this picture of him. He is so cute in his laid back sleeping posture!

 Rubix wanted to hike a little, but it was so steep he kept falling over so I put him in the carrier most of the time.

 Axel and Phoenix did great. Phoenix only complained once that her legs were tired.

Phoenix always wants to get to the "play structure" to play at the "park". After our hike she was excited to finally play on the rocks, which I told her were the play structure.

 You can see how much fun they are having!

 Rubix had just as much fun, but his rock wasn't quite as big as the rock Axel and Phoenix were climbing :).

 On Tuesday, while I was at work and while Phoenix and Rubix were at Angela's the stomach bug struck all three of us. I somehow managed to get home. I had to rest before making the trek home and somehow I managed to not throw up until I got home. I was comfortably resting in bed trying to muster up the strength to get Rubix while Keith took Phoenix and Axel to swim only to find out that Phoenix and Rubix were also sick starting after nap time. Needless to say it was a rough night! But it got rougher since the bug struck Daddy when he got home from swim practice with Axel! Yesterday was resting as much as I could. It was very hard managing Rubix and my symptoms, but the Lord is good and we all made it through the day. You can see how good Rubix felt by the end of the day. He was picking lemons and....

 playing ball!

 Oh, I forgot to mention that Axel was finally ready for his mohawk summer buzz. I am not sure if he is going to keep it or decide to just do the full buzz for swim season. We will have to wait and see.

This weekend is an event packed weekend so check back soon!

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.