Isn't it interesting.

Several times last year I said, "29 is/has been the best year of my life!" And it was great, no doubt. This year has definately has had more than it's far share of sorrows and set backs, some more personal than others, and some far too personal to share outside my little family. While I wouldn't say 30 is on it's way to outshine 29, it's so interesting to be put in a position to see what, and who, your real blessings are.
I have seen blessings pour in this year, that have answered prayers in ways that I never expected. I have been deeply touched by the friendship, prayers, helping hands, and honest concern that our family and dear friends have shown. I have truly found who is interested in Mine and Dave's welfare, not just knowing our business, and I am so grateful that it's the majority, and not the minority.
I am learning to pray for what I need, and not what I want. I am learning the prayers are never answered in the way you think they should be, but they are certainly always answered. I am realizing what is absolutely essential in this life- and that I absolutely have it. I am learning to rely on the love and support of people who care, and how to let them help me heal.
So here comes the sap- I am grateful to Heavenly Father for letting me hurt, beg, and grow. And I am grateful for the love that surrounds my family, that helps us through each of those painful steps. thanks guys, really.

For the Record...


There is something going well in my life right now... in my family's NCAA tourney pick-ems, I picked:
14 of the sweet 16 correctly!
6 of the elite 8!!!
all 4 of the final 4!!!!!!
I picked Villanova and Connecticut to win their games and match up for "the big dance" (lame name, I agree!) And I picked Connecticut to take it all. We'll see how these last games go...
In his humble opinion, Dave said it is one of the best brackets he has ever seen picked!
Wouldn't you know, this is the year my dad decided not to put any money up for the winner! Oh well, at least I'll get bragging rights!!!

Rx Update

Dave:
Went to Urgent Care after no meds, no blankets, no nothing could keep him from shaking and coughing uncontrollably, also high fever
Had the flu and bronchial something or other
Got two perscriptions, got to sleep for 2 days straight
Eating nothing but popsicles and soup
Starting to feel better

Jaxon:
Went to the pediatrician after fever and croupy cough wouldn't stop
Had croup (shocker), ear infections in both ears, and fluid/gunk in the lungs
Got an antibiotic (which he constantly gags back up)
Doing breathing treatments AGAIN
Eating hardly anything
Starting to feel better

Me:
Made it through Saturdays shoots with minimal symptoms except coughing
Got worse and worse Saturday night
Couldn't stop coughing, lost voice, super sore throat
Stayed home from Church, slept in for an extra hour and a half
Back to being mom
Does it matter how I'm feeling? Not really

Thanks to everyone who offered help, babysat while Dave died and I shot, drove Dave to Urgent Care, made us dinner, and general prayers!

Calgone, take me away...

No really, stop the madness.

Jaxon is still running a fever, waking himself up with crazy bark-coughing, cranky from lack of sleep, and now complaining his head hurts, which is either residual pain from where his cousin Hailey drilled him in the head with a golf club last week ( I guess girls DO know how to play rough) or more likely- his ear infections are coming full bloom.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I've been up this morning with Dave from a little before 5 because he is burning with fever, but couldn't stop shivering to save his life. We got pajama's on him, piled him with blankets, and I wrapped myself around him (sorry for that visual if it is disturbing to anyone) but he was shaking like I've never seen, teeth chattering, the whole nine yards. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep after that.

Now I have a cough, my ears are killing me, and I would love nothing more than a whole day to stay in bed to sleep it off, but the last one sick is outta luck- I have two sick boys to take care of and no one to take care of me. Sorry about that pity party, but it's the only partying that will get done around here in the next few days.

R-O-D-P-I-S

Every night we sing a song with Jaxon to help him learn to spell his first and last name. I figure for safety, and general intelligence, it's a good idea. So we took the song "BINGO" and turned it into-
"There was a boy who had a name and Jaxon was his name-o
J-A-X-O-N, J-A-X-O-N, J-A-X-O-N,
and Jaxon was his name-o."
He's got that one down pretty well, and only occasionally sings "J-A-N-O-N" to be silly. So a few nights ago we decided to start on our last name-
"There was a Jaxon who had a last name and Rogers was his last-name-o
"R-O-G-E-R-S, R-O-G-E-R-S, R-O-G-E-R-S, and Rogers was his last-name-o!
This one we have been singing for a while and he just joins in, but doesn't know all the letters to sing by himself yet. Well tonight he wanted to try it, and it started out pretty good, until the last spelling...then it turned into "Rodpis" and I think that's pretty funny.

PS- After more throwing up today we took him to the doc- Rx- getting over the croup, fluid in the lungs, and two ear infections.
So we are doing breathing treatments (AGAIN!) and some antibiotics....great...

Darn it.

Is there any downside to having a good sleeper?

YES!

They throw up all over themselves at night, and don't wake up enough to let you know.

Poor Jaxon, he has the croup, and now, a fever and throwing up. We went in about 9:30 to check that he was sleeping soundly since he had been hacking so hard, and found him covered in throwup. Hair, neck, face, pajamas, pillow, and the worst part- Bumble Bear. There was no way to clean him or his bed with him still in it, so we woke him up and hurried and put him in the tub. He sobbed the whole time dave scrubbed him down and I remade the bed. Bumble for tonight was unsalvagable, and I was not ready to break the news yet.
We got him out of the tub, still sobbing, and I rocked him while Dave got him some Medicine for his fever. He hates medicine and cried ever harder, saying that he would throw up again if he took it. Anyway, after much back and forth, that medicine was not going down. Plan B - we still have a Fever-All suppository in the fridge from the last time he was sick and kept throwing up his medicine. So, before we got it I asked him if he wanted to drink the yucky medicine and eat a few pretzels afterward, or have a little medicine pill in his bottom. (sorry for the graphics...) well, he was about hysterical at the thought and drank his medicine like a champ. After that it was time to break the news about Bumble Bear...and let's just say it didn't go over well. It was about the saddest thing I've ever seen to watch his face crumple to hear he couldn't be comforted by his best buddy in this time of need. When I laid him in bed I handed him Pablo-his other, second favorite nighttime friend (who he also goes to bed holding), and then "Mizzy bear" (yes, they ALL have names, and he also gave them all gender assignments, but that's another post...) to his other hand to take bumble's place, and he fell apart one more time.
Luckily, he is a good sleeper, and SO TIRED! He fell right back asleep, but is still coughing like crazy in there. Any suggestions???

Jaxon's Easter pictures

I know all my posts have been about Jaxon lately, but I have been feeling guilty that I haven't updated his journal blog since before I went to China (January)-YIKES! So, when I get a second, I will copy and paste this update from the family blog to his blog and not feel quite so bad!

So here are a few of my favorites from his Easter shoot. This is probably my favorite shoot of Jaxon ever- not because of what he's wearing (though I love it) or the backdrop (also cute), but because Dave was upstairs and getting Jaxon to laugh and giggle- so this is the REAL Jaxon.

I also included some of my favorite outtakes and silly faces- because that's the Jax I know and love!

My smiling cutie-




Thinking he's clever-
Fake smile-

Another fake smile-


"I'm doing my best to look interested" face

Teasing us because he is actually allergic to eggs-

Not wanting to let go of the giant egg-
And of course, his favorite- making a mess!

SO MANY GIRLS!!!

Poor Jaxon, he's a real ladies man through no fault of his own. Most of his cousins are girls, all of his friends in the ward are girls (except Jack, but his mom just had a baby girl, so they haven't been getting out a whole lot-WE MISS YOU JACK!) Don't get me wrong, Jaxon loves girls. He just has a hard time with the drama, tattling, and emotions that go with it.
Jaxon's to do list on any given day is-

Run.
Jump.
Play.
Get dirty.
Smell like a boy.
Wrestle.
Fall down, preferably with someone else.
Play swords.
Hit and be hit.
Do something mischievous with a sidekick.
Get dirtier.
Have a "fun bath" not a "clean bath".
Go to bed.


Behold-A picture of Jaxon with one of his new best buddies- Sydney. Again, don't get me wrong. Sydney is one if his best friends, and he tells me every other day that when Grandpa gets back from China, he is going to take Jaxon and Sydney to Disneyland! He loves her! But-This picture pretty much tipifies the dichotomy between Jaxon and every
"friend that's a girl" that he has-

He's wearing a t-shirt and exercise pants, it's 9 in the morning, and he's already dirty.
She's beautiful, dressed up, and clean.
He's being goofy, she's being cute.
His hair is not combed.
Not a hair on her head is out of place.
He's holding his prop like a football.
She's holding her egg like an egg should be held!
Calling all rough and tumble, don't mind being dirty, BOYS! Jaxon needs some male-bonding!!

A picture says...

I got my camera out to take some casual shots of Dave and Jaxon playing swords in the backyard tonight, and these pictures pretty much sum up Jaxon to a T at the moment...so if a picture says a 1000 words, this is what these are saying about my little man-

Jaxon is still skinny
Jaxon has a lot of energy...A LOT
Jaxon can be found shirtless about 80% of the time, dispite mom's best efforts
Jaxon loves to be barefoot, and hates wearing his insoles
Jaxon never walks anywhere...
He Runs,



Or Jumps...

He hangs his head when he gets repremanded


Jaxon is still the most handsome little devil you ever saw in your life
and quite the little charmer too...



He loves to make faces...
"Jaxon- make a bug face..."




"Make a pirate face..."


"Make a daddy face.."

"Make a Mommy Face..."


Jaxon L-O-V-E-S to play with his daddy-o


And doesn't think his mom is too shabby either
I love this 3 year old, back-talking, kiss giving, sword fighting, sweet talking kid!

Easter/Spring Mini Sessions are HERE!


Bring your kiddos over for a mini-studio-session for only $35!!

(that is $35 total, not per child!)
I will take their pictures in my studio- all set up for Spring and Easter, and you will receive a CD with 10-15 high resolution, fully edited pictures with full copyright release-- This means all the images belong to you! You are then free to print, enlarge, email, copy etc. as much as you would like with no extra charge from me! I will be doing most of the 15 minute mini-sessions on Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th of March, so email me at nzashley@hotmail.com to schedule a time to capture your darlings at their finest!
(If those dates don’t work for you, email me and we can work something out!)
***Important addition***
If you book a session, and link this post on your blog, you will receive $5 off your session.
ALSO- for every family that books a session from a referral from you, you will receive $5 off your session. That means if 7 people book and mention they found out about it from you- your session is free!!!
(sessions must be booked at time of your session, no refunds will be given!)
(Picture overload ahead!)













*****SHOCKER OF THE CENTURY*****


Jaxon is double jointed!!!

Okay, that is not actually a surprise to anyone that knows Jaxon, has met Jaxon, has seem pictures of Jaxon, has heard of Jaxon, or has heard me talk about Jaxon. It's just that lately he is figuring it out and doing all sorts of cool/weird/gross things. For instance, he can pop his shoulder blades in and out, but only seems to remember he can do it when we are rocking in his rocking chair together...then he just pops them in and out as I sing. Then today Dave said, "Jaxon, show Mom your thumbs!" I thought he had just actually figured out which one was his thumb, because up until now he would just stick up his pointer finger. But he looked at his hand, scrunched his fingers a little, and that little thumb starting jumping all over the place- while he laughed hysterically.


So now what?


Traveling freak show?


Youngest Ever Chinese Gymnast?


This explains his shocking flexibility...Dave refuses to put him in gymnastics, and I mostly do to, but man, he would ROCK!


Any suggestions???


In that case...


Since weird phone calls are about the most interesting thing in my life right now, here's another for you.

My cousin Heather called me yesterday, and I needed to call her back. Since my phone perished in the watery depths, I didn't have her number programmed in, so I went back in my missed calls, and picked the first number I didn't recognize-

Man: Hello?
Me: Hi! Is Heather there?
Man: No...but I sure wish she was...I'm so alone...
(I was a little confused, because he didn't sound a lot like Heather's hubby...)
Me: Umm...is this Tyson, or did I call the wrong number?
Man: It's the wrong number...but I still really wish I had a Heather...

Which begs the question- WHO THE HECK DID I CALL? It was someone who had called my phone earlier in the day, and I don't remember any other messages or phone conversations with someone I didn't know...so Man, who are you?

"Hiya Hoooooooney!"

I just tried to call Walgreens to order a perscription for my mom- and that is how someone answered the phone.

Wooops...wrong number

I'm L-A-M-E

No really, that's it.
No interesting stories.
No (attempted) whitty commentary.
We are just boring at the moment.
Darn it.

Overheard-

(For those of you who hate posts about other people's kids and the "cute" things they say...sorry, it is really the only thing that is interesting in our lives right now-)

"In the name of the 100 acre woods, I capture you!"

"Mom, This is a berry difficult job you gave me!"

"Mom, who were you talking to at the zoo?"
"A monkey"
"Mom, you weren't talking to a monkey, dat's rediculous!"

(sitting at a calm quiet dinner together as a family-)
"Mom! Dad! This is PANDAMONIUM!" (thank you Aunt Nena for this sweet addition to his vocabulary!)

Requesting all Contact information

Well, the good news is that Lauryn saved my hide AGAIN, and I was able to use her old cell phone and get it all up and running for only $15!!! HURRAY!!! Anyway, my old cell phone was too messed up to be able to retrieve any contact info from it, so if I had any of your numbers, could you please email it to me? Nzashley@hotmail.com
Thank you!!!