Jaxon is 1!!

On Sunday our little baby boy turned 1!!! We had beautiful weather - perfect for our pool party at the Loberts. We had such a fun party - Jaxon had a 2 hour nap right before the party started so he was in a fantastic mood. He loves being amidst chaos so he had a great time. I think Dan & I were having as much (or maybe even more) fun as Jaxon was :) I am constantly amazed at how much fun the simplest things can be when it's your kid.

Jaxon got incredibly spoiled with love & gifts from the special people in his life here. He'll get more of that next week as we make the trek to see our family and have another party there!

Thank you Grace & Carol for taking such wonderful pictures! To see more pictures, click here to see my album on Facebook (you don't need FB to look at them).







enjoying his FIRST piece of cake!










blowing kisses! (he does that now when you say "I love you" or "bye bye")

happy birthday Mya

August 16th, 2007 our sweet baby girl arrived. She was 8lbs, 5oz of pure cuteness. The fact that she was a girl surprised us both - we were SURE we were having a boy. :)

We never dreamed we would only get to hold the baby we instantly loved and adored for a short 30 hours. To read the rest of Mya's story, click here.

We still miss our sweet Mya...most days it feels very unrealistic that Mya was taken from us and once and a while it feels painfully real. God has blessed us with His grace & healing, and has given us a new little miracle in our 2nd child, Jaxon (who already knows lots about his big sister!).

If Mya were alive today, we would definitely be partying....there would probably be a lot of pink involved...a pretty cake in some kind of neat shape with lots of icing....dolls...cute hair clips....all that fun girl stuff. But I guess none of that can beat the party she's having in Heaven. I'm so thankful we have the hope that we DO get to see her again someday! Thank you Jesus.





taking in everything about her!


daddy lovin' on his girl










cuddling with Jesus
Our friend Bethany Davidson drew this for us...beautiful.

baby cookies

I found this recipe for homemade baby cookies on a website and thought I'd share it...Jaxon loves them! I don't feel quite as guilty giving him a cookie knowing that they're healthy. There's no sugar or butter in them so I think they're pretty good. Enjoy!

Oats & 'Naner Drops
1 c quick oats
1 c ground oats (grind oats and make a coarse oat flour)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t cinnamon or ginger or cardamom (we'd try it with all 4 spices.)
1/4 t nutmeg
1 t baking powder
1 c (~2) overripe bananas, mashed
1 t vanilla extract
3 T oil of choice (I used Olive Oil)

Mix dry, mix wet, add wet to dry. Drop by the spoonful onto parchment paper or greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 min at 350.

And I had to throw this picture in here too....it's one of my new favorites.

"teethifier"

A couple weeks ago I found this interesting looking teether. It's supposed to be able to reach their molars so I thought I'd give it a try. Jax seems to like it so far! It's called the "teethifier". I bought mine at Once Upon a Child if you're interested in buying one.

a great holiday

It actually happened! Since we left NBC we talked about how in the future we would have to meet up for holidays with our good friends Lindsay & Amanda and Kyle & Kassy - since we are now so far from them (they live in Alberta & Saskatchewan!)...and you know how it goes - you have big ideas and dreams but realistically...it usually never happens. Well this summer we actually did it! We planned a vacation together at a half-way point (Falcon Lake, MB) and rented a cottage together last week.

It was such a great time for all of us. The guys are all in ministry positions so it was a really good chance for them to air out their ideas, ideals, dreams, visions, frustrations, etc. to each other and of course play some Playstation and drink coffee. And us girls enjoyed relaxing together and chatting about life and kids and God and a bunch of other random things.

We're so thankful that God has given us such amazing friends and we miss them so much already!


To see more pictures of our time, you can see my Facebook album.

Jax playing with Liam & Libby. He LOVED having other kids to play with.


the guys


the girls!

it's been a while!

Today I realized it's been a while since I've posted anything!

We have been thoroughly enjoying our summer. It is by far our favorite season. How come it's the shortest one? :)

Here are some highlights of the last month:



We had a heat wave that lasted a couple days so Jax was happy to spend time cooling off in his little pool. He seemed more interested in the grass though :)


Dan was away for my birthday so my parents came for a quick visit!


Canada Day party!






We were blessed to be able to spend a few days at our friends' camp with my sister and her family. We spent LOTS of time in the hammock. Jaxon even enjoyed sitting still and rocking back and forth in it.


We woke up one morning and the lake was as smooth as glass. So incredible.




Soaking up some sun on the dock!


Karen, Steve, and the boys!

homemade chemical-free cleaning recipes

Last week my mom sent me an email with these recipes for homemade cleaning products. I thought they looked interesting. I'm making up a batch of the de-gunker today.

ALL DUTY DE-GUNKER

In a spray bottle, combine 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. borax, 1/2 tsp. liquid dish soap and 2 cups hot water for chemical free clean! Make sure you label the bottle. I put the ingred. on it and they suggest you put the purpose of it too, but for this stuff it is self explanitory.

SLICK-FREE FURNITURE POLISH

Mix together 1/4 cup vinegar and a few drops of olive oil for a homemade polish that gets furniture gleaming.

BREATHE-EASY OVEN CLEANER

Combine 1/4 cup baking soda, 2tbsp salt and enough hot water to make a paste. Rub the paste inside the oven, keeping of wires and heating elements; let sit for 5 minutes, then wipe to reveal a shining oven.

I used this in a ladies oven and it did a good job, but didn't get everything off. Some of the black marks wouldn't come off. But she was very happy with the results. It is sort of hard to make the paste stay on the sides, but you can figure it out.

NO SCRUB TOILET SPARKLER

Sprinkle 1/2 cup baking soda into the bowl, then pour in 1 cup vinegar. When the fizzing stops, just swirl around with a toilet brush to leave the bowl shiny.

pneumonia and visit from grandma & grandpa

What a weekend we had! We were looking forward to a nice visit with Dan's parents - they came on Friday and stayed until Monday. But on Friday night Jaxon had a terrible night followed by a terrible day on Saturday. He was feverish, had a hard time breathing, and was very sleepy all day, along with all the regular cold symptoms. Because of the breathing, I was worried that it could be pneumonia.

We ended up taking him in to the hospital on Saturday afternoon. That doctor said he thought it was bronchilitis, but told us that if the breathing got any worse to come back in. They did a Ventalin treatment there (I've never seen Jaxon cry so hard in my life!). Saturday night was even worse than Friday night. He was waking up every 15ish minutes so I ended up sleeping with him on the couch. I noticed that his breathing was getting even worse so at 4:30am Dan's mom & I went back to the hospital. They decided to do a chest x-ray. I hope none of you ever have to experience your babies having one of these! Thankfully it was quick, because my poor baby was panicking and screaming like you wouldn't believe.

This is a picture of what the contraption looks like that they strapped Jaxon into for the x-ray (that's not Jaxon in the picture....I found it online):



The x-ray showed that it was indeed pneumonia....so they sent us home with some ventalin and an aero chamber and some antibiotics.


He hates getting his ventalin treatments too but they really help. We're trying to get him to make friends with his aero chamber (you can tell he just had a treatment here by the redness of his eyes! :)


Our sad little sicky boy :(


Having a bottle with Grandma


Trying to cool him down in the sink!


By the time Grandma & Grandpa left he was feeling much better. He's still not 100% but he's doing way better than he was on the weekend!!

food combining

Have any of you heard of food combining? I first read about it a few years ago, and have tucked away tidbits of it in my mind over the years, but just recently started being interested in learning more about it. To me it makes sense, explained as it is below. It's actually quite interesting.

I don't know that I would be willing to switch my diet to obey the proper food combining 100% (you know...I can't give up eggs & toast, sandwiches, dessert, etc.........), but I do try to eat fruit on it's own when I can.

Here's an article that I found online that I felt explained it well.

Nine Rules for Proper Food Combining

By Dr. Herbert M. Shelton
Reprinted from Dr. Shelton's Hygienic Review

There are sound physiological reasons for eating foods in compatible combinations. In other words, some foods, if mixed in the digestive system, will cause distress!

The principles of food combining are dictated by digestive chemistry. Different foods are digested differently...

• Starchy foods require an alkaline digestive medium which is supplied initially in the mouth by the enzyme ptyalin;
  
  
• Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion- hydrochloric acid.

As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and bases (alkalis) neutralize each other. If you eat a starch with a protein, digestion is impaired or completely arrested!

The undigested food mass can cause various kinds of digestive disorders. Undigested food becomes soil for bacteria which ferment and decompose it. Its by products are poisonous, one of which, alcohol, is a narcotic that destroys or inhibits nerve function.

It plays havoc with nerves of the digestive tract, suspending their vital action such that constipation may well be a result! As set forth in Dr. Herbert Shelton's FOOD COMBINING MADE EASY these are the salient rules for proper food combining.

The Nine Basic Rules of Proper Food Combining:

1. Eat acids and starches at separate meals. Acids neutralize the alkaline medium required for starch digestion and the result is fermentation and indigestion.

2. Eat protein foods and carbohydrate foods at separate meals. Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion.

3. Eat but one kind of protein food at a meal.

4. Eat proteins and acid foods at separate meals. The acids of acid foods inhibit the secretion of the digestive acids required for protein digestion. Undigested protein putrefies in bacterial decomposition and produces some potent poisons.

5. Eat fats and proteins at separate meals. Some foods, especially nuts, are over 50% fat and require hours for digestion.

6. Eat sugars (fruits) and proteins at separate meals.

7. Eat sugars (fruits) and starchy foods at separate meals. Fruits undergo no digestion in the stomach and are held up if eaten with foods that require digestion in the stomach.

8. Eat melons alone. They combine with almost no other food.

9. Desert the desserts. Eaten on top of meals they lie heavy on the stomach, requiring no digestion there, and ferment. Bacteria turn them into alcohols and vinegars and acetic acids.

Here's a handy chart I found here that helps us understand what goes together and what doesn't

• All foods in touching boxes combine well. Foods in boxes not touching do not combine well.

first bike ride & chicago deep dish pizza

Last weekend (the one before this past weekend) was such nice weather so I was very eager to get out on our bikes...and try out Jaxon's bike seat for the first time. We were a little nervous about the whole helmet thing...it's almost impossible to find any helmets for kids under the age of 3. But thankfully my sister Karen had a helmet from Sam that she gave us. It fits Jaxon perfectly. We thought he might hate it and try to take it off but he really doesn't mind it.



He LOVED our bike ride. We were gone for about an hour (Dan came too!) and even braved the Pine street hill (yikes!). For the first little bit we didn't hear a peep out of Jaxon and then he started singing and talking. We've been out a couple times since and he is very content to get his helmet on cause he knows what that means! I love biking.



Once & a while Dan will get inspired and decide to create something in the kitchen. He spent the week before in Chicago (for the Moody Pastor's Conference!) and got a taste of the REAL Chicago-Double-Crust-Deep-Dish-Pizza. He came home and decided to try and make it for me and viola! Here it is. He did an amazing job. I must say, I was a little skeptical about the "double crust" idea. I thought for sure it would be too doughy....but it was DELICIOUS. Way to go, honey.


oh yeah.


our new fun thing to do. Jaxon loves being chased down the hall on his daddy's shoulders.