Yippy! Jason is Three!

Jason turned 3 on Sunday and we are so in love with our little boy!



We spent most of the day at home, but they did sing Jason happy birthday at church.  Jason loved all the trains and tracks and all the gifts he recieved.  We took him out to dinner at the resturant of his choice, McDonald's. 


Playing with Daddy




Playing trains with sister



Happy Birthday big boy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So the other day I saw this on Pinterest:

Adorable, right?  And I thought I've got a cute boy and a sweet girl, I could totally do this!


Testing the light, not too bad, but maybe we need an outfit change.






Ya right, Mom!


This is the best I got, but they sure are cute!

Polysyndactyly

Jason's hands

Both Jason and Elizabeth have it.  It means that they have joined fingers and on top of that they have extra ones. We knew even before Jason was born that all of our children have a 50% chance of having it.  We could even see on Jason's ultrasound that some of his fingers were going to be joined.  You should have seen the look on the nurses faces when they noticed when he was born and dreaded telling me.


Elizabeth's hands
On Thursday we went to Dallas to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.  There they have a couple of pediatric orthopedic surgeons that have seen this congenital issues like this.  We drove up and saw a huge playground in front of the hospital and knew we had the right place.  Everyone there was so helpful finding the right place to check in and what we needed to do.  Right off the bat they offered Jason and Elizabeth a new toy each.  The waiting area was like one big playground and Jason had an excellent time waiting and playing with the other kids there.  We met two families that noticed the kids hands and asked who our doctor was.  When we told them it was our first time here they assure us here the staff was excellent. 



We got into the exam room and chatted with the doctor who promptly sent us down to get x-rays.  Jason HATED this part.  Jeff had to hold him down to get any good pictures, but they finally did get some.  When that was finished we went back in with the doctor who was great about looking at Jason's hands.  He had some toys for Jason to play with so he could watch how Jason manipulated his fingers.  Then while I was entertaining the kids Jeff discussed the game plan with the doctor.  We are going to do a surgery to separate the fingers on the right hand on February 29th.  I can't believe it will be so soon!  I'm very anxious about the surgery and the recovery afterwards.  Every mother hates her child to be in pain and I feel so bad that we are causing him this pain. 


Left hand
I feel so bad for him because I know Jason can sense something is going on.  He keeps saying Dallas, hands, all done.  We have to remind him that yes we are all done for right now, but after we go and see the rodeo with Grandma and Grandpa we are going back to see the doctors again.  We haven't said anything to him about what will be happening at that next visit and I am not sure how much to say with out worrying him.  So here we sit waiting for the 29th and hoping it is worse than we are imagining.


Right hand

Ten Months

Yesterday Elizabeth turned 10 months old and celebrated with her very first pony tail.  There isn't much hair to put up yet, but there is one long piece that always tries to fall into her face.  It is funny to look at the stickers I use to mark her monthly birthdays.  The 1, 2, and 3 month ones are pretty pristine and undamaged, but as the months progress and Elizabeth got more mobil the stickers and her clothes got more wear.  The 10 month photo shoot was quite a battle.  It was a beautiful day outside so I decided to take the kids outside to do the photos.  I imagined that Jason would blow bubbles (his latest love) and I would capture a few beautiful pictures of Elizabeth and we would all have a great afternoon.  You know that isn't the way it worked.  Elizabeth was way more interested in trying to get the bubble solution than being a model and while I was trying to prevent that Jason decided to go play in some sand.  Except it wasn't just sand it was an ant hill...a red ant hill.  The poor boy has bites all over one hand and a couple on his body.  Now he goes around the house saying "ants...ouchy"

Finally a good one!

sweet siblings

I'm sorry I have to keep this short, but there is an attack baby who wants to nibble on my laptop.  Recently I have had a few friends who have shared concerns about having two babies close together.  Although ours aren't as close as others (Karen, you're my hero) 25 months between the two can make life a battle at times.  I just had to share this supper cute story from this morning.

I was cleaning the kitchen, which desperately needed it.  I had Elizabeth in with me, but Jason was playing trains in his room.  He came in and the next thing I know I find him crawling around the island.  He is playing chase and entertaining his sister.  They are both giggling away and I wish I had gotten a video.  He can be so sweet to her sometimes and I love to see them hug on each other.  Also Jason has started this habit of when Elizabeth wakes up and cries out he wants to be the first one in her room to rescue her. 

I knew when we had a second child that Jason would teach her things, but I had no clue that she would be teaching him things.  Elizabeth, like most babies, likes to put everything into her mouth.  Jason never really got into this so I am treading through uncharted territory.  I should say that he never got into it until he saw Elizabeth doing it.  I have wondered if him exploring the world with his mouth lead to his recent speech development.  Now I just hope he will copy sister's love of veggies!

"hehe ya right Mommy!"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope you all had a very blessed Christmas and rang in the New Year in celebration!  We have returned home from San Antonio, found homes for most of our new stuff, and taken down our Christmas decorations.  For Jason, this was the year of the train.  He got tons of Thomas the Train stuff and loves it all!  I got a new lens for my camera and a Cricut Imagine that both prints and cuts for scrapbooking, among other wonderful things.  Jeff is ready to be decked out as a true Texas Cowboy and Elizabeth got tons of girly clothes.

We did experiance our own little Christmas miracle.  Jason started talking to us.  After saying tortilla he figured out how excited his parents were that he was speaking.  He has said so many things I can't even count them.  Lots of more animal sounds, yes and no reliably, choo choo train, two,and he repeats any word he chooses.  I will have to be sure to get a video of him when he is in a chatty mood.  True to two year old fashion when you ask him to say something he will give you a sweet little "no."  He also has his own little way of saying "Elizabeth" and "Christmas Eve", which he insisted on saying from Christmas Eve all the way through New Years Day.  We are so happy he is making leaps and bounds towards speaking!

Togetherness

As a brief side note, we are in the single digits on our Christmas countdown!  I can't believe it is so close!  It took me a little while to get into the spirit this year, but now that the cookies are baked and packaged and the presents are all wrapped up I am starting to get pretty excited.  Speaking of Christmas here is my handsome boy in his suit:


So since Elizabeth has become more mobile she gets to go where she wants and more often than not it is wherever her big brother is.  It has been such a joy to see them play together.  There are many battles for toys.  She wants his, he wants hers, but there is the rare moment when you get to hear them giggling together.

Chasing each other while showing off a train Christmas card

Cuddling with Mommy after/during naptime

The train is always a huge battle, but this particular day Jason was willing to share.

Making a gingerbread house together.  Jason ate half of the candy, but I think everyone had fun.