18-22 Months old

At 18 months old Axel pats the back of his head/ neck when he coughs, he loves to sing and dance, he has a pretty awesome cheese face when we take a picture of him, he repeats what we say, he says aoow when he gets hurt, and likes to stand in front of the wall and pout. He likes to watch the Disney channel and will point to the t.v. and say "sow" when he wants to watch something.

At 19 months he grabs my finger and takes me where he wants to go or what he wants to do/eat. He shrugs his shoulders and puts his hands out and says "where go" when he is looking for someone or something.

At 20 months he likes to look out the window and says "see" to watch the train go by and says bye bye, he says "mmm" when he likes something he is eating or drinking, he tells us come on, he is saying mommy and daddy instead of mama and dada, he loves to wear hats. He likes to take off his sockies and see his toes, he is getting more independent and wants to do things himself and tells us "do" to do it himself. He loves going outside and playing in the rocks and throwing the ball to the dogs. He is learning to play hide and seek and likes to hide in his closet. We celebrated Easter and he did really good gathering up the eggs at the egg hunt. He colored some Easter eggs with Brie and Rae and got a new car and shirt from Nana and Papa.  He was a lot of fun this year.

He turned 22 months today! His little personality is so fun and goofy, we just love to watch him grow. He is getting into cars a little more and likes to push them around the house. He still loves his basketball hoop and we play that everyday. He likes to color and play with his water beads and still loves his blankie. He is staring to go to nursery (now that I'm called in there and released from YW) and is learning to play with the other kids. He loves his cousins and gets excited to see them. He is turning into a papa's boy and loves to be with him.

Love this boy of mine

Lying here with you
Listening to the rain
Smiling just to see the smile upon your face
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more

Looking in your eyes
Seeing all I need
Everything you are is everything in me
These are the moments
I know heaven must exist
These are the moments
I know all I need is this
I've found all I've waited for, yeah
And I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more than this time together
I could not ask for more than this time with you
And every prayer has been answered
Every dream I've had's come true
Yeah, right here in this moment
Is right where I'm meant to be
Here with you here with me

These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
These are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more

I could not ask for more than this time together
I could not ask for more than this time with you
And every prayer has been answered
Every dream I've had's come true
Yeah, right here in this moment
Is right where I'm meant to be
Oh, here with you here with me
No, I could not ask for more
Than this love you gave me
Cause it's all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more

Axel and I were playing in the front room and listening to music and this song came on by Sara Evans. I started listening to the lyrics and they touched me. All I ever wanted to do was get married and be a mom. I prayed and prayed for 4 years to be able to be a mom. I asked Heavenly Father that if I could just get pregnant and experience that one time I would be happy. After Axel was born I prayed that he would be healthy and develop the way he needed to. Every prayer has been answered with all of that. He is healthy and perfect in every way. Being able to be home with him every day is so amazing. I know this is where I am meant to be right now and there is nothing I would rather be doing. I love when I tell him I love him he snuggles up to me or gives me a kiss on the cheek. The love I have for him is beyond words. The words to this song just fit today and I feel so blessed to have a loving husband and an amazing son that I would be lost without.

Holidays

For Thanksgiving we went to my parents house and ate lots of yummy food. That night my mom and I went and stayed at Des and Mike's house to go shopping. At 10 pm Des, I and Mike went out shopping till 1 am. We got a few hours of sleep and mom, Des and I got up at 5:30 am and went shopping again. Shane brought us Axel in the afternoon so he could go to work. He is such a good little shopping buddy.
On Saturday, Shane and I celebrated our 7th anniversary while my parents watched Axel. We went to the last Hunger Games movie and out to eat at Panda Express.

Christmas was so much fun this year with Axel. He loves to tear paper up in little pieces. Shane and I did our Christmas early with Axel on Wednesday night. Shane had got him a little basketball hoop and put a new net on it and got a mini basketball. Axel absolutely loves it.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and the kids got to open a few gifts. The grand kids all got big pillows to open. Axel got a giraffe that he loves to lay on and pat. They also got some new jammies to sleep in. We decorated cookies and ate lots of food and sweets. My parents were nice and let Axel sleep in their room while Shane and I slept downstairs.
Christmas morning we woke up about 8 and got the kids up. We waited for Mike to get there from working the night before to open presents and have breakfast. Axel got a block train, little tablet, clothes and more. He is a spoiled boy, but we sure love him to pieces. 

Later that day we got ready and packed up all our things to get ready to go to Utah to celebrate with Shane's side. We slept at Shane's sister Mandys house with almost everyone there. We played games, had dinner and hung out. Axel did fall down a flight of stairs that scared both he and I.
On Saturday we woke up and had breakfast and got ready. We got to the church around noon and were there until 9 pm. We had appetizers, dip and dinner there. Axel loved to be in the gym with the older kids and play basketball. He kept saying all day, ball ball and would walk right in there.
It was good to be able to spend time with both sides of the family.

16 & 17 Months

At 16 months old Axel is showing more and more of his adorable, spunky personality. We love to watch him grow and change and learn. He is picking up on stuff so fast now. He likes to hold the phone to his ear and says hello (heyo), he likes to close the fridge and doors, he knows where his toes, nose (no), bum bum (grabs his pee pee) and eye. He loves to poke at other peoples eye and nose too. He is becoming quite the little copy cat. He points at everything and says whats that. He does great with following commands like go get me a book to read, come here, bring me a ball. He likes to brush his teeth and knock on doors/windows. When we go bye bye he brings me his shoes (soo) and coat (co). He likes to feed himself with fork/spoon and drink from a cup. He goes to the fridge when he is hungry or thirsty. He loves his blankie and packs it everywhere and he loves to sing. Some of his favorite songs are Old MacDonald (he loves to sing eieio), and once there was a snowman.

At 17 months he is doing a lot of the same things. He is so smart and catches on so fast. He is up to about 25 words now. He has learned cookie (cooocoo) and cracker (caker) and noodle (noonle). He loves to play with a bowl (bow) and spoon and play eat. He is so much fun and is a little tornado! He loves to watch Mickey Mouse and repeats when they say. "oh toodle" and loves to sing and dance to the end song, Hot Dog.

Surgery/Hard news

On October 5 I had a second ultrasound to check on my cycts and found out they had gotten bigger and I had more of them. We decided to go ahead with surgery on Oct 13 to remove the cysts and endometriosis. I had a laparoscopy, D&C, and hysteroscopy. After the surgery my Dr. talked to my husband and told him I had a  baseball size cyst on my left side, which they didn't see in the ultrasound, and a golf ball size one on my right side, that got sent off to see if it was cancerous. After about 2 weeks I felt pretty good and back to normal. It was really hard to not be able to take care of Axel 100%. He is such a mommas boy and it broke my heart when he wanted me or needed me and I couldn't do a lot for him. Thankfully I had my husband, mom and sister to help me out.

On November 2, I had my post-op with my Dr. and got some disappointing news. I was told that my insides were a mess. The Dr. said it looked like someone had poured super glue inside me and everything was stuck together. I had so much endometriosis everywhere to remove and some he couldn't get to, to remove. He said he is worried about my tubes and that if I were to get pregnant my chances of having a tubal pregnancy would be high. Right now the chances of a sperm and egg being able to meet is pretty impossible. So, our next step now is going on Lupron shots to try and get rid of more endometriosis. Lupron shots will put me in a menopausal like phase, so I will have night sweats and hot flashes and a decrease in estrogen. I will probably do these shots for 6 months and then the Dr. wants to do another surgery to "fix" me. He said everything is kind of out of place so we will have to try and get to a place where I might be able to conceive again. Still, the lupron shots and surgery may not help to get pregnant and I can still have a risk of a tubal pregnancy. My only 3 options are birth control, lupron shots or hysterectomy.

I left the Dr. office feeling super sad, emotional and heartbroken. To pretty much hear that the chances of conceiving again are pretty slim to none was really hard to take in and accept. It made me realize again how much of a miracle my little Axel really is. I don't know what else I need to learn from this trial, but I know I have to go through it with faith and hope that all works out.

15 Months/Halloween

Our sweet baby boy is 15 months! The time just keeps passing so fast and our little man is growing and learning so much. He has learned to say no, and says it often, and choo choo when the train passes by our house. He kisses his hand (blows kiss) and gives lots of hugs and kisses, which we absolutely love! He is a full on walker and is trying to run. He loves balls, books, cars and going bye bye.When we get him from his crib he lays his head down on our shoulder and pats our back. He likes to meow like a kitty and growls like a puppy. He now has 4 teeth and has weened himself from his binkie. He has such a fun personality and gets cuter everyday. We love him so much and would be lost without him. He is our perfect, amazing little miracle boy and we thank God for him everyday!

Halloween

This year we actually got to take Axel out trick-or-treating, which was so fun. He was dressed in a little Dracula costume and looked so adorable. We went to the Clarion Inn on Thursday night with my Desirae and the girls and did trick-or-treating, then we went to ISU for their Halloween carnival. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday, Shane and I took Axel to McCammon for a trunk or treat and then went around house to house in Arimo. We may have had more fun then him, but he sure enjoyed his candy.

Summer fun

In April we celebrated Easter by going to some egg hunts in Downey and Arimo on Saturday and dyed eggs that night. Also in April Axel and I went to Bear World with my mom, Des, Mike and their girls. It was fun and kind of cold. They did an Easter egg hunt for the kids and the girls rode on some rides. We drove around the park and looked at the animals and got to see some new baby bear cubs.

In May we went to the Idaho Falls zoo for Braelyn's 3rd birthday. The kids had a good time looking at all the animals and watching a show.

In June we did a family trip to Island Park. My moms friend let us stay in her cute cabin. We rode 4-wheelers, played games, ate good food, went on a hike and looked at beautiful waterfalls fishing and enjoyed each others company. It was a lot of fun.

In July I put together a birthday party for Shane and Axel. Shane turned 30 and Axel turned 1. It was a lot of fun but super windy at Robin park. Shane got teased quite a bit from family. Axel wouldn't really touch his smash cake. We made some baseball cakes for Ax and black cakes for Shane.

In August we went to the Ross park pool for Brielle's 5th birthday.  Axel liked the lazy river, but didn't like being splashed. We went to pizza hut after and sang to Brie.
Shane, Axel and I went to Sun Valley and had a little mini vacation. We stayed in Hailey at a hotel and went swimming one night. We went on a nice bike ride and enjoyed the scenery and looked around. We watched an orchestra practicing and that was pretty cool. On our way home we stopped in Twin Falls and went to an ice cave and a waterfall.