eye issues!

Today as the family was wrestling around, Nate grabbed Jaxton with his arm and as he swung him around, the back of Jaxton's head smacked my head (just above the eye). I immediately cried while I felt my eye swell up and become stiff. The whole left side of my face was very sore and swollen, especially by my eye. Everyone was super concerned and Mac wouldn't leave my side. He insisted on sitting my me, tickling my face, offering to hold the ice pack, rubbing my leg, all the while asking me every minute or so if I was okay. At one point he looked up at me and said, "Mom, just let me know what I can do for you. I'd do anything to help you." I love my sweet Mac. His heart is so big and he holds such a special place in it for his mom.

Jilli had her eyes checked on Friday. The past month or so I've noticed her left eye crossing in and not following her other eye every now and then. I mostly notice it when she's in her highchair or when I look back at her in her carseat. The doctor said that as far as she could tell she couldn't see any problems, but considering the family history of childhood glasses on Nate's side, she wanted to see Jilli again in 3 to 4 months for another check. The morning of the appointment, Nate gave Jillian a blessing while she was sitting in her highchair. Jilli SO did not appreciate having hands on her head and kept wiggling around and trying to look up at Nate like, "What are you doing." Needless to say it was a short blessing, but one that I still feel like will make a difference and brought us some peace of mind. How grateful I am for a husband who holds and honors the priesthood!

I've always thought Mac has had a real knack for math, but I now know that he really does in fact. His teacher sent home a mid-term report stating that he is doing well in all areas, but is really shining in Math. And the other day when I picked him up after school, his substitute for the last half of the day turned to me and said, "McCade is REALLY good at Math." I don't know what exactly it is that he's doing to impress his teachers so much, but whatever he's doing it sure is making us proud!
I have a friend, Deborah who I met at the gym who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She asked me a month or so ago if I would be interested in walking with her and a small group in a Breast Cancer Walk. I jumped at the opportunity to support her and the wonderful cause and was so happy that I did. Deborah's spirits are so high and she is such a shining example of optimism.
And as a side note . . . while we were at the event, they had a booth where you could make a sign to walk with. Deborah asked if I would make one for our group, which I happily agreed to do. While I was whippping one out, a girl who had been watching with another small group of people approached me and asked me if I was a professional artist. Talk about a boost to the ole' self-confidence!
Jilli is now getting teeth #13 and #14 (the one's on the bottom just before her molars). She's had a little bit of a runny nose and her sleeping has been off, but she's still such a pleasant girl!
Mom and dad are coming in a week and a half and we are THRILLED! We are definitely on the countdown.
Connor Kubik (Jaxton's best buddy and now our neighbor) has always seemed to have a special place in his heart for Jilli. His face totally lights up when you sees here. Kristi commented on my blog with this story that I thought was cute. "So the other day we were driving home in our car, Connor said, "Why does Jaxton have a bigger car?" I said, "Well, because they have a mini van, but we're hoping to buy a mini van next spring! Won't that be exciting?" Connor said, "yeah! I want a van just like Jaxton's with a Jilli Billi in it too." Now how am I supposed to deliver that? :)" Too cute!
While I was at my race on Saturday, Nate had to take the kids to Jaxton's soccer game. While they were there apparently Jilli got hit in the forehead with a flying soccer ball. Nate said she was a tough little girl and barely fussed at all, but Mac was very concerned asking, "Do you think Jilli lost her thoughts?" Mac is definitely our worrier, but I love that about him!
Beckam's new favorite toy is "White Fang," (Mac's old wolf/dog that we got from our Jackson Hole trip over three years ago). Mac has loved that dog with all his heart for a very long time and now Beckam is inseparable with it. He takes it to the store, to bed, to church, and always knows where it's at.

Beckam, the Wise Guy!

We are in a preschool carpool with the Kubik's. A couple weeks ago on our way to preschool the boys were having an interesting conversation that went something like:
Connor: I threw up.
Jaxton: You did? Yuck!
Connor: Yeah, yuck.
Jaxton: What if when you threw up you turned into a girl?
(lots of giggles)
Connor: That would be disgusting!
Jaxton: Yeah, sick!
(more laughing)
Connor: And then we turned into bugs.
Jaxton: Gross!
(more laughter)
And then Beckam, who up to this point had participated in the conversation with only his giggles piped up and said,
Beckam: 'Cause then you'd be a LADYBUG!

Beckam totally cracked me up. He's so hilarious, but he's very careful and thoughtful about his jokes. Love that kid!

We are in a preschool carpool with the Kubik's. A couple weeks ago on our way to preschool the boys were having an interesting conversation that went something like:
Connor: I threw up.
Jaxton: You did? Yuck!
Connor: Yeah, yuck.
Jaxton: What if when you threw up you turned into a girl?
(lots of giggles)
Connor: That would be disgusting!
Jaxton: Yeah, sick!
(more laughing)
Connor: And then we turned into bugs.
Jaxton: Gross!
(more laughter)
And then Beckam, who up to this point had participated in the conversation with only his giggles piped up and said,
Beckam: 'Cause then you'd be a LADYBUG!

Beckam totally cracked me up. He's so hilarious, but he's very careful and thoughtful about his jokes. Love that kid!

The other morning during breakfast Jaxton started doing line-up introductions for our family (like at the beginning of a ballgame). He was just making them up as he went, but I thought they were hysterical and totally creative.
Jilli loves to give kisses and loves to play . . . it's JILLI!
Beckam loves treats and loves to be tickled . . . it's BECKAM!
Jaxton loves to play soldiers and loves T.V. . . . it's JAXTON!
Mac loves to play soldiers and watch T.V. . . . it's MAC!
Mom loves to give kisses and loves to cook . . . it's MOM!
And this was probably my favorite . . .
Dad loves to watch football and loves to . . . (deep concentration) sit down! . . . it's DAD!
I couldn't help but laugh and I had to call Nate to tell him, which he didn't find as much humor in it as I did. Not long after, Jaxton came up with another one for Nate which wasn't quite as funny, but suited him better.
Dad loves to watch football and loves to wrestle . . . it's DAD!

Jilli continues to stand up more and more and is gaining confidence with every day. She also loves to shake her head back and forth and will wave, but only to her favorite people. Today I looked at a picture that we had just taken of her, and for a split second I saw a 12 year old instead of my baby. I'm so afraid that all my babies are going to grow up too fast and it makes me sad to think about.

Mac continues to be super wonderful, but very DRAMA! Everything is either fun, fun, fun or something to get upset over. His reading is getting so good and he seems to be somewhat of a math whiz. We'll be in the grocery store and he'll grab a box of cookies and without even thinking about it he'll say something like, "This bag has 12 in it, so everyone in our family could get 2 each." Both Mac and Jaxton are getting really good at checkers. Now when I play checkers with Mac, I have to play my very best or I'll get whooped!

Beckam is sweet Beck. He got to go overnight camping for the first time on Friday for our ward campout, and he seemed to enjoy every bit of it. Although he didn't complain through the night, he must not have got a whole lot of sleep because he came home and fell asleep at 3:00pm and didn't wake up until the next morning at 7:00am. What a trouper!

Cuteness!

You can really understand basically everything Beckam says now days. Whenever he makes something plural, he adds an "es" to the end, so "hands" sounds like "handez" and "ball" turns into "ballez." It's totally cute and makes me smile every time.

Jilli is standing on her own now. She also loves to shake her head back and forth, click her tongue, and stack cups or blocks. She's quite the little girl!

We just returned from our 5 week stay in Utah. We had such a great time and the boys will definitely miss their cousins. Both Mac and Jaxton cried when we told the cousins "goodbye" and kept asking why we couldn't stay. Myles and Hailey got married the last day that we were in Utah and it was a beautiful day. Their sealer was Joseph F. McConkie and it was very cool to here everything insightful that he had to say. Their reception was held that night in Hailey's backyard, which included a pool, waterfall, playground, hot tub, volleyball court, etc. We had been telling the boys all night to stay away from the waterfall/pond and they had actually done well to listen. We made it all the way to Myles and Hailey's send off when Jaxton appeared completely wet from the waist down, with sand and grass caked on him. Come to find out he had got in the pond and then to dry himself off he had put sand and grass all over him. After he told me the story he was quiet for a minute and then he said, "What the crap was I thinking?" The kid is hysterical! Mac and Jaxton took swim lessons at the SV pool (talk about childhood memories) while we were there in Utah. On the last day each of their classes got the opportunity to jump off the diving board if they wanted to. Both Mac and Jaxton were up to the challenge and Jaxton got up and did it with no problems. Mac on the other hand, tiptoed his way up, looked down at his teacher, and then as he jumped yelled out, "I'M GONNA DIE!" But he came out of the water with a big smile on his face and wanted to do it all over again. Jilli started crawling toward the end of her 10th month and she just pulled herself up to a standing position for the first time today. She is growing up so fast and it's just breaking my heart. My favorite things are her snort face that she thinks is hysterical and her dancing. She will dance to any music, slow or fast, by bobbing her head and even doing a little shoulder shimmy. Our families fell in love with her and she quickly found a way into each of their hearts. Beckam had everyone at home thinking he was the most sweet, layed back child ever, which he is most of the time, but he definitley has a super sassy side to him as well. A while back I had got after him because I thought he had broke our friend's sprinkler, only to find out that she had turned the water off. I then turned to Beckam and said, "Sorry, Beckam. I thought you had broke it," to which he replied (with arms folded and eyebrows furrowed), "That NOT otay!" Jaxton's prayers lately have been pretty hard to keep a straight face during. Tonight he included in his prayer, "Bless that Heavenly Father will have a safe day in heaven, bless that Jesus will come down and visit me, and bless that I won't say 'What the heck.'"