The Love of my Life

I know it's a few days late, but Happy Birthday! I hope you had a great day :) You are my best friend and I only want you to be happy.You are my inspiration when I'm feeling bored. You are my support when I am feeling down and bummy. You are my always... I love you! <3

Family Picture Day

A little over a month ago we finally got our pictures taken as a family (by a professional). I love them! I spent waaaaaay too much money buying prints! I couldn't decide on which ones I loved the most and would be happy looking at everyday. So I did what anyone would do and printed almost all of them. In big sizes. I can't help it. I love my family, and I love looking at how happy we are and look in the pictures. How much fun we had doing a Superhero themed photo shoot :) Kaci and Kira's idea for that part. After I printed and layed out the prints, Kaci likes to describe them as "Normal family by day, Superheros by night." 

The lady who took our pictures is from Viroqua, and her name is Blair. Her company name is Loox Productions.  She's super friendly and easy to work with. Super happy! :)

It's only Wednesday...

And I miss this face already! Summer has officially started. Kira was home last week. We pretty much stayed home and hung out. We did venture out to Grandma and Grandpa Stussy. I had a photo idea in mind to take for a Father's Day present:

I'm not computer savvy, but this is a rough idea of how it turned out. The finished product is cleaned up a little, cropped and centered, and turned into black and white. I think it turned out great. The best part is that Dad loved it, so I know we did good ;) It was a lot of fun, but apparently the grass is itchy. lol. And the sun was super bright, hence the squinty eyes and Jax refusing to look at me. ha! Oh well, it's cute and homemade perfection! :)

Last day as a Kid-Ager!

Today is the last day of school for the kiddos. Kaci's last day as a 6th grader! Where in the world did the time go!? "Back in my day" (haha) going into 7th grade meant middle school. Going to school in Boscobel, 7th grade means high school I guess. Eh, pretty sure I will still and always think of it as middle school. I got some pictures on my phone the other day before we went to Kaci's 6th grade recognition. I point out "on my phone" because what I used to think of as my nice and fancy camera has turned its back on me. Can anyone tell I'm bitter about this? I love that thing! I can't get it to work for nothing! Anyway...look how grown up she looks! We measured her a few days ago and I believe she is only two inches behind me!

 

Our Days...

Look a lot like this! Lots of playing mixed in with Mama trying to study! :)

Then there's this. Sleepy monkey.

Your schedule is (knock on wood) usually getting up around 6 or 7 and staying up for two hours and then napping. It's a pretty sure thing that after you have been up for two hours you need a nap! Naps range anywhere from 3 hours to 30 minutes. Some days I think you are so much like me and the girls, worried you will miss something so sleep isn't even an option! 

Always such a happy baby so far! Always smiling! Though lately I think he knows what No means. LOL. When he is told no, and has something taken away that he shouldn't have, he gets mad and screams. Luckily it doesn't last too long.

Hopefully I will have more pictures of kaci and kira soon. It's easy to remember to take his picture often because we are home during the day together. When the girls get home from school things get crazy and it seems like chaos breaks out! Clean your room! Eat your dinner! Do your homework! Mom, can I do this? Mom, can I do that? HaHa. There's always something going on! I don't mind, I wouldn't ever change it! :)

Getting Cheeky

I love these cheeks!  We are having so much fun watching this little man grow! He is six months old, and the time is flying by much too fast! At his 6 month check up he weighed in at 23 pounds, 4 ounces, and is 28 inches long. Perfect! :) He is sitting up on his own for the most part. I think he's a little top heavy and can't handle it sometimes so he topples over. He's tough and it usually doesn't bother him! Jax has also (finally) mastered rolling over and over. Yay! It is so fun watching him roll from one end of the living room to the other, and he has so much fun doing it! Silly little bug only rolls to the right though. Once he gets to the wall or whatever he runs into, he is stuck there. He will not roll the other way, he lays there and keeps trying and starts to cry because he can't keep going or he has bumped his head too many times trying! No teeth yet, but I'm ok with that. I love that little toothless grin! When those teeth start popping up I'm worried it will remind me too much of how time is just flying by! I really love my family! We have the best time together! <3

The Big Day

The pinning ceremony for nurses was nice. It was short and sweet. I'm glad that I went. I was nervous, I'm definitely the type to fall over my own feet. I thought for sure I would trip going up the stairs! Luckily that was not the case. All went well, even Jax was good through the whole event! I am so happy to have a break from school, even though I have to take a summer class. Half way there! It seems like the first half took forever and that I was studying all the time! The hard work paid off because I did get all As, but I feel like I still have a ton left to do. Deep breaths! It's break time, I'm going to try and not think about it for awhile. 

Baby, it's bright outside! 

I did it!! (almost)

Tomorrow is the pinning ceremony for LPNs and RNs, and I will be there!! I am beyond excited. I did it!! I passed all the hardest parts of the first year nursing program. Before I can get my license to be nurse I have one last general class to take, Advanced A&P. I just never had time to take it before. I'm taking it online this summer. Its done the first week in August, so by the end of August I should be able to take my boards and get my license!! It was a tough two years of stress, studying and juggling, but I did it! I still kind of am in shock that I got this far. But I have a great support system! Without my family I wouldn't have gotten this far at all. Thank you so much! Even with two summer classes, I hope I have a little time to relax. Sounds like we have a busy summer planned! :)

Besides talking about school...I just want to say, I have the cutest family! <3

 We love walking across the street to play at the park. Jax has discovered that he loves to swing!

It's oh so quiet...

I never get a chance to blog anymore. School seriously takes up so much time! And trying to spend time with my little family, I'm exhausted and overwhelmed! I'm so excited, only three more weeks left! See, this is how fun school work is for us.

Jax fell asleep while I was doing homework on the computer.

It's oh so quiet

2 month check up.

18/365  Today Jax had his 2 month check up. Growing like a weed and pretty healthy. The scale says 15 pounds, 13 ounces. He scored above the charts at 105%.  What a cute little chunker. I was reading recently about baby weight to see if he was ahead of schedule. Kind of looks that way. By the first birthday, the birth weight should triple. He should weigh 24 pounds by then. I think we might surpass that. The doctor said not to worry though, it should melt off when he starts crawling and walking. After the assessment came the yucky shots. Oh I hate seeing their happy faces crumble when the needles go in. For now he's sleeping it off.

Before the doctor...

My happy baby

Afterwards...

Sleeping it off

Wide Awake

  17/365  After catching up on all that sleep someone decided he didn't need any naps today. He pushed 11 hours today with little cap naps here and there. Let me tell you...he was super overtired and cranky. This is what I do when he is restless. We play with the webcam and the fun effects it has. It keeps him pretty entertained for a little while. If only homework were this fun... :)

Sleepy

16/365  Still not feeling the best. I think he's trying to sleep it off. We gave him liquid Tylenol which he took surprisingly well. Can't wait for him to feel better!

 Later in the afternoon he perked up a little bit. Kaci likes to help when she can. Jax always lights up when he hears Kaci or Kira's voice :)

School

15/365...Sorry, no pictures today. I blame it on it being the first day back to school for me. For now I have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:30 until 1:20. Starting at the end of February I have clinicals on Tuesdays. Totally feeling nervous, scared, anxious. If I don't post pictures very often, that is probably why. School will be consuming most of time for the next few months, and then family on top.  

Also found out my little guy was getting sick too. Kyle said he slept almost the whole time I was at school. He even tried changing him to try and wake him but it didn't really work. When I got back from school he seemed pretty warm. He had a temperature of 100.2. I felt bad for him and was worried. He just wasn't acting himself and wouldn't eat. Kaci and I took him to Urgent Care. His temp there was 101.2. The nurse weighed him. The scale said 7.11 kilograms. Do you know that that means 15.6 pounds!? And wouldn't you know that as soon as the doctor walked in he was just fine? Such a stinker, smiling and giggling at her. Guess I'm glad he's feeling a little better!

Sunday Funday...

14/365  Another quiet day around here. We discovered that Jax likes playing in his playpen for now. He will lay there, giggling and smiling. It's helpful to lay him in there sometimes when I need to get things done. But usually when I need to get things done is the time he doesn't feel like staying in there!  

Kaci likes to make silly faces for him :)

Kira off in her own world playing legos :)

Dinner time came around. Guess who wanted to help? Of course Jax wants to help me cook! :)  I can hardly ever get this little man to sit in his swing anymore. Most babies love swings, not him. Tonight was one of the rare nights he sat in it. It probably looks silly that my phone is in his lap, but we were actually listening to Pandora on it. Little man loves music! I say it's because I would play music on my phone and hold it on my tummy when I was pregnant. He is singing and "dancing" in this picture. 

 

Sisters

13/365  One of the rare days where they get along great and want to sit next to each other! These kinds of days make me so happy! Earlier in the day the girls went shopping in Madison with Grandma Cheryl and Aunt Krista. Sounds like they had a lot of fun. Later in the evening, Kira had a sleep over with Trinity and Keanlee. Kaci went to spend the night at her friend Kaitlyn's. It ended up being a quiet night for me! 

Guess who's getting big?? This guy, 2 months old already!

 

Christmas Party

12/365  I know, it's past Christmas time. It turned out to be the only day where we would all be able to get together at the same time. Here are some photos of the kids waiting to go.Jax is just as impatient as the rest of us. lol. Kira did a great job of trying to entertain him. She loves singing to him. He actually does calm down for a bit.

Ants in the pants?