Diaper Free Zone!

Our home is now a diaper free zone. And it really has been since July. Abe was ready and we went with it. It was pretty painless and effortless on my part. The boy did amazing! Because of my incident (I've yet to go into here, but I will) we didn't get to do our special trip to Build-A-Bear until late August. But Abe and I eventually had our date, just as I did with the other two boys (Holden's is documented here and Paxton's here).

 Headed in. He was underwhelmed by the whole experience.

 My puppy loving boy chose an actual teddy bear.

 Bathing and brushing it's hair.

 Then it was no surprise at all that he dressed his bear as a firefighter. He has been completely obsessed with both fire trucks and firemen for quite some time.

We ended our evening with a scoop of vanilla icecream. I'm so proud of this little guy who caught on so quickly to potty training. He continues to grow up right before my very eyes.

Pax's Celebration

In lieu of a party, Pax had some time with a neighbor friend to celebrate his birthday. We picked up Andrew on Friday morning. Conveniently for us, this friend goes to a nearby University model school and is home on Fridays! And we headed out for bowling and a pancake lunch at IHOP. That's what the birthday boy wanted and so that is what he got. I was not feeling 100% and didn't take very many pictures, but here are the ones I did take.

 Andrew and Pax

 The whole crew of boys

 This guy would have bowled all day. The other three, not so much. But Pax is just so easy going and has a great attention span for activities. Plus he really loves bowling.

Abe's first try at bowling.

Later that afternoon the rest of Pax's birthday gifts had arrived and were waiting for us on our porch. He loves his special book nook!

Another birthday celebration in the books! I love celebrating with my boys.

Pax's 6th Birthday!

I was not feeling great on Pax's birthday but he didn't seem to mind. And I don't think he even remembers my condition two months later. At one point a week earlier he said to me, "I have a feeling your arm is still going to be broken on my birthday". So I started getting worried this his 6th birthday was just going to be the worst. Yes, I was a little dramatic about the whole deal. My sweet husband reminded me that if our children can't roll with these types of punches (birthday or not) then we've got much bigger issues in our family. True. So I didn't feel good. But we kept it low key and I faked it. His two big wishes on his special day was donuts and board games. Easy. Done deal.

Because Pax's birthday fell on a Wednesday and we have church activities on that night, we opted to take him out to dinner the night before on Tuesday. Chili's is still one of his faves. It's the same place he chose last year.

The waiters sang to him which he really, really wanted and enjoyed. In fact at one point he almost cried during dinner because he thought that Jeremy or I was not going to let the waitstaff know it was his birthday. Jeremy had already told them in secret so Pax could be surprised. They even brought him some ice cream.

Birthday tradition to open a gift from the brothers first thing. Holden and Pax had been talking about this robot boxing game from our church. So Holden picked this one out for Pax and he was so excited as soon as he saw the box.

 Breakfast of Champions! I love this picture.

And then we let the games begin...

 
I played a few rounds of Sorry. One of my favorites.

 

We ate cake all week because that's what you do on your birthday week, right?

 White cake with buttercream icing is his favorite....just like his mama. Unless you offer me carrot cake. Or lemon. :)

Wednesday night after we returned home from our church activities, he opened the rest of his gifts from us.

A new CD player for his room along with some Chris Tomlin and Toby Mac CDs.

A lamp and some new chapter books to go in the book nook. We put together a little book nook in his room as part of his birthday gifts. He loves to sit and read so now he has a special place to do just that.

Legos! He is our lego boy and he loves to sit and build.

And a plasma car. He had been wanting one of these for a while after riding his cousins.

It was a good day of celebrating our boy! And I know that he loved every minute!

Paxton is 6!

Well, by now I feel like this guy's birthday was ages ago. It's been nearly 2 months but because of my incident, blogging took a major backseat. So I'm attempting to start my catch up over here. Here is our Pax at age 6! Paxton is a sweet, fun and easy going boy. I am very thankful that I am his momma and for the balance and calm he adds to our family. Let's just say I need the peace that he brings to our home. Have I mentioned that his name means "peace"? I'm sure that I have. He lives up to his name meaning which is pretty cool.

That's right he's calm. And he really enjoys quieter, more calming activities. He loves reading. In April, I started him on chapter books. By now he has read probably 40 different chapter books. That's not an exaggeration. The kid loves to read. He loves building with legos. He loves doing puzzles and figuring out mazes. One of his favorite activities to do with others is to play board games. We really  need to get back into the groove of a family game night once a week. He absolutely loves playing games. He loves working in random little educational workbooks. He loves listening to music. He's very inquisitive and thoughtful. He loves to learn and do his school work. And he is very smart. He takes his time on things like writing, therefore his penmanship is very impressive. He typically puts his best effort forth in school work, and as his mommy-teacher, I love that. It sometimes takes him two or three times as long to complete his copy work as compared to Holden. But I love that he goes slowly and does his absolute best.

He's not a lazy boy, but the things above are probably his favorite ways to spend his time. But we have some outdoor time nearly every day when the weather is nice. Outside, he likes to run, play soccer, ride on a scooter or on his new plasma car. This fall he is playing I-9 baseball on Saturday mornings. He also loves playing games on the trampoline and swinging. Now that the weather is cooling off, it is much easier to talk him into playing outside. He has not quite gotten the training wheels off of his bicycle. I think riding his bike will be a favorite once he's ready to take that plunge. He became a great swimmer this summer and enjoys the water a lot more, now that he has that confidence.

Pax is a joy to be around. He gets jokes. He loves to laugh. He loves to be silly and make others laugh. He is also a seeker of justice. Sometimes when things start to feel unfair, he gets emotional and needs justice to make it all better. It is another unique piece of who he is that sticks out in my mind. I would describe him as a laid back individual. But if rules aren't being followed, that doesn't easily roll off of his back. He is sensitive and tender hearted and we started seeing these pieces of his personality back when he was 9 months old and we had to tell him "no touch". Tears! We learned quickly that a harsh no led to tears for sweet Pax. :) His peaceful nature makes him a pretty incredible big and little brother. He no longer gets trampled on by others, but he always prefers harmony in his relationships rather than discord. He gets relationships. He gets compromise. He gets sharing. He's not typically self-centered like so many children tend to be at younger ages. He's a sweet, sweet boy. Not perfect. But he's such a sweetheart and bright spot to each day.

I know that God has special plans for this amazing little boy that He created. And I can't wait to see the ways He will continue to work in his life!