Jaxen update

He cried today. He said he is doesn't think he can stay for two weeks because he is home sick. I want to go get him right now...

On His Own

We went up north this weekend to shear the sheep. Something we do every year on Memorial Day weekend. The only thing different is that we left our oldest up there.

We gave him a choice on whether he wanted to stay with Grandma with the Horses or take swim lessons this summer, he chose to stay at Grandma's for two weeks. It has already started as the longest two weeks of my life. I have never been away from him for so long (or such a great distance).

He didn't cry when we left, he didn't cry when he called last night. We did a family prayer over the phone and I read him parts of a book. (He asked if I would read to him, which I do every night, and he said he just knows he won't see the pictures.)
I spent part of the night crying my eyes out in the shower and putting it all back together when he called so that I didn't upset him. He is with his Uncle TJ (10) and his cousin Jaiden (8), so I am sure along with the sheep herding there will be a lot of fun mixed in.

I bought him the Magic Tree House series off of Craigslist and he took several of those with him...but I don't think the seven he packed will last past the next few days.

I hope he can hang in there....and I hope I can too.

Jaxen Greyhair

My baby turns 7 today. I can't believe how big he is getting.

It seems like just yesterday (or at least not that long ago) that I had this little monkey.

I went in on a Friday to get induced at 42 weeks. They tried Cervadil, which my body hyper-reacted to. They said they have read about that happening, but had never seen it happen. Let me be the first to introduce you to it. They pumped me full of IV fluid and decided to start with pitocin the next day. After 23 1/2 hours of labor my cone-headed, full head of hair baby boy was born. (I pushed for like 3-4 hours...hence the cone head.)

I remember asking Shaunton what his first reaction was to seeing his son, and he said, "He sure has a pointy head. It's not going to stay like that, is it?" Umm...I guess I was looking for something more profound.

We brought little man home, only to take him right back. He was running a very high fever and they kept him for another 4 days. At that time, it was the hardest thing I had ever experienced, not knowing what was wrong. He had gone to the bathroom while in utero, so maybe that had something to do with it?

Jaxen had the, uh, luck, to be my first born. I had no clue what I was doing, even at 23. Sometimes I look back and feel so bad, because I know that there are things I would do differently now (and did do differently with the subsequent children). I call him my practice baby. He seemed to turn out alright. I try not to ponder to hard on my mistakes and figure I learned from them, and Heavenly Father sent me a child who was willing to work with a previously inexperienced mother.

I watched him grow, and freaked out most of the time. I mean, where in the manual did they say kids started walking at 9 months? Where did that balance come from? He could "walk the snake" at Fiesta Mall before he was 12 months.

I watched him sort crayons by color instead of coloring with them. Line up cars the same direction, and catching the ones mom tried to flip opposite. All the time wondering if my child was OCD. It doesn't run in the family or anything...

We have had our fair share of blood and stitches (trampoline+sprinkler incident and a tumbling can of hairspray), and he is only seven. We have also seen him lose his first two teeth this year.

We have seen the days years of the dinosaurs, and have watched them become extinct. We have seen the superhero obsession, and the wain.

We have entered a new era (and galaxy... far, far away). Our son is Star Wars obsessed. I am a little worried that he has taken such a liking to the Dark Side, but always point out that Darth Vader turned back to the Light Side in the end. Although he did mention today that maybe his shirts (the bad guy ones) don't help him make good choices all the time. Nice try...but not a good excuse.

Where does the time go?

Now he is a school going, science fair winning, chapter book reading, stunt attempting, trampoline forward-flip jumping, Star Wars loving, video game playing, long hair growing seven year old.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAXEN, WE LOVE YOU!!!