Birthday Photos.....

Happy Birthday to Jackson, Haleigh and I!!

Jackson turned 2 on July 21st, Haleigh turned 1 on July 23rd and me, well...I turned 28 on July 20th.

Me & my cake:


We have Jackson one of his gifts, a motorized tractor, on my birthday. I knew he would be inundated with gifts on his birthday so I wanted to break it up just a bit. He played and played with it. It ended up being my birthday gift, seeing him play and loving that tractor so much. No greater joy....






A cute picture of Dad and Jackson:


His birthday:


His own birthday cake to dig into (remember last year's cake)


Blowing out the candle on his cake


His "tractor" birthday cake for everyone else


Trying to blow out the candles


Blew the candles out (he got pretty good at it too!!)


Eating his cake






Opening up gifts:
The Whistle Bubble-blower


The shape sorter


Numbers Book


Remote controlled Bulldozer & Dump Truck (no other gifts mattered after these!)


Haleigh's birthday


Jackson blew her candle out...little booger!


Mark's replica with Jerry's eyes!


We had to entice her to eat the icing, she was afraid of the cake!


Then she went to town eating the cake...






And with all the celebrating, let us not forget Miss Priss, who smiles more than any baby I have ever seen in my entire life... Look at all the curl in her hair!!


Sitting up:


The girlies:


And pictures from Dan's flying last Friday:






I have a video of Dan flying as well and will post that in a few days.

Jackson and Audrey had their well baby check-ups today. It was his 2 year check up and her 6 month check up. Here are their stats:
Jackson -- 29 pounds (75th percentile), 35 inches (75th percentile), 50cm (60th percentile, I think!)
Audrey -- 18 pounds (90th percentile), 26 inches (60th percentile); Head circumference: 44.5 cm (95th percentile)

Dr. D said that he definitely feels like Jackson has Dan's build and will be tall and stocky. He said that now is when you really can start to tell what their height will be and their frame. They no longer have baby fat so it's easier to tell what their build will be. They did test Jackson's hemoglobin level and found that he is slightly anemic (not enough iron). I'm not totally surprised: he is the pickiest eater ever. So, I took the kids and we went to Walmart, got multivitamins with iron and bought a bunch of iron-fortified foods (cereals, bread, etc.) and iron-rich foods (cashews, beans, anything I could find that I thought he might eat). His level was 10.4, which is on the lower end of normal. I think 11 is on the low end of normal so he's just barely below that. Dr. D did not express concern, as we already had discussed Jackson being a picky eater. But I was concerned and the nurse told me about multivitamins and gave me a list of foods that are high in iron. Most multivitamins can't be taken until 2 so just about a week ago, I started giving Jackson one but it didn't have iron in it. Now he is taking a new one! It should be up within a couple months!

Audrey is just HUGE! She's almost off the charts in weight and her head circumference is practically off the charts. She's hitting her milestones WAY early but that is typical for a 2nd child. Dr. D was very impressed with her sitting up and pivoting while sitting up (apparently very advanced -- YAY Audy!). I expressed my concern over her weight and he said it was no indication of weight later in life. I, myself, was a chubaroo baby but still, she is big. She's really not fat, very solid and dense! She's healthy, she's happy, just a joy -- what more can you ask for?

Dan should be returning tomorrow from being on the USS Eisenhower. He's been doing his carrier landings since Sunday. We go on vacation Wednesday, August 6th and won't return until August 16th. So, if you need to reach us, call our cell phones. It's a much-needed vacation for the entire family. We are so looking forward to this!

Take care!!

Our professional pictures taken at the beach.....

We had our pictures taken at the beach last Wednesday. The photographer, Becky Breedlove, did an awesome job! Jackson is VERY difficult to photograph and actually get a picture of him smiling; she managed to get 2 AWESOME pictures of him smiling. Just beautiful pictures altogether. The two above are just a little snippit of the wonderful pictures -- hopefully it'll entice you enough to take a peak at all the others in the link below.

Here is the link to the pics:
http://www.beckybreedlovephotography.com/peters/gallery.html

I would upload them all but there are 54 of them and it would take a very long time. Becky gave us full copyrights to the photos so I have uploaded them to mpix, selected our sizes for each picture and just received an email that they are shipping out this evening. I ordered plenty for each family member!! Of course, if someone has a special request, I can always order more!!

My birthday was on Sunday, Jackson's birthday was on Monday and Haleigh's was on Wednesday. Very busy and very crazy! Our babysitter was out of town this week so my parents kept the kiddos this week. Dan & I stayed there a good majority of the week but I still had a 45 minute commute to work and back. AND, on Monday & Thursday, I headed back to our house in Chesapeake to stay the night....so that was another 45 minutes. Lots of driving, lots of celebrating but I am 100% exhausted! So, we are laying low this weekend and letting the kids rest. They never sleep at Mimi & Pee-Paw's because they have so much fun!

Jackson did have an awesome birthday. He received so many presents that we actually held off on giving him all of them on his birthday because he was just so overwhelmed. He didn't know where to begin!! So, we gave him a toy motorized tractor on Sunday (the day before his birthday), a few various gifts (mainly remote controlled tractors and dump trucks, bubble blowers, sandbox toys, etc.) on his birthday and then Mimi & Pee-Paw gave him their gift on Wednesday. I gave him Play-doh and such on Thursday and we finally have one more gift (a Thomas the Train set) to give. Maybe we will give that to him soon or wait until Christmas. Can I just tell you that he blew out Haleigh's birthday candle AND kept trying to unwrap her gifts? He was becoming such a pro at opening gifts and had become so accustomed to opening gifts, he didn't understand why it wasn't for him!

I can say that I am sick of cake and icing. If I see another cake, BLAH! 3 cakes in 4 days is ENOUGH! But, in just another week and a half, it's Dan's birthday. 5 days after that, it's Jerry's birthday (at the beach). So, it's more cake....I have a feeling I'll somehow be up for cake again by then!!:>)

In a few days, I'll post a bunch of our birthday pictures. I may do it tomorrow, just depends on how much time I have. But they are coming and coming soon! Also, a few pics of Dan flying in the F-18 Superhornet as well. Jackson, Audrey & I went out today to see him practicing his landings and I took a few pics. So, the next update....be prepped for tons of pix!!

Until then.....

It's been a while! Happy Birthdays to US!!

So, 2 co-workers of mine (thank you Ashley & Nicole) so graciously let me know that I haven't updated the blog in a LONG time. They told me the exact date was May 28th. I was floored. I could have sworn that it was sooner than that. So, imagine my horror when it was true.

Sorry people! If only Dan would help update this thing, it wouldn't be to tedious. It just takes forever to upload the pictures and try to remember all the crazy things that have happened in our lives that you all would be interested in.

Jackson is speaking in sentences now and here are just a few: all done, more milk, up here (to get up into his booster seat or wherever he'd like to sit), see ya, thank you, etc. There are others too but I just can't think of them now. He started saying all these sentences on July 3rd. He literally woke up that morning and was talking like this. Jackson's been quite the sick puppy lately. Ever since the end of May (coincidentally my last post on here, HA!), he's had a horrible chest cold (had crooop with it), another cold after that and double pink-eye. Literally, it's been one virus after another. He even had to be put on prednisone with the chest cold. Both Audrey & Jackson, myself, my mom, our babysitter and our babysitter's son all caught this horrible virus. You may ask why Dan didn't catch it -- he got to escape it all down in Key West for his flying DET. But he definitely felt so sorry for all of us, especially since there was nothing he could do down there for us!

Audrey is 17 pounds and a just a butterball. She's the happiest baby in the world. As long as her tummy is full, she is loving life. She is sitting up on her own now. Every now and then she thrusts herself back too much and lands on her back but otherwise, she's doing quite well with sitting up assisted. Audrey has been battling pink eye this week. What a joy that has been! And, for the most part, whatever virus Jax gets, Audy is next. She seems to have a better immune system though. Jax has had several other colds that Audy has never caught. Here's hoping!! Anyway, she burst a blood vessel in her eye from the pink eye. Nice pic of it for you:


Closer up:


It should go away in 10 days or so. It looks terrible but she doesn't even know it's there. Occasionally she'll itch her eye but that's it.

Dan is flying a bunch at night, prepping to do his carrier-qualifications next weekend. We are heading to the beach for our annual vacation once his CQs are completed so he is thrilled. He's been a tremedous help with the kids and their pink eye. He's been the one to take off work, begrudingly, of course, but he did come through for us when they both got pink eye (one week apart, mind you!). Dan is still working out like a mad-man, trying to fit into his board shorts of our beach vacation. Every week I see him go into the guest bedroom and try on the board shorts to see how they are fitting. Dan says he's getting close.....

Me -- Well, I'm stressed! I've missed quite a bit of work with my illnesses and Jax & Audy's illnesses. Dad is undergoing his chemo (had his first round July 7th) so that's always on my mind. I'm just plain exhausted, which is more than half my problem. And, I want my children to stay healthy for a month and that would really help!!!!! I guess one positive about all this stres is weight loss. I'm back down to my pre-pregnancy weight (well, within a pound or two -- depending upon the day), which is making life great in the clothes-fitting-nicely department.

Here are some pictures, for your enjoyment

At Sean & Sarah's wedding in Annapolis 3 weeks ago; Dan was the best man!








Josh & Dan in their suits for the wedding


Jackson during the Vacation Bible School commencement ceremony


Jackson being super-cool....Dan made him wear this! Poor lil' guy! Can't you tell he's so thrilled...


Audrey, thinking about something


Being super cute


All smiles


Audrey sitting up


Jackson & Audrey playing around


She can hold her own...


One of the adorable cloth diapers that we have and her cute little tush in it


Getting a tan out in the pool


She has Dan's eyes


Smiling yet again....


Wanting out of the pool


Jackson has a watergun = not good


Even better, now he has the waterhose


What child doesn't do this?


Wrong way buddy


Jake is such a placid dog


Something in your mouth Audrey?


And, finally, a picture of Dan and I from the CO's farewell dinner this past weekend (courtesy of Diggler & his wife -- thank you!!)


That is all! Sorry it took so long. Please just pray for healthy kiddos and I promise, if we have that, more updates will be made on the blog!:>)

Wish Jackson and I Happy Birthday! My birthday is July 20th and his is the 21st. Of course, we have bought Jackson some awesome gifts and can't wait for him to open them. So much fun! Happy Birthday to us!! YAY! Jackson will be 2 years old and I'll be 28!

XOXO!