All because two people fell in love...: Life as it is right now!

Our sweet boy is 16 months and 2 days away from being 17 months old. What!?! It just can't be...

It's true though... We have a walking, talking, tantrum throwing (oh yes all you Paxton fans :)), kissing, hugging, helpful, sweet, rowdy, dog, kitty, mommy and daddy loving toddler. Let me just say... this is my FAV age Paxton has been so far. I know, I know "it just keeps getting better" but I don't have anything to compare it to!

Paxton is growing and changing every single day and right when I feel like we have something under control (food preferences, favorite toys, etc) then he changes and its back to the drawing board :). I guess this is when parenting really kicks in... It has always frustrated me when people say "I want to have a baby"... yes, babies are amazing but guess what... they grow up and they grow up fast! It should read more like "I want to be a parent". These past few months is when the parenting fun has began and we have come to realize that while having a toddler can be challenging it is also so so so rewarding!   He is learning what no means, he is learning that he can make choices and what he chooses to do isn't always ok :/. This has been hard for him to begin to learn (and hard for us to enforce, he is so stinkin cute) but my mom has always told me if they don't listen to you now (regardless of age) they won't listen to you when they're 10, 13, 15, 20 and so on. So, yes we are starting early but he is learning and thats good!  I am actually proud to see that he is trying to exercise more and more independence and making choices. I want him to do this always as long as it is within appropriate limits :)

Paxton is so incredibly loving... he kisses, hugs, blows kisses and snuggles anything and everything. He has learned what being sweet and gentle is when it comes to touch, whether he is touching my hair, the dogs, our cat, babies, stuffed animals ,the Christmas tree, my arm...etc. He is talking up a storm... not always in clear words that we can understand, I mean, this child will have a 5 min conversation inbabble with a complete stranger. I swear he knows what HE is saying:) Some of his favorite words are Mom, dadda, up, hiiiiiii (he says it with lots of inflection and drags out the I, like I do), no,no,no (mostly at the dogs), cup, nana (whispers this for night night), paw (for opa), titty tat (kitty cat), come (cucumber) awww, and most recently HOHOHO. He is really focusing lately on words and watches our mouth as we speak, I know he says more than that but thats all I can think about as I hurry to write this as he naps :)

He knows he is cute ya'll... he flashes his cute smile (aka fake) or giggles and runs away, or will break out in a dance right in the middle of the room in front of everyone. He is so cute and so silly at times, I just love it and see alot of a certain person coming out in him, uh hum, Matthew James.

We have been so busy since mid september, many date days with just my Pax and me while Matthew was at work, that I decided to include many of those days through pictures below. The past few months we have been to pumpkin patches, football games, tea parties, soccer games, 7 acre ranch, on bike rides in a big boy seat, painted pumpkins, been to parks, had lunch with my best friend Liz, Pax started wearing his hair spikey, he busted his first lip, welcomed baby Aaron into the world, celebrated Mollys 1st birthday, watched daddy clean a deer, made a trip to the ER, got a toddler sized 4 wheeler, became completely obsessed with play cars, dressed up like a monkey for halloween, fed the ducks, wore our first cap backwards (so precious), met Jamie Eason in hobby lobby (OMG), became obsessed with mommy and daddys protein shakes, fell in love with Christmas lights and trees, rode on daddys shoulders, helped conduct a train at Pammie and Opas house, went to Arizona for Matthews Ironman, you can read about that HERE, went to College Station to watch Johnny Football win the Heisman and for my half marathon and just this past Sunday met Santa for the first time.

Life as it is right now is busy and full and there isn't a day that goes by that we don't lift our thanks to the Lord, when we pray as a family at dinner, for all of our blessings. We are not perfect people and certainly rely on Gods grace every single day as we navigate raising a family, fostering our marriage and balancing our wants/needs with reality.  But, to be chosen to raise this little boy is an honor and privledge we do not take for granted and while we may appear to be "too busy" I say pssh. We are making sweet, precious memories that will shape us, Pax and more importantly his childhood. Isn't this what having a family is all about?

As we go into celebrating Christmas the next two weeks, I pray we can focus on the true meaning of Christs birth, what it means for our salvation, capture the spirit and bright eyes of a curious joy filled toddler and make more sweet memories with our family and friends.

Paxtons first tea party!

Playing soccer at Daddys game!

Full of joy and excitement at 7 acre ranch

Made friends with a pot belly pig... I was freaking out a bit, Pax was in love

Went on a bike ride with daddy!

Did I mention he also loves goats?? EW

Old Mcdonald Farm... playing in the pumpkins

Paxtons first pumpkin!

Every other Thursday tradition... Little gym then Sam's with Mommy and pizza for lunch

Check out his spikey spike hair :)

Toddler destruction.... trash to treasure in the eyes of a 1 year old!

We REALLY love our Monkey...

Teddy Bear toddler park

Looks much worse than it actually was... he looks pitifull here... a bath always makes us feel better

CARS, CARS, CARS :)

Pax enjoyed picking out his own candy... people let him too... he chose very carefully and only took one... the shiny wrapped ones were his fav, mine too! :)