Turn Back the Clock

I found a picture we had scanned of Jacob at 3 months wearing his Cubbie outfit. I definitely think they look alike. I also noticed one other thing. Jacob had blue eye at 3 months too! I think his might have even been bluer than Jadon's are now. Jadon's are more of a grey right now. I did not remember that until I got Jacob's pictures out. We had been commenting on Jadon's blue eyes and wondering if they would change. The only one of our parents who has blue eyes is my Dad so Jadon's eyes had us baffled, but apparently this is not the first child of ours who started out blue and kept them for awhile.

Jake at 3 months old.


Jadon at 3 months old.

Jadon's Three Month Pics

Let's Roll.....Almost!

Jadon has been working on rolling over for awhile now. We have thought that he could have done it sooner if his darn arm was not dragging behind him. Well Jadon has learned to adapt and overcome. His shoulder muscles are getting stronger on the right side now and he can move his arm over with the rest of his body using his shoulder. It is a very controlled movement so his physical therapist is wondering if we are seeing the beginnings of some new healing. We will keep our fingers crossed and hope so!! Since we have not seen much progress in about six weeks something new or even the possibility of something new is very exciting. I thought I would share some video of Jadon so close to rolling over from his back to his front. As you can see in the video he is bringing that arm with him now. Before it would just hang behind him.

Washington DC Trip

We did manage to find some time for fun when we went out to Philadelphia. We stayed at my Aunt Connie's house in Maryland for Saturday and Sunday night. On Sunday they took us in to Washington D.C. which was only a 45 minute drive from their house. It was Matt's first trip to Washington D.C. and I had not been since high school. The World War II Memorial is new since I was there last. It was very cool.

After we left DC we went over to the Chesapeake Bay where my Uncle Les keeps his boat. Jadon went for his first boat ride. Unfortunately it was cool and overcast, but it was still nice to get out on the water. Connie and Les took us to a seafood restaurant that has "parking" spot for boats. You just pull up, tie your boat up, and go eat. It was wonderful food. Both Matt and I had the Stuffed Flounder. It was stuffed with King Crab! Yum! Jadon fell asleep on the trip back. It was a really fun day! Thanks to Aunt Connie and Uncle Les for helping us take our mind off the purpose of the trip for a little while. It was great!

It's Official! Shelby is a freshman!!

I can't believe it but Shelby is done with 8th grade! Next year high school! Shelby's 8th grade graduation ceremony was on Friday night. She looked beautiful in the outfit we had a lot of fun picking out. On Saturday we had an Open House to celebrate this milestone. We had a nice time visiting with lots of family and friends that came by to congratulate Shelby. I am still having trouble facing the fact that I have a infant and one in high school!!

Shelby's New School Picture! My beautiful girl!!

Jake's New School Picture

Dakota the Nanny Part 2

For those of you wondering...yes, Dakota still loves his baby and still guards him with his life. I don't think that is going to change..

Jadon loves patty cake!!!

Matt does Patty Cake with Jadon as part of his therapy for his arm. It is a good way to get the arm loose and also get it in Jadon's line of vision to remind him he has an arm. Jadon always loves when Daddy plays Patty Cake with him but tonight he was really into it and I captured it on video!

This and That

Things have been crazy at this house lately. It seems like a juggling act sometimes trying to coordinate where each person needs to be and when. Jadon is learning to travel well. We are fortunate that he does not mind being in his car seat or the car at all. In fact it is pretty common to be buckling him into his seat and look up to see him smiling at you. Almost like "What adventure are we going on now Mom"?. Jadon as gotten good at charming the ladies. When we were in St. Louis I came out of the bathroom at the hospital to find Matt and Jadon cornered by some lady who was just having a ball with Jadon. Of course everything she said Jadon had a smile for. He is not stupid!
Here is an example!




Shelby is smokin' up the track this year! She claims there is just no competition in the 100 meter this year. She says this as she walks away with first place again the other day and on the way out the bus driver asks her if she got first again. She smiles modestly and says yes. She also runs the 200 meter but she seems to really be rockin' the 100 meter. She really loves to run. She has next school year all mapped out so she can run all year long. Now that she will be in high school she can do cross country and that is in the fall. Of course she will spend the summer getting ready for that. Then in high school the track team starts practicing in January up until the season starts and the season will bring her back to next summer. I am very proud of her. She is more than ready for the school year to be over. This last few weeks she has had a pretty good load of work on top of track. She is really looking forward to the 8th grade field trip to Six Flags in a few weeks. She is also excited because her Dad is building her an electric guitar. It will be pink with a zebra striped pick guard. It is her graduation/birthday present and they are both really into it. The body has been purchased and is in the process of being painted pink. No, I don't know how my husband finds time for this on top of the basement, mowing, and everything else, but he loves his kids I know that for sure!


Jacob has been keeping busy himself. In February he crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boys Scouts. The Boy Scout group out of Danvers that he is a part of is a very active club. They meet every Thursday and camp one weekend a month all year around. Jacob never says he does not feel like going to meetings. He looks forward to them. He just got back from his second camping trip with the group this weekend. This month was a district wide camp out at Lake Evergreen. There were about 400 scouts. Because of the rain and the number of scouts I guess the grass pretty much turned to mud and I believe I have some socks and shoes to prove it. My child came home so muddy that my husband (who picked him up at 8 a.m. and let me sleep) felt the need to come in and wake me to get up and see how muddy our child was. Yes, Jake came home head to toe mud. All he wanted to do was take a shower, eat some "real" food, and take a nap. He had a great time though. Jake has also been out looking for mushrooms the last week but we are not having good luck this year. We don't know what happened. Jacob is looking forward to starting baseball pretty soon. In fact for the last week he has asked me everyday if the coach has called yet. He wants to work hard on his skills this summer so he can play for the school team next year.

As for Matt and I. Well, for the most part we are pretty much along for the ride where ever our children take us. Of course Matt tries very hard to dedicate at least one day on the weekends for basement work. He is almost done hanging drywall. We have also been making time on Saturday mornings for our mutual love: garage sales. I have had pretty good luck this year. I have found a lot of stuff for Jadon and some cute things for Shelby also. Matt really has one thing on his garage sale wish list this year and that is a push mover. He has had no luck yet. Keeping my fingers crossed. He is also researching how to build a guitar for Shelby. Of course both of us have been reading and education ourselves on Brachial Plexus injuries. Learning everything we can so we can do the best we can for Jadon. I think by the time this is done I will be a pretty good physical therapist, occupational therapist, and nurse all rolled into one. And of course we really, really appreciate everyone's prayers and kind words.

Overall, we are hanging in there!