18 months old: What a fun stage!

Today Axel is 18 months old! What a big boy he is turning into and we LOVE IT. His 18 month check up isn't for a couple more weeks, so we'll see where he is at growth wise then.

We absolutely adore this stage that he is in. Sure he has his moments, but most of the time, he is pretty fun and such a joy to be around. I couldn't ask for a better kid. In fact we are pretty terrified for baby number 2 because he has been so great, we are worried we are going to be in for a huge shock when we get a kid that is not so easy.

He is just so curious about the world around him, and he has this disposition about him to do what he is supposed to do, he is all about learning the rules of the world around him.

He is great at following directions and doing what we ask him to do, with a few exceptions of course i.e diaper changes and getting dressed, still haven't quite mastered that yet with him. Although, when you change his diaper he will lift his bum up when you say "bum up" and my favorite is he'll say "AH SICK" when you wipe. He also says that when you wipe his nose. This was after I got tired of fighting him or him treating me like I am just horrible, so one day I showed him what was in his tissue, and since then he is much more cooperative.

Clean Boy

But he is great at picking up his toys, and putting things back after he plays with them. Last night he brought out a horse, then ran back to his room and put it in his drawer I was very impressed, then he pulled out a fire truck and brought it to us and played with it for a while then went back to his room, and started to play with something else, so I looked to see where the truck went and sure enough he had put it in his drawer where he got it. He is one organized and clean tot. A lot of people blame me for this, they think I am constantly picking up after him, but in truth we clean up together every day, and I just try to show him how things go, and let him do it, and because he likes to obey and do what is right, he puts things away where they go. I think it's just in his personality, he likes to do what we do, granted if I were not the kind of mom to sit down and teach him how to clean up I don't think he would learn that, at least not this early. We have two clean up rules at our house, all the toys get cleaned up before nap time and at bed time.

If he spills something on the floor he'll grab a towel from our drawer and say "Oh a mess" and then clean it up.

He also has taken it upon himself to feed our dogs now. (with a little help from us of course) But all we have to say is Axel lets feed the dogs, and he will run to their cupboard and get the scoop and put a scoop for Big dog in her bowl and then one for Zoe and then put the scoop back. So smart he even knows Zoe gets a little scoop.
Our Little Chef
He also loves helping me cook, his favorite of course is cracking eggs, but he also loves adding the ingredients to the bowl, but is absolutely terrified of the hand mixer. We enjoy cooking together, sometimes it's more work for me, but a lot of times it helps him stay in a happy mood, instead of begging and crying for food while I cook. I think its also a good opportunity to teach him something new. I am amazed how much they can take on at such a young age.

He also does a great job getting dad for mom when it's time to eat. He'll put up his hand to his ear and yell "DAD" "DAD" at the top of our stairs.

This blog sounds like I work my kid to death, make him clean, give him chores and even have him cook dinner every night...I promise we do other fun things to...Blocks
We build towers from blocks, which he is a pro at, he as been known to build a 9+ block tower. It is really funny to see him put blocks on top of each other because he places it on very delicately, and then quickly pulls his hand away like he knows it will fall if he lingers too long.Shapes
He also has a shape toy that you put shapes in, and he will take the shape and say "no, no, no, no and yeah!" When he gets it in, or when he gets it in the spot he wants it to go in. He can recognize and say "Star", but that's it. He can also say "Shapes".

SportsBoy does this kid love sports! Poor kid needs a basketball hoop, we found him making one out of a fold up chair the other night. We think it was because it looks like a back board. He just kept throwing his basket ball at it and then saying "YEAH" But also he has found a new sport to love , baseball. His Grandma Julie gave him a baseball tee and bat for his birthday, and he could play that for an hour at least. He has got a pretty good arm too. He also loves soccer. And can say "Soccer ball". Remember how I said he would probably grow out of the balloon thing? Nope, still hasn't still loves balloons, and we found that ones filled with just air are even more fun than the helium ones. The other day after he tripped on his balloon ball I said "Oh fumble!" He jumped up and yelled "Fumble!". Where did this kid come from? ha ha

Skateboard
He finally has been using his skateboard we got him for Christmas. I can't wait for it to get warmer outside and for him to be a little better balanced, and he and Kory can go outside and skate. He can say "Skateboard" and can balance on the skateboard all by himself, but needs help going on it.

Working with Grandpa and papa
He loves when grandpa comes to our house to help Kory, he always runs to the door and knocks and says "Grandpa!" and "Hey! Hey! Hey!" then he'll grab his "mammer" and run to the back door to meet grandpa at the back door. He also loves going downstairs to help dad in the basement, he always parks himself next to Kory and tries to help him with whatever it is he is working on.

Reading
We also read A LOT of books around here. What he has been doing over the past few months is reciting the books to us, it's great. He'll finish a page for us! Our favorite is "Hop on Pop" he loves telling "Pat" to not sit on the cactus, and to get mad at the kids for hopping on pop. He takes that book very seriously. Another recent favorite is from Grandma Julie, a book that is about things that GO, and he will say the end for us. It's really adorable, I want to get it on video one of these days.

Talking, talking and more talking
His language skills have exploded recently, I mean the kid has always been a head of the game when it comes to speaking, I like to think it's his thing, you know some kids walk or crawl early, for Axel it was communication. When he was 6 months old he said "Ba" for ball, and hasn't stopped since. Some new words are: Shovel, flower, nana (banana), mammer (hammer), tractor, shark, bubble, mouth, ear, nose, eyes, no, Grandma, who who (whistle), tory (story) Book, train, choo choo, chocolate, cookie, and my personal favorite "dumb dog" (Not that I don't love my dogs, but after one certain dog ran away and I had to go get her for the millionth time, I said "dumb dog!" and since then whenever said dog is in trouble we hear a little voice say "dumb dog")
He has started to put words together to form sentences like "I got it!" , "There he is", "here you go" he'll ask for things too, like "mama, cookie" or "Mama, bottle" we are still working on the whole please thing. He thinks when he yells my name "mama" that is asking. I kinda think he got that from the kids we watch all the time because he used to say it like "AMMMY", Kory and I have been working on correcting that. The other day we were at Macey's and we saw a lady with an Ice Cream cone, and he goes "MMMMM Ice cream YUM YUM!" It was pretty adorable.

There is soo much more too, I just can never think of it all, I wish I had a bank in my brain that whenever he did something new it would catalog it and then I could just download it here. I hope to get better at the whole documenting his life and the life of our new baby, but as you can see I kinda just get worse and worse as time goes on.

Sweet sweet swimming

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who "lent me a shoulder to cry on" from my last post.
I felt a lot better after I wrote that, and then cried to Kory. I am doing much better, I am still trying to adjust to "taking it easy" but I am feeling more in control of it now. If that makes any sense. Kory suggested I call my Dr and have them define and give me a list of things I should and shouldn't do so I don't drive myself crazy wondering if I am pushing myself too hard. I really liked that idea, but forgot to do that today. SO tomorrow I will call. I think it will put a lot of people around me at ease as well.

The GOOD News is my car is FIXED! well sort of, we still have to fix the oil leak. But the clutch is fixed. yeah! And, before anyone goes and judges me for wearing down my clutch, I just want to mention that I have NEVER had to replace the clutch on that car since I purchased it back in 2003. I had over 130,000 miles on that baby before it went out. So yeah it was time, but for the record I am a pro.

So, one of the things that had been getting me down about the whole "taking it easy thing" was that recently I have been going to an aerobics class once a week at our ward building. My friend Charity (remember her from my dance group way back in the day?) is the instructor and put together an amazing routine which I only did a moderate version of it, but it still kicked my butt. Mostly because Axel started to hate going because there was an older kid that kept taking his basketball, and if you know my kid, THAT IS NOT OK. So most of the time I spent picking him up and giving him hugs or holding him sometimes.

It was also on the same day I babysat Story, and she LOVED it. Actually, that is an understatement, she just had the time of her life there. She even participated in the routine from time to time, during her favorite songs :) Which were the cowgirl one and the 1920's style (I am thinking Backyardigans had A LOT to do with that).

Because I can't do the class, I felt like I needed to replace it with some other form of exercise. My Dr suggested swimming. He said that was something I CAN do.

I have been wanting to start swimming regularly for a while now, it helped me so much with Axel, so I wanted to do the same with her. Easier said then done because 1) it was my job at the time. 2) I had access to a free pool 3) I didn't have a toddler to chase around. 4) it was summer, I was tan, and pools were a dime a dozen.

So I looked up our City's pool and you know what? The hours totally blow for that pool. Unless I got up and went at like 6 am, noon, or after dinner, all of which are terrible times for us, I didn't see it happening.

So I started looking up other pool hours. Ashley agreed to come with me, which made it much much more doable because its always more fun when you have a friend. So I looked up all the different pools in the valley, and decided the Legacy Pool in Lehi would be our best choice. My mom and sister go all the time, but I never wanted to go with them because I never had a toddler to entertain...until now.

So yesterday, I dropped Kory off at work, (my car wasn't fixed yet) I picked up Ash and Ashdon, and we headed over to the pool bright and early 8:00am in fact. We had so much fun because we were the ONLY ones there. We went right at opening because I had to make the drive anyway to take Kory to work. The boys LOVED it, and so did our big pregnant bellies. We will be going again for sure.

And here are some GREAT pictures from the trip. Have I mentioned how much I love my underwater camera? I can't wait until Axel is a little bit older and we can shoot him UNDER the water!

Both boys were a little uncertain at first.

The pool had this amazing kid area that was the perfect depth for these little dudes. They loved the water fountains

It also had these bouncy seat things

They of course had to practice blowing bubbles :)

And went crazy splashing around and playing together.You know that REALLY funny movie that came out in the 90's featuring Kristi Alley, and Jon Travolta with all those really funny babies? No? it wasn't funny? well despite the cheesiness of said monologue babies, I couldn't help but put a story to these pictures when I went through the photos. So ENJOY, because you know you will :)

"Hey Ashdon, Look at this Killer slide! I dare you to go down it?"

"Wow.... "

"...you are on!"
"Oh man! I can't believe you are doing this!""Rock and Roll!"

"Man! he is sooo cool!"
"sweet...."
The real story was, we put him down the slide, and it was sooo crazy steep the minute ash let go he went right under the water, and it was really scary. But he was super brave about it after as seen in the picture above, and being the cute boy he is, he of course gave a big smile for my camera. We opted not to put Axel down, maybe when they get older, but I don't think the slide is for toddlers.

After we went swimming I went to the grocery store and some strange vendor lady there came up to me and just gave me a $5 gift card! At first I thought she was trying to sell me something and I was kinda bugged, but I am so glad I put on my polite face. :)

Then I went and picked up Kory for lunch and he came out to the car and handed me a little gift bag that had all sorts of goodies in it. Nothing too fancy but there was a $5 gift certificate for Starbucks, (don't worry no coffee for this mama, but I am ALL about hot chocolate and steamers)

So despite my bad week, even the universe seemed to understand that I needed a break and for things to go well that day, and they sure did :)

Thanks again everyone for your kind words, and I know a lot of people are praying for us, which I know sounds strange but I can tell the difference, so thanks I appreciate it.

PS I also posted a tutorial for some frames I worked on below. Check them out if you want to!

Frumpy Frames turned Fun & Fancy

I love pictures and I love picture frames. But if you came to my house before last week you would be like, "really Amy?"

Here is my problem, we have been in transition for over 3 years in this house, we are finally to a point where I feel like I can "move in" and so I have been planning and pulling out all my old frames from our first apartment, and even college years. And guess what? I hate them. They are boring and plain, just like our couches and our walls. (also a work in progress)

Last winter a neighbor came over and when I was complaining about the way our family room looked, she agreed and said it does have a "Bachelor Pad" feel. So I started working on some new ideas, my friend suggested this blog a while ago, and I fell in love, just with everything, I love her style and her talent, and I think I could get away with some of the things on here with Kory. (He is surprisingly very opinionated about home decor). Luckily because of our bathroom remodel we did ages ago, he has put a little more trust in me when it comes design and our home, and now that I am the one here 24 hours a day with our son, I think he understands I need to feel at peace...or at least I like to pretend he understands that.

So what I did was, I adapted two of her wreath ideas to make these two frames, and LOVED how they turned out, and the best part they were super duper cheap! I bought 1/4 yard of fabric for each frame and still had AMPLE amount of fabric left over for future projects. And since the frames where ones I already had, even better! (Actually they were cheap dollar store frames I bought ages ago) I just bulked them up a bit with cardboard and covered them with fabric! Easy-peasy-fabric-pleasy!

Before:One was white one was black

After:
Ruffle Frame

Super soft "Nona Wreath" inspired Frame

I just loved how they turned out. They are not as sturdy as say a wood frame, but way cheaper, and I wont be heart broken or breaking the bank when I decide its time to toss them.

But the frame I am most proud of is this one.

I just wish I would have taken pictures of it for the steps. But you know me, not so good at taking pictures along the way... But if you want to do something similar here is a quick tutorial!

Here is the before picture:Here is the After!

Some simple steps...
1. MEASURE- I measured the frame I was fitting it to.

2. DRAW IT OUT - I created this design in Adobe Illustrator, and then cut it out on to cardboard. But really you could just draw it out on the cardboard, then cut it out with with scissors or a knife. You can print my design here if you like this look.

3. CUT IT OUT - I have a program that cuts cardboard from my designs so it did the work for me for this one, but the other frames it kept messing up, so I ended up doing those by hand. Sometimes I think that is the best method because you use less materials from machine mishaps. .

4. REPEAT - Cut out same design with a piece of Scrapbook Paper. (or if you are super clever, glue before you cut then you only have to cut once?!)

6. GLUE - Then I glued the paper to cardboard with a good spray glue, I use Scotch brand.

5. ANTIQUE - Then I "Antiqued" the edge, you could do this a billion ways, but I used the stamp pad and stamp sponge method, so simple and great results every time. For this particular frame I did both black and white ink.

6. MODGE-PODGE - Once I had that the way I wanted, I added a very light layer of Modge-Podge.

7. GLUE AGAIN - Glue that baby to your frame and TADA! You have a unique frame that fits you and your family perfectly.

Our new Family room Collage (still a work in progress)

I had a lot of fun with this project and I love how it made our home more us, I am not 100 percent finished with the wall collage, I still have the two big frames to re-finish, but I just can't decide what color to paint them until we paint the wall behind them, so this is how they will be.

The Gold frame was actually Kory's grandmothers, isn't it just stunning?! I really love it... Which is why I think I am having a hard time refinishing it. But when I do I will make sure I post about it! I am not a huge gold fan, but even that frame is growing on me. But since our family room is blues, grey and black, I don't think it goes very well.

And I plan on refinishing that brown one in the corner. We got it for our wedding, and my husband has been wanting to ditch it for a long time, (we all know how he feels about the color Brown) I just need to buckle down and make a decision. It may be white, if I paint the wall light blue, or they may be light blue, if I paint the wall Grey.

Happy framing!

I also posted this project on this great Blog that I started reading today "the Shabby Nest" she as well as many others have some really great ideas on projects its a pretty good resource. So check it out!

Downward spiral

This post is going to be of a more serious matter. And really I just need someone to talk to, so if you read this, I am talking to you...

I have been pretty down lately.

Background:
I think it all started when my car started to make a funny noise when you pushed in the clutch, so we took it in, turns out it will cost us $800 dollars to replace. I took the news pretty hard, we just don't have that kind of money right now. And I was ultra worried we would put tons of money into it and then have it die like Kory's car did last summer. But we had them check out the engine as well (it also has an oil leak) but it turns out that is pretty cheap to fix and something we could do ourselves. So we opted to get it fixed because I need a car. I know that sounds selfish, and not very true, but I do.

Here is proof:
So that day Kory and I shared a car, and well it was TERRIBLE. I spent most of the day in the car shuttling him to and from work, and then taking my sisters kids to school. We did get a small break to play at the park and eat some lunch, but by the time Axel and I got home I was absolutely beat, and that was when the contractions started, and the back pain. So I stayed down that day, and picked up Kory that night, and cried the whole way home because I was stressed and worried I was going into labor.

That night I couldn't sleep at all I was in pain, so in the morning I called my Dr. and they put me on bed rest for that day to see if that would help the pain to stop, and since I had an appointment the next morning they decided to just wait it out to see. Luckily, the rest worked, and the pain subsided by that evening, and I didn't have a contraction every time I stood up.
My Dr. however told me because of my history, we can not take any risks, we are not in a safe place right now and that I need to take it easy the rest of my pregnancy. What does that even mean really? Everyone I talk to tells me something different, and my Dr. was VERY vague about that. So I have taken it down a notch, and for whatever reason that seems to be affecting my mood.

I am feeling pretty lonely, maybe even getting a little bit of cabin fever, especially at night after Axel goes to bed, before this all happened, I would just work on a craft or two until bed time, but now I feel like I don't have the energy to do that by the end of the day, and I don't want to chance it, so I just have to wait until I get to go to bed. It's really boring, and I am really bored.

I am not saying this because I expect people to come visit me, or anything, I just haven't had the best week, I am trying to stay positive but it seems like every time I feel like things are going good for me with this pregnancy, I am slammed with something like this. It is overwhelming to me to think about all that I can't do but need to do before this baby arrives. I feel hopeless because now I can't do any of it, and I feel like if I do, and something were to happen I would feel awful. Even taking care of Axel seems like something that I shouldn't be doing sometimes. I feel like I am putting her at risk every time I have to pick him up which I really really try hard not to do, but sometimes I have to. I have to get him out of his crib after nap time. I have to help him up and down stairs and scary things. I need to change his diapers and read him books, and help him on our couch. I just hate that I have this guilt inside. I can't stop taking care of him because it might harm her. Do I neglect the one, to take care of the other? They are both my kids and they both need me for survival. I am just torn now.

Anyway this is where I am right now. I just needed to vent and clear my head, I am sure things will start to balance out once I have my car back.

Valentines day

I better post about Our Valentines Day.

It started out good, then bad, then good, and it just got better from there.

I won't really get into the bad of my day, because I don't want anyone to be offended that they ruined my what could have been a better than spectacular Valentines Day. Because while at the time, it did put quite a rain cloud over my head for part of the day, it was still amazing and great and I got to spend it with the people I love, so I am not complaining. (If you know the full story and some of you do, please keep it to yourself...I don't want any hurt feelings)

This year I wanted to do something really special for Axel, and I thought what better way then to have a couple of his favorite cousins over for a Valentines Day Tea Party. So I went to work planning and working on stuff for the event. I also admit that this was for me as well, it's always nice to have other moms over to visit with...

So I set up a table for the kids and put up a few decorations that I made.

I made each guest a mailbox for them to decorate and to put valentines in later.
Here are the kids hard at work decorating their boxes.
After we decorated the boxes the moms and grandma helped the kids make a special Valentines involving finger paints, Axel made one for Kory :) No pictures here because I was busy washing hands and making sure we didn't get red and pink paint anywhere else in the house.

After that we had the kids sit down for story time where we read a few of my favorite books on Love. And I could have sworn I took a picture of this but I didn't.

Then we had our very special Valentines day Tea Party....these were our healthy valentines day snacks, complete with PBJ heart sandwhiches, fresh fruit, and a juice box. Who said valentines day is only about chocolate :)
The boys eventually decided that the party needed a little more testosterone, and it turned into a sword fight instead.

Axel thought that was pretty great, and thought his cousins were all super fantastic.
Maddy of course was the only one who really appreciated the tea party, she was the perfect tea party guest. Poor girl, has only boy cousins her age, our little girl will be the first girl cousin after 6 boys in a row. After all our guests went home, we went on a little stroll around the neighborhood and when I got back I put Axel on my bed while I put some stuff away and when I turned around he was out! He then slept for 3.5 hours! During that time I got a great hour and a half nap, lunch with my hubby, and a shower.
After, we visited Baby gauge in the hospital again to deliver the Valentine I had Story make early that week for Kassie, Jerome and Baby Gauge.
Then we picked up Dad at work, and some Arbys and went to see the animals and fish at Cabella's. My friend Ashley and s-in-law Kassie both suggested it, and I am so glad we went. Axel had the time of his life! He pointed to all the fun animals and could not get enough of them all. I have never seen him run around faster than he was that night.

He couldn't get enough of the fishes, he went through the cave 3 times! when we would get to the end he would turn around and go back and show us more. He was ultra excited about it. As we were leaving, there was a hunting video on and there was a fox or wolf I am not sure which, and we stopped to watch it and we were like "look Axel it's a Fox!" and he was pointing at the screen and going "Ah Ah Ah" and then BAM they shot it, and Kory jumped, and Axel jumped and everyone was just in shock. We then quickly walked away hoping we didn't scar him for life, but as we walked away we could here the fox whimpering all the way to the doors. So sad. What a great note to end on. :)

After that we went to the reception of one of my old Young Women and that was great, and Kory thinks its genius to mush Valentines day with your anniversary. We then came home and put boy to bed, and found out that the movie we got from Netflix "Dinner for Schmucks" was broken in two! So instead we watched a really dumb movie that gave me nightmares all night that Kory had a new wife, and I was telling her all about Kory and ways to be a good wife to him. AH I hate pregnancy dreams! Really they are so terrible, and vivid. I keep having dreams about this Horse head my friend Jessica bought in Seattle on a trip that she has been taking photos of in various places. It's super creepy.

But it was a fun night, we had fun as a family, and I am so glad I have these two boys in my life.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that....

It's been awhile since I posted an "Everything Axel" post. I think it's because basically MOST of the pictures I have of him are like this...

Or this

By the time I get the camera out to take a picture the moment is gone. So this week I made it my goal to be better, and document more of this very fun stage that he is in, because... in a moment it will be gone... I know poetic right?

Axel LOVES booksThis little blue chair was Kory's grandma's, and it is our FAVORITE chair in the house. I had to beg Kory to let me keep it, when they were giving it away. I still get sad the other one went to DI. At the time I thought it was absolutely adorable, and exactly what I wanted for Axel's nursery, but also it is unbelievably comfortable, even Kory will agree it is the favorite in our house. This is also the only seat that is low enough to the ground that Axel can climb up on, so we find him sitting here daily going through book after book. The picture above I found him reading to Nicolas, and the picture below with Zoe soaking in the sun.

If you want to be a pirate, just ask Axel what to do

Axel LOVES pirates. Something he picked up from his cousin Story, that we happily enforced. He even says ARRGH instead of yes most of the times. I made him this pirate patch because he is always putting things like caps over his eye, or pot holders on his head and will walk around our house saying ARRRGH! I took him and Story to Story time at the library on Thursday, and their letter for the day was R, the whole time Axel and Story beamed with harty pirate voices ARRRGH! ARRRGH! ARRRGH!

He still is a big fan of wearing sun glasses... but not shirts apparently

And wearing Grandpa's hat
And watching Backyardigans and Super Why! (His new favorite)
Kory and I always joke about what TV zombies these two are. I don't think they even noticed me taking pictures of them.

And Bubbles
This kid loves bubbles, (what kid doesn't right?) but we have this book that goes "Bubbles bubbles on my nose," This book was Axel very first FAVORITE BOOK. He had to read it every night from like 9 months on. He loved the "Ba", which later turned into Bath, and "bu" which later became "bubbles." But what is exciting about it this week, is when you say "Bubbles Bubbles on my...." He will shout "NOSE!" and finish it for you. We have been getting a big kick out of it this week. Speaking of Nose, Axel can say nose, eyes, ears and....
Pie hole. (which used to be mouth but Kory taught him to say that instead.) I am so proud....


He is remembering his LOVE for Watermelon

We visited Grandma and Grandpa Anderson this week and they sent us home with a big slice of watermelon, and we let Axel have a go at it before we cut it up for dinner. And he ATE and ATE and ATE. Which is funny because Axel's namesake (Kory's great uncle) grew watermelons in his yard, his dad recalls that his entire front lawn was a huge watermelon patch! I was sold on the name the minute I heard that story. Kory's parents are also big watermelon fans and I always feel like they are the two people who (besides my own family who also could eat watermelon at every meal) understand my craziness about watermelon. I am so glad this trait runs thick in Axel's blood :)

He also Loves walking to and from church now that it is warming up and pointing to all the things around him!

This Sunday we left church early because my brother in law Brian was getting the Melchizedek priesthood. It was such a wonderful day for their family and we were so happy to be a part of it.

He's been really into Babies lately...
This one (my very first cabbage patch)

This doll was my very first cabbage patch, I took great care of it and have been saving it for one of my daughters one day. Well the other day when going through my stuff I came across it and another rainbow bright doll, and decided I could put them in the play room for our baby girl. The next day, Axel was throwing a monster fit, I can't remember about what, and I was trying to clean up lunch, I left him in the kitchen for a minute while I took the trash out. All the while thinking he would be furious with me for 1.) not giving him what he wanted and 2.)For going outside with out him. But when I walked through our front door it was silent. I thought maybe Kory had heard him and came upstairs to his rescue, but when I walked in the kitchen I saw him sitting on the floor with the rainbow bright doll, playing with her hair, he looked up at me, showed her to me, and then gave her a big hug and kiss.
And this one. Kassie had her baby boy on Sunday, and we have visited her a few times in the hospital and Axel loves looking at him and saying "BABY". He will also point to my belly, his belly and Kory's belly and say "Baby" and sometimes he will give my baby a big hug. :)

He also LOVES this girl
Today was our last day watching this little girl for 3 months, which makes me sad for us, but happy for her and her mommy. We have loved having her over at our house to play, she is always such a delight and has taught Axel many many things about how to be awesome. As you can tell from the picture above, it just comes natural to her. When I put these on her she said "So Pretty, Cheese!" and then she waited like this until I got my camera out to take a picture. She also said "baby Gauge" a bunch of times on our way to visit her new little brother, and when I asked her what her baby's name was she yelled "Gauge!"

Axel had to be in a picture once he saw Story pose for one as well.