Chicken pox at 10 months

Sometimes right when you think life is going great, germs come and throw off your family groove. Jax was exposed to the chicken pox a couple weeks ago and his body tried really hard to fight it off but the spots finally came out last weekend. I explained a little about how this happened on my insta stories but in case you missed it, long story short Jax was exposed to it through another family member. (PSA for all you parents out there: if you think your kid is contagious even a little bit please stay home) This could've been avoided but looking at it with a positive perspective we're glad that he is getting them out of the way when he is little. He can't really itch his spots and it seems to be a more mild case with no other side effects other than those pesky spots. While we get over this little setback Jax is getting extra baths, staying in his jammies all day, and has been getting all the extra snuggles and Elmo he wants. I think he may be through the worst of it, now he's just at the stage where he looks like a 14 year old boy who just started puberty. 

In this middle of all this fun Jax turned 10 months! 2 more months and we will have a one year old y'all! I know every mom says it but man... time flies by! Fabian and I talked about the big one year old birthday party and decided against throwing a big party but I have a feeling that might be changing. I mean not only are we celebrating Jax but we, as parents, kept a human alive for a whole year! That should be celebrated right?

Jax has been consistently using his baby signs to tell us, mas (more), leche (milk), and all done. We've been working a lot on please and thank you because we would love for that to replace the karate sounding grunt he makes when asking for something. He also is soooo ready to start walking. He has been cruising along anything he can find. The couch, the dining table, the bathtub, he even takes one of his toys and will downward dog through the hallway. I am hoping we can see his first step but I have a feeling we're just gonna turn around he is going to be running.

I've had some people ask me about us speaking both Spanish and English to Jax and how that is working. Well here's the thing about babies, they are a clean slate. The more we teach him the more he learns and Jax responds to both languages. I would say our home and lifestyle is 50/50. Fabian is the one who speaks the most Spanish in our home. I am not the fluent parent but I am doing my best and am for sure learning more as we teach Jax. We listen to Spanish songs, are around family members who speak both Spanish and English and are submersing him in his culture. I love that Jax is going to be bi-lingual and that we can give him that gift as his parents. We're hoping in the next couple months we can get some words out of him, it will be interesting to see which language he speaks first!

Any first birthday party advice? Did you decide to do it big or small? Smash cake? Taco truck? Tell me your thoughts cause it looks like not only should we start saving but we should start planning too. 

- Bethany & Fabian 

Our 7 Month Old

 

Jax has one tooth, three more on the way and is starting to crawl. He is about one more day away from asking for the car keys. Seriously, that's how fast I feel like time is flying by! I am still ok with it though because the more active he gets the more fun he becomes.

He has been working on his solids for a couple months but this past month he really amped it up. I realized quickly that all those baby food purees were not going to be his thing and he would prefer to eat whatever is on mine or Papi's plates. We're totally ok with that! His favorites are avocados, frijoles, applesauce, and huevos. And don't forget any and all types of puffs. We're still working on his sippy cup skills and thankfully he hasn't used any of his ninja skills when it comes to his sippy cup. Although I am sure a sippy cup flying across the dining room is in our near future.

This past month he had his first trip to the ER and it was scary. While Fabian was just getting over the flu and I had some type of viral sinus thing going on, Jax was congested and started to wheeze and develop a croup-y cough. Note to all those parents out there, be sure you know where your closest urgent care center is because when we got in the car at midnight neither of us knew where we were going. And in panic mode it's really hard to figure it out. Thankfully we walked right in and they gave Jax some incredible care. Within about 5 days he was back to his loud and active self.

I know these next few months he is going to change and become this little toddler and as much as we will miss the baby stage, I think we're ready to have a toddler crawling around our feet. At least my back and arms are ready for him to start moving more on his own. He is currently 23lbs and very squirmy.

Caring for Jax has been one of our greatest joys. I am reminded daily that the life we are building now is our legacy for him. Each moment of training and each day full of hard work is for the generation that is coming up behind us. No pressure, but that for sure makes us want to be better parents.

-Fabian & Bee and of course Jax

Six month old baby Jax

Halfway to a year old? We cannot believe that six months ago Jax was born? These past 6 months have been filled with a lot of change for our family but having Jax along for the ride has been the best. Now that he is getting older his personality is definitely coming out and it's hilarious. He responds to Nacho Libre quotes and finds the simplest things giggle worthy. He will also rotate himself 360 degrees in 2 seconds flat. This boy is fast and very curious about everything.  

This past month Jax has begun to recognize the family in his life and has started reaching out to Mama and Papi and even friends at church that reach their hands out to him. Along with recognizing faces he has also developed a little stranger anxiety and will do a quick glance back at Fabian or myself to reassure him that he is ok. He has been hearing and responding to more Spanish lately. We have been doing our best to give him a good balance of both languages. He also knows the signs for 'leche', 'eat', and 'all done'. We're working on adding 'diaper change' and 'more' into the mix this next month. 

 

He has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, and a strawberry/apple mixture. He really could care less about them. He just wants the leche. Also, right before he turned 5 months I decided to stop breastfeeding. It was hard and I had a couple moments of tears but my body wasn't producing any more milk. For me it was perfect timing because he wasn't super attached to me and weaning him off was easy to do. Also, I think it was really stressing me out and that stress along with dieting had a big affect on my milk.  

He is rolling over both ways but still prefers to be on his belly most of the time. He rolls over so quickly and if he rolls from belly to back he scares himself a little bit. Another thing that we have been dealing with was little night terrors. He has had three moments during the night where he will wake up crying shortly after I put him down to sleep. You know as parents you can start to tell the difference with your children's cries? Well this one is different. It tears our hearts apart. He will scream and cry for about 10 minutes and then settle back down and sleep through the night.

 

We've been doing a little experimenting because we weren't too sure if they were actually night terrors or possible acid reflux or some trapped gas? A friend suggested burping him a little longer before laying him down at night to make sure that all the gas was out. It seems to be helping and so far we haven't had any other issues with it. We also went to war in his bedroom and our house. We prayed against anything that may be trying to sneak it's way into our home. That's our greatest weapon. 

We are so excited for Christmas and to share this time with our family and friends. Jax is at such a perfect age right now to be out and about during the Holidays. We may not be able to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve but we'll get as close as we can. 

 

-F & B