December!

Sorry it has been taking so long between posts...I feel like I am a very busy person/mother...

December brings on a lot for most people and for us it's no different, Christmas, of course being the big one..then there is Jaxon's birthday on the 27th, Keisha's on break from school..and I have decided to keep her home from daycare during this break so we can work on some behavioral issues and really spend some time with her.  Jaxon has been enjoying having his big sister around during the day, except when she's loud in the morning and during his naps and she wakes him up!
I found out yesterday that Jaxon has bronchitis, he hasn't been feeling well since Saturday :( he is now taking meds and is looking and feeling better already!

I am so excited for Jaxon's first Christmas and saddened that his first birthday is coming up all at the same time...my little baby is not so much a baby anymore...they do grow up too fast! He's still not walking on his own, only around furniture. He has 7 beautiful little teeth, 4 on top and 3 on bottom. He can say "Keisha", "Elmo", "no", "mama", "dada" and what ever other word he decides to mimic. Keeping him out of the tree has been a job and a half, so much that there are 2 big rubbermaid tubs blocking it off...but he still manages to get the occasional ordament.

Keisha has been a little louder and has been stiming a bit more, not sure if it's because of Christmas or what exactly, but we are working on it. She's also wanting to eat non stop..I always say "She must think I am a good cook, because everytime I am in the kitchen cooking she is in there waiting to be fed!" and it's true, I am constantly kicking her out of the kitchen..

First Snow Storm

Our first bit of snow for the season landed on November 23rd this year and of course Keisha was in heaven! She loves the snow...mostly just eating it, but she had a great time walking around in it the day after. She had 2 days off of school because of all the snow we got and that was fun for her too.

Jaxon got to see snow for the first time really..he was born in winter but we didn't take him out in it because he was too little. So his first experience was kinda funny, I don't think he understood what was falling on his face and just kept his head up and was blinking..the next day I took him out in his snow suit and he just kinda sat there looking around, not at all impressed, but so cute!

Friday November 25th was one of Keisha's friends birthday, Willow, they had a skating party at the arena! What a great idea! I'll be keeping that in mind for Keisha next year :) Allen and I took both the kids to the party and him and Keisha got their skates on and had a blast. Jaxon and I were quite cold though so maybe not as fun for us, although Jaxon enjoyed skating around with daddy...I swear Allen will have skates on him as soon as he can walk ;)

It's just a zipper...right??

Keisha's school picture grade 2!

No, in my world it's not just a zipper...every morning for the past month or so I have been fighting with Keisha about doing up her zipper, not that she doesn't want it done up, she won't do it up on her own..which to me is extremely frustrating considering she used to "know how" to do it before! All of a sudden she won't do it and stands there expecting me to do it for her, of course I refuse and I am not sure she completely understands what I am saying because she just mimics every little move I do..if I point, she points, that kind of thing...grrrrr...So it's not like I can just let her leave the house in the cold with her coat undone, what kind of mother would I be? But seriously!!! Why won't she just do up the stupid zipper so we can get on with our day??? She used to at least say "help" or her version of it which I understood and helped her but now she won't do that either! Ok..I don't usually rant on here so I am going to stop now..thanks for reading ha ha..


Last night Keisha was dancing around and Jaxon was sitting in his highchair laughing at her, I asked him "Is Keisha funny?" and he said Keisha and laughed some more!! He said Keisha a few times..right up until I grabbed the camera that is..of course! Both these kids crack me up, and sometimes drive me crazy...but I guess that's what makes me "mom" and I wouldn't trade either of them for the world!


Jaxon with one of  his many funny faces!

Jaxon has just cut tooth number 6! Thank you to a very special person for sending me the miracle necklace, You would hardly know he was teething at all!
He looks so cute with little teeth :)

Halloween...

I forgot to post about Halloween! Well Jaxon was Pooh Bear and Keisha was a Lion, We went to a Halloween dance at Keisha's school and it was very cute to see all the kids dressed up, and the kids had fun :) On Halloween night we went trick-or-treating, Keisha did well but kept trying to go in every house we went to..ha ha..cried a couple of times but got over it quickly. Jaxon was sleepy and wouldn't smile for anyone..but he was the cutest Pooh Bear ever!

Keisha turns 8!!

On November 5th 2011 Keisha turned 8! We had a party for her in our home :)

It was wonderful, I invited 5 girls from her class only 2 made it to the party..plus Lily and Sam, our friends kids. I was very excited to finally meet one girl in particular, Willow, this girls name comes up all the time in Keisha's book from school that tells us what Keisha did that day at school..almost everyday it says she played with Willow, almost everyday I pull a hand drawn picture out of Keisha's book bag that says - To K. Love W - This Kid is adorable! We also had the pleasure of Mia coming to the party, another awesome little girl! Her and Willow are so good with Keisha that it warms my heart to see them together..I have to say that I think they will all be friends for a very long time!

Lily, Willow Keisha and Mia

Decorating their own party hats!

Mia and Willow helped Keisha with hers :)

Mia, Keisha, and Willow! Three very beautiful princesses!!

When it was all over Keisha was still smiling! She had a great time and I am so happy that she enjoyed herself so much :)

She hugged the girls when they came, and hugged them again when they left.

She was the most beautiful princess I have ever seen!

A very surprising visit :)

Mid October we received a call from Allen's father, Danny, while Allen was speaking with him on the phone he asks "how would you like some company for a week?" Allen of course asks me, and I of course say "Absolutely!". Danny had never been to Nova Scotia before and had never even met Keisha before, we were thrilled to be having him come down. He told Allen he would get back to him with the details, well the next day I checked our email to find the flight details saying he would be here in 3 days! Wow...

Danny was here for almost a week, and it was great :) Allen was so happy to have him here, and so was I. The kids loved him, and took to him right away, and I knew they would.

He even helped my parents with their house project, didn't even hesitate to pick up a shovel...now I know where Allen gets his incredible work ethic.

Sorry for the wait..

With Keisha going back to school and our routine changing around here I haven't had the time to Blog...So I am going to try to sum everything up in this one..ha ha.

Keisha transitioned very well into her new school, she seems to really like it there :) As well as the after school program she is attending at the Appletree landing daycare which is two doors down from the school. She has made a few new friends at school and daycare. 

First day of school

Jaxon is now working on his third tooth! Actually crawls and is pulling himself up on everything :) He amazes me every single day with his ability to learn and his determination to do things..even when he shouldn't be :) He has learned to turn the TV off for example ..ha ha. (not good)

Two teeth on the bottom :)

Getting at the TV

That's how the kids are doing except the chicken pox scare with Keisha..turned out it wasn't..very thankful for that! Jaxon did have an eye infection, which was not good..but he has been taking his meds and is much better now :)
Allen continues to work his butt off..and I am still at home doing the cleaning, cooking and baking :)
We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for my family..about 20 + people..it went well and had lots of room for everyone, the weather was beautiful so everyone mostly stayed outside before and after dinner.

It feels like home...

I am in love with this house, the only thing that makes me sad is we are only renting it :(
I would buy this house in a heartbeat! It is the kind of house you want to raise your children in, and eventually grow old in. It has history and a story to tell, the person who owns this house grew up in this house, his father grew up in this house. It is beautiful inside and out!
I am happy that we have a yard for our kids to play in. Happy that I don't have to carry heavy groceries up 3 flights of stairs to our apartment anymore. The kids both have their own rooms and Allen and I don't have to share a room with Jaxon anymore :)
There are 2 other houses in the same drive way (more like a small road) one directly behind us, and one at the very end which we can barely see. I am home most of the time with the kids and hardly ever see anyone from those two houses except when the owner, who lives in the house at the end, when he or his son mow the grass. On both sides of us there are fields of carrots, across the road is a field of corn. There is a beautiful view of Blomidon from our deck and you can clearly see the stars at night.

The view from our deck, carrot field - trees - Blomidon



The front yard

The kids love it here, Keisha has a bigger room than she's ever had.

 Jaxon has lots of room to "crawl" around :)
Keisha has been in the trees in the front yard.
Allen gets to be a big kid and play with them with no worry of other people to watch out for no worries of the kids getting to close to the road.

Well it may not be ours to keep but for now it's home :)

Our fun filled weekend!

So this past weekend we kept Keisha with us (she usually goes to her mother's on the weekends) and we all went to visit some friends on Saturday that were camping in a campground in Annapolis called Dunromin. It's a nice place, Allen and I camped with them last year, I decided that camping with a 7 month old and Keisha wouldn't be my idea of a good time so we didn't go this year. Visiting was good enough for me and the kids :) they both got to cool off in the pool that is there, and of course Keisha loved that, to my surprise so did Jaxon! He was kicking and splashing all with a big smile on his face!

Keisha is "miss independent" in the water and actually freaks out if one of us touches her. I don't know why, because neither of us has ever done anything to make her not trust us in the water. The only thing I can think of is she doesn't want us to make her get out..ha ha. She truly is a water baby though, you will never see her happier than at a beach or in a pool.


On Sunday we went to Upper Clements Park! We had a blast! Keisha behaved very well and I am so proud of her. The only time we had a problem with her was the water slide...we waited in the line for quite a while and had a plan, Allen would go down first and wait to get Keisha when she went down then I would go down...Well that didn't work at all, Allen went down and waited, but Keisha wouldn't go down, and that meant I didn't get to go down either, so Keisha and I walked back down the stairs and I went down later by myself.
She is usually a thrill child so I don't know what scared her about the water slide, but she went on the Flume and the roller coaster :)

This is after they came down and splashed!

I am not one for roller coasters and it's not something that Jaxon could do, so him and I went to the little kiddie pool while Allen and Keisha went on the roller coaster, He of course loved it. There was a little girl there that took a liking to Jaxon and came over and started talking to us. She couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 years old, so cute. She says " I can walk on my knees in the water." I said "You can?" She says "Yup". Then she says "I have a baby brother" I asked her how old he is and she says "I can't remember" I laugh. She starts talking to Jaxon and making noises for him and he goes crazy laughing and kicking and splashing her, it was adorable! I think he wants Keisha to pay attention to him like that, she tries to I think, but it's not her thing.

I took Jaxon on a kiddie truck ride. Him and I sat in the back and Keisha drove :)

I can't wait for next year when Jaxon will understand better what rides are all about :) Although he had some serious interest in the steering wheel, drives like his daddy, one hand on the wheel :)

Cooking Gluten Free

Keisha has Celiacs disease, which means she can't have gluten.
I have been having fun experimenting with some Gluten Free recipes for Keisha, and so far so good..I have made Popovers, which are amazing!

And Pancakes that I found kinda on the dry side, Keisha likes them, I'll modify the recipe next time...

And Banana Muffins..also amazing :)

There quite a few recipes I want to try now that Keisha will try new things. People ask me all the time "if she can't have gluten or wheat, isn't it hard to feed her?" the answer is no. There are plenty of gluten free foods available and are getting cheaper. We also have Keisha on a casein and yeast free diet (casein is a protein in dairy products) because I have personally done a lot of research online and in every book about Autism that I can get my hands on, and they all say that casein and yeast affect them in negative ways. I asked Allen if we could try it with Keisha and he agreed, so far we can see a big difference in her she is far less moody and aggressive. Keisha, before this, would eat up to 6 gluten free buns with at least 1 slice of cheese on each a day! Not to mention the 2 or more minigo yogurt she was also eating a day! Those buns have yeast and casein in them, not good :(  So I went researching again and found a recipe for buns that had no yeast and I switched out the cow's milk for almond milk like I do with every other recipe :)
I have also noticed that since she doesn't have those "toxins" in her system she is more willing to try new foods, she now eats just about anything when she's home, and I mostly cook gluten free. It's much easier than making 2 different meals and maybe a little healthier for all of us ;)


Example of supper - Pork roast, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, green and yellow beans and basmati rice.

As you can see, she enjoys it :)

If you want something cleaned...

...just leave Keisha alone in a room...she has spent most of this rainy day cleaning, when I say cleaning I mean Keisha's way of cleaning, more like organizing. She picked up all of Jaxon's toys in the livingroom, picked up any blankets or cloths laying around in the livingroom and diningroom (just don't ask me where she put them?) I just watched her take a dishcloth from the counter and hang it on the oven door, which is something her father does..ha ha..what a kid! Now if only I could get her to wash dishes!

Supper time rolls around and Keisha sees some squash on the counter that I made for Jaxon, and I'm sure she thinks it's sweet potato something she's been eating everyday this week like it's going out of style, and decides she's hungry and taps on the pan..of course I tell her ask me using her book (knowing that there is no picture for squash or sweet potato) wanting to see how she'll ask for this...she comes back with a picture for carrots..haha..so I gave her carrots and squash and some turkey and she ate it all :) Like I said...what a kid <3

Jaxon is the cookie monster around here, he loves his cookies! He makes the biggest mess I have ever seen...I mean you haven't seen a mess until you've had kids! There isn't too many foods he will refuse either..so much like his dad. He's getting around too, just not when I'm watching, he will wait until I leave the room I come back and he's on the other side of the room! All I ever see him do is get on his hands and knees! I swear he likes to tease me :) Just like saying "dadadada" first..ha ha well now all he says is "mamama" and "mom" not dadada anymore..I am sure my fascination with this is going to fade quickly and I will be wishing he was calling for "dada" again instead of me..

I love my family, I adore these kids!

There is a first time for everything :)

Well here I am doing a blog site...who knew? Ha ha..I thought this would be a good idea to keep up with Keisha and Jaxon and all the things they shock me with everyday.  As well as letting everyone that is afar get to know Keisha and Jaxon.

So here they are my beautiful step-daughter and my handsome son

Keisha is 7 and Jaxon is about 3 months in this picture.

Now a little update from our lives:

Jaxon was born on December 27th 2010 at 2:39am, so he was 3 days late, but still small weighing 6lbs 14oz. Keisha was a little overwhelmed at first and cried every time he cried, which wasn't very often thankfully.

Allen proposed to me on Valentines day this year and I of course said yes :) not sure when the wedding will be yet, we need to get settled first.

We moved from our 2 bedroom apartment in Halifax to a beautiful 3 bedroom house in Centreville (an hour away) closer to my family. So far Allen and I are both in love with this place, and I know I am feeling more relaxed living in the valley again.

Keisha is set to attend school at Glooscap Elementary going into grade 2 in September. She has met the principal and her teacher, and has a tour of the school. They are very excited to have her, just as her previous school was sad to see her leave.

Allen has a new job doing construction and he is loving it :)