Christmas Laughs, Disasters & Humiliation

*** This is a bit long, but you will get a good laugh at the end... I promise!***

Oh, how I wish I could say that our first Christmas as a family of 3 was picture perfect. Let's start with Christmas Eve.

After Jaxon left cookies for Santa we went off to Brian's friend, Mike Duhon's house. We had a really nice time with his family and our other friend Christina & her daughter. (My family celebrated Christmas Eve on the 23rd since that was the night my dad was home) When we got home later that night, my family and I did our traditionally pajama exchange. For as long as I can remember my mom always bought my brother and me brand new pj's for Christmas Eve. We slept in our new jammies and had something new and "nice" on when pictures were being taken during Christmas morning (I think this is where my obsession for having a new outfit for special occasions came from.. special occasions to me are anything from picture day at school to dinner out to any sort of social gathering!) Even though we are now both out of the house, the tradition continues. A few years back I started buying a new pajama for my mom too, because why shouldn't she have a new "outfit" on Christmas Day? This year being like every other, I was anxious and excited to open my pjs. Gift bags & boxes were exchanged and I was the first one to open mine! I take one look at my pj and start giggling, but not too much because no one else has opened theirs yet and I don't want to take away from their pj moment. As always my mom was the last to open hers and it was killing me! She is looking anxiously at my brother, Brian and me to see what we think of her present. I am trying to be nice and say, "This is cute." All the while suppressing my laugh. You see... as soon as I look at the pajama my mom bought me I notice that it is the same one I got her!!! Are you kidding me?! Am I already becoming my mother!? She finally opens hers and immediately starts laughing. I don't think I have ever seen her laugh so hard. I think the best part is that this isn't the first time it has happened! We bought each other the same pjs last year too, just a different pattern! Next year I may shop at Goodwill for hers! :)

Onto Christmas Day... Jaxon had a blast opening presents! He was actually quite good at it. Remember the magazine he destroyed? Presents were no exception. We had more fun watching him tear paper than we did opening our gifts. He has gotten SOOO many things! I have been giving him presents since before we left ABQ, I guess I thought we celebrated Hanukkah because he has literally gotten a present a day it seems. His favorite (besides the wrapping paper) are the plastic stackers. He LOVES those things!

I can really rip this Mama?

Izzie lends a helping hand

OOO There's more?

After he spent an hour opening and playing with his presents he took a nap and the rest of us got ready to have Christmas Day lunch/dinner with the Pearson's.

I was in charge of bringing a broccoli casserole & my mom was in charge of the dessert. Off we go to Sue's house with presents in hand.

Brian, Jax & I are the first ones to arrive. We hang out with Sue for a bit and Jax starts to get cranky... time for the afternoon nap. I go into Brian's old room and am putting him down when I hear Sue say, "We are also having Anabelle's casserole." Uh Oh!!! Remember what I was in charge of? Ugh yeah I kinda forgot to make it!! Seriously! I run to the kitchen and I see Brian with a look only he can give him like, "You goofed and I am loving it!" Sue was very nice and was like don't worry about it we have potatoes and Kathy is bringing such and such. Well, that wasn't good enough for me I was told to make something and by golly I was going to do. I jumped in the car to go to Safeway to buy what I needed. Well, it's Christmas, Safeway isn't open on Christmas! Crap what was I going to do? Luckily my mom was running late and hadn't left her house yet. She was going to bring the ingredients. When she arrives half an hour later I whip up this broccoli casserole & put it in the oven. Thank goodness there is really nothing to this thing. About 25 minutes later I check to see if its ready. I pull rack out, take the glass lid off & put it on the stove. "I think it needs a few more minutes." With the oven mitt on my left hand I pick up the hot, glass lid with my right hand! Yup, that's right I pick up a scalding hot lid with my bare hand. What's a girl to do, but to drop the lid. It hits the ceramic bowl the food is in, slides off the oven door and shatters on the tile floor! I could not believe that happened in front of the entire family! Everyone was watching in slow motion. Once the lid shatter into a million pieces everyone jumped into action. They were so sweet, all except Brian who just kept laughing at me. I took care of my hand (this wasn't the first time I had done something like this) and dinner was on its way... broccoli casserole and all!

Oh, you think that's the only humiliation I suffered this weekend? Wrong! The next day Brian and I got out for a much needed movie date. We went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button... I only recommend this movie if you can spare 3 hours of your life and you enjoy a slow movie. Not our best pick.

When the movie was over, Brian and I went to our respective bathrooms and said "Meet you in the front." I come out of the bathroom and see Brian standing in the lobby. I walk over to him, grab his butt and say, "Let's go babe." I can't remember what I heard next, but I look back to see this man WAS NOT BRIAN!! He says to me, "I don't think I know you." I was mortified! I quickly stutter, "Oh no, you look just like my husband. I am so sorry." All the while, i am trying not to look at him because I was so humiliated. There is a lady standing not to far from us who sees the whole thing and she is dying laughing. I am telling you this guy looked just like Brian, same height, same black shirt, jeans and tennis shoes. The guys even wore the same square glasses! Only problem... Brian doesn't wear glasses anymore, oops forgot that little detail about my husband!

I finally see Brian, not anywhere near where I fondled a stranger and he takes one look at me and says, "What did you do!?" Do I tell him? I wonder. Well, he found this absolutely hilarious and I don't think will ever let me live it down. From now on I am not smacking anyone in the booty that's for sure!

Jaxon Tries to leave Cookies

Brian & I were super excited for Jaxon's first Christmas and couldn't wait to get started! So as we all do on Christmas Eve we left cookies for Santa. He was too funny. I put in front of the tree for a photo-op. My thought was, sit him in front of the tree with a plate of cookies in front of him, snap the picture and be on our way. Apparently Jax takes after his father and loves chocolate chip cookies already! As soon as he saw the cookies he lunged for them! He was too funny. He would not rest until he had those cookies in his hands. At one point the 1 cookie wasn't enough and he had to go for the entire plate.

Of course, wherever there is food Lucy and Izzie are nearby! They were going nuts. They saw cookies flying and were trying their darnest to snag one. They are both smart enough not to get too close to Jax when he is flailing his arms about so they were unsuccessful.

Hmm.. what's this?

I must get one!

Maybe I would like all of the cookies!
Hey, where did they all go?

I totally understand why Daddy loves these cookies!

Don't worry... I didn't let him eat the cookie! I don't even think he got it in his mouth before someone yelled, "Don't let him eat the cookie! He'll get sick." That someone wasn't me or Brian... I wonder who? :)

I wonder who had more fun us or Jaxon?

Magazine Destroyer!

The other day, Brian and I are trying to get ready to go out for the day and of course that's when Jax wants to be held. Well, this time there weren't enough arms or time for that. We put him in the middle of the bed in front of the dresser mirror hoping he would entertain himself. He entertained himself all right, but not with his handsome little reflection... with my US magazine! Here he is looking pleased as punch. This kept him occupied for a good half hour and it was a great way to get ready for Christmas!

We Made It!

The Pearson's arrived safely in Tucson yesterday! We left Albuquerque bright and early Saturday morning... only 15 minutes behind our original schedule, not too bad for us!
We get in the car and Lucy immediately starts whining. Ugh! Of course Brian (Mr. Patient-HA) gets irritated right away and I tell him not to worry she will calm down in a few minutes. Not so much. Then before we even get on the freeway Jaxon starts crying! Seriously? We aren't even a half hour into our trip and both our kids are ready to be out of the car. This was going to be fun! To please our little guy, I crawl into the back seat to entertain him. He is happy to see someone back there with him, so he stops crying. Lucy however, isn't so happy to be upfront with just Brian so she jumps into the back seat with me. Oh, but she can't find her own spot, she walks over me and right into Jaxon's lap! She is literally sitting in his car seat with him! She is too much! Jax was thrilled, not only was Mama with him but so was his favorite furry friend. That only lasted a few minutes though, because he got a hold of her tail that was the end of that cozy scene.

The next 5 hours were pretty uneventful, I spent most of that time going from the front to the back. Jaxon actually slept on and off for 3 hours. I miss my teeny little baby though. It wasn't as convinient to change him in the front seat when we stopped. The last time we drove home he fit nicely on the seat, this time his heas was jammed against the seatbelt buckle and his feet were hanging off the edge. Not so comfy, but better than taking him into a nasty Deming,NM gas station bathroom that's for sure! He was just happy to be out of his carseat for a few minutes.

Our plan was to get here by 2, hang out and get settled for a few hours and then off to Brian's work Christmas party we would go. Well, someone had other plans for us. We were an hour away from Tucson and we were all done with being in the car. Jaxon was starting to cry and Brian says to him, "Don't worry buddy we are almost there just one more hour. Hang in there." That was at 12:45 not one minute later we come to a stand still! No one is moving. After about 5 minutes of sitting in a parking lot I call my good friend Officer Brian Bunch to ask him what is going on. He tell me that a truck caught on fire and they had to close the freeway, but not to worry they were going to open one lane of traffic in 10 minutes. Okay we can handle that. Uhh not so much! 1 1/2 hours later we were FINALLY moving. By this time you can only imagine how pleasant the Pearson Boys were, you know how patient they both are! That was a fun time in the car let me tell you. There went our perfect plan of getting to my parent's house and have a few hours to settle in before heading out again. I felt bad for poor Jax & Lucy, we literally threw both of them at my mom, showered and headed out the door... again!
Oh well, we made it and are happy to be in warm weather again. I think we should become snow birds...

Tucson Here We Come!

Tomorrow the Pearson's hit the road! If anyone knows of any speed traps on I-25 South & I-10 West let us know... you all know how Brian drives! :)
We have packed up our car until it is ready to explode and should hopefully be on the road by 6:45 am. Wish us luck because in the past few weeks Jaxon has come to dislike his carseat very much.
We will be in Tucson until the 4th so we hope to see as many people as we can during that time. See you soon!

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow!

We had our first "Official" snow of the season. It snowed all day Monday and all Monday night. We bundled Jaxon up and took him outside (in the afternoon, after his visit to the eye dr. and nap) to see snow for the first time. He was not impressed! He just gave us this look like, "yeah it's snow what's the big deal?" Brian says he is a Tucson boy at heart and wants nothing to do with cold weather, can't say that I blame him. Lucy on the other hand loves the snow! She tries to catch snowflakes and chases them around... sooo funny!

Since it was snowing so much, Brian went out to buy a snow shovel and salt. He has finally learned his lesson after 2 years of borrowing snow shovels or not shoveling at all. He shoveled the driveway 3 times between 4:30 and 8:00 pm. at 8:00 pm he decided to give it one last shovel before the morning. I went out at about 8:30 to tell him we were going to have a delay day the next morning. He was nowhere in sight and the driveway was not clear. I'm thinking "Where is he and what has he been doing for the past half hour?" A minute later he come walking up from the neighbor's house. I immediately say, "Were you just hangin' out at Dave's house this whole time?Weren't you supposed to be shoveling the driveway?" He says, "I did! I just went over to Dave's to give him some salt and the driveway is covered again." SO he started shoveling again for the 3rd time and I walked back inside... no way did I want to be given a job! Poor guy. I did feel bad. Even though he walks in a little bit later, all wet and cold, with a huge smile on his face and says, "That was actually fun!" Huh? Shoveling snow in 20 degree weather does not sound fun to me. But to Brian it was. He is so random. Here are pictures of our snow. This snow actually gave me a snow day! And they think we may have another one on Friday, which if we do, I would have worked zero days this week!

Lucy chasing snowflakes

Our front yard. Anyone wanna buy that house on the corner? We are GREAT neighbors!

This is supposed to be a bunny in the middle of the road. Just sitting. I tried getting a picture, but you can't see him. I love how the snowflakes glow though.

Our LONG Visit to the Eye Doctor

A few months of ago when I went in for my annual eye exam, the optometrist told me about a program she participates in called InfantSee. It is a free program for infants 6-9 months and they exam your baby's eyes to make sure everything is well. Well, I decided I would take advantage of it, I don't want Jax to have a lazy eye and ignore it!


I scheduled his appointment at 7:45 am Monday morning, yes VERY early for my day off. I figured this was the perfect time: Jax wakes up around 7:00 am, I would feed him, dress him and leave the house at 7:30 am. His nap time is at 9:00 am, we would be home by 8:30 am, at the latest perfect timing! Right? WRONG! I get there right on time, fill out all of the forms and go back into the exam room. The eye tech (?) does a her little tests with him and asks me some questions, then says I'm going to page the doctor she will be here shortly. It is now 8:15 am and I am thinking "Page the doctor? Isn't she here?" So Jax & I wait, the doctor show up at 8:35 am. She starts doing her tests and he is being cooperative for about 5 minutes. He starts to get fussy and she is like, "Oh you are doing great just hang in there for a few more minutes." I tell her his nap time is at 9:00 am so he probably won't last very much longer. Now it is 8:45 and the doctor says, "The tech is coming in to give him drops and I will be back in 15 minutes to look in his eye." 15 minutes!! This kid is going to lose his marbles if he doesn't get to sleep soon.


Drops go in, he does fine, maybe we can make it 15 more minutes. The tech leaves and it's just me and Jax. I had to pull out all of the stops, sitting in the chair, sitting on the floor (on top of my jacket), singing, dancing, walking up and down the hallway. We did it all. All the while time is ticking away and he is getting fussier and fussier.


It is now 9:15?!?! What happened to 15 minutes? By now Jax couldn't keep his peepers open a second longer and he fell asleep on my shoulder... he NEVER does that! I finally see the doctor walk by our exam room with her purse! The lady left the office to do a Starbucks run in the middle of our exam! She FINALLY walks in at 9:40 am. We have been there 2 hours. So much for my perfect timing. She finishes her exam, with a barely awake Jaxon and we are on our way home 2 hours and 20 minutes later. To make things even more adventurous, it was snowing when we walked out the door. Well, not really adventurous... just something different.

Jaxon waiting as patiently as he can in the exam chair. He is such a big boy!

I Need a Full-Time Job

Well, not really, but if I did I definietly wouldn't have time to sit and blog for hours! These are just some cute pictures. No story, nothing to them, just cute (at least I thought so).

Jaxon really felt comfortable with my brother. How cute! I'm not sure Jose knew what to do.
Lucy isn't allowed on our new couch in the living room, so she thinks it is perfectly okay to sleep on the couch in Brian's office. This is her new hiding place from Jaxon. She looks a little annoyed that I interrupted her nap... on the pillow! What a dog!
The look on his face just cracks me up! He is so stinkin' cute! ... says his mother.

What?!

Now you understand why I need a full time job!

PS I never knew I could/would love someone so much! Everyone is right when they say kids are the best thing to happen to you. I cannot imagine what life would be like without this little guy. The best part though, is watching Brian with him. He simply adores his son. I really never thought Brian would be as wonderful as he is with Jaxon. He is truly a great dad.

Thank You, Ami!

I just wanted to thank Ami for introducing me to the wonderful world of modge podge or mod podge, or podge podge or hodge podge. Whatever its name (and there seems to be many courtesy of Brian Bunch and my Brian) it is the BEST THING EVER! I neglected my house duties today and modge podged picture frames for my co-workers. It was so fun! I want to modge podge everything. Watch out Sarah, I think we have a new craft! Ami, start thinking of things we can to over Christmas Break. Here are some of my creations. I cannot take credit for this idea though, I did steal it from Ami's sister-in-law Kristen. It's still cute !

He Sits Up!

We hit a big milestone this weekend!! Jaxon sat up! Ok, so he has been a "supported sitter" for awhile now, but I wasn't sure when I should count it as an "official" sit up. I asked Elizabeth (my job share teacher), she has 3 kids and is my go-to for anything baby. I figure having 3 kids makes her an expert. She told me she it would be official if I could walk away, confidently, knowing he would still be sitting when I got back. Saturday was the day! I was doing something with the coat closet (for the life of me I cannot remember what) and of course he had to be right there with me. So I sat him on the floor figuring he would flop over momentarily. Nope he kept on sitting. I was in awe. I sat in front of him, on point, just waiting to catch him. He kept on sitting. He even put his fingers in his mouth without falling! After a few minutes I was confident I could get the camera and he would still be sitting there. Yup. I got the camera and his smiling face was waiting for me. Here are a couple, I had to refrain from putting all of them up. I think I took 10 and they all look pretty much the same.

Lucy came by to give him some moral support.

Now that he is sitting up I knew it was time for a high chair! It didn't hurt that he was starting to wiggle his way out of his Bumbo chair. Off we went to the happiest place on earth... TARGET! The best part, according to Brian, is that there is no assembly required! The high chair works perfectly because there is nothing interesting (yet) behind me. His favorite thing lately was to throw his head back to look at the light or to try to grab whatever seasonal decoration was on the table. It made it a lot easier to feed him.. how long will it last?

Ready to eat!

Jaxon Throws a Fit

I know that every time I write in this blog I go on and on about how great and happy Jaxon is. And I am sure you are all thinking I am in delusional, a baby can't be so perfect all of the time! Well, here it is. Jax had a complete meltdown for absolutely no reason this evening. Of course I had to get it on video, I may need all of the blackmail I can get later on in life :) You may want to turn down your volume on your computer, he gets pretty loud. All I can say is thank goodness for the pacifier! even though it didn't last too long.

Kindergarten Word of the Day...

BUTTHOLE! The mosquitoe strikes again! Yesterday morning I was a butthole. Good times. In the afternoon when I put him in time out he told me, "I'm going to spank you, Mrs. Pearson, I am." Oh he wasn't kidding, he did hit me on his 3rd time out in 15 minutes. Nice! The thing about this kid is that he his yelling at me one minute and the next he is hugging me. All of us (my aide, the teacher I job share with & me) would like to adopt him and give him a good home. Because in case you haven't guessed it, he hasn't exactly had the best childhood. Poor kid just needs someone to love him and teach him right from wrong.

Quick Tucson Trip

Last Wednesday, Brian surprised me with a plane ticket to Tucson for the weekend! Yippee! I think he was feeling sad for me, since I kinda gave him a sob story the night before about how I am missing all of the fun stuff Ami is doing to get ready for her triplets and so on and so forth. So off to Tucson we went to do baby crafts!
I must admit that while I was super excited to go home and enjoy some warm weather, I was also VERY nervous to fly all by myself with the little guy. I mean, how was I going to get from the car to the ticket counter with all of my stuff? Thankfully, people saw me with a baby alone, and offered to help. The driver of the Airport Parking, where I parked, told me that I was going to check in at the curb and that was that. I said, "Oh no. I should be okay." She says, "I am not taking no for an answer." When we got to the curb, she really didn't give me a choice. She took my suitcase to the curbside check-in and got one of the outside agents and told him to take good care of me. How sweet was that? After that it was pretty smooth sailing. Although, I think that Jax needs to lose a bit of weight, he is getting quite heavy to carry! One piece of advice if you will be traveling with an infant by yourself without a stroller... wear pants that do not require a belt! It was tricky to put my belt back on after security with only one hand.
Once again, Jaxon was a good boy on the plane. He is such a charmer. He smiled, laughed and "talked" to everyone that walked by. He made a lot of new friends on both flights.
Once in Tucson, my parents were in charge! The were so happy to see him before Christmas. Jax had a ton of fun with them, especially my dad. He was just fascinated by him.
While my parents babysat, off I went to shop for crafts with the girls. FUN FUN!
We had a great time and were happy to have this improtu trip home. I was loving being able to wear flip flops in Decemeber and no jacket! Then I come home Monday night and Tuesday morning it snows in ABQ!! BLAH! I guess I don't have to say that I am looking forward to a longer visit just next week!

One For the Record Books

I have told you stories of my little "mosquito". Yup you know the one, "I'm from Vegas, Mother F'ers." Well, this morning he came in ON FIRE! Holy guacomole was he a handfull. So, I decided I was going to start out tough and not let him walk all over me. When it came time to have Morning Meeting, he refused to sit with the class so I said, "Fine, go to time out for not following directions." His response, "No you freak! I won't go to time out!" WHAT!!!! I could not believe it. I swear my mouth dropped to the floor. I didn't know whether to laugh or spank him (kidding). I took the only way out... I ignored him. What was I supposed to do. Really I had to take a moment to compose myself. As he is running wildly around the classroom (you think I am joking, not so much!) I calmly say, "Johnny, please come join us I would really like you to participate." Eventually he came right up to my chair while I was talking, with a book. He starts talking about this book. I tell him we can't chat right now, maybe later. He keeps talking. Again, ignore him. Well, he was done with that! He starts yelling at me, "Freak, freak freak, freak." Are you kidding me? And it was only half an hour into the school day! You can only imagine how the rest of the day went. Needless to say I am drinking tonight! :)
I can confidently say that I am SUPER happy I only work part-time. If I had to deal with this everyday I may be an alcoholic or in a mental institution.

Construction is Finished!

By the way, the construction on our house is FINALLY FINISHED! Whew! It was done just in time for Thanksgiving. We are very happy it is done and with the work Luis did. You can't even tell where the walls were added.

Jaxon's First Cold

My poor baby spent the rest of his Thanksgiving weekend with his first cold. It started on Thursday night with a little runny nose. Friday and Saturday were the worst. His poor little eyes were sad and watery and his nose couldn't decide if it wanted to run or be stuffed up. But as always he was a trooper! No fussiness or crankiness, just a sad little guy. To cheer him up, Grammy Sue bought him a cute little teddy bear she named Bear. Too cute and it did the trick. The minute Jax saw Bear he started squealing and telling him all sorts of things! It was very cute.
He is a much better sick person than Brian is that's for sure! Even Brian admitted it. Brian being a bit of a hypocondriach (sp), is using hand sanitizer (or hanitizer as my kinders call it) after every time he holds Jaxon, he is taking Airborne & vitamin C like it's going out of style and avoids having Jax kiss him or touch him with his slimy hands. Seriously! Then there's me, Jax puts his slobbery hand in my mouth, sucks on my face sneezes on me.... So I wonder who will be sick next?! Probably Brian! :) Then I will really have a fussy & cranky baby on my hands. Hee hee!

Jaxon lovin' on Bear

Not too sick to eat! Look at his watery eyes and drippy nose. Poor Baby!

We bundled him up to take Grammy to the airport, still sad & sick.

A Quiet & Lazy Thanksgiving

The Pearson's had a great Thanksgiving! Sue, Brian's mom, came to spend the holiday with us again... must not have been too bad the first time :) Since it was just going to be the 4 of us, we decided sweet & simple would be best. I made turkey with all the fixins'... well not ALL the fixins'. Just stuffing, potatoes, Kate Brooks' broccoli casserole, rolls & a pumpkin cheesecake. I must brag and say I made everything all by myself, from scratch! Ok, maybe not the potatoes, but everything else. And it was all yummy! I am most proud of the pumpkin cheesecake. That was so delicious! It will most definitely become a must have in this family! We cooked, drank Sangria, played Yahtzee, played with Jax & Lucy and pretty much just vegged out the entire weekend. It was great to have Sue out here for a few days to spend time with her youngest grandson. He is absolutely in love with his Grammy Sue. He loved telling her stories, showing off his dance moves & practicing sitting up and of course having her feed him!

Oh yes, the dancing... Brian's new favorite thing is the Salsa music channel! He loves putting it on and having Jaxon dance. The funny thing is, is that Jaxon actually likes it! If he is starting to get fussy, we turn on Salsa and poof! happy baby is back! As soon as he hears it he laughs and his little arms and feet start flapping and moving all over the place. It is very cute. He definitely has Puerto Rican blood in him!

On Black Friday, Brian opted not to shop and went golfing instead. Sue & I, however, braved the crowds and shopping we went! We didn't last very long though. We bought Jax a few Christmas presents and back home we went, but we can say we shopped on Black Friday to help the economy!

Playing with Grammy Sue

Getting ready to cook with Pilgrim Jaxon as a helper!

Brian with his Little Pilgrim

Grammy Sue feeding Jaxon. He was more interested in playing with her.

Turkey's done! Cooking it in the bag is the way to go!

Brian carves the yummy turkey.