Jeremy

Joshua, Jarrett

Jaxon

This Santa-In-Training might not be able to grow a full beard for a number of years. But, he has the belly for it now.

"I think this standing thing is really going to work out. I can almost reach the TV."

We were making two houses until a certain little boy started eating one when no one was looking. They said their brother, Not Me Hathcock, was the guilty party. (He gets blaimed for everything.) But, the crumbs on the young Mr. Jarrett's face gave him away.

Did someone say

SMILE?

Mickey is just the coolest guy around. This one likes to hang out at the hospital that Jarrett goes to.

Snow!

A great surprise for the boys to wake up to. I felt bad about sending Jeremy and Joshua off the school on the first day of snow in two years. For Jarrett, this was the first snow that he was old enough to play in. We had a great time running around the yard after Joshua gave him a crash course in snowball making.

So far so good. No broken bones. No blood. And, he still has all of his teeth.

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Don't even think of leaving Jarrett out of the fun. As soon as Joshua's new scooter (Thanks Grandma and Grandad!) came in the mail, Jarrett was all over Joshua's old scooter. So far, he hasn't been all over the pavement.

There is always plent of action at the park. And, everyone is always happy to have their picture taken.

A lot can be learned on the playground. On this day, Jarrett learned that Joshua is NOT a pinata. And, no matter how hard you hit him or how big your stick is, you will not get any candy out of him.

I told Philip that I thought he looked like a starfish. Philip thinks he looks like Sponge Bob's side kick, Patrick.

If you look close, you can see Jeremy is missing his two top teeth. They fell out right after Christmas. His hair has finally grown out. That has put a smile on my face. I wish this picture had scanned better. In the photo, you could see how blue his eyes are. They are a beautiful blue that really stands out. Joshua has the green eyes. And, Jarrett still has gray eyes. Jaxon's eyes are looking exactly like Jeremy's.

What can I say?

He is an angel.

HERE'S WHAT'S NEW WITH US
� We have been busy lately. At the end of January, we took Jarrett to the Arthrogryposis clinic to see his hand and foot doctors. Everyone was really pleased with his improvements. He moves so well. And, at this point, it isn't immediately apparent when people first meet him that there is or ever was anything wrong. Although he still has his limits, he will have a very full and happy life. Most improvement will come in the first three years of a child's life. After a child turns three, it is hard for them to show much improvements. So, with his birthday in April, we will move to a maintenance stage. In the fall he will start school. Some of the people I have talked to want to put him in "special" classes. But, I am really against this. If there are any "special" classes he will need, it will because he excels in something not because he is slow at something. I find that people in general are ignorant and wonder if maybe THEY aren't the ones that need the "special" classes.

Joshua is on a new medication for his allergies. I was worried about him because he seem to have a lot of coping problems. Ever since he was little he would have melt downs about the littlest things. When I heard that some kids were being misdiagnosed with ADD and other disorders because they weren't getting quality sleep, I insisted that the doctor send us to an ears, nose and throat specialist. He was snoring so much at night that he was waking up tired. The improvement was immediate. He is happy most of the time and deals with everything much better. It is like night and day. Even his teacher could see the difference before we told her anything had changed. I know he feels better because when I forget to give him his spray, he reminds me.

Joshua is looking forward to starting sports this coming fall as soon as he turns 5. He will miss T ball by about a week. But, as soon as soccer starts he will be out there kicking balls at people.

Jeremy is in his first season of basketball. He loves it. Philip is loving his chance to share his favorite sport with Jeremy. Next year Philip wants to coach Jeremy's team. Jeremy scored a basket in his first ever game. The other two boys enjoy going to basketball practice and the games with Jeremy. Jarrett dribbles a basketball better than either of the other two did at this age. He is working hard to try and learn to dribble between his legs. But, his legs are too short. Joshua is showing his talent in basketball too. If I would have just had one more boy, we could have home schooled and still had our own basketball team.

Jaxon is in a hurry to catch up with his brothers. My little man is now standing. I knew it was coming when he had conquered the horizontal world. He always liked to stand, but not so much that he would go out of his way to get us to stand him up. After two long months of practicing his crawling, he crawled everywhere and then realized that he could pull himself up on the couch, the chair, the oven and any brother that sits still for 5 seconds. Except when they have a baby on them, they are really excited. The days are filled with yells for me to get the camera.

I caught the boys trying to teach Jaxon how to climb the stairs as soon as he started crawling. Not a good thing. I hate having gates up. Then on Feb. 13th, he realized that he could climb stairs and could do it very well. He follows me from room to room. I ran upstairs to get his clothes. When I came back down I saw him on the bottom step. He had this look on his face of amazement and made it up two more steps before I got to him.

Another big step is that Jaxon has started solids. He stared when he was a little over 6 months old. We did two days of rice before he realized that everyone was eating something that looked a whole lot more interesting. So, we put him on mashed table food and Cherries for when I need something for him to do while I eat. I was going to try Gerber foods this time, but that is out the door. The only thing I like about Gerber foods is that it is so easy to grab a jar and feed. He especially loves mashed potatoes and gravy. If he sees it on the table he yells until he gets his fair share.

Jaxon is also taking steps if you hold his hands and let him move at his own pace. He has so much hip action going on that even Elvis would be jealous. I just love all of this. It is so much fun.

Philip has finally start working days. We are all excited. He has been on the 3 to 11 shift for most of his Air Force career. This last summer and fall he was working 12 hour graveyard shifts. We are all enjoying being more normal.

Jeremy's second report card was very good. His teacher says the nicest things about him. On the report card he wrote, "Jeremy is enthusiastic and gives his best efforts at all times. He is using both site word recognition and phonetic decoding in his reading and he is one of the best math students in class. He enjoys helping others and is a positive influence on those around him."

He loves school. He has had some trouble with bullies since the beginning of school. I am afraid that part of it was my fault. I raised him to be nice. When he finally had enough last month, he put a big goose egg on another kid's forehead. Now they leave him alone. I pity the first kid to pick on Joshua. That boy has enough spit and fire in him for both of them. And, then there is Jarrett. After the influence of Jeremy and Joshua, that child can be down right mean. He may not have the strongest arms, but he can kick the heck out anything. Just ask Jeremy's mouth. LOL

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