Clayville Kids
Suddenly, the house got eerily quiet… then LAUGHTER.
When you’re the Mom of two young boys, that’s not always a GOOD thing. I turned around from the sink and saw THIS:
I was curious with what EXACTLY was going on, so I dried my hands and walked over.
Paxton had crawled onto the couch, nestled in with Chance and was pushing the little yellow button on Chance’s “fighter jet”. Each time the fighter jet “launched a missile”, the boys laughed hysterically.
I love “catching” my boys loving each other and just BEING together.
I can honestly say I would never trade this for a million dollars.
Paxton’s Allergies
Let’s catch everyone up to speed.
Paxton is 15 months old. Since he was 3 months old, he’s had a really difficult time going “number two”. He doesn’t actually have a hard time “going”, per se… but whenever he’s ABOUT to “go”, he starts to cry.
If you know Pax, you know he actually RARELY cries. He’s a pretty chill kid. But when he’s ABOUT to “go”, he cries… as if someone is REALLY hurting him. Here’s the weird thing: WHILE he’s “going” and after… he’s totally fine. No tears. No whining. Nothing. In fact… while he’s “going”, he’s usually just babbling something cute. When he’s done, he runs about his merry way as if nothing ever happened.
And if you really care, when we change his diaper, everything is normal. No constipation. No diarrhea. NORMAL.
Our family eats mostly organic, so we knew it wasn’t because of an unhealthy diet. We obviously knew something was up.
Pax’s pediatrician recommended we go to see the Pediatric Gastroenterologists (G.I. doctors) at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital up at OHSU. So, for the past year, we’ve been checking in and out at OHSU to monitor Paxton. First, they said that once he’s eating solids, he’d most likely be able to have more substance to help with the “pressure”. Once, we figured out that wasn’t it, they said once he was walking and used his core muscles more, it would help give “muscle” to the pressure release. Nope… that wasn’t it either.
A month ago, they finally said it was time to go in… surgically. They scheduled my baby for a “Flex Sig” (Flexible Sigmoidoscopy). It’s basically a babies version of a colonoscopy (they just go into the lower intestines). The biggest problem I had with this is THEY PUT THEM UNDER. Not only that, but there are a million pages of paperwork we have to sign in case of “the worst” happening. Yeah… not ready for that.
This is when I began my quest to find an alternative solution. Last week, my friend, Coral, told me that her Naturopath could find out what was going “wrong” and if they were induced by allergies, Paxton could be treated through me as his surrogate. She could treat the allergies using NAET. I not only strong suspicion that Paxton had MULTIPLE allergies (I was pretty certain he’s allergic to dairy and probably gluten), but I had also been treated via NAET myself in the past. I knew it worked… so I made the appointment.
TODAY… Pax and I went in to see our Naturopath. She was AMAZING!!! Pax had a lot of fun holding all the different viles of “allergies” and no blood was drawn! YAY! However… as we kept on testing, I was BLOWN away by how many things we were finding he was allergic to.
He had a weak response to 10 to 15 viles. The most important ones we can work on right now are:
- Dairy
- Gluten
- Egg Whites (but not the yolk)
- Vitamin C (group – citrus)
- Iron (red meat)
I know… how do you avoid the last two, right?
Well… the good news is our Naturopath CAN treat these allergies and hopefully lessen, if not eliminate, his negative responses to these allergens. Obviously, he NEEDS to have Vitamin C & Iron in his diet… but right now, his body is rejecting them. It’s causing more harm than good. If we can remedy these issues, then we can go back to giving him his vitamins.
Our first treatment is in two weeks from today. Until then, we are completely changing Paxton’s diet. I’ve also canceled the surgery for now. We’ll resort to that only if this doesn’t work first.
It’s so good to finally know that I’m not CRAZY and something REALLY was wrong with Paxton. It’s even better knowing there’s something I can do about it to make his life a little easier.
Please keep praying for our little boy.
To all the parents out there: YOUR INSTINCT IS USUALLY RIGHT. Doctors are great and know SO much more than we do… but YOU know your child. Go with your gut and don’t ever stop researching and learning about what’s best for them.
Holy Crayoly!
Chance decided Paxton should color with him while I was putting a load of laundry in the dryer.
I came out to Paxton looking like he’s bleeding out his mouth.
This photo was taken AFTER I dug around his pie hole and found out it was marker so the red isn’t as intense. Good thing for washable & non-toxic, right?
And yes… Pax bit the WHOLE tip of the red crayola marker off and chewed on it for the whole 2 minutes I was in the laundry room… then swallowed it. YUM. Can’t wait for that to “pass”.
Poor Chance. He’s now without a red pen.
So tell me… what are some of YOUR “heart-attack”-now-not-so-scary stories.
Invite Me
I’m sitting here watching my 4-year-old.
He grabs a little cup from one of the bottom cabinets (we put all the kids dishes where they can reach them so they can help themselves), scurries over to the fridge, fills his cup with water and drinks from it. Then he grabs a couple apple slices I’ve cut for them and runs over to his 1-year-old little brother.
“Here Paxton… want an apple?”
As they both snack, they sit side-by-side and Chance “reads” to Paxton. Then… out of nowhere… Chance says:
“Hey Mom… you wanna come and read with us?”
ABSOLUTELY!!!
I could have easily done all that water-fetching and snack-handling for Chance and Paxton… but there was so much more pride when I saw he was self-sufficiently taking care of his own needs, sharing with his brother, playing quietly… and then he invited ME to come and play with him.
I love walking alongside my kids.
I love listening to the silliest rambling and chatter their little minds offer.
I love to watch them grow.
I love holding them close and cuddling in.
I love experiencing every milestone with them.
I even love their temper tantrums because it reveals passion.
I love being WITH them.
That’s when it hit me: This is what God wants from ME!
God loves to see me taking care of myself… taking care of others… living out my purpose. He’s always present, just like I’m present with my kids… but to be invited into the simplest, daily activities of our lives?
God loves walking alongside me.
God loves listening to the silliest rambling and chatter of my mind.
God loves to watch me grow… especially if I take a lesson in with it.
God loves holding me close… in joy or in my tears.
God loves when I experience my milestones THROUGH Him.
God even loves my passionate outbursts because I’m using the feelings He gave me.
God loves being with me.
30 Seconds…
… of my life.
Yes. Welcome…
Don’t call the authorities on me. Really… my kids like this.
What weird things do your kids like?
12.5 Hours…
… of love will get you this:
Man, I love Tam.
What happens to you when you are so exhausted that you become delirious?
Christmas Tree & Boys
This Christmas season is the first of a few things:
Paxton’s FIRST Christmas Tree
Chance’s FIRST time decorating the tree with us
Paxton’s FIRST time saying “WOW”
Our FIRST Christmas at this house
I am blessed…
Belated Thanksgiving Post
I hope y’all had an amazing Thanksgiving.
I know I did.
Brian and I went to Thanksgiving in La Grande again this year with the boys. They are both so active now, it was great to see them having so much fun at their Nina & Papa’s house.
Thanksgiving this year was bittersweet for me. It was the first Thanksgiving holiday living in complete truth… protective walls down. Everyone around the table knew what I had done… and yet, they still loved me and invited me TO their table with love and grace.
This year… “thankfulness” has a new meaning. Thankfulness has life.
I am thankful for:
- *Jesus… and His grace for me.
- *Brian… and his immeasurable forgiveness.
- *Chance Hayden… and all the questions behind his eyes.
- *Paxton Joel… and all he represents.
- *Second chances to make things right.
- *Truth… and the freedom that comes with it.
- *Worship… and that I get to do that with reckless abandon again.
- *Brian’s new job… so we can get back on our feet again.
- *Brian’s parents… who have never stopped supporting us and have adopted me in as their own.
- *My sisters, Renee & Helen… who make my life better.
- *My mom… who gave me life so I can actually experience it.
- *My dad… who helped too.
- *Friends… old and new.
I am blessed… and WAY beyond thankful.
Clean Up
I took Chance and Paxton in to get their haircut today… just in time for the holidays.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Maybe now, strangers will stop asking me if my little “girl” is one yet. Um… he’s wearing ALL BOY CLOTHES? I digress.
Sometimes… all we need is a “clean-up” to feel a bit better.
I know when my whole house is a mess, if I just clean up my kitchen counters, sweep and wipe everything down (15 minutes worth of work), I’ll immediately feel better and have a new outlook.
Life works a bit differently.
Or does it?
My life is jam packed full of… well.. LIFE.
It’s not just my schedule… it’s my whole family’s, seeing that I’m the CEO of my home AND the Worship Pastor of my church. If you’re like me, you find yourself scheduling in drop-off & pick-ups to and from pre-school, doctor’s appointments, counseling appointments, staff meetings, worship band practices, girlfriend time, date nights with Brian, small group, bible studies, play groups… and the list goes on. When do you find time to just BE?
About a month ago, I had enough of the rat race. I had almost lost everything once… I wasn’t about to spiral out of control again. So, I chose rest.
TUESDAYS.
I schedule NOTHING on Tuesdays. Why Tuesday? I don’t know… I can’t do Sunday because I work at a church. Saturdays are family days and prep days for Sundays. Monday, Wednesday and Friday is school for Chance. Mondays are usually also my “hangover from the weekend” day. Thursday is counseling with Brian and small group. So, Tuesday was the big winner!
It’s my Sabbath. It’s the day I invest in my family.
No grocery shopping
No stressful housekeeping
No play dates
No girlfriend dates
No prepping for worship services
No cleaning out my email inbox (though I may read them during the kids’ naps)
Instead, the kids and I do whatever we want… together.
We play
We sleep
We watch movies
We read
We talk about God
We make up stories
We dream
And when the kids nap, I drink in His Word.
I have no deadlines on Tuesday.
And when I get that urge of anxiety of NEEDING to do something… I just write it down on my list of “to-do’s” for Wednesday. It works. I need it. To be better wives, husbands, parents, friends, leaders, servants…We ALL need it.
Because, if you don’t… you need to clean up so you can!
Happy 1st Birthday, Paxton!!!
Today is Paxton’s FIRST birthday.
His first year of life has flown by, but it’s as if he’s ALWAYS been a part of our lives.
Pax has got 6 visible teeth right now — 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. He’s walking EVERYWHERE and can get up the stairs in less than 5 seconds. His talking sounds like gurgling and babbling ALWAYS brings a smile to Brian and my face.
He’s gonna be a big blogger, obviously!
Paxton Joel,
YOU are cherished. You help me look outside myself. You give Mommy hope that I can be a better person… for you, for Chance, for Daddy AND for myself. Your smile melts my heart. Your cry breaks me into a million pieces. All I want to do is make your world right for you. And I know I don’t have that kind of control, so I just hold you… and drink in your presence.
“Pax” means “peace” and you have brought JUST that into our lives. You have no idea the kind of restoration you’ve brought into Mommy & Daddy’s life just by existing. I thank God EVERY DAY for letting me be a part of your life. There is NOTHING you could ever do to make me stop loving you. NOTHING!!! And when I forget to tell you I’m proud of you, or that I love you… I hope you’ll know by my actions that you mean the world to me.
Happy first Birthday, sweet Paxton… my darling peacemaker. You came just in time.
Love Forever and a Day,
Mommy
Halloween
Just thought I’d post some photos of our night trick-or-treating with the Smith’s.
The kids had so much fun… and it was just great to see Paula, Jason and Morgan again.
We stopped by our old house, and the new owners let us come in to see all their new upgrades. Their kitchen is EXACTLY what I would have done if we were still living there. I won’t lie… my heart hurt. That was the house Chance came home to. *sigh*
Other than that, it was an amazingly fun evening.
Oh… and that third to last photo is of the Johnson twins feeling Chance up. They liked his superhero “boobies” too, I guess.
What did YOU dress (your kids) up as on Saturday?
Fire Safety & Birth Control
Another peek into our life the morning of Halloween.
Fire Safety… Chance Clayville style. Take notes, y’all…
And for all you people who think having kids is all daisies and sunshine… welcome to REAL life…
*sigh*
A Peek Into Our Evenings
Just thought I’d post a video of a bit of our night tonight. After all… my blog is part “mom-blog” ya know?
I can’t believe Paxton is almost a year old.
Life flies by. Don’t waste a minute!
Pumpkin Patch 2009
It’s really fun creating our own family traditions.
Today, we went to the LakeView Pumpkin Patch.
Here’s Chance THIS & LAST YEAR (just for comparisons):
Paxton THIS YEAR & LAST:
Amazing how our family grows in a year.
Here’s a few photos of the boys together THIS year:
Last week, we also went to the Roloff’s Farm to have a bit of fun. We may as well take advantage of the nice weather while we can, right?
Anyway…. here are a family shot from last Saturday:
And… we saw Amy from Little People, Big World.
She’s so sweet. Chance walked up to her and said, “Why are you little?” and she replied, “God makes us all different sizes. Aren’t we lucky to all be made so differently?”
To flip through all our pumpkin patch photos, click below.
Paxton: Last Year
Paxton is 11 months old now.
Next month, he’ll be a ONE year old. I’m not sure I’m ready for my baby to grow up…
… but at least I have a month to prep.
Now… a note to my sweet Paxton:
I love you, Pax. There are no words to describe how proud Mommy is of you. Your sweet face lights up my day, my night, my minute. Your cry makes me want to fix everything and make the world right for you. Your mere existence pushes me to be a better person… a better Mommy. Your name, Pax, means “peace”… and that is what you have brought to our family. Peace. Thank you, sweet boy. I thank God every day for letting me be your Mommy.
MOM BLOG… I know…
Crystal always makes fun of me for having a mom blog… but this is how I share what’s going on with our family… AND I’m documenting our life as it happens.
Babies grow up WAY too fast and I forget things WAY too often.
Here’s a video of Chance loving his present from Crystal:
And here’s one of Paxton from yesterday. He’s SO sweet:
Paxton’s Got TEETH!
Paxton is growing up way too fast. He’s really the sweetest little guy.
He LOVES to eat. He’ll eat anything and everything. I love that he’s not a picky eater. He’s actually a “shoveler” when it comes to food. It’s fun to watch him.
In the photo above, he got a nectarine chunk stuck on his face. He didn’t even know it was there till I took it off for him.
Though he’s easy during the day… he’s been waking up a couple of times a night for the last week or so. We found out why…
Poor guy was teething not just two top teeth… but FOUR! No wonder he’s been waking up.
He slept through the night last night so I’m hoping the midnight wakings are over now that his teeth have poked through. It doesn’t matter though… I wouldn’t trade this kid for the world!
Labor Day in La Grande Photos
I just realized I didn’t post the rest of our La Grande photos. So… here they are.
Most of them are from our trip to the playground.
Paxton – 10 months
My baby is growing up faster than I’m okay with.
He is now 10 months old. He’s the sweetest little spirit. I’m praying God BURNS all these sweet moments into my mind and heart forever.
I’m afraid I’ll forget.
Labor Day 2009
We spent today just being together.
Brian ALREADY looks like he’s in a better place. I know it’s partly because we’re away… but MOSTLY because y’all are praying for us. THANK YOU! We are so humbled by the amazing prayer warriors that surround us.
Our day consisted of:
- Chance weeding the front yard with his Papa… with his helmet on.
- Paxton showing off his new signing skills. He can sign “food”, “more” and “all done”.
- Paxton playing “Patty Cake” with his Nina.
- Fresh garden feed at Grandma Peggy’s and Grandpa Bob’s. We had fresh corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon… SO GOOD!!! At one point, we “ran out” of corn, so Grandma, Chance and I just went out to her garden and picked a few more ears. I could get used to this.
- Chance and Brian fed the cornless cobs to the chickens next door.
- Brian showed me the vehicle he learned to drive in. Grandpa Bob’s truck.
- Papa & Chance playing catch.
- Brian & Paxton smelling some of Grandma’s beautiful flowers.
- And the most beautiful country sunset.
I took photos of everything below.
The Good & The Bad of This Week
So, as I said… this past week has been really busy in good and bad ways. I thought I’d just list them to keep it simple.
Good: I came home from a girls weekend from the beach. So nice to be with women who know my junk and still love me in spite of it all.
Bad: As fun as it was, put me behind on housework.
Good: Josh was here last week (he rocks and is SO much fun!)
Good: Went berry picking with Rose, Janet & Abby (and my kids, of course). Haven’t done that since I was a kid.
Bad: Granger Lam, my sweet friend from High School, died at the young age of 30, leaving behind his 5 year old little girl.
Good: Finally met Gregg, Sandy and Dylan Hart (my sweet Twitter friends that MAILED me Thin Mints).
Good: Hiked Multnomah Falls with the Hart’s, Josh & Steph (ok, not Josh & Steph… dorks)
Good: Photo shoot with Josh & Gregg (aka Love Is Greater Photography). Here are 3 samplers from our shoot:
So… seriously… I’m really over having bad news infiltrate my life. I would like for things to even out again. My heart can’t take it. It can’t take:
- the brokenness of good friends’ marriages.
- the hurt life leaves on those I love.
- the hurt those I love leave on me (whether they are aware of it or not).
- news another friend has been in another accident.
- news another friend died.
That’s all I have brain-room to post about right now. I’m “good & bad”-ed out. Mentally exhausted. I’m gonna go watch a movie with my honey.
Say “Mama”…
Paxton is 8.5 months old right now.
He’s passed a few milestones. He can:
- Crawl… FAST.
- Pull himself up on furniture.
- Feed himself small snacks.
- Say, “Da-Da”.
So, during lunch today, I thought it would be as good of a time as any to teach him to say, “Mama”. Here’s some video of how THAT went.
Chance & Paxton’s Rooms
I know I’m a bit behind. I’ve always been pretty quick at taking pictures of our new home and stuff.
What’s weird is we’ve been pretty settled for the last few weeks now. The garage was really the last thing we’ve worked on. I’ve taken pictures of the kids’ rooms, but I haven’t taken pictures of the rest of the house yet. Instead of waiting till I got around to all of that, I thought I’d post pictures of their rooms first… so here they are:
Chance’s Room:
Yeah… that’s the LARGEST humidifier I’ve ever seen too. It was a gift from my Mom a few years ago. The good news is you don’t have to refill it everyday. The bad news is we have no idea where to store it when our kiddos aren’t sick.
That comforter on Chance’s bed was the comforter I grew up with. The one I originally bought for Chance shrunk in the wash and I haven’t found the “perfect” new quilt for him yet. That’s why the walls don’t match with anything else. The paint was originally chosen to go with the old comforter. *sigh* Oh well… Chance really likes my comforter, so it works for now.
Oh, and Chance is pretty good at keeping his room looking like this pretty often. If it gets messy for too long, he says, “My room is a mess… I think it’s time to pick up.” Looks like I transferred over the good genes!
Paxton’s Room:
I LOVE Paxton’s room. I think the green on the walls is soothing. I finally got to nest. Better late than never, right?
By the way… for those of you who are questioning why in the world I would take pictures of every room in the house, I say this: it’s ALWAYS a good idea to take pictures of every room of your house. If not for memory sake, it’s good in case anything ever happens to your house (theft, fire, etc) and you need proof of what was actually in your house. That’s my $.02.
Go ahead and tell me how cute their rooms are!
Jenni on Skype: jclayville 
