Happy Birthday Beckam!

I have a four year old and I can't believe it! Beckam has been counting down his "firthday" for days! We love birthdays around here and had so much fun! It started on Sunday with his birthday dinner, special "Queen" cake, and time spent with Grandma and Grandpa Brown and Chelsee. He loved his play doh tools and new books from G and G Brown!

On Tuesday he woke up to streamers, balloons, and his choice of breakfast. He went to preschool and I brought cupcakes at the end... Whitney (Brody's mom) made him a special birthday crown, and made Beck feel like the coolest kid around. It was so sweet to watch him take in all of the attention and love from his friends and family.

After preschool we invited our friends, Liam, Scarlett, and Brody to Carl's Junior for lunch and to play on the toys. They had so much fun!

When Daddy got home from work, Beck opened his presents. He was so excited for Thomas the Train motorized trains and more track, a remote control car, a turtle nightlight, and clothes. That little boy is so full of excitement and animation. I love it! After presents he chose to go to dinner at the firehouse, and he loved it! We had such a great day with our little rascal. I am so thankful to have this amazing opportunity to be his mom. He is one of my greatest blessings!

He is a big kid! We took him to his 4 year old doctor appt and he is in the 97th percentile in weight, 87th in height, and 90th for his head. We were kind of worried about how he would do getting his kindergarten shots. We talked a lot about it leading up to that day and I am so proud of my big boy! He held so still only cried a little, and handled a scary situation so well! I love moments like that when your heart beams with pride for your sweet little boy. Way to go Beck - we love you!

Beckam - 4 years old

We took Beckam to his 4 year old well check appt and we were rather worried about how he would handle his kindergarten shots. We talked a lot about it and explained how it might hurt a little, but it would prepare him to get bigger and go to school ( he can't wait for school). Well, I am happy to report he did an amazing job! He held really still, and only cried for a minute.

It was so fun to see his cute little face light up with pride when he read his letters correctly or the nurse told him how big he is getting. I just love our big boy Beck!

I feel so blessed to have a healthy little boy. He is in the 97th percentile for his weight, 90 for height, he has 20/20 vision, and doing so well!

He gave the scripture in Primary on Sunday for the first time and did so well! He knows the primary songs by heart and can be found singing them with the actions daily. His favorite song right now is, "My Heavenly Father Loves Me".

Our Sweet Little Paxton

Our little Pax is seriously the sweetest little angel! We have been working with him a lot over the past two months to help correct his plagiocephaly (his head is more flat on the right side) by doing physical therapy and positioning. His first appt was on January 4th and his right side was measuring 10 mm more than his left. They wanted him to get down to 3 mm. I took him in for a check up last Monday (2/25) and the right side of his head is now measuring 2 mm more than the left side! Yahoo! He is below where they want him to be! He has done so well in a very short time and I am so proud of him! We will continue to work with him, but his condition has been corrected thanks to lots of prayers, fasting, and vigilance.

Willow Park Zoo

 Back in September I took the boys to the Willow Park Zoo and we had so much fun!  I LOVE that I am now home with them and can go out on little excursions during the day.  What a blessing!  This was Beck's first official trip to the zoo and we had a great time!

 This is how Pax enjoyed the zoo!

 LOVE my BOYS!

 Bath time - he doesn't even cry!  Tonight he took his first shower with Daddy, and although he looked a little scared... he was so sweet about it!

 We had a special lesson about temples for FHE one night and it was so fun to visit the temple with my cute family and explain to Beckam what the temple means to us.  I am so grateful to be sealed to my family for eternity... what a wonderful blessing!

First Year of Preschool

 Beck started a neighborhood preschool this year and he LOVES it!  It has been so good for him in so many ways and I am so thankful for the cute moms who teach it with me.

This is how Pax felt on Beck's first day of preschool.  Not so happy, but of course it didn't last long.  He is seriously the sweetest thing!

On our way to preschool :)

Love my little buddy Beckam!

He broke into a run with all of his excitement!

We met up with his friend Brody along the way.. they couldn't even contain their excitement!

YAY for preschool!

Love my little Pax!

Some of my most favorite gals on the planet!  I loved, loved, loved the four years we were able to teach together!  What a fun night to reminisce and celebrate Melani becoming a mom!

Beck asks everyday if he can go to preschool.  I always remind him that he gets to go on Tuesday and Thursday.  So now he knows those two days of the week, but still can't figure out when they happen.  Bless his heart... I love his excitement for life!

"I Want to Talk to Jesus"

I know I say this ALL the time, but I just love this gift of being a mom!  Sure, it has it's hard times, and I am not always very good at it, but in the end - I LOVE IT!  Tonight as we were reading in the scriptures in 3rd Nephi, we were reading about Christ's death, and Beck turns to me and says, "Mom, I want to talk to Jesus!"  Then he does what I love the very most and pulled out his pretend phone (he uses one hand as his phone and dials the number with his other hand - SO CUTE!)  He says,"Hi Jesus, oh ya... you want to talk to Mommy?"  Then hands me the phone so I can to talk to Jesus.  I am so thankful for the innocence of a child and the clear reminder that our Savior is only a "phone call" away.  I tried to use it as a teaching moment to explain that instead of calling Jesus, we can just pray to him anytime we want, but I think Beck still likes the idea of calling him on his phone, and that is fine by me.

Some of my favorite phrases from Beckam:

"Here'd ya go"
"It's too big!" (while grunting)
"It's Geckam's turn!"
Beck, what's your name?  "My name is B, B, B, Geckam"

... and the list keeps growing :)

Picture Overload

 Being able to stay at home with my boys is seriously the greatest gift!  I feel so blessed every day to watch Beckam and Paxton learn and grow!  It is now January and I finally feel like I am getting into my SAM groove and loving every minute of it (don't get me wrong... there are definitely tricky moments, but overall I love it)!  I am trying really hard to keep Beckam involved and busy with lots of activities, and finger painting happens to be one of his favorites.

 Beckam - 3 years 10 months old
tall. handsome. kind. caring. curious. helpful. best big brother. conscientious. loves juice, his little brother, mommy, and daddy.  has finally discovered the joy of toys. loves watching shows. speeds on his trike. amazing dance moves. loves playing Just Dance, Hungry Hippos, and using his art set. always wants to help Mommy. LOVES preschool. says the sweetest prayers. graduates from Nursery on Sunday. future Sunbeam. idolizes his Daddy. could live at Grandma and Grandpa's house. always wants a surprise. full of spunk. says I love you regularly throughout the day :). says please and thank you. thinks every party is his birthday party. loves GOLDFISH, treats, baby oranges, chocolate milk, chicken nuggets, ramen noodles, chips.

 Our only picture from the Brigham City Temple Open House.  What a special experience to take Beckam to the house of the Lord and enjoy the beautiful Spirit there.

 Mr. Taylor embarks on his first day of teaching 8th and 9th grade Geography and U.S. History at Bear River Middle School.  Way to go babe! We are so proud of you!

 Hanging out with his little brother :)

 Beckam became an official Junior Aggie this year and had so much fun!  He and Mark were able to enjoy lots of Aggie football games together, and even Mom and Paxton were able to join them for a few.

 Go Aggies!

 Hanging out with some of his favorite people - his cousins!  Thanks to Lucas, Savannah, and Eli, Beckam was able to dress up as a caterpillar and a football player :)

Oh how we love our Paxton!
Paxton J. Taylor - 4 months old
sleeps. eats. pees and sometimes poops. the sweetest baby on the planet. has been sleeping through the night since 2 months old (bless him!). lost his awesome mullet. the most patient and even tempered little guy. laughs a lot.  always smiling. very patient with his older brother's loud and crazy antics. 16 lbs. 10 oz. 26 inches. large head. loves to talk and squeal.  the best snuggle buddy. strong. so sweet.

We will be taking Paxton to physical therapy starting next week.  His head is lopsided (on the front part of his skull) and we need to work diligently to correct it.  The goal is to correct it through therapy (hopefully his cranial sutures haven't fused), but if therapy doesn't resolve the problem, then we will have to take him in for a CT scan and consider brain surgery to break the sutures and reshape his head.  We are praying and hoping that we will be able to get it resolved through therapy.  We love our little Pax and feel so blessed to have him a part of our lives!  

 We love Natalie and Bryce!  We were able to have them up for a weekend in September for the USU/U of U football game and we had a blast.  We enjoyed lots of chatting, Aggie ice cream, and more chatting.

My favorite cuz Natalie :)

I love this man of mine!