The green-eyed monster...

No, it's not jealousy, it's our boy.

It would appear, at least at this juncture, that Grandma June's genes have won out, and Saxon is a green-eyed boy. I don't know how well you can tell from these pictures. Every time we look at him in different lighting, his eye color seems to change, from grey to green to light brown, but when I had some pictures printed at Walgreens to send to Shawn, they were green, green, green all the way. So at least for now, I'm calling it. Eye color can change as late as a year, but so far, Grandma June's the winner (he still looks a lot like his Daddy though)!

As for the monster part...

Oh sure, he looks all sweet and innocent there, but Saxon is now walking in earnest. He took his first couple of steps just after Christmas. By New Year's he was walking in short spurts of 6 or 8. Now there is no stopping him. Down the hall, up the stairs, everywhere you never thought he could get to. And just try -- just try to stop him from plunging headlong from the top of the stairs, and he will cry as though his heart is breaking from the ruthless oppression. Until you give him the Elmo guitar, or a golf ball. Then it's OK (as long as the golf ball's aTitleist).

Other than that, he's still the best little boy in the world.

Christmas Recap

First, I have to show a picture of Shawn and Mitchell and Nedra, at the end of our Christmas party for Shawn's work. This was on Dec 17th. I know, I'm slow. I'm showing this because (a) Shawn looks really cute in the Santa Hat, (b) the kids have the greatest smiles, and (c) I made the little ginger bread scene ALL BY MYSELF, and needed to record it for posterity. Now, on to Christmas Day...

This is a picture of Saxon during the opening of the presents. He looks a little nonplussed. I think Christmas is kind of wasted on a 9 month old, so much so that we gave up giving him any more presents after the first few, and parceled them out over the coming days. I think he was worried we were trying to butter him up and later we were going to pull out the Nasal Aspirator (his arch nemesis). Suffice it to say, he was cautiously interested with the toys. Once the presents were taken care of it was time for Christmas dinner. Saxon's uncle Robert and Aunt Mette flew in Christmas afternoon, and Jake, Amber, and the kiddos came for the meal as well. We had a wonderful time together and we were happy to have such great company! Here is a picture of Saxon sharing his activity center with his friend Clara...
After Christmas dinner, Saxon got to open the BIG BOX from his uncle Robert that we have had in our storage closet for a month. No One could even hazard a GUESS as to what it was -- and finally, TA DAA! His very first rocking horse, if you don't count Julius (Julius says he wishes not to be counted, as that was a very dark time in his life and he'd rather just pretend he was never made to be a noble steed). The horse whinnies and gallops and shakes his nose and tail and will be the source of much noisy enjoyment for quite some time, I'm sure.
So there you have it, a little mini Christmas recap. God Bless Us Everyone.

Yellow Ribbons

Well, It's the 6th of January, and Shawn left for a 6 month deployment to Afghanistan on Jan 4th. He is still in transit and probably will be for the next few days, but I got an email from him this morning and he's doing fine so far. I know he's going to miss Saxon terribly, but hopefully we can communicate with email and phone and even a few video conferences. Here are a few pics of Father and son at the airport. Its' early in the morning, so excuse the tired look on Saxon's face:

Oh, and then there's the issue of the black eye. Our little bundle of energy has recently started to walk, with predictably clumsy results. He hasn't made more than 6 steps in a row, but he did manage to walk over, reach for a book, and promptly fall and hit his eye on the bookshelf.

Next post I will fill you in on Christmas (and the promised antler/dog photo), and all the other haps in Saxon's little world. For now, say a prayer for Shawn, and let me know if you want updates -- I'm trying to compile an email list for people who are interested.