American Samoa

First of all i know that i am the worst blogger ever, its been an entire year since my last post, but my goal is to do better! i want to have a new post done everyday so my family back home can see what we are up to.
Last week my little family moved to American Samoa for a job that the company is doing. I was so nervous to move all the way out here in the Pacific Ocean, but so far so good!! I absolutely love it here, its going to be hard for me to go back home! Even the flights went good, i always stress about flying with Paxton but this trip i was extra worried about. On Friday we left St. George and stayed the night in Vegas, we woke up early and caught our 6 hour flight to Oahu, Hawaii. We stayed on the island for two nights to give Paxton a break from traveling and to have some fun! it was crazy to be back on Oahu, I felt like i had never left. Then on monday afternoon we took another 6 hour flight to samoa. after landing and going through customs and immigrations we FINALLY made it!

This island is beautiful and it is so fun having friends to hang out with! we go for bike rides, hang out at the beach, and just have a good time together. its so awesome that we all get along so good and we are such good friends. I seriously have the best life!! Everyone we have met so far seems to be so nice and giving, and they all LOVE Paxton. The people here aren't used to seeing a little white boy with blonde hair! They all think he is just the cutest thing ever(which he is).

Paxton is a true "samoan" already! he goes everywhere in just a swimming suit! No shirt or shoes required and he loves it! He has a blast playing in the "Big Sand Box" and swimming in the "Big Pool". I love just watching him as he plays and i can just see him soaking everything up around him. He is so lucky to have traveled and lived in so many unique places in his short little life. I'm grateful that me and him are able to travel with Daniel when he works, it would be so hard to be away and miss out on all these crazy adventures!

The other day while exploring we stopped at a beach and the boys did some snorkeling. They found hundreds of these blue star fish and Paxton loved holding them. It was fun to see the boys all hanging out together and having boy time while the girls layed at the beach. I seriously am so happy that we are ALL such good friends! it makes it not seem like work but more like just a big vacation! The only thing that would make it better is if my mom and sister were here, i miss them so much!!

Daniel and the star fish he caught! I love that Daniel finds little treasures in the Ocean for Paxton, he is always finding sea shells and other things for him! He is the best dad i could ever ask for my children.

This looks like a picture from a postcard but its at a beach right where we are staying! we are SO lucky!!

Walking!

Last night Daniel and I were practicing walking with Paxton. He's been so close for so long but didn't really have any interest in it. He can get where he is going much quicker by crawling, so why walk? Well, we decided to get super excited if he tried to do it last night, and HE DID!!! He would get so proud of himself when he would take a step or two and by the end of the night he had taken 12 steps all by himself! We couldn't believe it! He's only 9 months! He turns 10 months on the 20th, but It still counts as him walking at 9!! I love my little guy and I am so proud of him!! I'll post pictures when i have more time!

This last weekend we took Paxton to the city pool here in illinois, he loves the water! "uncle Dean" and "Aunt Mallory" came too! It was so fun, and it wasn't crowded at all! It's our new favorite place to be!

Paxton is 9 months!!!
Where the heck has the time gone! Paxton turned 9 months on the 20th of June! CRAZY!! He is getting so big! He's going to be walking in no time, i know he would be able to do it if wanted, but he's able to get where he's going much faster by just crawling. He went to his 9 month check up a little early because we were visiting St. George and i really like his pediatrician. When we went they took his stats...he's 75% in height and 3% in weight haha so pretty much he's tall and skinny?? i guess thats better than short and fat?! He is just so active he burns off all his calories. We love him so dang much, his personality is the best! I don't know what we would do with out him!!! He now has 4 teeth, 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom and he can bite HARD!! I'll just be sitting on the couch and he'll crawl over and bite my toe! he cracks me up!






Last saturday we went to the aquarium. Paxton was FASCINATED with all the fish! He would get so mad when we would leave a tank to go to a different one, he would throw a little fit! He would have stood there and looked at them all day if we would have let him!





The other day Paxton was being way to quiet, but i knew he was over in the corner where his toys were so i didn't think to much about it, a few minutes later he still hadn't made a peep, which is so not like him, so i decided to go see what he was up to. When i walked over this is what i discovered! 29 wipes scattered out all over! I said "Paxton, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" he just looked up at me with the biggest smile on his face and lifted his arms up to me like he wanted to be picked up! I wasn't mad, i was just surprised! i knew he would start being naughty like this one day, i just didn't know that day would be so soon!!




One of Paxton's favorite things to do is to play inside of the coffee table, He's getting so much better when he gets down, before he would pretty much just fall out and would hit his head about 90% of the time. whenever i haven't seen him for a couple minutes i know where to find him! in the coffee table is where he is!!





My dad has a boat that he uses for work, but sometimes on the weekend our family likes to take it up the chicago river, it's so much fun!! it's so cool to see all of the big buildings and it's even more fun since we don't have to fight crowds to do it!! no one is ever on the river so its much more enjoyable that feeling claustrophobic with all people! Paxton loves it, he mostly likes it when daniel holds him over the boat and hangs his feet in the water while we're going!! It makes me a little nervous but if he's happy i'm happy!!






Paxton LOVES to go swimming! It's seriously his favorite thing to do, he is a little fish!! It's nice that he loves to swim because it's so hot outside its torture to be out unless your cooling off in a pool! There is a city pool that we have been going to here in illinois, every time we go, everyone has to stop us and tell me how cute he is!

I had my 22nd birthday on June 15th! I LOVE birthdays! i think i should have one every month! It's nice to feel special and have a day to celebrate! I got a beautiful vase of flowers delivered to be in the morning from daniel, they were so pretty and they smelled so good! Later Daniel was able to get off work early so we could do dinner and a movie! My mom watched Paxton so it was just us two! it was so much fun!

Promise to do better!!
I have been so bad at blogging, but i promise that i will do better, Paxton is growing up so fast and i want to remember everything that he does. Time is flying by!

Growing up to fast!

*7 Months Old*

Paxton turned 7 months on the 20th of this month, Where has the time gone? I'm sure all mom's think highly of their children but i swear paxton is advanced for his age. he's been able to sit up and crawl for a couple months, but now he'll crawl over to the couch, his bucket of toys, pretty much anything he can reach and use it to help him stand up. It freaks me out, i always think he'll fall and hit his head. He is so dang cute and he makes us so happy! I don't know what i would do with out this little man. He means the world to me!!

I do have to say this because i am very proud of myself. While i was pregnant i ended up gaining a total of 43 pounds, yes i was freakin fat, well i have lost all that weight plus some! I've lost about 50 pounds!! Nursing really has done wonders, i blame my weight loss on that since i haven't worked out once.

Most of you know we moved to Chicago, Illinois about 2 weeks ago and i really am loving it here. Everyone we have met has been so nice. It's beautiful here, and where we live is super safe. The day we moved here daniel lost his wallet at the train station, we called our bank and cancelled credit cards and we were freaking out, a week later we got a call from the station saying someone turned it in, goes to show there really are good people out there! we felt blessed.