Jax Update & Yard Overhaul

So, it's official.  Yesterday was our last trip to Salt Lake City for Jax's helmet!  The doctor told us that Jax's head is still at a 3, but that is amazing for only 8 weeks in the helmet coming from 7.5.  He said that if we're okay with taking the helmet off, he was comfortable doing so, and that if we kept him in it, it would barely make a difference at this point. He was also surprised that it had changed so quickly; apparently only 5-10% of kids get it off within 8 weeks.  It should continue to round out a bit on it's own, but it's less than a millimeter off from where it should be.  We'll take it!  Jax has gotten really uncomfortable in it lately anyway; he constantly tried to scratch his head (and obviously couldn't) and was sweating so bad in it with the hot weather.  To us, his head looks great, so I'm sure even if it doesn't round out perfectly, it'll never be noticeable to anyone who doesn't know.  Anyway, we were all beyond excited, and I think were all grinning from ear to ear once we got the good news!

So, in other news, Jax is getting around pretty good by scooting now.  He has started waving bye-bye, he got his 8th tooth and is working on his 9th (we think...a molar!).  Just today, he started pulling himself up (on his crib...eek!) and was able to sit up from laying on his stomach.  He's also starting to get up on his knees, but hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of crawling just yet.  I think it's right around the corner, though.  He also walks pretty well holding our hands these days, and he "sings" along to his favorite songs.  (Okay, it's more of a grunt, but he still does it!) It's so crazy how much he's changed these last few weeks. 

We've started working on tearing out our entire  yard.  The grass got mostly ruined by the dogs running around on it, and it's really lumpy, so we've decided to tear it all out and start fresh.  We also took down these massive, ugly bushes that were right by our front gate.  That was sure a chore; it took Randy almost all of last Saturday to do just that.  We haven't gotten much further than that at this point, but in June, we'll be renting the equipment to tear out the grass/misc. trees and install a sprinkler system and sod.  We'll also be planting some trees and flowers, and we're building a firepit out of some bricks we have in our yard now that we're tearing out.  We're also hoping to get to put in a vinyl fence and re-paint the house (light gray) this summer, too.  Really, we're just trying to get our house ready to sell.  Hopefully it'll be put on the market early next year, so we can get into a bigger house before we have another baby.  I'll post pictures as we go.  I don't have any true before pictures, because I spaced taking them, but here are a few from this last week and what it looks like now.

So, as you can see, it needs a lot of work.  It's actually pretty sad with how nice that grass was when we moved in!  Oh well, at least it'll be nice again and won't take nearly as much effort to water like it did before.  We might eventually tear out the concrete, too, and put a new pad down that isn't multiple pieces.  But, we'll see.  We're trying to decide what will actually help us sell this house.  :)

That's all I have for today.  No new pictures of Jax.  Debbie and Jem are coming this weekend to visit, so we'll make sure to take lots of pictures then.  And then Caleb's high school graduation is the following weekend so my sister, brother-in-law and niece will all be in town.  I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to come!