I've started using this massive water bottle at work (it's 1.5 liters). I just wasn't drinking enough water because I didn't have the time to get up and fill up my little water bottle all the time. This baby means I just have to fill up once or twice!
Video - Maxwell using his daddy as his favorite pillow
Pretty girl has such a strong neck!
Emmalyn and Landen hanging out
(The wrestler masks/capes we got in Cancun for the boys have been the best souvenirs ever!)
What a lucky Momma am I!
What a lucky daddy is he?
Maxwell tried to fit in Brittany's side table. He used to climb in there when he was a baby...not so little anymore!
Maxwell graduated from Level 3 at swimming lessons and is moving to Level 4! This is a big deal because he's been ready for awhile but they wouldn't move him up because he was so young. They were going to make him wait until he was 3 (because there are up to 6 year olds in the next class and #1 - aren't sure Max is mature enough and #2 - don't want those 6 year olds confidence to get smashed by the 2 year swimming pro). I was grateful they let him move up about a month early! He was really excited. We love his coach - Coach Katie
Baby all ready for bed
Oddly, the last day of July was a little chilly. Max pulled his shirt up over his head to stay warm.
Emmalyn is so noisy! She's a screecher! She's also starting to look chunkier.
Maxwell is pulling his blanket over himself at night when it's been kicked off. He's never done that before, it's always us putting it on him. He's also staying the same direction in bed all night (usually laying crosswise).
Here's what we had going on during the week of 7-21 through 7-27...
Sneaky hand wiggled out of the swaddle. Doesn't she look comfortable?
We went on a walk. Max loves his new big trike!
Two kiddos out enjoying the weather
Always smiling
Daddy is so funny!!!
I hit the shopping jackpot. I just happened to go into JCPenney when they had just dropped their clearance items prices. Everything that was on clearance was 1.99!!! I loaded up on clothes for Max and Emmalyn (I bought stuff up to 3 sizes bigger than their current size. Who can pass up 1.99?! That's cheaper than a consignment sale!). I also got some extra stuff for presents/Hayden/Landen. When the cashier went to tell me what I saved, she stopped and goes, "I don't think I've ever been able to tell someone that they have saved this much." :) I LOVE A GOOD DEAL!!!! The best deal was a great blazer for Max that was originally 45.00!
Max's eyes are really pretty. They have this ring of brown around the center followed by green and then the outer circle is a dark blue. It's so hard to capture how pretty they are on camera. Add the beautiful colors with some great lashes and you have some future girl's daydreams. :)
My tomato plants are hanging on. It's tough in the summer heat but I am babying them to try and get something out of them. I had a few little tomatoes that were growing and one started going red. I was soooooooooo excited!
The next morning I came out, all excited because my tomato should be ready to be devoured! This is what I found...someone had already eaten half my tomato! Those stinkin' birds!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARGH! All I want is a homegrown tomato, man!! I can't win. :(
Maxwell wanted to give his sister a hug...
Then he wanted to help burp her...
...And touch her
I wanted to get a cute picture of the two of them and of course she spits up just at the right time.
My kiddos
We went and visited my friend Sarah and Max's friend S. The boys had fun taking turns in the garage with this hot wheels car. One boy would be the "driver" and the other would be the "fixer" and fix the engine or pump up the tires. They did a great job taking turns and swapped back and forth more than 10 times.
Working on the tires
Silly smiles. It's so hard to get his genuine smile lately.
Life with a 3 month old can be full of "natural" fun and surprises. I wanted to get a video of her talking. Go ahead, watch these. :) The first two are short but oh so fun.
Video - First try
Video - Second try
Video - And finally, we get what I was going for...
Cuddles at bedtime. Max loves to cuddle Emmalyn with their heads together.
We went out to dinner. Emmalyn does much better than Max did at this age with going out to eat. She's pretty pleasant and easy going (especially if she can watch a tv which is great because they are everywhere in every Dallas restaurant, it seems).
She prefers to stand this way - one foot in front of the other
Max wanted to ride this ride at Toys R Us. He wanted us to put money in so it would really "go". This was the first time he ever had an interest in it going.
Love the band-aid on his ear? He was acting like he had an ear infection so I put some essential oils on a cotton ball and put a band-aid over it. It may have looked funny but it worked! The ear infection quickly went away.
Emmalyn update -
I caught her staring at her hands. It's fun that she's finally realized she has them!
She SCREAMS at night during diaper changes (before I nurse her).
We went to the athletic club twice this week so Peter could work out and Max and I could swim. We put Emmalyn in the day care there. Both times I was called over the loud speaker to come to the Fun Club. When I got there she was throwing a fit, screaming, and not calming down. It was a bummer because we only got in about 20 minutes of swimming before they would call me. I'm worried that she was freaking out so much but the girls there are really encouraging and tell me to keep bringing her back because she will get used to it and eventually be okay.
She still spits up a ton! (did you see the video?) It doesn't seem violent though so I'm not worried about it be acid reflux. Apparently some babies just spit up a lot.
She is great at playing on her play mat.
Some mornings she will just hang out happily in her crib cooing and being happy.
She is so loud!
Max update -
We put the protective sheet on Max's bed this week so that we could start to try and have him nap in underwear instead of diapers and he stayed dry during his nap the first time!
Kallie update -
I'm losing my hair like crazy. I know it's normal post pregnancy and that it's just the hair that didn't fall out when I was pregnant but it's seriously crazy. I have to clean my brush out each time I use it, I pull out clumps of it in the shower. It's gross and awful.
Now that I'm back at work, the pictures (and fun) from the middle of the week is less and I am doing my best to value every minute of the weekends.
She's really enjoying her play mat - -this elephant is one of her favs.
Max climbed up on the ottoman to talk to his sister.
Video - Emmalyn's a trooper - sometimes having Max love you can be a tough job.
My cute pictures on my screen saver help me get through the long days at work. Today was rough because for the first time since I went back to work, Max cried this morning when I was leaving. He said he didn't want me to leave. :( For the last 4 nights he has chosen me to put him to bed which shows how much he is missing me because nearly every night he typically chooses Peter to put him to bed.
Video - Mary Ann tried to get Emmalyn to laugh
She succeeded once for a really quick laugh but I didn't get it on camera and then we couldn't get her to do it again.
Sweetly Sleeping
The boys had fun playing together while I was at work
Big smiles for dad
Max got a toy for his sister
More fun during the day - painting
I took Emmalyn into the pediatrician's for a weight check. She weighed 10.4 lbs, which is still the 3rd percentile but she's not dropping in percentile so the nurse seemed okay with her progress.
She will do this little half cry that has some tone to it. It's almost a whimpering cry since she's not fully mad yet.
She's pumping her legs and arms when she's on her back. She is SO DROOLY! She's figured out how to blow bubbles. She is a binky girl. It's nice to help calm her down but then I think about how bad it could be when it's time to cut the habit... She's drinking 4 oz bottles of breast milk when I'm at work and eats about every 3 hours.
Tonight we went to the Athletic club and Maxwell and I went swimming while Peter worked out. We put Emmalyn in the day care ("Fun Club") so that I could focus on Max and we could get into the big pool. Emmalyn did great!
selfie with dad
I went to go get Max's hair trimmed and look who we found - Aunt JuJu
He was really excited to get his haircut. I brought it up as a suggestion in the morning and he jumped right on it and didn't let it go so I let him get one.
Ready to go!
Perfectly behaved, as always.
The "Trim" somehow ended up being a buzz. I didn't think it could get much shorter but it did!
BAD NEWS!!!! When we put Maxwell down for a nap this afternoon, he stayed in his room the entire time and never went to sleep. This is not good. I hope it's not permanent and is just a fluke. I'm not ready for him to be napless during the day.
Showing off the new cut during a nice dinner out on a patio.
Maxwell was bring really quiet at one point today and so I looked at him and when we had eye contact, I smiled at him. He then goes, "Mom, I'm thinking about Peter", It was super sweet.
We have been working hard to get some giggles out of Emmalyn and we succeeded a little bit tonight with getting a couple short giggles out of her. She LOVES being outside!
Video - the first couple of seconds capture her rare laugh. She makes us work hard for it and rarely gives it out!
Two buddies.
This is how a son should feel about his daddy and how a daddy should feel about his son.
Perfect.
Catch up as of July 20.
Maxwell told Peter he's a really nice daddy. :) He certainly can be bossy. When we were outside playing with the soccer ball, he told Brittany she's the goalie and then coached Hayden to keep his eye on the ball, He loves to throw rocks. But he was careful when I let him do it because he has a tendency to be timid and he's certainly cautious. While we were out walking around the neighborhood, we were teasing him and saying that he's have to let Miss Mary Ann ride on the back of his bike and he seriously says, "No, that's too dangerous."
When Emmalyn's on her play mat, she's now grabbing for the dangling toys. Her cry sounds almost conversational and she has different volumes when she cries and coos,
It's cute - Max has starting cooing like a baby and asking to be burped. :)
What's not cute is that Max has also started saying "No" to Peter and I and is screaming and throwing tantrums sometimes. This naturally means that he is spending more time on time out.
He is very intense lately and if he wants you to pay attention, he will get right in your face when he wants to talk and doesn't let you focus on anything else. How do you teach patience to a 2 year old?!?!!
Peter gave me a fitbit for my birthday and for the first time I hit 10,000 steps in one day! I was proud of myself.
Peter is officially a paintball player and had been focused on getting all his gear lately. He looks creepy when it's all on and I've told him he can't let Max see him like that or the poor boy would be scarred.
I am wondering if Emmalyn's tummy might be upset when I have dairy products so I'm going to try almost milk instead and see if she seems to do better. My tailbone is not completely healed yet. The pain comes and goes.
I am completely tired and wiped out. The pattern of nursing/pumping every 3 hours is really hard and now that I am working and can't take a nap, my fatigue is terrible.
I took Max and we went to visit the dentist! I had been prepping him for days and hoped he'd handle it well.
He watched me get my teeth cleaned and I talked to him about what was happening and then it was his turn. (He was so well behaved while it was my turn. He just sat there and colored and talked to us.)
Big kid in the big chair!
(He was wearing a headband...I didn't even notice it until later but figured I'd let it go, no need to do anything that might upset him.)
He sat so still!
The cool sunglasses were a hit.
At one point he wanted to hold my hand so I sat there and held his hand but that was the only thing to show that he was nervous or scared. He did AMAZING. Not only was he super brave, but he did a great job letting the hygienist do what she needed to do. He didn't swallow and let the sucker do all the work. Because he did such a great job and didn't swallow when he shouldn't have, she was also able to do a fluoride treatment. She was so impressed with him and said that she never gets to do fluoride with a 2 year old. That's my awesome kid! Good job, Maxwell! He is so grown up.
All done! He did a great job and the dentist was impressed with his teeth and said they looked great.
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
