Classy activities...you know... like going to places and eating brunch

All of this is from Sept 8 - Sept 14, 2014.

Video - She coos herself to sleep at night just like this.  It's crazy adorable to me.  Sometimes she will even coo while I am getting her all swaddled.

Video - Maxwell is doing so great at swimming lessons.  In this video he jumps in, swims towards his teacher, then rolls to his back and swims around the pool on his back then rolls back over and swims towards his teacher on by a step at the edge of the pool.  He does all this without the help of his teacher!

She is always so happy

Story time at night

This is how she sleeps with her head pushed back and turned to the side

It looks like he's wearing tights to school but it's just his dark socks that he wanted pulled all the way up.

After I dropped him off at school, I watched again.  I wanted to see how long he'd be sitting there until he either got up to do work on his own or was directed to do something by the teacher.  

Nearly 10 minutes later, he's still just sitting there.  I don't get it?!  Why is his teacher oblivious?  I know Montessori focuses on child driven choices but this was frustrating to me.  He's still new to this routine so why wasn't he getting more help?

Finally he was prompted to go get these blocks that he worked on stacking in order of size.

All worn out after school.

He's not falling asleep during nap time (hopefully he'll catch on to the routine soon) so he's exhausted at the end of the day.

Giving Britt her b-day present - Tortilla warmer and crispy shell taco holder

Cowboy up

Practicing sitting up

How ridiculously cute is Emmalyn!?!

Love that tongue

video - what would you call that sound?? A gurgle?

Rockin' his track suit

We took Maxwell to his first play - it was a local children's theater production of "Once upon this island".  He did a great job of staying interested.  It was a tough story line to follow and he could have easily tuned out.  I nursed the baby so that she'd sleep and be quiet.  

We ended up telling Maxwell the show was over during intermission.  While he did a good job of staying interested, that also meant that he was asking a ton of questions during the show and he was only so quiet.  There were lots of kids in the audience so it wasn't like we totally stood out but I was so hyper conscious of every little noise he made and it was getting later in the evening.  

It's important to me that Maxwell gets experiences like going to plays and things like that.  I want him to be exposed to cultural activities like plays, musicals, the symphony and museums.  This was a good start with the plays.

I can't think of another thing as tender for a Momma as to have your baby sweetly sleeping on you.

Peter and his kiddos (boy, Emmalyn looks chunky!)

All dressed up to go to brunch

She slept for a little bit

If you look in the top left corner, you will see the musician playing the violin.  Maxwell was enthralled with him and loved watching.  He would turn shy whenever he came close but we did get him to wave to the guy once.  :)

One of the, maybe, 5 bites Max ate.

The baby didn't sleep for long...so yup, that's me nursing in the fancy restaurant.  (The lady at the table next to us also had a baby and she nursed first so I didn't feel uncomfortable.)  I'm game to nurse everywhere.  I can't think of anywhere I WOULDN'T nurse, especially with the nursing cover.  I'm grateful that Peter supports me in this and doesn't have issues with it.

All dressed up

Trying on her pumpkin hat

Gotta love that drool

Here's what my front room looked like after I went to a consignment sale and some clothes from the neighbors.  I think I've got everything the kids could need.  I have no problem with second hand clothes.  If it's in good condition, can be used again, and doesn't cost me full price?  I'm there.  

Emmalyn is 5 months old now!  

She will only be quiet during her diaper change if you give her the binky.  

She's arching her back which  makes her hard to hold onto.

She has the BEST BIG SMILES!!! and they come really easily.  Her laughs, however, she will make you work really hard for.

When she smiles, she smiles with her tongue out.

Her hair seems to be coming in lighter.

She is drawn to watching the TV or iPad if they are on.

Commonly now, when she's nursing in the middle of the night, I will fall asleep and then wake up like 45 minutes later and she'll still be nursing or asleep too.  I am using a nursing pillow so it's not like I'm going to drop her if I fall asleep.  It's just interesting because I've completely lost my ability to make myself stay awake.  I am just so completely exhausted that I can't help it.

The beginning of September - Normal times but fun times

Sometimes I feel like life just flies by in a series of routines and we don't do anything special or fun (unless you include going to Costco on Sundays).  However, as I was prepping this post I was reminded that we DO have memorable moments each week and sometimes they are big exciting things and sometimes they are small but they are still memorable and special.

So here's some memorable moments from the beginning of September.

I had taken Emmalyn out of her swaddle and went to go do something quickly and came back and this is what I found.  Baby girl was on her belly (and that wasn't how I left her).  Uh oh.  No more leaving her in one spot and knowing she'll just stay in that one spot.

Max came to talk to her

I love this picture

On Labor Day, I took Maxwell to the pool...just us two...no screaming baby left in the kids care center to interrupt our fun 10 minutes later with a page over the intercom.

We swam a little with the swim vest and a little without it.  He's gotten to be such a good swimming for a 3 year old over the summer.  He really loves going in the lazy river but I make him have the swim vest on in there.  In the big pool he enjoys jumping off the side and swimming to me (about 15 away) and then swimming back.  We get lots of looks from people when he does that because he's so little.  They are impressed.  :)

Snack break

After swimming we hung out next door and enjoyed our neighbors.  Emmalyn was passed around but Mary Ann had her most of the time.  Now that Labor Day is over, summer is over.  :(

Emmalyn out on a walk with Brittany and Landen while Hayden and Maxwell were in school.

My pre-schooler!  

I wanted to get this picture with the chalkboard on the first day of school and didn't.

So I figured I'd get it another day during that first week of school and didn't.

So I finally got it during the second week. Oh well, that's life.  I'm still trying to adjust to getting myself ready for work and Maxwell ready for school and getting us both out of the house on time.

I snapped a pic of Maxwell on circle time after I dropped him off.  I still stay and watch the cameras for a bit.  He's the boy on the top left.

We try to get information out of him about his days at school and he usually says "I don't know".  Landen has been cute and asks him every day if he made any new friends and he finally said "yes"!  Dylan and Joshua.  That make me happy.  

I was feeling like we were doing well and then this week I went and dropped him off and he starting walking towards the circle rug, just fine.  Well, bad move on my part, I called to him and asked about my hug and a kiss.  Well, that was all it took to upset the careful balance and he started crying and didn't want me to leave him.  It was awful.  I felt so bad.  Why did I have to say anything?  Why couldn't I just have walked out of the room!

At orientation I had signed up to read to the kids during their library time once a month (So I'd leave work during my lunch break and come and read).   Unfortunately, today was that time for September.  I had prepped Max that I was going to come and read to his class but he must have forgotten because when I got there they were finishing lunch and he immediately jumped up, shut his lunch box, and said that his mom was here to get him.  I explained no, that I was here to read to his class.  He was upset about that and wanted to go home with me.  We worked through it and I read to the class but then when it was time for me to go, he lost it again.  Full on lost it.  I couldn't calm him down and eventually just had to leave him with his teacher, still crying.  Not quite the fun experience I had envisioned when I signed up to read.

Holding onto both feet with one hand

Love those toes

Brittany sent me this pic.  She's holding her own bottle! (This is something I wouldn't know unless Britt told me because of course she never gets a bottle when I'm around.)

Maxwell put on a cowboy hat and was riding the broom around as a horse

Maxwell letting his sister grab his face.  I love any interaction between them (until they start fighting!)

Emmalyn has only woken up once between midnight and 7 am the last two nights.  Dare I think this might be the new norm?!  She is so funny and falls asleep blowing raspberries.  The last couple weeks she has been congested and it's just not going away.  I can hear her congested breathing while she sleeps.  We've tried using essential oils and a humidified and nothing is working.  

Aren't those cheeks the best?

Reading books at the library on the weekend

This is what my bathroom sink looks like nearly all the time.  I don't even get to use it to brush my teeth in - I use Peter's.  There are always multiple pieces of pooped on clothing/blankets soaking in here.  The trick I've learned with this baby is that if you can quickly soak the clothing for like a day and then poor some Oxyclean right onto the stain while the garment is still in the water and let it sit for another day, nearly all stains will be gone.  It's so much better than scrubbing at all the stains like I did last time.

Video - She is a talker!

Peter making homemade cinnamon rolls with Maxwell.  He helped like the beater from the icing.

Don't they look great?  Peter does an awesome job making them.

Always a fan of play-doh and now he's got a bunch of his own stuff thanks to birthday presents.

Video - It's amazing how quickly she becomes a pro at rolling over.  It's like it takes zero effort now.

We went out for ice cream

This is what you look like after you indulge a little too much :(  Messy and sad with a tummy ache

We celebrated Brittany's birthday a little early.  We surprised her with an ice cream cake.

One night this week, I took a blanket outside and so Max and I had a picnic dinner outside on the blanket to enjoy the lovely weather.  At one point Max came and whispered in my ear that I was his favorite Momma.  It was so sweet and my heart just melted.  This is what I want, these simple, special moments where I create things that my children and I love.  It doesn't take a big activity.  I need to remember that.