Third week of February 2017

Maxwell posing before school.  It was school class picture day so he dressed up a little bit.  It was a Wednesday

The night before he seemed sweaty at night and was complaining about headaches but in the morning he seemed to have energy so I sent him to school.

A couple hours later, I get a call from the school nurse saying that he has a fever of 101.  So I went to pick him up and take him to see his doctor.   (Luckily pictures had already happened so he didn't miss them.)

He weighed 42.4 lbs

I let him eat his snack because he was hungry (they have lunch at school at 10:30 am).  His snack was apple slices and seaweed (He loves it!).

At the doctor's, he had a fever of 101.6 and was diagnosed with an ear infection. 

He quickly went downhill.   On way home said he wanted to lay down, and then by the time we got home, he couldn't even change his clothes into something more comfortable.  So I helped him then brought his medicine.   

Sad sick face

He quickly fell asleep and took a 3 1/2 hour nap!!!

Not feeling good at all

That tooth was soooooo ready to come out.  We finally had enough of the drama around getting the tooth out and Peter pinned him down and just pulled it out.  

He survived! (And the next morning got $1 for his tooth.)  Two bottom teeth - gone!

Brushing her teeth while wearing my shoes

Look at that rash!

Poor max was just not having a good go of it.  I keep him home from school the next day since the rule states that they have to be fever free for 24 hours without medicine before they can go back.

At work, the Network of Women put on a bunco night with our Executive Leadership Team.  It was a huge success!

On Friday, I wasn't sure whether to keep him home or send him.  I decided to keep him home which was a good thing because he said he was tired and he proceeded to lay down all day except for lunch and dinner. 

I prepped all my stuff to drop off at the consignment sale that I like to sell/shop at.

I did the smaller site this time and it was still totally packed with items.

On Saturday, we had our friend Andrea's son Carter's third birthday party.  Maxwell seemed up to going.  He didn't jump long in the bouncy house which was a sign that he wasn't yet 100%.

Enjoying cake

Emmalyn was my grocery shopping helper.  She pushed the little cart, loaded things on the belt, and helped me pay.

Enjoying a snack outside while Maxwell was in Kindermusik.

Knocked out after a birthday party plus playing in the sun.  I gave her a wipe to clean her face but she was clearly too tired to get that done.

Sunday was the 5th day of Maxwell being sick and he still was acting tired!  Luckily there was no school on Monday so he had one more day to get better.

Maxwell wrote a story/drew pictures about making Smores next door.  He drew the process and included Mr. Chris too.  (I'll correct the spelling--) "A couple days ago, I asked to go toast marshmallows with Ms. Mary Ann.  With my cousins..."

Fun Sunday breakfast - thanks Dad!

I love this note Maxwell wrote to me and Peter

Emmalyn going potty on the big potty!

Trying to teach her how much toilet paper to use

Every time she goes potty in the potty, she gets a sticker.  (Trying to staying away from candy as the reward.)  Yay for potty training!

Emmalyn has been in panties on Saturday and Sunday at home. No accidents other than one early on Saturday when she was trying to get there and didn't go fast enough. Then Monday did great with Britt. No accidents at home - even pooping. I put pull-up on her outside the house though because I don't want to deal with extra changes of clothes and accidents outside the house and she poops in it of course.  She is not yet staying dry during nap. 

When tucking Max in he this week, he was talking about being awesome so I asked him what he was awesome at and he said "addition". Then he asked a question about negative numbers so I tried to explain them a little to him and he goes "you are really good at teaching me. You should be a teacher" Then later when cuddling, he said "you are good at being a mom". Melted my heart. 

Signed Emmalyn up to start at Castle Montessori in the fall today. Excited for her to go - she's ready for it! Her new thing at bedtime is once you lay her down, she gets one blanket, puppy, and turtle and bunches them together and lays on top of them. Then you put her peppa pig blanket on her and go to leave and she goes," mom. I have just one thing to tell you." Every time. Sometimes she tries to sneak more things in but always has something else to say. Often she will tell me how excited she is that in the morning she will get to have cereal and milk and play on her iPad.

Second week of September 2015

Just another week back into the routine of school/work

Emmalyn rocking a little cowboy fashion

On dad's computer.  Maxwell's got his hand on the mouse like a pro.

I got my first consignment check in the mail.  I have been going to consignment sales for a few years now but never sold anything.  It was nice to get some money to offset what I was buying!

Maxwell wanted to assign seats at the kitchen table and made a place for Bridgette, the babysitter.

Skyping with Nana and Grandpa on the media room screen

Maxwell sharing his ice cream with his sister

Playing outside - what a hunk with that belly

Blowing some bubbles for his sister

Being silly at the park and taking off his shirt.  Peter has reminded me that he took off his shirt because he wanted to be an American Ninja Warrior.

Look at that face.  This kid is going to make the girls swoon when he's older.

Emmalyn trying to wake her daddy up

Cuddling with daddy

Video - At Kindermusik, we do a "steady beat" with the kids during each class.  I caught her doing it with her baby doll. 

Update on Emmalyn:

She can climb up on the couch if she stands on a pillow or blanket,
She loves playing on her slide and also loves toothbrushes (especially Max's which of course irritates him)
She said "thank you momma" yesterday
She wants to follow Max around a lot.
She is starting to learn how to use a spoon and can drink from a normal cup (but I only put a little bit of water in it)
She navigates up and down small steps and changes in elevation without crawling or sitting down.
She loves to sing and sings on pitch much more than max did at this age.
She had no problem when we left her with Bridgette this past weekend.
She has been more clingy with me lately.  I even took her in only her diaper to pick up Bridgette because it broke my heart to see her cry when she realized I was taking max and not her,

Here are all the words she says at 17 months:  Mommy, momma, daddy, max (mat), joe-joe, milk, more, please, thank you, thank you momma, rock, walk, puppy, duck, you, me, ya ya ya, bubbles, eyes, nose, ears, head, flower, eat, water, nana(banana), bread, doll, ball, cheese, cheeks, bellybutton(her version of the word), bink(binky), Cheerios, cereal

Max gets mad when she calls him "Mat".   He says, "that's not my name"

Maxwell is really whining and not listening well.  Fun Stage.
He easily cries if he doesn't get his way.
He's quick to say no or talk back, so that's fun to deal with.
His bad mood puts Emmalyn in a bad mood too.

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.