Middle of July 2014

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.

1 yr old but still a shorty

Happy, smiley guy in the morning after his birthday

Video - I had some cupcakes left over so I let Max have one so that he could practice tearing a cake apart (for his upcoming birthday party).  Love love love the last 15 seconds of this one.

Peter gave Maxwell a ride on his new scooter (bike)?

 ("new" = Slightly used - -got it at a consignment sale for 5.00!  I love consignment sales!)

He's so short that his feet can't touch. 

He enjoyed the ride though!

Video - Every once in a while I can get the good giggles out of Max but only about a tenth of the frequency that Peter can.  This is proof that I can sometimes.

Fun during the week

The middle of May was pretty non-eventful.  Here's some pictures from May 14 - 18.

Mmmmm food!

 Max is such an awesome eater, he opens his mouth big and wide for each bite.

 Blueberry face

 Here it is again, the big mouth smile. 

For some reason, this is how Max smiles most of the time right now.

Playing with his racetrack and showing off his skills at pulling up on things.

 There's that big smile again.

 ...and again.  :) 

At least it shows off those teeth he worked so hard for.

He really started to explore and go all over versus stay and play in one place.  I like that Brittany has my mom's table and now I get to enjoy watching my son climb all over, through, and under it.

Video - Finally, *I* gott Max laughing hard - yeah for momma!  We were looking at houses with our realtor and Max was over it.  I was trying anything I could to keep him happy (thus I was in the back seat with him) and finally hit on something that he liked.   But you can see in the video it doesn't last for long.

Some things about Max lately:

• He can now go from crawling to sitting
• He is pulling up on all types of things
• He kneels now and will play while on his knees
• He has started blowing raspberries on Peter and I which is funny because we don't blow raspberries on him very often.  He just started doing it one day and is pretty good at it!
• He's been pretty whiny and clingy when I'm around

Giggles on video

Here are two videos of happy, laughing Max.  Clearly Dad is better at getting the good laughs.  I really enjoy the fact that we can get a laugh more regularly.

Peekaboo!

Enjoy the cuteness on this video.  Max's personality is so much fun.  I love that we can play with him and the way he interacts with us now.

He crawls!

It's official.  On May 8, 2012, Max crawled...for real.  And by real I mean, leg...opposite hand...other leg...other hand...  No belly touching the ground, no scooting, just real crawling!  Way to go buddy!  I didn't get video of it on the 8th but I'll show you some video soon.  Here are a few pictures from the days surrounding that day.

 Max likes to read, even magazines.  Look at him turn the pages.

Video - Max is laughing more and more now however it's not enough yet to make it commonplace.  I still dive for my camera and try to capture it everytime he laughs.  I think is is just so stinkin' cute to hear his little laugh.

 Serious drooling going on lately.  I wonder if it will ever stop!

Max wanted to play with the bike just like his cousin Landen was.

 All smiles...but with all those teeth, it can look like a creepy smile sometimes.  :)

 Looking at himself in my phone.

 Turning on the charm

See?  I am crawling!  Watch out!

A few more from March

Whoops - I found a couple more pictures from the end of March.

Part of Max's "crawling" sometimes involved pushing off with one foot.  But he doesn't just push off with the toes on that one foot, he kicks the other foot up in the air.  It cracks me up.  Poor kid doesn't realize that doing it this way causes him to face plant quite a bit.

Another view that shows how high he lifts his other foot in the air.

Video - Trying to get Max to scoot on video

Max has started paying attention to the paintings in his room that his Nana (Marriann) and Grandpa (my dad) painted for him.  He really loves looking at the frog.

Video - Baby giggles are the best.  Peter gets them from Max more than I do.  But that's okay because it means I get to watch.  :)  I am bummed that the video is sideways.  Apparently there isn't an easy way to fix that.  Well, there is an easy way....just turn your head to the left.  :)

Entertained and happy

I love watching his sweet little wrist move when he turns this toy. 

Playin' with my Baby

VAMPIRE BABY! I let Max taste some of the berry smoothie I made.  When I took a picture he looked away and we got this creepy picture where he looks posessed with blood dripping from his mouth. 

He liked the smoothie so much that I put the bib on and gave him some more, it was messy!

Video - He loves this activity center and is finally tall enough to jump.  When we first put him in it, his poor feet just hung.

Video - My smiley boy playing with his cars and his race track.  He is so fun to watch.

Minute to Win It!

Want to have a crazy good time?  Just play some Minute to Win It games with your family.

I was playing a large scale game with my team during my upcoming meeting at the end of February and I wanted to do a run through to make sure that all the games I picked were good games and make sure I hadn't missed anything.  So I invited Brittany, Joe, and the boys over to play.


Before the party:  Max played with dad.

Here's our dinner - salads and soup in bread bowls.  The soup was a cheddar cheese soup that we made in the Vitamix (it is still crazy to me that the blade turns fast enough to heat up soup!)

It was so much fun to play all of these games.  Hayden was able to play most of them and did a good job too!  I think we all laughed so hard that night (you know, the kind of laugh that makes you think you might pee your pants?)!!!  Max slept through the game and I was amazed that he didn't wake up from us laughing and screaming so loud.

Brittany playing "Movin' on up"

Joe playing "Face the Cookie"

Video - Brittany playing "Paper Dragon"

The aftermath of "Extreme Hanky Panky"

"Penny Hose" (Hilarious! And HARD!)

Brittany playing "Dizzy Mummy"  I love how Landen is standing there just watching her go.

Video - Hayden playing "Dizzy Mummy"

Brittany playing "Junk in the Trunk"

Video - Peter schooling us all at "Junk in the Trunk"   - - there was a video of me playing this game but I was AWFUL (I couldn't jump all around, it was hurting my foot) and looked ridiculous so that video will never see the light of day.

" Bobble Head"

 Joe rockin' during "Bobble Head"

 Brittany was so serious during "Bobble Head"

Having a good time watching

Peter's turn for "Bobble Head"

Even Hayden played "Bobble Head"  (It's my favorite game)

Go Hayden, Go!

"This Blows"

Peter had so much fun he even got a little silly

Video - When we were at Target shopping for supplies for the meeting, Max all of a sudden started talking really loud.  And he did that throughout most of the store.  It was crackin' me up and of course people were looking.  He has never done this before but after he did it this once he did it often for the next few weeks.  Here's a video I took of him later that night after all the fun when he got up to eat and started being loud again.