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.

I want a flu shot NOW!

On October 24th, Brittany brought the kids to my work so we could have lunch together and so that Maxwell and I could get a flu shot.  They were doing a flu shot clinic and the email said "family member welcome".  Great!  Maxwell and I can both be done at the same time.  

In anticipation of what would happen, I had been prepping Maxwell for his flu shot.  We talked about what would happen and how he could say "Ow" if it hurt.  He knew that when he came to visit Momma he would get a flu shot and he also knew (at least I thought he did) that it would hurt.

It was hard to get a chance to eat, so many people were stopping to coo over my darling little baby girl.  She was a big hit.  :)

Maxwell's lunch was more a group of things I knew he'd eat like strawberries, pickles, chicken, and cucumbers.

It is a really nice break from the regular work day to get to see the kids and have them come visit me.

Britt and Landen

So when it was time for our appt, Maxwell and I went to get our shots.  Well, as I was signing the paperwork the nurse let me know that they were only giving flu shots to adults.  (That was super irritating to me because the email said "FAMILY MEMBERS" welcome, not "Adult family members welcome".  Who would read that and not think that kids could come too?)  Anyway, Maxwell was extremely upset with the news and started crying and saying, "but I wanted a flu shot".  There were a couple other women in the room that were watching this transpire and I could see the shock on their faces that this little boy was devastated that he didn't get a flu shot.  Poor Maxwell was so sad.  He got a sucker from the nurse and that helped a little while he watched me get one (and he did watch the whole thing.  He laughed when he saw it...silly kid...).

Video - His reaction was so unexpected that when we walked out of the room, I had to capture it.  This is the best video EVER.

When he started throwing a fit I had to stop videoing so I could stop the fit since we WERE still at my work.  :)  The rest of our lunch was spent trying to cajole Maxwell.  I told him I would call his doctor and we would make an appt to get a flu shot.  I called right there when we were at the table so he KNEW he would be able to get a flu shot.  I love Maxwell, he makes me smile and his personality is so great.  I mean, what kid wants to get a flu shot?  My silly kid!

This is what sick looks like

My poor, sweet Max got sick.  And it hit him like it's never hit him before.  It was so incredibly sad.  He just wanted to lay on Peter on the couch and asked to watch soccer.  We found a soccer game that was on (in Spanish).

Those eyes make me so sad!

He fell asleep laying on Peter

Both of them getting naps

He was doing a little bit better that afternoon so I asked him if he wanted to go with me to the store.  I thought he might enjoy getting out of the house.  He said yes, so we headed to the grocery store.  As soon as we got out of the car, and I put him into the grocery cart, he immediately did this:

I felt so bad!  He was feeling so crappy that he didn't even want to hold his head up.  He stayed this way through the grocery store.  Needless to say, I didn't spend long at the store.

The worst of it, thankfully, was just this day.  That night after we put Max to bed, we headed to a Halloween party and Britt kept her eye on Max.  The next day he felt much better.

Weekend trip to Florida - Gatorland

We decided to take a quick family vacation over a long weekend.  I was still feeling guilt about Max not getting to spend very much time at the beach during our last cruise.  So we piggybacked onto the front of one of my work trips to Florida.  We flew out all together to Orlando on a Friday morning and then on Monday, I dropped Peter and Max off at the airport early in the morning and drove on to my work meetings in Jacksonville.

Oh, the joys of entertaining an almost 2 year old on the plane...

We had to change planes which was fine because it split up the time on the plane.  We were lucky enough to have a whole row to ourselves on both legs of the trip.

Words aren't enough to express the way my heart feels seeing this sweetness

Trying to climb over the seat

The headphones worked perfectly!

Not only were we able to spend time together as a family on this vacation but we were also able to spend time with a few of my dear friends!  My friend Shannon happened to be in Orlando for work at the exact same time.  She had a little extra time to do some fun things which luckily aligned perfectly with our trip so once we landed, we picked up her and a co-worker of hers and headed to do something fun!  No, not that major thing in Orlando that everyone does... (Disneyworld)  Instead, we went to GATORLAND!!!!

 A bunch of gators ready to welcome us

Max enjoyed watching the shows

They had some other "dangerous" animals in this show

Our group

Me, max, Peter, and Shannon

Max checking out the goats in the petting zoo

Isn't dad awesome?  He helped Max "volunteer" to go help catch a gator.  (Good thing they were looking for someone older!)

We watched this guy wrangle this gator.

\

Up close with a HUGE Gator

Notice the sign says "Hungry Gators DO NOT ENTER" and one of the gators has come out of the water to check us out.  Man, these things are creepy!

There were some HUGE birds.

The last show, which was just a hokey as the others :)

Max was wiped after a long day traveling, short nap in the car, and then spending a few hours outside in the Florida heat and humidity.  He fell asleep watching the last show before we left.  We kept giving him water but at one point it must have been too much because when we were almost done for the day he threw up some water and french fries.  I felt awful.  I was trying to be a good mom and keep him hydrated but I hadn't stopped him from drinking too much.  :(  He was a good sport and wasn't upset about it once we got him cleaned up.

Leaving Gatorland.  It was full a gators and a fun way to spend an afternoon.  It was perfect.  And I loved how Max would say "alligator", it was sweet.

After dinner, we dropped the ladies off at their hotel and headed to our own, about 45 minutes away right on the ocean.  I was hoping to get there early enough that we could go play at the beach but by the time we got there it was dusk.  So we still went down to check it out but only for a few minutes.

We took Maxwell's shoes off so he could walk in the sand.  He DID NOT like it.  The way the sand felt scared him and he started freaking out.

My not happy little boy

He was so upset, we had to pick him up.  :(

I thought maybe if I took Max up and we played in the waves that he would be happier, but definitely not!  He cried the whole time.

Nothing helped, Max wanted nothing to do with the sand, beach, or ocean.  He cried the entire time.  As we were walking back to the hotel, Peter and I talked about how we hoped this was just because Max was tired.  Hopefully in the morning he'd be more interested.  We hadn't really planned on doing much else other than spending time at the beach because we thought he'd like it so much.  If he didn't like it, our plans were shot!

A few notes I took about Max today - 

He tries to buckle himself in his car seat

He loves helping water the flowers, sweep floors, and put things away

He liked watching planes take off

He talks a lot and we can usually figure out what he's saying

Last night I got some taco bell, I pulled out one of the hot sauce packets for my burrito and he said "hot sauce"!  I have no idea he even knew what that was.  For a while I was trying to understand what he was saying because I just couldn't figure it out.  I finally asked him to point to what he was saying and he pointed to the hot sauce packet and said "hot sauce".  He said it clear as day, it was just me who missed it because in my mind those wouldn't be words that he would know.  I think this is the problem most of the time - me...not him.  He's so smart!