Last week of February 2016

I got a ton of new kids books through USBORNE Books thanks to an online party I hosted.  I'm super excited!  (I'm so glad my kids like books!)

Max at swim lessons.  They weren't able to use one edge of the pool so he had to hold onto one of the teachers like a monkey because he can't touch the bottom of the pool

Max and the other kids in his class, some were 2 heads taller! (He's wearing blue and right in the middle in front of the kid in a green shirt.)

He wanted to get some seaweed strips at the grocery store so I let him (He didn't really understand what he was getting) but kuddos to him because he actually ate it and liked it!

Skyping with Grandpa and Nana.  Max wrote them a note.

Silly boy ready for bed.  He's been putting one of his blankets on top of his pillow.   He really likes soft textures for his blankets and pajamas.

Rocking his BYU shirt

Emmalyn was NOT happy that I put this dress on her.  I asked her to wear it long enough for me to get a picture.  She never wore the dress again.  I don't really understand why she didn't like it.

One night this week, Emmalyn tossed and cried for hours. Finally I figured out her mouth was hurting her, she must be teething her 2nd year molars! So I put some lavender on and gave her Tylenol.  Poor girl.

Maxwell's Kindermusik class and their instruments.  Daddy helped him make one that sounded sort of like a duck quacking.  It was a cup, a string, and a wet napkin.  It was pretty cool.

Max had a friend birthday party at a bounce house place and he was all about it and had a great time climbing up some BIG houses.  (He's kid on the left)

Although he liked the bounce houses, he was constantly drawn to the video games and I had to keep pulling him away.

We played air hockey.  It's sure fun to hang out with this kid (and so weird that he's grown up enough to do things like this with him!)

Emmalyn wanted to ride bikes with the big kids but the scooter is the only one she can ride.

My cousin Brandy was in town so we all went downtown to have breakfast and hang out with her.  It was soooooo fantastic to get to spend time with her.  It's been a long time!

Peter swapped with me so I could actually be in a picture

We walked to Klyde Warren Park (a cool urban space over the freeway in downtown Dallas) and the kids played in the kids area

Emmalyn wanted to sit and listen to story time

Such a monkey with no fear

They loved it when dad spun them around

We tried a bahn mi sandwich from a food truck.  It was good.

Enjoying some Doritos (so messy!)

More houses going up on the street behind our house.  I miss our great wide-open view when none of these were here... :(  The progress on the house behind us is going so slowly! (which stinks because of the endless construction noise but also good because I want to delay having a neighbor back there as long as possible)

Dressing for spring in hopes that it comes faster!

Even though it's not yet spring and the grass is brown, the weather is warm enough to play outside in with shorts and t-shirts when the sun is shining brightly.

First week of February 2016

Now that Maxwell has moved up to Level 7 at his swimming classes, here are the skills he's going to be working on. 

She likes to sneak and grab her dad and brother's glasses

Maxwell is so little compared to the other kids in his class (some are two heads taller!)

What a good dad - brushing Emmalyn's hair

He wanted to wear a tie to school... so of course, I helped make that happen.  :)

Maxwell in Kindermusik - he's wearing the red hat.  We have a new teacher - Ms. Carolyn. She reminds me a lot of my mom in her energy and passion.  I really, really, really like her and her teaching style.  It's fun for Maxwell to be back in Kindermusik (last semester there weren't enough kids to have the class).

Soccer skills class

Nice strong kick

Again, he's on the short end in his class.  This is going to be his life - sorry Maxwell!

Running the obstacle course

It was fun watching how his skills have grown.  I still don't like the coach and think he's too harsh on these little kids but at least Maxwell is improving.  

Her morning set up - ipad, cereal in a bag, and sippy cup with milk - - also known as "Bibad", "Cereal" and "Moak"

Peter and I went out so our favorite babysitter Bridgette came over.  The kids were happy to see her.

Maxwell is such a boy - - poop, "bottom", and farts are funny.  He sang jingle bells with "poop" replacing every single word and thought it was the best thing ever.

He has a crush on his aassistant teacher Miss. Shauna,  He told her when she gets married her last name will be Millar and he loves to help her and draws her pictures. It's pretty sweet.

Emmalyn counts to 13, She's really communicating what she wants.  For example: Jingle Bells is her favorite song and she asks for it continuously in the car.  She asks for "Frosty" on the tv, also asks for the iPad

Another week full of adventures

September 20 - 26, 2014

Emmalyn came with me to my friend (we work together at CROSSMARK) Sarah's baby shower.  We are excited to have two baby girls that can be friends!

Daddy was getting some giggles out of her

Walking around with Momma in the baby bjorn 

Out to dinner - we tried a new place and got some mediocre food and then went next door to a place where they make you ice cream by freezing it in front of you with, (I can't remember) some cold gas.  It was cool to watch but again just mediocre on flavor.

Going on a walk - trying to get Maxwell to love his balance bike

My fix it man finally showed up to work

I took the kids on a picnic while daddy was playing paintball

Love spending time with these two even though it's a lot of work!

We took Maxwell (and Emmalyn) to see Footloose put on by a children's theater. 

This was the most interested he looked the entire time.

Within like the first two minutes there were two swear words, which I was NOT happy about.  I thought this was children's theater?  Anyway, the show quickly didn't hold Maxwell's attention so we were trying to entertain him with stuff in the diaper bag and also keep Emmalyn happy.  We quickly gave up.  We decided to leave, it just wasn't worth it.  I think we lasted 20 minutes, maybe. 

So we played on the stairs outside the theater and took some pictures.

Maxwell loves his "big brother" t-shirt.  He loves all t-shirts and would wear them every day if I let him.  Style, dude!

We are so lucky to have such a cute and happy baby!

She was gumming this toy so hard that she figured if she ripped it out of her mouth, it would squeak against her gums so she did it over and over again.

Hard to change a diaper like this...

Wahoo!  This rear end is now big enough for Size 2 diapers!

I love that it's now cool enough that we can do walks in the evening.  These two were chatting it up (love Max's hands in his pockets as he walks - ha!)

There was a chalk hopscotch on the sidewalk during our walk and Maxwell knew what to do with it.  He also saw a shape and pointed out that it was a trapezoid.  Then he wanted to play "chase me" and "freeze tag".  All of these things were things he didn't know before he went to school - guess he IS learning!

At the fall family picnic at Maxwell's school.  We knew like no one, a few teachers were familiar but that was it.  Maxwell didn't seem to know any of the kids.  Oh well, we just started, right?

Maxwell and his Teacher Miss Cynthia

Peter walked in on Maxwell pooping and found him like this. !!!

Preschool update:
At school, Maxwell has Chinese class once a week for half an hour.  When he comes home, we ask him to teach us what he learned and he says something that sounds like Chinese.  Who knows if those are real Chinese words or what they mean since neither of us knows any Chinese!  Unfortunately he doesn't only learn good things at school, the other day he threw a tantrum with stomping his feet - that was learned from someone at school.  Nice.  I'm not sure if he likes going to school.  He is really sensitive and easily upset.  For example, he cries if he has to go to another teachers classroom because his teacher isn't there yet (she is getting a new helper but the helper hasn't started yet so that means it is only his teacher in the classroom and she's been late a few times so the kids have to go to another class until she gets there.  It's super frustrating to me because I see him breakdown and wonder if we shouldn't have picked another teacher, one who was more punctual perhaps??)  He also cried when I came to read to his class and when I left.  According to his teacher he isn't crying for my during nap time anymore but he still takes forever to fall asleep.

It's hard to get any details from him about what he did all day - I wish I could just stay there for a day and watch.  He eats lunch with one of the older kids in his class, I think she's 5 or turning 5.  Anyway, part of Montessori is to let the older kids help the younger kids and apparently he was upset because he dropped his spoon and she helped him deal with it.  Nice, right?

Here's what his teacher told us.  He's good at language, reading, and his math.  He needs to work on his writing and coloring.  She says he uses both hands instead of favoring one (which we knew) so we asked her to encourage him to use his right hand when he's writing.  He doesn't want to try new things or be silly in front of others.  She said he's not quite socially engaged.  He does NOT want his fingers dirty which has caused problems when they are doing things like finger painting.  He also doesn't want to move on to new work and would rather keep doing what he's doing for long periods of time.

Max is still wearing some 18-24 months pants.  This poor kid is so short!

Emmalyn update:
Emmalyn is pivoting around on her belly.  And we get a few rolls from belly to back.  She certainly is squirmy and can get around by wriggling and rolling.  She is a TALKATIVE baby!  It doesn't seem to bother her when I have milk anymore.  She hates the process of getting swaddled but is fine once it's done.  She also doesn't like being put in the car seat. She is now reaching for toys, and switching them between her hands.  She puts her feet, toys, and everything in her mouth and is drooly but there's no sign of any teeth coming in.  Lately, it seems she always poops when Momma is holding her. If we are lucky, she only wakes up to nurse 2 times a night.

She was great when we went to the new brand of binkies and stopped using the soothie kind from the hospital.  She can now grab the binky and put it in her mouth herself.  I don't give her the binky though when she is falling asleep at night.  We use a sound machine when she sleeps but she doesn't have to have it.  It's so sweet because she coos while she is falling asleep.  During the day we get her to sleep by putting her in the swing (which I don't like but hey, it works...) I can tell she really wants to eat solids.  She is so interested whenever we are eating but I'm holding out and not giving her solids until she's 6 months - only a couple more weeks.  It's hard to get excited about giving her food because she seems to spit up so much lately.  I don't want gross solid food spit up too!  (At least breast milk spit up is all white and doesn't stain like carrots do.)

She really knows her family and just lights up when she sees me.  I love it!  She loves watching Maxwell play on the iPad.

I am already stressing about my milk supply and have seen a drop.  I have a ton of breast milk frozen so that helps a little with the stress, but I wish that I wouldn't be seeing a drop in my production already. :(

My tailbone is doing better and only hurts if I spend time sitting on a hard surface - like the floor for very long.  I can't believe it's really taking this long to heal.