Look who's big enough for size 3 diapers! Big girl!
Kisses
Notice what's peaking out on my plant?! That's right - - a strawberry!!! I am so excited. I got zero strawberries last year.
Having fun with their friends
Ha...how into the game do you think Max is at this point? Must be the second half when he's tired.
He took himself out (he's the kid rolling over the blue barrier)
Kindermusik
She loved the bubbles
We had planned on going out that night with Jess and John since they were in town and Tida and Jason. I was really attached to my phone the whole night. I don't like being away from home when there is bad weather going on. Even though it was just a Tornado Watch and not a Tornado Warning, the thought of something happening when I wasn't home, is awful.
Luckily, nothing materialized, even rain the whole time we were out.
Yeah for being back together! Me, Jessica, and Tida
Enjoying the nice night on a patio
Mother's Day (and our 12th anniversary) started out pretty rough! I was woken up extremely early in the morning with the Tornado Sirens going off. That will get your blood pumping! Luckily it stopped quickly after I recognized what I was hearing. So, I finally make it back to sleep (because that's my #1 wish on Mother's Day - sleeping in!) and then I get woken up by a Flash Flood Warning on my phone which also gets your blood pumping.
I finally got back to sleep again and then was woken up the best way ever. My sweet son had brought me breakfast in bed. He was so excited!
He wanted to feed it to me
Perfect morning - sort of sleeping in, breakfast in bed, a cute card, and my kiddos.
Emmalyn wouldn't let Peter take her away so I shared my breakfast with her. I think she must have really missed me while they were in the kitchen and I was still sleeping. She's usually with me until I get up.
I must not have been sharing my food fast enough because she was eating her feet
Delicious - thanks Peter and helpers!
Another treat growing in my garden - TOMATOES!!!! For real!
A panoramic view on my street. The weather was pretty dark to our east. Scary stuff when you see such divisions between the weather because that's usually where the bad stuff happens.
The front of my card ( I LOVE IT)
"Happy Mothers Day ever
Max"
He cut out this hand by himself
Peter made this super cute heart. It's hard to tell from this perspective but it says "Millar" on the top and then has each of the kids' footprints.
It was a rainy, stormy day so we just stayed home all day. Britt and her boys came over a few hours and I picked up some pizza for dinner.
Emmalyn took 3 steps today and you could tell she wanted to walk. She was learning forward to do it and wanting to go!
Video - In case you wanted to get to know me a little bit better, Max will help you out and tell you all about his Momma.
May is a great month. Spring is in full swing. The weather turns solidly into swimming weather. I get to celebrate my anniversary with Peter, my birthday, and mother's day. It's a great month!
My little ray of sunshine
I had a diet coke with lemon at work - in honor of my mom (it was her soda of choice)
Uh oh. It's amazing how quickly this can happen.
Video - Her cute "bye" along with the perfect wave
Lucky Maxwell got the rare treat of some Cheetos's. Look at those messy fingers.
We were invited to Avery (Maxwell's friend in the neighborhood)'s birthday party. It was a gymnastics party. Maxwell was too timid to do anything. His little sister on the other hand, she found something pretty quickly that she loved to do.
After like an hour, we finally got Maxwell to do something. He refused earlier, even with Peter and I offering to help him do stuff. So eventually we got him to talk to one of the "coaches" and she was really good at engaging him while the rest of the kids were enjoying some food. That warmed him up a little and he at least sort of participated after that. Peter thinks he just needed to feel comfortable with the adults/coaches and also didn't want to be embarrassed because it was stuff he's never done before and didn't feel confident he could do it.
I wish I knew exactly what his barriers were because it's so hard as a parent to see things that you know your child would enjoy and yet they won't even try them. Maxwell is such a great kid and there are some really outstanding things about him. I know my parenting can make an imprint on who he ends up being as an adult and I don't want him to jump into anything but I also don't want him to be scared of trying new things or be scared of failing. I really hope I can help him learn to overcome this.
Getting ready for the "snowball" fight (Maxwell is sort of with the group)
Look - he's doing it!
He was good to go with the parachute, but he'd played with a parachute before at Kindermusik
Birthday girl and Maxwell
This is his "cheese" face
We wrapped up the day with a swim in the hot tub at Mary Ann's. Maxwell was excited to swim and I also let him wear a pair of flippers we'd been given. He had fun!
Want to try it out, Emmalyn?
Noooooooooo!
She loves playing with this playset
Peter made Maxwell a "car" he could drive. He had a lot of fun playing with it.
Our regular Sunday trip to Costco.
Hi momma!
Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it seems so crazy that these two cute kids are mine ...I'm someone's mom!
Emmalyn got to take her first big girl bath! She loved splashing but kept trying to stand up which just stresses me out.
Maxwell was chosen as the star student for his class so that meant he had to bring a poster with pictures of himself. I had seen other posters outside the classrooms at the school. There were some where the child clearly didn't do anything to put it together and then there were those that didn't look a perfect but you could tell the child had a hand in creating it. My thought process is, who is this poster really for? THE KIDS. So who cares if it's perfect. I wanted Maxwell to create the poster and then have pride in what he did.
He did a great job of putting stickers on it, glitter glue, letters, and choosing where to put each picture.
Glitter glue hand print
It worked!
He did a great job on his poster
(not sure where his other shoe is)
He was so proud - way to go buddy! (Next time I need to start working on the poster much earlier than the day before it's due. Sheesh - - it's like I was in school all over again. I clearly didn't learn my lesson about procrastinating.)
Maxwell's sleep routine now has to include socks. He doesn't like to sleep without socks on. He gets ready with his 3 P's - Potty, Pull-up, and Pajamas. Then we brush his teeth. He gets to play the iPad for a few minutes and then we read some books followed by cuddling and singing songs and turning on the sound machine. When I turnout the light and go to leave, he says, "Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite, I'll see you in the morning light, don't let the super heroes get you."
Maxwell definitely wants a partner lately. He wants someone to shower with him, play with him, and he wants to help me. He loves to brush his teeth.
The other day he asked to workout with Brittany because he "needed exercise".
At swimming lessons, he has a great backstroke with good arms. His front stroke is improving but there's still lots of room to grow. It used to be that when he was doing his front stroke he would roll onto his back when he needed a breath and now lifts his head back so far ends up going vertical and losing all momentum.
Maxwell, like everyone, has some bad habits. His bad habits are saying "oh my gosh" a lot, wiping his hands on his shirt, picking his nose in bed, and playing with himself when he's pooping. Hopefully he will grow out of these bad habits.
Emmalyn sorta says the following words - more, diaper, Leah, banana, yea, yes, max, dad. She says "Momma" a lot - to get my attention and to communicate. She sweetly gives me kisses a lot, loves Brittany and Joe. If I had her to someone else, she will scream so hard she will start to shake. She's a little drama Momma. She's learned her first body part - her belly! (She sometimes will get "hair and "toes" but not all the time.)
Emmalyn is very chatty and talkative especially in the car lately. If someone is in the shower she will stay outside the shower, begging to join. Diaper changes are tough right now due to so much squirming and fighting. She also fights taking her vitamins.
Emmalyn has not been wanting to nurse for very long lately. I don't know if that's because she quickly is able to get the little amount that's there or if it it because she's not interested in nursing anymore. It more seems like the second option unless she's using me as a binky to go to sleep,, which she has been doing in the morning once I bring her into our bed. She doesn't always want her 4 oz bottle of breast milk anymore but loves drinking water out of a sippy cup. I gave her some cow's milk this week and she tried it but didn't like it.
Both kids like asparagus which I think is pretty awesome!
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
