First night away from Emmalyn

I had been able to avoid any overnight travel for work until this point but I couldn't avoid it any longer.  I finally had to spend my first night away from Emmalyn (hey, I made it 7 1/2 months).  I had a team meeting with my entire team and my clients that would require 2 nights away.  It was incredibly hard to leave.  I had planned to pump the entire time so that my milk supply wouldn't be affected but once I got into that hotel bed, I lost all drive to get up in the middle of the night and pump when she would normally eat.  A good night's sleep totally won out.  Luckily when I got back, my supply was still okay.

The first night we had an appreciation dinner right off the river front in Cincinnati at the aquarium.  

This is the cute pic Peter sent me of Max ready for bed.  I missed him so much!

They brought in a penguin for us to pet.

I tried it.

One of my clients, Ted was all about it.

Mike and Dave (client contacts for another client) presenting an award

Ted's commonly used phrase

Britt sent me this pic the next day of my cute baby.  It was nice to get pictures of what my kids were doing even though it made me miss them.  I tried to Facetime with them every night.

After a long day of meetings, the next night we went out for another team activity.

These characters were excited to wear the Kool-Aid shirts we all got

I thought this centerpiece was festive, pretty, and super simple.  I need to remember this!

Facetime with Emmalyn.  She was so happy to see me.

The meeting went well.  The clients were pleased, my team was pleased, and I was pleased.  AND I was super excited to come home even though it was nice to get away from it all and have a little break.  I really do enjoy work travel but I don't enjoy it enough to sacrifice time at home unless I have to.

This is what the clouds looked like on my way home from the airport.  It's like someone up in the sky was watching me....kind of creepy.

Yeah for being back with my kids!  Here's some of what they are up to lately:

Max is certainly keeping me doing what I "should" like when I am driving with one hand he will remind me to keep two hands on the wheel.  Or, if I cough he will tell me to cough into my elbow.

He's whiny more and more and has started throwing more fits (with tears!).  His whining really gets to Peter.

He continues to shock me with what he remembers and will bring up something from awhile ago.

I don't like his hair short but you do see his dimple more when it's short...

He will make comments on the weather.

He knows when his birthday is.

He still hasn't learned how to recognize a compliment and so I have to prompt him by saying" so and so just paid you a compliment, what do you say?" and then he will say thank you.

He is really polite.

He has no interest in being pushed to play with someone or pushed to play a certain way if he doesn't want to.  He is stubborn in that.

His independence is growing.

We make Maxwell only use the big potty now, where before we would let him pee in the little training potty and poop in the big potty.

He's not tall enough to reach light switches yet.

He's a timid boy.

I love them I catch him singing to himself.

He really wanted us to put up the Christmas decorations, which was fun.

On the plane right home from Utah he asked then the girl was going to bring him food (He was referring to the flight attendant...we might regret having him fly first class if he expects flight attendants to always bring him food!)

Since we got back, Maxwell has been really focused on Utah and says things like, "I want to go to the other Utah" or "Are we still in Utah?" or "We have a Utah car" - - referring to the rental car with the Utah license plates.

Emmalyn is moving all over now.

She will pull up to standing on me.

She has big smiles for everyone but that doesn't mean she wants them to hold her.  She was super clingy to me in Utah.

I learned, in Utah, that she really needs time to just play by herself with her toys rather than having to engage with people constantly.

She is banging things.

Emmalyn does a great job swallowing pureed food.

She HATES it when other people are eating and she isn't.

She wakes up multiple times every night but usually I can pop the binky in and she will go right to sleep.  She has been getting up to nurse at 11 pm and 4 am every night.

First Farmers Market of 2014

The first week of October:

Look - Max can write his name!  (I'm sure "Maxwell" will come later).  His "X"s look more like "t"s right now.

Video - You can watch Max writing his name.  Notice how he switches the marker out of his right hand when he's done writing letters.  I guess focusing on his using his right hand to write with at school has worked!

How Brittany is able to get things done and have dinner cooked when we get home from work.

Love those eyes

You can usually tell who dressed her because if Aunt Brittany did it, she'll have a bow in her hair. I don't always think about the bows.

I don't know if we've ever let Maxwell have a real bubble bath before.  If we have, it's been a long time since we've done it.  He loves showers but he had a fun time with this.

Emmalyn has put daddy to sleep with her magic sleeping baby powers.

Silly face selfies

Big cheesies  (I never saw these before until now)

Maxwell taking a picture of Daddy's muscles

Still sleeping with her head pushed back

With Emmalyn joining our family, I found myself quite busy this summer and didn't make it to any farmer's markets.  (Plus, we now go to Kindermusik closer to our house since our favorite teacher Kristin moved away instead of the location she taught out which was around the corner from a farmer's market.)  I didn't want to completely miss out so Maxwell and I ventured out alone on a Saturday morning and went to the Frisco market.

Maxwell was responsible for handing over the money, getting change, and grabbing the bags.  He had a lot of fun with that.

We sat and listened to the live music while enjoying a treat.

Happy and messy face

I love that he can sign his name on things now and it's looks like his name.  :)  This is an exciting part of him getting older.

Those sweet rosy cheeks and long lashes...  I can not kiss her enough!

So happy all day long - even when she wakes up

Peter making a fancy dessert

Look at all these clothes I have for Emmalyn from size 9 months - 2.  Already!  We have been so blessed by a few people who have given us clothes too.

Playing baseball with Uncle Jose and Landen

Peter's dessert - - it didn't quite turn out and the caramel layer was crunchy but hey, I still ate it.

Notes on the kids:

• Recently Emmalyn has been super fussy and won't sleep for long
• She's got a horrible scream paired with her arching her back.  It's lovely.
• I am soooo tired and worn out.  Pumping at work is feeling like a drag.  She's nearly 6 months and I'm already feeling this way?  How in the world am I going to make it to 18 months like I did with Max??
• She's still super drooly but I don't see any teeth coming in.
• Her hair is starting to get longer.
• She's moving around and pushing backwards.  She can roll over both ways and can sit like a tri-pod for a long time plus sits all the way up on her own for a little bit
• She loves it when Maxwell talks to her, loves watching his iPad, and reading books with us at night.  She love her Momma, Daddy, and Brittany.  When she sees one of us after not seeing us for awhile she just lights up.  
• She does not like being held by strangers and will cry.
• Sweetest thing ever - - - -  If we are in the car and Emmalyn starts crying, Maxwell will say, "Emmiwen, it's okay"  "Emmiwen, it's okay"... to help soothe her and sometimes it even helps.

• Max went up to the next age group at Kindermusik and so now he goes into the class with the kids/teacher and no parents for the first 30 minutes and then the parents come in for the last 15 minutes.  It was really rough getting him to go in there even though he knew some of the kids and loves his teacher (Leah).  He was crying and didn't want to go in without me.  I ended up basically pushing him in and telling him he didn't have to sit on the carpet with the rest of the kids and could just sit on the wall and watch.  Leah told me that he sat on the wall nearly the whole time.  (sigh....come on buddy!)
• Maxwell knows how to read words that I don't even expect him to know - for example "Mexico".  It's crazy to me how fast he is learning new things.