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
The days leading up to Max's Birthday were filled with anticipation and a few fun things.
Silly
How cute is that cheesy grin!
We enjoyed an afternoon next door swimming
Max is terrified of Mary Ann's dog. The dog is a puppy and excited to be around people but Maxwell can't take it. He runs away screaming which just makes the puppy think he wants to play... you can imagine how well that ends up.
He plays a little with other kids if they are in the pool but mostly he just swims by himself.
Britt made silly putty with the kids
Movie night at Britt's apartment
Fun at the park - Maxwell's face
Video - A short but sweet video of Emmalyn giggling while she's swinging
Cuddling with daddy
My two cute boys (I'm still totally obsessed with that dimple of Maxwell's!)
Video - A conversation with Maxwell on his last night of being three about what he wants for his birthday
Prepping to do a sit up while sleeping?
She may look sweet but this little girl is now a pro at screaming and THROWING her head back. She will absolutely throw a tantrum if she doesn't get what she wants.
Her left upper canine has broken through. That means at 16 months she only has her upper right canine left to pop through and then her 2 year molars. I'm not sure when it's supposed to happen but it sure feels like this has happened very quickly.
She will now eat cheese and eggs - YAHOO!!!
Maxwell is soooo excited for his birthday. He has asked for a "donut cake".
The other day when I was cuddling with Max before he went to sleep he said, "Mom, if you ask me if you can scratch my back, I will says "yes, indeed"" How cute is that? I had to chuckle that he didn't want to just come out and ask me to scratch his back.
He has been asking when we (mom and dad) are going to die and also when other people are going to die and when is he going to die. I'm not sure why this is on his radar now but it doesn't seem to upset him, he just wants to understand it.
I ADORE Maxwell but oh man can he frustrate me with talking back lately. He has also been bad with not listening (like when he's wanting to do it his way or when he's swinging his clothes around to hit someone or licking Peter - which makes Peter crazy).
He gives me so many kisses and often tells me he loves me. He wants Momma to get him out of bed in the morning and to put him to bed at night. He always wants me to cuddle with him before bed and will get blankets to put on me and ask if I am cold.
So 2015 started out with a hang-my-head-in-shame, so-glad-things-weren't-worse, parenting fail.
We bring Emmalyn into our bed early in the morning when she wakes up to nurse. We then have her sleep between us. Well, as you can imagine we were up late for New Years Eve so I was super tired when I brought her into bed. We both slept for awhile and Peter had gotten up and was letting us sleep. Then, later in the morning, she was up and moving around and I was trying to stay conscious since she was up. But I dozed off and next thing I know, I hear her screaming and I jolt awake. She had fallen off my bed. My blood was pumping and I moved so fast to grab her and was so worried that I was going to find her seriously hurt - my bed is so far off the ground for a little baby! Luckily, she was absolutely fine, just scared (like her Momma). I felt soooooooo awful about it and still do. I was shaken up for quite awhile.
Making some cool colored goo with Uncle Peter
Mashing all the colors together before making it foam
Perfectly precious. I can't help but love these sweet times with her snuggled up against me.
Ahhhh - - "family time" - everyone on their phones. :) We try to avoid it but at some point it still happens.
The kids were hanging out in Maxwell's room and when they came out, Kaity had dressed them up. :)
These cousins had so much fun being together. One of the benefits of Britt living here was that it was nice having everyone in the same house.
Playing games
Old-man-bitter-beer-face
Movie night
Synchronized eating
Maxwell and Aunt Kimi
Maxwell and his Shelly Belly - we hated seeing her and Kimberly go. We LOVE having them here.
Playdo animals - I think an elephant?
Maxwell really loves playing with playdo
Out for a walk to the park - all bundled up in her pretty pink coat
Maxwell all bundled up too
Pic courtesy of Maxwell
video - Brittany playing boo with Emmalyn
Playing together
Dipping pretzels with dad
My house all lit up and festive
Video - Emmalyn can clap!
We were sad to have Kimberly leave but we soon had more visitors come to town! My Aunt Sue and Aunt Leanne came to town. I really appreciate, from the bottom of my heart, them taking the time to drive all the way here and spend time with me and my family. I feel their efforts to stay close even after my mom's passing. I appreciate the way they keep me and my siblings in their hearts.
Emmalyn's first time in a high chair (I think!)
We went out for yummy Mexican when my aunts were here
Aunt Leanne, Maxwell, and Aunt Sue
Video - Maxwell playing hide n seek with daddy (daddy's way of hiding is pretty funny)
Here's a big update on Emmalyn lately -
As you could see from the video, she's clapping now
She loves her Uncle Joe and will imitate him when he purses his lips and when he moves his hands
I swear that she says "Hi" and has for awhile
She's starting to do more sounds like "muh" and "buh" and instead of talking through her coos it's more babbling
She screams which is not an awesome development
If I set her down and she doesn't want me to she will cry - - WITH TEARS! :(
She's definitely a Momma's girl
She goes everywhere and finds everything on the floor
She gets mad when she's done eating her food
She struggles to stay focused when she's nursing which is not very fun for me and then she wants to nurse to sleep (Not gonna happen - that's one bad habit I don't want forming)
She has been struggling to sleep from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm if we aren't in the room with her or she's not in our bed. We have to keep putting her binky in to get her back to sleep. After she gets past that, she will sleep until 4 or 5 when she wakes up to nurse quickly and then will go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 am.
She loves getting in the shower with Momma and Max and would stay in there forever if we'd let her
Maxwell hugs and kisses her more and talks about trying to calm her down when she's upset and will do things like giving her the binky. I love seeing him be increasingly more brotherly with her
She really wiggly!!
She is teething and incredibly drooly.
Update on Maxwell -
Maxwell amazing me with the things he notices in the world
I'm also amazed with how well Maxwell is reading - he's expanding his ability so fast
He's such a polite boy - - he shares well on his own and will also share when we prompt him to
I am trying to involve him in as many tasks as possible to expand what he gets to do (cooking tasks, cleaning tasks, etc)
We've had a major change in the bedtime routine - - -! MOMMA is now his choice when we ask him who he wants to tuck him in at night. It's forever been daddy (or Peter) so I'm pretty excited. :) When I tuck him in and then go to leave, he tells me "don't let the bed bugs bite" as I walk out
When I went to get him up once this week in the morning, (he still call for us to come get him in the morning and doesn't get out of bed until we do) he wanted me to get into his bed and cuddle with him. He tucked me into his bed and put blankets on me. He then gave me his stuffed animals, patted my back (they pat his back at Montessori if he's struggling to go to sleep during nap time), and turned his sound machine on to the lullaby setting. It was incredible sweet and of course it worked, and I fell asleep. He is so kind and loving. I adore him.
He's been talking a lot lately about his tummy hurting and also his bottom hurting. I'm not quite sure what it going on but we are trying to figure it out. He's had a fever so I know that he's sick somehow but he doesn't have any other symptoms so I'm not sure if anything more serious is going on. It's so hard as a parent to know something is wrong with your child but not know what, or not know if it's something that a visit to the doctor could help with.
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.
