Catching up

So life with 2 kids is a bit busier than with 1.  I'd even argue it's more than just twice as busy.  So sometimes it takes me a while to get the pictures downloaded off the camera and then it takes even longer to get a post up, but that doesn't mean we're not having any fun over here!  

Max has a new trick every few days and Jack's brain is working so hard these days, I'm often amazed at what he's put together or thought about.  It's so much fun to watch them both!

Jack loves to pretend.  A few weeks ago he was in the living room playing by himself.  We returned to find this....

He was playing trash man!  He'd gathered up all the "trash" he could find for the back of the truck and then gotten a driver's seat and was on his way! Below you can see he's added a passenger seat.  Eventually there were 3 seats, because he needed lots of helpers on the trash truck!

Max is definitely on the move.  He's not crawling forward yet, but he gets where he wants to go, sliding, crawling backwards, scooting, rolling...whatever it takes.  He's a man on a mission.

Jack has a new trick too.  At his 3 year checkup the doctor asked if he could hop on one foot and he refused to try.  In his defense I think he was just over being asked to do things and tired of performing, but at any rate the other morning he said "Momma, look at me" and showed me this new trick...

One of the many things we adore about our neighborhood is that we have a library.  It's an easy walk over and it's newly renovated and so nice and cheery. We love going to the library.  All of us.

One of the other reasons we love our neighborhood (there are MANY!) is that we are so close to the river.  It's literally just steps away and there's always so much fun stuff to see down there.

Hope you're all having just as much fun at your house!  We're off on a BIG adventure tomorrow...stay tuned!

Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day EVER!  I really did.  It started a little early.  When I got home from work on Thursday I pulled into my parking spot in front of the house just behind Kenny and the boys.  This was a bit out of the ordinary since I am usually home before they are and have time to get dinner ready before they arrive, but I'd stopped to get gas on my way home, so I thought nothing of it really.  However, when I went to Jack's side of the car to get him out, he had a new book and handed me a bag of Chipotle for dinner!  Then I noticed Kenny had on jeans and a t-shirt.  Something was DEFINITELY up.  He told me to go on in the house, so I did and there I found a beer on ice tied up with a bow and a note.  Seems he'd taken the day off, secretly, and cleaned the house, did all the laundry and ironing, planned the meals for the upcoming week, gone to the grocery store and gotten everything we needed, picked up the boys AND dinner!  I will admit I cried a little bit.   We had a very busy weekend coming up with a graduation party, birthday party, Granny in town and Mother's Day.  I had been a bit worried all week that we wouldn't have time to get our normal weekend chores done and get to all the fun and actually enjoy it, so he'd made sure that I could just do the fun stuff all weekend and not worry about the chores.  Really, is there any greater gift?  I was beside myself.  He's always a great husband and father, but this was really above and beyond!


As if all of that wasn't enough, it kept coming.  Friday afternoon Jack brought home a sweet card and "cake" he'd made at school for me.  It's not really a cake, but a sweet little handprint made from clay.  It's one of those things as a kid you wondered why in the world your mom would want it, and as a mom you absolutely treasure it.

Saturday morning I went for a run and he took the boys to the Farmer's market.  They came home with a beautiful bouquet of tulips AND peonies from the plantation where we were married!!  Amazing!  

We had a lovely graduation lunch in honor of Page and I got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Ansley and Jen and Sammy and Max.  It was wonderful!  I didn't even think once about all that had to be done at home, I just got to ENJOY it.  Saturday evening we gathered at Grams and Gramps' for a birthday dinner for Grams.  It too was lovely and we all had such a good time.  I guess not worrying about anything made me not worry about taking pictures too because it seems I didn't for most of the weekend. :(  Boo...but fun was had, trust me!  Jack had a lot of fun with the bag Grams' gift was in...

Sunday morning I really thought we were done and I was happy to just enjoy the boys for the morning before heading off to lunch and to see Picasso with my 3 mothers - Granny, Momma and Fay.  But no...Jack and Kenny went off to the basement and returned with a package wrapped in every different pattern of wrapping paper we own.  Seems Jack decided he would be the "cutter man" and helped Daddy wrap.  It was so cute!  

Inside were LOTS of boxes nestled within other boxes, but when I got to the final one, I found a new ipod!  We've always been a 1 ipod family and I just used ours when I went running or something and burned cd's for the car.  But ours is old and big and mine is now so tiny and much easier to wear when running.  And I now had access to any song Jack might request in the car!  It was perfect!  The rest of the day was wonderful too - all of the moms had a great lunch at Acacia and then got to see the Picasso exhibit at the VMFA before it left.  It was so nice to all be together!  That evening Gramps cooked up some tasty burgers on the grill and we got to relax a little more.

I'm pretty sure he'll never be able to top this year, but that's certainly ok.  Any one of those things would have been enough for me.  I just love being a mom so much and am so happy to have married someone who helps me to be the mom I want to be.  Thank you Kenny and thank you Jack and Max for making me a mom.  I love you boys more than I ever imagined was possible.  

8 Months Old

Oh what a wonderful month this was! 

A lot fell into place this month and Max really grew by leaps and bounds. In looking back at the posts about Jack's 7th month, it seems it was the month where all things kind of came together for him too.  IF there's another lion cub, I'll try and be more patient and remember that it really just takes a good 6-7 months for our kids to find their groove.  Not that the first 6-7 aren't great, but they aren't very predictable, which is sometimes hard for me to accept.

Perhaps the greatest feat was learning to sleep all night!  This happened about halfway through the month and while it doesn't happen every night, it does happen most nights.  That led to a more structured nap and feeding schedule which means I know what to do when and as long as we do it when he's expecting it, all goes very smoothly with this smiley guy!  

He did have his first ear infection early in the month which wasn't fun for anyone, but we all lived through it of course.  He's also teething it seems, and one tiny corner popped through but then that was it.  We're still waiting...

But the lack of teeth don't seem to impact his eating!  He's still nursing.  A lot.  He generally eats 3 bottles a day (4-5 ounces in the morning, 7 each at 11 and 3) and then nurses once or twice each night.  He can at least give himself the bottle, so that's a big help!

He went from eating 2 meals a day to 3 and got really good at feeding himself cut up food.  His faves are black beans, mango, banana, blueberries, peaches, pears, and avocado. 

He's yet to meet a food he didn't like, though he's not a huge fan of pureed green vegetables.  We tried to give him a little formula at some point this month and it didn't go well.  He just threw the bottle at us.  We're getting close to the 1 year point where he'll switch to whole milk, or soy milk if he's still allergic, so we'll probably just keep plugging.  The Alimentum he has to have, due to the milk allergy, smells really bad.  I can't really blame him for not wanting to drink it.  I'm able to just pump twice a day, once at home and once at work, so that's a big help.  When he went to the doctor for his ear infection, he weighed 19.5 lbs.  Later in the month Kenny weighed him at home and he was 20.5 lbs!  He's happy and he's healthy so we'll keep doing what we're doing!  If he doesn't start moving soon though, he'll pass Jack in weight very soon.  He's only in the upper 20's himself!

And speaking of moving...he's not crawling but he's certainly not immobile anymore.  He rolls and scoots where ever he'd like to go.  He's very grabby and if he sees something he wants, he WILL find his way to it.  He also started to wave this month.  Granny was here for Mother's Day and she was waving at him when he waved back at her!

He and Jack continue to adore each other.  They started taking baths together and Jack gets so upset if Max goes down early or something and isn't there to play with him at bath time. 

This picture has nothing to do with Max but just makes me smile...I will never tire of Jack's funny expressions!

Just when we thought he couldn't get any sweeter, he did.  He's so laid back and happy.  His smiles light all of us up.  He's definitely getting big and isn't so much a tiny baby any more, but he's still snuggly when he wants to be.  Hopefully that part of him won't grow up too soon.

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail

We sang a LOT of Peter Cottontail around here in the days before Easter.  I'd sing and Jack would hop all over the place! He'd ask me to sing it over and over and over.  I wished it had more words...


We had a great Easter!  Jack loved it this year, just as he has all the other holidays recently.  He was super excited to wake up and find that the Easter Bunny had hidden eggs all over the house for him to find. 

 

Max didn't care so much, but he smiled and seemed to enjoy his treats the bunny left him!

After finding all the treats at our house, we were off to Grams & Gramps' house to see if the bunny had left anything there.  Sure enough, he left more treats there! 

But before we could hunt the eggs, we needed to dye them!

Grams cooked up some eggs while the others dyed them...

And Max did what he does best...just smiled and looked extra cute!

THEN it was time for the egg hunt!

Max just took it all in...next year he'll be ready for the hunt for sure. 

It was a wonderful day and the Easter Bunny sure was good to Jack and Max!  Hope he was just as good to you!