Max learned a new trick...

Monday night, I went to the gym after work, so Kenny and the boys got home before me. When I opened the door, Max walked to me!  It was so cute!  I'd seen him take a step here and there, but never walk across the room all on his own!  Yay Max!  

Ellwood the Owl's Visit

Jack's class at school had a friend come visit this summer, Ellwood the Owl.  Each Orange Bird had the opportunity to take Ellwood home for the weekend and journal about their fun time with Ellwood.  This weekend was our turn and we were excited to show Ellwood our favorite parts of this town.

Kenny had been out of town for a few days for work last week, which meant Momma was TIRED by Friday night.  Since we had such a fun-filled weekend planned on top of that, we were sure to get to bed early Friday night so we had plenty of energy for the fun ahead.  Jack read Ellwood a book about Spidey before they turned in for the night.

Ellwood brought a few books with him too, which was a lot of fun. Jack's favorite was the journal Ellwood brought that told all about his fun with the other Orange birds.  He asked Kenny to read it twice!

Saturday morning, bright and early, we took Ellwood to the Farmer's Market.  We go most every Saturday morning and we just knew Ellwood would love it.  

As usual, our buddy Emerson was there, so Ellwood got to hang out with him too!   

Then it was time to go home and get ready for our other, almost weekly trip, to the library!

Ellwood found a perfect perch on Jack's bike.

Jack picked out books about sea creatures and shared a few with Ellwood.  It's sea creature week at school this week AND, it's getting really close to beach time for us!

Then it was off to the Science Museum!  We'd planned to take Ellwood and Jack to the Children's Museum to see Spidey but Jack said he didn't want to see Spidey until he was a grown-up.  So we skipped that and opted for the Science Museum instead.  Jack's been asking to go since we went to see an Imax film a month or so ago (Sea Rex).  So we thought it was a good time to go and show Ellwood the museum too.

We had a good time, though the lines to get in were so long we didn't get to stay too long.  That's ok though, we can go back anytime since we bought a membership!  Max loved it!  Yay for the Science Museum!

That was all the fun we could fit into one day for Ellwood but Sunday was fun-filled too!  We'd planned to go for a walk on the North Bank of the River but we woke up to the strange sight of rain!  So we scrapped those plans and decided to check out the Children's Museum instead.  We'd seen how packed the parking lot was the day before when we were at the Science Museum so we hoped that everyone had gotten their fill and the place would be empty.  That wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't so bad.  Both boys had a wonderful time and I think Ellwood did too! 

Jack wasn't a fan of CMoR when he was Max's age so I anticpated carrying Max a lot while Jack played, but I was so wrong!  He LOVED the crawler area and just had a ball!

After a good long nap, we decided to take Ellwood out for one more adventure before it was time for him to head back to school.  A quick stop at the Capitol to check out the boys' bricks seemed like a perfect trip for an owl trying to see the very best of Richmond.

While we were out we hopped over to check out the canal walk for a minute too.  We were so excited to be outside after weeks of sweltering heat!  Ellwood clearly needed to see the river too!

After so much fun, Ellwood was ready for a good night's sleep. He checked out Max's bed before settling in with Jack for one last night with us.  

I was really impressed with how amenable Jack was to taking him everywhere.  He called him his owl buddy and really got into it.  He's not a fan of pictures, so sometimes that was a little challenging, but he never wanted to leave Ellwood behind and was happy to have him tucked beneath his arm.  Monday morning when it was time to take Ellwood back to school Jack said he had some more places he wanted to show Ellwood and asked if he could come back another time!  Thanks to Miss Cristin for this great idea and opportunity.  We continue to be in love with our daycare situation and it's things like this that just remind us how lucky we are to have such a great place to send our boys everyday.


We really enjoyed your visit Ellwood and hope that you enjoyed our favorite places as much as we did!  Thanks for coming to see us and we hope you enjoy the rest of your summer with the Orange Birds!

11 months old

Oh we're getting so close to ONE!  Just a few more weeks!  He's definitely getting more and more independent by the day and more vocal as well.  Just after last month's post, he started saying Momma all the time and may even know what he's saying.    I think it's interesting how his first words are Daddy and Momma.  Jack's first words were uh-oh and duck.  But Jack probably says Momma and Daddy a few hundred times each, every day, so I think Max caught on to those a bit sooner.  

When Jack was this age, I was laid off and home with him so I have fond and vivid memories of this stage with him.  Max does many of the VERY same things Jack did and sometimes I even see the same little looks on his face.  They were both very into tupperware and the magnets on the dishwasher.  Max LOVES the electrical outlets, just like Jack always did.  Max seems to be getting feistier in his "old" age and a little less laid back.  I think this is about when the same thing happened to Jack.  

He's not walking but he is taking a step here and there and standing on his own for a few seconds.  I don't think he'll be 15 months old when he walks alone like Jack was.  He doesn't seem to like his new shoes.  He still crawls funny, pushing off with one foot, and he takes that shoe off all the time!  I hate shoes too so I can't really blame him.

He still likes his paci sometimes but it definitely becoming less dependent on it.  That's a good thing, I know, but I'll admit, at times (like when he wakes far too early and I want Jack to stay asleep), I wish he liked it more.  

He had a rough time teething this month too and still really doesn't have any new teeth to show for it.  The poor little guy got blood blisters on his gums from teething!  The pediatrician said they'd go away on their own, and they did, but I don't think they felt too good.  I didn't have much luck getting a picture but you can kind of see the one on top, where his front right tooth would be.  

Sleep is still a challenge.  Some nights he'll go all night, or almost all night.  Other nights he's up 2-3 times.  There seems to be no pattern or predictablity.  I never really anticipated how worried I'd be about the 2nd child waking the 1st.  Our house is pretty small and the boys sleep on opposite sides of the same wall.  It doesn't take much for one to wake the other, at all.  I'm sure my sensitivity to this has created this monster.  I'm just not sure how to change it what to do differently.  So it goes.  It could be worse, for sure.

I don't think Max is as smitten with solid foods as he once was.  I'm not sure why.  He will eat most any fruit you put in front of him but most other things he'll throw in the floor or spit out.  He wants nothing to do with you putting a spoon in his mouth either.  He never really turns down a cracker or a chance to grab something off Jack's plate though. He has formula during the day (2 5.5 ounces at school each day and then 4 ounces with dinner when he gets home) and nurses in the morning and at night.  It's working really well and I only wish I'd started this sooner.  I don't ever have to pump, yet he still gets breastmilk and the comfort from nursing.  I worry a little bit that he might not ever want to give it up, even though I am hopeful he will soon.  I'm really ready to get back to eating dairy and soy!  We tried giving Max yogurt 2 times this month. The first time went great and I was so hopeful that we were outgrowing the milk allergy.  But the second time...well...it seemed clear we weren't after he was up screaming 5 times that night. :(  Oh well, I feel certain we'll outgrow it one day!  Jack was 18 months before he could tolerate it, so we probably have a while to wait.  For the most part I think the Prevacid is working great for his reflux...either that or he's just outgrowing it.  We'll never really know which I guess. At the doctor's office when he went to have his gums checked out, he weighed 22 lbs 4 ounces.  That's not much more than he weighed a few months ago, but he's definitely getting taller.  He can barely fit in his footie pj's anymore because he's too long!  He's wearing some 6-12 months stuff and others, like the pj's in this picture are 18-24 months.  Just depends on the cut I guess, but most of his stuff is 12-18 months at this point.

He gets into anything and everything he can.  Jack's not thrilled with this, but is learning to put things he doesn't want messed with, in his room.  Max loves playing with the sorting blocks and stacking rings but also likes anything he can chew on.  He LOVES music and will stop whatever he's doing to dance when a song comes on.  He's more into looking at books on his own than listening to us read to him, but Jack will often "read" Max a book before bed anyway.

Max also brought home his very first piece of artwork this month.  I'm pretty sure he had some help with it, but I think he did great! 

He's not the easiest baby in the world I don't think but not the hardest either.  And he's happy and healthy and makes us all smile.  It's so much fun watching him figure things out and be so proud of himself when he masters a new skill.   We sure do love you Super Max!

Weekend cuteness

This was the first weekend in the longest time that I can recall we had no real plans.  It was nice, though I will admit keeping these boys entertained (and out of trouble) inside in this heat is a bit of a challenge.  As I write this Sunday night, I must admit I have no idea how stay-at-home moms do it!  I had Kenny's help all weekend and still struggled!  Kudos to you all!

Friday, Jack wore his new Spidey mask and gloves to school for share day.  He is so into Spiderman!  He gets really upset if you call him Jack Lion while he's wearing his mask.  He's clearly SPIDEY!

Jack and Max are still very smitten with one another, but now that Max can reach most of Jack's things, Jack is often heard fussing "Mackie's gonna get it!" or "Mackie's gonna eat it!"  I don't know why he calls him Mackie, but he does.  Or Mackie Mack Mack.  This was one of the first times I actually saw Jack get excited that Max was interested in his toys.  Max had helped himself to the basket of animals and Jack dropped what he was doing and went over to play with him.  He thought it was fun to tell Max what all the animals were and what sounds they made.  I will admit it made me tear up a little on the inside.  I just can't wait to see how their relationship develops.

It was so hot Saturday we had to stay inside and Sunday something crazy happened.  It RAINED.  It's been a while since Richmond had seen rain.  Jack was so excited he asked if he could put on his bathing suit and go play in it!  Sure thing...  He is a little crazy and a lot pale, but he had fun!

This little cutie got some new shoes this weekend!  His first pair!  We usually just let him go barefoot but since he's learning to walk, we figured it was time.  He seems to like them!  He has a wide foot, unlike his brother, so he couldn't just wear Jack's old ones.

And look at these!  Aren't they the cutest little grapes you ever did see?  Gramps stopped in on Sunday with them - Max-sized grapes!  Max LOVED them.  They are apparently champagne grapes.  Very sweet and super cute.  Let's hope this doesn't encourage a champagne taste on our grape juice budget. 

Jack also got a haircut and looks super cute but he did NOT want his picture taken so you'll have to take my word for it.  Now it's back to work and school but we'll be anxious to see what fun next weekend holds!