Splash Zone

He is turning into a goofball... the second one cracks me up, it looks like he is trying to cover himself for the camera.

Cheese!

Max learned this week how to do two things: throw a massive fit- a kicking, screaming, red faced fit and say cheese for the camera. Clearly one of those is more appealing! Here he is in action, cheesing it up.





Recognize Max's sweater, Becki?!

So hard to decide

Seriously, how do people decide out of multiple pictures exactly which 2 or 3 to post? I clearly cannot. Here is Halloween, about a week overdue.

I mean, how could you resist seeing this sweet face?



or this crazy face?



Or this skeleton studying a pumpkin?



He would be so sad if you had...



He may not care too much if you miss this



Come on, boys don't wear wigs, do they?



But I'd say for a wig-wearing boy...



he pulled it off very well.


(Thanks to Aunt Crystal for making the amazing Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. They looked adorable.)

Looooong Overdue

I don't even know where to start. You know how when you let something go for a while then it starts to get overwhelming to pick it back up? Like cleaning out a closet or your car, doing laundry, or... ahem... blogging. Well I have lots to update and I can't think of a better way than with pictures of my adorable little Max!

But first...
He will be 17 months old on Monday. Wow, time sure is flying by. Here are a few of his new skills:
-Walks everywhere and occasionally tries to run, which is hilarious. He trips a lot and usually has bruises to show for it!
-Words. Mama, dada (also the form dadadadadada said in a very high pitched voice, one of my faves!), deeeee, tee (aka tree- which he loves to point out in the car or in our living room he'll run to the window pointing), deen (drink), nana (banana), chtshk (please- you really have to be listening for this one, or have asked him to "say please"), O (hello), and then the usual jabber that has no meaning at all!
-He knows what it means to go bye-bye, go night-night, and eat. When it is meal time he'll go to his chair and point up at it. When we say night-night to him he'll grab his blanket and come to us, or he'll run from us- depending on his mood! Bye-bye always results in huge, full arm waves and excitement.
-Throw balls. He'll take them over his head and let go, they either go behind or in front, but never too far! Sometimes he holds it straight in front of him and squeezes his hands together until the ball rolls out of his hands and flying into the air. He loves this!
-Fake laughing. If we are laughing at something he'll always join in, and if he is trying to get someone's attention he'll start chuckling. I'm pretty sure he learned that everyone likes a laughing baby. :) It does take a lot to get a real laugh- serious tickling, sneezing (fake or real-they are all funny), or chasing him are our usual tricks.
-Hugs and kisses. Few and far between, but occasionally he'll run up with his arms open for a hug. And even more rarely he'll lean in, open mouthed, for a big kiss!
-Mimicking. Everything. He'll lick his fingers when I do, wipe his hands together when Clark does, and make faces back at anyone. We should start being more careful...!!
-Dancing. Let's just say that at Quiznos yesterday I was holding him on my hip and he was shaking his head and trying to bounce in my arms to the music. He loves it and especially loves the attention he gets when he does it!
-Honking. Yeah, I'll explain. He thinks that everyone's nose honks when you squeeze it (please, no one ruin this for him... if he squeezes your nose, just let out a honking noise:)). He loves to run from person to person and honk our noses. Lately he has started honking his own. His honking sounds like "mok mok." Precious!
-"All done." He used to do this a lot, but not so much anymore. When he's done eating or ready to be done with something he'll hold his hands up, palms toward the sky and say "ah da."
I really think anyone who knows this kid is lucky!!

See, looooong overdue!

Now for some pics...

Time to eat! I got him to smile by fake laughing!



Fun Run!! Fun times with cousins... until the ride home (Becki, you know what I'm talking about!!)



Park days.










I had a birthday a couple weeks ago and we celebrated by heading to dallas! We went with my parents and Maddie (our niese). She is 7, almost 8, and is every bit a little girl!! We shopped, found a pumpkin festival at an arbetorum, went to the aquarium, ate yummy food, and dreamed of big houses in nice neighborhoods. We had a blast and Max did amazing. So adaptable! Clark got me a new camera for my b-day and I LOVE it! Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, the cards and gifts and for being a part of my life! Enjoy the slideshow of our trip.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was a beautiful 70 degrees, sort of cool, sunny and breezy fall day. It was a perfect day to visit the pumpkin patch. Max went last year with his cousins and grandparents but he rode in his car seat and probably slept the whole time! This year was much more fun. He walked around, looked at animals, ate apple donuts, drank apple slush, picked a pumpkin, and drove the horse drawn carriage we rode (well, the nice cowboys let him hold the reigns!). It was a blast, we can't wait to go back with his cousins!

Looking at chickens



Our ride to the pumpkin patch, very curious about the earth moving.



On daddy's shoulders, walking through mud to pick a pumpkin.



Max's first pumpkin!







Headed back, "driving the carriage"




Side note... while we didn't cheer much for the Chiefs today, we did cheer for Max. He decided that today he would stop crawling. He stands up when he falls and without grabbing on to anything! He was so proud of himself. We would say "yay, Max!" when he would stand up, then he would clap, squeal, giggle, and repeat! What a fun age. Well except for the fit throwing, short naps and throwing food on the floor. That part is not so fun. But, I know, "part of having a kid!"

Not quite as planned...

Scenario #1
Bikers for Babies was Sunday. I got home from work, changed clothes, got Max up and dressed, packed the diaper bag with cereal, milk and yogurt puffs. We headed out, excited for pancakes and lots of motorcycles. When we arrived we were a little taken back by the lack of signs. We found an area for cars to park and started walking toward the speedway entrance. We quickly found out there was only one way in... about a mile walk around or to drive. We walked back to the car and started following traffic. Only to find out that we had to register. We head back to the parking lot, I get out and go to register. I quickly find out there is a registration fee. Ok, I brought some cash for pancakes and maybe a t-shirt. "How much per person?" I ask the lady. "$40.00" she tells me. "Per car?" "No, per person" "WHAT??!!" I say, "that's $120, that's ridiculous- we're not even riding, I'm not paying that much." "Well that's your decision." Says the nice lady. "Yes it is."

Scenario #2
So, I decided I would work last night. I planned to take Max to PDO (parent's day out-basically a pay-by-the-day daycare at a local church) for the day. He has some separation/mommmy attachment issues anyway... I had hoped that Max would sleep until at least (his normal) 7-8 and would be ok skipping his morning nap. They follow a schedule at PDO and nap time is at 1pm. No biggie- sometimes Max's schedule is rearranged, he'll miss a nap, and it won't phase him. I was so sure of my plan that I decided to stay at work until 6:30 instead of my scheduled departure of 3am. Max got up at 6, instead of 7 and didn't sleep well according to Dee. Go figure.

Obviously I am all to familiar with things not going quite as planned. I work in an inner city ER for crying out loud. However, things that I plan and have "all worked out" in my head are supposed to go as planned! Sunday morning we came home Max and I slept, Clark mowed, we all watched the Chiefs lose, ate buffalo wings for lunch, loved on our beautiful baby boy, had ice cream for dinner and went to bed early. Turned out ok by my standards! Today, I decided to go ahead and stay home with Max. He needed a good morning nap and 2-3 hours of sleep would be enough for me to make it through the day. He ate breakfast, played a lot, pooped, drank milk. All criteria met for nap time. I put him down after a few sleepy minutes of snuggling with blankie and I immediately went to bed at 9am. 9:20am: Max is playing in his crib, talking and banging on the wall. I am furious with him. I had been up 25-26 hours at this point and I just want him to cooperate. Obviously I am not furious, but frustrated, tired, and wishing my little angel brat baby would just go to sleep!! Then it hits me! PDO opens at 9 and is first come first serve, BUT- you can check your child in until 10am. So I jump up and call them, "please tell me you have room left in the brat who's not following mommy's plan toddler room." I also tell them my sob story of the hours I have been awake and how he won't go to sleep. They nicely tell me they are happy to rearrange the kiddos so they will have room for him. I pack his lunch, get him dressed and race there. They were awesome!! When we picked him up they tell us that they put him in the nursery for a little while this morning but he still wouldn't nap (how nice of them to try!). He ate lunch really well, slept for almost 2 hours on a strange cot in a room with 8 other kids and played well! I am taking him there once a week. Decision made! They were so willing to make arrangements for him, they moved him around based on his needs, and best of all... I got 4 hours of sleep!

Sometimes plans don't go accordingly, but at least for me "not quite as planned" turned out better than planned!

Pics I took from the car at Bikers for Babies




Pics from tonight. Daddy felt that "Who you callin crabby" jammies were in order!

Waa-waaa

That is what I am listening to right now. Max has been fighting a nap for over an hour. Ugh. Quick post and I'll go rescue him!

Here is the winner of the last post. With a 3-1 victory photo #2 won out, but I did take a tip from "rock the boat" Crystal and edited the pic a little more. I think it turned out cute and it looks a little more like he's holding a sign. Thanks for the input!



Really quick... Max had his 15 month check up yesterday. He is exceeding the expectations of a "normal 15 month old." He says 5-6 words, walks, drinks from a cup, puts objects in and out of other objects, understands words, and throws fits!! YAY Max! And at 23lbs and 31 inches he is in the 25th percentile for height and weight. Wow! Just don't ask about his head... it was still WAAAAYYYY off the chart! haha! Off to rescue my screaming baby!

Viewer's Choice

On Sunday we will be attending the Biker's for Babies Event at the speedway. For anyone with a motorcylce -it is not too late, for all others -it is not too late! Man, that's luck... anyone can still attend!!! Now, Johnny Dare (a local radio DJ) is a very big supporter of March of Dimes and to say thank you the local March of Dimes group is making him a picture/story book of local families. We are sending an email with a little story but we are also supposed to send a picture of our kiddo holding a thank you sign. (these signs are computer generated... oh well)

So, calling on friends, family, regular blog viewers, complete strangers... give me an opinion and...
Help me decide!!!





I guess I should mention the pic will also be in a slideshow at the event. And Max may have had his picture taken on a Harley to be displayed on a poster! Thanks Dr. Holcomb!!!

And, yeah, I am getting better at the blog decor. Only took me 45 minutes this time... :)

Where have you been?

Ahem, I guess I mean where have I been?! Well I guess I have been busy chasing a one year old, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, working, resting, NOT getting on the internet, and the ongoing remodeling that is happening in our house! Well I am happy to say that projects are coming to a close. My eager to keep going husband is working on a new list of things to do: paint the living room, paint our bedroom and re-tile our bathroom. AAHHH! It's never ending!! Those projects will not be started immediately but he is on a roll and is eager to keep going. I am definitely not complaining, I am loving all the upgrades, just getting tired of the messes! Thanks Clark for all your hard work :) The basement is pretty much finished, we need a vanity and would really like to find one less than the ones at Lowe's/Home Deopt. We are patiently looking, after all the room is only being used for toys at the moment. Clark also laid new tile at the bottom of our stairs (was linoleum) and it looks great! I promise to post pics but I really want it to be a wow moment... so I am waiting for the couch to come in... ordered it today. Gonna have to wait 6-8 weeks.

On to more important things... Max.



A couple weeks ago Max and I took a trip to Great Grandma and Grandad's. We left on a Monday and stayed through Thursday. We had SO much fun hanging out with them, Aunt Becki, Brice and Rider. Brice loved to play with "Paw-Paw," Rider loved to eat and sometimes sleep, and Max loved to get into EVERYTHING. He opened every cabinet, got out every toy, found sharp objects and cut himself, crawled into empty end tables that Grandma cleaned out for such purpose, stole Rider's binky, and ate like a pig. Brice hung outside a LOT, ate lots of fruit, slept well on a blow up mattress, always let Max have the "car," got stung by a bee, took a nap on grandad's lap, picked okra, pretended to eat cherry tomatoes, and was a very helpful "big boy." Rider ate cereal, took bottles/boobs, got his binky stolen, slept, laid around, cried, was the only one held by Grandma, and was a peaceful sweet, cute boy. All in all it was a blast. We ate great food (catfish and okra!), learned to can tomatoes, shopped a little, and enjoyed the company. As long as we are welcome we plan to make these trips at least every other month. Enjoy the slide show pics!

Saturday we went to the NICU reunion at OPR. We saw a lot of our favorite nurses and a lot of the families we met last year. It was so amazing to see all the babies so grown up. Really we didn't get much chance to meet the babies while we were in the hospital, we spent a lot of nights in the parent room with the other parents. It was fun to see everyone in a MUCH better element and to see all the healthy kiddos. We met up with our great friends Michelle and Billy with Hunter for lunch at Friday's (yum) before we went. We miss them since they moved out to the country! We will never miss our time in the NICU but we met some amazing people and it was a great day to reconnect. Sunday is Biker's for Babies and while we no longer have our beatiful Harley we plan to go out, eat some pancakes, look at some nice bikes, and support a very important cause that made our 2008 summer have a pretty darn good ending.

Headed in, If you look close you can see Hunter, he looks so cute!



Max on Daddy's shoulder



Walking to Miss Kelli. We loved her!



I love his face in this picture. Hmmm, I think I remember her...



Playing in the ambulance



Moms and their boys



Boys playing



(I didn't take many pics after walked in. I wish I had one of Cassie, another fave nurse, because she is adorably 29ish weeks pregnant!)

Now that Max is 15 months old (+5 days) here is what's happening:

He is walking VERY well. Our only hold up is when he falls down he doesn't get back up. He will walk and walk and walk though for pretty long distances.

He has his first pair of Nike's. First Chief's hat. And a growing fall wardrobe.

Drinks from any kind of sippy cup. All milk and water, I'm mean and never give him juice. Sometimes he gets diet dr. pepper and coke zero, though :)

Eats fairly well, sometimes throws a fit until he gets what he wants. Just when I say he is picky he'll eat something odd like okra (he loved it). Finally ate red meat the other day- porcupine meat balls. They were pretty delicious!

Says lots of things. Lots that I don't understand. Sometimes I think he says "thank you," he says "da-ee" instead of "da-da," "mama" is heard minute-ly, please sounds like "chsske" and he smiles huge when he says it, "aahhuughha" means one of two things: "no that's not what I want, figure it out or I'll make the noise again" or "you guys made me mad and are going to let me have my way or go crazy." He instantly waves when he hears hi, bye or night-night. He understands bye-bye, hungry, eat, cookie, and milk. I'm sure there is more...

Has a "blankie," a brown and white striped one that I got long before he was born. In fact it may have been one of the first baby things I bought. He never really cared about what he went to bed with, besides his binky, and one night I put the blanket over my shoulder on the way to bed and he laid his head down on my shoulder and closed his eyes. The snuggling continued every time I would hold the blanket and he did it with anyone holding the blanket. Now we fight over who holds it because we want the snuggles!

Well, sorry for the "time off" but I'm back and with good intentions of being a better blogger. Enjoy the pics, I'm off to bed!