a day off

So, in 2 weeks Clark and I finally have a night off together. It's true, the last night we had off was the night we went out for a friend's birthday, so this is also the first night in OVER 2 weeks we have been home as a family! If only we didn't have a million things to do and we could sit around and enjoy it... We have a number of projects going on -it is ridiculous. We have been working on our basement for over a year, it was planned out to be done before Max was born. He didn't give us enough time! Thankfully we, I mean Clark, has gotten a second wind with it and there is an end in sight. Next, we have the yard, which will forever be a work in progress. We want to put in a sprinkler system, get rid of weeds and grow grass (this one is a priority :)). And plant new flower beds after cleaning out the dead ones from last year. I am pleased that my daylillies appear to be alive for year 3! Woohoo, that is a record for me. The next project is the garage, also a continuos project. Clark decided to buy my dad's old truck to "fix up" over the years and to drive to and from work since he works in the ghetto. So... we have to make room in the garage because I will NOT have 3 cars in my driveway! We are going to buy some shelves this week and hopefully make a little extra room. I am also starting to decorate Max's bathroom, more "kid-friendly." I made a very cute wall sign/towel hanger upper for the wall. We put up some cute bath time pics on one wall, I need a new shower curtain and towels now (don't worry, I will post pics when it is done). ON TOP of all this, Max and I are headed to see Max's new cousin (and Darren, Becki and Brice) in a week and a half. I have to get going on gathering all the baby items I have borrowed. Oh, and I have to work! WHEW. Are you tired? If not, come help me! Haha.

Enough about me, Max is doing great!! He is getting to be such a big boy. We had to move a shelf on his changing table hutch because he is so big I needed more room to change his diaper. Then... we lowered his mattress down becuase he is starting to pull himself up on the side of his bed. Today he pulled up onto his knees. I did not want him learning this skill in the middle of the night... unsupervised! I think his ears have finally stopped draining, I think. We are done with the oral antibiotic and have a day left of the drops. I am nervous to stop.

Today I scheduled his hernia repair surgery. July 1st. Thankfully he will not have to stay overnight and they tell me this is very minor and he will only be uncomfortable for a day or so. I will be glad to get this over with...

Here is one of the pictures from bathtime tonight, we put this one in the frame!



I have a funny story to share... Last week on friday night, I put Max to bed and let him "cry it out" (I still don't know how I feel about this, but I am trying everything to help with sleeping during the day). After he cried for about 25 min I went in and re-binky'd him, he went right to sleep. In fact at about 9:45 I went in to check on him and he hadn't even moved! Somewhere around 11:30 he started to cry. Now, I tried to let him "cry it out" for about 10 minutes and decided if I wanted to sleep that I should go in and check on him. I went in and started to cover him back up, that's when I noticed what was wrong with him. He was covered in pee. Pee on his jammies. Pee on his blanket. Pee on his sheet. Pee on his mattress pad protector. Pee on his mattress pad. Guess where there was no pee... his diaper. I have to admit that it was really cute. I un-buttoned his jammies to find his diaper undone on one side and completely not covering what it should. Here it was, all his glory, shining right at me. He must have rolled to every inch of his bed, "marking his territory" if you will. It really is amazing how NONE of it ended up in the super absorbent size 4 diaper he was sleeping in. Lesson I learned... you need more than one mattress pad. I bought another one the next day, just in case.

Going to enjoy my time with my hubby now :) Good night!

2 hours

2 hours... this is usually the total amount of time Max naps in a day. Well, today he took ONE nap that was 2 hours!!! Not to mention his short little naps this morning. I had him awake for over 3 hours so I thought he would take a really good nap. I put him down at 2, at 2:30 he woke up. I went in, wrapped him tight and put him back down. He woke up at 4:10. WOOHOO!!! It was so nice, I know it was a fluke and will probably be weeks before happening again, but oh my, how nice. Yesterday at the ENT Max had his ears cleaned and we started him on a new antibiotic drop. Also we are doing another round of the oral antibiotic. The drainage is still improving but is not cleared up, in fact the doctor seemed very surprised at the amount of drainage we still had after 5 days of 2 kinds of antibiotics. Poor kid, I can't imagine how miserable he would be without the tubes.

Ok, I am very proud to show this off...



I worked long and hard on this and I happen to think it turned out very well!! Feel free to email this flyer to anyone you think would be interested in walking. Also, I updated our team website to include info on the events of the day and t-shirt info. Please check it out and sign up to walk. This includes you Jim and Cathy, George, Christy, Becki, Paige (yep your hubby is off and you can come!! Bring your boys!) - anyone who wants to at least show they are a part of our efforts. You don't have to "walk" - just donate and support. Hey, you can still get a shirt without walking but not without joining our team!

I just wanted to say thanks to some of the "commentators" we have been having. I really have no way to reply to you except through here! I just want to say thanks to my faithful followers and to the not so frequent ones. I love hearing from people who I don't even know read! Keep commenting, I love it!

I have some TV shows to watch then bedtime. By the way, I worked last night and tonight we ordered pizza. I will get back on the cooking streak next week... I hope!

car trouble : (

Today started off early but good. Max was really happy this morning, took a couple good naps, we went to the gym, had the house cleaned, ate taco bell (yep after working out I am free to eat anything!). Then... the car wouldn't start. Our whole little family was loaded in the car, diaper bag and all ready to go the grocery store. We tried jump starting it, and then the keys got stuck in the ignition. Really??? After multiple attempts to get it started we successfully got the keys out and took the other car to the store. After dinner and a couple hours of charging the battery Clark tried again with no luck. He just went to advance auto parts and had the battery checked, it is definitely the problem, what a relief. He is on his way home to try out the new one, please work! Max was pretty good the rest of the day, he took an early afternoon nap and it was short so tonight he went to bed about 6:30, pretty early for him. He had his photo session of the day in his high chair after dinner with applesauce all over his face!












His ears are still draining quite a bit so we will go see the ENT tomorrow and, yuck, have the wax sucked out again. Last time this was the cure so I am hopeful we have an end in sight to this round of illness.

YEAH!!! The car started, what a relief!

Mohawk

This weekend was pretty rough for little Max. Friday he started running a fever and I noticed a little drainage from his ears. I quickly started his antibiotic drops (here we go again with another ear infection) as well as tylenol and motrin. He was pretty puny, slept a lot, and was so sad! Poor Grandma Dee didn't get much sleep friday night as Max woke up often and kept running a fever. Saturday I got the oral antibiotic filled (the ENT gave it to him last time but we didn't end up needing it). He has slowly felt better and today he was more his old self. He still isn't feeling well enough to play and entertain himself... but wait, did he ever do that?! Ha, I wish. This morning when Max got home he took an hour and half long nap, what a miracle. He was in a pretty good mood all day. After his bath tonight we had a little fun with his adorable blonde fuzz we call hair. He got his first hair-do, a mohawk!! Enjoy the cute pics...







Off to bed...

CUTE

Probably the cutest picture that exists.



Ok, so you might think by the looks of this picture that Max was happy and in a great mood today... not so. In fact this was one of the fussier days we have had in a while. Tomorrow I am going to try and keep him awake longer in between naps and focus on 2-3 really good naps. I have got to figure something out... This morning he woke up with a really runny nose. Ugh, never ending. I don't know if it is a cold or he is teething. I hope it's teeth because we just got over a cold! So I am wondering if at night he is waking up more because of his reflux, he started to wake more when we laid his bed flat a few weeks ago. So, tonight we put the wedge back in and hopefully the slight incline will help with the runny nose and the reflux. Please... something work!!!!!!!!

So, last night I got some cute pictures of Max eating a bottle and it got me thinking to his first bottles. How small they were, yet they looked so big next to him. How little he would eat at a time, at one point less than an ounce! And how long it would take, there were nights that we would have limit his eating time to 30 minutes. Not anymore!!! He eats about 6 ounces a bottle and in less than 10 minutes. We sure have come a long way!!!

Another trip down memory lane. Max's 2nd or 3rd day taking a bottle (I can't remember). Look how tiny he was... it looks like I'm holding a doll.











Comparing the first bottle, 3oz, compared to his bottle now, 9oz!!



Max eating out of his big boy bottle! He loves to help.







Hope you enjoyed the "scrapbook" moment!

Has anyone out there watched the Office from tonight yet? Michael Scott can't quit!!! Oh no!

Made a really good dinner tonight, and forgot we had plans to go out with Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Jim. It was nice to see them and I know they love to see Max. Thanks for dinner!!! I saved the dinner for tomorrow...

Chicken and potatoes, a crockpot creation. (By the way, all servings are for 2 good eaters:))
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of potato soup
1/2 c chicken stock
2 big baking potatoes
salt and pepper (for Rachel Ray fans "s&p")

Place the chicken on the bottom of the crockpot, stir together soup, stock and potatoes and cover the chicken with them. Sprinkle with s&P, cook for 6-8 hours on low. We taste tested it before saving and it is very good... we will be enjoying it tomorrow!
I told you I wasn't gourmet... it is easy, that is all I claimed!

Long weekend ahead, everyone enjoy yours!

Social baby...

Max really loves people. I came to this conclusion long ago when he learned to smile. He would smile at anyone who even glanced his way... you could also call this flirting. The one thing that consistently takes away his smile? The camera. Clark and I tried so so hard to take some really cute pictures tonight, and while we did get some we didn't capture the happy adorable Max. Anyone who has met him knows the smile I'm talking about, cheesy and heartwarming all at the same time! Too bad I have no proof.











...nope, he hasn't been drinking.



Charlie... Max's new favorite entertainment.



Tracheomalacia, this is what the pediatric ENT says is the cause of Max's chronic wheeze. I don't know what I've said about it in the past but Max occasionally has an expiratory wheeze, like when he gets out of the bath, playing on his tummy, after he eats, etc. His ENT that placed his tubes wanted us to get it check out, so off we went today. Now, I added a link to the website I thought was the best... some of the others were good descriptions of more serious cases... Max's is NOT. In fact, the treatment is growth. He obviously has no developmental or growth delays so it is not an issue. So, feel free to click and read, but please don't google it, some of the other info is far more severe and kind of scary. Now, to get this diagnosis poor little Max had to be tortured! Ok, ok it wasn't that bad, but he was so sad. The doctor used some nose spray that was lidocaine and afrin... then put a tiny tube with a camera down his nose and into his throat to look closely at his airway. She saw nothing wrong with his upper airway (larynx), so by exception we got to tracheomalacia (the lower airway). Max also had a PT appointment today. It was nice to see Michelle, since we are only going once a month it had been a while... we missed her!! He got fussy pretty quick, a combination of hungry and tired can be miserable. By the way, we spent close to 4 hours at children's mercy today, and daddy couldn't go... it was a long afternoon!! He surprisingly didn't fall asleep on the way home though, so when we did get home he went down for a nap. He fell asleep all on his own and for about 30 minutes. Can't complain. He stayed awake a little later and even played a little after his bottle... normally his bottle makes him milk drunk and he can't stay awake for anything!! I swaddled him tonight, I give up on weaning him out of it... he just needs to sleep and if it helps then I'm using it. We'll see how it goes. And now for some more pics...

Bathtime is always so fun, tonight he was especially enjoying the water being poured over his head. He was leaning back for more!









Playing after his bottle... (he was being very goofy)





Tonight for dinner I made "tex mex fried rice," I stole the recipe from Rachel Ray. Clark did not enjoy it, so we had a lot left over. Anytime I make too much for dinner we call Grandma Dee and Grandad. They came and got it and I hope enjoyed it. I happen to think it was pretty tasty. Instead of the steak she used I cooked a roast in some tomatoes in my crockpot, cut it up small and stirred it in the rice. I also made the black beans and put the rice over the beans (omitting any raw tomatoes or onions of course!), topped it off with cilantro, lime juice and sour cream. Yum. Then we had ice cream for desssert (yes I know there are 3 s's in my spelling of dessert... remember learning how to spell dessert and desert? "dessert has 2 s's because you always want seconds" I always want 3rds!!! haha!) Oh and I have a new morning love... caramel drizzle coffee with french vanilla creamer. It's folgers, too, nothing fancy. You gotta try it.

Well, I just had to go rock Max back to sleep, up once already. I better get to bed!

Goodnight!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

So I can't believe it but I haven't taken any pictures of Max since my last post. What?! Next time I take some (tomorrow) I'll have to make up for it! I have been working so hard to make a flyer for our March of Dimes walk. I am getting nowhere. I wish I could find one already made up and just get copies. Guess I'll keep working. Still no great ideas for a team name, kinda dissapointed in my blog readers... hmm hmm. As for Max, he is doing great. He is officially scooting across the floor. Today he scooted about 4 times toward me for a total of about one foot. Haha, he'll get there. He has not been sleeping well at all lately. I have been trying to get him out of that darn swaddle blanket so I'll put him down without it and when he wakes up I wrap him up. The first couple nights went great, he made it about half way through the night. Since then not so great. The last 2 nights he has woken up several times early in the night. Last night once I fell asleep he didn't wake up until 6 (which is way too early- but better than getting up every hour). Hopefully we get back to the wonderful sleep habits he used to have, I don't know what to do... any helpful hints???? Well, I better get to sleep, last night I stayed up too late and 6 was pretty rough. Watch for new pictures tomorrow!!

By the way I added a link to the left that takes you to our March website. PLEASE JOIN IN!!!

Little Swimmer

As promised... some pics from our super fun night out. The other couple are our good friends Amy and Kris, Kris was the birthday boy.







Today Max and I had his first swim lesson!!! We went to a new water park called Coco Keys, it is an indoor park attached to a hotel. Max and I were invited by some of my friends from work, and while it was probably a little excessive for the first swim, it was a lot of fun. He kicked and splashed in the baby pool for about 45 minutes. We took a break to let him warm up and eat, then we went around the lazy river. He only lasted about one and a half times around but he laid across the tube and kicked his little feet like crazy! Too cute. I can't wait for summer to let him swim outside and in one of those super cute baby floaties! Ok, I have to go on a rampage for a second... if you are taking your kids to a water park and you don't intend on following them around all day (which is ok past a certain age:)) then please instill some basic people skills. For one, please inform your children to observe the no running rule, especially when running in and out of others. Second, if there is a fountain in a baby pool it is probably for looks. NOT for stepping on and spraying the table near by with clothes and towels, or spraying the infant sitting innocently in the pool. Third, some lazy river rules. While waiting in line for tubes, size does not matter. Just because you are small and can squeeze to the front of the line to get a tube first does not make it ok. FIRST COME FIRST SERVE. End of story. And while swimming though the river, if your tube does not fit through a crowd of tubes it is not ok to pick it up and go over the crowd or to attempt to dunk the tube and swim under. The tube is full of air and it WILL come to the top, probably before you get past everyone that is in your way.
Yes, my children will be well behaved. If Max knew any better he would have been so embarrassed of me today. After waiting in line for a tube for a very short time I started to notice that there were quite a few kids sneaking to the front and taking the next tubes (you have to wait for someone to exit and be done with the tube before you can get in... for a VERY short river). After about 10 minutes of watching this happen and the lifeguards doing nothing I felt it my place to help out. Oh yes I did. The main problem was one group of kids, and I had no problem telling the little brats to get to the back of the line. One of them even tried to steal a tube from an old lady!!! I could not let this happen. So, lesson of the day, kids in water parks need leashes.

We really did have fun though... and the girls I went with had very well behaved children.




Isn't he cute in his swim shorts?! Don't be fooled, he is NOT asleep in the stroller pic, just looking down. Max does not sleep in public, too much going on I guess.

He is getting to be such a flirt these days, he will smile at anyone who talks to him. By the way, his head ultrasound was wednesday and he did great! The results came back perfectly normal... and perfectly big! We knew they would, but now the pediatrician will be at ease!

Update on the March of Dimes walk... thank you to the 2 people who visited our website. Max's best friend Hunter is going to join in our race. His parents Michelle and Billy are great and we feel that joining forces we will be able to raise more money, get more walkers and of course have that much more fun!! Anyone with good ideas for a team name let me know... I am not creative. Mad Max is cute but I am having trouble with Hunter... Happy Hunter? Not so cute! HELP!!!!

Save the date

May 3rd everybody!!!! We are going to do a March of Dimes walk in downtown KC, Power and Light district at 10am. Clark and I are going to get t-shirts made (kid sizes too for anyone needing them) and the afternoon after the walk we will have a BBQ at Grandad and Grandma Dee's house. ANYONE is welcome and encouraged to come. We are going to have a great time and help out a cause near and dear to us. Our team name is Mad Max, click here to see our team website. And please, please, please join our team on the website to show your support for little Max. How cool will it be to show him in 10 years all the people willing to be a part of something for him?! Donations for our team are accepted online but also the day of the walk or you can give them to Clark and I. Also, let us know if you are wanting a shirt (size and quantity). We are very excited about doing this and I will keep you updated on the blog.

Ok, so Max... he is doing great. He got a little mini vacation from mommy this weekend. I had a brain lapse when scheduling shifts at 2 jobs, I ended up working fri, sat, sun, mon. YUCK! Clark and Max had a very relaxing weekend together. Ha!! Max apparently had so much fun he wanted it to continue well into the middle of the night. Maybe he was just trying to get as much trouble in to 4 days as possible. Clark reminded me a lot how tired he was, like I was foreign to the whole 24/7 baby care. It is good for him! Nothing really new to report... he is definitely trying to scoot, he picks his butt up so high in the air that I think he is going to try to go from lying on his tummy to sitting. WOW!

Saturday it was really warm here and we got Max dressed up in a super cute outfit with plaid shorts!!! He even wore his mini deck shoes. We had to call Grandad and take him to lunch so he could see his protege!




looks like a shoe model... what a proud mommy I am!!



Yes, he loves these rings, he seems to be playing with them in a lot of pics.

Clark and I got to go out last night for a friend's 30th birthday. We had such a good time! I'll try to post some pics tomorrow. Needless to say, I was already tired from working and I got something like 4 hours of sleep :( Good thing wednesday night has no good tv shows!

Good night everyone...

Beautiful weather

Today we had the most beautiful weather. I think the high ended up being 81 degrees!!! We wore short sleeves, took walks, rode with the window down, played outside... it was great! Max loves to be outside but officially hates to be hot. He was miserably fussy from about 1:00 on. It may have been the shot, the short nap, the new car seat, who knows, whatever it was made him MAD! He decided to get up at 6:30 this morning, I didn't feed him until 7:30 and then he went down for a nap around 8:40. Here I am thinking it was going to be a great nap... nope. He felt like 45 min into his nap would be a good time to poop. Yep, poop woke him up. Then we were on the go until his doctor's appointment at 12. He really only took cat naps in the car the rest of the day. Needless to say he is passed out right now!

Max playing in the floor this morning, before the fussiness started...



What a big boy sitting all by himself!




Here he is falling over, if you look close you can literally see motion lines of him falling!



Clearly the fussiness has started...









Max on the scale.



As I said earlier Max had a peditrician appointment today. Overall it went well. He weighed in at 17lbs, down from the 10th percentile to the 7th, still pretty good! Only a little over a pound since the last visit but if you remember the week after we last went to the doctor he got sick, had his ear tubes placed, and since has been non-stop active. This would explain that. His height stayed on the same curve, somewhere around the 3rd percentile, ha! What a shrimp. His head is around the same.. the 90th percentile. Geez, kid! I know I am his mom and I'm biased but I don't think his head looks all that big! Looking at the chart, the 10th percentile and the 90th are separated by less than 2". He still has a pretty big soft spot on his head so next week he is going to have an ultrasound done of his brain through that. The ped and I agree that he does not show any signs of problems so sedating him for a CT in not necessary, we'll just take advantage of the huge hole he still has in his skull!! I'm sure he won't hold still for this but maybe if he's sleepy he'll do okay. Moving on... his ears looked great, she said there was very little drainage at all on the right, I haven't seen any. Hopefully this means the infection is clearing up, whew! She seems to think his motor skills are just above that of a 6 month old, which is better than we should expect so I am pleased.
Max got his last synagis shot today. I'm sure he is so happy to hear this, as am I. Today was the worst he has done with a shot to date. He got so mad, not upset, mad. He held his breath, screamed, coughed, gagged... and threw up. Everywhere. Poor little dude needs to completely kick this cold so his gag reflex can calm down!

Mommy and Max waiting for the doctor



This afternoon Clark and I took Max for a walk, this is a great way for us to keep him busy for 30 minutes. He likes it and it's good for us. After our walk Max and his daddy went and jumped on the trampoline! Isn't this just precious!





Tonight for dinner I made a barbecue chicken pizza... not a really exciting recipe but it's my version. I marinated the chicken in broth and bbq sauce, cooked it for 45 min at 350 in some of the marinade then shredded it. I made a homemade pizza crust, ok a little ambitious, it turned out great! A store bought one would be just a good! So, pizza crust, a little more bbq sauce, chicken and cheese. Baked at 475 for 12 min. Easy and good.

Thanks for the comments last night! For anyone who doesn't know how to leave one you just click below where it says _ comments. Then scroll to the bottom and type where it says "leave a comment." Simple.

Going to watch the office now...