Growing up

Today was a big day for Max. I know I mentioned yesterday that I found him standing in his crib. Well, this morning there he was again- trying to crawl out of his bed. Now, chances are that he would have been fine, but the railing hit him at about his chest and with the right momentum and bounce he could have been on the floor. To make me rest easier (and allow him to "cry it out" at naptime) I lowered his bed all the way to the lowest setting. And, he got his mattress flipped over to the "toddler side." Yes, the toddler side. Sadly I no longer have a baby.
First thing in the morning (well, lately he has been getting up around 6 but I encourage him to play in his bed, or I don't know sleep, till 7 at the earliest. He does pretty well, this morning he woke at 6 and around 6:20 I re-binkied him and wrapped him up and he was quiet until 6:57), anyway... first thing after 7 we get in our bed and we watch cartoons. Anyone who has kids seen "special agent oso?" It is stupid, but Max will watch it off and on, this morning he laid still for 8 minutes! WOW!! Ok, so after cartoons we get up and Max eats breakfast, oatmeal and a bottle, then he plays on the floor. First thing he did on the floor... CRAWL! On hands and knees, not tummy and elbows! Sadly, again, I no longer have a baby. I have a toddler.

Max took a great nap this afternoon, which ended up being a huge blessing. Clark got up around 2:30 and called his dad only to find out some bad news. GG (Max's great grandma) has been sick for a while, in and out of the hospital with pneumonia and then complications with antibiotics. Well, she was scheduled to go home today with hospice. They had put a hospital bed in her house and set up the oxygen and other supplies. She basically has really bad lungs, diagnosed with COPD and CHF, and is just not strong enough to fight off these infections. Today she took a turn for the worst and started to have a lot of trouble breathing. She is confused and struggling. They called hospice to the hospital and are going to work on keeping her comfortable while she spends some time with her family. We took Max up to see her and it is so amazing what great medicine a baby can be. She asked us if we could just hang him up in the corner of her room! Oh, GG, your sense of humor is what we love and what we'll miss! And of course your cooking, your stubborness, your love of your grandkids, the way you over-buy all the kids Christmas presents, how much you love to talk on the phone and gossip about all the natives of Platte City:), but most of all your love for your family. Please say a prayer for all of her family. She is certainly a legacy to them and she will be missed greatly but will live with more comfort than she can probably remember.



Dinner tonight was pretty good, click here for the recipe I used.
I used a jar of spaghetti sauce instead of the butter sauce; and used wonton wrappers and not homemade pasta dough! And... I had alot of the meat mixture so I made a few fried ones as appetizers. They were SO good! I just pan fried them in olive oil. The other ones maybe cooked to long but the dough was kind of gummy. Still tasty, though, next time I will just fry them and make something else for a main course. They were fun to make!

Going to pick up our March of Dimes shirts tomorrow! YEAH!!!

I'm trying!

I know, I said I was going to try and post more often. I just keep finding something else that needs to be done. If only I had a nanny... :) I'm trying I promise!!
Well I am getting really excited about the March of Dimes walk, I just hope no one brings the swine flu with them! Ok, nothing to joke about, but really, it's getting more press than it needs. I am watching a "swine flu survivor" story about a man who had it over 30 years ago. AND, Mr. Obama wants to budget over a million dollars to help "fight the flu." COME ON! Wash your hands, use sanitizer and don't go to Mexico, you'll be fine! I'll take a million dollars to spread that piece of advice.

Back to business, I updated the Team Website... check it out to find out some exciting news about the t-shirt sales!

Max is totally on the move, he is all over the place in the living room. I no longer have to get out toys for him, he knows where they are and he gets them all out on his own! He had toys all over the living room today, my little boy is so big :( And, breaking news, I went in his room today after one of his naps and... are you ready for this?... he was STANDING. Yeah, pulled all the way up onto his feet and was holding on the side of the bed. He continues to be a puff monster. Clark was feeding him puffs tonight and gave him a handful on his tray. About 2 minutes later Max started fussing, I mean asking, for more. Clark was looking everywhere around him for the puffs, just assuming they had fallen. I had to convince him that he truly had eaten them all in that short amount of time! He loves to eat!

Cute pic from aunt Becki's :)



Dinner tonight: (yay me I finally cooked!)
Oven fried chicken (portions for 2)
2 boneless skinless chicken thighs (we love the thighs, but you could use breasts)
1 pint buttermilk
Place chicken and buttermilk in a bag for at least 1 hour

1 cup bread crumbs
1 T seasoned salt, I love "cookies" from HyVee
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt

Mix together. Take chicken from buttermilk into bread crumb mixture and dredge completely. Place onto cookie sheet sprayed with pam, then spray the chicken with pam. Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking time.

I made buttermilk mashed potatoes (I just got a big thing... it's really affordable!) and corn. Very tasty, and of course Clark liked it!

Tomorrow night... homemade ravioli! Stay tuned!

Home Sweet Home

Max and I got home from Tennessee yesterday around 2. We had a very nice time visiting and meeting the new baby, Rider. However, it was by no means a vacation and I am sure ready for one of those! Max did very well while we were there, he slept all night, EVERY night (sleepy boot camp was a HUGE success!), played like crazy with cousin Brice and even took good naps. We wish they lived closer so we could hang out more often... but they just had to go and move...

Max has the 2 cutest bottom teeth and seems to be working on a mouthful more, or at least it seems that way with the buckets of drool he is producing. He is officially doing a military crawl, and not just short distances. The boy can move. If a toy is worth it - he will get there. He is really good about playing on the floor by himself, in fact he would even play with Brice and Aunt Becki. But as soon as he sees his momma he wants me to pick him up or give him 100% of my attention and be on the floor with him. What can I say, I am pretty fun (to Max at least). Max is also enjoying finger foods more and more, he can eat those gerber puffs for hours (ok hours would be a little long to sit in a high chair, but he LOVES them). We got a new "veggie dip" flavor and he seems to really enjoy putting as many as he can into his mouth at once and then later burping and shoving his stinky little "veggie puffed" hands in my face. The smell lingers a little. And it isn't very appetizing. Lately we have been working on cutting out a nap in our day. So far it works as long as the morning nap is longer than 30 minutes. As I type we are going on 35... SHH!! Don't wake the baby!

So, I have been a really bad poster lately and I am going to try and post during nap times. Night time I am very tired and usually trying to pick up the house, do laundry or just relax. I am making it a personal goal to get more blogging time in!

I have some really exciting news to share! Earlier this week I turned in our t-shirt orders for the March of Dimes walk and we sold an amazing 96 shirts! WOW! With the money Clark and I will donate per shirt sold this is almost a $500 profit we get to donate!!!! Amazing, and this is just our first year. Also, Hunter's mommy, Michelle, has a friend who is hosting a pancake breakfast at her house to raise even more money. I am really excited to go eat pancakes, too!

Spoke to soon, Max just woke up. I'll post a new slideshow later of some pics from our trip. Happy Friday!

Pray for Kayleigh

I know most of you have seen the link on the side of Max's blog and have visited this site. Today Kayleigh is recovering from her "final surgery" before going home after 10 long months in the NICU. However, this morning Kayleigh will not wake up and the doctors are saying she may be brain dead. Please help her family by praying, I cannot even imaging what they are going through. Click here to read more.

Happy Easter

Isn't this the cutest little face?! This morning we went to church with Grandpa E and Max had a great nap in the nursery to prepare him for lunch. We all went to Outback with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Cathy... yummy! Max was semi-well behaved. I fed him puffs for the first half then he ate his squash and his bottle like a champ! After lunch G-Jim and G-Cathy were nice enough to come over and watch Max so Clark could take a nap and I could go to the store and get some laundry done. Max was so good for them, in fact, he slept THE WHOLE time. 2.5 hours to be exact. What a good boy... He did get to play and show them how cute he is when he got up. He impressed them with his spin moves and his scooting. He is slowly getting there, he consistently pulls up to all fours and then plops back down!

I got a shot at the tooth the other day... only one is in, the other is SOO close. I love the added bonus of puffs stuck to his face, if he knew they were they he would attack! He likes to shove them in his mouth with both hands, it is hilarious. And he eats handfulls in seconds, I have to portion control already!









Here is Max playing with Charlie, I think he has gotten over being sick of the camera and now he cheeses it up! He will hold a pose and a smile till I take the picture, I love it!






Max has not been sleeping well at night lately, it's like we are going to get one or the other... good day naps or good night sleep. SO, this week is "sleeping boot camp." I am determined to cut this behavior out, even if it means I am up all night listening to him scream! Tuesday Max and I leave for Tennessee, we are both very excited to get there!! I am a little nervous for my little terror to be on a plane, I even downloaded a Sesame Street episode to my iPod to hopefully get a 5 minute distraction. I will of course bring lots of puffs, because if all else fails he is quiet when he eats!

I get yet another Sunday night off!!! I did only get about 2 hours of sleep this morning after work so I am headed to bed, yes at 8:15! Goodnight!

Welcome Rider Matthew

Max would like to welcome his new cousin, Rider Matthew. He was born 4/4/09 at 11:44pm weighing 7lbs 13oz. Mom, dad and brother Brice are all doing well. Becki said, and I quote "having 2 kids is so much work." Oh, sister, you aren't even home from the hospital yet!! She has promised pictures so I will share when I get them.

Max would also like to share some exciting news of his own... he has 2 teeth!!!! WOW. We have been working on them forever, and one day he got one, 2 days later a second. I can't wait for them to grow in! SOOO cute. I have tried and tried but he will barely let me see much less photograph them, we'll keep trying.

He has been doing so much better with nap time. We have gone from consistent 30 minute naps to at least hour long naps, sometimes 2 hours!!! Today he slept so well and still wanted to go to bed early, maybe he is growing. Or maybe, just maybe it is because he was up all night last night, well at least the first part of the night. Poor grandma Dee had to drive to Tennessee today after being up with the little stinker. Thanks to grandad for helping out so she could sleep. He finally went to bed around 3 and then slept in. Tonight his pj's say "I'm in charge" -soo true, maybe if I acknowledge it he won't try and prove it at 1am.

As promised, the t-shirt design...



Anyone wanting to purchase t-shirts just send me an email at bethnclark@gmail.com with what sizes and I will get them ordered. I would love to have the money by April 21st, but don't mind getting it on the day of the walk. Also, if you would just like to donate and not walk you can do so from our team website (see the link on the left side of the page near the top). THE WALK IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY, WE NEED TO GET SOME T-SHIRTS SOLD AND SOME DONATIONS. So, all you grandmas and grandads, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, cousins... remember what we went through last year and help us prevent that from happening again. Anything is appreciated and t-shirt profits will of course be donated. Sorry for the urgency but I am starting to stress. If you are planning on walking you can go ahead and make your donations online and they will count the day of the walk. Just a suggestion... "thank you"... love, Max

I am getting a much enjoyed night off tonight but I am VERY tired. Please enjoy the new slideshows below... aren't they great?! There will be much more of these to come, they are EASY and take up less blog space!

playtime

bff's