Changes

What is going on with you? Lately, you have begun to act out in ways that we are not used to. Wednesday, you threw a fit in front of half of your school as we were walking out. The entire car pool line saw you melt into a puddle of toddler on the cold sidewalk. Many moms tried to help me, as I was also carrying your brother in his car seat - some even offered suggestions (they are lucky I was holding your brother in his car seat!). Even after I finally had to carry you to the car and got you home - the fit ended up lasting almost an hour. You threw a fit at our neighbor's house a couple of weeks ago - and were so rude to them. Things that just aren't normally like you - or are they now?

Is it your brother? Are you realizing that he is here to stay? Is it that I have to split my attention between you? Are you just trying to exercise independence? I'm thinking it is a little bit of everything.

We played this morning in your room and it was lovely. Max took a nap, and rather than clean the house, or put laundry in, or do other various things, I just played with you. We played in your room for a long time - still in our pajamas at 11 AM. Because you know what? I can live with the house being a wreck. The moments spent with you cuddled in your bed pretending to be asleep are moments I'll keep forever - I won't remember if the house was clean or not.

You, my girl, are so very special to me. You are the oldest, just like I was. I turned out OK (I think), and so will you. I'm learning to share my time with both you and Max - something we'll all have to figure out as we go.

Minute with Max : Volume 11

Uh oh...someone found their thumb. Guess we better start saving for braces.

Conversations with an almost 3 year old

I'm sitting on the couch feeding Max. I ask Charlotte to sing the penguin song she learned at school today. She then wants to "sing a song about God". We sing, "He has the whole world in his hands." She asks me where God is. I tell her that he is all around. That he is at her school, in our house, at our church - he is always with us. She asks me when we can go see him. I say that we can't really see him, but we will one day. She asks if we will drive a car to see him. I tell her that we can't drive a car there. She says that we will just get in his hands and he will take us. Such a sweet moment.

Then she gets quiet and looks very intent. I think that she must be forming some really deep, thoughtful question.

She asks, "Is that poop coming out?"

"what?? I don't know - are you pooping in your pants?"

She says, "Oh, no, I just pooted". (giggle)

You just never know what is going to come out of an almost 3 year old's mouth.



We played outside today in the much warmer weather. Charlotte saw her shadow stretch across the driveway. She ran across the driveway and said, "I'm going to jump on my shadow's head". She tried and tried, but never quite got there.

3 months

Maxwell turned 3 months old today. Sigh. My newborn is now an infant.

I consider him to be a very happy baby. It isn't hard to coax a smile out of the guy. Just today I was nursing him, he looked right up at me, stopped eating and gave me a huge grin. It made my heart stop. He can be a charmer.

He has rolled over from his stomach to his back a few times, but hasn't gone the other way.

He has slept 11-12 hour stretches the past couple of nights. If he doesn't sleep 11-12 hours, he'll just wake up once around 4 AM, then go right back to sleep. He's not sleeping much during the day, but I think I can handle that if he continues to sleep so well at night.

He has giggled a couple of times. They are just short chuckles - but man are they cute. Charlotte and Max take a bath together most nights. He is in his bathtub down in the big bathtub. I push his bathtub all the way to the back, and Charlotte is able to fit in the big tub. I was playing a game with her tonight - every time she giggled, Max would get a huge grin on his face and giggle. I think he will be entertained quite a bit by her in the future!

No doctors visit this month, so I'm not sure how much he weighs. But, if my back is any indication, he weighs a lot! He is starting to fill out 6 month clothes.

He is fitting in so nicely with our family. It's like he has always been here - I can't imagine our family without him. He's just a darling little chunk of love.

Pajama Day

Today was "Pajama Day" at Charlotte's school. To say she was excited would be an understatement. She decided on her Christmas pajamas and she would take Cindy in the matching pajamas. Yes, that's right, she and Cindy had matching Christmas pajamas this yea, courtesy of Charlotte's Grammie. Get ready for cuteness overload:



When they both put these pajamas on this morning, I realized that other than a grainy iPhone picture, I didn't have one of the two of them in their pajamas. So, I had to get a quick one.

Minute with Max Volume 10

I tried to sneak upstairs with Max to shoot this, but my shadow found me.

Weekend, a new job, and bottles

Wow, almost a week without a post...

Last Saturday morning, Charlotte went down to spend the long weekend with her grandparents. She had a great time. As usual, Judd and I were sent picture updates throughout her visit.



For Judd and I, it felt like a vacation. To only have an infant to care for was a break from the regular routine. I'm not sure what I complained about when Charlotte was a baby - I didn't know how easy I had it! Judd and I were able to go out for lunch on Sunday and had a date night at home on Sunday evening. I was able to go to the mall for a while on Saturday - even though I had Max with me, it was a fairly pleasant shopping experience.

Monday I started a small part time job. I'm pretty excited about it. I'll be working with Stacy of InkSpot Workshop fulfilling some of her orders plus other side projects. I met with her Monday morning to learn printing, packaging, shipping, etc. She set me up with a photo printer and supplies so I can do everything from my house. I'm shipping out my first orders tomorrow!

Monday morning, I left Max with Judd while I went over to her house to learn the ropes. I called about 10:15 to see how things were going - they were not going very well. Max refused to take a bottle and he hadn't eaten since about 6:30 that morning. I could hear him screaming in the background.

By the time I got home, everything was calm. Max was asleep on Judd's shoulder, but he still hadn't taken a bottle. He hadn't eaten in 5 hours. I heated up the bottle again and tried to give it to him - I just hated to see milk to go waste. He sucked it down in about 3 minutes - Judd couldn't believe his eyes. I ended up giving him 2 more bottles that day without much trouble. So, now I'm wondering if it has to be me? Will he only eat from me? Does that even make sense? So, I have to get going on this bottle thing and get serious about it. Any suggestions from people that have had babies that won't take bottles?

Brother and Sister

I know that you may not like each other at times, but I hope you'll always love each other. I hope you will take comfort knowing that there is someone else in the world made up of the same stuff as you. That there is someone that had the same experiences, has the same family. That there is someone out there that will help you with whatever you need - because you are their sibling. We purposefully had you - so you will have one another. It is one of my greatest hopes that you will be wonderful friends. My heart overflows when I look at you - especially together.

Minute With Max : Volume 9

11.5 weeks. He gets the hiccups halfway through - poor little guy. I just love him.

Coloring in the lines

Charlotte was coloring/painting. Max was napping. I was on the computer catching up on blogs, Facebook, etc. Charlotte asked me to come look at something - she had been coloring in the ears of some bunnies I drew for her. She was staying in the lines - or trying really hard to. I was amazed. I didn't know she could do this. Then I felt bad that I almost missed this quiet moment with her because I was too worried about what others are doing on the internet, half of which I barely know.

So, I'm vowing here to spend less time on this computer. It is starting to really become a time suck for me. Most of what I read just isn't that important.

It is day 3 today of being iced in this house. We have a safari planned, play doh ready to go, and painting lined up. Please pray for my sanity today. Judd is planning to try to go to the office later today - we'll see how that goes.

Blizzard of 2011

You would have thought a blizzard was coming the way the lines at Ace Hardware wrapped around the store with people buying ice melt, shovels, and sleds. Why even buy ice melt? So you can get out of your driveway? You can't go anywhere then. I don't get it.

We did get a solid 4 inches, which is pretty huge around here. Then, we got a nice sheet of ice on top of that. The roads are pretty bad. We haven't ventured out anywhere today.

We did, however, spend some quality time outside playing in the snow.





We were not those people waiting in line at Ace Hardware, so our poor little child had to "sled" on the recycling bin lid. It wasn't super fast as you can imagine. That's OK, though, Charlotte's not a "need for speed" type of kid.



After thawing out with some hot chocolate at a neighbor's house and Charlotte took a nap (Hooray!) it was time to do our gingerbread house. Yes, a gingerbread house on January 10th. When Judd made the obligatory blizzard trip to the grocery store for our bread and milk yesterday, he saw the gingerbread houses deeply discounted and bought one for us to do as an activity today.



So, rather than lend a hand with this messy activity, he and Max sat around and gave me pointers on how to construct the house.



After we were finished, Charlotte declared the house to be "kinda messy". I agreed.



It looks like we'll be stuck in the house again tomorrow. I'm pretty sure by Wednesday Judd will get to work by any means possible. I'm not sure why he wouldn't want to stay stuck in the house all day when you can look at faces like this:

Adaptable

This past week Charlotte began a new class at school. A spot opened up in the 3 day/week 2 year old class. She had been attending the 2 day/week 2 year old class. After some debate, I decided to move her to the 3 day class. She made the transition to the new class very easily. I was so grateful that she adapted to the change so well.

Judd and I were discussing how adaptable she is and how grateful we are for that. She seems to be able to sleep almost anywhere. Over Christmas she slept on a bed of blankets on the floor in the "cousin room" at her grandparent's house. Then she came home, had a couple of nights in her own bed before my parents came. When they were here, she slept in her tent in our bedroom. She didn't have any trouble transitioning between sleeping arrangements. This may seem small, but to us it is awesome to know that she'll get a good night's sleep most anywhere.

She is always fairly willing to settle for a substitute when something doesn't go her way. Whether it is a food she wanted but isn't available or an event that doesn't happen.

It may be too soon to say, but it seems that she has even adapted fairly well to the birth of her brother.

She'll be 3 in just a few weeks. I'm not sure where the time has gone. I can hardly believe my eyes when I look at her sometimes - she is just so big. She is our beautiful, sweet, adaptable girl.

What will Judd smoke?

It is Friday. That means that Judd is thinking about what he is going to smoke over the weekend. I'm talking food, people, nothing illegal.

Since the Big Green Egg has come into our lives after Thanksgiving, we have had smoked meats every weekend. He has smoked two Boston butts (3 really, but we won't mention the first attempt), 2 racks of ribs, numerous chicken wings, a whole chicken, and chicken thighs. He has also tried a few pizzas.

It has been great. I haven't cooked on the weekends in a while.

And, it is GOOD food. The pulled pork we got from the Boston butts is probably some of the best I've had. The chicken wings rival any restaurant. The chicken thighs and ribs were fabulous. The pizzas, well, he's still perfecting that, but they are good.

I was not a fan of the Big Green Egg purchase, but now I love it almost as much as he does. Now, if I could just figure out how to keep the whole house smelling like smoke every weekend!

Minute with Max : Volume 8

I recorded this yesterday, just didn't get a chance to post until today. He is starting to realize he has something at the ends of his arms - HANDS!

Welcome Back

Welcome back, me. I've missed you.

The past couple of days I have felt like myself. It has been great.

It may have something to do with the fact that Max has slept from 7:15 PM until 5:30 AM straight for the past two nights. For the first time in months I'm getting 6 or so uninterrupted hours of sleep. I can actually stay up until 10PM now and not panic that I'm going to be exhausted the next day! PAAAAAARTY! (I'm sure Max will read this and be up 4 times tonight)

I have also gone for a run twice in the past 3 days. I can't even tell you how awesome that has been. It is something that I crave, that I just have to do for myself. So, I joined the same gym Judd is a member of and we have devised a plan. He works out 2x a week and I put the kids to bed, and I work out 2x a week and he puts the kids to bed. Last night was my first night to go to the gym and I looked forward to that time ALL DAY.

I think December was just really hard this year. I really wanted Christmas to be special for Charlotte - and not just Christmas, but the days that lead up to it, too. Also with present buying, wrapping, shipping, etc, plus a newborn, it is just a stressful time of year. I had a running to do list taped to my cabinet in the kitchen that just kept growing. I'd say that I vow to not get stressed next year, but I kinda think that just happens around Christmas. I can vow to try to handle the stress that occurs better. Our Christmas was a wonderful time, and I'll always remember it, but I'm glad to be back in our routine.

So, I'm think I'm setting into this new role as a mom to two. I'm happy to feel good again.

Happy New Year

What a year 2010 was. It was a year of change around here. I quit my job to be a stay at home mom. We went from 3 to 4. Not just little changes, major life altering changes. It was a very good year for us and one we'll always remember. It is not lost on me that many people had a bad 2010, lots of lost jobs, etc - we are very lucky.

Resolutions? I never finished my 2009 blog book, so I need to finish it and the 2010 book. I want to read more this year. I want to get myself back into shape. I'm looking at a half marathon mid-May. I have always loved running and really want to get back into it. I crave that time for myself. I'm going to strive to be a happier and more patient mother. (much more patient) I think I've had a little bit of the baby blues lately, and I'm hoping to come out of that soon.

My parents were in town since Tuesday, they left this morning. I miss them already. We had a busy visit, and it seems to have flown by. We did the Lake Lanier Nights of Lights, made a trip to IKEA, and played with all of Charlotte's new toys. They took her on special errands and played with her at the park. Four extra hands around the house is just awesome. My laundry magically was done for me. Groceries magically came into the house. Children were magically cared for. If only they could have stayed for a few more weeks :)