7 months

Max was 7 months on Sunday.

At 7 months:
- he is eating 3 square meals a day
- we are still going strong with breastfeeding
- he started to pull up onto his knees
- he isn't crawling, but is soooooo close.
- not sleeping through the night, but he is at least only getting up once a night.
- taking 2 good naps a day
- he started babbling about a week ago. Doesn't do it a lot, but it's pretty darn cute when he does.
- can eat some finger foods like puffs, cheerios, banana

Judd and I are leaving for Key West tomorrow. 4 blissful, uninterrupted nights of sleep. Wow is it hard to get ready to go out of town when you have two kids - especially one that's an infant. I know they are in fabulous hands, it will still be bittersweet leaving them in the morning.

A is for

what else? Airplane, of course!

Last Day of School

Yesterday was Charlotte's last day of school. It's hard to believe that she is done with the school year. It really seems like yesterday that I was dropping her off for the first day.

Here she is on the first day and the last day - looks like someone became a little girl this year. She looks so toddler to me in that first picture - and so little girl in the second. Just this past week, on different occasions, my mom, Judd, and I have asked her to stop growing. She refuses to do so.



They had a beach party on the last day of school. Then, it was back inside to go through their "End of the Year Book". Her teachers spent SO much time putting these together - they are amazing.



After that it was time for shaving cream art - she absolutely LOVES doing this. I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of shaving cream art this summer.



Then, it was time to leave. She hugged her wonderful teachers good bye and we headed out of the door for the last time until the end of August.



This past week her teachers gave the kids a tour of the rooms they will be in next year. They told all of the kids that they will probably be in school 5 days a week next year. Currently, Charlotte is signed up to go just 3 days a week next year. (There is a 3 day and 5 day option for 3 year olds) She came home SO excited that she would get to go to school 5 days a week next year. I said, "But don't you want to stay home with Mommy and Max some days?" She replied, "No, because you put me in time out." So, we are on the wait list for the 5 day program. Not sure if I'll really make the decision to send her 5 days, though.

Gummy Grin

This may be one of the last times you see a completely gummy grin. I discovered a tooth on it's way up this week. It is just poking itself through. Guess that explains all the screaming last Sunday.

So Close

Today Max has come so close to crawling. He leans forward from his sitting position and is up on his knees and hands.

But, as with everything in life, it's that first "step" that's always the hardest.

Birds Kissing

Today we took a walk. Max was in a carrier strapped to the front of me. He was playing with/sucking on a pacifier. Charlotte was riding in the stroller. Max made a big sucking sound with the pacifier. Charlotte said, "Mommy, I think I just heard two birds kissing!" She had no idea that Max was sucking on the pacifier. It made me smile and laugh. It was a much needed laugh. I love that girl.

Saturday Donuts

Going to the "donut store" is becoming a Saturday tradition around here.

The everyday

That's what's been going on around here - just the everyday stuff. Charlotte has school on Mon, Wed, and Fri. mornings. We have Music Class on Tuesday mornings. Thursday is our free day. Music class has two more weeks, school is over next week. I've had mild panic attacks this past week wondering what I will do all summer without school. Lots of moms are so excited not to have a routine to stick to - not me.

I feel like lately I've been spending a lot of my time sitting Max back up after he creeps onto his stomach, trying to get that toy just out of reach, and then remembers he doesn't like it on his stomach. He is in that extremely frustrating stage - for both mother and child - the one where he wants to move, but just can't figure it out. I'm not too excited to have him mobile - I know my life will get that much harder - but, I'm really ready for him to not need me to pick him up every 5 seconds.

I've also been spending a lot of time playing doll house with Charlotte. If I haven't already said it, hands down the best purchase we've made for her to date. She LOVES to play. Except, sometimes its more like she just wants you to put on a show for her. She says, "you be the girls, I'll be the boys." But when it comes time for one of the boys to speak or do something - she magically now "is the girls". Some of the story lines are just ridiculous. However, I learn a lot about myself when I play with her - it's pretty funny scary to hear her be the "mommy".

I've also been pretty busy with the part time job I have. I work for Stacy at InkSpot Workshop. She set me up with a printer and all of the supplies I need. She then sends over orders she gets and I print everything, cut it, package it, and ship it. I get a percentage of every order that I process. It isn't going to pay the mortgage, but it does help out around here to give us a little extra spending money.

(started this post yesterday afternoon - just finishing this morning)

I have also been struggling to complete my blog books for 2009 & 2010. I was completely done with the 2009 book, and something is corrupted in it, so I can't get it uploaded - very frustrating. After a week of working with the Blurb support team, I'm going to have to start over. So bummed.

So that is what we've been up to. Judd and I leave in 2 weeks for 4 blissful kid-free nights in Key West. I'm counting down the minutes. I'm also starting to collect some activity ideas to keep Charlotte busy this summer. Also, maybe a Max Alphabet book?

I don't think I'll be bored any time soon.

Mother's Day Weekend

Behold children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.
— Psalm 127:3



In the sermon a couple of weeks ago, the minister said that children are entrusted to us by God. I've heard this before, but for some reason, it really hit home that Sunday. I've been thinking a lot about that lately - they are his children that he is allowing us to parent. When I have that in the front of my mind, it makes me parent differently.

Anyway, onto the weekend. We had a VERY busy Saturday. We decided to day trip it up to Baltimore for my nephew Jacob's first birthday. We had been debating all week whether to go up or not - then saw that the flights looked good, the weather looked good, and we had well rested children - so we went for it. We spent 10.5 hours traveling and 4.5 hours visiting. Some may say we are crazy - but it was worth it. Just to see Jacob smash almost an entire cupcake in his mouth was worth it. I didn't take my camera, so if you want to see a couple of pics - head over here.

Charlotte and Max were very good. Could we really have been blessed with two adaptable, flexible children that travel well? Probably too early to tell. Flights were all on time - it really couldn't have gone more smoothly.

This morning I got up with Max at 5 AM to feed him, but then he went back to sleep until 6:15. Judd got up with him then and I slept until the luxurious hour of 7:30AM when I was woken up with a very sweet, "SURPRISE!". Charlotte's little face was right by the bed and next to her was a sweet husband with a bagel, coffee, orange juice, flower, and a card. I sat in bed, ate my breakfast, and caught up with Oprah. Heaven, I tell ya.

We made a trip to Costco today, I took a nice walk, and we even ventured to the pool for a few minutes. (It opened yesterday!) Judd made me a yummy dinner of barbecue chicken done on the Big Green Egg. It was so good Charlotte ate 2 drumsticks!

It was a wonderful weekend. I'm so lucky to have these children to call my own. I'm so thankful that I get to be their mother.

Baby Words

One by one Judd is slowly knocking off Charlotte's "baby" words. Just this past week he taught her to say "little" rather than "wittle". A couple of weeks ago it was changing "lellow" to "yellow". I know it needs to happen, but it makes me a little sad with each word that is corrected.

We still have a few words that I'm hanging on to - that I really don't want to be changed just yet. I love how she says "lem-a-lade" instead of "lemonade". Restaurant is still "rescronk". The "th" sound is "s" a lot of times, still.

Some days I look at her and try really hard to see baby in there somewhere. Each day that passes, I see less and less. It is exciting and sad at the same time.

Exciting that we are starting to do things like play games. We have her some games for Christmas - Memory, Ants in my Pants, Spill the Beans, Cooties, etc. Last night Judd and I played Memory with Charlotte after Max went to bed. We had a great time - she is truly funny. Whenever she wouldn't get a match she says, "Shoot-a-Root!". It is times like that where I'm so looking forward to doing more "big kid" things. But, I would like to be able to press pause.

It makes me want to soak up every second of little man's moments - I know that I'm going to blink and I'll be playing Memory with him.

Face painting gone bad

The line was too long at the Spring Picnic on Sunday for Charlotte to get her face painted. To dry up the tears I promised her I would paint her face after school on Monday. After I painted her face, Max needed a nap. I went up to his room to change his diaper and put him down.

I found this when I came back downstairs.

The weekend

We had such a nice time this past weekend. The weather was BEAUTIFUL - so we spent a lot of time outside enjoying it.

We started the weekend Friday afternoon with some time at our favorite park. Charlotte calls it the "Park with the big purple slide". That is it's official name. :)



Saturday morning, Judd went to the "work day" at our pool. While he was doing hard labor, I was hanging out with Charlotte and Max. When he got home we ate a quick lunch and headed over to the Inman Park festival. We decided to take MARTA down there rather than try to find a place to park. It worked out really well. We got there just in time for the parade.

Earlier in the day, Charlotte asked if we had to be quiet during the parade. Judd told her that she could be as loud as she wanted during the parade. So, she decided to take her train whistle with her. She had a great time eating her frozen lemonade, dancing, and trying to catch all of the candy that was thrown her way.



After the parade we walked around and found the kid's area. Both Charlotte and Max were really well behaved. Max lost it for a few minutes while we waited for the MARTA train to come home - but quickly recovered. Both kids were WORN OUT! They crashed that night. (I might have crashed too!)

Sunday we went to church. After church and lunch - we some how coordinated it so that we all got a nap. Charlotte cuddled with me in my bed. I loved every minute of it. Sunday evening, we went to Charlotte's school's Spring Picnic. Varsity came and catered it. There were bouncy houses, a cake walk, and other fun games. Once again - we had two worn out kids when we got home.

It was a busy, but really wonderful Spring weekend.