Summer fun...part II

Max with his favorite thing, a truck! He's such a boy and is obsessed with wheels, balls and anything that spins.
A tractor ride at grandpa's:

We had another summer picnic with some grade school (one pre-K) friends. Its so funny to think HS was 15ish years ago, this is the big year we all have or will turn 30, and with a crazy house full of kids we were commenting how we still feel the same, just like we're playing house or something. This was last year's shot. It was a bit calmer last year, there were only 3 of them.

2008:

Out came...... 2009:

This is the whole crew: (Presley and Max- 10+ months, Bayley- 3 yrs, Ellie- 1 1/2, Mallory-3 yrs and Colbie- 8+ months) - this was after they ALL decided they needed baths so they're ready to sleep in their jammies!

I should have gotten a belly shot but there will be at least one more next year from the Brown's! Maybe it will be a boy so Max isn't so outnumbered next time.

In other news.... Max has teeth!!!! After 10 1/2 months, his bottom 2 teeth are popping up. It was a slow process and there has been a lot of miserable moments on his part but he's been a trooper. Since he throws an absolute fit when I use the baby oragel (though if I actually can get it on there it does help after a minute or so) so we've been using tylenol and some cold chewies. Luckily there hasn't been a lot of drool, but there has been a lot coming out the other end, which I believe is a teething sign also.... not sure which is worse...

So on that note, just in time for my sake....

Last week Max is officially a bottle only baby. I nursed him for the last time Thursday so Friday morning, during our normal nursing he took a bottle. (He takes 4 a day now but we're trying to make them smaller and smaller for when he'll be stopping in a few months.) Of course he's always preferred a bottle so he was just fine and I got all my tears out the night before so we all survived. From the start I only ever did nursing for 'feeding' so he's never needed it for the comfort factor anyway. I had only been nursing him first thing in the morning for weeks because he was so distracted and rammy that it just wasn't worth the struggle anymore (no idea how people nurse older babies and toddlers!) but he had been nice and calm and was always good in the morning. Luckily I still have enough frozen that he should get one BM bottle a day and he takes the formula just fine. (Though I do feel sorry for people who've had to buy formula the whole time, as I purchased my 2nd jar the other day, thank goodness for generic prices!!!)

Nursing has been an interesting process and I think, like most aspects of parenting (beginning with pregnancy and labor), its just so different for everyone. Max was, as was my biggest fear, a SLOW nurser. I would talk to new mom's who were baking and trying to find time to fill their days while at home with a newborn/infant and I couldn't find time to cook or eat or go for a walk, let alone do extra stuff. Then it dawned on me a few months ago that he was nursing for 8-10 hours a day so we spent a LOT of time like that. I don't regret a second of it and thank goodness for being able to pump (a bottle takes about 10 mins) and he had slowed down some in the last few months. But there were some nights when we just nursed on and off all night long because one or both of us would fall asleep in the middle of a an hour long nursing and at 2am its not easy for a sleep deprived mom to stay awake. Nursing was something I was definitely apprehensive about but I'm so glad and blessed that it worked out the way it did. (Also, its a huge plus to be back to pre-birth weight in 6 months!) Now....I just have to make sure my second child has a totally different nursing experience because I am quite sure I will not have such time with the Maxwell running around!

The best part has been to put all the nursing/pumping gear and clothes away and not worry about dragging it on our vacation to VA Thursday. We can't wait!

10 Months

I have no idea why it keeps uploading this pic sideways.... but I had to show how hard it was to do the 10 month shots. He loves playing with George so much that he just wanted to jump on him instead of sit with him to take the pictures.

Wow, double digits! I can't believe my baby is a little boy already. He's doing great. He makes all kinds of noises and sounds. (Including an awesome squeal when he sees one if his Curious Georges.) He amuses himself quite a bit, which is pretty funny most of the time. He still only says mama and ball. He's nurses a little in the morning, takes a morning and afternoon bottle and then drinks a few more oz before bed but real food is really taking over his diet. I've also started randomly supplementing next step formula every once in a while which he drinks as if its the same thing hes been drinking all his life. You just never know where your battles may be! But it makes it nice and easy sometimes when I can't warm a bottle. He's sleeping the same, about 8ish until about 6:30am-7am. I'd like him to sleep a little longer in the morning of course but its not too bad. He's still taking two decent naps (finally down to one afternoon nap). He'll sleep anywhere from 45mins to 1 1/2 hours in the morning and anywhere from 1-2 hours in the afternoon. A longer afternoon nap would be nice but we take what we can get. He's a great eater, will eat any kind of baby food you give him. He also loves his puffs and yogurt bites and anything that's hard and crunchy. He will not however, pick up and eat anything soft. Its a bit odd but we try to give him pieces of real food and he just squishes them and plays with it but won't eat it, even if you put it in his mouth yourself..... guess we'll keep trying! He's crawling up a storm. He loves the steps and he gets around in his walker (a perfect last thought yard sale find) like a pro, he can maneuver it anywhere and everywhere perfectly. Its a riot! He had been teething some but no teeth yet...it hasn't been bothering him much the last 2 weeks.

We are just so lucky and blessed to have such an awesome boy. He really does have quite the personality for so young an age, we know he's going to be a lifetime of entertainment (which can be both good and bad right?!?!).

We're doing good otherwise. Trying to get our pool time in when it gets warm enough (today definitely counts as warm enough but its been a long time coming). I've dropped down to working only 2 days a week till September when the legislature comes back to town and maybe, perhaps, if its not too much trouble, actually passes a state budget which is loooong overdue at this point (at least the state workers are finally getting paychecks). So I have Tuesdays off with the boys which is fun. Money is rather tight for now but we're still lucky to have what we have.

You may notice his shirt is from eagles training camp. Nate went with his friend Carl last week. They had a great time!

This picture is actually on their website!

See what is in store this year....

Summer fun

We've been keeping busy this summer. We've had a few trips to Grandpa's pool. He's such a water baby, he just loves it.

So much fun, we don't want to get out, even to eat!

Grandpa gets these looks a lot!

And we made a trip to see the Paul side of the family. Max with Aunt Julie, him being a goof of course!

And then a visit with mom-mom mom-mom:

I wasn't brave enough to take Max camping overnight but we did go up for the day to the campground where the church group was camping. Max had fun with his buddy Weston sharing his toys!