Mamma Mia

We know a star!! Pearce Bunting as Bill Austin.

For 3 years we've been talking about getting up to NYC to see Nate's cousin's husband in Mamma Mia on Broadway and finally Ellie had picked this weekend to go and as a special treat, her family, and Ken & Diana got us the tickets for a birthday gift. We rode up with them and then took the train back home in the evening. While it was the longest I've gone without my baby (and first time mom or dad didn't put him to bed) we had a great time. My mom was there all day and Grandma Melody came over for a while in the afternoon too and he did good. He wouldn't let me leave him in the church nursery on Sunday but I owed the lady who was in there some help anyway so I didn't mind staying in. It was a really nice treat for Nate and I. Besides the evening in the ER when Nate put a drill bit through his finger a few months ago, it was the first time we'd done anything alone since we went out to dinner for Valentines Day!

So..... we hit up the big Apple! The show was excellent and we even got a back stage tour. And we got a quick visit with cousin Steph and Milo.

You can't take pictures during the show so we just have before or after.Backstage.... Pearce does wear this for the finale!! (And wears it well:))Emma loved running on the stage after the show!Star/Tour guideThese are the sound booths back stage where the casts sings. Everything is done live, the singing and music. There is one conductor directing the actors on stage but she sits half under the stage where the orchestra pit is so she can direct them as well. Then it can be broadcasted on screens too so the actors can keep looking up at the screens for ques if they need and others can play music or sing from other rooms if necessary. All very impressive. Those people all work very hard, and 2 shows Saturday and Sunday.

As a side note if anyone is wondering.... I watched the movie that just came out last night and its all very similar. The movie is almost the exact same as the show, with the exception of a few small scenes missing and moved around at the very end. Some of the movie acting may have been a little better (I mean its Pierce Brosnan....) but I'm really not a Meryl Streep fan in general, though she played the role well. The Broadway singing was far better. I did like the girl who played Sophie in the movie but liked most of the smaller role characters better on Broadway. So I have to say I was impressed that the movie was such a close adaptation. But I did like the Broadway production better!

VA Trip

We had our second little vacation of the summer down at Shenandoah Crossing, birthday compliments of Grandma Melody & Grandpa Jeff and we had a great time. Vacations are definitely different these days with 2 naps, 3 meals, 2 snacks and 4 bottle feedings to work around but that's why going here was such a perfect spot. We had a 2 bedroom cabin so Max had his own room and there is so much to do there that we never even left. Plus my aunt and uncle who live in Richmond also have their time share there so they were there and my mom came down some of the time to stay with them so we got to visit with them for some meals and pool time. And the Browns came out Friday for a while because they were in Charlottesville for a camping trip so Grandma Melody also stayed with us Friday night (poor thing had to sleep in the couch since Prince Max had his own room!). So we had some fun visitors too. They also just built a whole new pool area which was really fun. Unfortunately Max wasn't a huge fan of the boat because it was just a Jon boat so he had to wear the life vest and his tolerance wasn't too high when we tried to do some fishing (we're going through a moody month) but it was nice to juts relax and its truly a vacation for me to have a dishwasher:)

Chilin on the porch:

A Max size rocker!

Max loved to play in these fountains at the new pool:

The view from our deck

There were 30 seconds of a smile, then we docked and Max and mom got off so daddy could fish in peace!Dad brining it in....

Saturday morning Nate went fishing with Josh and his brother at a secret fishing hole in Charlottesville.... Nate doesn't usually have the best of luck fishing but this truly was a sure thing (they were nervous because they kept saying how great of fishing it was but didn't want Nate to come up empty handed). Needless to say, he had a GREAT time!

On the way back we stopped at Aunt Ellie's for her big birthday and spent the night. Max always has fun playing with his cousins and we had a nice afternoon at the playground!

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!

The Brown's July visit

Last week Ellie and the kids came up to Grandma's for the week and we were lucky enough to get to spend a lot of time together. Once Emma got over a little stomach bug the poor thing got as soon as they got up here, they had a great time playing with Max! He just loves his cousins and they seem to be quite fond of him too.
Of course Aunt Ellie got tons of great pictures as usual!!!


I love Max's face in this one, what a ham!

Otherwise we're doing well. Max is just a riot lately. He's crawling ALL over the place and loving it. And while we have to watch him a lot it is kind of nice that he is free to do what he wants now. He's eating a lot and, not to jinx myself, but we may have even worked out a nap schedule. We're usually down to just 2 a day now, one shorter one in the morning around 9:30am and then a nice long one in the afternoon around 1:30pm. For the most part it seems to be working for him. Of course he makes himself so tired these days! His latest trick is dancing!!! He just loves it, its a riot. He's not too picky about the music. We'll put on random comcast music channels but he'll also dance to the tune in is "George in the box" as well. Quite the personality!!!

Now, if only his poor teeth will come in so his little mouth and ear feel better...

9 months and baseball!

9 month visit stats: 28inches long (43%) and 18,9lbs (20%). Its actually really sad to know my chunkster is in the 20% for weight..... no wonder childhood obesity is so high!

Wow, what a trip the 8 month has been. It seems like he learned something new every day.

1) Said his first word "mama". At first it was just babble but he is referring to me sometimes. We're working hard on dada but no real "d" sounds yet.

2) He learned to sit AND pull himself up to a standing position.

3) One day short of 9 months and he learned to crawl. He was getting around pretty well but ended up crawling backwards when he was trying to go forwards. This is really a nice treat (I only say because he's not fast yet) but he can get to what he wants and is so content to play for a while.

Of course every day is a new random trick he comes up with, always finds a way to ammuse us! He still has no teeth but we were told at the Dr's that we can really introduce just about any food to him so we'll start on that. Since we got back from our trip I'm going to start weening him too. He's only nursing in the morning now and I'm just pumping 2 times a day so we're dipping into the gallons of frozen milk in the freezer. It seems to be working ok so far. We've also skipped a feeding and just do one late afternoon (instead of one mid afternoon and evening) so our main goal now is to take only one longer afternoon nap (he has been taking one just after lunch and another before dinner). He did it on Thursday but then Friday was another story. Since he's able to move around so well getting him settled has been a whole new struggle we're dealing with, even at night which we've never had an issue with. So we work through it as we go...

For mom-mom's birthday we went to see a minor league baseball game Friday night. Of course our minor league team happens to be with the Nationals but they were playing the Reading Phillies so we couldn't root for the home team this time. He was soo good, made it till about the 7th inning before he passed out!