Max Claps!

This evening we went out to eat at the Rockville Town Center. While we were there Max had two big firsts.

I was preparing his bottle for dinner and he wanted it much faster then I was planning to get it to him. He started yellow Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba, until I finally gave it to him. It was cute. He was clearly demanding his Bottle! Yeah Max!

Then, we were outside watching Ellie (and Daddy) play on the rocks. I have been trying to get Max to clap, becuase he always likes when I clap his hands for him. Finally, this time, he did it himeself. It was sort of like a half clap. He holds his Right hand open and still and moves his left hand to it and away from it in a clapping motion. I was very excited! He repeated it a few times. Yeah Max!

Actually, there was a third big thing I realized tonight too - he is getting his top two front teeth as well. They are just peeking through; the one of the left is a little further along then the other. I noticed it when he was having fun hanging upside down.

My little Max is growing so fast. Baby stage is hard, but I sure love it. I love his little smiles when he finds me in a room or looking at him. It's so innocent and easy to make him happy and share a moment of true love and joy with him!

Emma

So, Ellie finally has an imaginary friend. (I say finally becuase I remember Erika's imaginery friend was around when she was in her twos.) Ellie's friend's name is Emma. She officially appeared today while we were playing outside in the back yard this morning. I think Ellie was bored. They played together nicely for a while. Walking down the stairs from the deck, Ellie was holding Emma's hand and helping her walk around.

Then, when we came inside, she told me Emma was going to come too. I said that was fine. Once inside, Emma had to wait her turn to wash her hands. Then, Emma sat at the table and ate lunch too. Emma was very busy for about 2-3 hours.

However, I haven't heard about her since she woke up from her nap. Oddly enough, Ellie met a real Emma this evening for the first time. It was a bit of a strange coincidence that was the name of her friend she made up.

The funny thing was that Ellie told me that she was make believe a few times, but kept insisting she was here with us too! How cute.

Rocking you to sleep

A twist on my normal blog, I feel a need to write Max a letter about our little day.

Dear Max,

Today was a tough day for us. You had to have allergy testing in the morning and a 10 month doctor checkup in the afternoon. In between I had to wake you up from your nap. All around, your day was messed up. It was nice to spend it with you though. On these days when it's just you and I, which are so rare, by the end of them, I feel so close to you. You are my little dream!

We got a bath a little early becuase you and your sister were both really tired. I did your normal bedtime routine with you and laid you in your crib at 7:15, just slightly early. You were exhausted. Instead of sleeping, like you normally do so well, you just started crying. YOu were climbing your crib and trying to get me to hold you. I tried to sooth you with the Ferber Method for about 10 minutes, but I couldn't take the sadness in your voice.

I finally went in and picked you up and danced you to sleep on my shoulder. It was as if you were having tummy pains or something. Or, perhaps your leg hurt from your shot. I'm not sure, but I was happy to comfort you. I tried placing you in your bed once you settled and dozed off in my arms, but you would have none of that.

An alarm went off and you started screaming and standing and wouldn't even take your pacifier. So, I decided I would just hold you a while. We sat down and rocked in your rocking chair. You quickly fell peacefully back to sleep on my shoulder. The calmess in you as you fall asleep and settle is so sweat. You smell wonderful - a mix of Johnson's baby product and maple teething cookies. You are holding on to me as you sleep and it makes me feel like your Mom. The world is sort of able to melt away as we just rock. I held you for about 10-15 minutes, until I heard you snoring (yes, you do snore already) and was sure you were calm without any more deep breaths. I watched your peacful adorable face and let your little long hairs ticket my face. I couldn't help but kiss you at least two dozen times on your little shoulder, head, cheeks and fingers. You were clutching your blanky bunny and sweetly sucking on your pacifier. You were finally asleep and relaxed. You deserve a relaxing end to your tough day. I love you so much. I am so glad to be your Mommy! You are my dream come true little man.

Sweet dreams tonight and always! Love, Mom

Easter

What was Ellie most excited about on Easter? was it her new bunny, chocolate, eggs, church, sunshine.... no, the fact that her painting eisle has returned to the main floor of the house!

What did Max want to do most of all? play with his very cute toy plane that makes noises and runs across the floor, or play with the easter eggs, nope... eat the dominos that were in his basket!

My children make me laugh!

It was a good Easter morning. We had a brief breakfast at Starbucks (nope, not getting house wife of the year award) and then we went to church. We had a little photo shoot at a few stops along the way as I attempted to capture photos. We played some at home and then while the kids napped, David and I are doing a little work before we head to Mom's for the family celebration. I'm looking forward to Ellie's first Easter Egg hunt of the season. I know she will be at a bit of a disadvantage, becuase these days kids do so many Easter Egg hunts in the month before Easter, I think it's crazy. But I have faith in my Ellie Bean!

Easter Breakfast!

Easter at Gramma's was fun too! Here are the kids preparing for their Egg hunt and listening to the rules. It was indoor, so it was a little crazy. Each kid had their own color to find. Ellie's was Yellow!

One of Ellie's Easter Eggs was hidden in Stanley's pocket!

Max got cool shades from Gramma and G!

Here are a few family photos from the day. This first one was from after church.

This was taken at the end of the night before heading home from Gramma's:

A final after thought, which is basically to say that the clothes we wore on Easter were definitely an after thought as well. I did not think to go out to buy any Easter outfits. In fact, these were about the only church worthy clothes found in the closets of Julie, Max and Ellie. Opps.

Dying Easter Eggs

I have always had a thing for the pretty designs you can make out of Easter Eggs. Last year we tried doing this with Erika and Ellie. I wasn't as patient as I would hoped to have been. I didn't want them to be cracked or messed up (I know, not a very good approach with Todlers). So, I was thinking this year if it was just Ellie and I, I may be able to let go a bit more to let Ellie experiment.

We started by needing to make the dye ourselves becuase I could not find any of the egg dye packs in the store. That turned out to be okay and make some beautiful colors. I would say it's actually easier becuase you don't have to wait for the table to disolve.

We started dying the egss. I tried to let Ellie pick what color they would be, and help submerge them and look at them as they changed colors. I wish I could've let her have more control of it all, but the problem was that Ellie wasn't interested in being delicate, but determined to see what it was like when you crack the eggs.

After she finally had her way with one poor beautiful robin's egg blue Easter Egg, she decided she had seen what happened and could try to be gentle.

We spent a little less then an hour on it. Here's to hoping next year brings Ellie not wanting to crack the eggs, but take care and preserve them so we can have a bit more fun with it.

The finished products are below. And, yes, we did manage to make the first black Easter Egg, but it was not a goal. It was an experiment gone very wrong.

After the eggs were done, Ellie moved to coloring Gramma's Easter card. This is her domain and area of expertise for now!

Happy Easter!

Learning to walk

Max is really getting around fast these days. He crawls so well and so fast. It's cute to put him on the ground in just a diaper and watch that cute little baby body scoot quickly across the floor towards whatever has caught his eyes.

He's also working very hard on learning to walk. He pulls himself up on absolutely everything he can find. He is having to learn that drawers are not necessarily that great becuase inevitably they pinch your fingers, but benches and book cases are fabulous.

He's even discovering the push and walk baby toys which Ellie was never interested in until she could push them like a grocery cart.

I suspect he'll be taking some steps on his own before he's one!

Ellie's "Snow Storm" in April

On Good Friday I had both kids home with me and worked about hald a day. Mid morning I had to take a conference call, so left Ellie to play in her room with Max and sat outside listening. During this time, there was lots of comotion, but no tears. At the end, Ellie says, "look at my Snow Storm Mommy."

Touching noses

When I went to pick Ellie up at Miss Sara's today I had Max with me too. So we were all hanging out outside for a while longer then normal. I was talking to Sara and looked over to see Ellie smack in Owen's face. From my point of view, it looked a lot like kissing. I said, "What are you doing Ellie?" as they were both there pushing there faces together and laughing...

Ellie's response "We're just touching noses."

I suggested Ellie give Owen some personal space, but I don't think Owen was minding.

A Sunday afternoon with the kids

On Sunday I hung out with the kids while David was working in the basement. The kids are really starting to do well playing together. Max admires Ellie so much and loves any opportunity to laugh together with his big sister. Ellie is enjoying showing him the ropes and also enjoys the baby talk too - even though we ask her to teach him words.

Here are a few photos I snapped of them playing together:

Ellie picked out her own outfit today. She loves to be in dresses these days!

Max is really a fast little crawler these days.

He was having a lot of fun with Tiger and loves to hug him!

They enjoy the house and playing. Ellie has told me several times how much she loves our house. That makes me feel good and like we must be doing something right as parents. Thanks Ellie Bean!

My first overnight away from home

This week I had to leave David home with the kids and travel to Wilmington for work. I really should've stayed for 3 days, but thanks to a preplanned doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, I had to come home on Day 2.

I was dreading leaving the kids - not becuase I didn't think David could handle it - but becuase I just like to be the one tucking them in and waking them up and getting their snuggles. (when they want to give them)

It all turned out okay though. I'm thankful it was spring break week so that Mom was able to come here today and keep the kids here to make it easy for David to go to work for a full day. It's my dream arrangement :-)

I was so excited to get home. I managed to make it 30 minutes earlier then planned. WHen I walked it, all was calm. I opened the laundry room door to find Max standing at the ottoman looking at me as if trying to decide if I was real or a figment of his imagination, as well as if he would give me one of his gorgeous grins or not.

I looked over to the dinner table and managed to catch Ellie's eyes and quietly get a huge welcome home grin from her. That was what I wanted!

David was starring into space and didn't know I was back until he realized Max was floating through the sky at 5 feet high (his words).

I was so happy to be home and have the kids in my arms, I nearly had tears in my eyes. I love these two so very much. I enjoy travel, but I don't think it's worth it at this age.

I was lucky that Ellie was old enough to talk with me on the phone and understand mostly what was going on. But Max was not.

I did decide to bring them back little gifts - Ellie got a fun Cat puppet and Max got a bedtime book! I'm glad to be home!

Tempation, knock him down

The pace at which Max is approaching walking is begining to scare me. Every time I look away and look back to check on Max, I find him vertical and hanging onto something - like so:

As you can see, he's very proud of this newfound ability.

I have recently been remembering a joke someone told me, if they try to walk too early, just knock them back down to postpone it. Obviously, we would never do that, but I can't believe my little boy who turns 10 months old tomorrow is getting this close to walking. It's hard to believe!

Today's vocabulary lesson

Today was a Friday home with Ellie and Max. Ellie enjoys being with me during these days most of the time. Ellie is great with words and really picks up on so much so easily. I think this is why when she gets a word wrong once in a while, I find it very cute.

This morning we went upstairs to change Max's diaper. She gets her stool to watch, like she does many times. She stands up (near his head like usual) and says, "Mommy, I want to see his Kenis."

I said, "What?"

Ellie, "I want to see his Kenis."

I said, "You mean Penis?"

Ellie, "Yes, Ppppenis."

I continued to change his diaper and explain that Penis is a boy's private parts and aren't really on display, and just left at it the vocabulary lesson.

Bedtime Dance Party in the Dark

Tonight as we were getting the kids ready for bed, David blasted some David Gray from the little machine in Max's room. This was refreshing and set a nice mood.

Once I got Max snuggled into his sleep sack, I turned off the lights with him and started dancing with David Gray still blasting from the radio. Ellie comes in whispering (she's learned I don't want her interupting Max going to sleep). I explained she could talk normal becuase Max and I were having a dance party in the dark, not quite going to bed yet. So, she started dancing with us too. We danced around, her little body copying my sway to the beat. David came up and Ellie asked him to join us. We all danced for a few minutes. We called in the bedtime dancing in the dark party. It was so cute and relaxing. Both kids enjoyed themselves.

When the song ended, I gave David a kiss and thanked him for dancing. Ellie says, "Daddy, I want to give you a kiss too." He bends down and she kisses him and says, "Daddy, thanks for dancing with us." (just like me)

She proceeded to give me the same kiss and thank you. Then kissed Max goodnight and went into her room for bedtime. It's hard to realize how much she is truly watching every move we make - the good (and I'm sure the not so good.)

It was a short and relaxing way to end the evening with everyone in a good mood.

Oh Blanky Bear

It's been a week since we got home from the UK vacation and things have settled back into our routine nicely. It's been a great weekend. I have been trying to be more reliable about going to church and taking Ellie.

Before going to bed last night, Ellie asked if she could wear a dress. I said yes. She asked if I would wear my dress too. I said I wasn't sure. Ellie has a recent facination for dresses. (I ended up pulling together a skirt outfit that fit, which made her very happy.)

We started our Sunday by getting to sleep in a bit and then Ellie and I headed into Frederick to start our morning with our Starbucks treats and church. There's a nice young lady at Starbucks that really likes Ellie. When we arrived, she brought Ellie her drink and thought I wasn't letting her have a treat. But I said she could have a small scone, so both the nice lady and Ellie were very happy. Ellie got her treat and trotted off towards the back where we usually sit.

After church Ellie helped me get the week's shopping at Mom's. She had a lot of fun in the fruit and veg area becuase I let her go around picking out what she wanted to eat this week. Ellie's so great about fruits and vegies, so I like to encourage her looking around for things she wants in that section (As opposed to the cookies and cakes). When we hit the bread, she ran towards the crusty french roll to get it for Daddy. She even announced to the clerk that was her Daddy's favorite bread and she was buying it for him!

We came home and had some lunch and settled in for naps. It was about an hour into naps (I was doing taxes) and I heard Ellie wake and scream bloody murder "Mommy..... Mommy..... mommy!!!!" By the third one, I was up the stairs in and her room wondering what I would find. She was histarical - why - becuase Blanky Bear had fallen behind the bed! Seriously????

We had a nice afternoon and dinner. For desert we had some of the ice cream cones Ellie picked out in the store. It was a great dinner. We even went for a walk around the neighborhood tonight before bath and bed. Ellie walked the whole way, climbing rocks, picking flowers and enjoying the evening. Max enjoyed a ride like a big boy in the stroller - although his happiest moment had to be when I put the pacifier into his little mouth about 5 minutes from home to stop the tired song. It was a very nice family weekend.

Max is getting around

The biggest change while we were gone was Max's mobility. I knew once we got him home he would be all over the house. I was right!

Over the past week, he has learned to find my limits and push them - even more then Ellie did the whole time she was crawling. He is a boy!

He has spilled the kitty water a few times in one week. He's come seconds away from eating cat food. He's found the top of the stairs a few times. He has even already begun pushing and pulling himself up on things. He's all boy and ready to go!

He's cute as a boot too! (If I can say so myself!)

Ellie's been having some fun with Max's mobility too. Paging Dr. Ellie Bean!!

All of this is taking place in the midst of a perpetual cold, cough and miserable congesting for Max. We saw Dr. Yoon this week - ENT - who thinks Max has allergies, maybe to milk. This is very sad for me. We have allergy testing on April 25th. We'll see what happens.

Max Returns to Grammas

I can't say that Max's return to Gramma's was as exciting as Ellie's immediate greeting as Max arrived asleep in his seat and was carried in to his room to continue to nap after his morning adventure back to the doctors. Dr. Clarence says it's time to see the ENT becuase she agrees he's stuffed up way too often without an obvious cause.

I left Max with Gramma and went to work.

When I talked to Gramma she told me that Max was very happy when he woke up. When he focused his eyes on Gramma he gave her one of his big grins. And, when he saw Erika and Amy, he did one of his famous heal clicking jumps with a delighted squeal!

I wonder if he thought our whole life in MD had dissapeared after being gone so long?

Reunion at Miss Sara's (with Owen)

Today was the first day back to our normal routine post vacation. None of us were really looking forward to it, except maybe Ellie who had been asking when she could see Owen again since we left. She didn't ask every day, but every few days we heard his name.

We arrived a bit later then normal (thanks to an early morning trip to visit Dr. Clarence and see if anyone's stuffiness was result of an ear infection). They were walking to school. I parked and got Ellie out to walk with them. As we crossed the street Owen got a grin on his face ear to ear and Ellie smiled too alot. Owen reached out to hug Ellie, but she was feeling very shy and reached for me instead. It took a few minutes of being there and mommy cuddles, but when I left, she was walking up the hill towards the school hand in hand with her best buddy Owen. It was so cute.

When I returned at the end of the day to pick her up, I found her on the swing being pushed by Owen. One of the other boys wanted to play a game with Owen, but he had insisted on pushing Ellie and playing with her. They were both very happy to see each other.

He even gave her a special welcome back card he made her!

Another milestone down

Tonight it dawned on me that Ellie doesn't need her bed railing anymore becuase for over 2 weeks she has slept in a bed without railing - actually multiple beds - as we moved around the United Kingdom. So, while the kids played in the bath tub, I asked David to take off the railing before I made up the new bed. It is down. Ellie is officially a big girl with only one big "baby" milestone left to eliminate - The Diaper.

As I was putting Ellie to bed tonight she said, "my bed is so big now."

Each day feels like a bit of a race where I have too much that needs to be done and not enough time to just relax and enjoy the kids. As I fight this battle sometimes the days feel long and tiring. This is the worst part of motherhood. I am watching Ellie and Max grow and change so much every week and sometimes daily. My mom was so good at keeping track of milestones; this really hasn't been my fortee. However, as we hit another milestone for Ellie tonight and a big one for Max while away on holidays,I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge how amazing they really are to me, even when they pass in a hurry and a flurry like at bedtime.

The Long Journey Home

Vacation was great, but it was time to come home. It was a bit long to be away with a 9 month old, at least to be moving from place to place every few days.

It was an all day afair to make it home thanks to the bad flights one can book with points. We flew from London to Raleigh and then to DC. We left London before 7am local time and didn't make it home until 8 pm EST time. That was a 17 hour journey and some very tired kids. They each had a bit of naps on the long flight to Raliegh, but not enought to deal with the very long day. Ellie was in good spirits until it was time for a bath. Max had a breakdown as we started the flight home from Raleigh. Unfortunately, I was able to get him to sleep only after accidentally bumping his head on the ceiling of the plane which caused him to finally cry himself to sleep in my arms where he stayed until we landed and came off the plane.

Uncle Danny picked us up from the airport and took us home. Max slept peaceully in his carseat knowing the end was in sight. Ellie enjoyed seeing uncle danny and trying to explain why her face was pink.

How does this happen on a plane ride where one parent is sitting on each side of her one might ask? Well, I'm not exactly sure either, but when I looked over and saw what she had done to herself at about 6 and a half hours into a 8 hour flight, all I could really do is laugh - and reminder her that markers are for paper only...

The markers were not water soluable, but some cheap set with pretty permanent coloring. It took about 36 hours, several whipes and two baths, but they are now off!

Ellie's artwork drew a lot of comment during the remainder of the trip home. In Raliegh one lady asked her name, and without hesitation Ellie replied, "Snow White." The very nice young Mom from London laughed, curtsied and responded with, "It's a pleasure to meet you my lady."

We were able to sneak in a quick visit with Shelby in Raleigh as she greated us outside customs. This was fabulous becuase I don't think I've every had anyone great me outside customs before. She got to meet Max and enjoy some time catching up with us all briefly over a coffee in the nice and newly renovated Terminal 3 of RDU.

It's great to be home. I hope that Ellie will have memories of this vacation that stay with her as she grows. I am so glad they got to spend time with the Cummings and Gray sides of the family. It's great for them to know everyone and their roots. I only wish we would be able to make it happen more regularly for them. Our best hope is that they want to come to America to visit us too sometime! We look forward to seeing Grannie and Millar in June!