The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

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Another successful night of sleep last night.  My new mantra is swaddle, swaddle, swaddle!  Another favorite saying is “sleep begets sleep.”  The better and longer Maxwell sleeps during the day, the better and longer he sleeps at night.  I’ve learned that he can have about one hour of “wakefulness” and then he needs to go back to sleep.  I know these periods of staying awake will get longer and longer the older he gets, but, as of now, an hour is about the max for Max!  🙂  If I can get him to sleep for some good naps during the day, we have much better nights!

On to other topics!  Last week Maxwell got to meet some more of his family on Robert’s side.  Lou Lou’s cousin, Nancy Ellis and her husband Charlie came over from Huntsville for a quick visit along with their daughter Melissa and her two boys, Nate and Yohannes.  We’re so glad they were able to stop by!

Meeting Nancy Ellis…

Hannie just being cute…

and Nate just being cute…with a tight grip on Charlie’s finger!

It was a great day.  Maxwell got lots of attention…

and loved getting to meet his “cousins”!  Nate wasn’t quite so sure about this baby thing…

but Hannie couldn’t get enough of Maxwell!

Robert and Hannie had a good talk about how Santa gets down that chimney…

and cheese balls were enjoyed by (almost) all!

A good day all around!

Friday Favorite

Happy Friday!  Today’s Friday Favorite is the Twilight Turtle.  It’s so cool and I seriously kind of want one for my own bedroom!  The turtle illuminates the ceiling of your room with tons of shining stars and makes it seem like you’re gazing up at the night sky.  It’s the perfect light for late night feedings – just bright enough to see what you’re doing but not so bright that it will wake the baby up.  I think it will make the best nightlight in the future as well.  It’s even on a timer so it goes off automatically after 45 minutes.  It really is SO neat and I can’t say enough good things about it.  We love our Twilight Turtle!

Twilight Turtle

Our Twilight Turtle was a gift from some of Robert’s parent’s friends.  Speaking of Robert’s parents, they got to visit last weekend!

Maxwell being his usual charming self…

Snuggles from Lou Lou!

Have a great weekend!

2 Months Old!!

Maxwell turned 2 months old on Saturday!  Our happy little guy is smiling all the time and has Robert and I wrapped around his little finger.  He’s starting to interact with some of his toys and definitely responds to our voices and silly faces.  He’s coo-ing and “talking” up a storm.  Robert and I find ourselves just staring at him every day in awe of the fact that we made this adorable little boy.  We sure do love him!

I had a really hard time narrowing down his 2 month photos…so I’m just going to include a bunch, some big and some small.

2 months old!

Can you see why I was surprised he’s only up to 11 lbs, 15 oz?  Look at my little chubster!

Just hanging with my friend, Little Al.

Happy…

Happier…

Happiest!

Little baby, big chair…

“Ok, Mom.  I’ll give you a few more smiles and then this has to stop…I’ve got things to do!”

“You’re clearly not listening to me.  Looks like I’ll be here a while…might as well lean back and get comfy!”

“She’s still not stopping with that camera!  Maybe if I hide behind Little Al she’ll think I’ve disappeared…”

“Let’s take a little peak and see if she’s still there…”

“Still there!  I know what will get her to stop…the pouty lip!”

Ok, Maxwell.  I’ll stop.  But you can’t blame me for taking so many pictures when you’re just this cute…

Happy 2 months sweet boy!  We love you!

To compare how much he’s grown in a month…check these out!  1 month photos

It’s black, it’s white

First, happy birthday to my cousin Amy yesterday! Amy is one of my most loyal blog readers and commenters and we are all hoping she had a fabulous birthday!

Second, I was taking some photos of Maxwell last week in his cute whale onesie and captured these two shots that I just love. I can’t decide if I like them better in color or black & white though. What do you think?

Photo 1…

and Photo 2…

So…what’s your opinion? color? or black & white?

FYI – because some of you have asked, you don’t have to fill in the “website” box to leave a comment.  All you have to do is fill in your name, your email, type your comment in the box and click on “submit my comment”.  Voila!  comment posted!  easy as pie so go on…comment away!

Arkansas Adventure

We’ve had plenty of excitement over the past few days and I have lots to report and a ton of pictures so here we go…

Last week on Wednesday, my mom and I hit the road with Maxwell to make the 6 hour drive to Arkansas to visit some of my family.  We had no idea how Maxwell would do on such a long ride and he did…ok.  🙂  The car seat is really NOT his favorite place to be.  After eating, he would be content to ride in the car seat for about 15 minutes, then he would get tired and realize he wasn’t getting out of the seat so he would SCREAM his head off for the next 20 minutes.  He would eventually scream himself to sleep but it wore me and my mom out each time.  But, we made it there all in one piece and Maxwell doesn’t seem to be too scarred by the traumatic car ride.  Personally, I’m still assessing my mental health after the trip…especially since my mom and I are taking him on a 10 hour car trip in 3 weeks to Dallas.  Yep, we’re crazy.

Anyway, we made it into Little Rock Wednesday night.  We didn’t stay long in Small Stone but were able to see my cousins, Anna and Amy, as well as my good friend Laura on Thursday morning.

My cousin Amy…

and my cousin Anna…

FYI, Anna and Amy’s dad and my dad are brothers.  I have to say, both girls looked pretty good with a baby in their arms!  🙂  It was great to see them both and I’m so glad it worked out for them to meet Mr. Maxwell!

My mom and I then headed over to one of my favorite stores when I was little, The Toggery.  It’s still around and better than ever.  My good friend since pre-school, Laura, met us there and we bought several cute things for Maxwell and for her little girl, Livi.

We then hit the road to drive to Augusta, AR to see Susu.  It was the day before Susu’s birthday and we were going to surprise her with a visit!  I had put on the blog on Thursday that we’d be knocking on her door in a few hours.  She read the blog that morning and immediately called to find out where we were!

You can see the excitement on her face as we knocked on the door!

Unfortunately, Maxwell wasn’t a very happy camper at the moment.  Luckily Susu didn’t seem to mind and let us come in anyway.

We had a fun little birthday celebration and a great visit.

Maxwell also got to meet his Great Great Aunt, Dodo!

Aren’t they the cutest?

We then drove over to Searcy, AR to visit Maxwell’s Great Granddaddy, Maxwell (he goes by Max).  Granddaddy hasn’t been feeling well lately and is actually in a rehab facility right now so we went to visit him there.  My Uncle John (my dad’s brother and Anna & Amy’s dad) was there along with my Aunt Cara.

Max meeting Maxwell for the first time!  Of course John was ready with the video camera!

Maxwell and Uncle John…

and with Cara…

I think they were both getting in some good grandparent practice!  🙂

Here I am with my two Maxwells!  We love you Granddaddy!  Hope you keep feeling better and get to go home soon!!

My mom and I then spent the night in Searcy and made the drive back to Birmingham the next morning.  It was a long trip but worth every minute.  I’m so glad Maxwell got to meet so many members of his amazing family!

Of course, none of this trip would have been possible without my partner in crime, GJ!  Maxwell really loves his GJ and they became best buds on this trip.  We can’t wait for her to come back to town again soon!  We love you GJ!

Phew…that was a long one!  Told you I had a lot to share!  Have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow!