The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Playgroup

I took my camera to playgroup 2 weeks ago.  It was a gorgeous day outside and I wanted to get some shots of all these cuties…

Maxwell on his blanket ready for the fun to begin…

I know his hair looks red in these but I promise it’s blonde…

Maxwell is the only non-mobile one in the group and, at one point, all the crawlers had made their way to the other blanket…

Look at my poor, sweet boy all alone like he doesn’t have any friends!

He wasn’t an outcast for long though.  The others were quick to crawl back over and check him and his toys out…

And here’s the rest of the pictures of the afternoon…

Fun times!

Camo

This past weekend Maxwell and I were playing out in the yard waiting for Robert to finish up with the mowing. Here’s Maxwell playing in the grass…

What’s that? You can’t see Maxwell? That’s because he has on camo shorts! He just blends right in…

Good thing I put him in the white t-shirt or I might have lost him in the yard forever!

Maxwell loved sitting in the grass, pulling it out by the handful and, of course, trying to eat it…

He quickly realized it didn’t taste too good…

He sure doesn’t need to add grass to his diet anyway. He’s clearly already getting enough to eat…

Once Robert was done mowing he got to come and play…

and by “play” I mean get poked in the eyes.

It was a fun afternoon with Maxwell just kickin it in his camo!

8 months old

My little buddy is 8 months old. I really didn’t think he could get any better than he was at 7 months, but he just keeps getting better and better every single day. Maxwell is so fun. The babbles, squeals and giggles that come out of his mouth crack me up and make me smile. He talks all the time – just jibber jabbering away to himself in his crib or chatting it up with me and Robert. He’s also quite the wiggle worm. I can barely keep him on the changing table and he even took a little face plant off the couch this past weekend. (after some tears from him and me, everyone was fine. thank goodness!) He rolls all over the place and I’m sure will be crawling in no time.

A few of his favorites:

  • Singing “The Wheels on the Bus” – this will guarantee a smile from him every single time
  • Swinging at the park
  • Exploring the village with Susan – they love to watch the kids getting out of school, visit the ladies waiting for the bus and seeing all their friends at the Pig.
  • The library – Tuesdays and Thursdays mean Storytime and Patty Cake Time at the library. Maxwell is one of Miss Nay Nay’s favorites! 🙂

Maxwell is eating 3 meals a day – usually fruit and oatmeal in the morning, fruit and rice cereal for lunch and then a vegetable for dinner. He’s a good eater! He’s still nursing 4 times a day too but that might be cutting down to 3 times a day soon. He’s just too busy playing! Maxwell continues to be a great sleeper – 7:00 to 7:00. I’ve actually even stopped rocking him at night.  We just put him down, stay goodnight and leave the room.  He rolls around for a while but is usually asleep within 15 minutes.  During nap time, he still has a little habit of sleeping for 30 minutes and then waking up but, usually, if we leave him in there for a bit he’ll go back to sleep and get a good nap. Morning nap is at 9:00, afternoon nap is at 1:00 and he still usually takes a short nap around 5:00 before bedtime at 7:00. He actually loves his bed and is quite content to just play in there for over an hour if he’s not sleeping. He’s pulling down his bumpers all the time and is trying really hard to pull up on the side of the crib. Not much makes him happier than seeing Nanner or Mr. Moo in his bed. He loves his little paci friends! His hair is getting thicker, wavier and blonder every day. I love watching him grow and can’t believe it could ever get better than this!!

8 month photoshoot…

I love the little piece of hair that always sticks out over his ear. I’m sure it’s going to turn into a curl eventually!

My perfect little angel…

With his perfectly round head…

and perfectly chubby feet…

and perfectly perfect little bottom! 🙂

Like every month, we brought out Maxwell’s buddy Little Al…

Maxwell wasn’t quite so sure he wanted to share the stage that day though…

Hey Little Al, be quiet! I’m the star of this show!

No more trumpeting! Didn’t you hear me? Shush!

You know, I think you need a little help Little Al…

A little help right off this chair!

Ha Ha Little Al! You thought I’d share the stage with you…

But, nope! I’m the star of this show and I’ve got the 8 month sticker to prove it! See ya later!

Whoa…that was kind of a far way to fall…

You ok down there Little Al?

Momma, can you help Little Al up off the floor? He “fell”.

Maxwell and I then had a little talk and I told him that we have to be nice and share the stage every once in a while (though we all know Maxwell really is the star of the show!) 🙂

I then asked my little star to “say cheese!”

Oops! Let’s try that again…say cheese!

Perfect! Happy 8 months sweet boy!! You make our lives so much fun! We love you!

7 month photos here: 7 months

6 months photos here: 6 months

5 month photos here: 5 months

4 month photos here: 4 months

3 months photos here: 3 months

2 month photos here: 2 months

1 month photos here: 1 month

A royal day

So, did you all watch the big royal wedding?  Even if you didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to watch it live, it was hard not to see every minute replayed with all the coverage.  I loved every second of it and thought Kate, I mean Catherine, looked gorgeous.  The dress was perfect.  She sure knew how to act all day too, didn’t she?  Didn’t break once, doing everything just as she should.  Didn’t you kind of wish that either she or William would just do something spontaneous…a big hug, a little yipee!, and slight skip down the aisle?  Guess you can’t be spontaneous when 2 billion people are watching!

We watched the ceremony in our pajamas but Susan brought over some finery for Maxwell so he could be ready for the night time dinner and dance at the Palace….

“Mummy, this outfit is brilliant!  If Kate saw me in this I’m sure she would have picked me over that prince bloke!”

Susan then taught him how to properly greet the royals…

Then they practiced their dance moves for the party…

These two had a big time with the royal event!

Cheerio!

NYC and Tornadoes

This week has been an adventure to say the least.  On Tuesday night, I had to go to New York for work.  It was my first time leaving Maxwell and I was not exactly looking forward to it.  My mom came into town to watch him because Robert had to be out of town for work as well.  Simply leaving him was hard enough but then we had the added threat of severe weather and tornadoes.  Scary stuff.

Luckily I was in training sessions at work all day Wednesday in NY and not able to look at the AL weather online.  Had I been aware of what was really going on, I don’t think I would have made it through the day.  As I’m sure you’ve seen, the destruction in Birmingham and several surrounding cities has been immense and tragic. I didn’t fully grasp what happened until I got home yesterday and started seeing all the images.  Luckily, our house was safe and we maintained power the entire time (400,000+ did not).  Unfortunately, my quick 24 hour trip got extended due to a cancelled flight Wednesday night so I had an extra night in the city.  Robert jumped at the chance to escape NJ for the evening and drove in to take me out on a little date night in Manhattan!  If I couldn’t be with Maxwell that night, I sure was glad to be with Robert!

*To my NY friends – I’m so sorry I didn’t call.  My trip was originally so short and fully booked with work commitments.  By the time I realized I would be staying Wednesday night as well, it was just too late to try and make any plans.  I promise I’ll call you next time!  🙂

Another funny little aside, I didn’t have a hotel room booked for Wednesday night and had trouble finding one available.  Luckily Robert was able to use his Hilton points and get me a room at the Waldorf for free!  ooh la la!  When I walked over to check in, all the streets were barricaded, there were huge sanitation trucks parked all in front of the hotel and police were everywhere.  The culprit?  Obama.  He was staying there that night and the security was in full force!  There were also tons of future NFL players in the hotel for the big draft Thursday night.  It was a zoo.  At least I felt safe!

I finally made it back home yesterday mid-day and I sure was glad to give this little guy a big hug…

Please excuse my appearance.  I had been up since 4:45 and already dealt with 2 cancelled flights and an hour long delay.

While it was terrible weather in AL, it was beautiful up in NY.  Loved the tulips lining Park Avenue…

I even took a little photo for Maxwell.  A bus.  With wheels.  They go round and round you know!  🙂

GJ was the BEST babysitter a girl could ask for.  She kept Maxwell happy, fed and safe!  She even sent a few pictures so I wouldn’t miss him too bad…

Even though my mom was here, Susan still came over yesterday to take Maxwell to his last Patty Cake Time for the season at the library.  She’s the best!  My mom tagged along and snapped a few pics with her phone…

Maxwell loves patty cake time!

Overall, it was an adventurous few days that I hope to never repeat.  I am very glad to be home!

By the way, here’s a sneak peek at some of the photographer pictures from the baptism 2 weeks ago.  I’ll share more next week.

Piper Photography blog

I hope you all have a great – and safe – weekend!