The Brown Brick Road

7 months old

May 22, 2013

I. love. this. baby. This squeezable, huggable, kissable baby. Spencer is stealing my heart, big time. I know people always told me that you will love the second baby just as much as the first but, I’ll be honest, I was concerned because I love Maxwell a LOT. Spencer had some big shoes to fill because Maxwell was and is pretty much the best. Well, consider those shoes filled because Spencer is also the best…in all the same and different ways. His chubby cheeks, belly laughs, his happy smile…how in the world did I get so lucky to have him?

spb 7 mths

Here’s Maxwell at 7 months…

7 months

They totally don’t look anything alike.

spb 7 months

Spencer just looks like himself and I love those chubby thighs and those cheeks…oh those cheeks.

sb 7 mths

I can’t kiss them enough!

spb 7 mths

And this one? This one is a snuggle bug. He lays his head on my shoulder and wraps his arm around my neck or snuggles his little body up on my chest and I just melt.

spb 7 mths

He’s at the most fun age. He laughs a lot and talks and babbles constantly. He’s sitting up like a champ but is still my roly poly little guy on the floor. He jumps higher and faster and stronger in the jumperoo than Maxwell ever did. He loves his bendy bunny and any sort of ring toy. He’ll even suck on a paci every now and then, mostly when he’s going to sleep.

spb 7 mths

He’s taking two naps a day around 9:00 and around 1:00 and is a great crib napper. If we get him before he’s too tired, we just put him in the crib and he’ll play for a bit and then go on to sleep. He goes to bed at night around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:30 in the morning. He wakes up happy and just plays in his bed until we come get him. There’s nothing better than walking in and seeing that little head peek over the bumper! He then gives you the biggest smile you’ve ever seen and, well, it’s impossible not to be happy when you see that!

spb 7 mths

He’s still nursing 4 times a day. We started food about a month ago and he’s loving all kinds of fruit and veggies mixed with oatmeal.

spb 7 mths

There were so many funny “outtakes” from the photos this month that I have to share…

spb 7 mths

This kid makes me laugh. and Maxwell makes him laugh like no other! And, whether Spencer likes it or not, the playful wrestling has already begun! brothers!

spb 7 mths

My happy, laid back, friendly, little guy. Happy 7 months sweet Spencer!!

spb 7 mths

We love you!

Maxwell at 7 months here.

All other monthly photos here.

Weekend recap

May 21, 2013

Our weekend was good…and not so good. It went a little something like this…

Saturday morning Robert and Maxwell went out to a CF Charity walk and a had a big time. Robert said Maxwell probably ran for about 2 miles of the 5K! By the time they got home, they were hot and sweaty. Nothing a little shower and a shave can’t fix! 🙂

shave

That afternoon, we worked a bit in the yard, put out some fires…

fire man

and then went out to a nice little dinner…

dinner

Sunday morning Robert and I both needed to be up at church at 10:00 for Sunday School teacher training (we’re volunteering to ‘teach’ 3 Sundays this summer). That meant that both boys had to be up at church at 10:00 too. That meant that Spencer’s usual 2 hour morning nap got cut to 40 minutes. Ouch. But, we made it and Spencer did fine his first time in the nursery.

sunday school

After church, my little helper went with me to Home Depot to get some annuals for planting.

HD helper

Look at that smiling face! Man, I love that kid…despite what happened next! After Home Depot, I got to work digging in the dirt to plant all of the flowers. Maxwell helped for a bit and then went inside to eat lunch. Robert then tried to put him down for his nap and…it didn’t go well. Maxwell has been on a BIG Momma kick lately and only wanted me to put him down. Unfortunately, I was outside covered in dirt and just couldn’t get cleaned up to go rock him. Besides, he needs to learn that Robert can put him down just as good as I can. Well, lesson not learned. Robert finally just had to put him in the bed and walk out and Maxwell proceeded to throw the single biggest fit we’ve ever seen him throw. He was so loud he woke Spencer up who had only been asleep for 45 minutes. So, not only did Spencer’s morning nap get cut short, so did his afternoon nap. double ouch. After a full hour of SCREAMING, Robert went back into Maxwell’s room and, well, let’s just say things were a mess. literally. Not only that, he had managed to get his leg stuck in the slats of the crib. It was rough, ya’ll. I’ve never seen him so hysterical. After getting him calmed down, we decided the nap wasn’t going to happen and that we all needed to get out of the house. So, we loaded up the stroller and (against Robert’s wishes) ended up at the local library street party. Even though Maxwell had been a pill, I couldn’t deny him the chance to see a firetruck spray water out of its hose!!

Watching them raise up the ladder!

fire truck

Happy boy!

fire truck

The fire hose then sprayed all the kids with water from the top of the ladder! We watched from the side but still managed to get a little wet! That was some serious spray!

fire water

It really was a neat event with all sorts of fun things to do. They even had a big digger out there!

digger

This digger scooped up something good! 🙂

digger

Here’s the 3 of us getting scooped up…with one set of closed eyes! 🙂

digger

They also had a little train of cars that we got to ride. Maxwell picked the orange car, of course! 🙂

orange car

He kept asking for an “ice keen” so I obliged… stupidly. I had totally forgotten about the 3 powdered donuts they had given him at church that morning. He ate some of both an orange push pop and a bubble gum flavored ice cream bar.

ice keen

By the time we left, he was beyond exhausted, hot, dehydrated and full of sugar. He whined most of the walk home until finally passing out like his brother…

asleep

When we got home, he tried to eat some dinner but was honestly just too tired. I think the heat, the sugar and the hour he spent screaming at the top of his lungs in his bed honestly made him sick. Yes, sick. After puking up all that ice cream and most of his lunch (joy) I got him tucked into bed at 6:15. Poor Spencer, who had been denied two good naps that day, cried for about 45 minutes in his bed before finally conking out at 7:30. These two sweet boys were just pushed beyond their limit…and don’t even talk to me about Mom and Dad being pushed to their limit! goodness. Sunday was maybe the single hardest day of parenting I’ve had yet. But, we survived and learned an important lesson – naps are essential for us!!

Hey, you take the good, you take the bad. Onward and upward!!

School days

May 20, 2013

Happy Monday! Our weekend was simply exhausting. Mentally and physically exhausting. But, we survived and lived to tell the tale which I will tell tomorrow.

Today? school! Maxwell had his last day of regular school last week…and his first day of summer school today! 😉 He loves it so, why not?!

On the last week of school, they hosted a “Street Party” with all sorts of carnival games for the older kids and bounce houses and face painting for the younger kids. Everyone also got to go to a performance by children’s singer Roger Day. Parents were invited to come and so I of course spent all morning up there and loved getting to see Maxwell play with his buddies.

school

holding hands

will-wam

maxwell and mama

mbb

It was so interesting to see these boys together. They are only 2.5 but already play pretty rough! wrestling in the bounce house for sure!

wrestling

Maxwell looks so big in this next picture. James and William are just about his same height but I think they were just crouching down a bit..

lined up

I hadn’t packed Maxwell a lunch because I planned to leave a little early with him and take him out to lunch. Luckily the teachers had some spare graham crackers he could eat during lunch time so he didn’t feel too left out. I don’t think it would have mattered though – he still ate several bites of Will-wam’s lunch which I’m told is the norm for him! ha!

lunch

The next day was his actual last day of school. Hard to believe he looked like this at the beginning of the school year…

first day of school

My baby has officially turned into a big boy. I’m so grateful he had Ms. Jen as his teacher this year along with Ms. Jackie and Ms. Tonya. I think he and Ms. Jackie had a special little relationship…he really liked her.

teachers