Maxwell–8 Months

Maxwell… Little Drummer Boy… He is really into Mally’s little drum set she got for Christmas.

He has recently changed his giggle.  It sounds a bit like woody woodpecker.  I need to catch it on video soon.

He is starting to notice Maggie (the dog).  When he spots Maggie he either squeals or giggles and starts flapping his arms.  If I ask him, “where’s the puppy?”  he will get a big smile and start looking around the room for Maggie.

I do not style his hair – it naturally does this.

He likes to do patty-cake and itsy-bitsy-spider.  When I start doing the songs with him, he looks for Mally to see if she is doing it too.  He also seems to be taking an interest in music – if we are singing he starts blabbing with us.

He still hums A LOT.  He hums if he wants something.  He hums if he is happy.  He hums if wants to be held.  He hums if he starting to get fussy.  I’ve started calling him Hummer, he hums so much.  I’ve also started calling him Max-a-roni… which Mally caught and she calls him that all the time and tells everyone “That’s Max-a-roni”.  Sorry bud!  Along with humming his noises include… mama and nana.

He is also very much a momma’s boy!  When I come in at lunch time and he hears me, but can’t see me… the humming starts.  As soon as he sees me the fake crying, hand twirling, leg kicking happens.  When I pick him up he wraps his arms around my neck and hugs and bites on my shoulder!  He is definitely my snuggly baby!

Loves food!  He may only have one little bottom tooth but he loves people food already.  He will be in his highchair and if you bring over a plate of food (for yourself to eat) he is stretching and reaching trying to get a good look at your plate to see what you are eating.  Then he starts humming and twirling his hands until you give him a sample.  Once you give him a sample and he likes it… the humming will continue until the next bite.  He likes real food way more then the baby food.  He is also doing so well at self feeding already.  I can’t get him to take a sippy cup yet.  I try and try and try – nothing!  He won’t do it.  He will drink out of a regular cup and he really likes that.  If I am holding him and I take a drink he is looking at me with his mouth wide open reaching for my glass for his turn.

I think I have officially stopped nursing him and started pumping.  I’ve been attempting this for awhile now, but I would get lazy and would just nurse him – however he started fighting nursing and it was a crying battle… which makes it an easy transition, right.  : )  It is a love/hate thing for me when they give up nursing.

No crawling yet. He has mastered the art of sitting though. He has recently started reaching forward for toys and falling over on his belly and he doesn’t get mad (which is shocking) and he will lay there for a bit on his belly and then rolls over to his back. He doesn’t like to spend too much time on his belly before he either rolls or gets mad. We have all attempt to get him to crawl – but he has no interest!

He likes to stand now.  He likes to stand at the toy box and pull out the toys or stand at his play table.  He doesn’t have very much control so you always have to help him stand there.

He seems to be a much happier baby lately… when he is not teething.  And when he is happy he is such a good happy content little boy!

Mally @ 8 Months.

2012!

We had our second annual new years eve party.  It was a wild ride up until party day.  The day after all our Christmas Parties Jesse came down with the flu and was sick for about 3 days.  Then Max popped that tooth on Christmas and holey moley!!!  Lets just say I would be perfectly content if he doesn’t get another tooth.  ; )  He does not deal with pain very well and Motrin didn’t helped him at all! 

So we recruited Jesse’s Mom to come help us the day before the party.  She also turned us onto that numbing stuff for babies teeth.  Why oh why did we not think of this a week ago?!  It helped so much! 

Then the day of the party Jesse took Mally on some errands and came home and said the words, “I think Mally is getting sick.”  Sure enough – fevers! 

I gave her a dose of Motrin snuggled her in for a late nap and she took a good long nap and woke up after the party was in session and she wanted to go out and see everyone.  Within 30 minutes she was running around with all the other kids and sneaking cookies and snacks. 

She crashed hard though.  I went to put Max to bed and my sister brought her in and said… she is asking to go to bed.  : )  What kid (especially when their friends are over) asks to go to bed!  I tucked her in and she was sleeping in seconds.

After the kids were tucked in I joined in on this wild and addicting dice game until about 11:30pm… when little Mally is awake!  She is burning up and she is requesting to lay on the couch and watch a movie.  hahaha!  She learns quick what one does when they are sick.  I actually missed mid-night… because I think I was watching Mickey Mouse and trying to cool her down.  : ) 

It was a great party in the end even if I did have to rush out right before mid-night.

I did get a few pictures – not many because a teething Max and a feverish Mally and hosting a party kept me rather busy.

They told me Max needs a girlfriend because he was quiet and played for a moment when Karli was with him.  : )

I am explaining my new found app to Kim and Steph.  I am real excited about it… you scan in all your spices, your pantry, your fridge, your feezer into your phone and it keeps track of what and how much of what you have!!  I can’t tell you how horrible my memory is and I’ll be at the store going… do I have this?  Then it has a grocery list on it too… so when I need something I can either scan it in or I can move it from my pantry list to my shopping list.  Which means my list is always with me!  I also can’t tell you how many times I have left my list on the kitchen cupboard! 

Shannon and her kids.  : )  She kept Max entertained for awhile.  They were playing CCR songs on their cell phones and apparently Max is a fan. 

There was lots of hugging in this dice game! 

You really needed to focus and send good vibes.

Giraffe was a good luck charm for one player and he had to sit on the money plate.

More hugging!

This game was seriously very fun and kept you on your toes.  Hugging is not a requirement it just happens.  : )  I may or may not have thrown my quarter (instead of the dice) into the dice box and shook with all my might trying to get the correct number to roll out a quarter and not a dice!!!  So embarrassing!!

Last year we had an ice storm so a lot of people couldn’t make it.  This year we had a snowstorm, but it was later in the night so we had a good turnout.

Can’t wait for the next one!! 

Fixing Bad Habits

Ever since Mally has been having to share her room with Max she no longer sleeps very long… she is waking up anywhere from 5:30am – 7:30am.  She use to sleep until 7:30 or even after 8am.  I’m not sure if it is the sharing room stuff or if she is just getting older.  Either way, I’m not a fan. 

When she wakes up, she finds her way into our room and to my side and tells me she is awake (no matter what time) and I was so exhausted tired from getting up multiple times with Max during the night that I would just toss her in bed with us in hopes of a few more moments of sleep.  Which backfired 9 times out of 10 because she is extremely wiggly and has to be touching me.  Jesse would be sawing logs and I’m awake and Mally is awake giggling because daddy is snoring.  I was also afraid to take her back to her room because she would start crying and if she woke up Max… OMG!  : )

Sometimes she wouldn’t say anything – she would just stand there in the dark looking at me.  I don’t know how long she stood there before I would wake up with that sense of someone is watching me.  Or I would hear her sniffing her blanket and wake up.

This morning I decided enough is enough.  I’m waking up crabby and starting my day off on a bad attitude because I’m not the first one up.  I need that alone time in the morning before the kids get up and I wasn’t getting that because when I got up – Mally got up.  So I would lay there and hit my snooze in hopes that she would fall asleep and I could sneak out… only worked once.

So tonight as we are putting her to bed I was telling her she needed to stay in her room in her bed until the sun is awake.  We do our routine… pajamas, brush teeth, bible story, tuck her in with her blanket giving her a corner so she can sniff it, put the circle blanket over the top, two kisses (because lama lama gets two kisses from his lama mama), turn on Violet (plays bedtime music) and leave.  I’m walking down the hallway to the living room and she is on my heels saying “mama is the sun awake yet?”  and she has the Jesse Frey grin on.  If you know Jesse at all – you know the grin.  Are you kidding me Mallory!!  I send her back to bed… and she knows she doesn’t get up once she is put to bed… if she gets up she gets her door closed which she hates. 

Now she is in her room yelling at the top of her lungs… MAMA!  I CAN’T FIND MY BABY!  Now, we put Max to bed with her and he has been going to bed terribly all this week – which is another story that we won’t get into.  So my boiling point is rising because if she gets that kid crying and not going to bed – OMG! 

MAMA!  I CAN’T FIND MY BABY!  Mallory, we took your baby to bed with you – she is in your bed.

If you have seen all the items she MUST have in her bed in order to go to sleep it is insane.  I’d like to blame Katherine for that.  : )  After they started watching her every day at nap I would find a new stuffed animal in her bed in addition to what was already in there.  And she thinks she knows when they are missing and she doesn’t look for them – she just starts yelling about them missing.  And she won’t stop until everyone is accounted for.  And now that I’m thinking about this… Max has a new stuffed animal in his crib this week!  Oh no!  I better get that out of there before I have two children doing inventory of their friends at bedtime.

Anyway… I don’t have an ending to this story because I just did this tonight – the don’t get out of bed until the sun comes up.  But I am going to have to resist her snuggles and take her back to her room even if she cries and pray hard that she doesn’t dare wake up Max.  He takes a bit after me in the not-being-pleasant-when-woken-up department.