Half a Year Later

Max is 6 months, and a smiley joy.  So, he still doesn't win any sleeping awards, with his occasional nap that lasts 1 1/2 hours.  He is happily awake, though, and the calm part of life.  The first tooth has finally popped through and smooth crawling is just around the corner.  For now, he rocks on all four, lunges about, and tries his best to be with the "big boys".
Little ones are great at putting to do lists in the proper perspective. 
Below are too many pictures that look similar, but I just can't help myself from being an overly sentimental mama.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Vic

Our sweet Vic was 3 Saturday.  He is such a sweet, sweet kiddo.  Of course, he can disobey and throw a fit, but he is just sweet.  He feeds his soft toys spinach from the refrigerator.  After bath he says, "Mama, can you hold me a few minutes?"  He loves to share.  His birthday has come in the craziness of our upcoming move, but he didn't mind.

Vic and his fun personality

Vic's pal, Ellie, and her mom came for a play day/birthday party.  

Vic loved his ice cream cake.

Custom birthday pancakes are a tradition at our house.

Birthday s'mores

 

Waking Up from Nap, Slowly

Max, 5 months

I'll be cliche again and say that time is flying.  Max is now a five-month-old bundle of joy.  He has learned to nap a little longer than 45 minutes on occasion, and, sometimes, goes a little longer between milk requests at night.  He won't win any sleeping awards, but he is improving.  He's happily awake, at least.  He rolls over and over and over and scoots himself in all directions.  He can pull his knees up to crawl but hasn't figured the arms and the legs at the same time, yet.  Thank goodness.  Our house is a Lego hazard once real crawling begins.  The Legos are tiny, everywhere, and so loved at our house.  Max is a people lover, but not a snuggler -- too busy, like his oldest brother.  By the way, I think he looks a lot like his oldest brother too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He's a two finger sucker, these left two make him the happiest.

     

Arrows and Spears

These are things that boys think are fun.  Saturday we attended a fall festival in a beautiful wooded area, and the boys got to do archery and atlatl (spear throwing of sorts).  It made being a bit cold worthwhile.  Max stayed contentedly tucked into the carrier, sleeping most of the day away. 

 I love his face.  He was amazed by every arrow.

A Lovely Fall

It has been a gorgeous season of leaves here.  These are from a walk around our neighborhood.  (We didn't just leave Vic out of the photos.  He was playing somewhere else on this day.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a pretend unhappy face, though at times we definitely use our real ones. 

JR's

JR, a family friend that has known me since birth, took the boys exploring in the woods near his house.  What fun for little boys!

Feeding fish

Dream Field Farms

While in Alabama, we visited Dream Field Farms with all the Elba cousins, aunts, uncles, plus some friends.  The boys loved it, especially Vic.  His favorite thing was feeding the goats.  It is part of his sweet nature.  He gets carrots and spinach out of the fridge to feed soft toys.  How can you say no to that?

Rubber Duck Racing

Amanda with Max (left) and Jase (2 days younger).   Jase seems a little bored with Max.

I Fee Like My Mother...

I sound like my mother saying, "Where has the time gone?"  September and October have flown by, and I'm here trying to hold on to these last days in America, these little days of Max that will soon be memories, and the last of the gorgeous falling leaves.  We also now have only our memories of Craig's grandmother Carolyn to hold onto as she passed unexpectedly in September.

Tyler (my nephew), Gee, and Pops visited in September.  Three super heroes here to keep us safe.

The boys visited Dinosaur World while they were here, a true taste of Americana.

We were excited to spend Oma's (Craig's Mom) birthday with her on our unexpected trip to Alabama.

5 boys, 5 car seats, 1 van, whew! -- We kept  friends' kiddos during the birth of their 3rd boy.

A Saturday morning play date with friends

Soccer at the Y

I did it!

Our little one will be four months old very soon.  Max has been working very hard to roll over from back to belly... he doesn't know that the books say infants roll from belly to back first.

One week ago he could make it to his side

Then, he could make it all the way over but couldn't get his arm out of the way.

Yesterday afternoon I found him all the way over.  Now, we have a new routine.  We put him down, he flips over, and then he fusses because he doesn't like to be on his belly.  We roll him onto his back and the cycle continues.  We are such trainable parents.  By the way, all that slobber reminds me of Vic at this age. 

Max Man

Max will be 3 months old Tuesday.  Whew!  He is smiling, cooing, spitting up, trying to roll over, discovering his hands, and entertaining us.  He still hasn't mastered the nap yet, but we have hope.

Mad Max

Resemblance?  I think not.

Rainy Day Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neighborhood Picnic

Our neighborhood has their annual picnic each August.  We arrived just in time for last years and realized this is no small affair.  This year did not disappoint either.

Local band playing on our street

So, there is a professional clown that lives in our neighborhood and performs each year.  This was my favorite part last year and this.  The kids think he is hilarious, and he is.

Enjoying super yummy cake from the bakery in the neighborhood