Max at Six Months

Here is  my little Max yesterday:

I had a nice long video of him sitting up, but couldn't find it. It's just as well - it was pretty boring as a video. But exciting that he is sitting up! He turned six months yesterday and is just the sweetest baby.

- He has given up going to sleep by himself in the crib and wants to be nursed/rocked to sleep for naps and bedtime, but he sleeps through the night. He woke up a few times last week and I kept thinking it was Nora because he NEVER does that.

- He has his two middle bottom teeth.

- I've started him on rice cereal once a day and he really likes it, I suppose it's time to feed him baby food all of the time now.

- I call him Maxo. Nora  usually tells me, "he not Maxo! He Maximus." That would be what Danny calls him. She also calls him "queetie" because she can't quite say sweetie.

- He is super easy going. He doesn't mind being passed off to other people, he'll often just sit in his Bumbo and watch me make dinner, he'll lay on the living room floor and watch the other kids play for nice long periods of time or just entertain himself.

- He rolls back and forth and all around. He hasn't seemed to be rolling towards anything yet, but he is doing everything with more intent lately, so I don't think it is far away. He will often get up on his elbows and toes or knees and I bet we see him rocking on his hands and knees pretty soon here.

What did we ever do before our Max?

Ollie Update

Looks like I haven't written anything about Oliver for awhile. He is three and a half and so funny. He asks "why" in such a whiney voice about EVERYTHING. Good, bad, something he is so excited for, something he doesn't want to do, something he doesn't care one way or another about. "Why" is the question of the year. He wants to participate in every conversation. I can't get off of the phone without him knowing what was said and who is was. Every time I say something under my breath he has to know what it was. Every time Danny and I are talking in the car. Every time I say something to Nora. He must know.

He loves to be a ninja lately, or an "inja" as he says. He jumps, kicks, somersaults, and "hi-ya"s all over the house. His favorite book from the library is called "Ninja, Ninja, Never Stop!" and he yells about being a ninja and never stopping all of the time.

He loves to play with his friends. We are very lucky to have good friends with kids who live very close to us, and his best little friend, Alayna, lives right next door. Every time we see kids he wants to be outside playing with them and he doesn't understand why we can't go see if his friends can ride bikes or go to the park or  why they won't "invite us to have lunch" at any given second.

Ollie's favorite pastime continues to be playing the Wii with his dad. It was how we got him potty trained over a year ago and now he looks forward to Fridays when he gets to play all week long. He asks me at least 10 times a day (not exaggerating) what day it is, and what day comes after this day, and what day comes after that day, etc. until we get to Friday and as soon as I say the word "Friday" he cheers and yells and laughs about getting to play whatever his favorite game is at the moment - Mario Party this week.

I love his logic. He was telling me the other day that there were two moons, a moon in the night sky and a moon in the day sky. I explained to him that that would make sense, but that it is actually the same moon, we just can sometimes see it during the day and sometimes we can see it at night. He thought about that, and then explained to me that there are two moons because sometimes we see a round moon and sometimes the moon is not round. Smart!

One of the important parts of his bedtime routine is to snuggle Max. As long as Max is happy at night  Ollie gets to have him lay in bed with him while Danny and I sing the angel song for Ollie and Nora. Max loves it too.

He's not really big on coloring. Most of the time when I get out crayons or markers he will somehow find a pen and color in the whole paper as black as he can.

Little Max - 3 Months Old

Oh how I love this baby boy. He continues to be my easiest baby yet. He's been sleeping through the night since about 6 weeks old and thank goodness. I don't know how I could deal with my sweet Ollie and Nora without sleep. It seems that every few days I think I've got a nap schedule figured out for Max, and then he goes and does the complete opposite the next day, but how could I complain when he is so happy when he is awake and sleeps all night long? I can't!

He doesn't have many tricks but he is so smiley and happy. Daddy gets the most smiles and Ollie gets a fair share too. It's so fun that he can look around and find who is making noises. He sucks on both of his fists at once and keeps them balled up all of the time so they get good and stinky. He also loves the tv and if it is on he will twist himself around so he can see it no matter where I lay him on the ground. Good tricks, right?

I believe.

I didn't do a great job with General Conference last weekend. Partly because I have three children, and partly just because I didn't try that hard. Conference for me is a time to get excited about the gospel again, to feel the support and love of the General Authorities of the church, and to feel encouraged that I can be a better person. And I didn't get any of that - because I didn't try to. What I did get out of Conference, from the few talks I listened to, was that I need to try. To work every day to develop my testimony because it is going to be challenged. Because I will need to defend it. I will need to defend my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

I do believe that Christ is my Savior. I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me. I know my family can be eternal and I am so grateful. I also know that I have a role in all of those things being true and I need to be more of a participator. Jesus Christ died for me, but what good does that do me if I don't utilize the Atonement in my life? How will I feel the love of my Father in Heaven if I don't strive to live as He has asked so that I am capable of feeing that love through the Holy Ghost? As the mother of my sweet children, how can I be sure of their place in my family in the eternities if I don't work hard every day to cultivate my testimony and bear it to them so they have a starting point to build their own?

So today, I am committing to try harder. To do better. Because I do believe.

Nora is Two!

Today is my sweet Nora's birthday. Luckily, we celebrated on Saturday and got her pictures done last week, because today she is sick and I'm letting her pretty much sit on the couch and watch Frozen all day.

Nora is:
- a great sister. She loves to kiss and hug Max, and loves to help (and tease) Ollie with anything he has got going on.
- growing! She has been tiny for so long and now it seems like every other day one of us will exclaim about how tall she is getting and how longer her legs are. I wish I took a picture of the hilariously short pants Danny put her in last week.
- a big time hugger. Any time she is remotely sad or hurt or happy or sees her dad she demands hugs.
- a little mama. She has two baby dolls she carries around and takes care of. She hasn't attempted nursing them yet like I nurse Max, but she does pat her ribcage (she's a little off on her anatomy) and calls it her "milkshakes."
- sleeping in a big girl bed and sharing a room with Ollie.
- more of a limit-pusher than Ollie ever was. She won't sit in time out, she rarely does what she is asked to do and often runs the other way when I go to help her listen. All very happily.
- sick lately. I'm thinking this is an ear infection starting - her 3rd one in three months.
- getting more independent all of the time. I am no longer allowed to get her drink out of the fridge for her or put her in her carseat or any number of random things throughout the day that she decides she can do all by herself.
- getting interested in potty training. I'm not there yet.
- just wonderful. She makes us laugh all of the time.

One Month for Max!

Baby Max was born one month ago today. I haven't documented the story of his birth yet, but that will have to come another day.

As of today Max is:
- holding his head up more and more
- starting to focus on faces and I swear he has genuinely smiled at me a few times this week
- sleeping up to 10 hours a night and still growing nicely even skipping his night time feedings
- 10 lbs 3 oz and 22 inches long
- great at tummy time. Sometimes when he is fussy he just wants to be put down, and sometimes his tummy is the best way to go.
- easy. I realize he is only one month old and still sleeps a lot, but he is an easy baby.

We all love him. Nora and Ollie love to share their blankies with him. Ollie is always eager to "keep an eye on him" while I use the bathroom, or "give him a ride" by pushing his bouncy chair to wherever I am if Max gets a little fussy. Nora always wants to stick a binky in his mouth and give him constant kisses and hugs.

What did we ever do without our sweet baby Max?

I love comparing how my sweet babies look as they get older. When Max was first born we were sure he was a carbon copy of his older brother, but he's starting to look a little more like himself. Actually, looking at all of these side by side now, he looks quite a lot like Nora to me.

In the hospital:

                Ollie                                                           Nora                                                Max

             

                   Nora                                                                                                               Max    

 

Ollie                                                     Nora                                                   Max

 We sure love these beautiful kids.

A Christmas Photo Dump

Christmas this year was wonderful and oh, so busy. We had a great time and it was so nice to see so much of our families (including Danny, he had a whole month off of school!)

Here are (more than) a few pictures of our family festivities:

Lots of baking time. 

We had three extra uncles in town! Jackson, Conrad, and Jon

 A few shots from Christmas morning. This tent is already on it's last legs.

The beautiful Kitchenaid my parents bought for me! I love it, I use it almost daily. Plus, for my birthday the next week we bought a grain mill attachment for it so I don't have to travel to a mom's house to grind my wheat for bread anymore!

We did an advent calendar with a Christmas activity each day - this was our "gingerbread" house building day.

The kids helped Papa with the Nativity story on Christmas Eve. 

Our attempted photo shoot for Grandma's Christmas jammies.

Family photos with my family. They were good sports and let me make them get dressed up just to go out in the back yard with my tripod and timer.

This was eventful only because my parents' cat usually evacuates the premises immediately when the kids show up - he let Nora be in his face for a good five minutes before he got tired of her.

A few years ago at a Relief Society Enrichment night in Manito Ward, Sister Felsted showed us how to make Christmas pinatas and it's become a little bit of a tradition in our family. We had great weather for it this year. This was also the morning we met Yui, Jackson's girlfriend he brought home with him from California.

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at Danny's sister Chari's house. We had a great time eating Mexican food (hooray, Danny's favorite Christmas tradition resurrected!), playing the ornament game that Mom Olson came up with a few years ago, and making ornaments. 

After Christmas morning at our house (there are apparently out of order) we headed to Danny's parents' house for brunch.