Pictures from the last few days!

I am excited to be posting for the second time today, but I have to apologize in advance for the huge number of pictures. There are 10 plus two videos, but I couldn't decide so I picked a bunch. There are ever more on the other website if you want to see them!

Alex and our neighbor AlliThe kids playing in their bounce house

Racing for the end of the driveway

At Chuck E Cheese

I want to feed myself!

Birthday Dinner

Yummy cake

Why does it stick to my finger?

Mmm, that was good!

Having a ham and cheese wrap

And two videos too! One from last night. Alex was giving the other mom's at ChuckECheese a heart attack, but he had a blast, and then the second one is him eating his first birthday cake tonight.



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Alex isn't a baby anymore

His birthday was yesterday and I'm sad about the whole thing. I feel like his first year went so much quicker than Max's did.

He had a party at daycare which was so sweet. His teachers decorated the room with streamers and balloons (one on each corner of his crib. They gave him and a few other babies who are old enough, cupcakes. I am hoping to get some pictures from one teacher so if that happens I'll make sure to post them. They also pitched in and got him a cute little fleece outfit. I can't wait to get it on him.

Last night we took him and Max to Chuck E Cheese. I am sure Max had more fun than Alex did, but he still had fun. I took him to the toddler area to play. He climbed the stairs into the play hut and flew down the slide, head first, on his stomach before I knew what was happening. A few other mom's commented that it almost gave them a heart attack because they thought he was much younger, and they were afraid he would hurt himself. He proceeded to do it several more times though. Had a blast thats for sure!

Today Max and I are planning a rainy day activity with paints. I have all these papers that he brings home from school. So far they are just getting put in a cupboard in a pile until I figure out what to do with them. But then it hit me. I'm going to buy a binder and some clear page protectors. I'll put all of his workbook pages and pictures in there so he can look back from time to time and see his progression. It'll also be a nice way for us to look at the workbook pages and continue to learn from them. I'm going to let him paint a cover page for the book so I think he'll really like that. The only problem is that I told him he has to pick up his toys before we do anything and he hasn't done that yet. Seems to think they'll magically fly back up onto the shelves.

Max almost hit a huge milestone this week himself!! Didn't want his baby brother showing him up. Anyway, the rules have been that when he can stay dry at night for 7 days he can have a TV in his room. It will have a sleep timer so he can watch 30 minutes before bed, but then we are also going to make bedtime earlier. Anyway, he's never gone more than 4 nights before. Until this week. Today would have been day #7 and he would have had his TV tonight, only he peed in his pull-up after he woke up this morning. He looked at me and said "oh well, I guess I have to start all over again." GRR! I was so hoping this was it for him. We did decide together that he will start wearing big boy underwear to bed though. I'm thinking that might help to remind him that he needs to get up and go. He has a waterproof mattress cover so it might mean more laundry for me, but it shouldn't be horrible. We'll see if that makes a difference.

Another thing we are thinking of doing today is pumpkin carving. That is usually Tim's area of expertise and he's supposed to be home early today so hopefully it will happen. At this point, there are still toys all over the floor and Max is either reading a book or talking to his toys. I turned off the TV as punishment and it still doesn't seem to affect him. In a way, I guess that's a good thing, but short of putting him in his room (which won't get the toys picked up) I'm not sure what else to do. Any suggestions??

Alex is walking more and more everyday. I'm so impressed with him. I still can't believe he didn't walk sooner, but the way he speed crawls I guess it does kinda make sense that he would wait. Why walk when you can get there faster by crawling. He has an insane passion for climbing so I think that held him back a bit too.

I'm out for now, but hopefully later I'll have some pictures to share!

Sad today

Max was supposed to have his first field trip today but it got canceled. I'm pretty sad about it, but since he doesn't know what he was missing, I don't think he even cares. On the bright side, it meant the afternoon off work with nothing to do but clean the house and unpack more boxes.

I left for work later than normal this morning because I was supposed to have a meeting with my boss to go over what I'm learning, where I need help, and stuff like that. However, when I got in I found out she stayed home because she hurt her back. Score!! That means I know have an entire day free. I decided to chill and catch up on some TV shows this morning. By 10:00 I'll get started on the house, Soaps at 2:00 and then off to get the boys!

Things are still slowly coming together with the house. Each day I do a thing or two, but I was set back this weekend because Max had a stomach virus on Saturday and then I came down with it Sunday. All I did was lay around and watch football. Good for me, not good for the house. I have a neighbor that cleans houses for a living. As soon as I get my first paycheck I plan on hiring her to come at least every two weeks, but if I can't get things in order, I don't feel like it's fair to have her start coming yet. That means I need to get moving.

Ok, so obviously I don't have much to talk about today. I feel like I'm rambling about nothing. I do have professional pictures of the boys from a few weeks ago, so I'll get those scanned today too if I can and post 'em here for you! Talk to you soon!

It has been a week for firsts

Today Alex started walking. Sort of. As the day went on he got steadier, but he tries to run so his head gets too far in front of his feet and he loses his balance quickly. He stands up completely on his own though. Once he started, we couldn't stop him. He actually went to bed early from the exhaustion of it all. Here is a video if you haven't seen it yet.


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He's doing great in his big boy bed, but we did have a rough couple of nights earlier in the week. Come to find out the poor baby has a double ear infection. I had to take him to a doc in a box because his temp was 102 and daycare wouldn't let him come back til he was fever free for 24 hours or cleared with something non-contagious. He is doing much better now that he's on antibiotics. Sleeping better too.

Max is loving preschool! He actually cried when I put him to bed last night because I told him he got to stay home with me for two days. He begged to go. Once I explained that they were closed and no one was going he was ok with playing with me. He's really doing well considering he is with 4 and 5 year olds. Not sure what made them put him in pre-K, but it was definitely the right decision. Everyone I talk to there loves him.

Tuesday he has his first field trip and I get to go with him. I'm pretty excited about that. We are going to a pumpkin patch that has a petting farm, hay rides, and lots of other stuff, plus he gets to pick out a pumpkin to bring home. Hopefully I don't forget the camera.

Work is going well. I think I'm really going to like it there, but I'm still not sure about the night shift. I don't have to start doing that until mid-November though. We'll see. If it doesn't work hopefully it won't be forever.

I guess that's about all I have for now. I'm still trying to get the house organized, but I'm much closer than I was so that's something. I'll be back again soon.

Another "first" for Alex

Although this one isn't a good one. Poor baby has his first double ear infection. Daycare called yesterday and he had a slight temp. Tim had to go get him by noon today because his temp was 102.6. Yikes!! We aren't able to take him back until he is fever free for 24 hours or a get a doctor's note saying it's an EI or something else not contagious. I decided to take him to an urgent care center since we don't have our insurance transfered to Indiana yet. Fortunately it wasn't a long wait, but they did find infection in both ears. The good news is that neither Tim or I has to call out tomorrow. Poor baby hasn't slept much in 3 days and I kept blaming all of his symptoms on teething. He's resting well now and will hopefully feel much better tomorrow after 2 more doses of his antibiotic.

Tim and I went to the BMV (car registration place) to register our vehicles and get new driver's licenses today. That was a fun hour and a half. Not too bad though considering it would have taken far longer in Virginia. At least we are both driving legally again. My van's tags expired at the end of September.

Work is going well and I think I'm really going to like it. I'm still in orientation for one more day, but I did have a shift and a half on my unit already this week. I like the people I'm meeting and I even met one girl from Bay City today. Talk about a small world. She went to Garber though and graduated a year after me so I'm not sure if we know any of the same people or not. I'll have to talk with her again!

Not much else to say other than I am dog tired!! Barely any sleep because of Alex for the last 3 nights and I'm getting up at 5:30 for work. I can't wait til the weekend!! Even if I see 7am, I'll be happy for the extra hour and a half. I'll update again when I have something new!

Alex's Big Milestone

Nope, he still doesn't have teeth, and he isn't walking yet. Although he is taking alot more steps than he was before so maybe soon!

He slept in a big boy bed last night instead of his crib! It's actually just two full sized mattresses on the floor, but he did pretty good. I ended up sleeping in there with him for most of the night, but only because his teeth were bothering him and he kept waking up screaming. This morning when he got up I taught him to climb out and crawl to our room. He was so excited!! He went down last night much better than usual as well which was actually my goal. He has a hard time putting himself to sleep in the crib, but on the big mattress he did great!

I hadn't planned on doing this so soon. Especially since he isn't even a year old yet, but it just seemed like the right thing to do, and so far it has worked. Of course it has only been one night. We'll have to see.

The boys finished their first week at daycare/preschool! Both seemed to do very well and neither cries when we drop them off or pick them up. Well, Max whines when I come pick him up, but only because he usually isn't ready to go yet. I'm so glad I decided to go with a center this time around. I really feel like it's going to be an awesome experience for both boys. Alex is still in the infant room and is doing surprisingly well. They do have to keep a close eye on him though because he pushed the stationary toys around to climb on things he can't reach. I think it's pretty funny. My mom found him on the kitchen table yesterday! I didn't think that was funny, but he climbs up on Max's chair and gets on the table that way. He definitely takes after uncle Bill, just like Max takes after uncle Rusty.

As mentioned, my mom and dad are here for the weekend. My dad has been amazing fixing everything that needed work. There really wasn't much, at least nothing major, but we are getting a new screen door in the garage, we have shelves in the toy room, and now none of the toilets leak! Yay!! My mom is great too. She organized and cleaned up the entire toy room. I can't tell you how grateful I was for that!! It has been something I wanted to tackle, but could never get the motivation. She has also been helping me unpack some of the miscellaneous boxes that are sitting around. We might just have this place in order soon. Each day it gets a little better.

My job is going ok so far. It really has just been orientation and classroom training though, so nothing too exciting. I've met a lot of really nice people so that has helped the time go by. Tomorrow I am on my unit. Probably just learning where everything is. Then a few more days of classroom before I go into full training mode. I'm soooo excited!

Max also has his first field trip coming up in a little more than a week. He's going to a pumpkin patch/farm place. I get to go with him!! Woohoo!! I have to meet with my boss for a few hours one day so I asked if she could do that morning and let me have the afternoon off and that was cool with her. I know I won't be able to do all his field trips, but I'm happy that I can at least go on the first one.

So, I guess I've been rambling for quite awhile now. I should get going. My parents will be up soon and then its time for breakfast. Everyone is still in PJs so I might start the dressing process. Talk to you soon!!

New house pictures finally

And when you see them you'll know why I didn't want to post them. The house is a mess, there are toys everywhere and boxes that still need to be unpacked. I got bored while the boys were sleeping though so I had to take a few. The only thing missing is their rooms because I didn't want to wake them up. Visit the picture and video website to see them all, but here are a few to get you started.

I'm so bored

So I had to post again. I got a ton done tonight and am quite happy with myself. One thing I've forgotten to mention is my amazing neighbor, Alli! She is in the 8th grade and LOVES kids! She comes over almost every evening when she gets home from school and stays until her parents make her come home. She takes the boys outside, for walks, and plays indoors with them too. She's going to be an awesome babysitter if Tim and I can ever find time to go out alone. She was here tonight so I was able to rearrange a bunch of stuff and unpack several boxes. I'm hoping to get even more done tomorrow since she asked if she can come back.

The craziest part... She thanks me for letting her come over and play with the kids. Tim says its just odd for an almost high schooler to like kids so much, but I was the exact same way!! Until I discovered boys, and even afterwards reall, all I wanted to do was babysit and play with the little kids in the neighborhood. She has been a God send! She is really sweet and the boys both like her. Her parents are great too. We've met several neighbors but so far I like them best.

Max had an overtired meltdown tonight that made my blood boil. Normally I think I would have screamed and put him to bed with the door closed, but somehow I found the strength to deal with it. I made him put on his PJs and lay in bed while I put Alex down. I brought him his milk, read him a book and while tucking him in talked to him about how he behaved. I let him know he could have gone back down to play on his computer if he would have just listened the first time. I told him that I give him choices and he has to make the right ones. He seemed to get it so that was a good breakthrough. Really though, I think he just needed to go to bed because he was overtired. We had to shop again earlier for milk and stuff like that and he was pretty good, but you could tell when he was reaching the end of his rope.

I guess that's all I have to ramble about right now. Tim still isn't home from work and I just needed to have some adult (albeit one sided) conversation while I wait for him. Talk to everyone again soon!!

3 More days

And I get to go back to work! I'm so excited because I really need to get out of the house. We found a daycare on Wednesday for both boys! Max is going to love preschool. Alex will be with infants for awhile and I fear that he's going to terrorize them. I'm assuming they'll move him to the toddler room as soon as possible. He'd probably already be there if he was walking! Silly boy decided that crawling is faster so he doesn't want to walk even though he can.

The house is very slowly coming together. And I do mean slowly! I unpack a box or two a day at this point. Since the kitchen is done and that was the hard part, I just kinda do stuff when I find the time. With the kids that doesn't happen very often, or I need to be in the bedrooms when they are sleeping which doesn't work either. I'm sure it will all happen eventually though.

I have added a ton of new pictures to our picture website. And a video of Alex climbing on the coffee table. You'll have to check them out. I still don't have any of the house, but mainly because it's still too messy. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be able to get some!! When I do, I'll post them here.

Here is Alex climbing

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And a few from the aquarium in Chicago

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I'm out for now. Max has been whining for over an hour now. He doesn't want to come out of my room, but he doesn't want to be alone. This move has really created some behavior issues. I hope that going to school will help him settle better. Tim has been working around the clock since we got here too so I'm hoping when his schedule gets better, Max's attitude will as well!

Anyway, talk to you soon!