Little Miss Muffet

Kathryn loves my shower cap.  Loves, loves, loves it.

Today, she wanted to wear it, and as I sat looking at her with it on,

I decided that she looked just like Little Miss Muffet.

We had just read the nursery rhyme the other day, so it was on my mind.

QOTD by Kathryn:  Mommy, Max likes my legs.  He thinks they are really, really, really smooth.

Ah, my children...I love them so!

The fourth trip

Early Sunday morning, Maxwell had his fourth visit to the ER.

In his short (lest than one year) life, he has seen the inside of an emergency room four times.

He looks like he really enjoys spending time there, right (is that why we keep going back)?

Maxwell had been sick with a cold for a few days, but woke up Saturday evening with terrible croup.

It came on so suddenly and scared us to death.  His breathing was very labored.

And it reminded us of all the health scares following his cleft lip surgery.

We had deja vu as we panicked, administered full doses of steroids and reminded him to breath.

We decided to drive into town and stay with Michael's parents, so we would be closer to the hospital.

Maxwell was doing better, but we wanted to be safe.  

We called the triage nurse and she told us to come in if he rebounded within four to six hours.

We were able to sleep for a few hours, but Maxwell woke up with labored breathing again.

So we headed to the hospital and checked in.  As we walked down the corridor, I panicked a little.

I saw the big double doors, and remembered standing just outside of them nine months ago.

We were making arrangements with our parents, prior to Maxwell being life-lighted to the children's hospital.

Luckily, this scenario was not so unnerving.  The doctor gave Maxwell another dose of steroids.

And then he requested a chest x-ray.

After the x-ray, the doctor told us that Maxwell had also developed pneumonia.

Upon returning home, he slept on my chest for nearly 24 hours straight.
It was so nice to have him close.

We had a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician yesterday, and his lungs sound better.

He is finally acting more like himself.

He has been through so much in his first year.  But it only makes him stronger.

Contemplating...

It is quiet this evening.  Kathryn is in bed and Michael is reading a book.

Instead of doing laundry, I watched Maxwell as he roamed around the house in his alligator pajamas.

I watched as he crawled for a bit, and then stopped to examine a speck of dirt or food on the floor.

I watched as he tried to pick it up, with his ever exploring fingers, and put the speck in his mouth.

I watched him, and contemplated about his upcoming one year birthday.

I contemplated about how much he has grown, changed, struggled and developed over this past year.  

He is such a precious boy. And I wanted to soak up every second of him tonight.

Five things for Friday

1.  Happy Father's Day to the father of my sweet and adorable children.  I love you darling and I am grateful for you every single day.  You are an amazing husband, father and provider for our family.  Your children adore you and so do I!  We love you honey.

2.  I found Kathryn reading her books outside last Sunday afternoon.  That sweet girl is such a gem.

3.  Maxwell and I spent an uncomfortably long night in the guest bedroom.  Maybe the reason he cried so much was because he was just too hot and couldn't get completely out of his pajamas.

4.  One of my dearest friends came to stay for a few days while her husband was out of town.  The children played so well together and we had so much fun catching up.  Thank you for the visit!  We loved having you.

5.  It was Kathryn's last day of swimming lessons.  And to say that she had a wonderful time would be an understatement.  Her teachers were so patient and they worked so well with her.  What a bonus to have such a small class.  We're looking forward to next year already...

Two little princesses

Kathryn got to play princesses with her cousin.

They were, of course, very lovely, adorable and polite.

My favorite are the backward dresses that they put over their Sunday dresses.

 

Sweet little girls, who already know that they truly are princesses.

Five things for Friday

1.  Maxwell learned how to pull himself up in his crib.  And then, he learned how to chew on the wood with his two new, adorable top teeth.  Must be time to lower the mattress for safety reasons:  for both him and the crib.

 2.  After Kathryn went down for a nap, I found these little cars and animals by the fireplace, tucked away in their very own cozy, warm, little beds.

 3.  Kathryn had an old friend over to play.  We miss C & J from our old play group, however, we are making great friends in our new town.

 4.  Maxwell has found some entertainment in the storm door.  He likes to bang on the window and peek at us through the glass.

 5.  Kathryn has been going to swimming lessons all week.  She would not get in the water her first day, so her teacher bribed her with three laffy taffy ropes and a snow cone.  It was a little cold today, so they did some safety training instead of swimming.  Here, she is learning how to put someone in a stretcher.  Very useful knowledge for a three year old :).

Taking it outside

Do you read Fancy Nancy?  We have a small collection of her books.

And lately, we've been eating al fresco as often as possible.

Al fresco is fancy for eating outside.  And eating outside is much better than eating inside.

Unless it's too hot.  Which it's starting to become now that it's June.

The child who crawls

Lately we've found, that the child who crawls gets into all sorts of things.

Granted, these pictures were taken a few months ago, prior to the crawling phase,

But the toys in the pictures reminded me of something very important.

A child who crawls can get into all sorts of things he's not supposed to get into.

Such as, an older siblings teeny, tiny Littlest Pet Shop toys.  And hair elastics.  And lacing beads.

And electrical outlets.  And wires and chords.  And knives in the dishwasher.

I've forgotten what it's like to have a teeny, tiny little person who crawls.

In the past week, Maxwell's crawling skills have increased by leaps and bounds.
He's pretty good.  And he can get around.  And into things he's not supposed to get into.

But part of that, of course, is my responsibility to childproof the house.   

We may be putting some of the toys away for awhile. 

For my mother in-law's birhtday

It was my mother in-law's birthday recently.

She is an amazing woman and I am lucky to have married her baby boy.

She is kind, smart, loving, compassionate, sensitive, and funny.

She is always concerned about everyone else.  

She loves our children with all of her heart and soul.  

And thinks they are the most adorable children (As she does all of her other grandchildren).

We love her and feel blessed to live so close.  Happy Birthday mom!

A Hallmark card from my sweetheart

Once there was this guy.

A nice guy, really.

And he met this girl.

An incredible girl-truly amazing.

So naturally the guy falls

head over heals in love with her,

and pretty soon they're picking out

china patterns and rings

and there's a wedding

and the starry-eyed couple

rides off into what will surely

be a rosy future.

Okay, so now some time has passed (7 years)

and the guy is living in that future.

He's still married to this girl, 

but now their life includes a lot of stuff-

appliances and bills and loads of laundry (and kids)

and home (and car) repair projects.

But between all the to-dos and have-tos.

there are these moments

when the guy stops for a minute

and looks around him.

He looks at his wife,

who is still truly amazing,

he looks at their life together,

all the ways and different

directions it's grown,

he looks at all

the responsibilities he's got,

and he thinks to himself,

so, this is my life.

And he thinks,

I am one helluva lucky guy.

Happy Birthday.  I LOVE YOU.

Ten on Thursday

1.  It was my my birthday, and it was kind of a big year for me.  Michael had the day off and we took our niece and nephews swimming with us.  Later that evening, we went on a date.  Alone!  Michael made the day extra special, and he gave me the sweetest birthday card, which made me cry. I love that guy!  

2.  My tulips are gone, but they have been replaced with beautiful irises and snapdragons.

3.  Kathryn had her first camp-out of the summer.  She slept in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard with some of her cousins.  Grandpa even told some spooky stories, but she stayed outside all night long.

4.  Max is finally crawling, and surprisingly, we couldn't be more thrilled!  Crazy, I know, but it's nice to see him moving around.  He's still getting the hang of it, but I love to watch his little knees slide across the floor.  He looks so tiny and adorable.

5.  We went out for a treat Monday night and came home with nothing to eat, and a new look for our brand new van.  Sadly, a crazy windstorm reared it's ugly head right when we were in the drive-thru.  Michael and I panicked and decided to go home, just as the wind and dust picked up.  When we pulled onto the main road, this board flew at our car.  It actually looked like a piece of cardboard the way it floated through the air, onto our hood and windshield.  We pulled over and found out that it was a section of roof that had been ripped off by the wind.  It was full of nails and did a number on the front of our car.  We of course were very frustrated at first, but then realized how much worse it could have been.  When I put Kathryn to bed that evening, I told Kathryn that Heavenly Father had protected us.  And as I talked to her, the spirit confirmed that we had indeed been protected.

6.  I've been enjoying the stand Michael made me for a Mother's Day gift to display my many flower pots.

7.  We got to visit to Michael's grandma a while back.  She and Kathryn serenaded each other with some beautiful songs.  It was so sweet, and I think Maxwell stole Grandma's heart with his big, blue eyes.

8.  We've been playing with family and friends for two weeks straight!  It's been a blast, but our house and yard have been suffering.

9.  I think Maxwell slightly resembles a baby of Klingon descent in this picture.

10.  We went to our ward scout fundraiser the other night, and the young women held an auction.  I bought six antique windows and this owl.  I spent an absurd amount of money on the owl.  As the bidding ended, my niece informed me that a free spay and neuter certificate came with the owl, so I felt a little better about spending so much.  That is, until I learned that it was only for a cat.  And we are not cat people.  Maybe we'll try to exchange the certificate for a dog instead...

Morning jobs

I've been trying to teach Kat some responsibility lately.  

So every morning, she has a job to do.  She always has to make her bed.

And then, if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean, she must unload those.

She has to do these things before she can play or watch a show.

And of course, she always has to pick up her toys and put her things away.

I guess I'm attempting to teach her how to have a strong work ethic.

Some days she is more willing than others.  And some days I am more patient than others.

She has helped clean her bathroom a couple of times.  Growing up, that was always my job.

Cleaning all of the bathrooms.  Today, I consider myself an expert bathroom cleaner.

I distinctly remember my mother's homemade cleaning concoctions.  They did the trick every time.

Usually, I give Kathryn the job of cleaning the counter or the mirrors.  

But on this particular day, she really wanted to clean the bathtub.  And she did a pretty good job.

QOTD:  How long do you scrub mommy?  Do you scrub for like three hours?

Something like that, right?

An accomplishment

I wanted to catch up on the five millions things we've been up to lately.

But instead, today I'll be writing about the accomplishment of my sweet baby boy.

Today, Maxwell was just shy of eating an entire jar of baby food.  Peaches, yum!

And in the end, there were only three or four bites left.

This is a great big accomplishment for Maxwell, since in the past he's barely eaten ten bites in one sitting.

And with his feeding issues, that has only happened a handful of times.

It may not seem like such a big deal for a baby of almost eleven months to eat (nearly) a full jar of food.

But for our baby boy, it is.

I am so proud of you Maxwell!  Let's see what you can eat next.