I know I’ve been a delinquent blogger, but I’ll try to get back on track now. We’ve just been busy with life, which is a wonderful thing but does tend to push blogging down on the to-do list a bit. Thankfully I have some time this afternoon while the kids are having “nap” time to squeeze in a quick post. I want to commemorate Anna’s first visit to the dentist. We have an awesome children’s dentist nearby–their office has a separate child-size entrance door, train running around the ceiling, toys, and a great staff. I wasn’t sure what Anna would think of it all but she did great. The actual dental exam was done with her on my lap, so I don’t have pictures of that part, but they did the initial check in the dental chair, so I got a few then.

Our awesome dentist:

Getting sunglasses on:

Fun in the dental chair:

We love Daddy snuggles on the weekend:

A couple phone pics. Max wearing my boots:

And sibling snuggles and reading:

And a couple from this week, Max was looking at pictures on my phone and snuggling with his bears. Anna brought her bunny and babies up and looked on too.

Monday the kids were playing near our front window and the light was great so I ran for the camera. I snapped off a few shots of each of them before they were done with it and wandered off to play again. I pulled the pictures off the camera recently and was struck by how grown-up Max looks. I know he’s almost four, but looking at these reminds me of what a little boy he is becoming. Toddler Max is in the rear-view mirror, folks, and he isn’t coming back. And oh that squeezes my heart sometimes. I LOVE the boy he is and I can’t wait to see the person he becomes. I love seeing him grow and learn and change. But I guess it’s the nature of parenthood to carry a measure of nostalgia along for the journey. It hurts so good to think about my kids as babies, knowing I’ll never have another tiny newborn to snuggle. The baby squishiness, the little noises they make, fat little starfish toddler hands, first words, first steps, being able to make everything right with a hug and kiss. I love the baby stage, and I love the toddler stage, and I love the preschooler stage (most of the time, ha!) and hopefully we’ll find things to love about the teenager stage too. It takes my breath away sometimes to think how lucky I am to have two amazing, healthy children. I never ever take it for granted. And I can almost understand why those crazy Duggars keep having kids. Because sooner or later you have your last baby, and it’s hard to know those days are gone for good. But at the same time it’s so. much. fun living each day’s forward progress they I’d never want to keep them one age.

I love you, Maxwell and Anna. More than you’ll ever know.

Little sister photo bomb!

Yes, I know Christmas has come and gone a few weeks ago, but I finally had a chance to sort through the pictures and get them up (warning there are lots to come in this post!). We had a wonderful Christmas with family. Our plans to go up to my grandma’s were foiled by Max getting sick, but luckily by present-opening time he was feeling much better and able to enjoy it. Jeff’s parents were here and Greg and Leah and the girls came also. I love having everyone together for Christmas! We enjoyed the traditional Christmas Eve fondue dinner (started when Jeff and Greg were little) and the cousins had a a great time playing together.

Both kids really enjoyed Christmas this year. Max of course understood the whole idea very well this time around and was excited to receive and give presents. Anna had fun opening her gifts as well. Oma and Opa got her a stroller for her dolls (so they wouldn’t have to be crammed in the shopping cart for rides any more ) and it was a huge hit. It was sitting under the tree unwrapped and she made a beeline for it. We ate breakfast before we opened presents, but Anna ate hers later because she would not be deterred from the stroller. At one point there was a baby in the seat, another in the basket, and one on the shade. Max’s favorite gift is probably a tie between his superhero cape and the “arch blocks” he had asked for. I was very happily surprised with an iPad. Jeff had thrown me off by saying he only got me a couple things (which was true, I got the iPad and socks from him) so I was not at all expecting it. I love it, thank you wonderful husband!

Here are some pictures of our time together. So grateful for family!

Christmas jammies:

Just a few presents under the tree…

The very talented Leah made mittens for the guys:

“Thanks for the box, Mom!”

Super Max!

Opa invented a fun game with Anna. First you do this:

Then, this:

And then Anna signs, “More!”:

The girls did a bunch of fun crafts with Oma. Here they are making bracelets.

The weather even cooperated for some park time!

Our sweet Anna is 18 months old already! I still call her my baby girl and always will, but she’s certainly a full-fledged toddler now. She makes us laugh every day with her impish grin and cute mannerisms. She lets us know in no uncertain terms what she likes and doesn’t like. She loves her baby dolls but they must be naked at all times. If I re-dress them she will bring them to me and sign “off” until I remove the clothes again. She also loves shoes and boots and likes to put a chosen pair on to walk around the house. Every night she sleeps with her two stuffed bunnies, and sometimes one of her other stuffed animals or dolls as she deems necessary. She still sleeps well at night, usually 11-12 hours, and still doesn’t nap much during the day, 30-45 minutes on average. Some days she doesn’t sleep at all at nap time. She adores bath time and cries like she’s being tortured when we take her out. She keeps up with Max and likes to do whatever he’s doing, right down to sitting the way he does when they watch “Blue’s Clues.” She has recently started playing hide and seek. Her version involves sitting on the floor and covering her eyes with her hands, thus rendering herself invisible.   We then say, “Is Anna behind the couch? Is Anna in the kitchen?” etc. Each time she shakes her head “no” and stays right where she is. So darn cute!

Anna is lucky to have Maxwell for a big brother. He told me the other day that he doesn’t like it when Anna cries because when she is sad, he feels sad. When she cries he will bring her bunnies over for her to snuggle with, and I love hearing him talk to her. He likes to tickle her and play peek-a-boo. Some mornings they both sit in Anna’s crib and read books. We are very blessed to have two amazing children.

Anna at 18 months:

Weight: 25 pounds, 78th percentile
Height: 32.5 inches, 74th percentile
Head circumference: 19.5 inches, 49.5 cm, 100th+ percentile

Signs: All done, more, please, thank you, apple, Daddy (this one she invented, it looks like a tomahawk chop), milk, kitty, on, off, help, book, bird, sleep, swing, eat, water. Points to body parts when we name them. Understands everything we say and will follow directions like, “Go get your baby in the family room by the books.” She doesn’t have very many spoken words, just Mama, Max, Grandma, sometimes Dada. Just lately she has started saying “Bob” because we read/sing the Sandra Boynton book “Fifteen Animals.” For those who haven’t read it, 14 of the 15 are named Bob. She does noises for a cat, dog, lion, and bird. We will be doing a speech evaluation this week to see if she’ll be doing speech therapy to get her caught up on expressive speech.

We love her more than words can say! I took some 18 month pictures today. My talented friend Leanne made her hat and gave us the cute coat too. Happy year and a half, punkin, we adore you.

Grandpa and Grandma Helen came to visit us last week. Max was thrilled to have them here and had no shortage of things for them to do. There was book reading, iPad playing, musical chairs (Maxwell’s version, where there are same number of chairs as people, and you sit in the same spot each time), two trips to the children’s museum, and much fun had by all. Anna was right in the midst of it all and Jeff and I were spoiled by not having to cook dinner. Max got an early Christmas gift of a remote-controlled spider robot (christened “Stanley”), which he quickly got the hang of maneuvering. I love watching the kids with their grandparents. It reminds me of special memories with my own grandparents, and I am so grateful that our kids are blessed with five amazing grandparents who love them more than words can say. The time always goes by too quickly, and we are already counting down to our Florida visit in a few months. Thank you Dad and Helen for everything!

Learning how to work Stanley:

The chairs were also repurposed to serve as a preschool. Max directed Grandma Helen to be the teacher, the animals were students, and he was Chester’s parent. He would drop Chester off at school, go “home” (the other room), count to 10, and then it would be time to pick him up.

Grandpa got to visit preschool as well:

Between rounds of musical chairs:

We had a great time this year picking out and decorating our tree. The past couple of years we’ve gone to a Christmas tree farm near our house that has a great view of the mountains and plenty of beautiful trees. We lucked out with a dry day last weekend, so we cut down the tree and then stored it in the garage until we could decorate it this weekend. Max was really into the whole process this year. Tonight he said “That was fun, decorating the tree today.” Anna of course is pretty clueless about it all, but she seemed to have fun too.

It’s so special doing Christmas now that we have kids. I love carrying on some of the holiday traditions from our families and making new ones of our own. It will be great fun to have extended family here at Christmastime. I love having a house full of loved ones and having time to relax, eat good food, and just be together.

Here we are at the tree farm! Such a beautiful setting:

The farm provides sleds to haul your cut tree back. Max of course thought it would be better put to use to haul him:

Not to be left out, Anna wanted in on the action:

This one looks good!

Supervising the cutting process:

Max leading the way back to the barn:

Before we put the lights on the tree, we plugged in each strand to check that they still worked. The kids were fascinated:

Max loved looking at all the ornaments and deciding where they should go:

Anna helped me put on a few ornaments. She discovered one ornament that is a ceramic stocking and immediately tried to put it on her foot. So cute! Then she spent a long time playing in the empty tub which had previously housed the ornaments.

Max got to put the star on the tree, with a little help from Daddy:

Maxwell gives Chester Bear a hug in front of the finished tree:

I am thankful for so much this year. Jeff and I often ask ourselves how we got so lucky with these amazing kids. I’m thankful for the expressive way Max talks, getting so excited about the story he’s sharing that he has to start over a few times. I’m thankful for the way Anna hooks her arm around my neck when she really needs a Mama snuggle. I’m thankful for the beautiful relationship Jeff has with them.

We traveled to Greg and Leah’s for Thanksgiving this year. Another thing I am thankful for is in-laws that I really like and enjoy spending time with. We had such a nice visit and the time went way too quickly. Max and Anna loved playing with their cousins, and Lizzy and Emma were so good with them. They patiently read the same book five times in a row to Max and followed his orders on what to play. They were great at including Anna in their games and stories and it was such fun to see them all together. Poor Max cried when we had to leave today, he kept saying, “But I don’t want to go yet!” I have very fond memories of time spent with my cousins growing up and am glad that he and Anna will have that also.

Some pictures from our trip:

The park near Greg and Leah’s house had a slide that was just perfect for Anna. Not too high or fast, so she could do the whole circuit by herself. She loved it.

This one is blurry but so cute I have to share. Max was fascinated with Leah’s knitting needles and she let him play with a pair. Later he wanted to use them again so he asked where her “sewing sticks” were.

Like any three year-old, Max has done his share of time-outs for various offenses. We always sit him in the same spot, set the timer, and then come back when it goes off. We ask him why he’s in time out, have him apologize and demonstrate the desired behavior. On Tuesday night my mom called me after the kids were in bed to relay a story she hadn’t wanted to share in front of Max. It seems Max had pushed Anna down. She was unfazed and he insisted “It was an accident!” but Mom had witnessed the infraction and knew it was intentional. She walked Max over to the designated spot and sat him down. Before she went to set the timer she asked him, “Why are you in time out?” Max looked at her for a minute and then patiently explained, “Grandma, you are supposed to ask me that at the end of the time out.” At this point Mom is just trying her best not to burst out laughing as she sets the timer and goes to get Anna. Too late for that, as Anna has put on Max’s firefighter hat and is standing right in front of him doing a funny dance. Pretty soon they are both laughing, she puts the hat on his head, and Max is asking, “Why is Anna doing that, I’m in time out?!” That one may have been a wash as far as a consequence goes, but that’s okay, the story is worth it.

Maxwell and Anna certainly have their times of conflict, but overall they are so good with each other. Max is patient with Anna and explains things to her (usually getting right up by her face when he wants to tell her something important). Anna loves to do whatever he is doing and manages to keep up very well. Yesterday we were driving home from Target and I glanced in the rearview mirror to see the two of them holding hands from their car seats. Moments like that make up for those times of conflict!

A couple weeks ago we had our friends Angel, Eric, Emmeline and Penelope over. We decided to attempt a picture of all four kids together. We bribed the eldest ones with the promise of cookies, and I snapped away while the other three adults replaced squirming toddlers and generally made a fool of themselves in an attempt to get everyone looking in the same direction while smiling–quite a feat!

A few outtakes. This one cracks me up because Max and Emmeline are making the same face:

Those crazy three year-olds:

Now the little ones are having a side conversation:

Success!

And a few from last weekend. Anna has been really into her sunglasses lately, wanting to put them on and take them off, put them on and take them off, etc…it’s really cute.

The very talented Oma made her a really cute hat. I took a couple pictures on our way out the door.

Halloween was so much fun this year! I managed to sell Max on coordinated costumes: A firefighter and a dalmatian. My wonderful mother-in-law volunteered to make the dog costume, and I found a firefighter raincoat, boots and umbrella at Costco. Max definitely understood the concept of trick-or-treating this year and was excited to go. As soon as we got started he was saying, “Let’s go to that house over there! Which house should we go to next? I love trick-or-treating!” It was pretty cute. Anna had a great time too, she wanted to walk most of the time and was so cute toddling along the sidewalk. We heard lots of oohs and ahhs over how cute they were together. At one house they gave Max a red foil-wrapped peanut butter cup. He was so excited, telling the lady, “Red is my favorite color!” He wanted to hold that one the rest of the time we were out. When Maxwell woke up the next morning one of the first things he said was, “I want to go trick-or-treating again!”

I didn’t get too many pictures on Halloween since the kids were eager to get out there, but I managed to get some:

They both loved answering the door with Grandma:

Enjoying the haul:

A couple weeks ago, a friend of a friend did costume mini-sessions, so I took the kids to get some photos of them in costume (thanks Oma, for getting the dalmatian done early!). Photo credit to Taylor Anderson Photography.

Happy Halloween, friends and family! I give you, The Pigeon and The Hot Dog. Thank you Mo Willems for the inspiration and Oma for the awesome Pigeon construction! And thanks also to Justine for the loan of the hot dog costume.

I don’t know what is so hilarious about baby as hot dog, but it cracks me up!

Not too sure at first….

Okay, it’s not so bad. I am a pretty cool Pigeon after all.

Ready to Trick-or-Treat! He wasn’t too keen on going at first, but once we did a few houses and he got the idea, he would have stayed out much longer than we did. After we were home he asked, “I go trick-or-treating again?”

Enjoying his haul!