Parents as Teachers Play Group

We've been going to a play group put on by Parents as Teachers every other week for the past few months, and we always have a lot of fun. New toys, new books, activities, songs, snacks, friends - it really is a great time. 

Max has been making this face again a lot lately. It even occasionally shows up as I'm rocking him to sleep. 

A Week of Change

It's been a big week around here! Both of the kids seem drastically older now. Last week we had babies, and this week we have kids.

What changed?

Natalie is mostly potty trained

and Max almost prefers walking to crawling.

I'm so proud of them I could burst, but it's all a little bittersweet. Where is the slow down button??

Furniture Shopping

We've been on the hunt for a new living room couch. So far we've been to two furniture stores that haven't had quite what we're looking for. Max and Natalie have loved testing out all of the furniture though.

Max is Walking!

Fat Tuesday

Natalie and I made our first ever king cake this afternoon."King cake" or "circle of cinnamon rolls topped with sprinkles." Tomayto tomahto.

Ten Months

Today Max turned ten months old, and he celebrated with a few bites of his daddy's brownie after supper. The brownie eating went unphotographed, but his smiles were pretty similar to these:

At ten months old Max:

• likes to eat green beans, potatoes, carrots, peas, chicken, meatballs, yogurt bites, peaches, apples, bananas, pears, blueberries, grapes... most things really!
• is starting to walk! This one deserves its own post. Maybe tomorrow.
• gets really excited when Chris comes home from work.
• puts his hands together and claps when we do the sign of the cross before meals. 
• still only has two teeth.
• loves to wave.
• dances when he hears music. 
• loves to see Natalie when he wakes up. If she isn't awake when he wakes up, I ask, "Where's your Natalie?" and he crawls to her room to get her. 
• has started saying, "Mamamama" when he wakes up at night instead of just crying. Somehow this makes the wake-ups a little sweeter. 

Not our best work, but these are getting hard to take, so we're going to live with the glare and the power outlet.

Inaugural Ride

We bought a new-to-us double jogging stroller yesterday off of Craigslist, so we took it for a spin this afternoon. Don't let Max's poker face fool you. It's a pretty great ride.

We did our best to soak up what may be some of the last nice weather we see for a while.

Sunday Fun Day

"I'll hold your hand, Max..."

"... so the trucks don't scare you."

Natalie's protective side made an appearance on our afternoon walk yesterday.

Dress Up

Natalie loves these dress up clothes that she got for Christmas. It makes it even better that they're from my cousin Ashley who she adores.

And Max?

He took his first steps today! It was only a couple steps, but he kept practicing them over and over.

Meeting Brayden

Jennifer and I have been friends since high school. Her little boy, Brayden, is only three weeks older than Max, and even though Jennifer and I have discussed all aspects of pregnancy and babyhood over the past year, Brayden and Max hadn't met. Actually, I hadn't seen Jennifer since my wedding, so we were long overdue for a face to face conversation. Last Friday they extended their already long trip to Wichita to come see us for the afternoon! The kids had fun playing and Jennifer and I picked up where we left off.