20 months

well, we have a 20 month old over here in these parts...boy, that is getting really close to 2...yikes! double yikes cause that means we'll have a teeny, tiny one month old at the time...holy crap!
we've just been plugging along here trying to stay in a regular routine as that is what seems to make everyone happy. i think we've been pretty successful. bedtime is still going great and he seems to be sleeping later which has been really nice. the flip side to that though is that his naps are shorter...about an hour to an hour and a half but usually just an hour:( the bad part is he usually wakes up crying from his nap and seems like he isn't really ready to wake up put he gets out of bed anyway. we usually spend some time rocking in the chair before we leave his room. we bought a tot clock for him that is supposed to change colors to let him know when he can get out of bed in the mornings and for naps. the mornings isn't an issue right now but i think i need to get the thing figured out (there are a lot of buttons) so we can start trying it for naps.
its still wicked hot here in ATX and there is no end in sight...i think we've had 43 consecutive days of triple digits! i've been feeling extra hot the last few days so that is super fun. we try and get out to the park in the mornings so he gets some outdoor playtime. we went to story time at the library yesterday and he sat for almost the whole thing. i think we will be going back. we tried to go to the winnie the pooh movie but he only lasted for about 20 min before he wanted to be up and looking at the lights, etc. we left:) we'll keep trying!
i need to get a decent belly pic taken and get it up here...maybe tomorrow! i have my 2 hour glucose test so papa is going to be home with max and if i remember i'll have him take a picture. my back is feeling a little better so that is good. we might actually try the pool today (we went twice when K was here and he loved it) but we'll see if i actually get that brave/crazy! don't want to end up hurting my back again but he just loves to play in the water.
we had a fabulous time while K was here and max just adores her. we stayed pretty busy while she was here and she even babysat one night so papa and i could see the last harry potter.
max is "talking" up a storm. he repeats a lot of things but they all sound pretty similar. he did start up with a new sound last week and i'm thinking it might be book but i'm not really sure. his favorite thing to do is point at something and and say "that" wanting you to tell him what it is. he knows all of his body parts, including his junk and his butt...i'm so proud!! he's also starting to be able to distinguish the different ships in his starwars book...papa couldn't be happier!!
max loves to zerbert us and he even loves to give baby J zerberts!

as for the picture at the top, its K and my little beast with his cheese face on! my brain is too addled right now to use all my mad photo skillz so auto it is and anytime the flash comes out...out comes the cheese face...we might have to work on that:)
no time to proof read...the beast is awake, please forgive any mistakes!

picture catch up!

mama took a photography class yesterday so she could learn how to learn all the fun features on the fancy DSLR. it turned out to be 2 hours outside in very hot humid weather, not ideal for an almost 7 month pregnant lady. the second hour was a walking field trip...holy buckets, i was a hot sweaty mess by the time we finished. hopefully some of the information actually sank in...i'll admit it though, most of the time i was thinking i would rather be inside:)
my BFF, K, gets here tuesday so we are all super excited about that!! she is coming for quick visit between jobs...she got a new job teaching at our old university...go K!!!
knock on every piece of wood you see and say a prayer to any god you might have, but sleeping the last 2 nights has gone pretty good. he cries for a minute or two, gets out of bed to check the door, then climbs back in bed, stops crying, maybe gets out again but gets right back in and precedes to sleep the rest of the night...now, i say sleep but its really hard to tell what he's doing in there with the monitor so far away:) i think we're making progress...woot!!!! last night he even reached for the bed a bit when it was time to put him down:)
eta (wrote this all a day after the above): last night was great at bedtime. max reached for the bed after his songs and didn't utter a peep when we walked out. papa said it was the best birthday present evah!!!
so much for my photography class, i took total crap pictures of baby J's room but i'm going to put them up anyway:(


here is max's new set up

here are some more pics from our trip to cali
hangin' at the pool!

the whole family!

the only one the kiddos would look at the camera!

i have a video of max and brenna jumping on the bed but will have to get that uploading at another time as i think the beast just awoke:) enjoy!!

oh, my!

i don't even know where to start:) we've had some crazy times around these parts for almost the past month!
my parents arrived on june 19 to help get baby J's room all painted and ready to go. we (they) got it painted in a day and the chair rail in the next day. the nursery furniture was delivered and we got the pics and shelves hung...woot!! my sister and her family arrived on the 23rd so we had a house full...6 adults and 2 toddlers...did i mention max was a hot mess because his top molars were breaking through and i think it was a lot of commotion for him? the cousins took about a day to warm up to each other and then got along smashingly:)

we got the water table out one day for the kiddos to play in...brenna doesn't like to get her face wet and max loves to wield to sprinkler so that caused issues but overall it went well!

family pic thanks to our dear friends the Rs who gladly came over sunday morning to take a group photo

my family all left on the 27th and we prepared to get on a plane at 545am on the 28th...oh, did i mention, luke woke up sick on the 27th...awesome! i got about 4 hours sleep and max was having his first good nights sleep in a week but we had to wake him up at 4am. schlepping through the airport, i managed to strain/hurt my back so that was super fun. max did okay on the flight, could have been better, could have been worse. we landed, grandma S picked mama and max up and papa got in a cab to go to work. we went back to her hotel so max could stretch his legs and we could let traffic die down a bit. about an hour later it was back into the carseat for a 2 hour ride to G&G S. max slept part of the way so that was good. we arrived and max had a great time finding all the low lying pretties that were still laying about. what he loved even more were all the electronics and buttons granddad had to push:) the first night to bed was a disaster...max freaked his freak when i put him in the crib and eventually crawled out after about 15 min. rocked him to sleep and he ended up sleeping in bed with me from midnight on:( poor little guy. sleep was pretty rough while we were away. my back was still bothering me...boo! on a happy note, max loved the pool, learned to shred and loved the musical clock they had. things got better once papa arrived on friday as well as his sister and her family. max excelled at the pool with papa's encouragement!
here is a video of max blowing bubbles in the pool

and here is a video of him getting dunked:)

amelie really seemed to enjoy max (i think he was a great substitute for her puppy, fifa!) and max seemed to like her as long as she didn't get too close:) she's 8 months old and seriously one of the prettiest babies i have ever seen. i have pics from the weekend but haven't gotten them onto the computer yet.
we finally made it back home...schlepping through the airport aggravated my back again and max had a little tougher time on the plane going home. once we got home though, the kid was ecstatic! we were all really happy to be home!!! we tried to do a regular bedtime routine but the kid lost it and out of the crib he climbed...poop! we rocked him to sleep and decided we would need to convert to a toddler bed. he's been in it for about 5 nights now...its going okay but not great. the first night we stayed with him until he was asleep and he slept all night. we did the same the second night and we were up for 2 hours in the middle of the night...yuck. the third night and subsequent nights we've been crying it out. he cried for about 20-25 min the first couple of nights while knocking on the door crying for dada. he then curled up by the door and slept on the floor with the lights on. last night he finally discovered he could roam around his room...down came the monitor so i'm not really sure where he slept. he woke up and cried around midnight for a bit but is still sleeping now. he turns the lights on for awhile but then shuts then back off...i guess when he ready to sleep? oh, and i think he is starting to cut his canines...the kid can't catch a break.
so that's what is going on in these parts...super fun right?!?! my back is better but not 100% so that is really annoying...i got a massage and it helped a little but was not the miracle cure i was hoping for...i might actually have to break down and call the dr and possible go see a chiro.
i don't have pics of baby J's room or max's new set up yet but hopefully over the weekend i can get back on and just do some pics!
this was the first morning we were home...pure joy!!