Max - 3 Months

Max's latest...
- holds his hands together (so cute!).
- has found his hands and sucks on his fingers.
- still loves his swing.
- will fall asleep completely on hos own when swaddled in his crib.
- knows when he wakes up it is time to eat.
- loves to "talk" to us.
- smiles easily at everyone.
- sleeps a 9-10 hour stretch at night.
- lets out a huge burp after eating with no patting at all.
- so happy and content as long as he is fed and his diaper is changed.
- uses his toes to scoots up on his back.
- never went bald.. Yay! (excerpt for a little patch he rubbed off in the back.)
- pushes his feet against anything they touch - and loves t9 stand in your lap with your support.

Halloween Fun

For fun we did a few Halloween-y activities. We made spinning spirits for Family Home Evening after talking about the Holy Ghost. I think I'll make that a tradition!

Then for lunch we made jack-o-lantern quesadillas. Harvey wanted an angry face.. Easy and fun.

And then after the kids found some glow sticks they wanted to take them in the bathtub and turn the lights off. I remembered the waterproof lights I bought for the glow-in-the-dark egg hunt around Easter, and I thought it would be fun to take a "spooky bath" with them since they were brighter. It was so fun! The kids put them in a bunch of different toys and had a blast.

And, the kids had fun trying on the old costumes from years past...

I headed to Saver's to see if I could find a good fur coat for my Cruella costume, and Harvey came with me. He fell in love with this pirate hat, and I couldn't complain about paying $2.99, so we brought it home!

Pumpkin Picking

We headed to my favorite pumpkin patch again this year. You can't beat that it has so many fun things to do... for free!

I thought Avery's first pumpkin choice was hilarious. I mean, where did she even find that thing? In a field of plump, beautiful, orange pumpkins, she picks the moldy one.

Amid their search, I had the kids pose together on a hay bale. Love how this one turned out, I think I'll blow it up and frame it as a fall decoration. :)

All smiles..

The cutest pumpkin in the patch... It got kind of crazy trying to carry Max's car seat after he fell asleep, along with wheeling the pumpkins all over while I followed the kids from tractor to tractor. I finally got wise and put the baby in the wheelbarrow and made less work for myself. Those pumpkins nestled his car seat right in and it was actually really secure. One lady walked by and asked me where she could find "one of those cute pumpkins." It was cute. 

After we got the pumpkins home, we got to work carving them. Daddy and Harvey worked on one pumpkin...

And Mommy and Avery worked on the other. Avery wasn't too sure about getting the guts out.

I messed with my camera settings on a tripod for this shot and I love how it turned out!! Although it was a little tricky with wiggly kids. :)

Max: 2 Months

I am already feeling overwhelmed by this chalkboard photo project... and one of my favorite things about Harvey's monthly photos is that I can see him in my favorite outfits that he only wore for a short time. So, I'm bagging the above project. I'm just going to take a few snapshots of Max each month in my favorite little clothes of his, and call it good. :)

Max's latest...
- tries to talk to us
- can go to sleep pretty well on his own
- loves his swing
- took a bottle like a çhamp... from Mom!
- still spits up, but only right after eating.
- has almost mastered the burp, unless he is asleep. Then it is impossible.
- sleeps a 7-8 hour stretch at night.
- loves Harvey and Avery, and gives them big smiles.
 - still doesn't really like being strapped in his car seat
- is very strong. He loves to kick his legs and keep them straight during a diaper change. And he can hold his head up really well.
- is the happiest baby we have ever seen!
- loves watching the fish in our tanks.
- can only be unswaddled for a while when awake. His arms start flailing and he gets upset.
- doesn't like being left alone in a room and will let us know!

Max: 1 Month

I found this tradition on Pinterest recently, and I decided to copy the idea to document Max's monthly milestones. The only problem? I didn't have a chalkboard wall. I tried to come up with a way to cheat - write everything on a small chalkboard, scan it in and merge the two photos in Photoshop - but I decided that was way too complicated. Instead, I decided to paint my own chalkboard wall in Max's nursery. (Yes, I am crazy.) So, in between naps we ventured to Home Depot to purchase a pretty green gallon of paint. (With all three kids, I thought the free popcorn would distract them, but someone squished the acrylic paint bottle I brought to match and got it all over the floor. Seriously embarrassing, but I survived.) When we finally got home, I mixed the paint with some Plaster of Paris I had leftover from Harvey's birthday party (following these instructions), and rolled it on the wall. After letting it cure, lightly sanding the whole wall, and "priming" it with chalk my wall was ready. It really does work, by the way... except you should probably choose a medium to dark color to begin with for the white chalk to show up really well. I had to really emphasize my strokes for it to show up in the photo.

I made the above baby book page using my Milestone Templates. Check them out!

Here is the official baby announcement...

Princess & The Pea Party

Avery's birthday fell around the same time we were planning on blessing Max, and I decided it would be much easier for our family to come to one combined party. I debated on a theme - both girly and masculine - and finally decided on Princess and the Pea. As in, "our sweet pea." Justin didn't think all of the pink was very masculine, but oh well. I didn't do a whole lot of things that had to do with the theme, but I think it all went well together. Here's the invite:

I made these delicious strawberry lime cupcakes (recipe from Your Cup of Cake, which is seriously my favorite cookbook ever!) and added a green lemonhead for the "pea".

I made the centerpieces out of pink roses and a huge bag of frozen peas. It was so easy, and I thought it added just enough theme for a big munch/mingle kind of party.

We normally bless our babies on Fast Sundays, which would have been perfect, because it fell exactly on Avery's birthday. But Justin found out that a work trip to the Philippines was scheduled over that day. I didn't want to wait another month (because of the combining parties issue) so we did it a week early. 

There was such a sweet spirit during the blessing. Max was a little angel during the blessing, and smiled a big grin when Justin held him up to show him off after the blessing. Here are some of the things that he was blessed with:

We are so happy that you have come into our family. Max, you have an anxious spirit that was very prepared for this time on earth, and you were anxious to come to earth to do Heavenly Father's work. We bless you with a healthy body, and a healthy mind that can understand things of the world, and things of the spirit. We bless you with the desire to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. It is such a choice gift and accountability. Seek out guidance from Heavenly Father through prayer, and be obedient to Heavenly Father's commandments. We bless that you'll be obedient to your parents. You have a great family support system. You were blessed to come to a family that loves you. Seek out guidance from your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  

I feel so blessed to have Max in our family. He really has the sweetest spirit, and just holding him and looking into his big brown eyes gives me so much joy!

I made everyone come outside for two group shots... a nice one, and a silly one. I love the silly one so much, it's framed in our house! We have the best family.

And, of course, we couldn't forget our tradition of "tossing" the guest of honor... (except that we don't actually toss the babies)

We had a potluck brunch, and it was delicious! Thanks everyone for bringing something to share!

After eating, we sang to Avery and let her open a few gifts. She was a little overwhelmed with all of the attention, and didn't know where to look. We finally got her to blow the candles out (after lighting them like 5 times due to the wind) and she devoured her cupcake.

We played Pin the Party Hat on Avery..

Afterward, the family hung out for a while playing the simplest game keeping a beach ball in the air. It was a great day!

Birthday pancakes on her actual birthday... (on the special plate)

Here are a few pictures of my little 2 year-old princess:

Avery,

I love your sweet and sassy personality.

You are so obedient! I am so grateful for your thoughtfulness and helpful attitude. You are always willing to bring me a binki, and even help Harvey to follow directions too!

You are really easy to get along with. Harvey loves to play with his little sister, and we often hear your "Otay, Hav", when he tells you his latest imaginative scheme.

You are really smart and you catch on quick when learning something new. You can get dressed, put on your socks and shoes, pour a drink, do puzzles, pick out the right color hair clip, and draw some amazing bubbles all by yourself.

I love taking you on errands with me - because you help me find things at the grocery store, and you stay right by me and don't run off!

You are so sweet with baby Max. He loves your soft kisses and hugs.

You are tough. You love to wrestle and play rough with Daddy, and love to get thrown onto the couch.

We love you so much!