Getting So Big!

Maxwell is 6 weeks now and I can't believe how big he's getting. I had to break out his 3-6 month clothing already since some of his 0-3 month stuff is already getting too small. His 1 month appointment was optional so I opted not to go so I don't know exaclty how much he weighs, but I'm guessing he's over 11 pounds now. He's definatley not going hungry around here. He's smiling at everyone these days and it's so cute! I just love his little grin.

He's also doing pretty well in the sleep department. Not in the amount he sleeps, but he sleeps in his own bed. When I had E, I was so tired that I let him sleep in the bed with us since it was a lot easier to feed him and he slept better. But by the time he was 3 months old, I was even more tired since I slept with one eye open all the time to be sure he wasn't being smothered by Ry or by a blanket. So we ended up having to do the whole sleep training thing and it was not fun. This time around I swore that I would not do that again. Well, when Max came home we put him in the pack-n-play and things were not good. He ended up sleeping on someone's chest or in the swing all night. Plus with all his reflux it didn't help out the sleep situation at all. Well, now he's on his medicine and it's working so we've started putting him in his crib at night and he'll actually sleep there! He wakes us every 2 hours on the dot. It is so nice to have him in his own bed, in his own room so we can all sleep better. If he would just stretch out the time a little more then that would be heavenly! All in time. I'm just so happy we're not in a 1 bedroom apartment like we were with E. It just makes life so nice!

Halloween/Birthday/Blessing

This weekend has been a VERY VERY busy weekend. I left off on Friday with my visit to the urgent care to recheck my thumb. Everything is getting better. Well, that evening poor little Maxwell started feeling the effects of the antibiotics and was pretty much inconsolable for hours. Ry put him in the Bjorn and took him Trick or Treating with Ethan so he would fall asleep and I could pass out candy.
It was a gorgeous night on Halloween! It was about 80 degrees so I sat out in a camping chair in my driveway and enjoyed the perfect weather. E and Ry even had to come back to the house to take off his undershirt and to get drinks since it was pretty hot in his Incredible suit. I grew up living up North so we had to pack on the turtle necks and then wear a coat over our costume so this whole 80 degree thing is new to me, but you don't hear me complaining. Man, I love Texas...seriously...I love Texas. Anyway...that night Maxwell didn't sleep at all because his poor digestive tract was going crazy from the antibiotics. I felt so bad and I couldn't really do much to help it. I just held him and tried to comfort him.

Saturday was E's 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday E!!! Ry took him to basketball, but they were setting up for a reception at the church so they went to get birthday donuts instead. Then he came home and opened presents. He's been begging for Gator Golf for weeks so he was so excited when he opened it. Doesn't the look on his face look like a typical three year old?!

We have been putting all weekend long and the fun just won't stop. Plus, if it helps his putting who can complain. Which I have a whole other post to do about E and his putting skills. That will be another day. Anyway...Later that day my parents came up to help me get the house ready for Max's baby blessing. I put on a small lunch after church for our family to celebrate the blessing and also E's birthday. So I needed help getting the house put together and getting the food prepped. Well, Max was so uncomfortable and upset that it was a switch off with my mom. I'd cook while she held Max and then she'd clean while I held him and we'd switch back and forth all afternoon. Poor Max! The guys worked on the yard and got it all ready for fall/winter. It's all weeded and mulched and I even have flowers! Yeah! Oh and I have to show a picture of the birthday cake that I did up for E. I think it turned out so fun. E went crazy when he saw it. He wanted to eat it immediately, but unfortunately we had to wait for the blessing lunch so I had to watch out for little fingers trying to poke it.



I made the base out of 9 inch rounds that were cut in half and frosted together. The cannons are Swiss roll cakes, the cannon balls are whoppers, the sides are pirouette cookies, and the island is crunched up graham crackers. My mom had the pirate accessories from her cake decorating stuff so they added a great touch. It was just great to see E's face when he saw it when he woke up from his nap. Classic!

Sunday was Maxwell's baby blessing day. I was so worried that he'd cry through his whole blessing since he'd had such rough days the 2 days before. Luckily it looks like his tummy is getting used to the antibiotics. He has been so much better! He was perfectly quite during his whole blessing and he even slept through most of church. I'm so glad he feels better!

The blessing was wonderful and it was so nice to have family here to come support and participate. Ry's parents were in Australia when we blessed E so I think Ry was really happy to have them here. We also blessed E in Ohio so none of his other extended family were there so this was quite the gathering this time around. Unfortunately my house couldn't accomadate everyone for lunch so we just had grandparents, great grandparents, and Uncle Matt and Aunt Molly. Lunch was great and E loved playing with his cousins. He was also so excited to dig into his cake and open his presents. He got some pretty fun things and I love that he's playing with them intently as I type.

So this weekend was super busy, but super great! Now I need some major recuperation time. It might actually happen too with Max feeling better and E having some new toys to play with! Glory day!

Funny Eism

Here's another funny moment in E's life:

Last Saturday Ry and I were asleep and E came into our room to wake us up. Neither of us wanted to get out of bed so E started playing in our room. Ry had his suitcase out since he just got into town the night before so E stood on top of it and shouts..."Babies and Gentlemen! Boys and Gurls! On your mark, get set, go!" I immediately started laughing and ask him to say that again. He just cracks me up! I'll have to get this one on tape!

Infectious...continued

Last night the streaking of infection didn't move up my arm at all. So no ER visit for me, phew! I headed in to see the doctor again early this morning. And thank heavens for wonderful friends!!! Kaitlyn took E for me so I only had to take Maxwell with me. Bless you, Kaitlyn!!! The doctor I saw the first time wasn't on today so I was seen by another doctor today. Thank goodness I marked my arm where the streaking was so the doctor could see that it hadn't progressed. It's even lightened quite a bit. She thinks that things look like they're getting better, but they have to see me again in 48 hours to be sure that things are continuing to look good. So I'll be sitting in the urgent care on Sunday right before my Max's baby blessing. Help us all! I asked her if it really was necessary if everything looked better and she said that I HAD to come in since this is not something to mess with. So the streaking is better, my thumb is still twice the normal size, but the throbbing has subsided. Max hasn't seemed to have any trouble with the antibiotics in my milk, but I'm still keeping a look out for any reaction so we'll see. Right now I'm just looking forward to a fun Halloween night with the fam!

Infectious!

My thumb started hurting last night really bad and I had no idea why. It started swelling, got really red, and throbbed. The only thing I could think of that could have hurt it was picking out my pumpkin at the grocery store and the stem had a lot of briars on it and it pricked me and maybe it was still stuck in there. Ry and I both looked at it and couldn't figure out what it was and the pain localized right on the pad of my thumb and it looked like there was a little bump there but couldn't really tell. The next morning there was a white looking bump the size of a little pimple on my thumb. So anyway, long story short...it got to feeling worse during the day and my mom came up today so she was looking at it too. Well, we noticed that I had a red streak going up my arm from my thumb and that's the moment that I high tailed it to the urgent care. The doctor took one look at me and basically told me I was screwed. First of all, I'm allergic to sulfa and second of all I'm breastfeeding. Shoot! Basically he said that what I have is some sort of bacteria that is now traveling up my arm in the blood stream and that I need to have antibiotics heavy enough to wipe out Staph and other types of serious infections. He thinks that the pumpkin that I picked up had some kind of bacteria and then when I got pricked the bacteria made its way into my bloodstream or I could have been bit by a spider. So he found an antibiotic that I could have while breastfeeding and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will work. I got a shot today and then I'll be on a course of another antibiotic for a week. He said he wants to see me first thing in the morning to see if the streaking has gotten better. He told me that if it gets any worse in the night then I need to head straight to the ER. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous right now. I'm really hoping that everything will be alright tonight and I won't have to go to the ER and be on high dose antibiotics and have to stop breastfeeding. I'll keep you posted.

Max Update

I've gotten a lot of questions about how little Max is doing now so here's a little update on what's been going on. Well, I have noticed a big difference on the reflux medication. It's a lot easier to feed him and he doesn't cry as much as he did when he first visited the doctor. He is starting to sleep better at night the past couple days too. He wakes up every 2 hours which is tons better than before when he was waking up constantly. I just need him to stretch that out a little more and take less time getting back to sleep. Even though he wakes up every 2 hours, I'm only sleep about 1 hour in between. So 4-5 hours of interrupted sleep is not great, but it is more than before so I'll take it. He's starting to smile now and his smile is so cute! I just love it! He especially loves to smile at E and that just cracks me up. I'm sure E will be the source of a lot of Max's entertainment throughout their lives. So all in all things are going pretty well these past few days!

Street-or-Treat

Our parents' ward (yes, Ry's parents and my parents are in the same ward, how crazy!)had a really fun Halloween party a little while ago that we were able to attend. They had it out at this really cool barn and since there wasn't a parking lot to "Trunk or Treat" they had everyone take positions around the cul-de-sac and "Street or Treat." We used to live with my parents for a little while when we first moved to Texas so it was great to be back to see our friends in the ward. So here are some pictures of my little Incredibles. Aren't they so cute?
E was so excited to go around and get candy. He still talks about it and wants to go again so bad. Thank goodness Halloween is on Friday so we can take him again. It will be a sad day for him when all the treats end. Here is a picture of him getting candy from both of his Papas.
And here is Maxwell carrying his own candy around.
We had a really great time with our families and our friends and loved the Halloween festivities.

P.S. Maxwell started smiling on Friday, so cute!

Pumpkin Patch

Tuesday was a gorgous day and I really really wanted to take E to the pumpkin patch this year so my mom helped me pack of the kids and we headed out there for a fun morning outing. E LOVED it and it was so nice for me to get out and be a real person in the real world again! We listened to some kids Halloween music the whole way there and by the 8th round of "Adams Family" I was happy to turn it off. E jumped in the the bounce house stuff for quite awhile and just had a blast. Then we took him for a wagon ride through the pumpkin patch and then we let him pick out a pumpkin for Maxwell and for himself. He was so thrilled to pick just the right one and wanted to put it in the car all by himself. So funny! I found this old picture of E at the pumpkin patch 2 years ago, I can't believe how big he is now! Geez!










Then we stuck E in jail and told him to make a sad face. This picture just makes me laugh.
We were going to stay and get snow cones, but the yellow jackets were terrible and I didn't want the E or the baby around swarms of yellow jackets so we opted to go to McDonald's for lunch and to play. Maxwell LOVES the Bjorn so this trip was really easy. He just fell asleep and went wherever we did and didn't make a peep. Thank you makers of Baby Bjorn! E lived in that thing his first 7 months of his life and I have a feeling that Maxwell will follow suit. Anyway...it was a really fun day at the pumpkin patch and we are ready for Halloween!

1 Month Old!!!

On one hand it feels like it has flown by, on the other hand it feels like my days never end. That's the life of a mom! Things have been better the past 2 days so I'm enjoying the break while I can since you never know with babies. My mom says he's just like me as a baby so I guess I'm getting pay back for putting my mom throught the ringer. My mom came up and helped me through the night while Ry was gone and that was soooo nice! She totally understands what I'm going through so it's nice to have her by my side. I got to sleep from 10-4! Heaven! It's amazing how different you feel when you get sleep! I was like a new woman! Max has been sleeping from 10-1 then gets up and sleeps from 2-4 and then stays up for awhile and then crashes around 6...just in time for E to get up. I've been sleeping him in his crib, no more sleeping on my chest or in the bed. It takes quite a few tries to get him to stay in there, but he'll go down after awhile. He still rolls over when you put him on his tummy so we'll see if he continues to do that as he grows. He's gotten really chubby and I'm guessing he's over 10 pounds by now. Happy 1 month little Maxwell!

Baby Incredible!

The other day I put a little red outfit on Maxwell and E asked me, "Oh, does Maxwell have on his Incredible suit?" What a great idea Mr. E! I totally didn't have anything for Maxwell to wear for Halloween and I wasn't really going to worry about it, but E's comment gave me hope. My mom had some felt and she totally constructed the Incredibles insignia and sewed it onto his little red outfit. Didn't she do an awesome job?! Now I have two Incredible boys running around my house these days. Pictures to come!

Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'

E disappeared into the office before church a couple Sundays ago and this is what I found him doing. He was totally engrossed in his "work" and told me that he was "busy working" and that I needed to leave him alone. I think all he would need is his own blackberry and he'd be set. I just love how hard he's concentrating and you can tell by his tongue in the second picture. I can just picture him at school in a few years doing the same exact thing.

E's First Football Game

Last week E had a fun adventure with daddy. It was so funny to see Ry come home from work and just be thrilled and giddy to take his son to the football game and have the full experience. I thought it was so cute. Ry got tickets to the BYU vs. TCU game so he took E for his very first football game. E talked to me on the phone on the ride home and told me all about it...a big frog, a "tiger" (cougar), football players, hot dogs, cheering, etc. He was so animated and excited to tell me about it. I could tell he had a great time!

Life Is Rough...

...for me and for Maxwell. Things have just been really hard these past few days. I haven't really noticed too much of a difference with the reflux medication. He still cries a lot and doesn't sleep at night and it just seems like he's crying in pain. His air swallowing at feedings has gotten a lot better and he's a lot better to burp lately so that's been good. I just don't know what to do for him. He doesn't take a binky for comfort, he'll only take one when he's not crying (go figure). He doesn't really enjoy being swaddled. He eats like a champ and would eat all day long, but he just ends up eating until he's so full that he's uncomfortable and cries and then spits up a ton. He's just one of those babies that can't be consoled once he gets going. I don't necessarily know if he has colic, but it kind of feels like it. His temperament is a lot like Ethan's was when he was a baby, but Ethan was a lot easier to console and he would take a binky and liked to be swaddled. The doctor said it would take 1-2 weeks to see some results from the medication so maybe things will change in the next few weeks. His naps are pretty good during the day. He'll sleep for 2-3 hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon in his bed. It's just that his naps aren't 2-3 hours straight, he's restless and he'll cry and he'll go back to sleep with a little bit of help. At night he only sleeps in 30 min.-2 hour stretches and he'll only sleep on your chest. It doesn't matter how many times you put him down in his bed when he's totally out, he'll be up in 10 minutes. And then when he wakes up it takes a good 1-2 hours to get him back to sleep. I just don't want him to be in pain and I'd love for him to sleep better (so we can both benefit). As bad as this all sounds, he IS the cutest little baby ever and that's probably why Heavenly Father makes babies that way so thier moms would just love them to pieces. Well, send us your prayers and positive vibes!

Halloween Fun

My mom came up today to spend time with the boys and to let me catch some zzz's and while she was here she helped E decorate an edible haunted house. He loved putting candy on the house in different patterns...and sneaking some too.

His mouth was totally purple by the time they were done. I think it turned out really cute and E loved it! It was also quite entertaining to watch him!

Frenectomy

That is the procedure that poor little Maxwell had at the doctor today. Sounds pretty crazy, but it really wasn't too bad. Basically, his frenulum, the little piece of skin that holds your tongue down, was attached all the way to the tip of his tongue (hence the term "tongue tied"). Some babies don't feed very well with it attached and later in life they develop speech problems. Max has been gaining weight just fine so I wasn't too worried about that, but he has had a lot of problems with swallowing air when he eats and then being extremely fussy and not sleeping too well. So I took him in today to see what the doctor wanted to do. She didn't think his tongue was the biggest culprit for our problems, it's acid reflux. So now we're putting him on Prevacid and elevating his mattress. We did clip his tongue though just in case it was contributing to the problem and to prevent any possible issues with his speech when he gets older. The procedure was pretty quick and very little blood was involved just a little clip and he was done. It was also good to see how much he weighed since it eased my mind that his feeding issues weren't causing any problems. He basically gained over a pound in a little over a week! At his last appointment on October 2nd, he was 8 lbs 3 oz and this appointment he was 9 lbs 9 oz. Not bad, little guy! The doctor said it will take a week or two to see results from the medication so hopefully I'll be getting a little bit more sleep at night and little Maxwell's painful moments will end.

Max's Photo Shoot

Well, our cousin Toni is at it again! Last year she did our family pictures (as seen in my header) and this year it's little Maxwell. Go check out her blog for a little preview.

Funny Eism

Today Ry gave me a kiss in the kitchen and E immediately shouted, "Stop kissing, I'm eating over here!" The kid isn't even 3 yet and he says stuff like this? Where does it come from?! He's also started asking "why" all the time...I'm not looking forward to the "why" phase. This should be interesting.

Happy Birthday Ry!

It's Ry's 28th birthday today and in order to celebrate his special day I wanted to make a blog post just for him. 6 years ago tomorrow we got engaged on my 20th birthday and when he proposed he did "20 Reasons Why He Fell in Love With Me." So this year I want to do 28 Reasons Why I Love My Ry." I picked this picture because I think it's hilarious. It's from our trip to Australia and we went to this aviary where the birds are free to fly around and eat food out of your hands and all that. Well, if you know Ry, you know how much he "loves" animals and I can just imagine what he was thinking at the moment this picture was taken. It just makes me laugh. Love you!

28 Reasons I Love Ry

1. He loves me for being me- He doesn't try to change me, he doesn't expect me to act a certain way. He just let's me be who I am and loves me for it.
2. He’s a great dad- I always wanted to marry someone who was great with kids and I got that with Ry. He truly enjoys spending time with the boys and he always makes a special effort to let them know he loves them.
3. He’s driven
4. He’s naturally good at a lot of things- It always seems like whenever he tries something, he's usually good at it. I think his brothers got mad at him a lot for always beating them in video games. Thankfully his skills aren't just in video games, he's good at a lot of other things.
5. He’s athletic- He hasn't had too much time for athletics because of his travel and church schedule, but he loves being active and I love that about him.
6. He’s very clever and witty- the next two go together. I just love his quick wit and his clever puns
7. I love his sense of humor
8. He tries to really understand me- Despite the fact that Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, he really tries to understand where I'm coming from.
9. He’s humble
10. He’s a great teacher- this is one of his great talents in the church and elsewhere. I have learned so many great tips for my Gospel Doctrine class.
11. He looks out for others
12. He faithfully serves in the church
13. He’s always trying to better himself
14. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff- That is something that I always need help with. I'm such a worrier about all sorts of things and Ry is constantly telling me "What's the worst that can happen?" He helps me gain the perspective that I need.
15. He’s a dreamer-This is something that I love and this sometimes is something that I'm not particularly fond of. But for the most part I love that he's always looking towards great things. What is a man without his dreams?
16. His personality compliments mine perfectly- He excels where I lack and vice versa, it's great how that worked out.
17. He gives the benefit of the doubt- He's never quick to judge, he always looks for the good in others and on the bright side.
18. He’s genuine
19. He’s honest
20. He’s a people person- I never have to worry about going to any gathering of any sort.
21. He loves my cooking- thank goodness, and I love to cook for him
22. He’s frugal- and so am I so that makes a great pair
23. He’s smart- He always jokes that I got all the smarts in the family, but he's the only one in the family that ever made the "Dean's List" and he's the only one that was in the "gifted program (LEAP)" so I think the smarts go to him.
24. He’s a great communicator- he's so easy to talk to and he really helps me to be a better communicator too.
25. He’s succeeds in all he does
26. He’s sensitive
27. He’s always fresh- He takes at least 2 showers a day and I love that he's always clean
28. He’s positive- I rarely, if ever, hear a negative thing out of his mouth. He's almost always happy when he comes home, he always has nice things to say about others, and he's happy.

Mr. Smiley

Maybe this little guy just has a lot of gas, but he smiles all the time in his sleep. I know he won't socially smile for a couple more weeks, but I still pretend that he's smiling on purpose. Sometimes he'll just be sitting there asleep and then he'll smile and then do this little chuckle. Maybe his dreams are really funny or maybe he'll naturally be our family comedian. Only time will tell.

2 Week Appointment

No, he's not 2 weeks yet, but today was the only appointment I could get so we went ahead and scheduled. Little Maxwell is 10 days old now and is already past his birth weight. He's 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 1/4 inches. His little cord fell off today so he's been cleared for the tub and everything looks great. Last night we put him down for "tummy time" and he ended up rolling over! I couldn't believe it so we tried it again and he totally rolled over again! I've heard of premies doing this in the NICU so it's just a flukey thing, but he is really strong. I remember burping him in the hospital over my shoulder and he was totally moving his little head around. He'll have to be strong to keep up with his brother so I'm sure he's been blessed in the regards so he can survive around here. Maxwell is a really good baby. He loves to eat and he's pretty peaceful. He just DOES NOT SLEEP! I mean he does, but for only 1-2 hour stretches at night, if that. I'm pretty exhausted and I really don't know how I will be able to function if this goes on for a really long time. Thankfully I've done this before and I know this doesn't last forever. So send your sleep vibes our way!