Big Girl Bed

On Sunday, Jason and I decided to take the plunge and convert Alia's crib to a toddler bed. She absolutely loved it and the first thing she did was climb in and out of it about 20 times. So far, we have had one bed time and one nap time in the new bed and no issues with climbing out and exploring. We are hoping for a smooth transition because Alia really loves being snuggled up in her bed with her friends!

Fun in the Big Bath Tub

Max had his first bath in the big bath tub this weekend. The kids had swim lessons Saturday morning and Mommy and Daddy were going to be out that night so we just threw them both in the tub at the same time before naps that day to get the "pool" smell off of them. They had a ton of fun and Max could barely contain himself. He loves doing anything that big sister is doing. Alia really liked helping to wash and rinse Max's hair. Luckily, Max is a pretty patient guy when it comes to that sort of thing :-)

Playing at the Park

It was an absolutely beautiful day here in Portland! It has been so long since we have had real sunshine ... like the kind that necessitates sunscreen! It was wonderful! We decided to pack a picnic and have dinner at our favorite park. Alia seems so grown up now. She ate her sandwich and then went off to play without needing a Mommy or Daddy shadow ... until she needed someone to push her on the swings of course. Max enjoyed his first time crawling on the grass, but mostly just liked being able to crawl over and get into things that he shouldn't!

Such a big girl!

Swinging from the monkey bars but not able to do any real "monkeying" yet.

Hmmm, this feels weird ....

Oh look, a paper bag full of garbage that I shouldn't get into! This looks like fun!

Max Pulling Up

Max and I came home from running some errands after dropping Alia off at school today and I started to put some things away while he was playing happily on the floor. I noticed that concerning silence, so I turned around the check on him and found him standing up at the coffee table. I grabbed my phone and took a picture really quick. Then about 10 minutes later he performed his little maneuver again and luckily I got it on video that time ....

Meal Time

Max - 8 Months

Max is 8 months old today! It is so hard to believe! I don't have any new height/weight stats this month, but will next month when he has his 9 month well child check with his doctor.

Max is learning to crawl. He can now crawl with his belly off of the ground and up on all fours, but is much faster army style. So, if he gets desperate he drops to his belly so he can get wherever he is going faster. He enjoys trying to eat shoes, magazines and anything else that Mommy, Daddy or big sister leave at his eye level.

He is enjoying finger foods more and more. He LOVES bread, cheese and banana. He tolerated me giving him scrambled egg yolk, peas and strawberry. He now has two little teeth on the bottom and drools like its his job! He is finally down to 2 naps and is taking an almost normal length nap in the afternoon. I am absolutely loving this because now he and Alia nap at the same time ... woo hoo!

Max's incision/scar is healing well. He has a follow up appointment with the neurosurgeon this summer. It is a possibility that they will do another MRI just to check things out, but I'm really hoping that it isn't necessary. Going through the sedation part of the MRI is possibly worse than going through surgery.

Pics by Daddy

Here are a few pictures taken by Jason while I was away last weekend :-)

Play Time

Here are a few video blurbs for you. I've just been busting out the video camera during play time lately, trying to capture just the day to day stuff that goes on here. I feel like this year is going by so fast and I don't want to forget all of the funny little things that happen here each day.

Papaw's Visit

My dad came in for a short visit this weekend. We had lots of fun! We did a lot of hanging out at the house and playing with the kids, but we also took the kids swimming at his hotel pool twice, went to Outdoors In, had bagels at Panera and even squeezed in a grown-up night out as well.