Surprise, Surprise!

Several months ago, I approached my SIL Tara about

throwing a surprise party for our husbands' 30th birthday.

Being the party planner extraordinaire that she is,

she quickly agreed and we set to work deciding details for 

a fabulous fete for our hubbies. 

Fast forward to Saturday - party day!
Thank goodness Mark and Clay's family was in town
to help us distract the boys while we got everything ready.
Apparently we needed lots of help. ;)
(It is difficult to stall those two - they're just too darn efficient!)

Those last few moments before the boys arrived were quite nerve-wracking, I'm not going to lie.
But once they walked through the door
to what they thought was a swim party for our Bible class...

We knew it was a success!

 Thanks, Brandon, for capturing our moment of victory -
and the rest of the party!

(Truth be told, Mark was totally surprised.
Clay, however, had stumbled upon a couple of emails and texts
between Tara and I about a month earlier and
had been playing dumb ever since! He really put us
through the ringer when he actually announced
the party in Bible class - which we weren't planning to do.
Guess I'm not as good of a secret-keeper as I thought!)

But surprised or not, these boys were well-celebrated.
Over 50 people came out that night to partake in the festivities -
and lots of their favorite foods!

We even had a little slideshow of
birthdays through the years, thanks to the boys' cousin Laura!

There was also a fun photo booth,
which I think we mostly used for family pictures - ha!
(A big thank you to my sister Rachel for manning it the whole night!)

And lots and lots of swimming!
The Barrows were so gracious to let us invade
their home/ backyard for the evening.
The kiddos loved it, for sure. :)

It was so much fun to celebrate the two coolest 30-year-olds we know. :)

Happy birthday, Mark and Clay!

Our Main Man

This post is quite belated,

but I felt the need to give a shout out to our main main

even if it is two weeks late. :)

It's funny to me that Clay's birthday and Father's Day are so close

because this guy is the most laid back man in the world when it comes to celebrations.

He didn't even bat an eye when I asked him how he wanted

to celebrate his back-to-back occasions:

dinner at Rudy's, watching the Spurs, and strawberry cake.

Um...aren't you forgetting something??? I thought.

 

 

But that's what he wanted - and that's what we did.

And he loved it.

It just didn't seem quite enough for the man

who works hard to provide a comfortable life for his family,

who never hesitates when asked to play even though he's just

walked through the door after a long day,

who is so generous with his time to help others,

who brings calm and perspective to my worries,

who adores our son - and thinks I'm pretty special, too. :)

 

We are so very grateful to have Clay as our main man.

I'm not sure we'd make it without him!

37 & 38 Weeks

Here's the bump at 38 weeks with Max

and at 38 weeks with Baby Brother:

 

(Sorry, we missed week 37.)

How far along? 38 weeks and 4 days. Eeek!

How big is the baby? At my past few appointments,
the midwives have said that this baby is measuring ahead of schedule -
either that or I just have a really big uterus.

Are you in maternity clothes? Yes, and I'm sick of them all.

How do you feel physically? I feel stretched to the max, y'all.

I seriously don't know where I am going to put any more of this growing boy!

Sleep? I have reached the stage where I fall asleep

if I sit down somewhere for more than five minutes. Ha!

Unfortunately, however, it does not seem to apply to the bed -

I'm surprised Clay can get any sleep with all my tossing and turning!

Miss anything? Just feeling comfortable.

And not sweating buckets!

(You can only use the "pregnancy glow" excuse for so long.)

Feeling movement of the baby? Surprisingly, yes!

It is definitely not all that comfortable when Baby Brother

decides to stretch out his legs into my ribcage - ouch. :/

Food cravings? There is just not much room for meals

AND a baby in my abdomen these days so I am not all that hungry.

I've also had nausea on and off the past few weeks,

so that's made mealtime super-fun.

Gender of the baby? BOY.

Mood/ thoughts? I am ready to not be pregnant anymore - can you tell?!!
But at the same time, I'm not so sure how I feel about getting from here to there.
Mostly I'm just questioning my ability to deliver this baby
the way I've pictured in my head
(which, if I learned anything from last time, will probably not happen exactly).
I'm also fearing possible complications and a repeat c-section,
despite all the things I've done to prevent it this time.
I know that in the end it will all be okay, 

and I'm trying not to let the worry clouds hang around too much. :)

TWO YEARS.

I cannot believe it has been two whole years

since we welcomed this sweet baby boy into our family.

My, how the time flies when you're having fun!

(or chasing a toddler :))

It was such a joy to celebrate our little man today.

I think he enjoyed all the special attention -

and his little party hat. :)

 At little man's well-check today,
he weighed in at 32 pounds and measured exactly 3 feet tall!
Still around the 90th percentilte for his stats,
which our pediatrician (and many others) predicts
make him a good candidate for linebacker in the future.

Max is still a good eater, though he definitely has his favorites.
He is pretty good about trying new things,
though it usually ends with a hilarious face of disgust
and a "Don't like it."

Sleeping is about the same - about 10 hours at night and a 1.5-2 hour nap.
He still takes a while to fall asleep (sometimes an hour!),
but I think Clay and I have learned our constant reminders
to go to sleep were just keeping him awake. :(
So we're not playing that game anymore and
he seems to be settling down more quickly.

Little man can take off his own socks and shoes -

and unfortunately sometimes his pants/ diaper.
He's also discovered that his shirts are now hanging
on the bottom rack of the closet, so he likes to go in there
and suggest outfits - usually the long-sleeved shirts!
He also likes to pick out his own socks when getting dressed,
which can be interesting since he has some
colorful striped ones that are often selected. :)

Max talks SOOOO much!
He can count to 10 and recognizes most colors.
The ABC song is mostly understandable,
and he will point out when he sees "lellers" somewhere (like on a sign).

A few new phrases:
"I need it" when he wants something.
"Two minutes" when he wants to keep doing something
(ie: "Color two minutes" after I just told him it's time to clean up)
"Mommy sing one song" when he's trying to stall at bedtime
(and I must admit, it usually works)
"See you la-ler" when one of us leaves or when he's going outside
"Go famer maket" - All. the. time. Seriously, this kid loves the farmer's market!

Max loves to color, and often asks for his "kay-ons and color book."
(It's funny because he mostly likes to scribble with a black or brown
crayon on the back cover of the coloring book. He doesn't care much
about the pictures - unless there's a bike.)

He is demonstrating a little mischievous streak,
which I honestly don't know what to do with.
One morning I woke to hear Max saying, "Outside, outside."
I thought that was a little weird - until I looked on the video monitor
and saw that he had pulled open the little screen
next to the window unit right by his bed and was sticking his hand outside!

He likes to "change" his baby doll's diaper,
which mostly means he strips the doll naked and then pulls
all of his diapers out of the changing table. Ha!

Cars are still one of his favorite things to play with.
He also LOVES the new train set he got for his birthday!

Despite the heat, little man loves to play outside -
especially now that he has a new "baket-bah" goal and tee ball stand!
He's also discovered the fun of chalk
(apparently his Cozy Coupe needed some racing stripes).
Climbing trees, watering the plants, and playing in the sandbox
are also popular requests.
 I am hoping for a mild summer so that I can stand
to be outside as much as Max wants to play!

  Oh, the personality in this one. ;)

It was been quite the ride these past two years
as this little bundle has taught us what it means to be parents.
We are so grateful for the smiles and the snuggles,
the snot and the screams (yes, even those),
and all the silliness that Maxwell James has brought into our lives.
Our hearts are full of more love than we ever thought possible,
and we can't wait to see what God has in store for this little man!

35 & 36 Weeks

Here's the bump at 35 and 36 weeks:

How far along? 36 weeks and 5 days

How big is the baby? Roughly the size of a watermelon,
about 21 inches long and 6.5 pounds.

Are you in maternity clothes? Duh!

How do you feel physically? Like I'm carrying around

a watermelon in my belly - ha! I tire easily, for sure,

and my feet are usually swollen and achy by the end of the day.

I'm also experiencing some interesting pains here and there,

which I can only guess mean my body is

preparing to have this baby. :)

Sleep? I am sleeping better than I was a few weeks ago,

but I still have a restless night every now and then.

I am making more of an effort to nap when Max naps,

though that's mostly because I often fall asleep 

whenever I sit down somewhere!

 

Miss anything? Feeling comfortable.

Going more than 15 minutes without the urge to pee.

Painting my own toenails.

The energy to keep up with Max.

And the cooler weather we were enjoying for a while -

I guess the sweltering Texas summertime is here to stay!

Feeling movement of the baby? Not as much now,

but Baby Brother still makes his presence known. :)

Food cravings? Hard-boiled eggs. Weird, I know.

Gender of the baby? BOY!

It was confirmed at a sonogram I had on Wednesday. :)

 

Mood/ thoughts? I was looking at the baby timer app
on my phone that I used when Max was a newborn,
and suprisingly it still has all the information we have ever input -
all the way back to the first day home from the hospital!
It was crazy to look at the feeding times those first few weeks - yikes.
I had definitely forgotten how often a new baby eats!
In the past few weeks, I've gotten quite a few things
checked off my pre-baby to-do list:
packing our hospital bags, getting the big brother/ little brother gifts ready,
preparing meals to freeze, washing all those cute little baby onesies,
and reading up on labor and delivery.
Granted, there is still much to be done, but I'm making headway. :)

Choo Choo - Max is Two!

This past Saturday we hosted a birthday shin-dig

for our little man who is almost two. (I am still in denial.)

I am very proud of the invitations, which I made myself. :)

Since Max LOVES trains, we decided to have all the guests

take a little ride with us on the Forest Park Miniature Train. It was a blast! 

Instead of the traditional cupcakes,

we opted for some birthday breakfast fare -

which in little man's world means DONUTS!

I seriously think he downed about a dozen donut holes
plus his sprinkle birthday donut.

We were certain that kid would get sick...but he didn't!
(However, I still think he's working off that sugar high.)

After that we opened a few presents...with a little help. :)

 Can you spot the two kiddos trying to make off with some of the gifts? Ha!

Then everyone boarded the train for a fun little ride around Trinity Park.
We even provided our younger guests with conductor hats and bandanas
to help enhance their train-riding experience. :)
 

 SO many of Max's friends came along for the ride!

He is one lucky kiddo.

It was so much fun to celebrate our little conductor. :)

It is pretty amazing to think he's been making our lives more exciting
for almost two years now. We wouldn't have it any other way!