Remember when the Bear ate Maxie's Grabber?

Remember when Max, Mimi and Pop Pop and I went to Dollywood back in November? Well, even if you don't remember, trust me, Maxie remembered. He had been talking about it ever since. "Remember Dollywood?" "Remember the roller coaster?" "Remember when Maxie rode the train?" In fact, Max was clearly the inspiration for this ad for Pigeon Forge!!




It made quite an impression on Maxie. So much so, in fact, that I waited until just about a week before our more recent trip to tell him that we were going again. And, even better, we were staying for several days!! A dream come true! AND, even BETTER, Daddy was going to come this time. And Tessa! And Mimi and Pop Pop! And the Rogers family! (And even Bailey and Lucy!)

We headed up to the mountains on a Wednesday afternoon, arriving at our cute little cabin just in time to settle the dogs in and head back out for dinner. But not just any dinner; Dixie Stampede dinner! I still have fond memories of going to Dixie Stampede when I was younger and of being chosen by a clown to take part in the show. I also have fond memories of eating with my hands and of the yummy creamy vegetable soup. I was interested to see if it was as fun as I remembered and if Max enjoyed it like I suspected he would. I was a bit nervous about what we would do with Tessa during the show, so we bought an extra seat. It worked out perfectly for putting her cat seat in the spot...but it did result in having a LOAD of extra food to take home.

Sadly, they don't allow photos during the show (although I'm sure I could have taken some if I hadn't had my hands full with a baby, sometimes Max crawling back and forth, and an entire baby chicken). Here he is before the show, getting excited:

And here is Max's review of the show:
Q: Max, do you remember Dixie Stampede?
A: Yes, Daddy and Maxie. Maxie sitting on Daddy's lap. Look at Daddy - ha!

Q: What did we see at Dixie Stampede?
A: Hmm...animals. Like birds, I don't know the other animals. hmm...yeah, horses, fast horses. And black things (those would be bison). And pigs!

Q: What did you eat at Dixie Stampede?
A: Hmm...those 2 yummy things. Pasta and just pasta. (well, close, but not really. see the menu here)

Q:Who went with us to Dixie Stampede?
A: Hmm. Mimi and Pop Pop!

Q: Do you want to go to Dixie Stampede again?
A: Mmm Hmm. Not right now.

I think that's pretty good for several weeks later. I'd say he gave it a 4 out of 5 stars. If I had asked him that day, it probably would have been 5 out of 5. I thought it was really fun, although it probably would have been more fun if Tessa was a little older and didn't require constant coddling. Oh, and the creamy vegetable soup WAS as good as I remembered.

When we left the Dixie Stampede it was pouring rain, which made me a hair nervous about the weather for the rest of the trip. While the weather turned out to be fine for the remainder of the trip (minus Saturday, when it rained ALL. DAY. LONG.), the clothes I packed were completely inappropriate. I'm not sure what I was smoking as I packed, but I neglected to bring anything warm. To the mountains. In April. Luckily I did pack some warm stuff for the kids, and Julie was able to bring along my fleece jacket when they arrived the next day. But I was NOT looking cute trolling around Dollywood the next day in Dad's big red sweatshirt.

So, Thursday morning (after a surprisingly successful night's sleep by Max in an unfamiliar bunk bed), we went bright and somewhat-early to Cade's Cove in search of some deer. We did see some deer here and there, but sadly not the hundreds that we probably would have seen had we gotten up early enough. We did, however, see some mating turkeys and we were also able to get Max to tell Mimi and Pop Pop (who were riding in the car in front of us) that we had seen a bear in the woods. Who wouldn't believe a 2 year old? Would this face lie?

See those turkeys in the background? They  just mated and are now smoking tiny cigarettes.

Later on we made our way over to Max's Disney World....Dollywood. It was a beautiful day and without further adieu, the thrill-seeking commenced. First stop was the little cars. Pop Pop sprinted off with Max to ensure he got the first ride of the day. Max was well-pleased with this adult to child ratio because it meant he was sure to get multiple turns on each ride.

Who is having more fun here?

So far so good...everyone was in a good mood and having fun. And then, this happened:

 



This, my friends, is the result of a key tactical error: riding a water ride WAY too early in the day and when it's not even really warm.

you MUST pull up this picture and look at Max's face.

 

Pop Pop claims that Max was at one point completely submerged under water. I can't recall if he said "Do it again" after riding this, but I would bet that he did.

 

Max's review of this ride:

Q: Max, did you like this ride?

A: Yes! Maxie got wet! And Pop Pop and Daddy came on there. And Mimi didn't come on there.

 

Lessons learned from this:

1. Listen to Robin when she says "I think you'll get pretty wet on this ride"

2. Bring a change of clothes and/or ride the water rides at the END of the day.

3. Don't bother wasting $5 on the family dryer. While it might warm you up temporarily, you're still going to be wet. And unless you're 2, you can't just take off your pants and wander around like this:

 

 

 

 

Although we were in Tennessee, so that might, in fact, be socially acceptable there. When we discovered that Max's pants were not going to dry in a reasonable amount of time, we were forced to commit a major theme-part no-no: purchasing clothing in a gift shop. The only thing Chris could find that was somewhat suitable was a size 5 swimsuit. I'm justifying this purchase to myself by realizing that he will at least get 3 good years of swimming out of it! Plus, he did look pretty cute in the shorts.

 

Tragedy averted, we were able to continue on to some more rides. Max has yet to find a ride he doesn't like. Chris, however, remembered his fear of heights at an inconvenient time: when we were at the top of the Ferris Wheel.

 

"Dad, seriously, there is nothing to be afraid of here. This is actually rather anti-climactic"

 



Max chatted and giggled with this little girl for the whole ride. I'm pretty sure he would have hugged her at the end (or at the very least gotten her number) if her Mom hadn't grabbed her immediately upon the ride's conclusion.



 

.And, of course, we rode the train. Max didn't know it though; within minutes of boarding, he was asleep. Hey, a busy boy's gotta nap somewhere.

 

 

At some point shortly after that, we had to call it a day. The Rogers had finally made it into town and we needed to let them into the cabin. And, hey, we had a season pass. See ya tomorrow, Dollywood!

Check out the sexy orange Dollywood shorts!



I think we were all extremely nervous about how the boys would sleep all together in the cabin. We were anticipating that they would stay up most of the night. We were pleasantly surprised that they all went to bed rather easily and slept really well. Miss Tessa, however, was another thing. That night my little lady cried and stayed awake longer than she ever had before. And the cabin walls were thin. Therefore, everyone had a rather rough night. But hey, at least we were all up early and ready to go at...oh, dawn.

So, Day 2 was more Dollywood fun...but this time with the Rogers. We were a hair nervous that Sam, who is a known nervous-nelly, wouldn't enjoy it as much as Max and Natey, and it wasn't looking good when he refused to ride the carousel. But, it turned out that he simply felt that the carousel was too babyish for him and he turned out to be quite a thrill-ride trooper!



Hello, chicken, my old friend!

Look at me, being all daring by holding up my arms on the kiddie-coaster.

 





Dollywood Express, Day 2: where Max took yet ANOTHER nap.

Of course, let's face it, these 3 don't need rides to be entertained.

 

 

 

Late in the afternoon, the Ludwigs splintered off from the Rogers and found ourselves at the River Battle ride. Now, there is little point to this ride other than getting wet. The riders hop in a boat and ride slowly around a course where they shoot water guns at bystanders on the walkways. In turn, the bystanders have water guns directed at the boats and the opportunity to soak the riders. It seemed that there was never a shortage of obnoxious teenagers with never-tiring arms standing around shooting water at the boats. Therefore, I elected to skip this ride. We were prepared with changes of clothes for Chris and Max, so they went for it. Max, of course, loved it. I think they rode it twice. Maybe they didn't, I can't remember, but I am positive that Max wanted to ride it twice.

 

 

 

 

After a change of clothes, the day took a turn for the Ludwigs. Some things went awry. First, I did something that I never dreamed I would do: I nursed in a public place. Sort of. Dollywood is nice enough to offer "nursing stations" and Tessa requested that we make use of one. So while I did that, I left Chris to change Max's dirty diaper and told him to go find everyone else and ride some rides until I was done. When I emerged about half an hour later, however, Max and Chris were right where I left them, and Chris was NOT looking happy. Max was the one who should have been looking unhappy, though, because he was wearing one of Tessa's diapers. Apparently, we had run out of Max's diapers. Parenting fail! Rather than spend another unbelievable sum at the Dollywood gift shops (which I feel certain offered diapers somewhere), we decided to call it a day at Dollywood and headed for the cabin. But let me just say, this girl was a trooper:

 

 

 

The next morning we discovered something very exciting. A BEAR had visited our front porch. His footprints were clearly visible in the water on the porch. He had knocked over the trash can and pulled out one of Max's apple sauce pouches, ripped it open with his claws, and eaten the left overs. Max was QUITE impressed that a bear wanted to eat his grabber. Periodically for the rest of the trip (and ever since), he would say "Remember when the bear ate Maxie's grabber?" The next night, when Chris and I were up tending to Tessa at about 1 AM, I heard the trash can fall over again. We darted out to the front door and opened it, convinced we were about to witness a huge bear helping himself to our trash. Sadly, this time the marauder was just a raccoon. Cute, but no bear. Maybe next time.

 

Coming soon: Dollywood at Thanksgiving!







Mother's Day; Quite Possibly the Most Wonderful Day of the Year.

 

So this was my third Mother's Day as a Mom. It's amazing how, once you're a Mom, you finally realize the significance of Mother's Day. I truly don't expect any extravagant gifts on Mother's Day, because I already got the two greatest gifts imaginable in these two:

 

Being a Mom has also given me a huge appreciation for other Moms, and in particular my own. I can barely manage 2 kids on a daily basis, and yet somehow Mom managed to raise 4 of us...and we all became productive members of society! (didn't we?)

 

I did have a great, though exhausting, Mother's Day. The morning started off with a breakfast prepared by Chris:

 



The croissants tasted much better when smothered in Chris's homemade strawberry jam and the strawberries tasted much better when smothered in chocolate pudding!
After church, Chris and Max cut the grass while Tessa and I relaxed inside. Now, I'm not saying they didn't earn it, BUT I did tell Chris that the ONE thing I wanted for Mother's Day was a nap. Somehow every single living being in my home managed to get one that day EXCEPT for me.

Ah well...I did get some awesome stuff from my little guy. Max presented me with this bracelet :

that A) I really do like and B) is all the more special because he picked it out for me. And he made me these great cards, which I really do treasure much more than a store-bought card that Chris might have picked out for him.

So while I was completely exhausted by the time I went to bed last night, I still think that Mother's Day MIGHT be the most wonderful day of the year, because I spend the whole day thinking about how lucky I am to be a Mom to the two cutest little things on the planet.

Finally, as someone who spent at least several Mother's Days worrying that she might never become a Mother, this except from a blog by (non-Mom) Amy Young that was printed in the church bulletin this week really struck a chord with me. I'm so thankful to be a biological Mom, but also appreciative of all the Mother-figures in the world.

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you
To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you
To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you
To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you
To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.
To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you
To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you
To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you
To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you
To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience
To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst
To those who have aborted children – we remember them and you on this day
To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be
To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths
To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you
To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you
To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart
And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you
This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

Maximilian Allen Ludwig, Photographer?

I can envision many potential future careers for Max: train engineer, veterinarian, auctioneer, performer in any one of a number of circus acts. But he has not put the time into preparation for any of these jobs like he has for photography. Every time I turn around he is taking pictures with my phone. He tends towards more "artsy" shots, which is fine, since that is all the rage these days. And if he can't make good money doing serious photography, he can always move to Hollywood and join the paparazzi...I found a series of shots of a lady and her baby girl that he had "stalked" in Costco.

I am constantly trying to figure out why I have no space left on my iPhone to take pictures, and then I realize that Max has taken HUNDREDS of pictures of random objects or himself with my phone. So before I delete them all, I wanted to save a few of his best work. So, here you go, Max's first gallery show.  (Is this as bad as forcing someone to look at your boring vacation photos?)

Family Shots:

 

Artsy Shots:

 Ok, and here are a couple of careers that I do NOT see in Max's future....

Airplane Pilot:

 



Pitcher (although I still have a glimmer of hope for this one since he seems to be left-handed):

Tessa is 4 months old.

Last week Tessa reached 4 months. I think she's accomplished a lot so far in her short life. In addition to doing a great job holding up her head (above), she also started rolling from her back to her tummy as of April 16th (at which point she becomes infuriated and must be fairly quickly rolled back to her back to preserve everyone's ear drums) and she has also proven that she has the ability to roll back to her back from her tummy by herself as of April 29th (she has only done this once though, but I think she just wanted to fit in another milestone before her doctor appointment).

So, it was time for a trip to the doc for some shots and some stats:

Height: 24 1/4" 
Weight: 14.5 lbs              ~50% for all measurements
Head: 41 cm

We didn't have our usual doctor, Dr. Lookadoo, for this visit. Instead it was a doctor we hadn't seen before, Dr. Stoeber, who was also really nice. He indicated that Tessa seemed to have dropped on her height chart and I told him that I thought she got a very "generous" measurement the last time, at which point he indicated that these measurements are rather loose anyway. So let's just say that our girl is pretty average.

He examined her and said she looks great and said that she is developmentally "advanced" (I think the rolling both ways impressed him, but little did he - or I - know that was a one-time thing). He asked if she had been cooing and making noises in response to us and I told him that she didn't vocalize all that much except to her brother...at which point she started "talking" and cooing at the doctor and continued to do so for the whole exam. In fact, she was in the best mood she had been in for days! And, coincidentally, within a day or so of this appointment, she started squawking all the time.

 

Her sleeping as of 4 months leaves a lot to be desired...let's just say that's a work in progress. I'm pretty sure Max was the same at this age (and isn't the greatest sleeper to this day). Not sure how I managed to end up with two non-sleepers when I need so much sleep but ... go figure.

All in all, a healthy girl and I am so grateful. Sadly, Chris wasn't able to join us for this appointment and I had to hold her for her shots... my first time solo for shots. Tessa did fine. Amazingly, so did I.

AND, she had her best night's sleep in weeks. (Where can I get some of those needles for home-administration?)

Like a Butterfly emerging from a Cocoon or a Bear coming out of hibernation....

FINALLY!!!! Spring has sprung and is (I think) here to stay. It's odd that it's May 9th and this is the first week it's actually seemed like summer is on the way. My Easter Lily hasn't even bloomed yet! Weird. But I do think it is finally safe to put away our coats and long pants and bring out the shorts and cute little summer outfits. I mean, how cute is this?

So this morning, Julie and I set off with all the kids but Sam and went to Stewart Farms to pick strawberries. Max was pretty excited, although he clearly had no idea what we were going to do because he kept asking me when we were going to pick apples.

When we arrived, Max and Nathanael took their buckets and were off! They were quite eager and willing to pick strawberries...with no regard for ripeness. Green, red, whatever...in the bucket.

Well, some of them went in the bucket; Max actually preferred to take one bite and then toss the rest of the berry on the ground.

Step One: Taste the Berry

Step Two: Close Eyes and Savor the Berry

Luckily, he soon tired of this and began running up and down the rows with his bucket, stopping from time to time to pick a berry of questionable ripeness and toss it in there. (I was somewhat surprised when I examined his pickings to see that he had about 75% ripe strawberries). At some point I noticed that his bucket was empty. "Max, where are your strawberries??" "I dumped them out!" Great, that's productive. So by this time, he was running willy-nilly around the field with an empty bucket, from time to time veering off to play around a greenhouse fan that could chop his fingers off and/or trying to join a school field trip. I guess he did manage to pick a few more berries as sustenance here and there.

1. "Here is a Berry" 2. Chomp 3. "Mmm, that's one good berry!"

 But soon enough, as usually happens with the Ludwig children, our wholesome family outing had dissolved into Max playing in a mud puddle and melting down due to strawberry/sun/fun delirium and Tessa screaming in her stroller because, well, that's what she likes to do. In fact, I only managed to pick one bucket of strawberries whereas Julie managed to pick two buckets for herself and then one for me! By the time we were done (well, by the time Julie was done), Max and Nathanael were covered in mud, Tessa and Claire were grumpy and ready for naps, and Julie and I were sweating. But AH did I love that sunshine.

Here are our little strawberry-nonpicking-assistants in action. At least they looked cute, albeit confused as to what they were doing there.

The boys had to be stripped for the ride home. I guess that's the sign of a fun outing, at least in their book. I tried to get them both to cooperate for a post-picking picture, but I think Max had a different idea of post-"picking"....

So now I have this load of strawberries...and Chris has intentions of making his homemade strawberry jam. YUM. He better hurry up, though, before this guy puts them all away.

(And I don't think this girl will eat any, but darn she's cute in her strawberry outfit.)

Tessa Gets Baptised ... Max plays Soccer.

We've had SO much going on here lately. I can hardly keep up with my day-to-day chores, much less find time to blog about what's been going on. Most days go something like this:

6:15-6:30 AM After getting little sleep during the night due to a certain little lady who likes to party all night, Chris gets up with Max. He requires a very specific formula to get his day started: warm chocolate milk, which he drinks while sitting under a blanket on the couch while he watches Little Einsteins (usually the Blue Footed Booby Bird episode here lately)
7:00 AM Tessa wakes up and eats
7:30 AM-6:30 PM Max runs on all cylinders while I struggle to keep up and somehow manage to accomplish the basic things that need to be done to keep the household running while Chris is at work. Tessa cycles in and out of naps and feeding. Bailey barks at everything that passes the front door and I struggle to hold onto my sanity. I attempt to provide Max with the necessary exercise to get him to sleep at night and also try to teach him at least something (even if it's just NOT to do certain things).
7:00 PM start Operation Get-The-Kids-In-Bed
8:30 - 9:00 PM sit down on the couch and try to relax for a few minutes. This is typically interrupted by Max asking for "one more big big big bear hug" or Tessa requesting a snack/to be put back in her swing instead of being forced to sleep in an actual bed.
9:00- 10:00 PM I wake up on the couch after having dozed off and once again squandered my precious downtime with sleeping. Drag myself to bed, where I will fall asleep only to be awoken within an hour by Tessa or perhaps the dog wanting to go outside.

BUT, life ticks on. And April 14th was a big day for Tessa - she got baptised. I wish I could remember the details of the service, but I was trying to make sure that Max, who was particularly rambunctious that day, didn't spill the baptism water or do yoga on the kneeling rail at the altar. I do recall that Rev. Jones didn't hesitate to really wet her down as he baptised her, and she surprised me by not crying. He also walked her up and down the main aisle as the congregation sang "Tessa, Tessa, God claims you."

But, best of all, Tessa was able to wear a really special dress that day:

This baptism gown was made out of the train of her Mimi's wedding gown. I was baptised in it, as were Paul, Ben, and Julie..as well as a cousin or two and some of Mom's friends' kids. A special dress for my special girl on her special day. Now if only I can live up to the promises I made on her behalf that day!

Tessa, Tessa, God claims you.

God helps you, protects you, and loves you too.

We this day do all agree a child of God you’ll always be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, Max has started charting his course to become a world-famous soccer (excuse me, German football) player. He's 2 years old and well on his way. He's been attending a weekly "soccer skills camp" on Saturday mornings. The first week he would hardly leave our sides but each week he's getting more into it. After soccer on the first week, we stopped on the way home at the New York Butcher Shop, where Chris bought some Happy Cow chocolate milk for Max and now Max associates soccer with chocolate milk like a Pavlovian dog. As soon as soccer is over, Max sprints for the car yelling "chocolate milk!" We ended up at the Happy Cow Creamery itself one week. Now I'm not sure if he's excited to go to soccer because he likes to play or because he loves Happy Cow milk.