Max is THREE!!!!

Ok, so I'm a few weeks late, but Max is three! THREE!? I can't believe it. It was literally yesterday that I was scared out of my wits about having a C-section on my birthday. Since then, well, my birthday no longer exists, but that's ok.

So, around Christmas we had found a great deal on this pirate ship online:

So we bought it to give to Max at some undetermined point in the future. Well, he had recently developed a renewed interest in pirates so we decided that his birthday would be a good time to give it to him. Based on the gift, and the renewed pirate-interest, I decided to have a pirate-themed birthday party for him. When I told him about it, he was really excited...for a few days. At some point, however, he decided that he wanted a train party...not a stretch since trains have been his obsession for quite some time now. But he grew more and more vehement about the train party. Everytime I mentioned his pirate party he would scream "NO! I want a train party!" So, needless to say, I was a little bit nervous that he would be really disappointed in his pirate party.

Nevertheless, I proceeded with my plan. We were also excited to be able to have his first official pool party. I've always been happy that he had a summer birthday because it's so fun to have pool parties for summer birthdays. This year , with our own pool, made that especially easy. Sadly, this has been the summer of rain, so swimming seemed somewhat unlikely. I was just praying that it wouldn't rain for the entire duration of the party.

The guests were welcomed to our pirate party with pirate hats, eye patches, pirate swords and tattoos. Some got into it more than others. I also had pirate-themed kiddy music playing on the speakers on the porch. PopPop almost made me walk the plank for that.

Out on the porch I set up Max's gift-opening station, complete with his very own "treasure chest" to hold his gifts.

Some of the spread, including ships and dip (chips and salsa), cannonballs (grapes), shark bait (goldfish), and pirate swords (celery sticks with dip)

All of the pirate lasses were in attendance, although at least one of them wasn't too happy about it.

After running around sword fighting, eating, and havoc-making, the decision was made (by some of the guests) to go for a swim. So, Max was able to have his pool party after all.

After swimming, the kids found some sweet treats waiting, including these (mostly devoured) Rice Krispy Pirate Ships.

And, what was probably the hit of the party, food-wise, the Old Pirate Bones. They were a beast to make, and didn't last long.

Finally Max got to open his gifts. More than one person commented on what a great "gift opener" he is. He was generally thrilled and excited about each gift he got and I can honestly say that he has played and played with each and every one of them.

Time to blow out the candles on his Red Velvet cupcake.

And one more of these, just because.

Max had a wonderful birthday. He talked about it for days afterwards and even now, every so often he'll ask "is it my birthday? is it my birthday party?" So I think he liked it. Even though it wasn't a train party.

 MAX, 3 Years Old. 22 Questions.
1. How old are you today? "Six!" (He consistenly said six when anyone asked.)
2. How does it feel to be three? "It feels funny to be 3."
3. What's your favorite color? "Purple" (this has also been a consistent answer for quite some time)
4. What is your favorite toy? "Monster trucks and airplane"
5. What is your favorite fruit? "Grapes"
6. What is your favorite TV Show? "UmiZoomi"
7. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? "Candy and I'll eat and then get CANDY! and no-sure nuggets." (dinosaur nuggets)
8. What is your favorite outfit? "The pirate hat and eye patch."
9. What is your favorite game? "ABCs" (no idea)
10. What is your favorite snack? "You eat something at the playground; Julie gave me those snacks."
11. What is your favorite animal? "Frog" (he constantly hops around the floor saying "ribbit" so this is no surprise)
12. What is your favorite song? "No Sa!"
13. What is your favorite book? "My favorite book is about dinosaurs. "
14. Who is your best friend? "Natey and Benny and Pop Pop"
15. What is your favorite cereal? "Lucky Charms"
16. What is your favorite thing to do outside? "Swim in the pool and jump in muddy puddles."
17. What is your favorite drink? "Milk! and juice"
18. What is your favorite holiday? "Happy Cow is my favorite"
19. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? "Mine teddy bear"
20. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? "Sandwiches. M&Ms"
21. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? "Cheerios"
22. What do you want to be when you grow up? "60. 60 units per hour"

*note: I think it's clear that I lost him around question #18.....

 Look how pitiful he looks at the doctor's office. You'd never know from this picture, but he LOVES going there. He loves Dr. Lookadoo, and in fact he will fake injuries and then tell me "I'm hurt, please take me to the doctor."

 Max's 3 year stats:
Height: 38" , which is 66%
Weight: 35.2, which is 83%
Uh oh, this doen't look so good. However, when we measured Max at home, he was an inch taller. I'm going to go with our measurement and assume that he's taller than the nurse measured. That doesn't look like very good technique in the picture above anyway :)



Growing like a weed! (Tessa's belated six month recap)

Six months

So Tessa is definitely suffering from Second-Child Disease. For those of you who aren't familiar with this affliction, it is the plight of the poor second child who doesn't get NEARLY the blog posts that her firstborn older brother had written in his honor. But this disease is really more of a illness of an over-worked and sleepy Mom who is doing all she can just to make it through each day...forget about blogging!

Anyhow, our sweet girl is already EIGHT MONTHS OLD!!!

She has really blossomed into a laid-back, quick-with-a-smile, extremely sweet baby who sleeps like a champ. Who would have dreamed that my little monster who refused to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time would miraculously tranform into a dream-child who goes to bed at 7 and sleeps for 11 to 12 straight hours. Amazing.

Tessa adores her big brother, and he likes to make her laugh. When we're in the car the two of them just giggle and giggle together. It reminds me of when Paul and I used to play our invented game "Happy/Sad" in the backseat of the car. I love it. They can't get enough of each other, and even when Max is being overly aggressive with his hugs and kisses, she seems to love it. Pop Pop claims that Tessa loves chaos. If that's true, she is living in the right family!

Tessa is also quite the eater. I started her on solids at six months and she was not a fan. She just really wouldn't open her mouth wide enough for me to even get anything in there. Then she went through a couple of weeks of incessant crying. She would cry from the moment she got up in the morning until she went to bed at night. Holding her sometimes helped, but sometimes not. One morning I had enough and I hauled her off to the doctor. He looked her over, took some blood, and determined....nothing. Strangely, though, she stopped doing that a few days later. I started feeding her regular foods around that time, starting with Cheerios. She ate them like a champ, nevermind that she has no teeth. Soon we moved on to other things...and now she eats pretty much anything. She'd probably find a way to wolf down a filet if I gave her some. It is rather tiring to eat with her, though. If she sees someone eating, she fusses until she gets some of what they're having. Then she eats it while saying "mmm, mmmm, mmmmm". Here she is yamming some banana bread:

 



So, here were her six month stats:

Height: 25 3/4" 50%

Weight: 15lb 11.5oz  48% (approx)

Head: 42.5 cm  60%

So I guess our girl is rather petite. She's probably going to be a shorty like her Mom. Lately I have been getting lots of comments about how small she is. Small is fine, as long as she doesn't spread outward! Perhaps I should not encourage the gorging!

She isn't crawling yet, and I wouldn't really say she has mastered sitting on her own. She can do it, but she also topples over quite frequently. She definitely is able to get around, though, with a combination of rolling and army crawling. And she keeps trying to get up on her knees, so I think it will be soon that she's off and away.

She's doing lots of babbling, and says "babababa" all day long. She also loves to blow bubbles and spit, which Max takes as license to run around spitting. She definitely tries to make you laugh, and if she succeeds she will continue doing whatever it was ad nauseum. Except it never gets old because she's so darn cute. I love that she has a sense of humor already.

Have I mentioned that she sleeps all night??? If that's not a perfect baby, I don't know what is!