My, How Time Flies!

So Max will be turning 11 weeks old tomorrow and we have just been having so much fun together. This will be my last week at home with him before I go back to work and I am VERY sad about that. I'm telling you people, I would be a great stay-at-home mommy!! But that's just not in the cards for us at this time. We are SO fortunate to have Nana and Grammie come out on alternating weeks to watch Max for the month of May and the beginning of June while I'm at work. I'm just not sure how we would've done it without all of their help!
I've posted some pictures from the week he was born up through Easter. He seems to change so much and he still just melts my heart. I love you Max-a-roni!

Our baby turns 3!

So Saturday was Callie Grace's 3rd birthday. I remember when she turned one and it was really hard for me. The thought of my little baby girl growing up was too much. Her second birthday was better for me, but still made me a bit sad that the time was flying by too fast. Now that she is 3, it hasn't even phased me!! What's that all about? Maybe it has to do with me wanting her to hurry up and get out of this "terrible two's" phase (which she's been in since she was about 14 months old!!). Or maybe it's because now that she's older, we are able to have even more fun together than we've ever had. She's just turned out to be this tiny little person who can do almost everything for herself (with the exception of going on the potty regularly-aarrrgghh!) She can walk, talk, laugh at our jokes, tell us stories (that make sense), eat with big people utensils, change her own clothes, drink out of a regular cup, eat food without it having to be cut into tiny little bites, pick out her own clothes with matching bow or headband (pretty impressive, eh?), fix her own juice box without any help, and so on... what's sad about that? I'll tell you- NOTHING at all!

So happy birthday my sweet baby cakes! We love you very much:)

These pictures are from her week long celebration- cupcakes at her school, party at Little Gym, & a good old-fashioned carnival!

Bunnies & Jesus & Eggs, Oh My!

This past weekend was Good Friday and Easter. Although Callie is at the perfect age to hunt eggs and visit the Easter bunny, we wanted her to know why we really celebrate this day. But try explaining it to a 3 year old! As the weekend was approaching, we had read a children's book about Jesus dying on the cross and rising again- of course she didn't really understand, but it was better than nothing, right? I told her that this weekend we would be going to church and then Nana's house. She said, "Is the Easter bunny gonna be there?" I said, "Yes, but Easter isn't just about bunnies and eggs. It's about Jesus." She said, "Oh, is he gonna be there, too?" Out of the mouths of babes...

Hello....Kitty!

So I swore I'd never do it again, but apparently I lied. I have always hand-made Callie Grace's birthday invitations (and they have been pretty darn cute, might I add!), but this year I told myself that I wasn't going to put myself through all of that since I have a new baby who is taking up all my time. But as I looked for cute invites at Target and places like that, I just couldn't find what I was looking for. I knew that we were going to have Hello Kitty decorations, and I knew that it would be SOOOOO easy to make a kitty head- easy shmeasy. Although they are nothing compared to last years hand-made ponies with full manes and tails, they are still cuter than something store-bought.
See, I told you I'd make a good 'stay-at-home' mom. I'm just sayin'....

Busy Day

Saturday was a very busy day for the Grays! We had lunch with PawPaw and Nancy at Luby's. Ya gotta love cafeteria food! We had a wonderful visit and stayed for over an hour:)
Then we did a little shopping before nap time. Of course that ran long and we decided to take the risk of Callie NOT getting her nap. Luckily for us, she fell asleep in the car (which is rare for her) and caught about 20 minutes of zzzzz's. That doesn't compare to her usual 2.5-3 hour naps she usually takes, but it was better than nothing. It was such a beautiful day outside and once we got home, she was ready to play outside. She had lots of fun with bubbles and riding her big girl bike.
The next thing we knew it was almost 7:00 and time for dinner and bedtime. Max was his usual perfect little self and I think he had a pretty good day, too. He actually slept a lot better that night and we were all happy about that!

Tales from the Potty

So Callie Grace will be 3 this month and it's a bit embarrassing to say that she is still NOT potty trained. We are talking about the girl who could speak full sentences at a year and a half old and lots of other things 'early'. We started last summer right after she turned 2. I thought that she would surely get through this milestone in a month or so. WRONG!! If you know her at all, then you know that she's got quite the strong will and will do things when she is good and ready! So after a few weeks in the summer when I noticed that she wasn't 'ready', I backed off. I didn't stress out about it. When she would want to sit on the potty we'd let her. If she refused, no big deal.

Then she started preschool. They assured me that they would work with her and practically handle it all themselves- lucky me! But that didn't last. I had accepted the fact that I would, indeed, have 2 children in diapers for a while- because the last thing I wanted to do was struggle with potty training while being 8-9 months pregnant.

Then, it happened. This past weekend she wanted to try and go on the potty all throughout the day ( I think it had to do with bribing her with Starbursts and Dove chocolate). And all this week at school, she went potty at least 3 times a day! We are so proud of her. I think we are finally getting somewhere. It would be so awesome if she could actually be in big girl panties by the time she turns 3! (But I'm a realist- so I'm not holding my breath...)

As you can see in this picture, she is VERY proud to be wearing her plastic panties!

Hold me, mommy!

So little Max is at the age to where he should be sleeping a bit longer and in a pretty good routine. Needless to say, he ISN'T! This baby wants to be held all day long. And unfortunately, he gets his way. Otherwise he screams his pretty little head off. The only time I'm NOT holding him is right after he eats because he likes to 'play' for about 15 minutes. He enjoys his bouncy seat and play mat. But getting that boy back to sleep by laying him in his bassinet is another story.
Thank goodness my mom (aka Nana) came over today to 'hold' Max so that I could actually get some stuff done. It was so nice getting to clean up around the house (and trust me, I usually don't say that)...
I'm hoping for a good night tonight! (One can always dream, right?!)

Bringing home baby!

I can't believe that our sweet baby Max is already 7 weeks old. It seems like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. He is such a sweetheart. Everyone told me that I would have this different feeling with a boy- some kind of special bond between mothers and sons. I was skeptical about that because if you know me at all, you know that Callie Grace is my WORLD! How could anyone else have a bond like we have? Well, they were all right! Max is seriously the most precious little thing ever. And somehow, it IS different. I can't explain it, but I am so happy that I have 2 little angels that get to call me 'mama' and I wouldn't trade them for anything. We are truly blessed to have Max and Callie Grace in our lives~ thank you Jesus!