Early Morning Thoughts

This morning max thought it would be time to wake up at 5:20am! We told him it was still sleep time and he stayed in his bed for about 30 minutes. Then he got up. Still too early, we told him he could lay in bed with mom and dad. He did for another 40 or so minutes; quietly talking to himself. So I got up with him and told him he could play cars in the family room while I laid on the couch. I think I fell asleep about 7ish... Not really sure. 

It's now 8:30 and Max and I have eaten breakfast. There is much to be done today like cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, getting ready for the day and making bread... 

However, for now lying on the couch covered with a blanket while playing with Max is a much better option. 

Lately Max has grown up so much. His personality makes me laugh. Sometime last week I was sad about something so I was crying. (pregnancy emotions) Max was quick to give me a hug and kiss, but then he started to sing "popcorn popping". Which is the song he always requests when he is sad or scared. He is such a sweet boy! 

He has also started to hum different songs while he plays in his room. I am very happy that he loves music. Some of his favorite songs are the byu fight song, popcorn popping, and do as I'm doing. Sometimes Max will sing with Devin, but Devin likes to sing the wrong words or add funny syllables to the end of words. Max will tell him, "No, that's not how it goes." Then max will sing it the right way. 

I'm looking forward to this little girl getting  here. Max is going to be a great big brother. 

We Did It... Goodbye Binki

Today is the first day without a binki... Cold turkey. We talked with Max this morning and told him he was a big boy and it was time to start doing some more big boy things... Like getting rid of his binki. We asked him if he would like to trade out his binki for a toy of some sort. He was so excited!!! So we packed the binki's up in a plastic bag and set out for Target. We decided to stick to a stuffed animal so he could still sleep with something. He picked a cute dog and we named it Brownie. 

Here they are; so happy. 

When we got home I told him it was nap time. He went right to his bed, threw his other stuffed animals on the ground and laid on Brownie. Then he asked for his binki... I told him they were gone because we traded them for Brownie. (Insert big tears from Max.)

Here is the real challenge. Max now knows that the binki isn't coming back and he may struggle with it. He wimpered for a few minutes after I left him, but is fast asleep now. I'm curious how it's going to go tonight for bed time. 

I'm nervous, but glad that we are doing this at the same time. It is time. Here's to moving on to bigger and better things. 

Max is Two!

The other day I went to take out the garbage. I told Max I would be right back and I was. However as I walked up the stairs I heard Max crying. I tried to open the door as I asked him what was wrong.  The door was LOCKED! I panicked a little but still stayed calm. I tried to explain to Max how to unlock the door. He tried, but was unsuccessful. Every once and a while he would say, "Mom, I need help." 

Well I was starting to get a little more worried because I was supposed to watch one of my friends boys. I knew it was getting close to that time and I didn't have my phone to call anyone for help. Luckily, a lady was gracious enough to call the owner of the apartment. 

He wasn't picking up, so she went down the road to where his family worked to see if they could get a hold of them. 

Meanwhile my friend shows up and I still haven't gotten in my apartment. So she tried to help me pick the lock, but we were unsuccessful. She left her sweet cold boy with me as I tried to get Max to unlock the door. 

Just then a man came walking up the stairs. It was the owner's brother. He told me that Troy( the owner) was in the mountains and couldn't get away. So we decided calling the police would be the best option. 

After what seemed like hours, he showed up asking if we wanted to pay for a lock smith or if I wanted him to kick down the door. A lock smith was called and about 20 minutes later, he came. He was there for 2 minutes and I was able to get inside. Max was stuck inside and I was stuck outside for almost two hours.

The crazy thing is that both were locked (padlock and door handle). When I showed Max how to unlock the door, he couldn't do it. 

I learned a great lesson: Always make sure the spare key is accessible. Also I don't ever plan on leaving the house without my keys or my phone again. 

Growing Up

I'm shocked at how big my little guy is getting! He is really tall for his age, so I think most people who don't know him think he is older than he really is. But he really changes every day. 

We just got new carpet yesterday, (it's so WONDERFUL) but as my husband and I were taking things out of the rooms, he told me he didn't want to put the crib back up. So we needed to get Max a new bed; which meant a big part of our Christmas for Max would be given to him before Christmas. But Devin was right we needed to get him out of the crib. 

So last night we found Max a "big boy" bed. He slept just fine in it! I'm amazed at how easy the transition was. He has always been a good boy and had never tried to get out of his crib. So I guess it is no big surprise when he woke up saying, "Mom, come here." Instead of just getting out of bed by himself. I went in to tell him that he could get out of bed himself and showed him how to so it. (That may have been a mistake... We will see how it goes tonight) ;)

(Please ignore the binki) I feel like this is the last big transition we need to make for a little while. However, getting rid of this binki scares me. Lately, Max will wake up screaming for it. (He usually loses it in the middle of the night) which is the first red flag to get rid of it. I'm tired of hearing him scream and I'm tired. However, I'm not ready for the tears right before bed and nap time. I know I need to get rid of it cold turkey for it to work. I just some strength. 

I'm so amazed at what Max is capable of at such a young age. He is our little sponge and repeats everything we say! He makes us so happy and I can't wait for him to be a big brother in April. He is already wanting to play with his baby sister! On to new adventures and learning. 

Just Keep Going...

Life can be hard. It can be full of hardships and struggle. I have found it is harder when all I focus on is the bad, the ugly, the negative. But life is great even with the struggles.

So how do we get out of this rut? I think one thing we can do is to start looking at our blessings.  Though we may have some hard things in our lives, I think we can all find positive things in our lives too. Hopefully the positive can out weigh the negative. 

I always have an easier time accepting my hardships when I pray for help. We are all human and we are not perfect. I believe we were put on this earth to grow and become someone better. However, we cannot do it on our own. We need help from our Father in Heaven. I know (even though I have a hard time accepting at first) we can grow from our trials. 

Life is such a wonderful blessing and I hope that as I go throughout my life, that I can continue to improve on this simple statement: Life can be hard, but we can find happiness through the trials. 

We Are our Parents Children

This may seem like a silly or obvious post, but I love that I am a lot like my mom and my dad. There are certain things that I do because I learned them from my parents. 

For example: I like British shows that are set in 1800's to 1900's; period films like Pride and Prejudice and Downton Abbey! I get that from my mom. We always watched Jane Austen movies together. She loves them and so do I.

I also love to draw, probably because my dad likes to draw, and so did his mom. I get that trait from my dad. 

I think we have this desire to be just like our parents when we are young and then sometime as we grow older into teenagers we think it's weird to do what our parents like. Then, yet again, as we grow into adults we move away from home and find ourselves doing and liking some of the same things as our parents. 

I have been very fortunate to have such good parents. I know we must be our own selves and find the things that we love without extra outside influences. However, it is a comfort to me to know that some of the things I love, my parents love too! 

I am seeing this in my little boy. All around his room are posters and pictures of some of Devin's favorite sports team. Max is loving all the same teams. If he sees any football on tv, he shouts, "Go cougars!"

He likes a lot of the same things as me too! Today I noticed that he loved eating wheat thins with cream cheese. This is a pretty insignificant example, I know, but as we were sharing the snack the thought of us being like our parents popped into my head. 

I am grateful for such great parents and in laws also for helping my husband and I become who we are. I love seeing our parents and finding new things we have alike. 

Chocolate Teeth

Most days Max and I drive with my husband Devin to work and then I take the car back home. We only have one car, so by doing this, we use a bit more gas, but then I don't have to be at home without transportation. Today on the way, I was watching Max eat his breakfast, which happened to be yummy chocolate banana muffins. He looked so sweet takin big bites. Then I asked him to smile, and he had a big piece of muffin stuck in between his two front teeth. It made me giggle! 

It is the small smiles and yummy muffins on a rainy morning that make me happy. It also makes for good day when Max wakes up happy ready to play with puzzles. 

I think it's going to be a great day.