Vacation

We are on vacation, but so far things aren't going great. It started out good. We left Thursday morning and stopped at the Cincinnati Zoo. The weather and the zoo were awesome! We drove to Lexington and spent the night there. The hotel was really nice (although getting 6 people to sleep in 1 room is not fun) and the boys loved swimming in the pool. We left Friday around noon. The boys weren't very fond of being in the car so long (making me really glad we weren't driving all the way to the beach this year!). Max was really fussy, Lucas wouldn't sleep and screamed a lot, Thomas kept asking how much longer. Griffin actually did pretty good. We arrived in Maggie Valley, NC around 6pm on Friday. We were tired of being in the car so we ordered pizza for dinner and stayed in the rest of the night. Yesterday was our first full day. We went to the pool, but it was way too cold for me! The boys had fun though. Mike took Thomas and Griffin back while the little boys napped. We went out for an early dinner. The food was great, but Lucas had diarrhea right when we got there and Max cried most of the time. Then we decided to head to a festival for fireworks. After finding one of the last parking spots available, we saw that Lucas had diarrhea ALL over when we were getting out of the van. So Mike took him home to bathe and change and I took the other boys into the festival. Not impressed. There were a couple of bounce houses with REALLY long lines and some food. It was very crowded and every other person was smoking (including 3 pg women and 1 woman with a newborn blowing smoke right on the baby - I try not to be judgemental, but come on!) So when Mike got back I suggested we try to find some place else to watch the fireworks and he said he thought our resort was having them so we came back to watch from our balcony. Well turns out they weren't having any, but we weren't too disappointed b/c our town had them last weekend so we didn't totally miss out. Last night Lucas was still having diarrhea and started throwing up. We had already changed our plans to go to Lake Lure for the day b/c it was supposed to rain all day, but staying in with a sick kid is really no fun! So now we are really hoping no one else gets sick and we actually do some fun stuff over the next 2 days. Here are some pictures so far.

Finally!

Thomas lost his first tooth last week!

Max is 3 months!

Max is 3mo today! Time has really gone fast! He's already outgrowing some of his 3-6mo clothes. His personality is really starting to show. Luckily he seems to be growing out of his fussy stage. He still has his moments, but overall he's more content. He likes watching his big brothers and smiles and giggles a lot. He is still sleeping great. He usually goes to bed about 10pm and lately has been sleeping until about 9am! That works great for me ;) For now he's still in our room - actually our closet. It's not as bad as it sounds - our closet is really big. ha ha. But it keeps the light from waking him up at the crack of dawn. We are still trying to decide who will share a room. Here is his 3mo hat picture. This one went much better than the last 2.

random pics

Father's Day. This was the best I could do getting a picture of all of my boys. We had a nice day. Mike played golf in the morning then we had our Dad's over for a cookout. Lucas giving kisses to Max.

Finally got some pics of Max smiling! He giggles now too. It's so adorable! He'll be 3mo tomorrow!

I got out the bumbo seat last week but thought Max was still too little, but he's not! He loves sitting in it and being able to look around. Thomas and Griffin were in camp at the parks department last week. Thomas' was a jungle theme so he had his face painted on the last day.

Lucas lounging in Max's bouncy chair.

Lucas is 2!!

I'm a little late on this, but Lucas is 2 now! I can't believe how fast time has gone. It seems like he was just born and now he's 2 and has a little brother! We had his party the day before his birthday. The theme was construction trucks b/c ever since they started doing construction next to Griffin's preschool it's his new obsession. He got lots of cool gifts and had a great day! On his birthday we went to the Children's Museum. He is really into it now. He loves the dinosaurs and trains. That night we went over to the splash park.

He had his 2yr well check last week. He's 28lbs and 34inches. She said he's right on track with speech and other areas of development. He has always been really laid back and easy. I kept waiting for him to go through a hard phase because the older boys went through the "terrible two's" at 1 1/2yrs. Well, he decided to start being 2 out right! He woke up that morning having a tantrum and had a few others throughout the day. He's totally wild some days. He just started flipping out of the pack n play (I have video if I can figure out how to post it I will) and climbs up everything. He cracks us up all the time! He loves giving hugs and kisses and always asks for "one more". I can't wait to see what other fun and silly things 2 will bring!

Busy

Things have been really busy around here lately so I haven't had much time to post as I'd like. The older boys went to VBS last week and loved it! They got a cd of the music and that's all they want to listen to in the car. Luckily the songs aren't too bad. This week they are both in camp at the parks department. They've been having fun and it's been nice having them gone in the morning making it easier for me to run errands and get things done. Although last week the stomach flu went through the house which was not fun at all. Max was the only one spared.

Thomas recently finished up his first time playing flag football. I think he had fun, maybe a little too much. When they received their trophies, the coaches said something about each player. Their comment about him was something about always being able to count on him for a laugh in the huddle.

Last Friday was our 10 year wedding anniversary! We celebrated the weekend before by going out to dinner at Maggiano's and then to a comedy club. Then we went out with the kids to Red Lobster on our actual anniversary. I can't believe it's been 10 years.

Max is 12 wks today! He's getting so big! He's smiling a lot and sort of giggling. Lucas is still obsessed with him and has recently figured out how to climb into the pack and play to be with him. Not good! That was the one place I could put Max and feel like he was safe if I needed to leave the room to do something.

Also, Lucas just turned 2! I'll do a separate post for that soon. Oh, and the roommate thing didn't work out. It lasted 2 nights and we realized they are too different and everyone would be better off if they were separate. So for now everyone is back in their regular rooms and Max is still with us. We will probably put Lucas with Griffin. We are also considering Lucas and Max together, but I don't know how that will work out with naptime. I don't want any sleep sacrificed ;)

Roomies

Thomas and Griffin are officially roommates now! We borrowed bunk beds from Mike's sister and set them up last night (side by side for now). Since we found out I was pregnant with Max we tried to figure out the best situation for sharing since we have 4 bedrooms, we thought this was the best idea overall and luckily they agreed. Last night went ok. Could have been better and could have been worse. Hopefully each night will get easier and very soon they'll (Thomas)go to bed on their own. Lucas will be moving into Griffin's old room. We'll probably do that this weekend. For awhile we are keeping him in a crib. He sleeps really good so I don't want to mess with that. And Max will move into Lucas' room. I'm not exactly sure when we'll move him, but I think I'm ready.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Last Thursday was the last day of Kindergarten. This year went really fast! It was a good year for him. He made new friends, although his 2 best friends he already knew. His teacher was really great. It's awesome to see how much he has learned over the year. He didn't get in too much trouble in school. He had 4 "yellow days" the whole year (mostly for talking when he wasn't supposed to). His school doesn't do a Kindergarten graduation, but they had a picnic last Friday night to celebrate the end of the year. I can't believe he'll be in 1st grade!

2 Months

Max is 2 months old today! He is smiling and cooing a lot. He can still be pretty fussy at times, but seems to be getting more content. He's falling asleep easier at night (most nights) and luckily still sleeping all night. In my mind I still think of him as a newborn, but today I was at the mall with him and we saw a newborn that was so tiny. It made me realize that he's not so tiny anymore. I know each milestone with him is going to make me sad since he's our last.

Here is his hat picture for this month. I'm going to take another one tomorrow because he was not happy. Maybe it's the hat because he wasn't thrilled last month either.

We've been having a great long weekend so far. Today we went to the new splash park by our house. The kids loved it. I think we'll be there a lot this summer.

Kindy 500 and Preschool Graduation

Griffin's preschool graduation was last week. He was really excited about it. They sang several songs during the graduation and he had been practicing them for weeks. One of them was "I Am a Promise" (Veggie Tales). He sang it ALL THE TIME at home - I'm not sure I'll ever get it out of my head. Friday was his last day. He'll be in pre-K next year since he misses the kindergarten cutoff by a few days. I think he's looking forward to it now, he was upset since some of his friends will be in kindergarten. I think it will be better for him being older when he starts.

Thomas had "Kindy 500" on Friday. It's sort of the kindergarten's version of field day. All of the kids were given a cardboard box to turn into a car. He (and Mike!) had fun making it. They had a parade and race at school for parents to watch. It was cute. He has 3 days left of school. I can't believe how fast this year has gone!