Christmas Part Three

The Saturday after Christmas we traveled back to PA to visit my Dad's side of the family. We saw my grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. There were 24 people in all! It was a fun celebration! Kyle loves running around with all the cousins. My cousins range in age from 8 to 32 so there are lots of older kids. I don't think I saw him most of the time we were there. He was having so much fun he didn't even need me. It's amazing to me how outgoing he's becoming, considering how clingly he was just a year ago. My little boy is growing up! Even though we only visit once or twice a year (last time was in the summer) he remembers Ben and Jillian's house (my 8 year old twin cousins) and looks forward to going there. We spent the night there and he actually cried the next morning when we had to leave to come home. Max wasn't feeling great, but did manage a few smiles and let a few people hold him (mostly "Ma"). He was in bed by 6:30 that evening and actually slept well there in his pack and play. I was a little worried, but he did great and it gave me a chance to visit with everyone that evening/night practically kid-free. It was strange, but nice to have some time to actually visit with the grown-ups!

Christmas Part Two

Unfortunately Max was sick on Christmas Day so he and I started the day at 4:30am. Kyle was nice enough to sleep till 7:30 so that's when he and Jason came down to join us. We started our morning by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blowing out some candles on our breakfast of Krispy Kreme donuts! Then we opened presents. They were both very cute opening gifts and Kyle had the best reactions! I knew he would be excited about his big gift "Thomas Action Canyon" so I got a video of him opening it and he sure did love it! After opening gifts we ate our breakfast and played for awhile. Then we got ready to head to Uncle Carey and Aunt Casey's house to celebrate with Jason's family. Grandma and Grandpa Luster, Grandma and Grandpa Inman, Uncle Carey, Aunt Casey, and Uncle Jonathan were all there! At their house we enjoyed a large assortment of yummy food! And then once again opened presents. Kyle enjoyed handing out his homemade gifts again and definitely enjoyed opening his and Max's as well. He got Mickey's Motor Raceway - a popular item with both boys! And he got his first transformer, some clothes, and a V-Tech laptop computer. Max got some fun new toys as well. Both boys got a nice DVD collection of popular children's storybooks with such selections as "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Harold and the Purple Crayon." And they also got matching Thomas engineer hats! Another fun day!

Christmas Part One

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday, December 20th. My Mom, Dad, and brother came to our house to open presents and enjoy yummy food. We had a yummy ham and I actually did most of the cooking and made homemade macaroni and cheese, stuffing, and a green bean casserole. My Mom provided sweet potatoes and cookies for dessert, as well as a cake to celebrate my birthday! We all had a great time and the boys were so excited to open their gifts. We've had lots of fun new toys to keep us busy! Kyle's favorite gift was Morgan's Mine Adventure Set (Thomas of course!). He also got an assortment of other Thomas trains and accessories, some "dollars", as well as some new clothes. Max has been having fun with his Busy Zoo, Learning Tool Bench, Busy Ball Choo Choo Train, cash register, and stuffed Nemo toy and book. He really got into opening presents! He got some new clothes as well. Kyle was also very happy to give out his homemade gifts this year. Max was even kind enough to take a nice afternoon nap so I could get all the food prepared and in the oven. It was a fun day!

Kyle's preschool Christmas program

Today was Kyle's first preschool Christmas program. It was very cute! They sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Jingle Bells." Then his teacher read the Christmas story followed by the kids singing "Happy Birthday, Jesus" and wishing us a Merry Christmas! Here is a clip of the performance.

After the performance we had a Christmas party! Kyle gave us special gifts - an angel ornament and a candle.

Then we had some yummy food with gingerbread man (and other assorted) cookies that the class made on Tuesday for dessert! Kyle was very proud of his gingerbread man cookies! It was a really fun morning!

Our Little Genius

Kyle got a Rubik's Cube from Grandma Luster about a month and a half ago. The age on the package says ages 8 and up and Kyle has already got it figured out! I'm amazed at some of the puzzles he can solve. Jason mixes it up for him and has gotten progressively more difficult and Kyle is keeping up. Here's a glimpse at him solving one. You can see the wheels turning!

Jingle Bells

We are counting down to Christmas using an Advent Calendar that I bought this year. It has a nativity scene on it with numbered windows. We open one each day and read a verse of scripture that tells the Christmas story and then Kyle gets to eat the chocolate inside that has a picture of something "Christmasy" on it! We also started the tradition of choosing a Christmas song to sing at the end of our time and Kyle's favorite is "Jingle Bells."

He also made a little Advent candle set at preschool and we light a candle each Sunday as part of our Advent calendar time. He's very proud of it and is always asking "Is it Sunday yet?"

Progress

Max has made some progress in the area of eating/drinking so I thought I'd share. This area has been an issue for him since he was born so I'm very excited! He seems to really like milk. We're up to mixing half formula/half milk and he actually gets excited about his bottles now. And he ate pasta with spaghetti sauce for the first time tonight and seemed to enjoy it! I've offered him noodles in a variety of forms, sauce and no sauce, etc. but he's always just touched it and seen it wasn't a "dry" food (like his favorite and only finger foods - toast, cheerios, puffs, and crackers) and wouldn't even try it. If I tried to put it in his mouth he'd immediately push it out with his tongue. Tonight for some reason he decided to give it a try and gobbled up quite a few noodles. Kyle was eating pretty much all table food at this point and would eat and drink pretty much anything you put in front of him so this is a big deal for Max! Here he is enjoying his dinner!

Gingerbread House

Today Kyle decorated his first Gingerbread house! He had a lot of fun and so did we! Here are some pictures of his creation.

Trimming the Tree

Today we put up our Christmas tree! It took most of the morning and Max was kind enough to take a two hour nap so it was a pretty smooth process. We had to move Kyle's train table to his room to make room for the tree - he didn't mind at all! We listened to Christmas music and Kyle loved looking at all the ornaments. He was especially excited to put his Thomas and Percy train ornaments on the tree! When Max did finally join us he was quite fascinated with the lights! It was a fun day and really got me in the mood for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We went to my parents house for Thanksgiving this year, so we spent the day with Ma, Pa, Uncle Mike, and Jane. Kyle wore himself out and had a great time! He fell asleep on the way home in the car at 7:30! We had a yummy turkey dinner with all the trimmings and my Mom even got a ham just for Jason (who doesn't like turkey). It was delicious and we were sent home with lots of leftovers - lunch and dinner the next day! :) I'm so thankful for my whole family and being able to spend the day with them.

Chez Inman

Tonight Kyle and Jason made pizza for dinner! Kyle had so much fun! Jason made them special chef hats and they made an absolutely delicious pepperoni pizza for us to enjoy.

Max's One Year Check Up

Yesterday I took Max to the doctor for his one year check up. I made his appointment for while Kyle was at preschool so I didn't have to drag him along. Max now weighs 20lbs. and is 29 and 3/4 inches long. Just for fun I checked Kyle's one year stats and he weighed 17lbs. 12oz. and was 28 inches long. What's funny about this to me is the fact that Kyle ate everything we ate at this point and was/is a really good eater. Max, on the other hand, has had food issues since day one and yet somehow manages to be bigger! Overall Max is doing well. One of my concerns has been switching him to milk from his hypoallergenic formula and the fact that he's still spitting up (more than just a little). So, the doctor recommended that we switch him to Soy Milk. I just bought some tonight so we'll introduce it tomorrow and see what happens. I'm not expecting a smooth transition, but I'll hope for the best! Max is still not crawling or putting weight on his legs to stand. He is delayed in this area, but the doctor wants to give it a few more months before we would be concerned and take action since he's doing well in all other areas. He's a happy, healthy guy! He did not, however, like the 3 shots he had to get. He actually looked right at the nurse when he was done and after he'd calmed down a bit and screamed right in her face - he was mad! He's been running a slight fever today as a result, but overall has been in a good mood, so hopefully there will be no lingering effects. He still has his 5:30 wakes up mixed in, but he's actually been sleeping past 6am quite a bit lately so I've been very happy about that! :) And he's taking after his big brother with his interest in trains so here's a little clip of him playing with trains. And he can even saying "All aboard!" but we haven't gotten that on video yet. When you say it to him he'll say "Aaaaa Baaa Baaaaa." You can totally tell that's what he's trying to say - so cute!

Having fun!

Since I can't seem to figure out how to get the captions under the pictures without the words running into each other:

Picture #1: Max got all those toys out of his crate all by himself - I believe he was in search of the toy he is holding and was quite proud when he found it!

Picture #2: Kyle just enjoyed a blue lollipop!

Picture #3: Max managed to get his arm out of his shirt all by himself!

Picture #4: Max is snacking on cheerios out of a little bowl like a big boy. He wants to be like Kyle now and every time he sees him with a snack bowl he wants one too!

Picture #5: Max is on the move! While he still isn't crawling, he has managed to figure out how to push himself backwards. He started off on the carpet and pushed himself under the table and got stuck! I had to snap a picture before I rescued him. Although he seemed more surprised than upset!

Matthew's Birthday Party

Kyle was invited to his new preschool friend, Matthew's 4th birthday party. It was a bowling party and Kyle was quite excited! He's played bowling on the Wii with Daddy, but this was his first time at a real bowling alley and of course he wanted Daddy to join him. I got a full report and it sounds like he had a great time! He was especially happy that his preschool "girlfriend" Hailey was there. She's a very spunky little redhead that is quite taken with Kyle and vice versa. They love to be silly together and love to give each other hugs and kisses! Jason got some cute pictures from the party so here they are . . . The birthday boy is in the second shot standing in between the lanes.

Max's First Birthday!

I can't believe Max turned 1 today! We had a nice family birthday party here at the house. "Ma" and "Pa", Uncle Mike, Grandma Luster, and Grandma and Grandpa Inman were all in attendance. Kyle was super excited for Max's Winnie the Pooh themed party! We got him a Winnie the Pooh cake and decorations and Kyle insisted that we get everyone party hats to wear. It was a fun day. I think Max enjoyed himself even though he had no clue what was going on. He got some new clothes, toys, and stuffed animals. He seems to have taken a special liking to Curious George - he was giving him lots of hugs and kisses! He wasn't too interested in eating his cake, but enjoyed smearing it all over his tray and even managed to get some in his hair! I hope everyone had a great time - we did! Happy Birthday Max!