The 2nd Floor

Here is the latest on the 2nd floor. The new subfloor is in, additional support has been added to the roof in Max's future room and Dada has begun to add the 2" foam board to the ceilings for a water resistant insulation.
Believe it or not, one day soon the area between the knee walls in the above photo will be Max's room, and the area to the left with the big pile of foam board will be Charlie's room. In the photo below, the same pile of foam board is on the right. The goal is to have them up there this June - go Dada go!

Cheese!

It should never be said that Max doesn't like the camera, nor that the camera doesn't like Max.

Look at all the colors!

Max LOVES playing with playdough. I have been making him the homemade kind for a while now (Thank you Caroline and Emmely for the recipe!). Each time we get it out I make him a new color. We started out with blue, green, red, and yellow. This morning I asked him if he wanted orange and got an enthusiastic 'Oh-nch!' in return. About 10 minutes into his playdough time he finally got his newest color. Then after putting Charlie down for her nap I asked Max if he would like some purple. He was just as enthusiastic and actually asked for the purple a few times while I was making it. Once he had the purple, he had to have the colors lined up on the table in just the right order.

The new style

Yesterday morning Max's friend Mary Kate came over to play (and her mom Kristin was here to talk mother-talk with the Mama) and Max figured out that the crawler track off of his little tractor almost fits on his head. Yes, that's right, a crawler track. He was SO proud of himself and vamped it up quite a bit for the cameras. Mary Kate just looked at him in wonder and smiled. What a trend setter.
Side note: Aren't Mary Kate's pigtails so cute?!? I am so looking forward to Charlie having enough hair for them! Well, at this point even enough for a barrette would be a huge improvement for bald little Charlie... ;)

Olives

Another quirky thing that Max just loves is green olives. Dada enjoys them in his martini and thought it would be funny to see Max make a face from eating an olive, but just the opposite happened! Now it is assumed by all that if Dada is having a martini, Max gets a little plate of olives all to himself. He eats them right up and usually asks for 'more ovilsa pwease!'

Pay attention, Mama!

This morning as I was changing Max's diaper I was talking to him about going in the potty like a big boy and went on and on about when he needed to go he should tell me and we can run to the bathroom, and I guess I should have been paying better attention to what I was doing when putting his pants back on him...

It's a little hard to walk when both legs are in the same pants leg! He didn't say a word to me about it. I set him down and he toppled over when he tried to walk. I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face! (Good thing he was laughing too!)
Of course, what would any person do upon discovering this? You mean you wouldn't say, 'Stand up Max - Mama has to go get the camera!'

'The' House Revisited

Isn't it amazing what can be accomplished in one week? The sign went out front of the house on Friday. Whew. Now we just need some nice people to move in!

Charlie-girl

The kids and I were up at Grandma & Grandpa's house yesterday and I was working really hard to try to get a photo of Charlie smiling. She would look at me and smile, I would bring the camera up and try to get her to smile again, but she just looked at the camera like it was an alien. Then she would look away and smile, as the photo below.

'The' House

I took this one this morning of the house across the street - that has been in the process of being built since we first began looking at our house last January (yes, 14 months ago) - because I had to document the huge mess that is directly across the street from us. The latest on the mistake list is the ripping up of the front walk because it was poured too narrow. So the excavator was brought in, the walkway ripped up and then, on an extremely rainy day, plastic sheeting was rigged up so that the new one could be poured the same day. This after no work at all was done 3 out of 5 days last week. The entire project has been like this. No work for days, weeks, months on end, and then crews are there over the weekend and in horrible weather to get things done last minute. Also of note is the trailer full of trash to overflowing just to the right of the house in the driveway that has been there for at least a month. We are really looking forward to the house being done and some new neighbors moving in!

Face Shot

I was trying really hard yesterday to get a shot of Charlie smiling to see if I could get her new teeth. She would smile until I brought the camera up to my face. No dice. But I did manage to get a great shot of her beautiful blue eyes!

2 of a Kind

I found the boys looking at a truck parts catalog. Not something the Mama would willingly look at, but the two boys seem to be fascinated by it!

Bathtime Fun

To say that Max is an enthusiastic bath taker would be an understatement... Dada ends up this drenched every time!

What a Lazy Husband!

Here are a few shots of what my lazy-a$$ husband has been up to lately... you know, in between his day job and trying to spend time with the kids and I. This one above is from a couple of weeks ago when he was still in the process of removing all of the old wall board, insulation, and floorboards. Kickin' coveralls, eh?
The next two shots below are from this morning. All of the debris has been removed and the space is now ready for new insulation and subfloor.

This is the huge pile of debris in the back yard before Dada sorted it all into the trailers to take to the recycler and the dump. Note the small open window through which all debris was tossed to get it outside!

This next one was taken when we were first looking at the house. Dada removed all of that wall board, and the wall and door separating the far room. The guy is some other house hunter there during an open house.

Story Time

Dada spent the vast majority of the day working upstairs and when he was done for the day, he was really DONE. Max, on the other hand, was so excited to see his father he was jumping all over the place. Dada suggested the two of them go out to the front porch where Dada could sit and rest and Max could run around on the porch. All Max wanted to do, though, was sit right next to Dada and started talking animatedly and waving his arms all around. Most of what he said was his own little language, with a few words we could understand interspersed. I was peering through the front window at them and caught this priceless picture.

New Toy

Dada brought home a new toy for Max today - a mini LED flashlight. Max immediately ran into the dark bathroom and started waving it around. I discovered a function on my camera that I had never used before - if I turn the flash off, the exposure time lengthens, creating this cool effect with Max waving the light around. I'll have to play with that some more...

New V-day Tradition

I decided that since Max is old enough to start helping me with certain things in the kitchen that we would institute a new Valentine's Day tradition - the making of sugar cookies. I made the cookie dough while Max was napping and when he woke up, he helped me roll out the dough and use the cookie cutters. He had a blast! He was so engrossed that he wouldn't even look up at me for the picture. He wasn't all that interested in the finished product (is he really my kid?!?) but had so much fun rolling and stamping. In future years we will add the frosting and decorating, but for this first time just the making of the cookies was enough (for both of us). I even managed to get him to help me clean up the counter afterward!

6 Months Already!

Yesterday, Charlie and I went to her 6 month checkup at the pediatrician's office. Here are her current stats:
Weight: 15 lbs 14.5 oz - 50th percentile
Head Circ: 43.2 cm - 90th percentile
Length: (drum roll please) 28-1/4 inches - 110th percentile!

She is definitely long and thin like her brother!

She has a slightly "slow" tear duct (fairly common with children this age) which the doctor showed me how to massage to alleviate the crusties that have been forming in the corner of her eye. No worries - we will take proper care of it. Other than that, she is in excellent shape and looking good.

My, What Big Teeth You Have!

Yesterday afternoon Charlie and I were sitting together, me trying to keep her quiet so Max didn't wake up early from his nap. I let her chew on my finger, and what did I feel? Both bottom front teeth have broken through!! I had no idea they were so close. No wonder she has been chewing on things and crying lately! I just thought she was hungry and fed her more. You'd think I'd know better with her being my 2nd. Just goes to show how different each child is!

Good job with da knead, Mama

Max and I decided we should make bread again this morning. We went through the whole cycle of adding all of the ingredients together and watching it mix and knead, and then let the machine do the first rise. When the dough comes out of the machine, Max stands on the stool next to me and watches me do the 2nd knead on the counter. In the middle of the kneading, he pats me on the shoulder and says, "Good job with da knead, Mama." Thanks, Max.

Who is this?

I was looking at this photo a little bit ago when Max came over to see what I was doing. I asked him, "Who is this?" He says, "Chahwee." "It's Max." "Chahwee." "Max". He looks at the picture a little longer, smiled, and just looked at me for a bit. I don't think he believed me.
Just for reference, take a look at this picture of Charlie from about a month ago: