9 Months!

Yes, that's right. My little tiny baby is already over 9 months old now. Sorry it's been so long, but we spent the last week and a half at Grandma & Grandpa's cabin. It was gorgeous and those pictures are next! Anyhoo, Maddox has changed so much over the past few weeks. He said his first word and now won't stop. He says "Hi" in this cute high pitched voice. He usually waves at the same time too. He does still say "mama", but not as much. That must have been just a 3-4 day occurrence. He also points to Grandpa's deer heads in the cabin and says "Dee". He's crawling like a normal baby now and I have a cute video of that to come. He pulls up on everything and walks around furniture. He loves to walk while you hold his hands too. He does a great "So big". He just started to play peekaboo by pulling a blanket over his face or putting his hands over his eyes. Sometimes he puts his hands over his ears instead. I'm not really sure why, but it's super cute.
He still loves to play with quite unconventional toys. Also notice that he doesn't look so much like the Michelin man anymore. His rolls are diminishing and he's elongating.
He still loves the "booger sucker". Don't worry, we don't use it in the traditional way anymore. It's now just a toy in the toy box.
Snugglin' in the sling. Corey and I went on a walk the other day and this is how we ended up. Maddox crashed half way into the walk and snuggled right into me. So cute!
This is the only way to hold a 27 lb 8 oz baby! Yes, that right he's now 27 1/2 lbs, but that's fully clothed. I just threw him on the scale the other day at work. Vacation pictures to come.
Stay tuned......

Hot weekend!

Another hot weekend, so we headed to the Lifetime waterpark in Savage Sunday afternoon with Kyle, Angie & Rowan. It was definitely a great day to be in the water. The boys absolutely loved being in the water and we did too. We all even took a trip down the water slide (adults only of course).

I think this was one of Maddox's favorite parts of the park. He just couldn't stop playing with the fountain of water.
Rowan thought it was pretty great too.
Happy Birthday Grandma! We celebrated my mom's 47th birthday all weekend long. Friday night we helped move Kyle & Angie's stuff into a storage unit and when we were done we had cake and sang Happy Birthday. Saturday we spent the day shopping with Grandma & Grandpa for gear for the Breast Cancer 3-day coming up. Maddox even took a nap while we ate at P.F. Chang's. It was delicious.

Then Saturday night we met up at Mill Street for a delicious homemade cake by one of Sue's sister's. It was so cute too - flip-flops and a bucket of sand.
Maddox liked the balloon the best!
Sunday, after the water park, we headed down for grilling for a family celebration of Mom's birthday. I actually picked more wild raspberries, which were oh so good. Oh, and we had dessert again!

We also got an offer on our house, so we'll let you know if the deal goes through for sure. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

I CAN CRAWL!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July was quite eventful! We spent the morning sleeping in because we were up until almost 4am painting our kitchen and dining room. We're neutralizing it for the potential buyers. We packed up and headed to town for the festivities! Corey and Scott went golfing while Maddox and I met up with Kyle, Angie, Rowan, Grandpa Rob, & Grandma Michelle at the fair. Mom & Dad were working at a booth over lunch, so we took the kids to see the animals while we waited for them to be done.

Maddox just loved to pet the ducks. I think he liked how fuzzy they felt.

He also liked the little chicks...
...but he was getting use to the animals by then and actually wanted to grab hold.
When Grandma & Grandpa were done working they took the kids on the Merry-Go-Round for the first time. They loved it! Maddox's legs were shaking with excitement. Rowan really loved it and kept asking for more.
It was a hot one out there, so when we got back Grandma had to give Maddox a bath. All that sunscreen needed to come off.
Then we hung out and played for a few hours while waiting for Daddy to get back from golfing. Mom & I made pasta salad and after the boys got back we went out picking wild raspberries around the house. We all enjoyed a big bowl full with some ice cream. Delicious! The best part about the trip was that Maddox did his first organized crawling! Grandpa teased him with some toys and he sort of army crawled across the floor. It was super cute (see video above).
On the 3rd, Corey and I went out for dinner for Ryan's birthday. We went to Olive Garden and out bowling. Auntie Jenna and Rachel came over to watch the little guy for a couple hours. Maddox hadn't had a nap hardly at all that day, but he did pretty good. They gave him a bath and went on a walk, but just wouldn't take a bottle. It was nice to get out though. Thanks Auntie Jenna! Hope you're having fun in California!

Rolling around naked! It's hard to keep this little guy still for diaper changes sometimes.
Oh, sweet baby!

"Hey Dad, watch out. I have to smile for the camera!"
Dude outfit! We have so many winter clothes that fit Maddox now, so we've been trying to put them on him to get pictures. Isn't this adorable. If it would actually cool down a little we can use some of the hoodies and zip-ups in the evening.
"Yep, I pulled up on this coffee table all by myself."

Maddox is becoming a little monkey more and more every day and just seems to get into everything.

"Watch out! Here I come!"

8 Months Old!

My baby is 8 months old now and just so much fun! Believe it or not, he's actually thinning out. Corey & I keep saying how skinny he looks (which I'm sure sounds crazy to everyone else). No crawling yet, which I'm pretty excited about because all of my friends with crawlers seem to be quite busy. He is walking around furniture though. He actually had his first blood-shed last night when he was trying to walk around the coffee table and missed with his hand. His tooth went right into his lip. I'm pretty sure all three of us shed tears.

Cabbage patch doll? This is another version of Maddox's old man face. I think it looks a lot like a cabbage patch doll.Splash park! Maddox and Rowan enjoyed the splash park in Apple Valley behind Home Depot. It was so cute and nice to get wet since it was quite hot. Hunter & Amy joined us too, but Hunter wasn't so interested in the water, just nursing. Kyle was the only one in swim trunks, so he got stuck running the boys through the sprayers.

Maddox had a lot of fun playing with the spraying water coming out of the ground.
When it would stop he would just patiently wait for it to start up again.

Daycare at Nicole's house. Yes, that's right. Amy and I took on the challenge of taking care of four kids 2 and under. It was a bit of a zoo, but I think we handled it quite well. Angie & Rowan even joined us at the end of the day and Rowan & Caleb played great together in Caleb's room. We even got them outside to play in the morning. Maddox & Ellery loved the swings. There little legs would just shake with excitement.
Maddox was also very interested in the ropes holding up his swing. He just wouldn't look at me so I could catch a smile. Ellery on the other hand was more than willing.
Here's how Amy was able to help. Hunter spent much of the day in the sling. He did however have two nice moments of cooing and smiling on the floor. He's getting more and more interactive every day.
Caleb was quite the busy body running around outside taking care of things that he felt needed to be done. This was the rare moment that I could get him to stop moving and look at the camera.
"Don't look mom. I'm tasting nature."

I had to do some more shopping for Maddox. I actually found some shorts that fit him! I didn't, however, find any shoes that will work. His chubby little feet are just too thick!
Our little guy is getting so fun and developing such a great personality. We take him out to eat all the time and all around the cities. We did go to the zoo this week too with Amy, Angie, & the boys, but I forgot my camera. I'll try to get some from Angie. He does great with all the traveling and loves to go to restaurants, watch the people and eat mommy's lip gloss. He always seems to be the hit of the restaurant as all the women stop to smile at him and pinch his chubby cheeks. We actually went out twice this week! It feels good to be normal again. He's pushing himself up onto his toes and makes motions to crawl, but nothing organized yet. I think it's going to be any day now. I'm hoping it will wait a little longer though, but Corey keeps encouraging.