Sucker, BLUE!

Mom caved...

Halloween

Trick or treating this year was a bit chilly, but we still braved the cold and went up and down our street.

Lil Max went as a turtle again, using the same costume he wore last year.

He was a little shy at first, but the candy usually got him to come 'out of his shell'...

Walking with mom to the next house...

Getting braver...

Ready to go inside and warm up!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Catching up with Max

Because I haven't had a good Max only post for awhile, here are some Maxisms as he nears the ripe old age of two:

Max is a talking machine. He almost always has something to say (clearly a trait he inherited from his mother...). Most of the time, we can understand him. Other times we just look at each other, scratch our heads and say 'Yeah!'. I thought I would try to count how many words he could say, and gave up after about 1 hr. I'd be writing down forever. He seems to be learning a new word every day, and if he doesn't have a word for something, he'll just make something up! Some of his favorite words/phrases right now:

1. "TV on/TV off or Lights On/Lights Off or DARK DARK"! He is a very energy conscious child -- and he always has to make sure that you are aware of your surroundings, whether the lights are on or off, whether the doors are open or shut...

2. "Sucker, blue...MOM!" I don't know where he got this from. He rarely gets suckers (we still have some left in the bag I opened eons ago). And why he almost ALWAYS tacks a 'blue' on to the end is beyond me. Some mornings he wakes up and the first words out of his mouth are "Sucker, mom, blue!"

3. "MANDA/Manda's car" -- every maroon colored car is "Manda's car" and if you try to tell him that it is not her car, he gets very upset and frustrated. He is head over heels in love with her. Some days after school he will sit in front of our picture window yelling "MANDA...MANDA...hurry up!"

4. "Go, GO, GO!" This is usually yelled out while we are watching "FOOTBALL!" or "OCKEY"


5. "Tag, mom!" -- an order for Mom to help him find the mini tag on his blankie that he is O.B.E.S.S.E.D with. He has to have it in his hand when he goes to bed... Another blankie related phrase is "blue" or "green" the oh-so-creative names he has given to his two blankies. I am very sad that Land's End discontinued his blankies, because I wanted to buy some back ups -- he loves those things to pieces!!

6. "Run, Mom, AROUND" (Other names could be substituted for Mom). Used when we are playing the run around game where we -- get this -- run around an object, like a tree, a car, or the kitchen counter. This activity can entertain him for HOURS. One time, he got me so dizzy running around the kitchen counter I had to sit down. He was very upset that I sat down. And, if you try to run in the opposite direction, he also gets very upset -- we think this is a sign that he might make a good track runner....

7. "I DID IT!" -- self explanatory. Sometimes we really don't want to see what he just 'did'....

8. "E-I-DA-DA" Sung to the tune of B-I-N-G-O (just minus a few beats). This is the "Name Song" and some mornings he wakes up singing it. He gets pretty creative recalling other names and substitutes them in the song. The other day he actually substituted an object in the song instead of a name. This song is also used to pass the time while in the car...
9. He can identify all his colors. Sometimes he mixes up white and black, but he knows: Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink, Purple, Green, Brown, Black, Tan and White"

10. He 'has' counted up to twenty -- he 'can' count up to ten. More consistently, he counts to five.
11. He knows some of the letters in the alphabet. By far, his favorites are: "O, X, W, K, Q, A, Z"

12. This story is worth re-telling for the baby book...We got his flu shot while we were at the doctor last month for a follow up visit to his sick visit. The nurse came in with the shot and sat down next to us. She had a tweety bird band-aid in her hand for after the shot. I told Max "Look, Max...she has a sticker for you! She is going to poke you with this needle, and it might hurt a little bit, but afterwards, you will get a sticker!" So, she pulled down the neck of his shirt, wiped his little bicep and stuck the needle in, gave him the shot, wiped it off, and then stuck on the "sticker." He didn't move, flinch, cry out, even BLINK. Then, calm as he could be, he turned towards me and smiled and said "STICKER!" That's my BOY!

I'm sure I can think of more, and I'll try to post some more as we near his second birthday. I can't believe my lil prince is going to be 2 already! The time does fly!!

In other baby news, McDuex is doing well. We're at 15 weeks now, and the "BIG" ultrasound is scheduled for Dec 3rd. We'll keep you posted!

MN Weekend

This weekend, we travelled to MN to celebrate the coming of the newest family member to F and D -- Lillian Rae, due Nov 22.

As we drove to MN, the rain was just so bad; it was constantly POURING down -- not a mist but real hard rain. People were, of course, driving too fast for the conditions, and I just about had a heart attack when some guy (speeding, of course) started hydroplaning about 100m in front of us and then his car spun around almost twice - while flying from the left lane to the right lane and then back again before landing in the median ditch. We were in the right lane. A huge dumptruck was right next to us in the left lane -- and he ended up having to brake so hard he drove right into the median ditch so he wouldn't rear end or tip. It was FREAKY!

But, I am happy to say that, other than the driving conditions I seriously could not have asked for a better drive. Lil Max was an ANGEL. Of course, the DVD player contributed to that...but he quietly sat and watched Wall-E and then Nemo, and then we turned it off, and he fell asleep and took a 1.5 hr nap, waking up just as we exited off the freeway.

Lil Max had a great time visiting with his McGrandparents -- some favorite activities included chasing a shovel around the garage, running in circles around the cars, driving the boat, sitting in the camper pretending to camp, and visiting the horses across the street. There was no lack of fun things to do!

We also got to visit with our good friends, Jim and Bridget (our fellow BWCAW mates) and congratulate them in person on their new addition to their family -- due to arrive just weeks after ours (May 7th)! Future campers unite! :)

Here are a few pictures from the weekend and the shower. If you couldn't guess from the plethora of pink, F and D are expecting a baby girl. She is due Nov 22 (just days after lil Max's birthday!).

Three generations of McLaughlin men...

D and the diaper cake I made!

The expectant parents...

Only four weeks left to go!

Lil Max showing off for the guests.

Petrea (Max's cousin) was enamored with him, and we were amused by making them kiss. Max was more interested in eating his 'sucker' and was getting a little frustrated everytime we asked him to take it out of his mouth and 'give Petrea a kiss'.... :)

Dancing Man

I can't decide if he dances more like mom, or more like dad.



Either way...

he's kinda screwed! :)

The last hoorah of Summer

The last weekend of September, my mommy friend Melody and her family came to visit us from Chicago!

She has two beautiful and bright children...Ms. N and Mr. B. Ms. N is a fellow November 2007 baby (hence how the two of us met)...except they were living in Japan when she was born!

It was great to have out-of-town guests...and even greater that they wanted to get out and try things. So, we got to go to the Betty Brinn children's museum, and lil Max's first (and last home) Brewer game! We had a blast and can't wait to go visit them in Chicago next!

Enjoy some photos of the fun:


Playing at the Children's museum...

The sand table was pretty cool!

The kiddos 'sharing! :)

And chaos ensues...

View from the nosebleed section!

Mom and Max

He wanted his own seat!

Ms. N and her daddy.

Melody, me and Mr. B (don't ask...the other picture was even worse!)

Max playing with his sunglasses.

Meltdown begins...no nap = crabby Max.

And he passes out on the way home... PHEW! :)

We had a great time, Mel! Can't wait to do it again!!!

Introducing...

McDuex!!!

McDuex, 10 weeks.

Set to debut on April 22, 2010. We couldn't be more excited!!

Lil Max is still not sure what to think about it all.

He gets confused when Mom talks about the 'baby in her belly'...

But we're looking forward to him being the BIG McBro!!

:)

Weekends are for Jammin'

or saucing...

or buttering...

choose your evil...

This weekend, the apples on our trees were ripe enough to begin harvesting. We started picking and without making a noticeable dent in the trees (SIGH) have made:

3 apple cakes
(check out Smitten Kitchen for this awesome recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/moms-apple-cake/)

3 quarts applesauce
We will defintely be making more of this!!



8 pints apple butter
I will probably be making more of this because 1) it is delicious and 2)it seems that I have some people willing to take some off my hands!! (if you are interested, just leave me a comment and I'll find a way to mail it to you).

And, just because I am sure that most of you don't really care about what we do with our apples...here are a few pictures of Max and Auntie Amanda playing around....he is such a character!!!

Eating Oatmeal with Dad!

Zoo Fun

We decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather over the long weekend, and took a trip to the zoo Sunday morning. We like going to the zoo in the morning for several reasons: 1) it is usually not hot yet; 2) it is usually not busy yet (the line when we left was backed up the road, yet we drove right in!!); 3) Max is less tired (aka crabby) and naps like a CHAMP when we get home; and 4) the animals are MUCH more active in the morning -- we got to get up close and personal with cheetahs, tigers, giraffes, and lots of birds!!

It was also the last weekend of the Birds Down Under special exhibit -- so we made sure to visit the birds again...Max really LOVES it!!


Max ran from display to display and assumed the position of nose pressed to glass at each station. He'd turn to me with this look of glee on his face that was just precious. I'd ask him if he'd like to go see what was next and he would answer "YEAH!" and run to the next window...

This was BY FAR one of the coolest hands-on special exhibits we've seen! Max was in AWE of all the birds flying overhead, and just ticked pink that he got to feed them!!






The train whistle got THIS reaction out of him EACH time!!

Here's a video of Max and the tiger. We first saw the tiger inside, and Max didn't realize where the big cat was in the display. All of a sudden, the cat rounded the corner and walked RIGHT IN FRONT OF the window. Max jumped back about five feet -- I think he was surprised at how BIG the cat was. Then, he kept proceeding to entertain everyone in the big cat building by yelling "Tiger....hi Tiger....bye Tiger.... TIGER!!!"

And here is a video of us enjoying the train:




We increased our vocabulary by leaps and bounds at the zoo - learning new words like: ostrich, alligator, and zebra. Max was especially interested in the fish, the big cats, the birds, and of course, the train... We have such a great zoo in Milwaukee -- we need to remember to take advantage of it more often!

Oh yeah...I did sign lil Max up for his very first zoo class -- once he turns two, he'll be old enough -- so I signed him up for...wait for it.....a TURTLE class! :) I'm looking forward to it already!! :)