Milestones

Sometimes milestones are fun and exciting. Sometimes milestones are harder and it reminds you that you are moving to a new chapter of life and leaving another behind. That can be hard when you really loved the other chapter. 

Where am I going with this?

Max had his last ride in our infant carrier. We did some car seat shuffle this weekend and moved him to Colt's old convertible car seat (still rear facing so don't panic). 

I kind of bawled my eyes out once we had it all done. I didn't even see it coming. One minute I was talking with Dan the next I am sobbing. We are moving to a new chapter of life. One without infant car seats. And I am so sad. I really loved that chapter in my life and am crying as I wave goodbye to it. 

Max a week old in his car seat. 

Max almost 11 months old in his last ride. 

Crash the old man

Here is Crash as a puppy:

Here he is as a teenager:

And now he is just an old man:

Look at all that gray! It used to be completely black! Old man Crash. He is a good boy!

Day 3

Aaannnnndddd....

Now I know why Max was being so fussy. What's more fun than diarreah? Having it in a hotel rooms hours away from home. Yippee. Cleaning up a very dirty and sad child in a hotel room at 3am without waking up the siblings is very challenging. Another sleepless night. Pierce's tummy hurt off and on with some tummy issues mixed in there also. Poor kiddos. 

Overall the kids were in good spirits and we decided to go back to the park because sitting in a hotel room all day was not going to work. Thankfully everyone was in school so we had the park to ourselves so I didnt feel like we are spreading germs. 

Pierce not feeling well. :(

The rest of the day we just relaxed and tried to get everyone well. 

The next day all the kids seemed healthy (yay!) so we went to Moody Gardens and really enjoyed ourselves! I would really highly recommend going there if visiting!

We had a good time despite the sleepless, sick nights! It was fun going during the off season because it was so quiet and we had so many places to ourselves! We are so looking forward to going back!

Day 2

Day 2 of our trip started off a bit rocky. Max didn't have a good night and woke up at 6am clingy and cranky. He cried pretty much the whole time I was getting myself and the other kids dressed. 

We then walked to a Waffle House for breakfast. During the walk Max calmed down and the other kids did really well walking and listening so I was optimistic about having an enjoyable breakfast. Once we got there, Max started getting fussy and then just got grumpier and grumpier. I was hoping some food would help him because this boy loves to eat. I managed to convince him to eat a piece of toast and tried to shovel food in as fast as possible. Meanwhile Saffryn starts antagonizing Colt by touching him and gently kicking him under the table. In a super loud voice he says, "Stop I don't like that." Over. And over. And over. Saffryn thinks it's funny so she copies him. While I am trying to talk them out of this embarrassing cycle Max starts screaming. And I try to offer him more food which of course must look like poison because he then screams louder. Pierce and Colt then get into a shoving match and Colt almost manages to push Pierce out of the booth altogether. Embarrassing? Ummm ya. Lol. We were quite the breakfast companions. 

The waitresses were so sweet and tried to help the chaos by giving the kids hats. 

I tried to get is out of there as quickly as possible. I am guessing it wasn't quick enough for the people around us. Lol! Someday it won't be such a circus right?!?!

Then we went to this fun castle park to play. 

It was really neat. And completely empty. Bonus!

Max fell asleep for a bit. All was well...until Colt fell down and busted his lip. Poor baby. He got blood all over himself. Seriously not our morning. But we regrouped and had some fun!

After naps at the hotel we went back to the beach for some afternoon fun. 

Phew. What a day!

Work Trip Day 1

Dan had a work conference in Galveston and he talked me into tagging along with him. So while he was at the conference during the day the kids and I could do some fun activities and during the night we would do some family things!

We got to our hotel and the kids loved looking out at the view!

Galveston is not known for having the best beaches in the world...but we don't care. We still had fun!!!

They all loved splashing their feet in the water!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and it was a huge hit!!!

We sat by the aquarium!

Saffryn was positive that this was the best day ever!!!

Another First

Today marks another first in the Mahoney household. 

Max took a bath without screaming the entire time!!! In fact he didn't cry once! YAY!!!!!!!

I cannot tell you how nice it was to have a pleasant bath experience! It felt like such a luxury to not be frantically getting him cleaned while he screams at the top of his lungs!

Seriously folks...it's the little things! And don't they look so cute together?!?!

New Trick

Max has a new trick...

He learned how to drink from a straw!!!

Can't believe how big he is getting!!!

Car painting

We have done this activity before but it has been a long while. A year I believe! And it was time for some fun. So I got out our materials, explained the rules and let them go at it!

It never fails no matter how careful I am I end up with paint on me! All i did was get out the materials and stayed out of the way (and kept Max away from the paint) and yet..

Paint. On my head. Lol!!!

And of course some paint ended up on the tile and baseboards. But it washed off very easily. It was a fun activity and soon Max will be able to join in on the fun!

9 and 10 months

Max is growing and growing!

Personality:

This little one has a BIG personality! He is very opinionated and determined. He is stubborn. I mean very very stubborn!!! He likes to be a part of everything. He is happy as long as he has gotten what he wants/needs otherwise he is screaming. Lol!!!

EATING:

This boy LOVES to eat! We have started him on a lot of table foods and he loves to feed himself. He is still on formula in between meals! He just learned how to use a sippy cup. 

SLEEPING:

We have moved him into the boy room! That's right...all 3 boys are now sharing a room! It is going well!!! Max still wakes up once or twice a night but we just go in now and give him his binky and turn on some lullybyes and he goes right back to sleep. He has only woken up Colt once from screaming at night. We are calling this a win! He still wants to take 2 naps a day which is really hard in our schedule so I am trying to get him to drop his morning nap. 

MILESTONES:

He is crawling! He can stand unassisted for several seconds. He can cruise around while holding furniture. He is babbling a little bit. He can climb up stairs. Our next goal is using some basic sign language. He loves to scream to get what he wants so I am ready for that to end!

He is a smiley baby...

But I do see a lot of this

He still falls asleep in the car a lot!

We love this boy who is so full of balogna!!!

Can't believe we are quickly approaching his first birthday!