what a year...

november 2006
september 2007

i can't help but be amazed about the past year of our lives! i look through our pictures and i can name the place, age, outfit, etc from each one! the top picture was from a time my mom and dad were visiting and max was crawling all over the place. he was starting to take steps and he was laughing all the time. the one below was last week at the steelers game at the bindewald's house. max was running, playing, and laughing his head off. it has been such a terrific year.

tonite i was walking about ten steps behing max. he was walking into a restaurant with his granny and aunt erin. i was behind because i had forgotten his bag. he had been giggling and talking as he walked into the restaurant and i heard a young couple say "i love seeing happy kids". i wanted to cry. all the failures and shortcomings you see in your parenting are all blown away when you hear a stranger compliment your child. and what a compliment!

fun weekend...

searching for treasure
so sweet...
his new pal ben
ben meyer...so adorable!!

what a fun weekend. shane and karrie came to visit. he and chris went out friday night and i had a night of quiet, sitting in front of the tv and watching a movie chris would have hated. it was great but i missed chris! i love friday nights with just us...then saturday we went to ohiopyle. i was still really coughing a lot so i couldn't ride my bike and i was wheezing the whole time but it was fun. chris ran 11 miles. he is training for a 10k next weekend and he really pushed himself to see what he could do...after he recovered, chris went out again that night with his dad to the pitt game. alone again...another dumb movie again. a little bit lonely this night. should have made plans myself!! sunday, we skipped church because our pastor is away (we don't like the subs) and went to the playground. after max's nap, we met ben, shane and karrie's adorable son!! we all watched the football game together and i squeezed the life outta this kid. max was a little bit jealous but not too much. what a fun weekend! max and i had a lot of fun. we read 800 stories, colored lots of pictures, and played lots of games. the house is a mess surprisingly since he goes to bed at 730 and i was alone both nights til 11 but hey, it was worth it. i never relax.



also, mr max wellington is talking. he is labeling everything. he rubbed the wall and said "wall". he asks for his shoes, he specifies what he wants to eat (sorta), drink, etc... he is talking. still one word at a time, but the words are definitely there....what a sweetpea!!

picture catch up...

the family tradition continues with max
nina turns one
a boy and his trike
my mom and max walking to skip stones
sasha and olg are leaving for a month to go to russia. we will miss them a lot!!

off with the diaper...

nina has a shirt that says "pacificist". this truly should belong to max. he always desires peace. if chris and i raise our voices ever so slightly...he tries to make us laugh. he does not handle it well during time-out when someone is upset with him...and always after he bites he follows it up with a kiss.

so having him show some rebellion with this new act of diaper removal if he doesn't have shorts/pants on, is surprising. we've been lucky so far. no accidents without the diapers. however tonite, i went to check on him in his crib...his diaper was off. **it's surprisingly warm in pgh (tomorrow is supposed to be 86--is there a degrees circle on the keyboard??) so we have the air on but his room is always a little warm. so without thinking....no pants. we've been terribly sick all week...i can't stop coughing (people look at me like i have TB) so mind is not in the game.**anyways, his bed was soaked. i just bought some new sheets for his crib yesterday but they aren't washed yet and this was his last sheet. i removed him from his bed and placed him in our bed. he was still asleep. chris went in to lay with him--i was struggling with a shrunken sheet and asked for help. chris left max to aid in my struggle and max followed in right behind him. he looked so sweet and sleepy eyed and warm. after 50 kisses, he went back to sleep very easily and we are crawling into bed at 1130. yikes!! i love this age!!

problems with the internet...

i'm sorry that it's been so long since i posted anything...i (used to) get so upset when people weren't posting often because i LOVE seeing new pictures and things...well, i was the guilty party this time....nada since aug 22...we started experiencing internet issues. two cable guys later, we have a new modem. i don't have any new pictures on the desktop, (the one i'm using) they are all saved on my laptop...which is suffering without our wireless router...how did we survive without these things? i'm not being sarcastic....

so i thought i would share two pictures. one from the steelers game before i had maxwellington (i think a week before) and the other from when alicia and carolynn came to visit and the announcement of carolynn's pregnancy was announced!! how exciting!! now callahan is here so that tells you how long ago the picture is from...

as for my little babe...wow! even since my last post he started to do some really great things...he continues to sign a lot, he still says some basic words that he's always used but now he says wat (water), rock, bek, bob, pee (peepaw-chris' dad), bug, book, ball, blue, gee (green), pik (pink), dobe (chris' sister erin's fiance), nnnna (nina), and many more that i forget...oops car too

we joined gymkhana with tink and ella. max had a meltdown the first week because it starts at 11 and that is his everyday nap time...no go...we switched to 915 and he did well after two meltdowns with the corny song where you jiggle your body. (frankly i hate that part so having to comfort him is such a great exit!) he is an amazing jumper! he loves the trampoline! so dang cute.

i really miss swimming but having something like this is so exciting and we love it. we have a fun breakfast and then get dressed to go. when we get back, we sit and read or color pages in his book then soon it's time for nap and is he ready! he's pooped...

nothing really going on here--some things but general prayers cover it (focus on my sister--she's alright she just needs extra guidance right now)

thanks for all the support through my transition back to work!