New rooms!

This is for you, Shannon!!!

MAX: 

Apparently I am having a baby sometime soon. Right. Everyone keeps asking if we are "ready"? How can you really be ready for such a life changing experience? While we are not really ready, his room is! Mostly this is because it is pretty much exactly Anderson's room with way fewer letters over the crib and a new canvas. 

I will never get old of references to "Where the Wild Things Are" because it is just too perfect.  Nicole made him this canvas & Shannon sent the wild thing to Anderson, but I secretly knew at the time that I was going to save it for a future boy. I am going to use it for his monthly pictures!

 Nicole also made the letters for him, of course. I probably need to take the pic of A out of the "My first pic" frame.

I will always love the quote above the dresser. Such a staple. Literally everything in this picture was Anderson's. Even the hamper has Anderson on it, but I just put the top down and you can't even tell.

 The diaper stash is a perk of the hoarding. Also, when you are a hoarder, you generally are a planner, too, which is why his diaper bag has been packed for a few weeks. It is not his hospital bag (that's packed, too), so this is really sort of unnecessary.

 His 3 little letters. Will I ever get tired of how precious a name of 3 letters is?? Also, all of the bedding was Anderson's, of course.

My favorite part of the room? The little stool Anderson put next to the crib so he can check on Baby Max, as he told me. Also, we are keeping Anderson's toy box in there so he has some toys to play with downstairs. Love the stowaway in the crib. 

To say I am obsessed with his name would be an understatement. (gifts from Saasha, Bobble Cole, Noni & GG)

ANDERSON:

Anderson got a new room, too! We moved him upstairs about a month ago and he has done a great job transitioning. He doesn't play up there unless we go up there, but I am ok with that because it forces some quality time. I would like to say that he now sleeps like a champ or even the last place contestant in the sleeping contest, but he still is a ridiculous sleeper. (ie: doesn't fall asleep until 10 when he takes a nap, wakes up 2-5 times every.single.night. and, in general, just does not need a lot of sleep.) Side note: how great is the patched octopus?

The room is a very weird shape with how the ceiling slants, but I think it turned out pretty cute. I gave in and got the dinosaur bedding with the hilarious thought that it would make him sleep better. I want to get red curtains, but the only normally priced ones that have a backing that I can find are on Target's website only and I just do not want to pay for shipping. (They don't qualify for the spend $50 get free shipping gig)

Brandon & Anderson have done a lot of fun projects together: assembling furniture, painting, etc. I really think that my laundry and diaper stacking was the better end of this deal.

Absolutely.

Me: Hello (in a totally inconvenienced way because the # is Anderson's PO office and I am thinking they are calling to change his appointment day)

Dr Cogen: Hello, Melissa, it's Dr. Cogen.

Me: Oh, hi. How are you?  (in a totally flustered, I am talking to a celebrity on the phone, way)

Dr. Cogen: Checking in...Eye Foundation is making a video to promote funding for vision grants...need a pediatric perspective...you are the first person I thought of...Anderson's story...would you be interested?

Me: Absolutely.

Dr. Cogen: I am not sure what it includes, you might have to travel and I don't know when the time would even be...

Me: Absolutely.

Dr. Cogen: I know you are busy and pregnant...don't have time...

Me: Absolutely.

Anderson's Eye has been one of the hardest thing we have ever had to deal with & Dr. Cogen has made this journey tolerable. Someone, at some point back in the day, helped raise money for the vision research that is ALLOWING MY BABY TO SEE, so ABSOLUTELY I will do whatever you need me to do! Hello!! Tell me where to go, what to do, what to say, who to give my chopped off left arm to and I will do it!

Turns out, nobody needed my arm and since I am giant pregnant, they agreed to meet us in Chattanooga instead of us driving to Bham.

 It was a bit more official than I expected.

 I took the whole process very seriously. I only teared up once.

Anderson even got to help! They wanted him to answer some questions and he, of course, decided not to fully cooperate. The kid who the night before was explaining to us what nocturnal means, refused to even say his name and age in a normal voice. We tried him sitting on my lap and talking, but there is just not a lot of room for the 3 of us on my lap at this point. So, they asked him some questions sitting in the chair by himself and he was pretty cute.She is supposed to send me the final video, so we will see how he did.

This was worn during the interview, of course. Representing the imoms!

I am aware that maybe 7 people are going to see this video, but I am so grateful to be a part of the Eye world and feel like in some teeny, tiny way we are paying back the enormous debt we owe to research and Dr. Cogen. It was fun!

We always take Noni with us when we leave the house. Seriously, she entertained him the entire time so I could answer questions and is a pretty fun travel partner, too!


Since we were in Chattanooga & I had taken the whole day off work, we decided to hit up the aquarium. It was SO much fun; I've never been!

 Staring contest with a butterfly.

 We were there during penguin feeding time!! Anderson saw all of the penguins on the ice/land part & said, "They must be a class getting ready for swimming lessons." As for me, I really liked watching the penguins; I think they were my favorite part.

 He insisted on wearing his fire hat. You just never know.

 Seriously. Sharks. He told us this was his favorite part and has since been obsessed with playing "Under the Sea" at GG's house.  There were about 4 or 5 in the tank and they were definitely giant and scary looking, but very cool.

We stalked the sting rays...

 and finally lured one over! 

It was such a random and fun day! I am so glad I had the chance to hang out with this boy and my mom before there is another kid in the mix. I think the fact that the whole thing was sort of last minute and unexpected made it even better.

What we've been up to lately...

God is giving me another boy for so many reasons, but a main one is so I never have to worry about what they wear in public. 

 Brandon met baby Reese for the first time! Nicole came to Knoxville and went to Birmingham with a 6 week old (this was from about 3 weeks ago)....she is crazy. But, we were so excited to see them!

 I started this random green tub thing for Lily when she was born to put surprises in when she visits and now I get to have one for Reese! Let's be honest, clearance stuff for little girls is pretty easy to find, so this is sort of a win-win becauseI get to hoard and they get treats.

 Anderson and Brandon have spent a lot of time outside lately. Literally, on the weekends, we are outside from the minute he wakes up until I force him in at night. We were cooped up in the house for way too long with winter!

 This was the best shot I could get of him, but it was too cute not to post it. He has his fire fighter boots on and every time I stopped to get something, he jumped out and put out a fire. He would yell at people to watch out for the fire and, "Don't worry, I will save you!" It was hilarious. (to me anyway, maybe not to the people trying to shop for groceries)

When your kid still needs a nap, but you need him to go to bed before midnight, which means no nap...this is what you find at 5pm. Not ok. I know I sound heartless that I don't let him sleep, but  I am telling you, if he takes a nap he is up incredibly late and then still wakes up at dawn and is so grumpy the next day. Max WILL REQUIRE SLEEP!! Maybe if I talk really loudly, he will hear me....

The heating pad was for me (darn you, sciatica!), but he always steals it when he sees it.

Always doing something fun when I pick him up at Noni's

Putting that pesky eyepatch to a better use...he made a flag for our sandcastle. 

I thought it would be fun to make fondue one night and it was...sort of. I am thinking we revisit this when he is a bit older.

Flying the Ninja Turtle kite!

I have mentioned that I really like 3, but I do need to clarify that the lows are still pretty low (eating and sleeping and tantrums and getting upset because I am not hopping down the stairs...), but the highs are just so much more fun, I still think it is my favorite age. Let's be honest, we only go through a few patches a day, so of course this time trumps all!!

My Goddaughter rocking the truth!! Look at how grown up and precious she is in her little jeans!

Karma

If you know anything about my dogs it is probably these 2 things: they have an amazing life because they are totally spoiled and they drive me CRAZY. I clearly love them, but a 50 lb dog(she should not weigh that much...a sign of the spoiling) and a 75lb dog take up a lot of space, are super demanding with the constant need for WATER, petting, going out, coming in, barking when the neighbors cough, etc. I love them, but they drive me nuts on a daily basis. 

This is where karma comes in. 

For all of Chloe's life (she is 9!), she has been the Diva of the house, basically doing what she wants...ie: living a typical diva lifestyle and annoying us. Well, now the tides have turned because Anderson stalks her and it is awesome.

 I only have a few pics because they are hard to get, but it is one of my new favorite forms of entertainment. 

My favorite is that he has decided that she is the bad guy on the Ninja Turtles. For awhile she was Donatello, but she would not cooperate, so he demoted her. Meanwhile, Gabs gets to be Splinter, who is the leader, so the whole thing is sort of hilarious. 

"Head butt Chloe" is a favorite game. Well, a favorite of one their's.

I walked outside & Anderson was throwing every single ball at her and trying to trap her with the chair.

Chloe is so, so stubborn. She refuses to lay on the end of the bed if Gabbi is already there and will whine/scratch at me/stare at me until I let her lay literally on top of where I am. This particular evening I was feeling 9 months pregnant and there was no room for there, so she decided to stare Gabbi off of the end of the bed. Poor Gabs gave in, so Chloe still manages to sneak a few past Karma.

Lily's Birthday Party!

Posing cousins- Love these 2! Everytime I see them together, I think that it is just too much and too perfect. One day they will totally realize how lucky they are to have each other.

Her party was at Wallabee's (how do you spell that?), which is the greatest inflatable place ever. Seriously, it is huge but contained and has this great area clearly built for little boys because you just jump on stuff and attack people with foamy things. 

Noni always makes herself useful, like snuggling with a girl.

It is way more fun to go to a bouncy place with Daddy rather than your giant pregnant mom. 

Celebrity appearance by Bop the Balloon Man! He was the HIT of the party, for sure!

I. am. dying. 

(the only kid out of about 25 who had icing all over his face)

One of Lily's present was a slurpee maker and Brandon took the whole process very seriously.

Lily sort of accidentally caught a fish. It was hilarious. Hughes thought the line was snagged, but there actually was a fish on it. Anderson kept poking it in the eye and we literally could not get Lily any closer to it than this. Ultimately, Anderson's need to touch it "one more time" meant a little back floating for the poor guy by they time they threw him back in the water. And, oh yes, Anderson is wearing a Spider girl costume that we made into a boy version.

Just hanging out Under the Sea. 

The pieces, you ask? Why she was also there being as precious and perfect as always! Until Nicole left and we had to give her a bottle, but let's not dwell on that part... :)

Winter/Spring Break

Spring Break was really more like Winter break because it snowed the first few days, but we still managed to find some time to go pantless outside. It was really cold and I probably should not have let him play in water without a coat, much less pants...but how do you stop something so cute?

I do prefer to avoid direct sunlight. 

LOTS of errand running on breaks. Everyone asked, Are you going anywhere on Spring Break? And, my answer was, Oh, yes...Target, Jiffy Lube, the post office, 3 doctor appointments, hair cuts,vet trips, lots of random errands,  etc...To mix it up, I threw in Dunkin Donuts occasionally. Anderson was such a trooper most days and it was pretty fun, actually.

We got in a play date with Jack and Lucy!! Look at how cute she is watching her Mommy:)

Lunch date with Bop!

3 year old pics! (Yes, it is a picture of picture, but my scanner is broken) I love being the person at Portrait Innovations who literally only gets the $16 package. Yes, my kid is cute, but I take enough pics of him. I am good with the the one pose package.

A visit to Lily's house was awesome, as usual. We managed to fit in 2 picnics at parks (it was still a bit chilly, but we were desperate), a visit to an awesome Children's Museum that had an entire Dinosaur Egg event complete with dino egg digging,crafts and digging for "real" dino eggs! But, there was also a lot of playing, popcorn eating, parties and the 2 of them reminding us of the fact that boys and girls really do act VERY differently!

I would like to say that Nicole and I are amazed at how great cousins are, but this is not new to us. We grew up with our cousins literally living next door to us, so cousins are just a part of life around here.

*Yes, my sister did have a 5 week old at that point, but she also has a 4 year old who does not require sleep, so by 9am it is generally time to do something out of the house. Nicole has been such a trooper with Reese and gives me a teeny bit of hope for my life with 2. Reese cries quite a bit (she is a newborn) and is as demanding as all newborns...but Nicole is not super fazed by it. We just sort of put the crying baby in the seat and away we went. Despite her normal newborn behaviors, she is not...how do I put this nicely...Lily as a newborn. Nicole said she is so relieved that Reese is just a normal crier who can actually be consoled at times that she basically can ignore crying because she is so relieved. Hilarious.

Anderson made me a picture in Lily's craft area. Since we don't really "craft" at our house, this is not that common, so I had to play it up.

Dino Egg Event at the "Hands On Museum"!

Prince Anderson (Lily had him a green crown) LOVED baby Reese. We all are sort of obsessed with her...She is SO precious and tiny!

Love these guys! (Let's be honest, how much does my OCD brain love that I will get to just keep saying "guys" or "boys" once Max is here? Such efficiency.)