Max Fergus Glover is TWO

This one, angel baby, Fergus pants, Mr. Max is TWO years old. In some ways, I think he has to be at least 11 because there is no way I have survived so many years without him, but in other ways, I still always, always, refer to him as, "my baby" in public, so maybe he is not even 2?

These are from the pics that his school took and I am just madly in love with his hair and those edible toes. 

So much. Just in general.

Some things he loves:

-construction (diggers, bobcats, dump trucks, mixers)

-Garbage trucks

-"I go outside, play in backyard in sandbox." All.day.long.

-Dirt, water, dirt, water

-Digging with his digger and dumping things out

-Playing with all of the above

He reminds me of Moses in this one. 

He is also into fire trucks and loves saying, "Hep, hep! There's a fire! To the Rescue!" He will drive his fire truck, slide down the pole and put out the fire wherever he can.

His eyes are still blue, his hair is still way lighter than I ever imagined for one of my kids and it is still crazy. And, y'all. His face is the most perfect little round thing and is slightly crooked smile with those precious little teeth peeking through makes me just want to squeeze all of the deliciousness right out of him.

We stalk the garbage men on Monday mornings. 

Also, he LOVES his Monster blanket and monkey. 

Other things he loves:

-MEAT (his favorite food)

-Reading all books, especially ones about animals, Wild Things and construction

-playing with all things with wheels

-Going to Noni's and GG's to play with their toys and be loved/spoiled rotten

-Talking (he is a talker and loves to ask questions and basically talks non stop-What is that thingy? What is that noise? Where are we going?)

-Chasing/being chased by Anderson

-Not sitting or being calm

Max is so similar to Anderson in the fact that he loves to talk, loves to be outside and already loves all sports. He is loud, assertive, stubborn and snuggly. His face is naturally a little annoyed at his surroundings (he keeps it real), but he will give the biggest laugh when it is deserved. He is SO much easier than Anderson because he is a better eater, better sleeper and doesn't require constant attention with an eyepatch. He does not consistently nap at our house, but does sleep at least 10 hours at night. I never imagined that a kid would still nap at 2, so I let that dream die a long time ago. He does, however, go to bed pretty easily (we earned this/are still earning this with Anderson.) He is into everything and loves, loves to just dump stuff out. He is not sedentary or laid back. He loves to talk about his friends and teachers at school, can identify every animal, will actually watch Mighty Machines on TV and can dribble a soccer ball alarmingly well. He is my entire heart and when I see his franticness to get to get to me as I arrive to pick him up, it makes my life complete. 

I don't have any stats because despite the fact that I called over 6 months ago, his appointment is not for a few weeks. I have this real life thing called a "job" and I cannot make it to an appt at 11:30 during the day. Why, for the love, do those appt times even exist?? But, I will add that info when I get it because if anyone thinks that this is not the baby book, too, they are crazy. 

Just some pics of my baby boy at 2:

Just a day at GG's!

One of the last nights in his crib-sweetness. 

Mommy works a lot, as it turns out, so he gets to make frequent visits to Powell. 

I usually get Anderson first and then Max but on this day, I reversed it and the preschool kids were so excited about helping "the baby" drink from the fountain. He regularly demands an entourage.

Who is your best buddy? -Daddy is my best buddy!

Who loves you the most?-Mommy loves me the most!

Who is your favorite? Anerson is my favorite!

In short, this edition of Glover boy has changed us in a million ways for the better and I don't even want to think about returning to who I was before I met him. The world needed a Rumpus Starter and, watch out, because he is here!

Soccer-FC Alliance

Anderson just finished his first soccer season with FC Alliance. We liked it because we enjoy all physical activities (#Anderson), I really like soccer and the coaches were actual coaches, so they worked on learning skills while still having fun. 

GG & Jpa came to watch him throw down at his first game!

After over a year of playing sports in glasses, we finally got him RecSpecs. In our defense we were not just being cheap (new glasses/lenses for a small kid a few times a year is way more expensive than adult needs), but we also had to wait for his head to grow into the smallest size they make. Apparently the market for sports googles on 5 year olds is not very big. 

Noni came to a few to cheer him on, as well. 

He is really actually pretty good at soccer because he NEVER stops moving and soccer is a fast paced game. He does not love, love it, but we will see what he thinks as he gets older. It is important to me that he plays sports because I think there are so many lessons in sports and I want him to have a  routine of physical activity that hopefully follows him in his life. But, we will let him choose what sport he plays and not be crazy people about expectations. 

This Ferg was always there, too. He is actually a pretty good little kicker and is hilarious to watch. He LOVED when we told him we had soccer practice or a game and would always make sure he had his ball, too. "GO TO SOCCER PRACTICE!" he would yell the entire way there. 

I love his intensity. 

One day, he will be playing too and then will I actually sit down?

I think the sun was out maybe twice during the season and we actually had outside practice. Being inside is a GAME CHANGER for chasing Max (i.e.: if the game is a nightmare).

 Anderson is not allowed to play any more indoor sports until Max is at least 3. 

Max with some random thing, Brandon watching practice and Anderson in the far back practicing-just a Tuesday evening with the Glovers.

Cuties. 

How is it possible that this is the only picture I have with him from the last year and I managed to be so awkward?

A FREE zoo visit....and a FREE Dollywood visit!

Because I work with awesome people, one of them invited us to the zoo with her FREE passes and despite (because of?) the 100% chance of rain, we went and had such a fun time!

*Contrary to Max's face, we did have a fun time. 

One thing I will miss SO much about the toddler stage is the little hands pressed against stuff that they want to look at-curiosity just pressed in the little palms. Max LOVED all of the animals; he was so excited about everything. Because there were very few people there (thank you, rain forecast), I let him just run around with the big kids and he thought he was at least 7 years old. He told everyone who would listen about all of the animals that he saw. His favorite were the monkeys. "They were swinging!" he would say. 

Anderson & Adeline are so funny together. I love little kid conversations. 

The rain proved to be a nice win for Max. He was soaking wet by the time we made it to the first animal because he basically rolled in every puddle that he could find. He was in heaven. 

During one rainfall moment, we took refuge under the penguin overhang. It happened to be the "Zookeeper Info" time and we were the only ones there so we got a private lesson on the penguins and I will never look at them the same again. 

What I learned:

-There are 18 types of penguins and only 3 are cold weather (I can't remember those exact numbers....this was a few weeks ago)

-Penguins in the wild mate for life, but in captivity, they are sort of forced together, so they will leave their "spouse" for someone better! This happened to one of the girls and she was so devastated that her husband picked a new girl penguin that she refused to eat. She had to be hand fed and she now will fake sadness to get the good fish. 

-The oldest penguin is 37 and has really bad arthritis. Her husband brings her fish and little things to decorate their nest. 

-"There is so much penguin drama. We don't even get to eat lunch because of all of the drama we are dealing with all day."-When the zookeeper said this, I totally sympathized with her. High school=zoo.

I love them now. Especially the little old man penguin scavenging pieces of zookeeper's shoelaces for his wife. 

They were still in church clothes because we went straight from church! We had canceled our plans due to the rain, but we decided to go anyway because a free zoo trip cannot be stopped by the weather. I did not want to drive back home, so we ran into Kroger for some snacks and were on our way!

A few weekends later, Mom gave us her free tickets to Dollywood and we actually* had an amazing time. 

*I say actually because we have 5 kids now and were not entirely anticipating an amazing time. Because we are desperate to get out of the house we took them all-one of who was in a boot with a fractured ankle, one of whom was 6 weeks old and one of whom is Max, in general. But, it honestly was probably our best trip yet. The kids were so good and we really had a blast. 

But, check out that baby boy in his VFL attire! Seriously, Nicole is a rock star because she is not the kind of person who just has 3 kids (that is a rock star in itself), but she takes them to Dollywood! 

Anderson found a spider to start the trip off right. He loves a captive audience. 

Max refused to do any rides without me, which surprised nobody. The kid was HYSTERICAL when we tried to put him with Anderson on the pigs. When the ride has to be stopped because your kid is falling out to get to you is the moment when you know your child might be high maintenance. 

These 2 love each other so much when they have space to not be together too much. The love is intense and it needs a little breathing room. 

Baby Levi might have been the hit of the entire day. 

My mom is the epitome of trooper because she not only attends these events with us, but she SUGGESTS them...and drives, and gives us free tickets!

The boys found their water. This was moments before First Aid had to be called because Max's nose was gushing blood after a run in with another kid (who happened to be the son of a co-worker and probably the only other kid we knew out of the 8000 people there.) Seriously, lots of blood. I looked like a victim of a massacre after I picked him up. The hardest part was trying to get him to lay flat because he kept asking, "I go play in water, again?" The ONLY way I could get him to sit still was by taking about the train because we could hear it all over the park. 

I was not with them at the last visit when First Aid had to be called-"The visit of the Broken Bones," but I did hear quite a bit about it, so this incident report seemed much less stressful. The First Aid people were so nice and kept trying to wipe the blood off, which just resulted in screaming until I lied and told Max that they were the train conductors.

Reesie Piece herself. 

She is really this cute in person. Maybe even cuter. 

In a pinch, a sippy cup will serve as a tadpole transporter. 

Two of them made it home with us and Anderson was pumped. I am really hoping I can keep them alive for at least a few days, but with my track record, I am not really counting on it.

Truly, I love nothing more than my togetherness with these guys (and Brandon, of course.)

Ferg insisted on holding my hand on the way home and finally fell asleep (lots of traffic.) I love, love his "resting angry face" as we call it. The kid is not going to fake excitement for you. But, when he is excited, it is the real deal. 

I love all day adventures!

Some things we love.

We LOVE when our girls come to visit...

We LOVE Uncle Curtis' talent! (this is chalk!!)

We definitely, definitely love this baby boy pants. 

First snuggle time with Uncle Brandon. 

We love Ferg's silliness 

and his genuine love of certain things (not everything-the boy does not fake happiness.)

Max loves the zombie movies that Uncle Zack made him of everyone. 

I love my planning ability and the fact that I decided to freeze breakfast burritos so that I will actually eat breakfast every day during the week. I am always so grumpy during the day because I am STARVING and I literally do not get 5 minutes to each lunch (is that even legal? I do not know, but it's an amazing weight loss plan), so I decided to address the issue and make breakfasts that are easy to prepare.

Brandon loves ordering ice cream and then giving it to Max. 

These boys loved when I couldn't find the soccer field (how are there 8 different locations for soccer practice?) and we hit up a playground instead-this really was the highlight of their day, I think. 

We love Big Cousin Noah and were so sad to miss his Confirmation, but we sent love from afar. 

Anderson is currently loving birds. It is odd, but he has a book called, "Field Guide to North American Birds" that he has literally begged for on every Petco trip for the last 6 months and it was finally on clearance so I got it for him. 

We love 5 year old Jack-and the fact that Clare had them pose in front of a whale!