checking in...

I am so excited to think that we are pretty much through the thick of winter.  Gosh, is it tough to keep an active little guy entertained indoors during the cold months, when all he wants to do is dig in the dirt and swing & slide.  His favorite things, hands down.  He's also a big fan of wagon rides with his sweet friend, Ellie.  Basically, I cannot WAIT for spring and summer, so he can just be a rowdy kid.  So excited for weekends at the blueberry farm, where he can ride around with Poppy on the tractor (another favorite obsession...tractors and trucks)

He's a pretty picky eater...not willing to try a whole lot of new stuff.  Although, if it's on our plate, he wants it!  On his plate, not so much.  I've got my work cut out for me trying to figure out how to round out his diet, because he's not a huge fan of vegetables.  He'll eat fruit all day long, but I gotta work some greens in there somehow!  I know you can hide it in lasagna and stuff, but he's not a huge fan of pasta either.  So, I need to get creative...  he does love black beans and olives.  We spent the last couple of weeks visiting my mom & dad, and his grandma taught him the proper way to eat black olives:

January was a seriously BRUTAL month for our little family.  Jon & I both got sick just before Christmas, and I dont think illness left our house until February blew in.  It was awful!  I went to urgent care twice for myself, twice for Max, and Jon had his fair share of being out of commission too.  We just passed it around and around.  We experienced croup for the first time...and it scared the living daylights out of us.  Not much sleep was granted anyone.  So thankful that we are healthy now, but those six weeks were a blur.  Here's Max as we got ready to go to urgent care one morning:

I gave up a few weeks ago, trying to keep us inside and warm.  Whenever I can, I try to let loose with him and let him get down and dirty, even if the weather isn't super conducive to it.  It makes bathtime later so much more fun for him, and it's a great way to pass these winter days.

He had his first chance to play in snow last week, back in Wisconsin.  Maybe he needs some more opportunities to do so, but he wasn't super thrilled about it :)  We went sledding with the cousins, and it was pretty cute to see them all together again!

We all ended up at an arcade together.  It was simultaneously hilarious, and exhausting to chase Max around.  The boy does love him some skeeball, that's for sure. 

he won a whopping two tickets :)

cousins on the carousel...

all dance dance revolutioned-out....

Our flight home was one for the memory books, as Max took the opportunity during take-off to pee through his diaper completely, onto me, and onto our plane seat.  I was frozen, totally not sure what to do.  The flight attendants were still buckled in, we were really really not allowed to get up.  I had to wait about ten minutes like that to turn on my call light...and when the attendant came to let me know that she couldn't help me quite yet, I simply lifted my boy up to show her the disaster beneath.

Her mouth formed a perfect O, and she ran up to the cockpit to ASK THE PILOT'S PERMISSION for us to get up early to clean up the disaster.  She was not so subtle in showing how dumb she thought I was for not bringing a change of pants for myself.  I always used to!  I think I got a little cocky from never having needed it, and also didnt have the spare room to bring them.  Okay, I'll never make that mistake again, I promise.  Whatever, they dried in four-hours time, by the time we landed (although it happened again an hour into the flight.  what the heck!)  I feel like I handled the situation with composure...or maybe I was in shock.  Probably more that :)

I've never been the parent who counts how many words he's saying.  All I know is it's a lot, and he's constantly saying things I didn't know he knew.  He's putting two & three words together at a time, and constantly making us laugh.  I may have let him use the iPad kind of a lot on our trip to the midwest.  It was a bit of a lifesaver for me on those long travel days, and cold snowy days inside.  One of his favorite apps is called AlphaTots, and he's really darned good at finding his way around that game.  This morning Rachel came over and played with him for a while, and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw this happening.  I ran and grabbed my camera so fast.  Please humor this proud momma, and don't judge my nerdy commentary in the background :)

We are on iPad lock-down now.  The kid needs a technology intervention, for sure (but then again, maybe I do too...)

We are in a crazy separation anxiety phase, and it's been hard for me to go to church or playgroups or anything.  I know it won't always been this way, but it's tough at the moment.  Missing my church, and other stuff!

So there's a little update on life.  I'd like to do something fun this summer for my 30th birthday, but I can't decide on what yet.  I think a getaway to a beach is an order...hmm...