Max Starts School

Max has started going to school for a few hours twice a week (8:20-12:20 on Tuesdays and Thursdays).  He goes to Southside Christian School, the same school where Kaelan went to K4 last year.  It's truly a fabulous school and we are thrilled for the opportunity to send him, however, it's been an adjustment for both Max and Mommy.  I'm so used to having my little buddy with me every day, making me laugh and smile.  He's used to being with me all the time.  But, the same things that make it hard are the same things that make it necessary and beneficial.  It's great to have some time with just Blake, especially now that he's changing and exploring so much.  It's also SO important for Max to develop some independence as well as peer relationships.  Perhaps the best reason of all though is that everything they do at Southside is based on Jesus and the Bible.  It's so cute to hear Max say His name when you ask him what his story was about each day.

Like I said, it has definitely been an adjustment for Max and he's still figuring it all out.  We talked it up SO much during the weeks leading up to his first day.  He knows Kaelan goes to school everyday so he was excited to be a big boy like "Bubby".  Here are some pictures from his 1st day.

Nana was nice enough to keep Blake so I could take Max without any distractions.  Papa took this picture while I was taking B inside.  He was happy and actually excited to go to school.

On the way in I made him stop to take pictures.  He was happy to show off the fact that he got to bring a lunchbox to school just like Bubby.

Showing off his new school outfit Nana got him.

Luckily, the kids were playing with cars and trucks on this big parking garage toy.  He quickly joined them and didn't really care if I was there or not.  It was the best possible 1st day drop-off scenario.  He was so interested in everything new to play with, he didn't care what I was doing.  I hung out for like 5 minutes chatting with his teachers before telling him I would come back to get him in a little bit.  I took this picture through one of the door windows as I was leaving.  He's got his hands up shouting, "Oh wow!" as the car he had "drove" down the garage ramp.  :) 

I already love, love, love his teachers Mrs. Sylvie and Ms. Moye.  They are incredible loving and patient and sensitive.  Mrs. Sylvie took pictures to send me for the 1st couple of days so I would see how his day was going and so I'd know he was doing fine.  LOVE her!!!!!!  

Reading a book to Woobie.  I put Woobie in his backpack so he'd have him if he needed him but didn't give it to him at the beginning. 5-10 minutes after I left his teacher noticed he was playing off by himself so she went to see what he was doing.  Once she could see his face she realized he had silent tears running down his poor little face.  He was trying to be so brave but the change was catching up to him I guess.  :((((  She gave him his woobie and it made him feel much more comfortable and safe.  

Decorating his "label" for his take-home folder.

Just a couple more cute ones I couldn't resist.

The next few school days did not go as smoothly but he is adjusting quickly and becoming more and more comfortable each time.  He started crying right as he saw his classroom door the 2nd day so I let him have Woobie to get him settled.  Although he would get distracted often and leave him behind, once he realized he didn't have him, he asked for him or would go back to get him.  He cried the 3rd day but had stopped by the time I had put his lunchbox away and left.  Yesterday was his 4th day and he only fussed for about 30 seconds and more importantly, Woobie stayed in the backpack the whole day.  I'm hopeful he will happily go play with his friends right away within the next 2 visits.  :)))  LOVE YOU MAX!!!!

A few pics from his 2nd day...

Crawling and Teeth!

Obviously I haven't been able to do any posts from December without my camera still, but I wanted to send a quick update with some exciting things that have happened in the last couple of days.  First of all, Blake is officially crawling on all 4s, not just army crawling (which he has been doing for the past few weeks).  This was from Sunday and he's already crawling much smoother and faster.  He was all over the place today and eventually explored all the way into the pantry to find some plastic grocery sacks.  He was quite proud of himself.

Another exciting achievement, last night while I was feeding him dinner, I discovered his 1st tooth!  I'm pretty sure Kaelan got teeth around this same time because he had a mouthful (6 or 8) by the time he was 10/11 months.  However, Blake is way ahead of Max in this department (as well as most others).  Max still only has 16 teeth and only 1 set of molars.  He should have all of them by now.  Blake has been a little extra fussy lately but also extremely hungry so I thought it must just be a growth spurt.  However, once I saw this, I'm thinking it may be a combination of growing and teething.  Nothing a little Tylenol didn't help last night...THANK YOU for sleeping B!!!!!

I'll leave you with a few final pics from the past couple of weeks.  They're just from my phone so nothing outstanding but at least it's something.  

We had friends over for New Year's Eve and let all the kids stay up.  Amazingly, they all actually made it to midnight (except B of course) - better than the adults, that's for sure.  :)

Mike finally switched Max's bed to a "big boy bed".  He's been doing great and hasn't taken advantage at all yet...KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

My ninjas!!!!

November

Luckily for you, November was not nearly as eventful as October.  :)  There were, however, some fun fall festivities to share.  At the beginning of the month, I met Kaelan and the rest of the kindergarten classes from his school at a "Farm Day" field trip hosted by the FFA of a local high school.  The kids had the opportunity to see, learn about, and often touch farm animals.  There are 6 kindergarten classes at his school so we did not all finish at the same time.  While waiting for the rest to finish up, the Kaelan's class kept busy thanks to the quick thinking of their fabulous teachers.  Here he is playing Duck, Duck Goose for the first time.

One of the other highlights of the past couple of months (at least for him), is that Kaelan got his first loose tooth.  Although it was exciting for all of us, it's also a sign that my "baby" is growing up.  Mike and I are always talking about how he's not even a "boy" anymore, he's a full-on KID.  :(  He has changed SO much since starting school.  Not only is he reading and writing and growing so much academically, but he has matured so much too.  He continues to be so sweet with Blake, but he and Max have become such good buddies lately.  Max can finally talk well enough to communicate effectively and they both have wonderful imaginations!  They share and take turns and luckily enjoy playing with the same things usually.  It has been so super to watch and to listen to.  We are SO proud of our big boy!  :)

Blake grew a lot this month and is happier than ever.  He smiles at EVERYONE who talks to him, which is often random people at stores (odd).  It's funny...people always start out talking to him but then comment about how we have "3 boys, huh?"  Luckily, we can always respond with a confident, "They're good boys so it's pretty easy."  Here are a couple videos of Blake's noises.  Giggle Bug     Squealer

At the end of the month we were lucky enough to see Grandma and Grandpa 2 weekends in a row.  They spent Thanksgiving week with Scott and Melonna but stopped here (a good half-way point) on the way down and the way back.  We got to keep their dog Belle while they were gone which we LOVED, especially Jasmine.  Belle is a SUPER playmate and forces Jas to actually MOVE! haha  We ll miss her great energy when she's gone.  We also celebrated "Christmas" with them while they were here since the next time we would see them wouldn't be until January for Kaelan's 6th birthday.  Unfortunately, I haven't downloaded the pictures from this weekend and even more unfortunately, I left my camera in Atlanta when we were there for the Fulmer Family Christmas Party last week...GRRRRR!!!!  However, here's a little video of the boys opening their presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

Finally, Thanksgiving of course!  The festivities began with a Kindergarten Thanksgiving Program at Kaelan's school.  I got there nice and early to be sure we got a great seat (front row!!!).  Kaelan had been practicing his songs and "choreography" for the past couple of weeks so we couldn't wait to see them in the real thing.  He did a fabulous job but, as you'll see, was a little distracted by the kids on the other side of the risers.  He tended to be their spectator instead of being the actual act.  (I needed to GET OVER IT!!!!  He's only 5 after-all.)  It was super cute and we look forward to many more of these types of performances with the boys as the years go by.  We spent Thanksgiving with Papa and Nana this year.  Nana had bought the boys these super cute pumpkin decorations that Kaelan quickly put to use as soon as we got there that afternoon. Afterwards, we had a DELICIOUS dinner!!!!

Max didn't care about the actual decorating but he didn't mind showing off  "his" little turkey.  :)

SOOO cute!!!!  Thanks Nana!!!!!!

They also got to paint some pumpkins here at home that week.

LOVED it!!!

Serious business to this artist.

When Kaelan's vision didn't turn out as he'd hoped, he was happy to create an abstract instead.  :)

Some other pics from the month...

Perhaps the funniest moment of the month.  We were at Target window-shopping for our Christmas lists.  The boys found these guitars and put on a little show.  Max was rocking so hard, his pants fell down.  Did that stop this rock star? No way!!!  He just kept on rockin'!

Happy to be decorating for Christmas!

Santa's helpers!

"Daddy, you're funny!!!"

Excited about the new toys Grandma and Grandpa brought them.  Of course these aren't even their Christmas presents.  The boys got these the night Mom and Dad got here on their way down to FL.  Grandparents never come empty handed (again, I needed to GET OVER IT!!!!).  :)

December soon to come!
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and will have a safe and Happy New Year!!!