Bye Bye baby

For 4.4 years, we have been in baby mode. We have had diapers, wipes, onesies, footies, nose suckers, cribs, and bottles coming out our eyeballs. For most of this time I have felt like I have been in survival mode because we've had a lot of illnesses during the last 4.4 years. I think that made it go by extra fast.

At one time we had a newborn and a one year old. Yikes.

At time we had a crib in Rylan's room, a crib in Max's room, a bassinet in our room, and a pack and play in the living room. So we could lay a baby down or change a diaper in any area of the house. Somehow with all those beds, we got very little sleep.

Rylan had to move out of the crib a little after his second birthday because he weighed 36 pounds and I was post c-section, post Death fever, and MAH BACK HURT!!!! Max, on the other hand, weighs 26 pounds, dripping wet, at 2 years old. Plus, I haven't recently been invaded by tick fever OR given birth. I vowed to keep Max in his crib until he went to college.

Until Saturday.

I put him down for a nap and went out to the kitchen. Where Max joined me 5 minutes later. And gave me a heart attack. I thought it was a fluke and put him back in bed. I checked on him a couple minutes after and caught him perched on his crib rail with all four limbs like he was fixing to stand up and do a tight-rope walk. 

No more crib. Bye bye baby.  This dad gum kid is bound and determined to grow up! Its so rude! So, here is a trip down memory lane. From sweet baby to Mickey Mouse loving, sassypants, running 80mph little piece of crazy.

Oh Max......we were just starting to sleep again.........

So, what do you call the mode after babies where you get woken up with a 2 year old in your face saying "mickey mouse playhouse mommy!!!!!!!!" 

Awwww....the weekends

Here's what used to happen on weekends:
Sleep in
Sit around while drinking 3-12 cups of coffee
 Float in the pool reading a chick book
Take a HUGE nap
Watch 2 movies

 Then we had Mover and Shaker. And they don't like to sit around. And drinking cups of whatever requires action on my part. And one is phasing out of naps (he didn't ask our opinion) and the movies still go down, but they have names like Wild Animal Baby and Chipmunks. Left to their own devises, Rylan and Max would beat the ever living crap out of each other and eat 27 Popsicles all by 8:36 am. Its best to keep them entertained. Here is an example of a rainy Saturday:

My, that little doggie outfit is getting tiny. Still adorable. Me thinks its time to pass it on to Mr. Miles

We have become huge fans of the Rivermarket on Saturday morns. There are so many choices of what to do. We almost always hit the Farmer's Market. I know you are thinking, well that's healthy. But, we mostly go for this absolutely divine jelly that we are hooked on called Very Berry. It has every berry possible in it and its so good, I could eat it without a piece of toast. Just a spoon. Then we either go to storytime at the library, on a trolly ride, or to the Museum of Discovery. Last weekend we changed it up a little and went to the Splash Pad after getting our needed jelly.

I feel bad, because when Ry was my only child, I took him to the Splash Pad all the time and Max is almost 2 and he's never been. I did take him to a different splash pad a month or more ago, but it nearly gave me a heart attack and I never went back. This splash pad is easier to watch your kids and isn't directly next to scary climbable rocks with tunnels and slides. I lost Max like 7 times that day.

This day was great. It was overcast, and rain looked imminent, so it wasn't busy as usual. Max and Rylan LOVED it. So much fun to see their big smiles.

Eventually the need for food outweighed the need to run with wild abandon through sprinklers coming out of the ground. We dined at the Flying Fish.

My heart is currently smiling

I love Max's face, "mom, we are in a fish place, why are we taking photos?"

And, just in case anyone is thinking that the Flying Fish is a fantastic place to get your fried food fix, and I recently vowed to blast off 40 pounds, I took a pic of my beautiful and healthy meal. It was really good. I didn't even feel like I was giving anything up. I did kind of miss the fried shrimp poboy, but this is a close second. 

So, while things have changed slightly on the weekends, I feel like we are enjoying life a whole lot more. Enjoying this city we live in a whole lot more. Plus, I was told like 788 times today that Rylan loved me and I made two little boys fantastically happy just by letting them roam free in my car while I cleaned it out. There are a few coins stuck in my cd player and my lights, blinker, emergency lights, and radio all turned on full blast when I started the car, but they had a blast. Would not change that for a million of anything.