Wisconsin

What a week we have had! Somehow I let Brian talk me into driving with the boys up to Madison, WI. I was pretty much dreading the drive. Will eats often and Max is a three year old (I think that says it all). I was very pleasantly surprised by how well things went. Our boys were little angels in the car on the way there an the way back. We packed a lot into the three days we were there. . .

On Sunday we explored Madison. We visited the beautiful Olbrich Botanical Garden - it was amazing! Max loved running around and seeing all the water and ducks. He wouldn't stay still for a picture as you can see from this 'action' shot. He kept pretending to take pictures with his little play phone.

We also visited Olbrich Beach. The water was a bit chilly but Max loved playing in the sand on the beach. He dug in the sand like a pro!

On Monday we headed up to the Wisconsin Dells. We road the ducks around the town. Max thought the car/boat was pretty cool. Will was content because he was snuggled up close to mommy.

After the duck ride we raced to board a real life steam engine. Max was so excited to ride a train. He thought it was pretty great to watch the steam engine turn around to pull the train back to the station. Will thought the ride was pretty fun too.

We had lunch at Buffalo Phil's - Max LOVED the hat - I guess when you are three it is the small things in life. On the drive back to Madison we thought it would be worth it to drive out of our way to see cheese being made. Max fell asleep two minutes before we reached our destination and we woke him up to go see the cheese being made - only to find out that they quit making cheese an hour before. Not the highlight we were hoping for.

Tuesday was our last full day in Madison and we headed to a dairy farm. Max is proud of the fact that he milked a cow three times. The tour started late because the farmer was waiting for a summer camp group, so Max had a minor meltdown because he was ready for lunch and a nap and we had to end our tour early, which made Will very happy because he was ready for lunch as well.

We also spent time with friends that live in Madison. Max had fun playing with Vinney and as soon as we got home said 'goodbye mommy, goodbye, daddy'. When we asked where he was going he told us 'to Vinney house'. Too cute.

All in all, it was a great trip. In fact we are thinking of where we can drive next summer. . .

Three Months Old

I can't believe that Will has been part of our family for three months already! Wait, I think I said the same thing in my two month post. . . It is just that time seems to be going so quickly. I don't know if it is because I'm so crazy busy taking care of both boys all day or what, but the summer is going by more quickly than I could have possibly imagined. In fact I have a meeting for work tomorrow - the new school year will be here before I know it.

So what have we been so busy doing? Well we had our first Parents as Teachers visit last week. The teacher was very sweet and said that Will was doing everything just as he should. She did stress the improtance of tummy time - which I am horrible about doing. Will doesn't care of it and I feel like I have a limited window of opportunity between feedings to squeeze in tummy time. If I do it too soon he spits up and if I wait to long he is hungry and gets really fussy if I even attmept it. The wonderful big brother that he is, Max always tries to help Will out - here helping meant laying down next to Will during tummy time. I know I may be partial, but I swear I have the world's cutest little boys! Max is still a little mini Brian, but I think I'm seeing more and more of myself in Will - it makes me smile.

Last Friday we had friends over. They have a little boy that was born just one week before Will. It was so funny to see these two little guys together. They were so cute! At one point James grabbed onto Will's little hand and it was just so precious. Good thing they seemed to like each other since I think they will see a lot of each other as they grow up.

Have I mentioned that I have fallen in love with onsies this time around? I swear that is just about all I put Will in. I don't know why I didn't realize how easy they were last go around.

Talkative

This is how the employee at CVS described Max today. All we have been through - almost two years of speech therapy, driving to Clayton four days a week, working with Max on his words - is all worth it for the progress that we have seen. To have a complete stranger describe Max as 'talkative' is the biggest compliment anyone could ever possibly give to my little boy. I always hear that he is so cute, has such beautiful blues eyes, is so tall, is so sweet to his baby brother, and on and on, but hearing he is 'talkative' almost made me cry.

Too Cute

Okay, so this is my third blog post of the day. What can I say, I post in spurts. I'm working on an invitation for Will's baptism and I caught a cute little smile on camera. I just had to share. I love my little guy and his toothless little grin.

Sleep, Glourious Sleep

At first I thought it was a fluke (now watch, now that I am making it official with a blog post it will end) but Will has become the super sleeper. Or at least what I consider a super sleeper for an eleven week old. He goes down between 9:30 and 10pm and for the past two weeks he has been sleeping until 5am or so. That is almost eight hours of sleep! Wow! There have been a few blips on the screen when he wakes up at around 3:30 but he has made so much progress. I'm so proud of my little sleeper. He is also giving away more and more smiles (just not for the camera). He tolerates the bouncer and has really begun to love the swing - which is such a switch for us, Max hated the swing but loved his bouncer. In fact he is swinging away while I type. He is just such an amazingly, easy going little guy. We are so lucky! I hope I'm not jinxing myself with this post . . .

Field Trip Wednesday

I have mentioned before that since Wednesday is our only non-therapy day of the week I have been attempting to plan outings with the boys. I was thinking of hitting the Magic House today - by myself with both kids - and then my sanity returned so I thought we could head to Laumeier Sculpture Park. Their website said they had a children's area so I packed up the boys and off we went. I'm sad to say that it was quite a disappointment. I'm not the biggest art aficionado and it wasn't as nearly kid friendly as I was hoping. As we wandered about the park, Max kept asking 'where is the park?'. He did think it was fun to count the giant metal buoys of one sculpture. He told me there were fifty two after walking down the line and counting them. I read the sign and learned there were actually fifty five, so he wasn't too far off. I swear Will was with us, but I had him in my new favorite toy - my ergo carrier - so it was a little tough to get his picture.

I think Max had more fun playing with his cars before we left. It cracks me up the way he lines up his cars and moves them throughout the house.

Happy 4th of July!

What a wonderful holiday it has been! We packed up this morning and headed in to Webster Groves for their annual 4th of July parade. A little rain didn't keep us away! It was the first time Max has been to a parade and it was a huge success! He loved it. He looked so cute on the edge of the sidewalk in his chair waving as the cars drove by and the people walked past. Will slept through most of the festivities, but perked up a bit for the bands. Maybe he is musically inclined . . .

I think Max's favorite part was the horses - the world famous clydesdales even made an appearance! He thought the cars were pretty cool too. Daddy liked the Tootsie Rolls. We shared a little Tootsie Roll with Max too - I think this is actually the first candy he has had and he loved it (as I knew he would, hence why I have tried to delay giving him candy in the first place).

Growing up I would go to parades with my neighbors every holiday and I loved it. I have great memories of sitting in lawn chairs on the side of the road watching everything pass by. I hope to share this with my boys. Hopefully they will grow up to have fun parade memories too.