celebrating uncle ryan's bday...

we headed to fond du lac to celebrate uncle ryan's birthday.
these boys were rambunctious at the restaurant...not wanting to eat, jumping around in the booth, it was quite the scene. so much so, that this is the only picture i got in the restaurant and it's not even a good one.

after we were done and uncle ryan enjoyed his free ice cream...and he managed to get it without the annoying singing of the wait staff...we headed over to let the boys run around the mall.

after a little bit of a vomit mishap...we walked with the boys over to the rides. i love max's face in this picture.
he normally only likes to sit in these things...but he had fun this time...it must have been because he was with hayden.

two wild and crazy boys!

taking the atv for a spin.

cousins!

such a cute picture of hayden with paddington bear!

after the boys got to play, the dad's wanted to play too.
let me tell you a little something about drew and ryan.... you know at the store when you are waiting in line and the aisles are filled with all kinds of random, useless items. well, drew and ryan are the people they put it there for. a perfect example...they both paid $2 to stand in this tube to experience "hurricane force winds." really $2 to have someone shoot air at you? wow.

the boys with their dadas!

(leslie and i were there too...but we were taking pictures...as usual)

thanks for making the trip to meet us halfway so that we could celebrate with you!

pumpkin time...

we let max decide if he wanted to paint his pumpkin or carve his pumpkin this year.
he said he wanted it to have a face.
so away we went!
i wasn't sure how he was going to do with touching all the pumpkin guts.
he dug right in!

and other than talking about how it was "ewwwie" and "cold," he didn't seem to mind it at all.

checking it all out.
he told me what shapes he wanted for his pumpkin and he watched me draw them on the paper for a test run. the design was approved so i started cutting.

drew was very focused on his masterpiece...

while i was cutting...i let max paint his small pumpkin.

isn't he just adorable! :)

and messy too!

here are our creations...drew's puppy, max's pirate, and my "scary face" pumpkin.

we cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned up the boy and put him to bed.
and i ended my night with a nice glass of wine!

i love this time of year!

welcome baby audrey...

our good friends becky and nate recently welcomed their first child, beautiful baby audrey, into the world. i was beyond honored to visit them at the hospital and get to meet this sweet little girl. although the delivery didn't go quite as planned, both mommy and baby are doing great(and daddy too)!

last sunday we took max over to their house so he could meet her.
he did such a good job holding her and tried very hard to remember all of the directions he was given.

he stayed quiet...and reminded us to do the same because baby audrey was sleeping.

he was very gentle and kept putting his face up to hers...it was so sweet.

we were all taking pictures...this is his new thing where he uses his fingers for a camera and takes pictures of us too!

i'm not quite sure what he was doing here...maybe picturing marrying her? :)

i was so proud of my little buddy and what a good job he did holding baby audrey!

congrats becky and nate. welcome to the club. you do good work!

max's appointment and his reward...

last tuesday we travelled to milwaukee to children's hospital to participate in the ent clinic for our follow-up visits. we were able to see the ent, pulmonary, speech and g-i. we haven't regularly seen speech or g-i but they wanted to do a consult and check max out.

things went pretty good. no real changes and no more "negative" feedback. drew and i got to see the video from the scope they did this summer. that was pretty difficult to watch but it's nice to know what things look like in his lower airway.

this is the information that we left with...
basically this is what we know...there is a "this is what we HOPE will happen" and if it doesn't then surgery will need to be strongly considered. they HOPE that as max continues to grow, that is airway will grow too and begin to harden. they said we need to start watching for signs that it is inhibiting him. for things like him not being able to keep up, having to stop and rest and catch his breath, and things like that.

after we finished the consults, after the cleaned out max's ears (which is hard for this momma to watch), and after grama gave him lots of surprises...we headed to trader joe's for a little shopping and then to cheesecake factory for an early dinner.

after we ate, drew took max to the dessert case to choose a piece of cheesecake to share. and this was his reward (and ours too!)...a piece of brownie cheesecake.

mmmmm...

drew put whipped cream on max's nose to be funny. max thought it was hilarious and kept putting in on there.

these boys love their dessert! :)

giving them a try...

we have been working on going on the potty for a while now.
he doesn't have it mastered...i'm thinking we'll give it a real go during christmas break.
we decided it'd be fun for max to try on some big boy underwear.
he picked out this elmo pair and thought he'd give them a try.

seriously...look at that tushy.
too funny.

a team shirt kinda day...

i'm not sure if i've mentioned this on the blog or not but right now max is crazy about "team shirts." what's a team shirt you ask? well, it's basically any shirt with a number on it. it's hilarious...every morning he tells me that he wants to wear a team shirt. sometimes i can convince him to put on the clothes i've set out...but usually i lose and i dig him out a team shirt for the day.
he started the day out in his "team shirt" pajamas from the night before.
notice all of the stickers that came in his box of pull-ups.

next we changed into our clothes for the day...his packer "team shirt."
and more pull-ups fun. he tried to put this pair on over his pants.

then after an action packed day, i got some popcorn and milk ready to watch part of the brewer game. i had this waiting when max and dada got back downstairs from bath time!

and who would have guessed it...another pair of "team shirt" pajamas! :)
i love this boy!

batter up...

grampa mark and max played a serious game of baseball.

what a fun time!

max's playground...

my dad and grandparents came for a visit last weekend.
dad was going to put together max's swingset.
max was telling everyone that grampa mark was coming to build him a playground.

there were so many pieces. i was a little worried. i've seen my dad play golf and do other projects...let's just say i know where i get my stubbornness and perfectionism.

progress photo #1

progress photo #2

max decided to sit and supervise for a bit!

granny kept the puppies happy and also folded my laundry (thanks granny!)

max kept checking to make sure things were going okay!

then he and granny played a little dress up!

progress photo #3

the next morning they moved all the pieces outside.

progress photo #4

progress photo #5

they finished!
max woke up from his nap just in time to check it all out before i had to leave for work. i'm so glad i got to see all of this. it was awesome!

checking out the clubhouse.

and the slide.

looking at his swings.

this is him "taking a picture of me." seriously, how cute can this kid get?!

he LOVED it.

this is one very happy, spoiled, and loved little boy!

thanks grampa mark, gramps, and granny for the visit.

we love you!