Little things this week

Just pondering life 

Pretty wary of this turtle

Millie and Delilah are getting the pool ready for swim season!

Pictures don't show how cold the water was... crazy girls

Dancing with Daddy on a Sunday evening

Poor Mason was forced to act out "Let It Go" with Millie

Enjoying otter pops on the porch

When you go potty on your own, crazy stuff happens

Walked in the bathroom to find this... almost died laughing

Blue otter pop tongue

I took this boy to my 6-week checkup and no one could believe how big he is

Holding his bottle all by himself! Too bad it was an accident.

Hopefully Uncle Mitchell doesn't mind her playing... she's obsessed with his guitar!

My little helper.  Say the words "banana chocolate chip muffins" and suddenly she'll do anything you want!

A gift from Tyler's work team

Millie's job is to bring us the scriptures each night. She always says "I be strong!"

Potty talk

We are down to one kid in diapers! Millie put on her princess panties last Monday and we haven't looked back. She is amazing and handled it all really well! I'm glad we did it when we were already at home a lot since Max is so young still. She was ready to officially be a big girl!

She had been talking about having a princess potty for weeks, but when we went to the store to get it, she chose a froggy potty instead. We didn't mind- it was $12 less! Millie also got to pick out some treats for rewards each time she used the potty and a princess water bottle for when she went a whole day without any accidents.

The first day I pushed lots of fluids so she would need to go to the bathroom often. She didn't like having accidents so we spent a lot of the day on the toilet! Millie was wearing minimal clothing for a lot of the week. Also notice that Tyler "potty-proofed" the house- rolled up the rug, put towels and blankets over the couch, etc. It was funny but I was so glad!

Gummy ring pops were a hit

She has only had three accidents since that first day! We told her when she pooped on the potty she could have a donut date with Daddy. When he was on his way home from work on Friday, Millie just plopped herself down (no pun intended) and did it all by herself! I was feeding Max at the time so I didn't know right away. She said, "I go poo-poo!" It wasn't the first time she had said that, so I didn't believe her until she looked in the toilet and said, "It wooks wike chocowate. I no eat it!" I took a picture because I was so proud. But I won't include that, you're welcome.

"I want a pink one and a bwack one!"

I was anticipating a long and frustrating process, but I should know by now that Millie is great at handling transitions. She took my biggest parenting fear (at least for young kids) and turned it into no big deal! I just love that girl. She did great at church- Tyler and I traded off and took her to the bathroom every 20ish minutes so the nursery leaders wouldn't have to worry about it. Today we had our first multi-errand adventure without diapers and she did great. Actually, it was my first time running errands with both kids by myself! Hooray!! We are finding our new routines with a new baby and a few less diapers. Love it!

Millie-isms

-"We don't like snakes or bats. They scaaaaaary. We like dubberfwies!" (Butterflies) She says this anytime we read this one book that has bats and snakes in it.

-Speaking of her bed routine: "Daddy read books, and Mommy sing a beautihooooole song!" 

-She has been on a nap strike for a while, pretty much since Max was born. Instead of sleeping, she takes out every toy and article of clothing she can reach in her room. Every day when I go to get her she says, "I no sweep! I just make a mess!" And then around 5 or 5:30 she is so exhausted she crashes on the couch or floor. Any tips for me??? I feel like she is too young to not nap but unfortunately I can't force her to fall asleep when I want her to!

-Not sure if I've written this one down before, but blankets are banquets. She loves to have a banquet around her shoulders and sing "wet it go."

-Millie is turning into quite a little negotiator. She places numbers on anything she asks for- "Can I have just one, two, thwee chocowates?"

-Anytime I ask her to try/eat something new she says, "I no wike it. It's too cwunchy for me." She learned the crunchy part from an episode of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, and she says it even when what I'm giving her isn't crunchy. So funny.

-We are embarking on the potty training adventure! Millie picked out a frog potty and some treats. She has done pretty well so far. She was really excited about it until it came time to actually take off the diaper and then it took a little coaxing. She wants to sit on the potty all the time because she hates having accidents. I think that will work to our advantage and help her learn her body's signals quickly. I really hope that's the case because the laundry is truly endless between her and Max!

-Millie is SO excitable. I can't help but be happy around her because she is always so happy herself! She's so enthusiastic about everything she does. This also comes with a flip side, and tears are never more than two seconds away when she feels wronged. But luckily she is very easily calmed/distracted.

-She calls the diving board a "buying board" and talks about it all the time. This girl really cannot wait much longer for the water to be warm enough to swim in!

-Millie is a sweet big sister. She's awesome at giving Max his binky, and anytime he cries she says, "It's okay Baby Max!" And then she runs to me and says, "He needs his mommy." She loves to give him kisses too. 

She ate the glazed outer part of the donut and left the inside

One of her awesome tornado messes

solid otter pop-eating technique

She brings a stool to the changing table to watch. "I wanna see his poop!"

Helping me accessorize at church

One month of Max

It's crazy that it has been a month since Max was born! Feels shorter, but it also feels like he has been in our family forever. We love this little guy so much.

At one month (if our home scale is correct), Max weighs over 13 pounds! He is well on his way to beating Aunt Laura's record of weighing 20 pounds at 3 months. Challenge accepted! He eats every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours at night, occasionally sleeping for a 5-7 hour stretch. He has figured out day and night a lot faster than Millie did, thank goodness! 

He is a little more fussy lately, and he tends to spit up a lot too. I've tried cutting different things out of my diet but haven't found the culprit yet. Dairy is up next and I can't decide if I hope that's the issue or not! He may just be a baby that spits up. But I have to try before I resign myself to scooping baby barf out of the inside of my shirt at church like I was today! 

Sometimes when Max looks at me I feel like he's on the verge of giving me a real, intentional smile. His goofy grins are so funny, especially when compared to his usual look of concern (see below). 

We love our chunker! ps these pictures are in reverse chronological order.