Can I Hold Max?

Max loves to be wherever Liam is, so when Liam asks to hold him Max usually obliges. Liam is sometimes a little bit too affectionate and gets too carried away with kissing and hugging. Max will tolerate it for a little while, but then starts to protest. When I asked him why he does this, Liam said, "His hands are just so tiny, Mom! I want to kiss them!" So cute. I told him that was very nice, but one kiss was enough. He hasn't quite grasped that yet...

Here he is holding Max in his bed after asking me to lift his brother up there:

And here they are lounging together, five seconds before Max had had enough:

Hmmm...could it be that out of Liam's sheets, comforter and pillow cases not one pattern matches? Why yes, it seems to be so...

Brother Behind the Camera

Liam took these pictures of Max the other day.

I think he did a pretty good job!

And Max doesn't like his brother at all, right...?!

Whoa, what are you doing, brother?!

Oh, a camera, you say?

Cheese!

Updates...

*Max and I ventured to the doctor yesterday where he was diagnosed with congested lungs. He is now on antibiotics and seems to be feeling better already. He slept from 5pm to 11pm and from 4am-6am! That is a great night for him, and for me!! I feel like a new person this morning!

**My mom is awesome. After a particularly awful night on Sunday, I called her with my tales of woe. She had the day off and, after a dentist appointment, she drove down to spend the day with us! It was just what I needed. She entertained the kids, made cookies, and even let me take a nap! I love you mom!

***Aaron's back is improving. He visits the chiropractor three times a week and does stretches at home. He's still taking muscle relaxers and ibuprofen, but he's able to move around more and is in less pain. Still no wrestling with Liam, but he'll be back on the mat soon I think!

****I'm heading to Menomonie this weekend to visit with my fashionable sister Sarah! Aaron and the kids will stay home and do boy things while Sarah and I hang out and soak in the hot tub at our hotel! Whoo hoo! I predict a lot of sleeping in will also occur...

******Max is a stinker when taking naps lately. He cries and talks to himself for up to an hour before finally falling asleep in his crib. Today I went in to check on him and he was STANDING up in his crib just looking over the side. "Look what I did!" he seemed to say as he smiled at me. Later on, Liam was taking at bath (why not take a bath at 1pm?!) and Max was playing on the floor in the hall. I heard Liam say, "MOM! Max is standing up!" I went in and found the stinker standing next to the tub and holding onto the side. I think he needs a leash.

*****And my dad, aka Coyote Bob, has bagged a total of three coyotes as of this writing...

Bedtime...

Max loves his daddy!

Aaron usually gets home around 4pm every day, which is just in time to see Max before he heads to bed. Yes, our child goes to bed at 5pm! I swear we had nothing to do with this, Liam did the same thing! Max does still get up once or twice at night, but goes right back to sleep. I'm hoping that his sleep schedule will get even better when we turn our clocks ahead this spring. I could handle getting up at 6am instead of 5am from now on...!

We will miss you Bea...

May the blessing of the rain be on you -
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Beatrice "Bea" M. (Goggins) McKeough, Green Bay passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2010. Bea was born on May 8, 1923 to the late Dr. and Mrs. George Goggins of West De Pere. On Sept. 21, 1946, she married Thomas J. McKeough at St. Patrick Catholic Church. She was the proud mother of six children and grandmother of three grandchildren.

She is survived by her children Mary (Kenneth-deceased) Mikolajczak, Barbara McKeough, Mark (Kim Gianelo) McKeough, Beth (Lee) Garrow, Loretta (Martin) Darby, and Clare (Scott) Lundstrom. She was also proud grandparent to Juli Mikolajczak, Ian and Aidan Lundstrom. She is further survived by her loving sister Dorothy (Rodney) Crevcoure, sisters-in-law Mary Shelley (Albert "Bo" - deceased) and Bonnie McKeough (Bernard - deceased) as well as many wonderful nieces, nephews, relatives and lifelong friends. Bea often proudly proclaimed that her offspring 'came from good stock.'

Bea was preceded in death by Tom, her beloved husband of 62 years and sisters- and brothers-in-law Catherine (Frank) Sheridan, Georgiana (George) Baker, Mary (Lyle) Hinkley, Eulalia (Vernon) Thome, Bo Shelley and Bernard McKeough. Her prayerful spirit never forgot those friends and family who have gone before us.

Bea lived a full life. She had a long history of volunteer and community service. As a long time member of St. John Evangelist Church, she reverently served as Eucharistic Minister and Lector and sang for many years in the church choir. Her community spirit spread to such organizations as Meals on Wheel, Paul's Pantry, as a bell ringer for The Salvation Army, and as a Communion distributor at Bellin Memorial Hospital. She is affectionately referred to as the 'forever chaplain' of the Sullivan-Wallen American Legion Post 11 Auxiliary, a reflection of her love for God and country. She also enjoyed being a part of bridge marathons particularly when a small bet on the side added to the fun of the card game.

On behalf of Bea, her family wishes to thank the staff and residents of the McCormick Memorial Home, and Gloria De Young, for their loving care and friendship. Lastly, our sincere gratitude to the St. John Evangelist parish, a community she loved and embraced.

Teeth!

Look at those teeth! And look at that drool! This picture was taken pre-last-Thursday...as that is the day Max contracted some sort of horrible phlegm disease that seems to be going around. He is miserable. We are miserable. Lots of whining, little sleep. We're heading to the doctor today. Wish us luck, and pray for magic medication!

Hooray for Weekends!

He's happy because it's Saturday!

Unfortunately, sleeping in wasn't on his list of things to do today... :)

Baby Think It Over...

He's a little young for a Baby Think It Over, but Liam has a baby doll that he's named "Max". He wasn't that interested in it before his actual baby brother was born, but he's started to play with it more and more lately. He usually takes "Max" and puts him in Max's crib. He then comes out of the room, closes the door quietly and tells us all to be quiet because his baby is sleeping! Yesterday he asked if he could feed his baby, and decided that he would make his own bottle out of legos! He had me wrap up the doll and he sat in the rocking chair and fed him!

Later on he put "Max" in the bumbo chair and gave him a dinosaur to play with! (*Sidenote: real Max thinks that "Max's" plastic pacifier is his, so he repeatedly tries to put it in his own mouth whenever he sees the doll!)

On another note, we went to the library today and checked out a slew of books. I decided to grab a Junie B. Jones book to see if Liam was ready for something with short chapters. We read a few pages tonight before bed and he thought it was HILARIOUS. I had so much fun reading it and anticipating his big belly laugh after every funny thing. It was so cute!

He was actually very into the book, even on pages with no pictures. This bodes well because I love reading chapter books before bed. I forced my sister Sarah to allow me to read the Little House books to her before bed for like two years. She eventually learned to love them, but only after she got over my forcing her to dress up like Laura Ingalls as a toddler. Aaron and I are now fighting over who gets to read the Little House books to Liam. He said I could read all of them but the first one because that's his favorite, but I said he could read all of them but the first one because that's MY favorite. Hmmm...we'll see how this plays out!

Athletic Inspiration

Liam asks every day when we are going to watch "the big race". The Olympic coverage usually starts around noon, so we watch a lot of cross country skiing and whatever else they've got on at that hour. Liam loves to see the races, and asks constantly who will win "the gold medal!" I had to look for a medal ceremony online so the kid could see someone actually receive one! He couldn't quite understand why the winner wasn't handed a medal when they crossed the finish line!

He must have been very inspired by the competition today because he asked to do my yoga DVD right after lunch! He gets pretty into it, but mostly makes up his own moves:

Yoga can be pretty intense...

Ahhh, that's better!

Smiley Boy

Such a happy baby! Max's smile is changing so much now that he has SIX teeth! Four have come in on the top and two on the bottom. It was a rough few months waiting for them to emerge, but he seems a bit happier now that they've broken through. He's still not all that interested in finger foods, but eats anything offered to him on a spoon quite enthusiastically. Occassionally his enthusiasm gets the best of me and I can't dodge his flailing hands quickly enough! I do a lot of mopping...

Awwww, So Nice!

Max loves soft things, especially pillows and blankets. He loves to pat our couch pillows gently,

and then lie his head down for a little rest.

It's pretty adorable, and whenever he does this we always say "awwwww, how nice!" in that high pitched voice babies love. We also say this whenever he hugs or kisses us. I love this age when babies start to really interact with you and understand what you're saying. I do not love this age when babies still do not actually sleep...oh well, you can't win 'em all.

Jedi in Training

Yes, this is a vest we made out of a paper bag! I scrunched it up a bit to try and soften the rough edges, but it's still very much a paper vest! Liam refused to wear it when I first fashioned it, but he actually asked to put it on the other day! His "lightsaber" is a bubble wand without the bubbles. We're all about recycling around our house...!

Door County for Grown Ups!

Aaron and I spent the weekend in Door County visiting our favorite places and just relaxing!

We couldn't see as much as we usually like to because of Aaron's back, but he was feeling well enough to walk a bit and chauffer me around!

I wanted to see what Cave Point looks like in the winter, and we were not disappointed!

The sky was cloudy, but the lake still looked amazing!

I can just imagine what it would have looked like with the sun shining, but the water was still this gorgeous shade of green beneath translucent sheets of ice:

The waves crash against the shoreline during the warmer months and carve out "caves" in the rock.

You can see the movement of the wind and the water carving out the winter snow as well:

The sun came out as we drove to our resort and it turned into a beautiful winter day:

We had a great weekend! It was so nice to spend time together and relax. I'm grateful that we were still able to go after such a rough week last week. I think this was just the medicine both Aaron and I needed.

Perfection

Yet another adorable photo of my perfect children.

They are just so photogenic.

All I need to do is turn the camera on and they strike a pose and flash a smile:

Really, there's just something about the camera.

It brings out the best in them:

I'm forever grateful for the opportunity to preserve their perfect poise on film:

Thank You...

Aaron was up at 5:00 and determined to get to school this morning. He checked the news before coming downstairs and by some miracle Algoma CANCELLED SCHOOL! Definitely an answer to a little prayer I said on Monday night. Now he can rest until his appointment at 3:00 and hopefully feel even better. I think the boys and I will drive him there so he doesn't have to worry about sitting for too long. He can recline and we'll chauffer him around.

Liam has been very concerned about his dad and tries to do things to help him feel better. Yesterday he brought his giant dog, Turkey, upstairs and told Aaron that "stuffed animals always make people feel better, Dad!" It was really cute. He left it with Aaron all day, and even went to bed without it, but I heard his door open a few minutes after I'd said goodnight. He said he couldn't find his Turkey and I reminded him that he'd given him to dad to help him feel better. He climbed up the stairs and asked very nicely and quietly to have him back, and then crawled right into his own bed with his giant dog. So cute.

Crazy Target Lady...

Aaron is home today. His back pain hasn't lessened at all, but he's trying to be patient and take it easy. Having our bedroom on the second floor (with sloped ceilings and a 6'5" husband) is making it more difficult as well. He has another appointment with the chiropractor tomorrow afternoon and will be getting adjusted, so I'm really hoping that it will help. It's hard to see him in so much pain.

I ran to Target last night to pick up his prescriptions and the pharmacy was closed when I got there. I was so frustrated. I felt so helpless already and now I wouldn't be able to get the one thing that might help him feel a little bit better. I started crying in the pain reliever aisle, and then wandered around the store with a bottle of ibuprofen trying to think of what else we might need at home. I came up with a frozen pizza and a bag of raisins. People probably thought I was losing it wandering around aimlessly and carrying my pills while craving pizza and raisins. Crazy or pregnant. I'm going to say crazy.

Blah

**Update: The doctor referred Aaron to a chiropractor right away today and he was able to get in at 3pm. His hip is all out of whack, he has a bulging disc in his lower back, all of his muscles are messed up and his spine is straining towards that hip and giving him a lot of pain. He has to see the chiropractor again on Wednesday and again on Friday. He has to have a follow up appointment with his general practitioner next week to see where to go from here. He is lying down in bed with Liam watching cartoons right now. Even though it's stressful and difficult, I am happy to be able to do whatever I can to make things better. Thanks for thinking of us today.

*Update: Aaron got in to see the doctor today at 11:30. I haven't heard back from him yet, but I'm hoping they'll be able to figure out what the deal is. Liam and I said a prayer for him just before the appointment time and then Liam asked to say his own prayer. "Dear God, help Grandpa's head to feel better soon," he said.*

Today's a rough day. Aaron has been struggling with back pain off and on for over a year. It flares up for a month or two and then goes away. It has been getting worse over the past few weeks and he is in so much pain today that he can hardly walk. Of course he is at school. He is calling the doctor today, but treating back pain is so frustrating. There's often not much they can do besides prescribe rest and painkillers. I think he's beyond that now and I'm hoping that they will do more for him this time.

It's very hard for me when things like this happen. Aaron can't lift Max and I don't want him to, so I get up with him at night (we usually switch off). I don't want him to do much besides sit on the couch and rest, but then I feel overwhelmed with all there is to do. The nurse in me wants to take care of everybody, but it's hard.

On top of that, we're suppose to go away this weekend. We've both been looking forward to this since Christmas, and now I don't know what Aaron is going to feel like. It will be great to be together just the two of us for a few days no matter what, but I just can't help but feel like life is a little more complicated than necessary right now.

Anyway, just keep him in your thoughts and we'll keep you posted.

Heard around our house...

A prayer to Arnie:

Arnie lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Guide me safely through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
Amen.

(He seriously says the prayer like this! I have no idea how he gets "Arnie" from "Now I"...)


Liam was acting sassy this morning and got sent to his room. All was quiet for a few minutes, until we heard "I QUIT!" yelled out the door.

Hahaha. We got a kick out of that!

Coyote Bob

While in Milwaukee for his treatments, my grandpa made a few trips to his favorite stores: Cabela's and Outdoor World. He and my dad took advantage of their proximity to these places of outdoorsman pilgrimage and were frequent customers. One of grandpa's purchases was an electronic attractor call he planned to use to hunt coyotes. Coyotes are common visitors to both my parents' and grandparents' yards up north. My dad test drove the call one night when the boys and I were home. He went out later in the evening, sat under a full moon and called a coyote in on the first try! He came into the house just 45 minutes after he'd left for his hunt and looked like a kid on Christmas morning! He was pretty excited, and my mom and I ran outside in our pajamas to see this thing for ourselves. He was most excited to show my grandpa that the call had worked, and he went next door in the morning and held the coyote up to the window where my grandpa drinks his morning coffee. Grandpa was just as excited, and is now anxious to get out there and try the call for himself! Hunting coyotes is legal year-round in Wisconsin and their is no bag limit, so I foresee quite a few hunts in the near future...!

Liam and the newly christened "Coyote Bob" with their carcass.*

*I apologize to anyone not thrilled to see a coyote carcass while you drink your morning coffee. I'm a country girl who grew up in the woods. I had my own collection of partridge and squirrel tails when I was little. I brought them to school for show-and-tell. That probably explains a lot.

Inseparable...

It's so much fun to watch these two play together! I was just telling Aaron how they are both becoming friends now that they're spending so much time together! Max follows Liam's every move, and Liam wants Max right next to him no matter what he's doing. Max loves to climb all over Liam and gives him sloppy kisses. When this happens, Liam usually says "This is interesting..." from somewhere under Max's armpit...

He does get annoyed with his little brother's unfailing devotion when he finds his favorite toys slobbered on or his favorite tv shows drowned out by happy (or angry) screaming, but he is very patient. I think he has more patience than I do most of the time...I could learn a thing or two from this three year old!

The more I stay home the more I can't imagine it any other way. I will hopefully be working as a CNA by this summer, but even then I will work my schedule around time with the boys. Liam will be in preschool in the fall, and kindergarten before we know it! It doesn't seem like that long since he was Max's size, and I know Max will be in preschool before we know it. As difficult as it is spending 24/7 with them both, I'm so grateful that I can be so involved in their lives.

I think about my grandpa and facing the end of life. 75+ years of life seems wonderful. Lots of time spent doing things you love and spending quality time with your family and friends; but no amount of time ever seems like enough. We aren't promised 75 years. We aren't promised tomorrow. These days and minutes matter in the lives of my children, and it is how much love I fill our days with that they will remember.

Sunshine on Your Shoulders...

Liam's First Fishing Pole

My grandpa and grandma came to visit while we were up north. Grandpa called me into the laundry room when they arrived to ask if he could give a little fishing pole to Liam. He wanted to tell him that it was from Santa and that he must have left it in grandpa's garage! He had Liam's name written on a piece of tape on the handle, and looked like a kid at Christmas himself just anticipating giving it to him! Liam was still eating dinner, but grandpa couldn't wait!

Notice Max eyeing up the pole...

Liam shows me his new fishing pole, while "aiming" it using only one eye.

We do a lot of "aiming" lately, especially since he's recently learned how to pee standing up...

Grandpa and Great Grandpa get the pole ready to go!

Great Grandpa gives some instructions to his young fisherman-in-training.

Grandpa has been out ice fishing and trying to do all the things he loves to do since returning from his treatment in Milwaukee. He visited the doctor last week and was told he has about ten months to a year, given the aggresive nature of his cancer and how far it has progressed. I forsee lots of fishing and lots of hunting in the near future, and we'll all be out there on the ice and in the woods right alongside him.

Love you, Gramps!

Florence Family Festivities

So, apparently it takes about a week to recover from the sleep deprivation and energy loss associated with the excessive night wakings of an 8 month old! The boys and I were up north from last Wednesday through Sunday, so we've been relaxing and playing with grandmas and grandpas instead of blogging! We had a great time, though, and were able to visit with lots of family and friends!

Max and Grandma Arlene

Liam and Grandpa Howard

Liam and Grammy Pammy

Max and Cousin Heather

(He looks concerned, but played really well once he got used to her!)

We missed our daddy (who was home with tonsilitis all weekend), but it was great to see everyone. It takes a little work to get the kids packed and up there, but it's worth it when we finally arrive!