Snowed In...and a lot of cute pics!

I have been a little behind on my blogging lately as I have been consumed by my latest project: converting all of last year's blog entries into a book. This turned out to be extremely arduous as I wanted a layout that was different than most of the available websites offer so I had to edit and create it all on my own. Combine this with a baby who only takes 20 minute catnaps intermittently throughout the day, and needless to say I am behind on my blogging. Consequently, with my ever-changing, fast-growing, cute-as-pie little boys, I have a lot of pictures to post. Plus, I don't want to miss anything for next year's book, so I am going to post it all!

We have still been doing the playgroup circuit and Max and Sam (and mommy) have made some great friends. Max still kind of hangs close to me and needs me to hold his hand a lot of the time, but he is doing better. I just think he is a little shy. I know that is a shocker for everyone in UT as last time we saw you all he was this fearless little guy. Now, he is a lot more cautious. He has always been--and still is--a momma's boy, so maybe it's actually not too surprising.

This is Sammy on the left and his friend Cole. They could almost be brothers with their big blue eyes and blonde hair.

This is Max and his friend Brandon. These two get along quite well because they are both a little shy and neither one gets in the other's face too badly. They usually take a good hour to warm up to one another, but then they really have fun.

Holy Snow! We have been bombarded by the cold white stuff with back-to-back storms of 20 plus inches each. I know that you need it in UT--I wish we could send it all your way. I am serious--ENOUGH! I guess that the amount we have had this year is record-breaking. To make matters worse, they are really not as prepared for it as they are in UT. In UT, the plows are going all night and all day long. Out here, our road was still packed with snow 6 days after the big storm. And all of the narrow windy roads are reduced to a half a lane going in either direction because there is no where to put it. Trees were falling down, roofs collapsing, power outages...what a mess!

This was after the first big storm, and when we heard it was going to happen again 4 days later, we decided to join the locals in stocking up on food and supplies. Thankfully we did, because with the next storm a state of emergency was called and everyone was advised to stay off the roads. Paul even got a snow-day off from work, which was a good thing because someone needed to shovel all of the snow off of our deck and trampoline. Forty inches of wet snow can get very heavy...

Poor Paul. I didn't get a picture of him shoveling the snow off of the trampoline, but it was pretty comical (at least from the warmth and dryness of the house looking at him thru the window--I am sure he wasn't laughing). After he cleared off the trampoline he decided he had better save the deck from collapsing since it is a little more expensive to replace.

The following pictures were taken a day or two before the second big storm...

It doesn't look like it from the above pictures, but the snow was deep. Max wanted to build a snowman, so I opted for an easy, warm alternative...

We brought the snow in and Max had a great time!

Max really loves Sam, but he is starting to get a little territorial and jealous. He will rip toys out of Sammy's hands and say, "No, Sammy, that's mine!" He does this over stupid little baby toys and rattles. I don't know what is going to happen when Sammy begins crawling and really starts going after Max's prized toys. Aside from this, Max is really cute with Sam. In the picture below he is reading a book to him.

Max loves to help me bake and he asks to make cupcakes all the time. I am pretty sure that the main reason he enjoys it so much is that he gets to lick the batter. Paul gives me a little crap that I let him do this, but I have to say that some of my earliest memories are of me doing the same thing with my mom--and I turned out okay.

Sammy likes to watch all of the action, too. He gets a great view from the sling! But, he is getting SO heavy. I do have to say, though, that aside from my hooter hider, the sling is my favorite piece of baby gear. I don't think I would ever get anything done without one.

Paul has been giving Sam guitar lessons. It's never too early...

My wonderful, handsome, sweet boys...

January was a month of feeling yucky. I had a sinus infection, and Max and Sam both had snotty, stuffy noses with ear infections. Poor Sammy had bronchiolitis as well and I had to give him a nebulizer treatment every 4 hours.

He looks so cute in the pictures, but he absolutely hated this. He hated his medicine, too, which is a stark contrast to his big brother who can't seem to get enough medication--Max always asks for more.

Here are some funny pictures of Max making silly faces...

Such a sweet little boy--I love Max so much. He definitely tries my every nerve throughout the course of a day, but then he will do something so sweet and genuine that it will just melt my heart. He is growing up so much--he is such a big boy now that I sometimes can't believe it. Where does the time go? And the thing is, Max wants to be big and independent. Everything that I used to do for him he now insists on trying it all by himself. "No Mommy, that's okay--I wanna do it all by myself!" he will say to me when I try to put his shoes on or brush his teeth. He won't even let me carry him down the stairs any more after he wakes up, which I never thought I would miss but somehow really do. In his mission to test and perfect his autonomy, though, he absolutely hates to ask for help. There are times when he will get so frustrated and make all kinds of upset whines and yells, but he still won't ask for help--he wants to do it all by himself.

And of course, I have to include a bunch of Sam pictures. He is changing everyday and is so much fun. And, what a beautiful baby he is!

He is now sitting up all on his own, and he really reaches and grabs for things. I can't believe how big he is getting, it kind of makes me sad that it is going so fast. Love this cute little guy so much!

Sammy really likes tractors, too. It is so funny--I will sit him down on the floor and put all kinds of toys around him, but all he wants to do is reach for a tractor. With Max's tractor collection there is always one within his sight, and he will just reach and reach for it. If he is successful and Max sees him with it, there is definitely trouble. So, we wait for big brother to take a nap and then I let Sammy play and play with tractors.

Sam is now 5 1/2 months old and started eating solids about a month ago. He was a lot more amenable to the idea than Max was at that age. Although I tried and tried, Max wouldn't eat anything other than breastmilk until he was 6 months old. Sammy loved the rice cereal, and now we have moved on to sweet peas and sweet potatoes. When Max was a baby, I made all of his baby food from fresh, organic fruits and veggies. So far for Sammy I have only made one batch. I will try to do better but it is amazing how having two kids more than quadruples the chaos.

Below are pictures of Max when he was maybe just a week or two older than Sam. They are starting to look so much alike. Handsome, handsome handsome!

We have been trying to take advantage of this crappy weather. Since we've been stuck inside so much I decided that it might be a good chance to try potty training. It went so well the first day. I think he peed in the toilet 6 times--we were so excited. But, the next day he only went once or twice, and since then that's about all I get on a good day. We have had many accidents and he tends to get cross with me when I remind him over and over again that he doesn't have a diaper on and he needs to let mommy know when he has to pee. When I reminded him for like the tenth time yesterday he actually yelled, "Quit telling me mommy, I don't have to pee!". Then about 10 minutes later he peed on the floor. Frustrating to say the least! We aren't going to stress about it; he is still pretty young, especially being a boy. But, he does look pretty darn cute in his "big boy underwear"!

Another big milestone--we all said goodbye to Max's crib. Paul and I had been procrastinating this for over a month and we finally bit the bullet. We were both anxious that it would be a nightmare--Max getting up in the middle of the night, not taking naps, not staying in bed. On the contrary: it couldn't have been any easier. He missed his crib the first night and woke up several times so Paul had to go and sleep next to him. But that was it. Since then it has been smooth going. Compared to his compact little crib, though, he does look really small in his big boy bed.

I have to close this post with a little bragging on my genius little boy. It amazes Paul and I everyday how smart Max is. We were a little worried that he might be colorblind since he could never get his colors straight. Well, he now knows some colors--he can distinguish blue, green, brown, pink, and sometimes yellow. He can count to twelve (although sometimes he forgets number "1" and he'll start with "2"), and he can recognize and name the letters M, X, W, and N. Genius.

What A Year!

Wow! Another year has ended. And what a year it was--2009 was packed full of events/changes for the Blane family. It was at times a bad year, for a while it was a sad year, but mostly it was pretty terrific. Yes, we did A LOT in 2009-- we moved clear across the country, Paul got a new (much more grueling) job, and we had a baby!

It just seems as though the weeks are flying by. I can hardly believe it is January and that Christmas has already come and gone. A year ago this month Paul and I started house-hunting out here in PA--a rather melancholy experience in itself (shouldn't looking for a new house be exciting?). A year ago it didn't seem real that we would be living clear out here so far away--but here we are. And, believe it or not I have actually sort of gotten used to living here (after 9 months and a lot of tears). Anyway, we had a wonderful Christmas with the Blane's in VT even though we dearly missed our loved ones in UT.

Here are some pictures of Max helping me un-decorate the Christmas tree. He loves picking things up with tongs, and he started removing the ornaments the day we decorated the tree. All of the ornaments that he could reach were slowly and strategically moved from the tree and placed around the house. At first I was a little upset with this, but then my mom reminded me that the real reason we even have a tree is for him. She was right. Thankfully, I only put up shatter-proof ornaments this year!

We had a HUGE snowstorm right before Christmas. It snowed over 20 inches. And of course, everyone here keeps saying how abnormal that is--it never snows or rains here according to the locals, but whatever. We had tons of snow and a huge driveway to plow. Here is the difference between UT and PA: in Utah our neighbors would just show up with a snow blower or their 4-wheeler and clear our driveway and sidewalk in a genuine and neighborly gesture; in Pennsylvania a neighborhood kid charged us $60 to snow-blow our driveway and he ruined a couple of our new solar lights. But, anyway...

Here are some pictures of Max and Paul out in the first snow storm of the year...

See the grin on his face--he is loving this.

But, the next day Paul took Max sledding with his friend Mark and his two kids. They went to a very steep hill--too steep for a 2-yr-old-- and apparently Max got a face-full of wet snow when he and daddy went soaring down the huge incline. Not surprisingly, after this experience Max decided that he doesn't like sledding after all.

Look at all this crazy snow!

We took a road trip to Vermont to spend the holidays with Paul's family and we all had a spectacular time. However, the car ride was brutal. What would take the normal person maybe 6.5 hours to drive took us 9 hours. In a car. With two little ones trapped in their carseats. The extra 2 1/2 hours came from a couple of really long stops we had to make just to allow Max to stretch his legs and let Sam out of his seat. I don't think I need to elaborate too much on this other than to say it was painful--for all of us.

However, when we finally got to Mimi's house we all really enjoyed ourselves. The day after our long drive we thought it would be great to give Max some outdoor time. Mimi had a couple of sleds and we took him to a little hill (very little this time).

In the above picture Max is trying to make it perfectly clear to daddy that he does not want to go sledding. "No, daddy, I don't like it," he kept saying.

But, what mean parents we are...we thought if he would just try it on this easy, slow hill he would actually realize that sledding is quite fun. We were wrong. He wore this worried/frightened expression at each attempt. I think Paul has scarred him for the remainder of the winter.

Sam loves his Auntie Joey...

I am trying to teach Max how to peddle. He actually got it down pretty good by the time we left Mimi's--but he can't steer yet. Max and Koa spent so much time on this little tricycle making the rounds at Mimi's house and having such a blast (when they weren't disagreeing over who's turn it was). We have the exact same tricycle at our house and we brought it in when we got home thinking Max would continue with the fun--uh, of course he hasn't touched his. I guess it must need Koa with it in order to be fun.

We let Max open the present from Papa and Gramma Jill on Christmas Eve. They know their grandson so well--tractors are his favorite.

And of course he had to take this huge tractor case to bed with him that night.

Christmas morning pictures...

Sweet little Sammy...

And our wonderful little Max...

Look at all those presents. These boys must have been very good this year...

Cute Koa...

Even though sharing proved to be a little challenging this time for Koa and Max, they really do love each other...

Mimi gave the boys these darling little trains full of presents. They had fun wheeling them in to open their surprises.

The picture Mimi is holding will go down as one of the most difficult gifts we've ever had to give. We had this great idea which turned into a nightmare. I will never take a toddler to get a professional portrait done ever again even if someone were to give me a million dollars. One of the worst experiences of my life. Okay, I am overreacting a little, but it was very painful.

My two boys...

Paul enjoying some quiet time with Koa and Max (quiet time was rare)...

Max may not like sledding in the snow, but he sure loves to dig in it. He had Mimi's driveway cleared of snow in a matter of minutes! Now we can put him to work at our house when the next snow storm hits and save $60.

Koa had a great time jumping and sliding in this saucer...

The boys had some fun times in the tub! Max got to bathe with Sammy...

And with Koa. He and Koa had a blast in the tub...

Sammy is growing so fast. He is bearing a lot of weight on his legs now, and loves to just stand in our laps. So, we decided it must be EXERSAUCER TIME! I can't believe he is big enough for the saucer...

Such a beautiful baby...

My two handsome guys...

Max actually climbed out of his crib for the first time today. Honestly, Paul and I can't believe it took him so long to do it--he is such the climber and explorer we expected him to do it a long time ago. I put him down for his nap and, as usual, he cried a little bit. But the crying sort of went on a little longer than normal and sounded a bit off, so I decided to check on him. I walk upstairs, open the door, and there he is, standing right in front of me. "Hi Mommy," he says with a big grin on his face and his cap on backwards. He had climbed out of his crib, turned on his light, and he was ready to "go-go-go"--only he couldn't get the door open (thankfully he hasn't figured that one out yet). It was just such a funny scene--he's crying for me, I open the door, and he's standing there with a smile saying, "Hi Mommy!" Anyway, this means we need to transition to the big-boy bed--it will not be fun.

Needless to say, my little crib-scaler didn't take a nap today. That means that mommy didn't get any downtime, let alone any time to clean. Sammy didn't nap very well, either. So, I am looking around at my messy house thinking about the days when I had all the time in the world to mop the floor and dust and vacuum. Now those days are long gone--but I wouldn't take them back for all the money in the world--I'd much rather have a messy house and the two sweetest boys ever to play with!