Shriner's circus!

Troy got us 4 tickets to the Shriner's Circus at the Bank of Kentucky Center for Christmas - we were so excited so luckily we didn't have too long to wait - it was January 10.  We ditched the Babyguy (he got to hang with Auntie and Bob-o and ABC at Cleo's basketball game) and invited Grandma to join us.  The first order of business for Lucygirl?  Getting a snow cone, of course!

The circus didn't even start until 7pm (which is why we did the snow cone right away instead of making her wait until intermission) but she was still wired when we got home!  She sweet-talked Grandma into getting her a blinking, [obnoxious] music-making butterfly and me into sharing a cotton candy with her.

She had such a good time.  She loved anything that happened up on the tight ropes, though when the motorcyclist whizzed by, she cringed and said, "He's going to fall!"  She thought the pigs and dogs were pretty funny, she loved the gymnasts (who all dressed as Elsa at one point!) and her favorite was this group of acrobats dressed in yellow - "the yellow guys."

At intermission, everyone was allowed to go down on the floor.  I didn't bring it up to her and we stood in our seats (great seats - only a couple of rows up from the floor anyway) for a bit before she asked if we could go down there.  I said sure and figured we'd walk around a bit.  We said hello to some clowns and watched some camel and elephant rides.  She spotted the pony rides and asked if she could do it so we bought her a ticket and she got on just in time before intermission ended.  In hindsight, I wish we'd done the camel or elephant ride since we have plenty of pony-riding opportunities (pumpkin patches, church festivals) but she was happy.  When we got back to our seats, though, she kept saying, "At the next break, I'm going to ride a camel!"  Of course, there was no "next break" and luckily she didn't bring it up again.

What a fun evening!!

Max - 8 months old

My tricky baby guy is 8 months old!
He now weighs 21 pounds, 6 ounces.

His next well visit with Dr. D is next month at 9 months old.
Due to the fact that he's tricky and I'm crazy, he's had quite a few sick visits lately...
When he had his first ear infection, it was discovered at a well visit and came as a total shock because he literally had NO symptoms - no fever, no decreased appetite, no fussiness, nothing. 
His second ear infection went just about the same way so I am always paranoid he has an ear infection that I am not detecting. 
I took him in once because I was convinced he had pink eye (and was anxious for another chance to have his ears checked).  He had a clogged tear duct.  Seriously.  I've become "that mom"?!
On Monday, January 12th I took him in, again convinced he had an ear infection.  He did not but was given eye drops for his gooping eyes.  By Friday the 16th, he had a 102 fever and no appetite.  It sounded like he surely had an ear infection but I was skeptical since he doesn't usually have symptoms with them...I took him back to the doctor, and sure enough - ear infection.  Tricky, I tell ya!

Another "trick" he's developed is - he will no longer drink milk from a bottle!  He nurses just fine but right before Christmas, he stopped drinking from his bottle at the sitters' houses.  He's refused bottles from Tammy, Shelly, my mom, Dave's mom, Dave and even from me.  I've offered him a sippy cup, which he basically just plays with.  One day at Ms. Shelly's house, he got ahold of Leo's bottle and chugged an ounce or two before he was busted...so I thought maybe he just wanted to do it himself...?  That night I sat him on the floor and handed him a bottle - and he drank it up!  I foolishly thought the problem was solved...but he has not drank from a bottle since...
At one of his sick appointments, I brought this new issue up to the doctor and he just shook his head and said, "Wow!  Sounds like he's exuding some early toddler behaviour already...good luck with this guy!"  Nice.

One night while feeding him cereal, I stepped into the kitchen for a second to grab a napkin...when I got back, it became clear I'd need more than just he one napkin - he'd reached the bowl and dumped it out...

This guy continues to love to play!  We can set him on the floor with some toys and he's happy for an hour.  He's very good at playing on his own and amusing himself, though he loves interaction just as much. 

He loves to eat!  While he's given up on the bottle, he still nurses well.  He does not care for the peas and carrots mixture I've offered him a few times but it must just be the peas he hates because he loves carrots!  I get a lot of free baby carrots coupons to Kroger so I've been pureeing the heck out of them and making my guy happy!  He loves Puffs, also...and we recently diced a banana and let him eat that up, which made him mighty happy.  He's growing up so fast!  Already eating "real" food and feeding himself!

He's been babbling and making lots of noises lately and I think he's pretty close to saying his first "real" word.  He babbles "mamamama" and " dadadada" but has yet to mean "Mama" or "Daddy." 

He can get around!  He lays on his belly and can spin around in circles and recently finally figured out how to get up on all fours.  So far he can crawl backwards quite well but hasn't quite figured out how to go forward, but he will soon.  He can get from a sitting position to a crawling position and back up to a sitting position all on his own.

Since he's able to move around so well - and so quickly! - he approaches Lucy's stuff a lot.  I was prepared for her not to handle it very well but she's been amazing.  Sometimes, I'll relocate Max and say, "No playing with Lucy's Frozen castle" and she'll hear me and say, "It's okay, he can play with it."  So sweet!  But her stuff has small parts so we need to keep an eye on the sneaky Baby guy!

Such a big guy!  8 month photo shoot was done in the midst of the ear infection so he wasn't too animated in the photos...this ear infection was so different from the others - what with the symptoms and all!  He was definitely not himself at all for several days so we're happy to report he's on the mend and is back to being happy!

Christmas break adventures

My parents got us passes to the Cincinnati Museum Center and to the Newport Aquarium for Christmas.   Lucy had been to the museum multiple times with Tammy when she was little but none of the rest of us had been.  Plus it had been so long since Lucy was last there that she didn't remember it.  I think Ema may have encouraged my mom to get us a pass since they're already members so...thank you, Ema!  I have no idea why we'd never been there!  So cool!  It was super crowded since schools were still out for Christmas but our little family had a great time!    

Afterward we went to lunch at LaRosa's.  Lately Lucy's been very interested in my camera and taking photos.  I had to delete quite a few pics (of the ceiling fan, of Dave's neck, of the floor, of the table, etc.) but she's getting pretty decent at taking selfies!

Another day we went to activate and use our Newport Aquarium pass.  Lucy asks to go there somewhat frequently so she was a happy camper.  Max loved watching the penguins and stingrays.

Checking out the stingrays



These two fools spotted Santa's abandoned sleigh and just had to climb aboard!



Recent randomness

The week before Christmas, we went to the mall to see Santa.  We missed out on seeing him at the city building party because we had other things going on that day, and we missed out on seeing him at Macy's with ABC because of the stomach virus that claimed my children as victims.  So...we decided to give the Florence Mall Santa a try.  On the way to pick up GranJan, who we convinced to tag along, Lucy acted excited.  She actually guessed where we were going and told me she was going to ask Santa for a special doll.

Now every day after school, we ask Lucy how her day was and try to learn about what she did but she usually doesn't give us much...that day was no different ("good" or "I don't know" are two popular answers) - but when GranJan got in the car, Lucy started babbling all about her day and even mentioned that Santa had visited her school (I didn't even know that!)...and when asked if she sat on his lap, Lucy said she didn't but all of her friends did...and suddenly the mall Santa visit didn't look so promising.

We all stood in line but when our turn came, Lucy started crying and freaking out and didn't want to get near the big guy...but Max decided to go for it:

She said she had a better idea - "Let's get ice cream!"

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I got the chance to volunteer in Lucy's classroom before Christmas!  I'm not going to lie - I've been dreaming of doing so ever since Lucy started school!  I was so excited when her first party day rolled around at Abby's...but when I mentioned to the teacher that I wanted to help, I was just directed to the sign-up sheet of goodies to donate to the party.  So my dream of actually attending a party and physically helping out in the classroom was put on hold.  At Kids & Cribs, the minute I found out when the Christmas party was, I told her teacher I'd be there to help and I requested a vacation day from work.  Imagine my tears when I got the class newsletter saying the party date had been changed (and to a date that I could not be off work).  Luckily, Lucy's teacher found another day for me to come in...so even though I missed "party day," I still got to go in during Christmas.  I got there and got to see "school Lucy" which was pretty cool.  She was sitting side-by-side with her little best friend, Ava, but then Lucy had to go do her "job" for the day - wash all of the tables!  It was a proud moment for me to see her doing a chore - she wasn't trying to cling to me or anything, she just did her thing! 

I read the class a book - Llama Llama Holiday Drama - and then did a craft with them. 



Watching her and her classmates in action was so cool!

Next, we did a craft.  I worked with 3-4 kids at a time while the others played at various stations around the room.  I helped the kids make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, green icing and sprinkles.  All of her little friends are so creative and cute!

Ms. Julie couldn't believe how good Lucy was with me being there...she said most kids cling to their parent and act different but Lucy did her thing while I worked with the other small groups.  When I went to leave it got a little ugly but who can blame a girl?  I would have liked to have gone ahead and taken her home with me but I had to get to work for the rest of the day.

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Christmas-time cuteness:

Pajamas from Mike and Kathy:

(Lucy and Max each got a pair a couple of weeks before Christmas - pictured left.

Dave and I each got a pair for Christmas and Lucy was so excited for us to wear our new pjs).

          

Lucy displaying some Christmas gifts - a Frozen snack cup from my boss and her daughter and some fuzzy giraffe socks from Ashley:



Stallkamp Christmas at Uncle Mike & Aunt Judi's house

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Max got a bath seat for Christmas from Grandma...I was so excited about it because he's too long for his baby bath tub but too slippery and wobbly and curious to sit up in it (let alone in the big tub).  Lucy was super pumped, too, because it meant they could get in the tub together.

Maxyboy is a splashing fool in the tub and it's hysterical!  Lucy always freaks out when as little as one drop of water touches her face while we're washing her hair (she yells "My eyes!" and makes us stop while she grabs the towel and dries her face).  But when Max is splashing like some kind of wild animal (and water gets on her face...and everywhere else)?  She laughs and laughs!

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Lucy had a pretty bad cold recently...she went through a LOT of tissues and she was pretty pathetic.  She told me, "I don't want to have a cold anymore!" and when she was trying to go to sleep one night, she kept saying, "My nose feels so sniffly!"

So she spent the day with her box of tissues nice and handy and we watched movies all day.  She had bursts of energy periodically where we'd play and at one point, she said we were having a camp out.  She set everything up in the dining room and "invited" me to her camp out.  She said, "I'm going to tell a scary story about a dangerous dinosaur!"  That cracked me up and I was so excited...I set up our new iPad with an image of a campfire and we got out the mini marshmallows (with uncooked spaghetti as the sticks) and we "roasted marshmallows" as she told her story:
Once upon a time there was a dangerous dinosaur.  The end.
Okay then.