Introducing Our Own Party of Five

In the looooong hiatus from this blog, we have had quite a few changes in the household. Sadly, we lost my Aunt Gail in February. She was a huge, daily part of my, Josh and Max's lives. We miss her and are still in shock from the loss. Odd as it is to say it, we have also received an enormous blessing in this sadness -- the addition of Gail's only daughter, my first-cousin Jordan Link, to our family. Jordan just turned ten a few weeks ago. She stayed at with my grandparents during the weekdays until the end of the school year so she didn't need to switch schools. She was with us on the weekends and school holidays, but officially moved in full time with us on June 10th.

Just three days later, on Friday, June 13th, we welcomed another new daughter...Claire Estelle. So far she is quite different from her big brother -- she weighed in at a tiny (compared to Max's 9 lbs 13 oz!) 7 lbs 9 oz, she sleeps aLOT, she is laid back, and has skinny feet! Josh's mom stayed for two weeks to help out and then my mom stayed for a few days. I don't know what I would have done without them, especially since I am not supposed to be picking up Max while recovering from my C-section. Jordan is also a huge help entertaining Max while I am feeding Claire. It is amazing how innate Max's affection for his little sister is...gentleness, however, has not come as naturally. He loves to kiss her head, hug her, and 'pet' her; he also tries to burp her after her feedings. He immediately had a name for her and asks for her immediately (well, after 'Dad') upon waking up. This week we are on our own for the first time during the days. Next week Jordan will have day camp so I will test being on my own with a toddler and newborn without any 'mommy's helper'. The upside will be the quiet naptimes though (is ten too old to insist on afternoon naps?). I am adjusting to not having any quiet alone time during the days...but the tough part is the 10 o clock bedtime for Jordan. So much for getting things done after Max goes down at 8! Josh says I need to come up with a different 'system'...I fear it will require even less sleep on my part....

Jordan is an excellent 'journal-er' so she has been tasked with helping update the family blog. What a great addition to my and Josh's failings in documenting life's milestones. Below is Jordan's first post about our daily activities:

Chronicles by Jordan...
Today I woke up around 8:00 and we all got ready for church. I learned about patience with Ms. Jenny and Mrs.Annie. We decided we all need some of that. Speaking of patience, today at Rack Room shoes, I was trying on sneakers. Max started screaming and Claire started screaming. The guy that worked in the store probably thought we were crazy. So at one point we had two screaming babies and Josh and Lara were yelling at me to pick out a pair of shoes. After I finally picked out a pair a pair of shoes, Josh grabbed the box and told me to wear them out of the store. When we all piled into the car, Josh said,"I don't even know how much I payed for those things." I was so worn out and confused but somehow I love my new kicks. When we got home, Max started stuffing diapers in his shirt. He took all the diapers out of his shirt and then Josh put one diaper in Max's shirt. Max said more. Josh put in a second diaper. Max wanted more. Josh put in a third diaper. They kept on going.

[Entered on Monday] So later that night, Josh, Lara and I played Kings in the Corner. Josh won all the games. Of course. By that time it was time for me to go to bed. Lara read the bible to me and I fell asleep. I woke up like thirty minutes after that. I went upstairs and said to Lara," I can't sleep, will you pray with me again?" So she came downstairs and prayed with me again. I fell asleep to someone reading the bible my CD player. Apparently Lara said I woke up again and went upstairs and stood at their door. Lara opened the door and there I was with my crazy, messed up, sweaty hair, and in my pj's. I said," I don't know what to do, I can't sleep." Lara took me downstairs and played the bible CD again. My eyes were closed and Lara just stared at me, I opened my eyes and said," What?" Lara said," I'm just sitting with you." She left and we both said goodnight to each other and I fell asleep for the rest of the night.

Pictures from Max's First Thanksgiving

Max's 'I'm Thankful for My Daddy' bib (a gift from his Nana)...I like to think he is thankful for his mom too!

The remains of Thanksgiving cornbread...
Max caught under the 'kids' table in the study after the company is gone.

Max is getting more confident with those steps...walking from room to room one more time before he goes to bed.

The Smokey Mountains and Tennesse Volunteers

A much delayed post to the family blog...We spent the weekend in Tennessee visiting Josh's Grandpareents -- Max's first trip since he was 3 months old. What a difference! Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert (GiGi and PopPop to Max) couldn't believe how much he had changed. He made himself at home quickly and was soon walking from room to room, trying to climb the stairs, throwing food on GiGi's clean floor and banging on her pots and pans. Grandma Schuckert cooked quite the feast for us when we arrived and basically we just ate for the rest of the weekend...

Max showing off his teeth for GiGi and PopPop

Max and PopPop

Saturday morning we went into Knoxville to have breakfast at Cracker Barrel with Aunt Margi and Uncle Simon where we discovered that Max LOVES oranges (the rest of the delicious country breakfast ended up on the floor much to the waitress' delight).

Max trying to figure out how to eat his first orange

Finding a way...

Taking a break before eating his fifth orange

Afterwards we dropped Max at the Mowrers' to hang with Lottie Sue while the parents tailgated and watched the Volunteers try very hard to lose to Vanderbilt (fortunately, Vanderbilt missed a final field goal to keep UT's home winning streak alive).

Max and Lottie Sue...the closest pic I have of them looking at each other

An Adorable Jen at the famous Mowrer Tailgate

Josh with Margi and Simon

Halftime at Neyland Stadium

Megan vamping it up after the game

On Sunday, Max charmed the staff and patrons of the local breakfast spot in Wears Valley and then we set out on a drive to see the beautiful fall colors of the Smokey Mountains. Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert say they were the brightest they had seen in their 17 years in the Valley.

Max is not so happy about this hat

Max cannot wait to get into the leaves

Josh was excited to take Max to one of his favorite haunts, Metcalf Bottoms. Apparently, many Schuckert descendants have passed time here 'throwing rocks'...that's right, not skipping or hopping rocks, (although I am sure that came into play as the kids grew older), but just plain old throwing rocks and getting a big splash. This sounded a bit dangerous to me, and when I asked I did learn that almost everyone -- chaperoning adults as well as the little ones -- had been hit in the head with a rock at one time or another. Apparently this was just part of the fun. Anyway, with Josh's help, Max dipped his fingers in the water and climbed some of the mini-boulders. We'll save rock throwing (and hitting!) until he is a bit older. His favorite activity was crawling around on the dried leaves because it made a lot of noise!

Max's first dip in Metcalf Bottoms stream

Max gazing at the water (imagining all of those future rocks...)

Grandma and Grandpa Schuckert at Metcalf Bottoms

We said good-bye to GiGi and Pop and hit the road for the long drive home. Fortunately the mountain air (and lack of pack-n-play sleep) had Max all tuckered out and he slept almost the whole way home!

Trying this Blogging-Thing Out

As most of you know, I am well-intentioned but painfully slow in getting out pictures and correspondence to our loved ones...in many cases I am just plain delinquent. So this blog is an effort to get timely updates out for the interested parties as well as a way to document the ever-changing life and times or our little buddy, Max. I have been inspired by our good friend Jen Mowrer and her entertaining tales of Lottie Sue on their family blog. I cannot promise to be nearly as creative and amusing but I will try to be detailed for those of you who are not able to witness first hand the daily changes.

This weekend, I finally sent out a shutterfly link to 3 months worth of pictures of Max, so I am starting out "all caught up". However, since sending out that very brief update, Max has truly started becoming a man on the move. He has progressed from taking about 10 tenuous steps to walking from one room to the other...rounding corners and everything. When he is walking to Josh or me, he gets excited and breaks into what can only be called a run. Of course, he quickly loses his footing and dives into our laps. Every time he attempts to walk, we have to make a big deal out of it...."Yea, Max!", loud claps and cheers. I wonder at what point we will transition into this being like every other milestone...eventually no big deal. Right now though it is a HUGE deal in our house and we think our guy is the first kid to ever learn to walk. It is slightly disconcerting though when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see this little guy walking upright. It can't be only six months ago that he was content to sit in a bouncy chair. This kid has to be on the move constantly.

One other "first" today...we were rocking in his nursery and he leaned far over one of the arms of the chair....nothing new there...I just hold on to his legs. This time though, he wiggled one leg loose, threw it over the arm of the chair and slid his way to standing on the floor. I saw a future of a kid who is going to be climbing out of his crib in no time. Lord, help us.