Beach Babies

I've posted two new posts to catch-up about our Memorial Day at the beach.

Josh got to spend lots of quality time with Baby Ian. Tara and I shared our pregnancy and the boys ended up just 3 weeks apart. We sure hope they grow up to be great friends.


After a rough day without naps, Ian was not so excited about sitting in the sand, preferring the comfort of mama's arms.

Josh, on the other hand, thought the sand was the BEST THING EVER. He really is a texture baby and played happily by himself for at least 30 minutes while I was taking pictures of Owen and Scott in the waves.



And here's a quick peak at how our annual beach vacation has evolved in the last 10 years. We started as three couples, jockeying for the best bedroom in the house, pouring through books and magazines, playing hours and hours of bocce, strolling the shops, and spending way too much time debating where to eat dinner. Now, we are a gaggle of kids, toys, naps, and snacks. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Memorial Day 2010

I'm way behind on the events of spring, but I wanted to get photos uploaded from our Memorial Day trip to Manzanita. This was year #10 for our group. Tim and Amy were unable to join us this year, so the MacSweens and Baby Ian more than adequately stepped up to the plate. As always, we enjoyed the view, ate amazing food, and explored the beach in marginal weather.

Josh's first trip to the ocean will get it's own post, so here are some other pictures from the weekend.

Of course, our trip to Manzanita comes complete with lots of cousin love. Owen and Calla were able to play a little bit better together this year, but we still had to do quite a bit of refereeing.

I generally managed Josh's schedule, which gave Scott and Owen LOTS of time for beach fun:


Parting the waves, "Like Moses."

We were thrilled to find that Owen was old enough to enjoy jumping and chasing waves. Thankfully, the weather was nice enough that his toes didn't turn blue, but he certainly would have stayed out there that long if we let him. After a rogue wave plastered him to the sand, we dried his tears and decided to head back to the house... to which Owen threw an even bigger fit and insisted on heading back for more salty fun.
Other highlights of the weekend:
After talking about it for YEARS, Sara and I escaped for a morning at the spa. I think that's a new tradition.
Scott was able to test out his new cylocross bike on a ride down the coast with Ryan.
Luke brought surfboards, so Scott got to test the waves for the first time.
We had enough food and snacks to last another weekend.
Owen had a fantastic time and Josh despite continuing with horrible sleep patterns, Josh was a trooper as well. He really didn't like the long drive in the car though, but we have definitely mellowed as parents of two and driving with a fussing baby didn't illicit the stress level that it would have 2 years ago.

We'll be back next year!

This and That and a Haircut

The past few weeks have flown by. We're days away from a 8 months old post for Josh - how can that be? Current events around the Maxwell House:

My parents were here for a weekend, and we seized the opportunity for an afternoon mountain biking date. That would be my first mountain bike ride ever and the first time I've been on a bike since college - yikes! I thought it was fun but could really use some more time in the seat to gain more confidence handling a bike - and better fitness would help, too.

I ran my first 5K since high school. The Heaven Can Wait event (for breast cancer) is by far the biggest run/walk in Bend - 4,000 participants. It was inspiring to see all those people walking for the cause. Amazing energy. I was most inspired by my 3-man cheering section at the finish line. I think Owen liked seeing his mom do a race, but he was complaining afterward, "But I Wanted you to be the winner!!" and has declared that he's going to do a race himself and be the winner.

Summer is here! We officially skipped spring, with last week's temperatures steadily in the 50s. To much relief, the summer solitice brought with it sun and temperatures above 80 degrees - bring out the sunscreen, swimsuits, and bare feet!

Scott's parents were the first ones to complete the Maxwell Family Fitness Challenge for 2010. After training all winter and spring, they walked a half marathon in Alaska over the weekend. So awesome! Maybe we'll get them to come walk another one in Bend in October when I (hopefully) run mine...

We're loving the World Cup these days. Owen is old enough to sit and watch a few minutes of the games. He is already a big fan of Tim Howard (thanks to that bright orange jersey!). What a fantastic 3rd game finish for the US today. Bring on Ghana!

Scott's been taking advantage of our long daylight hours to get in weekly mountain bike rides and a few more on the weekends. Mountain biking has really become his activity of choice, and it's great to have trails just minutes from the office. Yea Bend!

After months of letting his hair grow, we decided to give Owen a short cut for summer. I was really enjoying the long hair, but the short will be better for the pool.

A few before shots:





And the drastically different after:

First - Second

First Child – Plan dinner outings at least 24 hours in advance. Time naps so baby will be happy during dinner outing. If naps don’t work as planned, re-evaluate ideas at 4:30 and abandon outing if baby is having a rough day.

Second Child – Baby is having a rough day and doesn’t sleep in the baby carrier as hoped while walking around a local festival. Head back to the car at 4:30 and THEN decide it’s a great opportunity to go out to dinner.

First Child – Select a restaurant that you know to be kid-friendly. Arrive early to avoid having to wait for a table.

Second Child – Brainstorm restaurant options while driving through town. Take a chance on outdoor seating at 5:30 on a Saturday during the first beautiful day of the year. Score! Tuck sleeping baby (FINALLY!) in his car seat into a shady corner.

First Child – load diaper bag with snacks, toys, and other entertainment.

Second Child – scrounge around and discover a chew toy buried at the bottom of the diaper bag. Use carrot sticks and celery as alternate entertainment.

First Child – Bring props and cleaner so small child can sit in a high chair.

Second Child – Realize at the end of dinner that we could have asked for a high chair. No need. Dad’s lap works fine.

First Child – Lament the fact that going out to dinner is such a production.

Second Child – Apologize to Scott that dinner out is so hectic. His response, “How would this be different that eating at home?”

First Child – Spend dinner hour uptight about whether the outing is working or not. Order first thing that looks decent on the menu and eat meal at breakneck speed to get out the door before baby has a meltdown. Very little actual conversations between adults.

Second Child – Realize that kids antics probably won’t bother anybody with all the other restaurant noise. Leisurely sip beer and enjoy sandwiches while retrieving dropped toy and carrots off the floor. Take compliment from other diner that kids are so well behaved. Enjoy heavenly relief to walk back in the house and realize there won’t be any dinner dishes after the kids go to bed. Ahhhh…

Josh at 7 Months

I think babies start showing their full personality around 7 months and Josh is no exception.

Josh loves watching the activity around him and mimics the emotions he sees. If Owen is sad, Josh looks concerned. If Owen and Scott are wrestling, Josh squeals with delight and laughs deep belly laughs.

Sophie the giraffe is still a cherished possession. Never leave home without her!

Josh is a sensory baby - any interesting textures capture his attention - water, sand, grass, paint. He's having a blast at daycare and I can't wait to watch him explore all the world has to offer this summer!


His cries are so quiet - if we didn't have a baby monitor, we wouldn't even hear him in the next room. Josh is just starting to find his voice and figure out how to yell.

Josh loves his baths.

Josh didn't like the long car ride to the beach. It almost seems like the car seat makes him feel ill, and I can't blame him. I would be a mess if I had to ride backward staring at a solid seat back for any length of time.

In the last month, Josh has finally settled into a predictable feeding and sleep routine - 2 naps a day (and the afternoon nap usually overlaps with Owen's!) and two feedings at night. If we get through the night with just the two wake ups for feedings, it's a great success. Our attempt to drop him down to one night feeding was pretty much a disaster.

Still no teeth, but we keep thinking they are coming soon.

Josh still prefers nursing over all other forms of food and shows no signs of dropping any feedings. He's eating a few bites of puree - carrots and blueberry-banana are the only real successes, but our freezer is full of various fruit and vegetable combinations. Just this week, we gave him a shot at cheerios and in 3 days he's almost figured out how to pick them up. I think he might go straight to table foods.

Josh is growing hair. For some reason, I was surprised to see his hair growing in strawberry blond (the exact color that Owen's was). I guess because he was darker complected at birth, I was expecting him to have dark hair.


In the last week, Josh mastered rolling from front to back and is really working on the back to front motion. It's amazing to see how much more he is twisting and wiggling EVERY DAY! It's like the light clicked and he's now motivated to make movement happen. Now that we have him out of the swaddle, Josh actually gets his best twisting in while he's settling in to sleep.

Josh LOVED the beach - but I'll post about that separately.

Josh is the sweetest soul of a baby. I cherish our snuggle time when he's wrapped up after baths or as he drifts off to sleep. In those moments, I just sense that Josh has a beautiful, tender heart that is going to surprise us and bring great joy to those around him as he grows. We love you sweet Josharoo!

Catching Up - Bachelor BBQ

Bachelor got a wonderful spring dumping of snow this year. While we didn't get in as many days on the slopes as we would have liked (I think Owen skied as much as Scott and I did!), we still packed up the kids and headed to the mountain for an end of the season BBQ.


It was great fun to hang out with some of our friends and watch all our Bend Kids moving effortlessly between riding bikes, chasing the doggies, and digging in the last piles of melting snow.
Some of my lovely gal friends.
This is classic Bend: bike discarded on the side while playing in the snow.

Catching Up - Mothers Day

It's time to play catch-up. I just downloaded the pictures off the camera, and there were 289 pictures from the last month. Yikes! I guess it's best to just start where I left off.

Jeff and Ethel came down for a visit over Mother's Day weekend. They brought the classic Radio Flyer wagon that's been stored in their garage for a couple decades. Still works!

It's a little tricky to fit in outings between Josh's many naps, but we made our first visit ever to the children's fishing pond at Shevlin Park. Since we don't own a fishing pole, Owen decided it was much more fun to explore in the nearby woods...

This was also one of Josh's first outings in the Ergo carrier. He doesn't look very thrilled here, but we're working it out.

J&E continued their marathon training and took Hudson on a 8 mile walk along the nearby canal. They have just two more weeks until their half marathon. Thanks for the visit!