Thanksgiving dinner - Maylea 7 month "update"

We had a very nice (very delicious) Thanksgiving dinner at mom and dad's house. Around the table was my family, grandma and grandpa, cousin Elizabeth and her boyfriend Allan, Luke and Cori, Keith and Clarissia (Luke's mom and her husband), and mom and dad. Mom and dad did a great job cooking.

While at the store getting more baby food I grabbed Maylea a jar of turkey and sweet potatoes. I fed her that while everyone was passing our food around. Once she was done, I gave her a few green beans and some small pieces of turkey.....she loved being able to eat on her own. This is her first real attempt at table/finger food so of course it was EVERYWHERE. She didn't get a lot in her mouth, but she was able to get a couple bites. After we were done I gave her a small taste of my turtle pumpkin pie....I think she liked it.

We don't take Maylea back to the Dr. until her nine month check up (in January). She just keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time. Depending on the style and brand, she is wearing anywhere from 6-9 to 9 month clothes. She has started pulling herself up onto things and standing. This is something that Cooper didn't do until he was 9 months old. I am constantly amazed at how different she is from her brother.

• She is more determined that Cooper ever has been. When she wants something, she goes after it and keeps working until she figures it out. Cooper gets frustrated immediately and throws a fit or quits.
• She still does not sleep "all night". Cooper started sleeping 8-6 (or later) very early. Maylea still wakes up around 4 every morning to eat.
• Maylea can be on the floor and play by herself for a long time. Cooper had to be (and still does) constantly entertained.
• Along with the above statement, Maylea is a very GOOD baby!! We get comments all the time from people that they can not get over how good she is.
• Maylea is a sensitive little girl. If she is getting into something and I yell, "no" she will tear up. Cooper would look right at you and do it again....he is still ornery and pushes buttons in this way.
• Maylea is a very content little girl and can sit in your lap and be happy. Cooper is always on the go. THE KID NEVER SITS STILL!!!! ***side note: I find it interesting they were both the same in the womb. Cooper was jumping around all the time, and Maylea moved just enough for me to know she was still alive in there.

I know that part of this is merely because of the girl boy thing, but they really are night and day. I am really glad that I will get to experience raising both of them. They will both challenge us in different ways (Cooper now, Maylea when she gets older). We all (Joshua, myself, and the family) look forward to see what the future brings.

Bath time

These are a couple pictures from Maylea's first bath in her little bathtub. She LOVES bath time and will just sit, play, and splash. I have put her in the big tub and she does really well crawling around, but she gets water EVERYWHERE from splashing. She will throw her hands down into the water creating huge splashes and just laugh. Last time she took a bath in the tub I was as wet as she was when she got out.

Sleep over

The family decided to give me a night off while Joshua has been in Amarillo. Cori drove up to get the kids on Thursday night, and then I drove to Wichita for the weekend right after work on Friday. Maylea stayed the night with grandma and grandpa while Cooper stayed with Aunt Cori and Uncle Luke. Grandpa tried to put Maylea to sleep....you can see how well that worked, so grandma grabbed her and took care of it!

KU vs. K-State

Joshua and I took Cooper up to Manhattan on the 7th for the KU/K-state football game. We met some of our friends, to tailgate. Cooper and Donavan got to play together and it was great to see our friends again. We left the house about 7 that morning and got home around 5 that night. We were all EXHAUSTED. I was literally watching the clock waiting for 8 so that we could put the kids down and then put myself to bed. Manhattan had a great atmosphere, it was a beautiful day and with the exception of the final score of the game, we had a great time with Cooper and our friends!

Kilee, Donavan, Dom, Cooper, Joshua, and myself

Halloween

Halloween was a BUSY day for us, but SO MUCH FUN!!! I think that fact that is was on a Saturday just made it the best. We didn't have to rush around after work to get out of the house or rush though our visits because we all had to get up early the next day. We had a blast that night!!!

The morning started off with hair cuts for both boys. As soon as we were done we headed up to Eskridge to the fair (pictures in next post). We have some friends Mark and Kelly that live up there. Mark was one of my best friends in college, and now him and Joshua play ball together in the summer. They have a son Connor that is 2 1/2 and they just had another little boy Keegan in October. We went up there for the parade and to meet there new little one. It was a nice day and we had fun.

We headed home for naps. We got home a little after 3. It took Cooper FOREVER to fall asleep. He would lay there and then yell, "is it time to get up yet?". He knew that he would get to go trick-or-treating when he woke up. We had come to the conclusion that he just wasn't going to take a nap. We were just about to let him get up when I realized he had fallen asleep. It was about 4:15, and we had planned on leaving the house around 5. We decided to wake him up about 5:15. We had a terrible time trying to wake him up, and he was a very unhappy little boy. He finally started to snap out of it as I was getting him into his costume. However, he would not let me draw the whiskers on his face.....I didn't fight it.

We hit grandparents houses and a couple of friends. We spend at least 20 min. at each stop. Cooper was funny (if he wasn't 3 and didn't know everyone SO well he would have been considered rude) they would open the door, he would say "trick or treat" and walk right in the door, to the candy dish, and start filling his bag one piece right after the other. The longer we stayed the more chances he had to get back to the candy bowl.

On the way home, we decided to stop by Joshua's brother, Rick's, house. Rick and Lacie do a hay rack ride through Americus with friends every year. This time everyone was going to their house afterwards. They had asked us to come with them, but we knew we had friends that wanted to see the kids, and with Maylea so young we will wait a couple years. We had a great time. It was a little after 9 when we got there, and about 11:30 when we left. Cooper was having a blast, but EXHAUSTED. We got home and we all headed to bed. Both kids slept until 7....that was heaven!!!!

Eskridge Fair

Cooper and Connor watching the parade. Connor is 2 1/2 (3 in March).

Cooper had to fight off these "big boys" for the candy they were throwing out....he did just fine! A horse had pooped just to the left (just out of the picture) and the older boys wouldn't grab the candy that went in the vicinity....not my son, he was ALL OVER IT!!! Surprisingly he did really well avoinding stepping in it.

Maylea enjoyed herself too.