Max, these days

Max has always been a happy, happy go lucky child. But it seems that Max has hit a case of 'orrible ones. For the most part he's still happy, but he's become very opinionated, especially in the afternoons between 3 and 5. If anything doesn't go his way, it's a disaster. I find it funny for about 40 minutes then annoying for the rest of the time. Conveniently, as soon as Daddy gets home there's no trace of these faces.




Max is down to one bottle a day and almost completely on milk (I still have some formula left so he gets that in his bottle at night). He have also moved on to the big kid sippy cups. There's also no crawling going on around our house either, Max has been solely walking for quite a few days now. He's still in the drunken little man stage though.

He's such a big kid, I can't even believe he was ever once a tiny baby.

Our House

I've been trying to get some pictures of the new house, but it's been a major fail this week. It's been rainy and cloudy and the house is never clean. So here is a tour of my very lived in (and kind of dark) house.

Welcome to the Kipp House!

You open the front door to the living roomYou can go up the stair case
Or right into the master bedroom (like that I didn't even make the bed for this tour?)

Continue on into the diningroomComment on how messy the dining room table isTurn to go into Max's room
Nursery complete with baby
dresser/changing table set into one closetAnother view
Back into the dining room to continue the tourThrough the dining to the kitchen
Turn around to enter the bathroomnotice the window coverings... all by Grammie
More bathroomThrough the bathroom into the master bedroomUnmade bed, once againmore bedroom
That leads you back to the entryway. I'll have details abut each of the rooms in the coming weeks. I have some projects I'd like to do (of course!) and I'm still looking to rearrange accessories and for little pieces of furniture still. And of course there's still the three upstairs rooms that have to get done at some point.

Par-tay!

I purposely set up an open house and Max's first birthday combo event for this weekend. It's a holiday weekend and it's a week after we moved in. Talk about kicking myself. I've been so busy this week unpacking boxes and we were all up until 1am Friday night still figuring out what to display in the cabinet/hutch in the dining room while I was still icing cakes.

But I believe it went off without a hitch and I thank everyone who came by and all the wonderful gifts that showed up at our house! Especially the beautiful new plants and wonderful toys for Max. As if the one year old didn't have enough in his very own play room already :)

I was second guessing myself about the whole timing situation, but I'm completely thankful I did it (and will be more so as I catch up on my rest this week) because it's done... all done. I don't have many things left to hang on the wall and now can concentrate on some bigger projects I'll be working on this summer (like directing VBS for the church, going on a "missions" trip to Nebraska, and traveling home to Ohio). It's nice to have it feel like a home and to have our pictures on the walls and to not have piles of boxes in plain view (they're all hidden upstairs at least).

We've been so busy that nothing here will get a proper story/post. But I have had a wonderful trip to IKEA with a one year old and a very large list of things to get that did not get completely checked off, baking my first "decorative" cake (I am not a cake baker or decorator), and watching my mother in law make curtains with hemming tape (And they look fabulous).

But one thing I'm super excited about and have yet to use is my new Canon Rebel that Adam picked up from the store today. I keep checking the light on the battery charger willing it to turn green so I can play with it. I've read (some of) the manual, attached the lens and the neck strap, and now I wait for my fun to begin.... I'm hoping this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

The first thing, of course, will be using it on my child, who should be training for a modeling career at this point since the camera is constantly pinned on him anyway. He turns his head at the sound of the automatic focus and shutter click. This will be closely followed by a still life shooting of all the magnificent flowers that are blooming or getting ready to bloom around my yard.

I'm not sure how this coming week will be, but I wouldn't plan on me being "here" much. I've got lots of rest to do. And I get the feeling I'll find plenty of things to keep me very busy.

Goldfish Cake

The Spread

Happy Family

Max in his new wagon

Really?!? This is all for me?

Confusion about why everyone was singing

Yummo!

Strawberry Afternoon

This afternoon was spent playing outside eating strawberries and bananas and being goofy.










Yeah, there are still a million boxes to go through, but this was much more fun and much more important.

Peace...

(Flowers from my yard on my kitchen window sill)

Now seemed as good a time as any to talk about my word of the year. Way back in January I talked about a theme word for the year... Peace.... what was I thinking? That was some pipe dream I had. It's not been peaceful around these parts this year, but it's been sweet.

I sit amongst a house FULL of boxes. I can't find clean clothes for Max, but I know exactly where my high school yearbooks are, because I keep opening that box. Over and over. I'm moving room to room completing one at a time, well, by that I mean, wandering around moving little things, and then reminding myself I'm supposed to be in one room and heading back there. Only to then have to go rescue Max from a pile of boxes. But I have the bathroom, kitchen, our bedroom and Max's room (to a lesser extent) all in working order.

Max's doctor's appointment went well. He actually weighed 24lb 11oz and was 30 inches tall. This is less than I weighed him at a couple weeks ago, but he's slowed way down on his eating and has way increased his walking. He's been ok'd to start milk but I've had enough going on this week and still had formula in the house, so we've yet to start that. Maybe next week.

Well I'm back to moving things around and organizing and making piles for a massive garage sale.

Progression of a cupcake....

I snuck into Williams-Sonoma (oh how I miss you so much) while in Dallas and picked up some Sprinkles cupcake mix for Max's birthday. I quickly whipped them up this evening and here you go.... progression of a cupcake.

They definitely weren't as pretty as the ones you buy, but they were almost just as delicious!

In other news....

Today the carpet was put down in the house. It took the men 7.5 hours to do it all, but it's done and it's absolutely beautiful. It makes the house look and feel complete.

I have been flitting around cleaning windows, hanging curtains (even if they're not the ones I want), moving things up the stairs (when they weren't having carpet laid), mopping the floors, cleaning the fridge, etc. I moved constantly around the entire time they were working on the carpet today. Tonight Adam is working on his New and Improved To Do List that accumulated during the day.... I've discovered that as handy as I am, I'm not very good with the power screwdriver.

Tomorrow Max has his 1 year check up. I'm guessing he's in the 90% percentile for weight and somewhere in the 80s for height. He seems as big as, if not bigger (in height and weight), than all the older kids we know. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping, we are given the ok to start milk. Buying formula is definitely for the birds.

I've been reminiscing a bit today about this time last year. Having just been in Dallas and seeing many of our friends, I'm still overwhelmed by the welcome Max received into this world. What better way than spending the first night with at least a dozen visitors and sleeping next door to great friends with their new little one tucked in tight too. Happy Birthday also to Rylee Grace, Max's birthday twin.

Happy Birthday to You!

Wow! I can't even believe it's been a year since Max came into the world. I can't believe all that we've done in the past year.



Dear Max,

We can't believe how much you've changed our lives. You bring so much laughter and light into our days. You have your Daddy's sense of humor and your Mama's smile. We thank God everyday for you.

Love,
Mama and Daddy