my little monkey

His Little Gym teachers would be so proud!

Lately Cullen has been running to his chair and does a hand-stand against the wall. I suppose it's better than him trying to do a hand-stand in Finn's Bumbo seat... talk about a broken neck waiting to happen. Trust me, I've put a stop to that!!

6 months

helping those new teeth come in

practicing sitting

thinking about smiling

Why so serious, Finn?

Finn will be 6 months old in a few days. He's still a pretty laid-back baby (a welcome change from Hurricane Cullen). I swear the boy DOES smile, I just cannot seem to catch it on camera. The last few days we've noticed that the drool factory went into overtime, and he's constantly gnawing on something; so we're expecting to see a new tooth soon. He's still working on mastering sitting (but mom doesn't give him much chance to practice, for fear of the Hurricane). He's a BIG eater, I'm anxious for his next well-baby check to see where we're at. He's sleeping much better, but that's not too consistent. He's talking more and experimenting with a lot of high pitched squeals- mainly while conversing with Cullen. I know I say this all the time, but I absolutely LOVE seeing the boys interact! I hope they always remain such big buddies!

fun with Cuddles

giving Cuddles a ride

licking the bowl after making rice crispy treats

playing dress up

Cullen was able to take Cuddles, the bear, home Tuesday after school. Our job was to fill out a page in the Cuddles Adventure Book. Here are the pictures we submitted. We brought Cuddles back to school today, so another kid could have a turn. Cullen really enjoyed it and was able to share our adventures with Cuddles with the class.

Cullen enjoys preschool tremendously! He talks a mile a minute the whole way home. The highlights today were- "Mom, I sang Shake It to the kids today." "Really? What did your teachers say?" "They said, Realllllllly goooood, Cullen." (he said in a sing-song voice) "Why did you sing, Cullen?"(Thinking it was some kind of show and tell time.) "To make them happy." "What did the kids say?" "They laughed." I asked him who he played with today... again it was Kenton and Landon.

Ohh, Lord... I can already hear what the teachers will say to me at the parent-teacher conferences!!

first day of preschool!

he said it was too bright to look

Today was Cullen's first day of preschool! He was so excited to start "big kid school". I think he really enjoyed it. He told me they sang songs, played outside, had grape juice, oranges, and blueberries for a snack, and he washed his hands. :) So far the only kids he has mentioned is Abby and Kelton (I think?) He is such a social butterfly, he barely told me goodbye (let alone look at me) as Finn and I left.

boys

he's got a dimple like his brother

wide-eyed boy

don't listen to him Finn

carrots

Finn enjoying is first taste of vegetables. Surprisingly, he ate the carrots better than he's been eating the cereals.

Happy Birthday

We finally broke out the ice cream cake to celebrate Sean's birthday today. Happy Birthday, Sean! :)

Mr. Maximus

Sean and I just had to make the most heart-wrenching decision; one that no pet owner ever wants to have to encounter. We had to put Maximus to sleep last night. It was absolutely awful, and I wish our experience on no one. Max got really sick in the night Friday, then vomited and was acting really strange Saturday. We thought he just had some bug... But Sunday it became obvious to me that something was really wrong. Sean was gone at school, so I loaded up my two sick boys and poor Max and we spent 4 hours at the Animal Emergency Hospital. After several x-rays, they found that either Max ate something and it was obstructing his intestines, or his colon had flipped (which, apparently, is fairly common in large dogs). Our options weren't good; put him through an expensive surgery (with unknown chance of survival) or put him to sleep. Unable to talk to Sean, I asked them to admit him and give him pain meds and fluids until we could talk and make a decision. Knowing that the colon flipping would lessen his chance at survival post-op AND the fact Max has never eaten anything he's not supposed to (along with many other factors: age, bad hips, etc.) we knew what we had to do. After Sean got home from his school, we all loaded up and made our way back to say goodbye to Max.

Maximus was a great dog! I can't imagine the pain he was in the last day, but he always managed to wag his tail a few times and never got mean. He lived to be about 6 1/2 years old, which is about average for a Mastiff. We already miss him dearly, but take comfort in knowing that he's no longer in pain- and probably is already enjoying the all-you-can-eat pig ear buffet. Cullen is still trying to figure all this out, but at least he's a little too young to miss Max as much as we do.

One of my favorite memories with Max, is when Sean and I took him to watch the fireworks while we were living in Upstate NY. (I know, I know, what were we thinking!?!) It literally scared the sh!t out of him!! Sean had to hold him down with all his might and after the show was FINALLY over, we were leaving and kept hearing people say- I think I stepped in dog sh!t...

With that, we miss ya buddy. You were a good dog and brought us much happiness over the years. Enjoy those pig ears...

mmmm... rice cereal

Finn's first taste of real food (rice cereal)

Finn has been ready to try cereal for several weeks, but I wanted to wait until Sean was home to witness it. He seemed to really enjoy it and ate a lot!