I'm so happy!

Max is so happy he can grab his toes!

And speaking of toes, his little tootsies get cold in the air conditioning so I made him some baby booties. How retro am I???

Everyone is doing well here. Glen has been riding his new bike to school everyday. Max is into grabbing things and singing. Sean was a little sick this morning (threw up!). But he seemed fine otherwise. I think he found an old milk sippy and chugged it. Poor little guy. He recovered quickly and played in the kiddie pool with Maggie this afternoon. Maggie has entered the realm of spelling words and tests. Her first set of words includes "calf". I can't seem to remember the other words at the moment. I'd better head to bed...

A moment of peace!

Finally, an activity that a 2 year old and a 7 year old can do together with minimal ruckus...trains! Grandma Nancy brought over a bunch of tracks she found at the thrift store the other night and this evening, the kids were so engaged with it, that Glen and I were actually able to sit on the couch together and have a conversation. Shocking, I know!

Such a cutie! A little hard to tell from the photo, but he is sitting up against a pillow...sort of. :) Max is such a happy baby. He smiles and coos for just about anyone. Still not taking his bottle in the morning at daycare, but makes up for it when I pick him up at noon. Max is really starting to work his hands too. He will reach out and grab anything that is near him...toys, hair, fingers. Totally sweet.

Sean has adjusted to life at Montessori. He no longer cries at drop off and seems happy when I pick him up. He enjoys walking into Maggie's room to pick her up, and is so proud to carry his own lunch box. Today the toddlers tasted jicama. And Sean tried it too! Nothing like a little peer pressure to widen a kids pallet. He actually ate pretty well today, now that I think of it. He ate his chicken and his corn and his rice at dinner (left the spinach). Usually he eats maybe 2 bites of one item and then runs off. Guess he was hungry today.

Sorry I don't have any new photos of Sean and Maggie. I took this one of Max tonight after the other kids were asleep. I need to get the camera ready during the day...

Start of the new school year...

The school year is starting to shape up. Sean is enjoying his time at his new Montessori school, although drop off is still full of tears after a summer of all mommy (and daddy) all the time. He seems happy at pick up. His teacher really seams great. Maggie has been good at keeping him company and trying to make him feel better those first few minutes in the morning. She hangs out with him for the first 15-30 minutes before she goes to the playground with her buds before school starts. Meanwhile, Max is ok in daycare, although hungry. Although he took the bottle from Grandma a few times, he has yet to do so at daycare. He isn't completely ravenous when I pick him up at noon though. He nurses, but not with the gusto I remember Maggie and Sean nursing when I picked them up as babies. It sure is nice that i get to go home at noon.

Maggie will be busy with ceramics, art masterpiece, ballet, brownies, and either soccer or ice skating this Fall. Everything is at school during the hour between the end of the school day and when Glen will pick her up from school (except soccer/ice skating which is on Saturdays). Sean will be coming home with Max and Mom after he gets up from nap (3pm).

Maggie's school is AWESOME! I am so glad we found it.

I should be sleeping...

...since I have to go back to work tomorrow, but I just had to post this cute picture of all the Hestenes men.

Happy Birthday Glen!

Happy 49th birthday Glen! Grandma Nancy and Grandpa David came over for ice cream cake.

The kids were excited to have visitors and were dancing around in the yard. Sean is into the "upside down leg kick in the air" move.

Maggie is into the "cat eyes" move. What is that move really called anyway? Someone taught it to her in Kindergarten and its her favorite!

Max is 3 months old!

Max is 3 months old and soooooooo big! He is 18 pounds, and none of the small diapers fit anymore. He is wearing size 9-12 month old clothing, with not a lot of leeway. Its amazing. Noone believes he is so young. He is such a happy baby. Always smiling and cooing at people. Even Sean has started to warm up to him a bit. He likes to "share" his little trucks with Max by piling them all around him. Max is starting to swat at things. Today, his little hand caught in Seans hair and normally, Sean would have reacted with a slap. But today he sweetly said, "Uh Oh Maxwell". I breathed a sigh of relief. Sean has been very gentile with Max for the past 2 days. The past month though its been a Jeckel and Hyde relationship. Hopefully we are moving past that stage onto gentiler sibling relationships!

This is out last week before school starts. I left Max with Grandma Nancy for 2 hours the other day and he took a bottle of breastmilk from her. He was happily cooing at Tesla when I returned. I'm telling you, this baby is happy! That was our first separation. We have plans to do 2 more Grandma visits this week to get used to the bottle and separating. I start work on August 10th and will be leaving Max at our usual daycare. I will pick him up at 12:30, and then pick Maggie and Sean up at 3:00 pm from their school, at least to begin with. Maggie will have some later pick ups one certain days for afterschool activities. Glen will probably pick her up on those days on his way home from work.

And how will he be getting home from work? We bought a "new" car. Its a 2006 Ford Focus. A little commuter car for Glen. I will try to remember to get some pictures of it for you. Its a sort of pale green color.

Its hard to believe Fall is almost here. Even though its summer, starting school always switches my brain to Fall. Maggie and I are going school supply shopping tomorrow. I'm looking around at my crazy mess of a desk thinking, how was it possible that I spent three months NOT at work and didn't find a single moment to organize? Then I remember that I was busy trying to raise 3 new humans. Its a lot of work, and neither Glen nor I got any projects done. Maybe next summer? Or maybe in another 10 years. We've decided to not try and think about our lack of progress on that front. :) As for the Fall, Maggie is still in Girl Scouts, and an after school dance class and art class. She also wants to try soccer, which I'm trying to figure out how to enroll in. Lots of soccer organizations in the valley, but I can't seem to find one in our area and the last thing I want to do is drive around schlepping 3 kids to and from practice after work. So hopefully I can find something in the area, otherwise Maggie may enroll in ice skating again. We need more physical activities for her...she has so much energy!