Our last nursing session...

According to iPhoto, it was nearly one year ago that this picture was taken.  This is how Max and I spent the majority of our time together… me nursing him.  And now today marks the last of our nursing sessions.  I have mixed feelings about being done.  Mostly I am excited to now fully have my body back and I am proud of myself that I nursed him past his first birthday (although not by much!).  But I am also sad that I am now officially done nursing our babies.  I will not miss hauling my pump to work and putting up my “Do Not Disturb” sign, but I will miss the time spent snuggling with him sound asleep just before I lay him in his crib.  But knowing that Max is already growing out of his baby faze, I realize that these snuggles will start to dwindle whether I am nursing or not.  Overall, I am grateful to have made it as long as I did (with both kids!) and know that I couldn’t have without the support of Brian, my family, and my girlfriends.  With a network like that, it made breastfeeding the easy choice!

At least he's still little enough for me to carry around in the Bjorn!

Max's First Birthday!

 Max is now 1!

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by that I feel like we must have missed something along the way.  Also, with the craziness that a second child brings, I can honestly say that many parts of the last year are a complete blur.  It’s even hard for me to remember what our daily lives were like before we became “4”.  At the same time, it often feels like Max has always been a part of our family - even Addie will ask sometimes where Max was when talking about past events.  Max has brought so much joy to our family in his smiles, giggles, snuggles, his outward demonstrations of excitement, and in making Addie a big sister.

We had a few celebrations planned for Max’s big day.  The first was a joint birthday party at Tina’s for him and his buddy, Helene who turned 1 six days earlier.  They wore birthday hats, sang, and ate cake.

We also like to take the kids for an outing on their birthday.  Since the weather was so nice this year, we decided to spend the afternoon at Water Tower Park.  Max is starting to really enjoy the park.  He loves to swing, slide, turn the tic-tac-toe board, play music, and a new favorite is crawling through the tunnels.

 Finally, we had Wild Rumpus planned for the big day with many of our friends and family.  Max did great with all the people and attention.  He did well opening gifts (with many helpers), and received many thoughtful and generous gifts.  I think the highlight of the party for him was the cupcakes.  He clapped along as we all sang “Happy Birthday”, and dug in as soon as we let him.  Once he started I went to the kitchen to grab some cupcakes to hand out, and when I returned he had already finished half his cupcake and all the frosting!  He was so busy eating he didn’t even make a big mess out of it! 

 Overall, it was a wonderful day celebrating Max’s first year.  Happy birthday, Max!

Addie and Max's Spring Break 2012

Even though we stayed home for spring break, it felt like a real vacation because the weather was so nice!  We spent time outside each day and saw many of our friends.  We went to both the Minnesota and Como zoos.  We enjoyed playing on the park at the Minnesota zoo and watching the orangutans play outside for the first time this year. 

Addie got to practice riding her new bike, and we also logged a number of miles in walks… including one to get Max’s first Dairy Queen treat!

We also spent lots of time playing at the park.  Addie liked surfing down the slides, while Max preferred the swings. 

We had a great spring break, and with that little taste of summer we are now looking ahead to June!

Happy 4th Birthday, Addie!

We had a full 4 days of princess celebrations for our 4 year old!   

The celebrating began on Saturday with four of Addie’s friends.  They painted wands and swords, played stick the princess in the window, and just played.  Just a half an hour later, we transitioned to a family party where we had dinner, cupcakes, and opened presents.   

We continued the princess theme on Sunday with a Rodgers’ girls outing to see Disney on Ice!  Addie was thrilled to be there and loved every second of it.  When I offered to take her out during the 15 minutes before the starting time to get her a souvenier, she wouldn’t wait in line for it because she was so nervous that she would miss the show!  

 I then took Monday off to spend the day with the birthday girl (and recover from a crazy weekend!).  We had a fun morning at home playing with her new toys and then headed to Nick Universe to go on rides in the afternoon.  Addie tried two new rides – a little rollercoaster and a jumper.  She loved the jumper one so much that she even chose to go on it a second time with her last 3 points! 

Finally, on Tuesday, Addie headed back to the mall with her godmother, Michaela, to go out to lunch and see the Princess Diana exhibition.  She said her favorite things she saw there were the white and gold dress and the crown… two things necessary for any princess!