Winter Wonderland

Well, I usually make fun of the "snow" we get here in Nashville, but a real winter storm hit us on Friday. In our area we have about 4-5 inches of snow under a very thick layer of ice. The roads are quite bad and pretty much everything around us is shut down. I was feeling more than a little stir crazy, so we all bundled up and headed outside for a walk this morning. Max is still not feeling great and since he isn't a big fan of the snow, we let him ride in the wagon. He loved the walk. Fresh air and a change of scenery were good for all of us!

Our house

Our street

The roads are solid ice and have not been treated. It will be a couple of days before they improve!

Ready for a walk! Enjoying the ride.

Jeff, Max and Maggie leading the way.

Sick Little Moose

I've been meaning to post an update for quite a while now, but it has been a looooong week in the Banta House. The chaos started this past weekend with Jeff and me painting our bedroom. We had all the furniture pushed to the middle of the room and lamps sitting on the floor so that we could see the walls better. We completely ignored the fact that this was a safety hazard. Max came into our room, wandered over to a lamp and touched a lightbulb that had been on for many hours. Needless to say it was a very painful burn that blistered and resulted in several trips to the doctor and one trip to Vanderbilt Burn Clinic. The burn seems to be healing, despite the fact that Max refuses to keep the dressing on it. We will be going back to the Burn Clinic next week to make sure it's healing well and that he is using his hand properly. In the mean time, Max also came down with a terrible cold with a fever, nasty cough, runny nose, and ear infection. He is on antibiotics for the ear infection which are causing extremely unpleasant side effects. The poor boy has been existing on crackers, applesauce and Pedialyte for a few days. Although it has been a rough week, we are lucky that this has been his first big illness and traumatic experience in 18 months. Too bad they had to happen all at once! By the way, can you believe he is EIGHTEEN months old?!?! How did this happen?

I took this picture this morning. He was "helping" me change sheets.

These pictures were taken last week during an outing with a friend to Monkey's Treehouse, an indoor play space for kids. Max loved running around, playing in the mulch pit, climbing in the treehouse, but he especially loved the train table.

Clearing the shelves at the grocery store.

The train table

Playing with the trains on the large motor equipment.

This picture was taken later that day.

Hugging Maggie.

One big thing I learned with Max's burn is that a burn should never be treated with ice. Cold water and cold washcloth are all that is necessary. I did not know this and tried to put ice on Max's hand. Luckily Max wouldn't let us touch his hand with the ice. One of the nurses gave me a lecture about this, so I figure I'm not the only person who didn't know not to put ice on a burn, and I'm spreading the word!

Snow Day!

Well, sort of. There were a few flurries that accumulated to less than half of an inch and all of the schools closed because of it. I couldn't resist bundling up Max and breaking in his new snow boots. He wandered around the backyard with the grace of the Stay Puft marshmallow man for about 5 minutes before he threw off his mittens, fell in the snow and then cried hysterically. We spent more time getting ready to go outside than we spent outside in the snow!

Time to go back inside!

I included a short video of Max feeding himself with a spoon. I'm working with him on how to use a spoon the proper way, but he would much prefer to use it as a drumstick.

Speaking of drumsticks, here is a video of Max banging out a tune on his xylophone. I love when he starts "singing" along.

Happy New Year!

It was a fantastic holiday season at our house. We stayed in Nashville for Christmas and hosted Jeff's parents for a few days and my parents and Daniel for a few days. It was wonderful celebrating Christmas in our house and having our families with us. Max did not fully grasp what was happening, but he had a fun time opening presents and playing with his new toys. He got so many presents that he got a little overwhelmed and we had to spread out the unwrapping of gifts over several days. It was actually really fun to drag out the gift process and I'm sure it won't be like this in years to come. On January 30, we all packed into my parents minivan and headed to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. It was a huge game for the Bearcats and none of us wanted to miss it! Michael and Rana also met us there. We had some great New Orleans experiences including a decadent brunch at Brennan's (complete with banana's foster) and ringing in the New Year on Jackson Square. My only regret is that I didn't make it to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait. I guess that means I have to go back!

Here are a few of the 200+ pictures I took over the holidays.....

Getting ready for Santa on Christmas Eve!

Max was very interested in Santa's cookies...

...and didn't like that he couldn't eat them. Notice the tiny nibbles out of each cookie

Santa brought crayons!

Max's first drawing

Daddy and Max in Christmas sweaters.

Opening more presents!

A book from Grammy and Grampy.

Max with Jeff's parents

And more presents!

This time play food from Nana and Papa.

Playing with a puzzle.

Jackson Square, New Orleans

St. Louis Cathedral

Listening to jazz on the streets.

French Quarter

We all had dinner together on New Year's Eve at a great restaurant in the Garden District. Michael and Rana

Daniel and Dad

Jeff and Me

Papa, Nana and Max (with the ipod, which was a savior!)

Dad, Daniel and Michael at the Sugar Bowl

This picture was taken before the game when there was still something to smile about. We still love our Bearcats!