July

Good god it happened again.  Another month has absolutely flown by without any blogging to speak of.  My excuse this month is that Matt and I took a flying leap into the 21st century at the beginning of the month and got iPhones, from which I do not yet know how to appropriately transfer pics onto our computer (ie, the cloud).  So I'll try to transfer pics while I type this and maybe by the end of the night I'll have figured something out.

The month started out with the big holiday of course.  We were supposed to be cottage-bound the weekend before but I felt like garbage so Matt and GG had a father daughter adventure in Wautoma.  And after 36 whole hours what did my angel come home knowing how to do?  Pee in the woods.  Nice.  Meanwhile Lukie and I got to spend some QT together and I caught up on my baby snuggles, which is always a cure for what ails ya.

For the 4th we headed to Shawn and Mel's house for Genevieve's first ever parade (almost 4 years old and hasn't yet been to a parade??  We are terrible parents).  Unfortunately it was, and continues to be, about the same temperature as the seventh circle of hell so by 10:30 a.m. we were all covered in sweat.  We raced back to the Bansemar's - air conditioned - house for a big lunch cookout.  Then the girls played like wild little monkeys with the hose and the kiddie pool while Lukie took a snooze.  A good time was had by all.  Alas there were no fireworks for us that night since nearly all of Wisconsin is on a burn ban.  But since we all had work & school the next day it wasn't a huge sacrifice.

parade hasn't even started and we're dying

The next weekend we stayed in town and Matt kept going on the never ending work that is our landscape.  We have the master planting plan which we intend to fill in a little every year until the house looks fab.  This time the assistant gardener was on site to help with the digging and planting.  And the subsequent muddying.  Gah!

bend with your knees!

well, she had about outgrown those tennis shoes anyway

The next week Matt was in Texas for work so it was just me and the troops.  Poor Luke had more teeth coming in so I was 100% ready for Matt to come home and give this mom a little backup.  We started the weekend by hanging out at Matt's favorite Milwaukee festival: Festa Italiana.  We ended up meeting K&K down there and spent the next few hours stuffing our faces.  They had a series of big bouncy house things that served to wear our girl out and Luke got his first taste of rice balls and cannoli.  Eh!  Oh!  Boppity boopy!  Genevieve has been begging me for a while to go on one of those sky glider things and I finally gave in this year.  She had a superb time taking in the gorgeous lakefront, the boats, and the people, while I spent our ride trying to figure out how to maneuver my body so that she would land on top of me when our gondola inevitably fell from the sky. 

please please please can we go?

up, up, and away!

festa famiglia

Then last weekend we headed to the cottage for the annual Martin/Maio weekend.  Pop Pop spends Saturday filling his inner need for all things aviation while the rest of us chill out in the lake.  The weather was perfect and a good time was had by all, including Lukie who had his first real swim in the lake.  It was another amazing exercise in kids being so different.  GG at that age was screaming bloody murder being in the floatie.  Boo Boo was totally content to hang out and chillax in the water.  I was pretty sure he was about ready to ask for a cold beer too.   

we could hang here all day...

but we've got floating to do! (incidentally, she named her new inner tube 'jason'.  jason is a girl inner tube)

 

nakies!!

i could just squeeze those fat little thighs all day!

mush, dad

get this blasted hat off of me!

During all of this we managed to make it to the library, story time at Barnes & Noble, and to the mall once or twice to just get out of the house and stay out of the heat.  A side effect of that is impromptu hair cuts. Genevieve is a hot box whose hair gets all sweaty and tangled and I was just so sick of the DAILY tears over getting out knots, it was time for the hair to go (the bath time convo a few weeks ago went like this.  GG: Mom, is it hair washing night?  Me: yep, sure is.  GG: Damn it!  Me: excuse me while I call your father).  Insert trendy pixy cut here.  Thank god the girl has the face for it. 

desperate for a little relief from the heat

hi mom, i like poufs and story time

sweet sassy molassey

cooling off in the library earlier this month

feeeeeeeeeeeeeeed meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Well, I can't say the iPhone experiment was a huge success but it also was not an epic fail.  Next up - Lukie at 9 months!

8 Months

Lukie is 8 months old.  After not sleeping through a single night of his eighth month he is finally back to enjoying at least 9 hours of shut eye.  And the result of the nighttime hollering?  Two top toofers, check.

Now that he's about the age that babies usually start to adapt to table foods eating and feeding is going much smoother.  Thank the sweet lord.  We are moving into a more traditional feeding schedule with solids at regular meal time and nursing/bottle for snacks and before bed.  Luke loves him some PB&J which I can't send to school so when I told his teachers their eyes about popped out of their heads.  Guess they haven't gotten the memo yet that we're now doing the exact opposite of when G was an infant regarding food allergies.  Get with it, peeps!  Other than that he chows of all the usual faves: poufs, cheerios, cheese, yogurt, mandarin oranges, sweet potatoes, noodles, etc.  He'll be outeating Matt any day now.  

Other growth moments: he has cautiously pulled himself up in his crib a couple of times - and is quite proud of himself - and is starting to launch himself forward from a sitting position, but still pretty unimpressed with rolling.  Luke is a super soaker razzer, bubble blower and screecher.  When he really gets going it's so funny, and there's little doubt that he'll be able to make his voice heard in our crowd.  We've officially retired the baby tub, the boppy, the bumbo, the baby swing, and the play mat.  Didn't we JUST take that stuff out of the basement??

Here's the big man at 8 months:

 

peek a boo!

a hilarious moment in time as sis rubs his little back

happy baby

thighs a plenty

leaning tower o baby

see mom i'm not as lazy as you say

so, what's new with you?

can move backwards with frustrating ease

whoa whoa whoa, did you know there was a WHEEL in this carpet?

really a happy little dude

a peek at those top teeth

June Photo Bonanza

This month has gone by way too fast.  So instead of posting all different entries, here's one giant photo-a-thon of what's been cooking at the Maios:

huzzah, the swing set is up and running!  we barely avoided a mutiny by the under 4' set

this girl could seriously swing for hours on end.  lukie is also a fan

look ma, no hands!

holding on tight

scaling the rock wall

finished product.  no it did not come stained or with cedar shingles.  that's just how we roll in the grove

ma, this thing is great!

where is that sissie?

i spot her!

peek

Father's Day weekend was spent at the cottage with my parents, Grant, and his gf.  Nothing says "dad, you're the best" like a home made potato gun.

lukie's first dip into the lake

and the priceless face that accompanied it

this mustache has been mystifying babies for years

We finally made time to go meet our newest little buddy, Reagan! 

six weeks - so petite and adorable!

7 months - so tall and hefty

g and ry, ready to hit the pool

boo boo and reagan - ready to supervise the big kids

Now that Lukie is strong enough to sit in the tub on his own, we've been having lots of fun bath times.  These little tub parties are so fun and they are just so dang cute with each other.  I die!

her 'monkey' face.  not bad, huh?

We also finally made it to an Orioles game.  Since it was about 100 degrees and the park had a splash pad, we were happy to pack up and cheer dad on.

And while the weather is beautiful, we better take advantage and get to the Zoo!  PS - I can hardly begin to explain the look on Lukie's face in the aquatic building as fish were coming toward him.  Those baby blues got about the size of dinner plates with a mix of concern and amazement.  So funny.

graham cracker break

wouldn't be a trip to the zoo without hitting up the carousel

his face here kills me and almost replicates the face in the aquatic building

this is when i realized those jeans had to be rolled up to fit her last fall

sheer joy.  giddyup!