....But suffice to say that we might be hanging on to the edge of the earth by our fingernails! Actually, things are absolutely fantastic. Just slightly too busy. As much as I want to take the time to pen something really witty, I think I'll just post some photos and provide a few updates via captions.
"Cousins" Zoe and Austin stopped by to hang with Max on a nice early afternoon Fall Sunday. Max really looks up to his cousins, and we wish they lived closer than the 2.5 hours that separates us.
Here's our little puppy enjoying his first Halloween. He didn't get it at all. He thought I was torturing him when I put the make-up on his face (which I never did really finish). We went to a few houses, but he insisted on giving the candy back to whomever handed it to him. He spent most of the evening sitting in my mom's lap, handing out candy to all of the other children who stopped by. He did take a few bites of a mini candy bar, but he still isn't a big fan of sweets.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we took a vacation to the Bahamas in early November. My quick summary: "Vacation" and "Two-Year-Old" are mutually exclusive ideas. :-) I could write so, so, so much about this vacation -- about how the Internet didn't work, crushing my plans for catching up on blogs during Max's nap times and every evening; about how we dealt with the outskirts of Hurricane Paloma as it whipped through Cuba; about how I lost my wallet with multiple credit cards, ATM card, Drivers License, and cash inside, limiting our ability to access cash and causing me identity theft strife; about how Max started whispering "Mama" at about 6:15 AM each day, escalating to a screeching MAAAAAAMAAAAAA if I didn't look his way within two minutes; or about how the resort we were traveling to abruptly closed the day before we arrived, and how we were moved to a sister resort but without the "kid friendly" accommodations that were provided at the booked resort. But, rather than write about all of that, I'll confirm that we did successfully acquire additional certified copies of our marriage certificate while on the island (for use during our next adoption), and I'll just skip to the pics of our adorable vacation buddy.Max's travel outfit. We left the house at 5 AM for a 6:30 AM flight.
We traveled on Election Day, having voted by absentee ballot prior to vacation. This is a picture of my two boys at the moment that CNN declared Obama the winner in the presidential election. They both tried so hard to stay awake for the historical moment, but that 4:00 AM wake up time that morning caught up with them both. (Glenn might have sipped a few vacation cocktails, too. HA!)
We went out to dinner every night, and Max was just amazing at each restaurant. Before we left home, I picked up a couple of cars and trucks in the $1 bins at Target, and between those and sugar packets, he managed to entertain himself each night while we actually enjoyed our dinner. 
Max didn't like the beach ... at all. I coerced him into going to the beach on two days, because I had visions that he would dig in the sand while I relaxed next to him on a lounge chair. Yeah, right. He really hated the sand, and he loved the pool. Once he figured out that we had to walk past the pools in order to get to the beach, he flatly refused to walk beyond the pools. So, I spent alot of time in freezing cold pools in crappy weather, but our little guy was kicking and putting his face in the water by the end of the trip. I am excited to get him into swimming lessons after the holidays -- but do I HAVE to wear a bathing suit when I'm in the water with him?! :-)
We enjoyed our morning drinks (milk for him, Diet Cokes for Glenn and me) on the balcony every morning. I never did get over the fear that Max would somehow escape our balcony, but our room was so small that we needed to extend our space to the outdoors (plus, it was a beautiful view, even on bad weather days). 
I can't remember if this was chips for breakfast or chips for dinner, but hey, "it's vacation", so who really cares? :-)
Just hanging out on the grounds one evening.
I love this picture, because his expression is in keeping with his "enough photographs, Mom!" 'tude at this point in the vacation.
Five days after we got home from vacation, we hosted our first party post-Max. Sixteen of our closest friends and six of their children came over for a "make your own Mexican" feast, washed back with yummy Margaritas and Sangria. If I wasn't already certain, this party confirmed for me once and for all that doing anything with a toddler now takes twice as long for half the results. :-) We even hired a babysitter to help with Max, but he wanted nothing to do with her -- and he wouldn't even go to Glenn. The first 90 minutes of the party is a blur of trying to welcome everyone, get the food ready and served, introduce people to one another, organize kids' activities, etc., etc., etc., all with Max glued to my side. I finally asked Chloe, the 6-year-old daughter of friends Donna and Pat, if she would mind if Max followed her and Charleigh (Jules' six-year-old) around the party. Chloe is quite possibly the coolest kid I've ever met, and by the end of the night, she'd taught him a few tricks and dance moves, she was wiping his nose, and he was back to our happy-go-lucky Max that we've come to know. This picture was taken well past Max's bed time, and they were both still smiling and giggling and entertaining the rest of us.
My best friend from college, Cindi, was in town for the weekend, to visit Max, and to go to the Bengals game. The Bengals were playing the Eagles, and Cindi is a die-hard Eagles fan who doesn't get a chance to see them play in person very often, given that she lives in San Diego! We had a "girls day" at the game on Sunday. We wrapped in blankets and talked our way through the game, which ended in a tie -- the first NFL tie in a gazillion years. Only the Bengals .... :-) I snapped very few pictures that weekend, in part because Cindi was the "official" photographer. I'll post the picture below of us headed to the game -- one of my only pictures from the weekend -- and Cindi will be so mad at me for posting a picture of her with her eyes closed.
Two days later, I was off to Mexico City on a business trip. I have to post the picture of my hotel room, the W in Mexico City. Check out that hammock in the bathroom/walk-in shower area. Too bad I was too busy to enjoy it (and sick with a bad cold and strep throat while I was there), but what a beautiful room. That big window had a view out over the city.
Max's big brother Tyler turned 18 years old on November 23rd. As I've posted before, we've had some rocky times with Glenn's children. I was weepy watching Tyler happily hold onto Max as he blew out his birthday candles. Max has brought us so much joy, and he has glued our family more closely together.
We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my small but mighty family. My brother went to his partner's family's celebration, so we hosted my Mom, and my Aunt Sharon (a professor at the University of Michigan) and my Uncle Dave from Ann Arbor. They brought with them Mahat, a visiting professor from Egypt who will be working side by side with my Aunt for the next few months. I cooked a ton of food, again taking twice as long with a toddler connected to my ankles. :-) Everyone spent the night, and I'm not sure I did the US justice with my hostess duties towards Mahat. Hopefully she won't think that every US household is as chaotic and informal as our home was for her two-day visit!
We attended our first official holiday event when we went to the "Christmas Tree Lighting" in downtown Cincinnati on Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend. It was actually somewhat lame, although Nick Lachey was the "surprise" St. Nick, and that seemed to please all of the 13-year-old girls in the crowd. (Who am I kidding?! He is a good looking dude!) I have a hunch that we may overdo the holiday events a bit this year, and then in coming years we'll settle into the things that we truly want to make a tradition. I've been dreaming about sharing these things with a child for so long that I just have to try everything this year!
And then, today, I tried to get some "Christmas" pictures of Max, on what may be the last decent weather day we have for awhile. I am more in awe than ever of the beautiful photos that my blogger friends post on their blogs, and that my long-time friends post on their holiday cards. I am not kidding when I say that I took 30+pictures, without a single one that I would call out as the "perfect" Christmas card picture. Maybe I'll try again later (or not -- hee hee). Here are the two that came close to passing my inspection, and the third captures what Max was doing for most of the photo session -- running to and from me without ever standing still!
We have so much to be thankful for this year, and we continue to feel so blessed as we go into this holiday season. We are keeping all of our friends and families in our thoughts and prayers, sending out extra love to those who are impacted by our wars and our economic situation. Thank you for continuing to follow our story.
