The Faith of a Child

Yesterday was a hard day around the Upton home, but Maxwell made the ending to a hard day just wonderful. Here was his prayer.

"Lord Jesus, help us rest good tonight. Help us have a baby...a baby sister; and help us not cry when we don't have a baby sister or baby brother. In Jesus' name, amen."

I guess you now know why it was a hard day yesterday. Anyone who says that infertility is easier when you already have a child hasn't been down this road. It wasn't easy the first time and it isn't easy this time. Here is my (Matt) prayer:

Lord, thank you for Maxwell and his faith. Give us the faith of a child that we may rest knowing that you will carry us through.

It's Birthday Season

So no one told us that when your child(ren) is between 2 and 3 years old that there will be a birthday party to attend every weekend for months on end! Although we already had Maxwell's birthday party a few weekends ago, last year we started what may become an annual tradition--a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with Maxwell's four "best" BOY buddies: Jackson, Aiden, Blake, and Jacob.

The boys had a great time and I (Matt) was actually able to enjoy myself, too, despite the fact that you cannot keep an eye on your child the whole time you are there (I know, I'm working on my control and "safety" dad issues...). One of the boys, Blake, came down with pink eye the night before the party so he wasn't able to attend, but we had a "make-up" party this weekend and I've posted pictures of the 5 boys.

Amazing Weather and Working Hard

We've been having some amazing weather in Texas the past few days--highs in the lower 80s in mid-May is almost unheard of! As a result, we spent some family time yesterday afternoon and evening doing yard work. Afterwards, Maxwell and I (Matt) grilled hamburgers and cooled off on the back porch. You can see in the pictures here that Maxwell enjoyed the cold water.

Boys being boys...oh boy!

So we had our first "boys will be boys" moment yesterday with Maxwell and his buddy Jackson (pictured here). To Maxwell's delight, Jackson came over to play yesterday afternoon and while they were sitting on the couch watching a video Jackson burped. When he didn't say anything Maria looked at him and asked, "what do we say?" to which he replied, "Excuse me."

Maxwell then looked at Jackson, grinned, burped, said, "excuse me", and both boys burst into laughter. Jackson followed with the same grin, burp, "excuse me", and more laughter. Then for 15 minutes the two of them exchanged burps and giggles (don't judge us...they are 3 and it was funny!!!).

Now I've never been much of a burping (or other bodily functions) humor kind of guy, so I'm not sure where this came from (and Patrick Jones hasn't been around to teach Maxwell this either). Pretty amazing that no one had to teach them that--they came up with it all on their own. I can already tell that raising Maxwell is going to be quite a ride. One we are excited to take!

Maxwell's 3rd Birthday

Last Friday was Maxwell's 3rd birthday and we had a fun weekend of celebrating. On Friday morning the three of us went swimming and had the entire pool to ourselves (after the water aerobics class attendees left). After that we met our friends Matt, Shannon & Elizabeth Morton for lunch (and play time) at Chick-fil-A in the mall (see our friends blog "little morties" on the right for pictures from that). Maria's parents then came in that evening and we took them to our new favorite Mexican food restaurant in town, Papa Perez...yes, I know I've already corrupted my son to like Mexican food more than any other type of food.

Saturday was the birthday party at the park, complete with fruit, cupcakes with brightly colored icing, and a Very Hungry Catepillar cake.

We had a great time and were joined by friends and family to celebrate the special day. The hardest part of the weekend for Maxwell was saying goodbye to Nanny & Papa and Nana & Grandad. Since he had longer with Nanny & Papa, he was especially sad when they had to leave on Sunday. He just layed his head on the table and said, "Papa, I don't want you to go home." He has since told me more than once that we should go to Nanny & Papa's house today.

The Inaugural Update

Our dear friends, the Mortons (see their blog, Little Morties), created a blog and when Maria logged on she said, "we should have a blog, too." As a result, "upton's update" was born. We'll see how good I am at keeping this updated, but we're going to give it a try. Be blessed today!