August 14

We celebrated my nephew Max's 3rd birthday today with a family dinner at Steak n Shake.

Caleb and Daisy and I discussed meal choices before we even left for the restaurant; they both knew they could choose to have a bun on their cheeseburgers, or a piece of birthday cake, but not both.

Can you guess what they chose?

Grandma snuggled Lily while we settled in and ordered our food.

She's still lovely, even with all of that baby acne going on...

Right after I took this photo, Mom handed Lily to me and I noticed that a bit of poop had escaped from her diaper. Lily's poop over the last 5 days has been like this: 

Poop Friday evening.

Saturday, nothing.

Sunday, nothing.

Monday, nothing.

Tuesday, two normal-sized poops.

Today, nothing. Until Steak n Shake, that is.

Excited for a poop, I grabbed my diapering stuff and headed to the less-than-clean restroom to change her. And then I realized that the "little bit of poop" was actually several leaky spots. 

And then I took off her pants and discovered it was a full blowout.

And then I opened her diaper to discover the BIGGEST. POOP. EVER.

As in, if I were home, I would have bathed her immediately. But I wasn't home; I was in a Steak n Shake restroom. I removed her outfit, smearing poop everywhere in the process. Then I used up every single wipe in the diaper bag in a fruitless attempt to clean her up. Then I moved on to wet paper towels, which was even worse. Then I stuck my head out the restroom door and yelled across the restaurant for my mom to come with more wipes.

People, it was ridiculous.

Finally, I got the situation resolved and was rewarded with a delicious meal, then this happy boy's birthday cake.

Max was really, really excited about his cake, made for him by Billy's mom.

Sweet little family. (Jace was hiding under the blanket.)

Grandma coerced Daisy into eating a few bites of her bun-less cheeseburger so that she could have birthday cake.

Caleb was excited about his cake, but had no idea how to eat it. Apparently he only knows how to eat cupcakes?

Daisy figured things out right away, though.

Grandpa tried on one of Max's gifts. They fit him surprisingly well!

Daisy and Max love being near each other!

The three middle cousins: Max is 3, Daisy is 2, and Caleb is 4!

Just missing Ryan and the two brand-new ones.

Happy birthday, Maxie!