Rachon & Jared to the Max

Canada Day!

2009-07-09T13:29:00.001-07:00

I believe it was Canada Day last Wednesday. I bought some maple cookies from Trader Joe's for dessert. Max thought they were quite tasty. As a tribute to our dear friends, the Dykers, we decided to try and sing the Canadian anthem. I didn't know the words, but Max rocked it. Here's a vid of him singing. "Oh Canada..."

Happy 4th!

2009-07-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

"Fatlip"

Baby at work

Buried in the sand

Firetruck fun in Toontown

Max x 2 + mom = fun times

Last week Max and I went with our good friends Patricia and Wyatt to the Long Beach Aquarium. The boys had so much fun splashing in the water. Max really loved the sharks and petting the rays. He also enjoyed running around the aquarium; especially around the otters. He didn't even notice them. The viewing area split into two levels and he liked to run down the ramp to the lower level. Brett and a friend met up with us just in time to feed the lorikeets. Max enjoyed this as well.

After the aquarium Patricia, Max, Wyatt and I met up with Grandma Gilda, Simon and Joshua at the beach. Max had a fabulous time being buried in the sand. He loves to roll around in the sand and has a good healthy fear of the water. It was a really busy fun filled day.

Erin and Sam got back from Canada last week. Max was so excited to see them both. Since their return we've enjoyed quite a few park days together.

On the fourth we headed down to San Clemente. We hung out at Hayley's boyfriend's brother's house. Partaking of a tasty brunch, we went to the beach, came back and swam, yummy bbq, and games. The only firework I saw was one on the way home that night at 11:30 pm. But that's okay I'm not really much of a firework person anyways. Max didn't see even one. Oh well, maybe next year. It was good to spend the day with the whole family. Here's a video of Max feeding the Lorikeets.

Busy Bees

2009-06-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

Max in his favorite "Buth" pajamas

We have all been really busy these past few months. No excuse not to blog; but truth none the less. We have made multiple trips to Disneyland. Been out to Arizona twice. Been there to welcome Jackie home from her mission. Witnessed Brett graduate from RHP. Spent lots of time with the fam and friends.

Hayley came and stayed with us for two weeks. It was so much fun we are all sad to see her leave. But happy that she will be back down for the 4th. While she was here we went to California Adventure, many parks and pools, one trip to Arizona, a Diamondbacks game, the beach and my personal favorite cherry picking. Unfortunately, pics for the time Hayley was here will have to be added later as she took them all on her camera. Here are some pics from before that.

Max love the quarter machines

Max and Jackie crusin' Toontown

Max and Shane on Shane's B-day

Waiting in line for the Ferris wheel

Max and Me

Max, Shane and Lightning

Right after we got there...Max took a little nap

Max and Maggie at the San Diego Zoo

Max Update:

His vocabulary just keeps expanding. He is adding more words to it each day. He now puts multiple words together like "Go bye-bye". He can identify everyone in our family by name; even himself, "Muh". He is an outside boy and stands by the door within an hour of waking up demanding bye-bye. He can climb out of his crib now and we are looking into getting him a "big boy" bed. He loves to give hugs and kisses and is the most cuddly ever! He now attends Nursery at church on Sundays. He is still a mamma's boy. Max cries every morning daddy leaves for work (if he's awake). Max loves water, but not being immersed in it. Baths have become a torturous act. Max's favorite word is "ow", he will pinch you and say it. He now throws quite the tantrums and will try to rip your face off in the process. He uses the word "Mimi" for cat, Grandma Kelly, binkies, and Mickey/Minnie Mouse and somehow he can tell which one you are talking about without getting confused. He is a busy, busy boy and so much fun :)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

This week has been kind of busy. On Monday I got sunscreen in Max's eye. Ugh, what a mess. I forgot to put sunscreen on him and we were headed out for a walk so I borrowed some from a friend. Little did I know - the sunscreen I usually use is tearproof so I just smear it all over his face. Well, this sunscreen was not. So I got it in his eye and he screamed, cried and rubbed his eyes nonstop for like an hour. Immediately after getting it in his eye I tried to flush it out with water but Max wasn't really having it. I ended up taking him to the doctor because he started to break out in a rash, his eyes were swollen and he just seemed miserable. Everything ended up being okay and reversed itself on its own. He would have been fine had I not made the trip to the doctor. But since I have pretty bad vision I wanted to make sure I didn't make his chance for blindness worse by ignoring the chemical burning of his cornea (just kidding about that last part, there was no corneal burning). I felt horrible that this happened, worst mom on the planet status. I have subsequently bought two more bottles of tearproof sunscreen - one for home one for the baby bag.

On Wedensday Brett came out to hang with us. Brett and I went Easter shopping after Max went to bed. Jared and I decided to do Easter baskets for the kids sans Easter Bunny. It will be more like a happy spring present from mom and dad. But I digress, so I was in Target picking out all these little things for Max's basket when I saw it - The Lightening McQueen push/ride toy. Max loves Lightening Mcqueen and he has really enjoyed playing with his other push/ride toy on the patio. So I forwent a the little items and went for the big one. We also decided to give presents on Saturday instead of Sunday so we will be giving it to Max later today. I'll post a video of it later.

Brett accompanied Max and I to the Easter Egg Hunt for mom's group. It was really fun and we had a great time eating, visiting and watching the kids hunt for eggs. Here is a little video of Max collecting eggs. He didn't quite get it. He ended up collecting some then dumping them out and the other kids swooped in and grabbed them. He could have cared less at the time. It wasn't until we were about to leave when he realized that there were goodies inside them.

On Thursday afternoon my dad came in. Max was so excited he loves grandpa. Grandpa brought him a little box of lizards, frogs and snakes. Max loves to collect them and we are working on differentiating between them. We went to Smoke Canyon BBQ...so yummy. And then off to Gymboree; Max did really well in class and only wondered off a few times. We went to Disneyland yesterday and had a blast. Max loved the petting zoo again and was obsessed with trying to pet the big sheep's anus. We met Hayley's boyfriend Andrew and his brother, Luke. They were both really awesome and would be nice additions to the fam :) We picked up Gina yesterday at the airport and went to this delicious Asain bistro Monark for dinner. We are about to go to Torrance so I'll update more later.

Dancing Queen...er, King!

2009-04-05T21:05:00.000-07:00

So I have been a blog slacker again. First Max was sick, then I was sick and now it looks like Jared is getting sick. We've been really busy. Jared and I went to San Francisco a couple weekends ago sans Maximus. We had a nice time although I was just starting to get sick. We went to Alcatraz and ate at some yummy restaurants. While he was in meetings I spent time with one of my favorite people ever - Karen Lin. I am so excited she got the residency at UCLA Peds. She will be closer so theoretically we can see more of her. I always find it strange when I am without Max. It's like I know I used to function perfectly fine without him, but when I'm away from him I find myself wondering what it was I used to do to pass the time. When he's around I am so busy playing, keeping track of and distracting him (from things he should not touch or do like standing on top of his push and ride tractor) I rarely have time to do the things I once did. I'm not complaining I love spending time with my baby, I just find it weird that when we're apart I don't just snap back into my old hobbies.

Two Saturdays ago we took Max to the Riverside Airshow. Boy did he love it! There is also a classic car show going on at the same time. We had so much fun, I think we will make it an annual event. A colleague of Jared's has a corvette and was kind enough to let Max sit in it and pretend to drive the wheel and beep the horn. Maximus thought he was the coolest kid on the block.

On Thursday Max and I went with some friends to Disneyland. It was a little crowded but not too bad. They had reopened the petting zoo that week. Max and his friend Wyatt absolutely loved the goats (in the petting zoo area the only animals are goats). Max got a little confused and thought the goats say "moo". I swear those goats are doped up on something. They are the most docile creatures; they tolerated Max's stalking and patting which some might actually define as light hitting. We continually worked on being gentle.

On Saturday I took Max to the park. Erin and I walked over and as soon as we started off Max and Sam (her son) were holding hands in between their strollers. Sam would say something and Max would imitate him and they would laugh and laugh. It melted my heart, I wish I had video of it. When I think of Erin moving back to Canada it makes me sad. She is my best friend here in Riverside. Her friendship has truly enriched my life. I guess once she gets all settled in Jared and I will just have to take a vacation and visit her in New Brunswick.

Max seems to be getting madder, as in crazy. He is the busiest little bee I have ever known. After he has pulled all his toys out of the box he will stand and scan the room looking for things to get in to. He loves keys and phones but what really makes his heart sing are wallets. He especially loves Jared's, I think mine is old news. He loves to pull every card, dollar bill and bit of paper out of the wallet and toss it on the floor. He then grabs the gold Wells Fargo debit card and repeats "key kaa" (credit card) over and over. I'm telling you the draw of the gold Wells Fargo debit card is eerily reminiscent to that of the "One ring" aka "the precious" in Lord of the Rings. It really is quite silly. Max has now discovered the fun of sitting in his toy bin. He likes to pile toys in and then climb in with them. He loves Elmo.

Max has also become quite the dancer. In the previous video he just stomped his feet a lot now he get his arms going as well. I will let the video speak for itself. Notice the flapping chicken wing as he crunks it up to Jason Mraz. If you want some lessons let me know I'm sure we can work something out. Please don't judge my messy house; this was filmed when I was just getting over being sick. Not that it is a whole lot cleaner when I'm well, but Max had just made a huge mess of things. Enjoy!

2009-03-25T09:08:00.001-07:00

Max and I are getting over being sick. I thought I'd give a short update with a video clip of Maximus. This was taken last week at the park.

Max Talkin' on the Patio

2009-02-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

This was taken the morning of Jared's birthday. Right before we left for Disneyland, hence the mouse ears.

....a dope beat to step to. Step to, step to, step to. Step to. Step to.

2009-02-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

Disneyland Fun!!!

So I guess no one knew the lyrics. It was an Aaliyah song featuring Timbaland. Anyhoo, here is how Max steps to dope beats.

SO...last Thursday was Jared's birthday. Luckily, he was able to get the day off and we all went to Disneyland. It was Jared's first time going with Max. We had so much fun! Jared got in free, Max always gets in free and I have an annual pass. So besides the cost of food it was free. When we first go there we headed over to Fantasyland and hit up the little kid rides. Max loves the carousel. It amazes me how dark and spooky most of the kid rides there are. Max did fine, no crying. If he got scared he would simply turn his head into Jared's chest; an out of sight out of mind thing I guess. After Fantasyland we went to Max's favorite area of the park...Toon Town. Max absolutely loves running around this area, sitting in the car and "driving" them. He played at Goofy's house for a good half an hour.

Brett, Mimi and Shane met us at this point and we headed over to Autopia. Max is over 32 inches so he was able to ride with Jared on Autopia. We also went on Astroblasters; Max rode with Uncle Brett and out scored him. (Brett was preoccupied with making sure Max didn't fall; Max enjoyed the joystick and making the car spin.) We were able to go on some big rides, while Mimi watched Max. Unfortunately we didn't get to go on the Haunted Mansion as it was closed for redecorating. We ended up leaving at 7:30 pm after a fabulous day with family. We even get to go to California Adventure with Jared within the next month because of the Two-fer. Hopefully it won't be raining when we go because Max loves the water features in the Bug's Life area.

All of us just outside of Pooh's ride. This would be a good pic to brighten up via photoshop, if you can do that. Maybe someday.

We (Max and I) love Jared so much and are so grateful to have him as the head of our household. Max even picked out a card for Jared all by himself. It is a Cars one that plays music when you open it.

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you without...

2009-02-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

Max in his Christmas outfit from Grandpa and G.G. (He's a deer.)

Max is the king of the world

Grandpa, Max and Shane keeping it real in a cave at the zoo.

Mommy, Max and Grandpa

Max still stalks cats. Luckily neither G.G. or Tucker mind.

(Can anyone fill in the rest of these song lyrics? They popped into my head when I was thinking how long it's been since I blogged last.) So obviously a lot has happened over the past month. In brief our main events were: Max and I went to Az to visit grandpa and G.G., we moved to a new apartment, and went to Disneyland for Jared's birthday. I'll start with Az.

Jared had to work but Max and I drove out to Arizona to spend time with Grandpa and G.G., as a nice added bonus Shane and Gina's mother, Jill, were both there as well. The drive out was fabulous. I left around 9:30 am Max slept until right before Blythe, we stopped, ate at McDonald's played for a bit, loaded back up and Max napped until we arrived. It was nice. We had a lot of fun while we were there. We went with Shane and Grandpa to the zoo; Max loved running around in the bird aviary and getting rides on Uncle Shane's shoulders. We had some good eats. G.G. and Jill even watched Max so my dad and I could go see a hockey game. (The Coyotes rocked it in sudden death shoot-out) We even got to stay at the Woods' home for a few nights. Max loved Emily and cried when it was time for her to go to bed or school. She was very sweet to him; it was quite endearing. We had a lovely time.

When we got back it was time to start packing. Luckily, Mimi came to Riverside a few times to help get it all done. Moving sucked (doesn't it always?). But it went pretty well. We like our new place minus a few quirks...like the fact that there is absolutely no uncovered parking after 6 pm. I still haven't unpacked yet.

We made it through 2 years!

2009-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

It was mine and Jared's anniversary on the 30th. My mom came down and watched Max. We went to dinner at Flemming's Steakhouse in Rancho. We had received $150 in gift certificates and thought this an appropriate time to use them. For an appetizer I ordered the calamari with a sweet chili glaze; it was quite amazing. We each got steaks and Jared ordered lobster tail to boot. He wondered what all the hype about lobster tail was...he is still wondering. It was a nice dinner, but I don't know if it was worth the $170 dollar tab. Jared brought me flowers and the "Tales of Beadle Bard", which I read last night and enjoyed. It was a nice evening...oh yeah, we also saw "Seven Pounds". I liked it, but found it too predictable. I am grateful my mom watched Max so we could get some time away. I am grateful for Jared and all he does. I know I made the correct choice in marrying him. When I think of him I smile...I'm smiling now.

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

Max and Daddy

New p.j.s; new truck.

The Fam

Hanging w/ Uncle Brett, eating my fire truck.

I love Mimi...pre massive meltdown

We had a lovely holiday! We spent Christmas Eve with Jared's family. We even got to talk to Jackie which was nice. Jackie is on her mission in Guatemala; so I kept it short and sweet knowing that she probably really wanted to talk to her mom. We spent Christmas morning at Mimi's house raking in awesome presents. Max was spoiled, of course. His favorite presents are these 3 dump trucks that can be stacked on top of one another. He also really likes some new books, specifically ones that involve dogs, lifting or pulling flaps. He already ripped "Max the Clownfish" from one of the books. We went back to Gilda's on Christmas Day Evening to spend more time with the fam. On Friday afternoon we headed out to Bakersfield to spend time with my mom's extended family. Although it was a short trip (we came back Sat. night), we had a blast. Especially, when we played "Werewolf" this card game where you try to figure out who the werewolves are as they kill off the villagers. I found out I was an okay villager but a horrible wolf. What can I say, I'm a bad liar...I guess that's a good thing. Hayley hitched a ride back with us Sat. night and I took her to the airport Sunday morning :( Tomorrow Mimi is coming to spend more time with us. And on Saturday we are going down to San Diego to see my dad and G.G. We have loved spending time with so much family, but also can't wait 'till we have our own house. When those who want to see us (okay mainly Max) will have to brave the traffic.

Disneyland and Beach Fun

2008-12-23T11:56:00.001-08:00

This will be my last post until after Christmas. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! Last week Max and I went down to Torrance for a quick visit. We went to Disneyland on Thurs with Uncle Brett. We had a fabulous time even though we didn't hit up many rides. For the first time Max got scared on Pirates. He was not a fan of the drops in the beginning of the ride and even whimpered a bit, but there were no tears. The ride was quickly redeemed by all of the animals. You know the pigs, donkey, dog and cat. Max even meowed at the cat when he saw it. Mimi bought Max an early Christmas present that night, a nice warm coat. Max has a warm 12 month coat but he is too big for it. I can barely zip it up and he kind of looks like a Vienna sausage in it. The new one is a 2T and a much better fit. On Fri morning Brett, Max and I headed off to the beach. Here's a little clip of that.

All Max wanted to do was run into the water. We had to keep chasing him. As soon as we put him down he would stand for a moment, look towards the water and run like a spaz towards it.

Oh no!...Uncle Brett caught him.

Have you ever seen such an excited expression?

It was really cute, but quite exhausting so after a few times we headed up to Riviera Village for lunch. After lunch we headed home. On Saturday night we went to Jared's boss' holiday party. It was very nice. We took Max with us which meant we weren't able to stay too long. Here is a cute picture of Jared and Max. Max wore his Christmas outfit.

Here are some new things Max has been up to:

Likes to point at things

Pushes his cars/trucks/strollers (pretty much anything with wheels) around

Climb into/on top of boxes

Sing Baby Beluga or the theme song to Baby Signing Time. His version goes bebe ba bebe bebe, etc.

Has become a very picky eater. All he ever really wants is fruit. Right now he's really into Cuties. He will also eat chicken nuggets and hot dogs as long as they are first drenched in ketchup.

He no longer uses a bottle. I just stopped using it one day, no problems.

Max can do tricks.

2008-12-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

Max can do a few tricks. The two grandiose ones are clapping his hands and spinning in circles. Here is a little clip of him spinning.

Thanksgiving Pics

2008-12-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

SO I didn't take enough pics over the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are some of the few I got.

He pretty much just ate the corn, green beans and stuffing. He isn't much of a carnivore, unless it's smothered in ketchup.

We went to the arboretum the day after Thanksgiving.

Max had a blast just cruising around. He was a happy camper that day...

Especially when we would see a dog. That kid loves dogs, there's one gene he got from me. I think it might be the only one :(

I LOVE my Ergo! There was a lot of walking to be had, so when it was time to get a move on this is how Max rolled.

My "Tree"mendous Boy!

2008-12-17T11:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics I took at UCR's botanical garden. These pics are a little old; they were taken before Thanksgiving.

He was very proud of the stick he found

I love this little backside :)

Max and Uncle Mikey on Mikey's birthday

Max, yummy toes and the renegade turd

2008-12-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

Here is a little video Jared shot last night. Max has never been into his toes...until last night. For those of you who have seen the movie "Baby Mama", don't worry I didn't taste it...I smelled it (not sure if that is much better though).

Max'S Great Escape

2008-12-13T21:38:00.000-08:00

Isn't that black eye a beauty? We don't know how he got it exactly; it looks pretty bad now that it's starting to yellow up. It miraculously appeared last Sunday morning. Hopefully it will be gone by Christmas. Currently, Max is a little under the weather. He has a bit of a cold. So last night he had a hard time falling asleep, he woke up after one sleep cycle. He was crying and I decided to let him cry a bit to see if he'd fall back asleep. All of the sudden I hear a loud crash in his room. I rush in thinking he fell against the rail of his crib in a drunken sleep-deprived stupor. As I opened his bedroom door, to my horror he was running towards me crying. Yep, he escaped. I think he used his crib bumper for extra leverage to get upon the rail and the weight of his head sent him toppling over the side. I checked him out and he seemed okay, no broke bones or anything. I then removed the crib bumper and his musical aquarium as well as moving all toys away from the "fall zone". I was a little freaked and tried to have him sleep with Jared and I last night but Max is a major bed hog so I caved and put him back in his crib halfway through the night. So scary. I hope he doesn't try it again, otherwise I may be forced to kennel him with one of these little treats...the cozy crib tent II.

It's been a long while...

2008-12-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yet again I have become the blog slacker. I left my camera at my mom's when I get it back I will upload some new videos and pics. Here is one of my most favorite pics of Max. This was taken in Costco and he is wearing daddy's hat. I lovve his cute little face.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We went to Arizona to visit G-Pa and G.G. We had a great time. Max did surprisingly well. I was worried about his sleeping but he slept like a long in the pack and play. We arrived at 2am Wed morning. Luckily Max slept in until about 9am. We were going to go to lunch with my dad when I realized I hadn't brought my bag in last night. I went to retrieve it from the car, but it wasn't there. It turns out that neither Jared nor I loaded it into the car. I felt like such a tard. I sulked off to the mall in my pajamas to buy some new clothes. There is nothing worse than shopping when you're not in the mood. After I was done buying a new wardrobe we met up with G-Pa at HoneyBears. Max enjoyed his corn on the cob and cried when it was gone. It was raining lightly and we headed over to the Phoenix Zoo to see the Zoo Lights. We had an hour to kill before the park opened and Max had a blast running about the bridge. He loved looking at the lights that decorated the zoo.

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Aunt Julie's; the food was tasty as usual. Max had a lot of fun hanging out with the younger girl cousins. He loved Emily and Lacey and the trampoline. The day after Thanksgiving we dropped Max off at Wayne and Becky's and Lexi watched him while Gina, Dad, Jared and I headed off to the Coyote game. The Coyote's won and after we went to dinner at Kabuki. On Saturday we went to the botanical gardens. It was the Fall Color Festival and there were lots of people there. Max had a blast running around and seeing all the dogs. That evening we played Ticket to Ride. It was a close game and Gina, Dad, Jared and I were all on the same side of the board. We left on Sunday morning. It took us all day to get home and 3 hours alone from Indio to Riverside. Max was screaming bloody murder for the last 20 minutes or so. He was so done with his car seat.

I forgot to mention how much Max loves cats. Especially Tucker and Bullseye. The entire time we were at my dad's house he would run from kitty hiding spot to hiding spot. It would go something like this: Run and look under the kitchen table, run into G-Pa's room look under the bed, run over and look in the tub...repeat process. Max now knows what a kitty cat says, "Meow" or "Mow" or some variation of a high pitched "Mew".

Balloons...endless fun

2008-11-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

Family Party

2008-11-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

(I forgot a bib so we MacGyvered one using a Target bag)

SO yes I've been a blog slacker again. Sometimes I just don't want to use my precious alone time (when Max is napping) to blog. I've been trying to keep a tidier house, cleaning while he's sleeping, but honestly by the time Jared gets home it looks the same as when he left. Anyways, Max is sleeping now so here is an update.

Last Saturday we had a splendid time at the park. Mimi went all out. She got a sandwich tray from Subway, a Cars cake, and Cars place settings. Max is really into Cars. I think it's because Lightning McQueen is so shiny and red. Max kept grabbing at the cars on the tablecloth. It ended up just being a family party: Jared, Mimi, Brett, Shane, Gilda, Sam, Michael, Bob Leila and R.J. It was very nice and stress free. Max got completely spoiled with presents. He especially love the balloons and spent about 20 minutes chasing them all around. We were so grateful that Mimi threw him the party, because I didn't want to do another one after all the stress of the friend party.

We went back to Mimi's and Max took a nap. Jared and I went to a movie while Max napped...don't worry Mimi watched him. whilst we were away. This week has been busy. We went to mom group a couple times and gymboree. Max got his one year shots. He did fine, even slept 12 1/2 hours that night. three days after his shots I notice some pimple-looking bite on his tummy. It started out as one, then two, then I saw a third one forming. I took him in and the doctor thought it was some sort of bug bite, possibly chiggers...aka bed bugs. Yuck! So I stripped his bed and looked for the culprits, but alas they were no where to be found. The doctor gave us a prescription for bactroban. I put that on last night and it looks better already.

Today we were going to go down to Orange County and run some errands like go to the law bookstore for Jared to pick up some books. However, in lieu of the fires we have decided to take a lazy day at home. You can see a big billow of smoke on the horizon from the fire in Corona. We went to the UCR botanical gardens this morning to take family pictures, but didn't stay long due to Max's sour mood. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he's teething. His upper incisors (not the front ones, the ones next to those) are breaking through the skin. I feel like there are two stages of crankiness for each tooth or sets of teeth that come in. First, they get grumpy when they are coming down. Then, they get grumpy when the tooth actually comes though. Anyways, when we were at the mall this morning I saw the Twilight pic in the window of Hot Topic. I'm so excited to see the movie, even though I feel I will be disappointed. Although, I haven't seen the movie yet I wasn't happy with the casting for so many reasons...but we'll see hopefully my unhappiness is premature.

Pumpkin Patch Pics

2008-11-05T14:34:00.001-08:00

Above: Pumpkin patch pics from when we went with Brett and Mimi

Below: Pumpkin patch pics from when we went with our mom group

The Happy Birthday Song

2008-11-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

Here is a little clip from Max's party. Can you see the pin the nose on the pumpkin in the background? I love that all the noses were placed right between the eyes. (No blindfolds were used in this game, the kids were ages 1-3)

Happy 1st Birthday Maximus!

2008-11-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, little boy! Wow, I can't believe a year has gone by. I am so grateful to have you in my life. You enrich my life and bring me joy every single day. I love your little smile and watching you grow and learn in this big, beautiful world. Here is a list of things you can do at one year of age:

walk and run

wave bye-bye
clap his hands
spin in a circle

throw a ball (you just did that for the first time last night)

sleep through the night

make noises as you push around your cars/trains

you love to look at books and to have them read to you

can open doors with handles (not knobs yet...)

love parks, especially the swings

get excited when you see someone you know

freak out when you see animals, specifically dogs. You get so excited you sometimes scare the dog.

get sad when daddy leaves for work in the morning

love other kids

sleep with about 5 binkies and your blankie

usually take 2 naps a day

love things with wheels, baths, singing and other children

are a really happy, lovable little boy!

We Are Sick :(

2008-11-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry that there haven't been any updates for a while. We have been quite busy and now we are sick. Max and I have been doing lots of fun things: we went to Disneyland with Uncle Brett, two visits to the pumpkin patch (once with the mommy gang and once with Mimi and Brett), various park and play dates. Oh and I almost forgot...Max's 1st Birthday Party.

So about this birthday party thing, so much more work than I anticipated. For those of you who don't know me well, procrastination is my middle name. One might think that motherhood would change this but it hasn't. So Thursday night I made a mad dash to Target to get some last minute items. (The one thing I did not procrastinate were the goodie bags; I had those ready to go on Sunday night.) I planned out the games and got them ready. I managed to get to bed by 11:30 pm.

The next morning Oct. 31st was madness. I ran to the grocery store to get some party trays. Then I had to get to the venue (the community center at my friends house) to get everything ready. Thank goodness for Erin and Paula who came and helped me set up. The major stressor was the parking situation. Because this is the community center for the "Family Housing of UCR" you need parking permits. Kind of inconvenient but not really a big deal I just needed to get everyone's license plate number. Well the night before I found out I only get 2 parking permits, due to new policy. Fabulous, just my kind of luck. So long story short. I found a parking lot on UCR that gave out 90 min parking permits, I then had people follow me over to the lot I paid for their parking ticket and then shuttled them back to the party. Luckily all the party goers were good sports and all went well.

So we had games: pumpkin bowling, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and find the pumpkins. I made a cake from cupcakes in the shape of a pumpkin, it didn't turn out like the picture (don't ask me why but for some reason I thought it would). Max got some nice presents. It really was a blur and you would think Max would nap well after a crazy party, but he didn't. Oh well.

Halloween night we went trick-or-treating with Cesar Lindy and their kids. I was really fun. Max liked to go up to the doors and grab candy which he would immediately shove in his mouth wrapper and all. We went to Torrance on Sat morning to hang with the fam and came back home on Sun. We were all sick yesterday. I thought Max had given us the bug, but now I think we gave it to him. Jared and I were pretty sick yesterday and Max seemed to be fine except for a runny nose. Then today he has a temp of 101, I took him to the doc who said to bring him back tomorrow if it gets worse.

To get Max to bed I laid beside him on the floor, resting his little feverish head in the crook of my arm and sang him to sleep. The song I sang him was on my great-grandma Ruth's mom sang to her it's kind of morbid, but has a pretty tune. Here are the lyrics:

Oh do you remember a long time ago
When two little babes whose names I don't know
Were stolen away on a bright summers day
And lost in the woods I heard people say.

When the night came, oh sad was their plight
The sun had gone down and the stars gave no light
They plead and they sighed and they bitterly cried
Then the poor little babes they lay down and died.

When they were dead the robins so red
Brought strawberry leaves and over them spread
And all the night long they sang their sweet song
To the poor little babes to the poor little babes.

SO this is the song I sang to him when he was really little and I rocked him to sleep. Since then we have learned many other ones. I tried "Baby Beluga" to get him to settle down tonight, but he wasn't having it. He was all about the sad, morbid, dead babe song. He fell asleep that's what matters most.

Tag Time

2008-10-19T21:54:00.000-07:00

A-Z
TagA- Attached Or Single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Mom, Dad, Jared, Max...too many to count
C- Cake Or Pie: That depends. Cake if it has something other than whip cream frosting. Pie if the crust is sweet. Like the Cherry Cheesecake recipe my mom makes, that's actually my Aunt Pam's recipe...mmmm I'm salivating.
D- Day Of Choice: Saturday, I like it when Jared is home and we all get to spend time together
E- Essential Item: Contacts or glasses. Can't see the "Big E" without them
F- Favorite Color: I have always liked red, but blue has been growing on me because both Jared and Max look so good in it :)
G- Greatest Accomplishment: Graduating from UCLA
H- Hometown: Torrance, CA
I- Indulgences: Sleep, you don't truly appreciate it until you lose it
J- January Or July: January. Although, I prefer the fall. It is too hot in July in Riverside
K- Kids: 1 - Maximus aka: Mutz, Terrorist
L- Life is Incomplete without: Family
M- Marriage Date: December 30, 2006
N- Number of Siblings: Three by blood and four others
O- Oranges or Apples: Pineapples
P- Phobias or Fears: Someone close to me dying
Q- Quotes: "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind." Albert Einstein
R- Reason to Smile: Maximus smiling...he has Jared's smile
S- Season: Fall...cool crisp air and Halloween
T- Tag five friends: Erin, Jill, Mike, Dad, Joanne
U- Unknown Fact about Me: I have mastered the art of the "finger sweep", thanks to Max. I have become quite a pro. So if you have a small child, do not fear, I will get it out of their mouth.
V- Very Favorite Store: I don't have one, it's been a while since I've done shopping I actually enjoy. For Max I would pick Gymboree; I love all the goofy hats they have.
W- Worst Habit: Biting my nails. I relapsed.
X- X-ray or Ultra sound: Ultrasound
Y- Your Favorite Food: Ice cream
Z- Your Zodiac sign: Taurus

These Shoes Were Made for Walkin'

2008-10-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a little vid of Max walkin' around California Adventure.

Max's 1st Official Haircut

2008-10-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Last Wed. Jared, Max and I headed off to Monkey Dooz to get Max's hair cut. Max has had a few trims before, but this was his first time getting it all chopped off. Monkey Dooz is a kid's salon. We were really worried how Max would make it through the haircut since he tends to writhe and cry as if each hair has a nerve ending. The lady who cut his hair asked if he could have a lollipop...needless to say he was in heaven. He didn't make a peep the whole time, mainly due to the fact that his mouth was full of lolli. Even when she busted out the clippers...nothing. Max is now quite the tantrum thrower and he threw a doozie when the lollipop stick was confiscated.

After lollipop friend was consumed and dangerous but tasty stick was taken away... Max was a little upset

Max also has discovered doorknobs; luckily, he hasn't figured out how they work yet. Every morning when Jared heads off to work Max throws a fit as soon as the door closes behind him, it's kind of sad. Notice the super sweet kicks Max is sporting in this pic (thanks to Lindsey Adams). Max has graduated from the soft soled shoes to real shoes.

When Jared is playing on the PS3 Max always wants to help him by pressing all the buttons on daddy's controller. Here is a pic of them playing together. Max's controller was not actually on and he wasn't fooled for long.

Two Buddies

Apple Picking

2008-10-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

The USDA apple inspector

I think this one has a worm

Love that curious little boy!

Don't worry this one was picked off a tree by mommy, not off the ground by Mutz.

Two weeks ago Max and I went with our mommy group to Riley Farms in Oak Glen to pick apples. We ended up doing a lot of walking for a little picking. But it was worth it because Max really liked to eat the apples, in fact he's still eating them. Funny how much longer fruit lasts when it's picked fresh.

When the cat's away the mice will play

2008-10-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a video Jared took when I was running an errand

The Happiest Place on Earth

2008-09-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Mimi, Brett, Max and I packed up the diaper bag and headed to Disneyland. The reason for this trip was that extended family (Julie, Emily, Pam, Kelly and family) were going to be there. (Jared was unable to join us as he had a seminar in Palm Springs.) Mimi, Brett and I all got season passes. And until Max turns 3 or 4 he's free. We went on a myriad of rides including Pirates of the Caribbean, Winnie-the-Pooh, Jungle Cruise, Mr. Toad's Wild ride, The Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion was fabulous as it was all done up in The Nightmare Before Christmas regalia. Max did surprisingly well on all the rides. He didn't cry at all. He preferred to sit facing me and we got yelled at by some lady on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, "Sit the child facing forward Mam." I don't see what the big deal was, he's still small. It was no different than him being in a baby carrier (ie. Snugglie, Bjorn, Ergo) and I saw plenty of mom's with babies in those get on and off numerous rides without getting harassed. I think I will put him in the carrier next time.

We ended up meeting up with family for lunch and Brett and I got to ride a few big rides while Mimi watched Max nap. Max enjoyed seeing Pooh and Tigger, but the highlight of his trip was Mickey's House in Toon Town. I let him walk around and he thought he was the coolest kid in the park. Everything was his size and he could touch and slobber on everything without me picking him up or pulling it out of his mouth. It was funny how he would try to squeeze himself into small places. At one point he got stuck behind a door, here's a funny picture of him squirming his way out.

I ended up getting Max mouse ears for his souvenir. Jared thinks he looks real special in this pic.

Max had a really fun time as did the rest of us. It was nice to get to spend time with Mimi and Brett and get to see our extended family also. Oh...I really wanted a clam chowder bread bowl (they are the best!). But after waiting in line for 15 minutes and not taking one step forward I got tired of waiting and ended up getting a crappy $10.00 burrito. That was the low point of the trip. Mimi and Brett stayed until Sat afternoon...we were sad to see them go :(

So all in all it was a wonderful weekend. In 2009 Disneyland is going to be giving people free admission to the park on their birthday. In order to take advantage of this you need to register prior. Here is the link http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/disneyland/index?name=CelebrationsDLRFreeOnYourBirthdayPage

Max...the real boy

2008-09-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Max climbing through a tunnel at Gymboree

Max eating his marshmallow ice cream cone

(It was in the goodie bag from the mom's group activity)

So my baby is less of a baby and more of a boy lately. It makes me sad that he is getting big so quickly. Although, this is my favorite age thus far. He walks, plays with people and toys, babbles, displays a wide range of emotion and is starting to communicate with us. Yesterday morning he brought his bottles to me wanting me to feed him. This is a really fun age, he loves people, laughs all the time and his smile still melts my heart...I don't think that will ever change. This past week was really busy. Here's a little run down.

My car got a new battery and some much needed love from the mechanic. We went to Fernando's Auto Care here in Riverside and were really impressed with their service. It looks like we have found our mechanic, a mechanic we can trust. So Max and I went with Jared to Needles to keep him company. Ah...Needles, where do I begin. Not much going on there. We had reserved a room at a small motel via Expedia. However, when we arrived no one was at the counter, mind you it's only 11:30 pm. We rang the bell, knocked, called Expedia who called the motel manager. He was supposedly on his way, I don't know where he was exactly but he couldn't make his way to the front desk within 10 minutes. I was so mad, Max had woken up at this point, Expedia tried to tell me I would still get charged if we went to another hotel. After requesting to speak to a supervisor and being placed on hold I was told I would not be charged. We ended up staying at Best Western and everything worked out.

After Jared finished with court we headed to see the London Bridge at Lake Havasu before taking the 3 1/2 hour drive home. It was hot outside, we saw the bridge, Max chased some pigeons, we ate pizza and sat in on a timeshare presentation. It would be nice to get a timeshare, but we figured we ought to acquire a permanent residence first. We spent our $100 certificate in the resort lobby on a cute shirt for Max, candy, magazines and random things like sunscreen and Dramamine. On the drive home Max slept and we drove through a lovely lightning storm. How I wish it were stormy more often here...wishful thinking I know.

We went to a mom's group function Saturday morning. Max had a fun time, still loving the swings. He also discovered push toys/walkers. Someone from the group brought one and it was like a black hole sucking Max in. It had many buttons and made many sounds, it was quite exciting. In the afternoon we drove to Gilda's and hung out. Max made yet another discovery...his tongue. He kept sticking it out and pinching it with his fingers, he continued doing this today but also tried to grab and bite our tongues. He is so silly!

Gilda was kind enough to watch Max while Jared and I went to watch his friend's (Eric) band play. It was nice to get out sans Max. We hadn't seen Eric in a while. Eric is one of Jared's best buds. We had a great time!

My Outdoor Boy

2008-09-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Max fell into Bumbo and thought it was pretty funny

Finally the weather has cooled down. Yesterday, when I took Max outside for our walk it was actually kind of chilly. I had to run back inside and grab a jacket and blanket for him. It was all overcast and so lovely. I love the fall and am thrilled that it is finally here. It will be so nice to be able to take Max outside during the day (instead of just in the morning).

Max is an outdoor boy. He loves going outside whether it's to the park or just walking around the apartment complex. When we come back inside he cries. He also loves people and for the most part is not shy. He will walk right up to strangers and try to make friends or flirt. Yesterday he followed an older man in our complex, who suffered a stroke, all the way to the mailbox. The man was very cute, telling Max to "Come on." and saying he would wait for him. I don't think he realized Max was trying to steal his cane. I had to hold Max back a couple times or he would have grabbed it too.

Here are some pictures from Labor Day weekend at the park. Max loves the swings!

Mmmmm...spaghetti

Palm Springs Tramway

2008-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

We went up the mountain via the Palm Springs Tramway yesterday. It was so much fun! Heights make Jared anxious so he didn't enjoy the tram part. It was so much cooler at the top; a nice 70 degrees. When we got to the top we decided to take one of the hikes, the Desert something or another. I brought the ergo (love it!) put Max in and off we went.

Once we got down and started on the trail Max got really grumpy so we took a break by this log and let him stand around. What you can't tell from the picture is the enormous dump Max is taking in his diaper. BTW changing a diaper in the woods is not fun; try as I might to keep it out somehow the dirt got in.

Max really liked standing by fallen logs and sticking bark in his mouth. It really was a moot point trying to keep it out. Even with the binky he'd just spit it out and in the pie hole went the bark; it's a natural teether, right? When we started off again I strapped Max to my back. The trail was a little over a mile. At some points the trail was hard to discern, but even if we got off it we always managed to find it. Max fell asleep as we were hiking. Walking back up to the lodge from the trail was pretty steep having Max on my back gave me a little bit of a work out.

Next we had dinner at the Peaks. I got a cherry Pepsi. It was really just Pepsi with grenadine...so much better than the real cherry Pepsi. I had the Chicken a la Pomodoro; it was fabulous. I had banked on giving Max some of the gnocchi it came with but it was too spicy. Max had a healthy dinner of rolls, chicken and animal crackers. He did really well during dinner. After dinner we walked around the lodge a little bit and then headed back home. All in all our trip was very pleasant. It was nice to get a break from the heat and spend it outdoors with the fam.

P.S. While we were waiting for Jared to finish his DMV hearing, Max and I went to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone. Max loved the Ronald McDonald statue. He kept crawling on him, talking to him, and petting his face. Sorry Uncle Shane I guess this one isn't afraid of clowns.

Palm Springs...here we come!

2008-08-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

Max fell asleep during dinner

Mimi and Max

We all have new haircuts (well kind of mine and Max's are a bit on the old side now)

Chuck E Cheese Junkie

A quick update. Max and I are going to travel today with Jared to Palm Springs. Jared has a DMV hearing out there so we thought we would give him some company. On the way back we are going to take the Palm Springs Tramway up the mountain and have dinner. It should be fun and a lot cooler than out here in Riverside.

Tomorrow we help Gilda move. We were able to get a substitute for our primary class so we are making a weekend out of it. We are going to stay with Mimi and get to witness first had the wonderful talk she will give on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. Maybe we can squeeze the beach in on Monday, if we go early. I know it will be pretty packed with the long weekend. Here are some pics I meant to post last time.

Max the Murloc

2008-08-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a video I took this evening of Max babbling. He pretty much has his back to me the whole time, but it is the sound I was going for.

The horrible, terrible, no good, very bad mother (me)!

2008-08-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know the week Max has been waking up at 5:30 am. I have been quite irritated as I like my sleep. He is still tired and will fall asleep but every time I put him in bed he wakes up. He is sleeping through the night fine just waking up early. So yesterday Jared is feeding him dinner and notices he has cut another tooth on the bottom. My poor little boy has been teething and I was mad about missing out on my precious sleep. That is the part that makes me the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad mother. That and the fact that I didn't even notice.

So now Max has 5 teeth, I did a check for more but didn't see any. I feel like he should have an even number of teeth you know 2, 4, 6. Having 5 teeth seems odd; it's not symmetrical and that bothers me. Am I a weirdo or what? Anyone else think odd numbers of teeth are weird? Oh except one, I think having just one tooth is not weird. Don't ask why, I can't explain.

This past weekend we hung out with Jared's brother and his family. It was fun on Friday night we went to Chuck E Cheese. Max had a blast toddling around and pushing all the coin return buttons (those are the only ones at his level). On Saturday we went over to Cesar and Lindy's. The funniest thing happened at dinner. Joshua who is 6 pointed to a soda can and asked his mom politely for some more "cock". Poor kid we all started laughing; he meant Coke.

Not much going on this week. On Saturday we help Gilda move into her new place. Max has become very vocal this past week. When I sing to him as I'm changing his diapers he likes to sing along. He hates diaper changes. I have to give him something to hold and sing to try and distract him. He mostly just babbles. Since Jared and I both used to play World of Warcraft we think he sounds like one of the races called - Murloc. If you go to this website http://www.wowwiki.com/Murloc click on the MP3 link to hear what this sounds like. Max and the Murloc are one. He is really into balls, specifically ones with texture. A friend has a nubby Gertie ball, Max loves it. I can't find it at any stores so I am going to order it online.

Max and Pinecones

2008-08-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our good friends Erin and Sam flew to Canada to vacation with their family. We are sad and will miss seeing them every morning on our walk. But before they left Erin took some super cute pictures of Max for his nine month pics.

This one is my absolute favorite a classic "Stinker Max".

Max would like to show you all how he can stand by himself..."Look Ma, no hands!". (Max subsequently fell, caught himself, but that dadgum head is so heavy it threw his balance off and he bonked it on the concrete...pobresito)

Although he can walk, crawling gets him there faster.

Look at those huge top chompers...seriously I worry that they may be too big for his mouth.

Okay now I had to put this one in. We all know that Max is the spitting image of his dad. But I think he kind of looks like me in this one; I think it's the eyes.

So a big thanks to Erin for taking the pics and burning them on a disc before she left.

This past weekend my dad came to visit. On Friday night we went to the best BBQ place ever, Smokey Canyon BBQ. I love the beef brisket and all the sides, my dad really liked it too, although he had the ribs. My dad gave Max a rib bone and Max loved it. However, when we also gave him an ear of corn he had a hard time deciding which to eat, so he just double fisted it. My dad has some pics I'll have to get them.

We went to a wedding reception on Sat night. I tried to get Max to eat a sandwich but all he wanted to eat was fruit...what can I say my son is a little fruity :) On Sunday we had sharing time again in primary; it went really well.

I attempted to go to the dentist yesterday...what a joke. So I have soft teeth and I think I broke one while flossing on Saturday night. We have a dental HMO where you just pick the dentist from a list, so I had picked one close to Jared's work for convenience. I had an appointment yesterday at 12:15 and Jared came home for lunch to watch Max. I got there 5 minutes late (I got stuck behind a train) filled out my paperwork and proceeded to wait. After an hour I was still waiting so I asked the receptionist how long it would be because I had to be home at 2:30 (Jared had to be to court). She assured me I would be seen in 5 minutes and that I would be out of there in time to get home by 2:30. I waited another 40 minutes, then I told them I couldn't wait any longer and left. They never apologized for the wait and were quite rude. I was so mad I called my HMO filed a complaint and switched to a new dentist. I have an appointment today at 3:30. I hate having my time wasted. I get so angry when I think about it...I can't even write anymore on the subject.

Not much else going on except for Max's 9 month check up tomorrow. He is not going to be too happy after the Hep booster. Max and I go for walks every morning with some moms from the mom group. It gets us out of the house and it's not too hot. Max is babbling a lot more now, dadada is a real big hit. He loves blankets, specifically this lion one my mom gave him. He will carry it all over the house, tripping over it as he walks. He loves grilled cheese sandwiches, pirates booty and corn on the cob. Max now drinks out of a sippy cup with a straw. He doesn't like to hold my hand when he walks, most of the time he will push it away. He is getting so big. I am so grateful to Jared for being able to provide so that I can stay home with Max. Max's smile melts my heart.

Rachon, the blog slacker...

2008-08-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while. We have been quite busy the past two weeks. Jared spent last week in San Diego. He found the seminar helpful but just a little too long. Max and I had a most fabulous time in Torrance with Mimi and Brett. We mainly just hung out and Mimi watched Max while I caught up on some much needed sleep. I have noticed that when I eat sugar I get so tired about an hour or so later. I really need to stop eating that crap but I am so addicted to sweets, especially ice cream. Does anyone else get the sugar crash?
On Tuesday I got my hair dyed a darker shade of brown; I really like it. Mimi, Max and I went to lunch at B.J.'s and Max did surprisingly well. Lately, he has been a terror at restaurants. Boy did Max love the pizzokie. Cheri, the hair stylist, had trimmed up Max's hair and put gel in his faux-hawk. So everyone at B.J.'s was commenting how cute he was. Some server, who wasn't even ours, brought Max a free cup of ice cream to take home.
While we were in Torrance we also took Max for a walk on the beach, I got a pedicure (love those), hung out with Cami, ate a lot of ice cream. We had a blast. On Thursday night I was fortunate enough to be able to see the opening night of "Les Miserables" a play that Brett had been working on all summer. A special "Holla" to Brett as he was the stage manager and the play went phenomenally. The kids in the play were really talented. A special thanks to Gilda for watching Max that night.
On Friday Jared met us in Torrance. We missed Jared immensely all week and were so glad to have him back with our family. We had another chance (thanks Bob!) to go and see "Les Mis" that evening. We stayed until Saturday. On Saturday morning we saw "The Dark Knight" with Maggie. Has anyone else seen this movie? Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good movie and enjoyed it. But I felt it was rather long. We ended up buying a new t.v. a 40" LCD, and boy does it rock!
On Sunday, Dan and Cassandra came over for a final visit before heading to Massachusetts. It was nice to spend some more time with them. Mimi has meetings all week in San Diego, so Max and I headed back down to Torrance to spend some time with Hayley, Shane and Brett. The highlight for this week has been taking Max to the beach. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so there are no pics. But it was quite humorous. Max crawled all over the place, shoveling fist fulls of sand in his mouth and not wanting to waste any, licking it off his hands. He didn't like the water so much; although, he didn't cry. He had this petrified, end-of-the-world look on his face when the waves came. By the end of our time there, mind you it had only been an hour, Max's entire face was covered with sand. There was so much sand it was in his eyelashes, etc. We showered off before heading home, he wasn't such a fan of that either. But he took a nice long nap that afternoon. Going to the beach is such a project with all the suncreening, packing, lugging of child...but for a long nap it might just be worth it.

Get that corn out of my face!

2008-07-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick update. Max's two top teeth are in. He continues to eat everything in sight. One night we had corn on the cob; he loved it. Here is a little video of him eating it. Watch how angry he gets when Jared attempt to help him. Jared is going to San Diego for a week for a trial skills seminar, so Max and I are going down to visit mom. I am looking forward to the cool weather.

Jared's dad and his wife, Cassandra, came to visit last weekend. It was nice to visit with them; it was their first time seeing Max. Max went crazy when he saw them and started walking a lot more. He can now averages about 5-10 steps at a time and can even turn around. He is growing up so fast. Here is a picture of 3 generations of Bartell males. (I'd say men but Max doesn't really qualify yet, and boys might be insulting to Jared and his father.)

Here is a picture of those top two chompers!

He cut his top tooth!

2008-07-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yay! Max cut his upper left incisor...finally. This morning he has been very happy. Here are two videos. The one where he's talking I took yesterday. The other one was taken this morning. I love my little boy!

Monkey Max

2008-07-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

Max and Dad Sleeping

Max wrestling his blanket

Just being cute....he's so dang good at it!

Peek-a-boo under the walker

Mimi and Shane came down on Thursday. It was so nice to have them here. My mom and I were able to get a lot of cleaning done. Max now has his room to himself. It was being used as storage also, but now that he is so mobile he needs the space. Although I am still using his closet for storage. On Saturday night the whole family went to "Sea no Evil" an art show here in Riverside. I was really excited because Matt Costa was playing. Brett came up that day also. The show was really cool, unfortunately Matt Costa did not play until 10:00 pm. That was a little too late for Max so we missed his performance. Oh well.

Gilda got here yesterday morning. Max has been having a lot of fun with her. Max is now able to stand on his own and can take a few wobbly steps before falling. Yesterday he fell against the leg of our dinning room chairs and scraped/bruised his nose a bit. He loves to play peek-a-boo and roll around wrestling his blankets. I just love him so much! Jared has been working a lot and we miss him. Max gets so excited when Jared comes home. As soon as the door opens and Max sees his dad it's a mad scramble to the door. Jared has to go to Needles tomorrow so it will be a long day of driving for him, hopefully the new car will make the drive less tortuous.

Max - 0, Chair - 1

Cuatro de Julio...

2008-07-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Max loves to look up hot babes with Uncle Brett!

We went to Devin and Jills for the 4th and 5th of July. It was very fun. Moorpark does their firework show on the 3rd so we didn't see any, but that's okay Max isn't a fan of loud noises. Cousin Olivia had a lemonade stand on the 4th and was selling lemonade at a whopping $0.25 for a small and $0.50 for a large. She made $21.00; lots of people just gave her money because she was cute. Max had fun with all of the cousins; we went swimming, played games and ate good food. I loved the s'mores. On Saturday Denise, Bekah and Tim came down. Jill, Mom and I went garage sale hopping before they got there. I got a baby gate for 5 bucks and Rummikub. We had fun with the cousins. It was sad to have to leave, but we had to teach our Valiant's on Sunday.

This week Max has been a little fussy, his top two teeth still haven't come in yet. But they're close you can see the white through his gums. His naps are getting more regular. I ended up doing a modified "cry it out" for him. Now when he is sleepy during the day if he hasn't eaten for a while I try to give him a bottle. If he refuses that then I just put him in his crib. He cries for about 3 minutes and then settles and goes to sleep. At night time C.I.O. is less effective. So once he has had a bottle, I will lay him down on my bed with me and he is usually out within 5 minutes. The funny thing is it has to be dark, quiet and no cuddling...Max is not a cuddler. Mom and Shane are coming tomorrow. We are happy to have company. Oh I almost forgot. We got a new car...a Yaris for Jared to drive since we are getting rid of my truck in a couple weeks. Jared really likes it and it gets great m.p.g. I was really bad at taking pictures over the weekend, but we did manage to get one of Max playing gameboy.

Monterey

2008-06-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

Max's imitation of "The Knockers" from Labyrinth

He was blowing so many spit bubbles he grew a spit goatee!

Jared and I had a most lovely time in Monterey. Mimi and Brett came and picked Max up on Thursday night. Jared and I went to dinner and a movie. We flew out Friday morning and went to the aquarium that day. The aquarium was awesome! I can't wait 'till Max is old enough to go. I especially liked the large open water tanks. My favorite fish was the sturgeon; it is so big and prehistoric looking. The sturgeon made me think of Hayley since it is her medicine wheel animal (or so we found out in Sedona). I really wanted to get Max a stuffed sea otter from the museum, but the only baby friendly one looked like a bear.

Jared and I in front of the hotel waiting for a cab

The view from our room

On Saturday I lounged around on the beach reading "The Host". Our hotel was right on the beach and our room face the ocean, we could hear the waves all night; I loved it. I saw lots of babies and I was missing the Mutz (Max). We went to this Beni Hana style restaurant called Saporo, which was fabulous. We flew back on Sunday. It was a nice relaxing weekend. Funny though, how weird it was to not be chasing the Mutz around. I came back refreshed and a good thing because he is especially grouchy. I think his top teeth are finally coming in.

Magic Hands

2008-06-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Father's Day!

2008-06-17T10:25:00.001-07:00

Max and Dad on Father's Day

A Genuine Max Meltdown

So I was going to update yesterday, but Maximus decided he did not want to take naps. Father's Day was wonderful! We woke up and made Jared breakfast...it was yummy. At church they did pie for the dads, luckily they had way too much so we got to eat some too. We got Jared a video game for Playstation 3 - MetalGearSolid3 (or something to that effect). He really likes the game. In the evening we went to Cesar and Lindy's for tostadas. I rode in the back seat on the way home to keep Max awake. If he falls asleep in the car then he will be up for hours. We had a lovely Father's Day - we are so grateful for Jared and all he does to provide, lead and protect our family. I love watching him with Max; it just melts my heart. Now that Max is crawling, I love it when Jared comes home and Max crawls over to Jared's feet, ready to be picked up and played with.

Max and Dad Eating Strawberries

On Saturday we went over to Jared's boss' house for a pool party/bbq. I was very nice. Max enjoyed the pool as the water was warmer than Sedona. Brett came over for a few days last week. We had a fun time with him. He went with Max and I on a walk with some moms from our playgroup. The other mom's children absolutely loved Brett...he has mad skills so I understand completely. Mimi and Brett are going to watch Max this weekend while Jared and I go to Monterey, hopefully he will behave himself for them. Here is a video I took last week of Max whining but then becoming distracted by his magical hands.

Back to the grind

2008-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to update, but I've been feeling lazy. Sedona was a blast! It was a little overwhelming at first, because I was used to all of Jared's help in the evenings. But after a few days I got the hang of it. Max did well flying there and back, no tantrums, just a lot of busyness. He was always moving, standing on my lap, looking out the window, looking behind us. On the way there we hit a little turbulence and he laughed...I felt sick and just tried to keep myself from throwing up (don't worry, everything stayed down). The one hour flight was long enough for me, kudos to those who fly international with youngins (Linds).

We went hiking to Devil's Bridge on Sunday. It was like a million degrees out or maybe it was 90 degrees; same diff, right? Hayley and I were the only ones who made it across the bridge. Max threw up on Shane like three times that day. Oh we also went swimming, a first for Max. He was not a fan of the cold water.

The rest of the week was fabulous. We hiked Oak Creek Canyon on Moday. Went to Jerome, Montezuma's Castle and Well on Tues. And finished with slide rock on Wed. All the while Max chilled in his Ergo. I still love the Ergo;,best investment yet! Max decided he like to eat big people food on the trip like fries, cantaloupe and ice cream. I must say the ice cream was a bad idea, I have created a monster. Whenever Jared or I are eating it he whines and screams until he gets some and then he's like a baby bird. We have to keep his mouth filled with it to get him to be quiet. Here is the link to see the Sedona pics: http://s281.photobucket.com/albums/kk231/rachony/Sedona%202008/

Another thing Max encountered on the trip were cats. Max loves him some kitty cats. He would crawl all over trying to get Tucker and get totally excited and spazy when he got close. We flew back on Fri. afternoon. We had a great trip and loved spending time with family; although, we both missed Jared very much. Max was very excited to see him at the airport. We've just been trying to get back into the swing of things. Brett is going to come over Wed-Fri and we are happy to have him stay with us. Max is still a busy body, he is crawling everywhere and is starting to use his walker.

Btw I found these really cute blankets called Woobees that you can tie onto your carrier/stroller/car seat. I'm thinking of getting one. Has anyone ever heard of them?

Sedona here we come!

2008-05-28T13:54:00.001-07:00

SO... we were going to take a family vacation to Sedona. Unfortunately, Jared has to work. Max and I were still planning on driving up on Sunday anyway because my dad, Hayley, etc. are going to be there. It is a 6 hour drive...yuck! But lucky me I have a wonderful husband! Jared was worried about us and suggested Max and I fly instead. I just booked our flights and we leave tomorrow night. Now I have to make a mad dash to gather and pack everything. I am kind of nervous, this will be Max's first airplane ride. Wish us luck!

He's crawling away with my heart

2008-05-27T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Last week was so crazy. My birthday was fabulous. Thank you everyone for the calls of good wishes. Jared and I had a lovely dinner at this nice little Italian place not far from our house, Ciao Bella. Maggie watched Max so it was a child free meal, a nice change of pace. I had lobster ravioli, it was very yummy. Max gave me a fabulous present by sleeping well that night.

But the rest of the week was awful, as far as his sleeping went. He had a little cold and woke up multiple times during each night, screaming and then needing to be rocked back to sleep. It peaked on Friday night when he woke up every sleep cycle, literally every 45 minutes...it was exhausting. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who took the 12am-3:30am and the 8am-12pm shifts. Thank goodness his sleep pattern has returned to normal for the past two nights. I was seriously considering Ferberizing him.

The latter part of last week was so beautiful. It rained multiple days. On Thursday I went walking with my friend and her little boy. It was raining so we loaded them on our backs, grabbed our umbrellas, and hoofed it in the rain. Let me just say the ergo baby carrier is amazing I get so much use out of it. While we were walking Max fell asleep so I used the hood to keep his head from flopping around.

On Monday we had family over, it was still chilly out and since we're not allowed to use a BBQ (apartment policy) Jared made and grilled delicious burgers. Mom and Brett brought me an amazing present...a left-handed guitar. I am so excited and can't wait to learn to make beautiful music...I know it's going to take a while and at first it will just be cacophony. I think I will look into taking lessons at the community college or maybe Parks and Rec.

I forgot the most exciting news. On Sunday Max crawled for his first time. He only did one little crawl at a time, but today he's been going two at a time. He is getting very mobile and we really need to baby proof the apartment. Here is a picture of Max from yesterday. He is debuting the stylish leisure suit that Doug's family gave him. Go Eagles!!

Sickly, Sickly

2008-05-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

So it appears as though Max has come down with some sort of bug. He has a really nasty cough, but other than that appears to be in good spirits. His shots went well last week, he was a little sore on Thurs. but was fine on Friday. He has developed a sleeping pattern that I love. Goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 am. Sleep is glorious! The only problem is getting him to sleep. I am still feeding/rocking/walking him until he falls asleep. He won't fall asleep by himself and I'm too much of a weenie to let him "cry it out" Any suggestions?

This weekend was great we went to Torrance on Saturday. My mom watched Max and Jared, Shane, Cousin Mike, Maggie and I went and saw the new Narnia movie. It was very enjoyable. Then we dropped Max off at Grandpa Bob's and went to see "Guys and Dolls". Brett is the Stage Manager and the production was great! Brett rocks at the arts! After the play we went back to Bob's and he cut Max's hair. Max was not such a fan. He is a silly kid; he doesn't like anyone touching his head, hair or ears. Here is a picture of the baby torture.

We had sharing time on Sunday. It went well. Our class is comprised of the Valiants 11 and 12. It is a large class we regularly get 10-12 kids a week. They are good kids but have some discipline issues so we are going to sit them boy-girl next week (hopefully this will help).

I got the Ergo Carrier and Baby Signing Time DVD in the mail this week. I am hoping Max will learn to sign so we can better understand what he wants. He really like to watch the babies on the video. But what I am most excited about is the carrier. I am sad that I didn't have it when Max was an infant. It is so comfy for the both of us. It comes with an instructional dvd and I watched it and practiced with Max yesterday, he was very patient with me. It is so easy to use and to switch from front to back to hip with the child in the carrier (it shows you how in the video). I used it today around the house first I had him in front and then I rotated him to the back when I did the dishes. I also love that he is seated in the carrier and not hanging by his crotch. My neck and back are relieved that I will be retiring the Baby Bjorn.

Well tomorrow is my birthday, no exciting plans but we are going to mom's group at Citrus State Park...if Max isn't sick. I love my little man and would like to leave you all with this pic...isn't he the cutest?

I hate shots!

2008-05-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

Today Max got his 6 month vaccinations...not fun. I just hate it; he is all happy and unsuspecting and then BAM! She hits him with the first one, but it's not until the second one goes in that he realizes what is happening. Then he lets out a blood curdling scream, he scrunches up his face as it turns beet red. Then his eyes fixate on me and it is at that moment I feel like the worst parent on Earth. Here is my little boy in pain looking at me like, "Why are you just staring at me?!? This lady is coming at me with needles and ramming them into my legs! Help me!" As soon as she is done I pick him up and he stops crying, I feel somewhat comforted as I sit down to feed him a bottle. I wonder what Max is really thinking when the nurse is using him like a pin cushion. I hope it fades from his memory quick as I am already having a hard time getting points with the little fellow.

Max's personality continues to blossom. He becomes more like a little boy and less like a baby each day. Yesterday as I was sitting on the ground against the couch playing with him, he turned to me and put his arms around my neck. (For those of you who don't know Max he is not a cuddly child...he is too busy to cuddle.) I was so excited! Finally my little baby wanted to cuddle with me. I then felt him grab something off the couch; it was my cell phone. He was not vying for some motherly love, just trying to grab my cell phone off the couch behind me.

So Max is not a fan of the fruits. We tried bananas this morning for breakfast. After his first bite he started crying and continued to whine until I switched to carrots. I will try to get a video at some point it was pretty funny. Oh I ordered this really cool, ergonomically designed carrier for Max. It is called the Ergo; I bought it off of www.myfavoritebabycarrier.com because they have a 90 day money back guarantee. It is supposed to be comfortable for you and the baby, I have a friend who uses it for her 3 year old daughter. You can wear it in the front, side, or back. Anyways, I am very excited about it. I hope I get it before we go to Sedona. Max is now 29 1/2 inches long and 19.5 lbs. He is a tank and in the Baby Bjorn he puts to much stress on my neck and back.

A Max Update

2008-05-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since the last Max update. Max and I took a road trip with Kelly and Brett to Utah to see Hayley graduate. It was very fun and we had a great time with all the family. Unfortunately, Jared could not go with us he had to work...boohoo. Max did really well until the last day. On Sunday we drove home from St. George to Riverside. Max threw up the entire contents of his stomach in both Las Vegas and Barstow. We had to stop and make costume changes but surprisingly he was a happy camper. I've enclosed a link to photos of the trip.

We had a great Mother's Day. Jared woke up with Max and made me breakfast. Jared and I watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" while Max napped. It was a lovely day. And to top it off Max slept from 9:30 pm until 7:30 am this morning...uninterrupted sleep is fabulous.

Not much going on this week except for some playgroup activities and a trip to the doctor. Max gets his 6 month shots, he's going to be a grump. We are excited to go see Brett's play, "Guys and Dolls" on Saturday. And on Sunday we have sharing time in primary. Oh yeah, Jared and I are team teaching the Valiant 11 and 12 class. Jared taught the lesson yesterday and did an amazing job. Well that's all for now. Here is the link to the Utah pics http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37170&l=e6fd9&id=516042063

Facebook Photo Albums

2008-04-20T15:35:00.001-07:00

Here are the links to two photo albums I posted on Facebook. The first one has various picture from Max's birth to the present. The second one contains pictures from Max's blessing and the most recent pictures including his first tooth. He is still cutting his first tooth and is the biggest grump ever.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34533&l=15642&id=516042063

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34954&l=740ca&id=516042063

Here comes the spaz....

2008-04-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

Max is a spaz and a half... here is a little sample.

Dance Magic Dance

2008-03-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Max is not a fan of Rice Cereal...

2008-03-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

So we decided to film Max's first encounter with solid food. His face is classic...be sure to listen for the raspberry.

Unfashionably Late!

2008-03-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

So it has taken us a couple months to actually put something on this site. (Sorry Grandma and Grandpa!) We will start off with some recent pictures of Maximus and later we'll put up some baby pictures. Okay so here we go...