We made it through 2 years!

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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

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).