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).

Max'S Great Escape

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...

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

Family Party

(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

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

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!

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 :(

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

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'

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

Max's 1st Official Haircut

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

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

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

The Happiest Place on Earth

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

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!