Canada Day!

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!

"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

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!

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!

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!

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

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.

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...

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!

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.