Bittersweet

Our Christmas this year was bittersweet -- to say the least (well, to me anyway). On one hand, I was so excited to have a Christmas with Max (his second one) (and Mattie, too -- my first one with her) where he was excited about presents and toys. I wanted him to feel the spirit of Christmas and to be excited. He learned who Santa is and every time he sees any picture of Santa or something that looks Christmasy or any man with a beard (including Jesus) he says "HO HO HO!" really loud. He even ho-ho's at old men in the grocery store.

And I was really excited that no one was sick this year. Last year was a disaster and this year everyone was healthy and content. I was really excited about the presents I was giving this year. I thought they were pretty great (picture me huffing on my knuckles and rubbing them on my shirt). Tyler made a great DVD for my dad and his parents of Max videos. I made a couple of really adorable slide shows for my parents of Max and Mattie (which made them cry when they saw it -- go me!). I made an adorable tu-tu (thanks Mariah!) for Mattie that she wore around all day on Christmas. Max got some great toys -- ones I knew he would love!! I made Christmas cookies and decorated our house and listened to Christmas music (including the 40 songs Max bought for us from itunes -- that's another post to come, and trust me people, it's a good one).

And don't get me wrong, all of that was great and spirited and fun. But always in the back of my mind, through the whole month, I knew that at the end of it all, it really was the end. My mom was not that in to Christmas this year because she was stressed about moving across the country the day after Christmas and it just kind of but a bittersweet feeling on the whole holiday.

Christmas Eve we spent at my parent's house, among boxes full of their belongings ready to load onto the truck in two days. It was fun, Max got tired fast and so we left pretty early and took him home. But the food was good (stuffed shrimp was awesome and the bacala and macaroni) and it was fun to relax with my family for one last Christmas in that house and eat our Christmas Eve fish.


Christmas Day was at our house. It was a zoo in our little apartment. But we had ham and mashed potatoes and creamed peas and it was yummy!! We opened presents and played with the kids' new toys. We went outside and ran around with them. This was the last day Mattie was here. The day after Christmas Danielle and my mom flew her to CT to stay with my Aunts while my mom finished up the packing here. So like I said -- bittersweet.

They are all gone now. My parents left this morning. The truck full of all their belongings left last night. I feel like I am closing a chapter of my life. That now I am starting a new page in a new book. I'm hoping the story gets better. I'm hoping the hurt and sadness I feel at Mattie going away gets less and less. Afterall, she was practically my baby, I cared for her like she was mine.

My Christmas was merry. Not very merry, but merry enough. I got some great presents, and most important of all, I saw my little boy so excited about all his great gifts and having his house full of guests (he loves guests) and it was good.

Merry Christmas!!

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on... but for now...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Our Little Musicman

Max LOVES music. He always has. He's very particular about music, too, especially when we are in the car. There are only certain CDs I can listen to at certain times. Sometimes particular songs must be played over and over again (he will ask and whine or cry if I don't).

We've been taking the kids to a Spanish music class every week for a while now (since he was about 6 months old) and Max just soaks it all up like a sponge. He loves it. He loves playing with the instruments and dancing.

He loves to play his little piano and sing, too. Here's a video we finally got of him with his little music routine. He does this a lot -- climb up on the couch, get his little piano, and sit there and sing for us while he plays.

So we've always known he's had a love for music. What really solidified it for us though is when Max climbed up onto our kitchen table and bought 40 Christmas songs from itunes all by himself. Isn't that nice? Somehow he climbed there, found a Christmas play list of songs itunes had and managed to buy THE WHOLE LIST. Thank goodness they were all mostly good songs. But still... we're going to deduct the amount it cost us from his allowance when he starts getting one.

My Marriage Meme

I started this a while ago and I guess I never posted it! So here goes!

1. Where did you meet your husband? The first time I actually met Tyler was at a Family Home Evening activity at the Institute in Berkeley. I didn't expect much because I already didn't like him. See, I was in charge of keeping our Missionary board up-to-date which meant asking the guys on missions to send us a short letter and photo to place on a big map of the world. It was really cute. And wouldn't you know -- Tyler was the ONLY missionary who ignored us. So I thought he was a jerk. Yet I was surprised at how cute he was when I actually met him and that made me hate him even more.

2. What was the first thing you said to him? I think it was something like, "Oh, you are the jerk who ignored our letter and acted like he was too good for our wall." Seriously, I think it was something like that.

3. Where was your first date? Kiss? HA. That's a funny story actually. The date part -- not the kiss part. The kiss part is sweet. So Tyler and I had become pretty good friends in a short amount of time and he called me one night in October and asked me if I wanted to go shopping with him in San Francisco because he needed a new pair of dress pants and a belt or something. Since we were already friends I thought we were just going to go hang out, like friends, no pressure, definitely NOT a date. Well, apparently Tyler was planning an ambush date (he will argue completely against this fact of course) because it wasn't long until he was trying to put his arm around me. I shrugged him off at first, to test him, and he went right back for more. So yeah, our first date was an ambush. But I didn't complain too much, we cuddled all the way home on the BART and while we watched a movie with some friends (secretly of course). Actually, our first date is one of the fondest memories I have with Tyler!

4. Did you have a long or short courtship? Way WAY short. Shorter than I ever would have imagined, ever. I always said that I could never be one of those girls that gets engaged or married after only a few months, that it would have to be at least a few years. Well, yeah, that went out the window. Tyler and I dated from October through December and got engaged in the beginning of January, married at the end of June. We knew we wanted to get married after a few weeks though (so crazy I know) but he's been the man of my dreams ever since!

5. Where did you get engaged? Well, Tyler proposed to me in the same spot on campus where we had our first kiss. This light post right by the library. It was wonderful. I didn't cry or anything, I was way to excited. I had been waiting and waiting for him to do it! We decided we wanted to get married a while before we actually got engaged and had shopped and picked out the ring together and I was dying with anticipation for it to actually become official. He got down on one knee and asked me (I think he was a little nervous).

6. Where did you get married? We were sealed in the Oakland Temple on June 27th, 2003 in Oakland, California.

7. How did the reception go? Not so well. It was hard with all the stress of the day to enjoy it. The day we got married it was SUPER HORRIBLY hot. Record breaking hot. There was a lot of tension with all the families and that added to a lot of stress, plus the heat -- it was a recipe for disaster. The building we had our reception in was the Berkeley Institute (Phoebe Hearst's mansion). It's a gorgeous building and we assumed it had air conditioning because it never got very hot in the building (and we could have sworn that cold air came out of the vents during church on Sundays freezing us to death). So on the day we got married it was REALLY hot in the building and we thought the AC had broken. The bishop called a repair guy to come and look at it and the guy came back down from the roof and told us that the building didn't have air conditioning. We were all shocked. The bishop and his counselors raced home and grabbed as many fans as they could to try and cool it off. We were married in the morning and our reception was in the afternoon and by the time we got there my bouquet had died, the icing on our cake had melted (despite the valiant efforts of our baker with his mini fans trying to cool it off) and most of our guests and wedding party were miserable. It wasn't at all what I had planned or hoped for. I was glad when it was over. I did appreciate all the efforts of everyone who helped though!!

8. How was the honeymoon? It was wonderful. I love vacations in general with Tyler, but our honeymoon was great. We spent the first night in the fabulous Claremont in Berkeley. The room they sent us to first was beautiful, but the air conditioner had broken (because it was so hot that the system got overloaded -- it had never been that hot before). So they upgraded us to this amazing room with Bay views, a HUGE jacuzzi tub -- it was AMAZING!!! We spent a fortune on an amazing dinner in our room, too. We had a great breakfast and then got on a plane and flew to Las Vegas to spend a night before we drove to Zion National Park to stay in a wonderful hotel that Tyler's aunts and uncles had given us as a wedding gift. Zion's was beautiful (really hot -- no surprise there) and it was so nice to have so much uninterrupted time together. After a few days there we drove back to Vegas, saw a Blue Man Group show (I was gunning for Celine but she was sold out) which was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. We had plans to go to Great America (Six Flags in San Jose) but I got sick and we had to cut the last couple days short. But we had a wonderful time together.

So that was fun!! I'm tagging Lauren, Molly, Brooke, and Tiffany.

Evel Knievel died and then entered the body of my baby...

Max has become a little dare-devil lately. And that is putting it lightly. On Thanksgiving we found him like this:

And this:

He had taken all the pan lids out of the drawer one by one and then he was really quiet for a while so we started to wonder what the heck had happened. And there he was, in the drawer.

This morning he had scaled our built in bookshelf, made it to the third shelf and then I grabbed him so quickly that it scared him half to death. Hopefully he was scared so bad he won't do it again.

Last night he figured out to how to climb on his little chair and leap onto the edge of our papasan chair, pull himself into it and climb out, proudly declaring "I DID IT!!" The video isn't great because he tends to clam up as soon as he sees the camera, but you get the idea.

If there is something climbable you better believe he will climb it. He climbs into his high chair on his own, up slides and stairs and ladders. He's crazy. And we love him!

Photo Shoot

On Thanksgiving I had a photo shoot with Max and Mattie. Kids are SO not easy to photograph. But this was my first one and I don't think they turned out that bad. I wanted to doctor them all up in photoshop but my free trial expired before I got to it so that will have to wait.

Here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Max and Mattie Shoot

You're IT!!

I was tagged a super long time ago by Molly (sorry!) and I'm finally getting around to doing this! I love being tagged! Makes me feel wanted. So here goes...

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I am obsessed with cookbooks. All kinds. I love to collect old ones and new ones -- any ones really. My most cherished one was a gift from my grandmother. It was her mother's and was given to my grandmother for a wedding gift. I remember my grandmother cooking out of it my whole life. I love it!!

2. I am terrified of spiders. So terrified in fact that sometimes I make Tyler come home from wherever he is to kill them because I become paralyzed with fear. But, most people are freaked by spiders so it isn't that weird that I am, too. What is weird is that I like to leave the dead spider guts on the wall or ceiling for a while because I fully believe that other spiders will see their dead comrades and think twice before parking it on my paint. (Hmm... maybe that's a little too weird to be sharing with the internet of world).

3. I am a vicious neat freak. You may not be able to tell by the looks of my house on a regular basis, but I a seriously obsessed with things being in their proper place. I hate clutter, extra stuff I don't need, and reserve two drawers in my closet to shove stuff in and regularly have nightmares about it. I can't sleep if there are dishes in the sink, clothes unfolded, toys not put away. I pick up the house at least 5 times a day (I'm not exaggerating). So even though the outward appearance of my house is that of chaos, please know that it drives me nuts NUTS nuts and one day I will have cute matching boxes all labeled and lined up on shelves with all of my (our) stuff neatly arranged, nothing out of place, all ORGANIZED. One day...

4. I love LOVE love crafts and art and doing them and looking at them and thinking up projects. I love it all. I could spend hours and hours walking up and down the aisles of a craft store over and over again. My head is always churning out ideas for things I could make and market and sell and earn money for. My only regret is that I don't have enough time to do all fun crafty things I want to do.

5. My bed has to be perfectly made and only I know how to do it perfectly right. Especially before I go to bed at night, the covers have to be perfectly smooth, no wrinkles, and then I can go to sleep. (I'm thinking this list is making me look a little OCD... but so what if I am).

6. I plan on writing THE Great American Novel someday. I have about 200 stories already started and I'm waiting for that light-bulb moment to hit me. Seriously I wait for it daily. I try to force the light bulb on sometimes. But I know that some day it will hit me and I will be a famous writer and they will make college students read my book and write papers about it and analyze the many facets of it.

So... there you go.

I now tag Nancy, Monique, Chelsea, Lindsay, Vanessa and Hairyshoefairy. Now come on ladies... step up. It's fun!!

The Stinkin' Rotten No-Good Horrible Day!

So the other day I woke up to clouds and wind and rain and I thought, today is going to be a great day! (I LOVE the rain and don't get enough of it down here in San Diego). Boy was I wrong.

I decided that I wanted Max to wear the new pair of pants I bought him but realized I had left them in the car. After searching for our only umbrella for about 20 minutes with no luck, I decided to just run quickly to the car, grab the pants and run back in. As I was running to the car, I fell. Hard. In the mud. This wasn't a graceful fall, it was a big, sad, mud up all over my face, hair and back fall. It was so bad I had to take another shower and wash my hair TWICE.

With that freak show over I decided I had to go to Target and Michaels to pick up a few things. Michaels went pretty smoothly. Target was another story. I rushed around grabbing what I needed, got through the line, paid for my stuff and on my way through the automatic doors the sensors go off telling me I've stolen something and I will be utterly humiliated in front of many people while my child screams bloody murder. I wonder what the heck it could have been that I walked out of there with when I look down in front of me to Max who is bawling in his stroller and notice a bright red Elmo sitting in his lap. Apparently he had grabbed it off a shelf when I wasn't looking and in my haste to get a fussy baby out of the store, hadn't realized I was walking out with it. I kind of panicked at that point and said "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'll pay for it." So not only did I teach my son a wonderful lesson (if you steal it and get caught, mommy will buy it for you anyway) but I ended up spending $12 for a stupid Elmo doll (that Max now carries around kissing and rocking like a little baby).

To make matters worse, when I finally fled to the safety of my car, I couldn't find Max's blanket (this is THE blanket, the one he hardly ever lets of out his sight). I realized he must have dropped it somewhere in the store. So I had to go BACK into the store and run around looking for it. I even asked the woman at the front desk who looked at me like I was nuts. By a miracle I'm sure, I found the blanket, made it to the car and drove home, crying all the way.

On top of all of that, Max wouldn't take a nap the whole day. He becomes impossibly impossible when he doesn't get a nap.

It was the worst day ever. Ever. Ever ever.

But I can't be mad at this face... look at how cute he is!!

Blue

My boy has the most beautiful blue eyes (I can say that, I'm his mom).

This kid cracks me up...

He seriously had me rolling on the floor dying with laughter. He taught himself how to do this. It is hilariously adorable!!

Turkey Dinners

I am thankful for a lot of things on a regular basis -- the fact that a baby counts as a second person for the carpool lane, afternoon naps, hot showers, that noodle bowl from Pei Wei. This year I am very thankful that Thanksgiving means turkey dinner. Is that a little shallow? Probably. Oh well.

This year we had a nice low-key Thanksgiving. I did most of the cooking (the only thing I didn't make were the pumpkin pies, the turkey and stuffing and the salad). My mom made a fabulous turkey and the most delicious gravy (I am a gravy NUT). Bob's uncle and his wife came for dinner, too. They live in Riverside but we are now only getting together with them since my parents are moving. Kind of weird how that happens. Anyway, they were very nice (and his wife has a grandson whose middle name is Maddox -- weird!).

My friend Bill from high school came for dinner, too. Since he is moving to Taiwan it was nice to get to see him one last time. He's been keeping in touch with my parents for years even when I moved away so he's like a brother (we'll miss you Billy).

I had a photo shoot with Mattie and Max, too. I'll post an album of those pictures when I'm finished going through them. They are adorable!! Mattie has these fairy wings that she likes to wear around with a tutu. It's so girly and wonderful.



Okay... so for 10 things I'm really thankful for (#11 being Turkey Dinners) (in no particular order):

1. a healthy happy baby boy
2. the love of my youngest sister
3. the love of my ever-patient husband
4. my own health -- at least I'm alive!
5. money, as little as we have
6. a cozy apartment to shelter our family
7. a bed for my baby
8. cameras so I don't miss a second of my little man growing up or my big man growing old
9. mothers
10. perspective

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Disneyland

Mattie and Max went to Disneyland for the first time. My parents wanted to take the kids before they made the big move back East. Mattie is really into Disney movies right now, her favorites being Cinderella and Little Mermaid. When she wants to watch them she points at the TV and says "waaaa" because to her, the princesses sing like that. Anyway, both of the kids were in awe of Disneyland.

We only took them on a couple rides (the tea cups (where I wanted to yak), Dumbo (where Mattie went a little crazy with the controls -- the reason why I strapped Max in super tight so he couldn't touch the controls), the merry-go-round, a train ride, and It's a Small World which was decked out for the holidays). They loved every ride and even asked to go on them again. We only went for a few hours because my mom didn't want to push it with the kiddies. They LOVED the small world ride and were completely still for the whole ride just staring at all the little [creepy] dolls (did I say that?).


Mattie didn't actually get to see any Disney princesses but she did see a lot of little girls dressed like the Disney characters and thought whole-heartedly they were real and was so excited.
It was a fun time and I wish we could have stayed longer and taken them on more stuff. I wish Tyler had been with us, too. He would have loved to see Max light up on the rides and I would have loved not having to go on them (I know, aren't I lame now).

15 Month Check-Up

Maddox had his 15 month check-up with Dr. Archie and he did great -- except for the whole shots thing, he wasn't too keen on that part. The room we were in had a large dinosaur mural on the wall and when Dr. Archambault asked Max what they were he said "dinesore". I had no idea he knew that. And of course he wouldn't say it again. The doctor was impressed. I on the other hand knew what a complete fluke it was.

Max is now just tipping the scales at 20lbs. And I mean BARELY tipping the scales. He is also 30 inches tall. So, basically, Max is as big as a normal 10 month. I know, he's very small... but oh so darling!! Dr. Archie still mentions the possibility of using a growth hormone when he is older. I am considering it more and more because it's one thing to be a shorty girl, but a shorty boy? I think that is so much harder. Poor kid. At least I have a few years before we have to decide.

Anyway, he had four shots. He cries harder as he gets older but he doesn't cry as long, so I guess that's better. He did great, was only fussy for most of the next day and is now up-to-date on all his immunizations (despite my overwhelming unfounded fear of autism -- but that's a whole different post).

I think for the first 15 months of his life we've done okay! Go us!

Ooo... Planes!!

Max is obsessed with planes. Every time he hears the sound of a plane or helicopter or any other kind of thing with an engine that might be in the sky we have to stop, look up, point out the plane and wait until we can't hear it anymore. He loves to point them out, too. He searches the sky until he can't hear them anymore or until he finds them and then can't hear them anymore.


And living a couple miles from Miramar (the Marine Corps air station) means we have LOTS of opportunities to hear, stop, point and stare.

The strange thing is that his love of airplanes does not translate to loving them while actually being on them. In that case he absolutely hates them with every fiber of his being. Poor kid... I wonder what will happen when he realizes that the two are the same. That might be a "bake a pan of brownies and eat the whole entire thing day".

Happy...

{HALLOWEEN}

Halloween is my favorite holiday! Not because I like candy (which I do, but it's not a staple in my diet). I love the season, the scariness, the costumes, the history, autumn, caramel apples, apple cider, powdered donuts, haunted houses (the idea of them, not actually going to them), witches, ghosts -- I love it all!

This year Max was a dinosaur. He was ADORABLE!


And Mattie was supposed to be a ladybug but refused to wear the costume so she was a witch again. Still SOO CUTE!

My mom and I were going to take the kids trick-or-treating around her neighborhood but decided it would be more traumatic than fun for them, plus, we didn't want them to have candy. So, they were having a little Halloween party here at Mesa at the park and we took them there. It was pretty fun, Max and Mattie had fun people watching. There were tons of little kids dressed up in their cute costumes and yummy healthy food. It was the perfect thing to do on Halloween for little kids who don't know about trick-or-treating yet.

Then Tyler and I had cider and powdered donuts after Max went to bed. It was a nice Halloween.

Mattie Update

I thought I'd give a little Mattie Rose update. She's getting SO big!! She's about as tall as a lot of 3 year olds so when people see her I think they expect her to do and know more, but she's not even 2 yet. She's adorable and oh so SASSY. I swear, she is all three of us women rolled in to one.

When we were in Connecticut there was an incident where Mattie kicked Max because he wanted to get up on the same chair as her and she wasn't having any of that. Bob turned to her and told her no, don't kick. She looked at him and in her most serious yelling voice said "THESE MY BOOTS. THESE MY BOOTS!!!" referring to the boots she was wearing. In her little girl opinion, those were her boots and she had a right to kick anyone she wanted with them. She then stuck her tongue out and laughed. It's cute now, but when she's ten, will we still think it's that cute?

Another thing she does is that she will point at pictures and say "I did that!" when in actuality it is like the Mona Lisa or some picture hanging in a restaurant. She also points to her own paintings and says she did those, too. But it's cute that she likes to think she's so creative. She also loves to say "wow!!" when she sees things that make her really excited

She can say some colors and numbers now, too. It's hard to understand sometimes, but she knows them and can count, too.

You can totally have a conversation with her now, too. She babbles all the time and tells stories, it's adorable. This video is super cute. We're in Dairy Queen and she's eating ice cream and it's really cold.



She's wonderful and growing and learning so quickly. She runs like Steve Martin and laughs when people get hurt. She eats ice cream like it's going out of style and loves to go "uppie down" at the park (which means walking up and down the stairs over and over again). She loves the swings and shoes and she has LOTS of shoes. She calls me Ne-na and says "mon Ne-na" meaning "come on Nina." She really is more like my daughter than my sister. I love her TONS!!! (I don't want her to leave!)

FIRESTORM 2007

I'm sure most of you by now have heard of the Southern California wildfires, or as the local news stations so aptly named it "FIRESTORM 2007". Let me tell you that it was actually kind of scary. On Sunday afternoon before Alice and Julie left we noticed huge plumes of smoke coming over the hills towards the west. I figured it was just some distant wildfire and nothing to worry about. Little did we know that by Sunday night and Monday morning it was raining ash and smoke and only got worse as the week went on. The smoke was so bad that we had to keep all the doors and window shut despite the 80-90 degree temperatures outside. It was a good thing the smoke blotted out the sun for the most part.


Anyway, we were very close to the evacuation zones but never actually got the reverse 911 call to leave. But it was kind of surreal when I was running around the house preparing and packing in case we did have to leave. I'm a planner and I like to be prepared. And it wasn't to paranoid of me either because they evacuated Scripps Ranch which and Miramar which is pretty dang close. Anyway, I walked through the house looking at all our stuff and realized that in fact, it was just all stuff. It was ALL replaceable. I grabbed the few pictures we had hanging on the walls that couldn't be replaced, our wedding album, computers, some clothes and that was it. It made me realize that this stuff around me doesn't define me or us or the things that are most important like family, marriage and my beautiful baby. It was quite freeing.

My parents were in a voluntary evacuation zone. The fires in Rancho Santa Fe were only a few miles from their house, but because they are located beyond lots of businesses they weren't in real danger, although they could see embers and stuff in the air.

It's hard to live down here and not know someone personally who was affected by these fires. Whole neighborhoods went up in ashes in a matter of minutes -- and those ashes blew all over our deck and car and everything else that was outside, but let's focus on the important things, right?

The air quality was so bad that Tyler decided to take Max up to his parents' house in Sonora for the rest of the week so his little lungs could be healthy and not full of ash and soot for the rest of his life. I think he had a great time with his cousins and grandparents.

We survived FIRESTORM 2007 (if you say it in a big booming TV voice it's way more intimidating). We're so grateful to all those firefighters and their families. I always seem to relate more the the wives and moms of those firefighters because that's who I am.

Baby to Big Boy

Maddox is getting SO big!! Not physically size wise, because he's as big as a normal 10 month old (and I'm not even kidding). But his intellect is getting incredibly big. He understands EVERYTHING!! It's crazy. We're at the point where we have to spell out words now. Milk, outside, bye bye, toys, blanket, pacifier, bath, car, breakfast, lunch, dinner -- the list goes on and on.

He also answers yes and no questions with purpose. He means what he says, too. He'll answer questions like:
Do you want to go outside? (head shake yes)
Do you want to go home? (emphatic head shake no -- especially if we are at my mom's or at the park)
Do you ____________ (fill in the blank and you'll get a yes or no, I promise).

He's just getting smarter and smarter every day and consistently amazes Tyler and me. He also knows how to point out his body parts when we ask him in both English AND Spanish. I'm not sure how he learned the Spanish ones so fast, but he does it!

Oh and he sings songs now too. Not with the actual words, but in his own little language. He sings Itsy Bitsy Spider, the Clean Up song and when we ask him how Cinderella sings he goes "waaa". It's super cute. I'll have to get some video of these things, soon. He's so hard to take video now because he wants to grab the camera or run away.

WE LOVE OUR LITTLE MAN!!

The Aunts

Okay, so they aren't exactly related to Max by blood -- but they are nestled deep down in his tiny little heart. My super-duper best friends and college roommates (Alice I lived with for years, Julie I never lived with but practically did by default) came down for a little visit! It was SOOOO good to have some real adult time with people I love. Even if it was just taking Alice's brother Kevin to Costco and Target (to buy a Wii).

We went to the heart-breaking CAL vs. UCLA game. Stupid UCLA -- they are such biters!!


We had brunch at a little place called Brockton Villa on the coast in downtown La Jolla. I felt like I had a life again! (Not that I don't love being a mom -- please, no haters).

Max fell in love with both Julie and Alice. When I asked him if he loved Julie he nodded his head yes and when I asked him if he wanted to marry her he shook his head even more emphatically.

I had a great time with you girls and I can't wait to see you in about a week!

Strawberry Hollow: Reminiscing From Days Long Gone

When I imagine the fall season in my head, I picture a little red barn, a long sweeping hill winding into a large flat pumpkin patch, beautiful fall leaves, a tractor and lots of orange pumpkins. I even imagine the wonderful fall scents -- fresh cut pumpkins, damp fallen leaves, rain on pavement, crisp winds. The perfect embodiment of this season is Strawberry Hollow.


It's a small pumpkin patch on a winding shaded road in Connecticut that we would go to every year to get our pumpkins at Halloween (well, actually, we went to a couple of other orchards to get pumpkins because they were cheaper -- but we still went to Strawberry Hollow to take pictures). I have a lot of fond memories of my favorite time of year there. It is just so quaint and quiet and New Englandy. I LOVE IT!!


It was so fun to be able to take the next generation of kids there, too. We took Max and Mattie there one cloudy afternoon when we were back East. They had a blast running around. Max tried to pick up all the huge pumpkins -- he even made grunting noises like he was trying, it was too funny.

Mattie liked kicking the leaves. She doesn't really like to pose for pictures, but I promise she was happy and smiley while we were there.


Maddox also enjoyed pulling every little pumpkin down from here and watching it fall on the ground. He pretty much dismantled the whole set-up.



I really do love this place. It is just so pretty! And it's like I always say, you can take a girl out of New England, but you can't take New England out of a girl. It's sooo true.

Connecticut again!

Thanks to my parents, Max and I got to go back to Connecticut again! It had been almost exactly a year since we had been there last. Max spent his first Halloween there last year, and although it wasn't quite Halloween yet, it was close enough. Although, the leaves hadn't all changed yet, there was only a hint of red, magenta and orange. But it was nice to go back home and visit with the family.


It was a quick trip (my parents were going to look for houses since they are moving back there around the first of the year) so we didn't get to see everybody, but it was still lots of fun.

The first night we were there Mattie found this adorable mini tea set and was pouring pretend drinks for everyone -- or "waa" (like "water" without the "ter" part) as she says.


Max loved being around my cousins Stephanie and Kimberly (who graciously shares a birthday with him) and of course entertaining the rest of the family who came over every night to play. My Aunt Angela helped me out during the day, along with my grandmother, while I had both kids to watch so my parents could go house-hunting.

The kids did great! The plane ride on the way there was as smooth as it could be, no major meltdowns. The ride home was a different story. We were all exhausted from getting very little sleep the night before (we had to get up at 3am to drive to the airport for a 6am flight -- yuck) so dealing with Max, who is the MOST wiggly baby EVER and Mattie who can get rather cranky without a nap, was REALLY REALLY hard. It took a lot for me not to just start crying -- and mostly because I knew if I started I probably wouldn't be able to stop. But the rest of the trip the kids were great, they slept well and ate well and completely enjoyed all the attention.

We also got to see my Dad. He met us at the park and as soon as Maddox saw him, his face just lit up. I couldn't believe he recognized him! It was adorable. Mattie on the other hand did not like my dad. She saw him and just started yelling. It was really funny.


Also, it was the first time Max and Mattie had shared bath time. They pretty much ignored each other, except for the occasional whack or kick from Mattie to Max when he stole a toy or got in the way of her mermaid-ing (where she lays on her tummy in the bath and kicks her legs).

We had a great time and miss everyone already! We can't wait to go back!

New Look

So here is the new banner made by the wonderfully talented Christine Jenkins. Isn't she great? I may do some more tweaking here and there, but I'm liking the new look a lot. What do you think?

Bates Nut Farm

Desperately grasping at any indication of fall and Halloween my mom and I took the kids to Bates Nut Farm in Escondido (or as my good friend says -- Nates Butt Farm). Tyler took the afternoon off, too. We let the kids run around the pumpkin patch and they had a blast. And even though we were surrounded by pancake hills and 80 degree weather it was nice to get out for the afternoon, pick out pumpkins and spend some time with the family.

BEST Birthday EVER!!

While this blog is mostly all about Max, I just wanted to post up what a wonderful weekend I had for my birthday. Tyler surprised me with a romantic drive up the coast and a stay at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. AND, the best part was that we left Maddox at home!! Okay, so I did miss him while we were away (surprisingly), but it was so SO nice to go somewhere and not be on "baby time" but on our own time, doing our own thing, being completely spontaneous and taking as long as we want to go wherever we want.

Maddox stayed with my mom (she was wonderful to watch him and Mattie for the weekend) while we stayed one night in the Wilhelm Tell Room -- a surreal experience to say the least. This entire hotel is composed of the most zany, off-the-wall, interesting looking rooms. Like this one and this one and oh, my, this one! Take a look at the website for pictures of all their rooms. This place has no words to describe it. It's gaudy and loud and bright and as Tyler so aptly commented, "so Italian".

We wound our way down the coast, through Oxnard and Santa Barbara. It was beautiful! And mother nature gave me the best present -- RAIN!! If you know me at all, you know how much I love rain, gray sky and blustery cold weather. So it was the perfect weekend with spurts of rain and crisp weather -- it felt just like the real Fall season (you know, the one in New England), my favorite time of year!
We had dinner in the steak house at the Madonna Inn. We split a steak that was really yummy. But Tyler will agree that the best part was the men's restroom. The urinal was a huge rock waterfall. When you stood in front of it, water came pouring down the face of the rocks to wash away the pee pee. It was really funny -- and yes, I went in to snap a picture, albeit not a great one because I was too nervous someone would walk in.

The dining room was so elaborately decorated it almost gave me a headache. But like I said -- there are no words to fully describe this place. It is a MUST SEE if you feel like heading up that way.

On our way home we checked out downtown SLO and Santa Barbara, stopping for a couple of burgers and some onion rings to watch some of the football games. It was really fun. And of course, no vacation is complete without lots of ice cream, which we had at Cold Stone.


I wish the weekend had never ended!! It was wonderful and romantic and just what Tyler and I needed, especially me.

So thanks sweetie for giving me a birthday I'll never forget!! (Isn't he just the greatest??)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Now that I've lived a quarter century I am much smarter and wiser.


Yeah right. Basically, all that has changed is that now I have to check a different box on surveys and forms for my age group.


I do find some solace in the fact that I will always be younger (and smarter) than Tyler.

So Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Language Skillz

So Maddox has turned in to quite the little chatterbox lately. He babbles constantly but with a definite purpose. He tells stories and points at things to tell me what he sees. He doesn't know the words so he makes up his own. It's adorable, of course.

He points at planes and helicopters in the sky or just points up towards the sky when he hears them. He will point out the window in the car and just start talking and talking.

He does say a few words clearly. The only new one is "YA!" for yes. He understands TONS of stuff and I think we've entered the land of having to spell words out now.

List of phrases he will say "ya" (yes) to:

Do you want breakfast/lunch/dinner?
Do you want to get in your high chair?
Do you want to take a bath? (He will also run over to the bathroom)
Do you want to go outside?
Do you want to a snack?
Do you want your milk?
Do you want to watch a show?
Do you want to go to the park?

I'm probably forgetting some. When he says "ya" he makes this cute little smile and claps his hands together. It makes a mommy's heart melt. What makes her heart melt even more is how amazingly fast he learns and understands things. I'll be glad when he can actually talk though. I think we will be able to sidestep a lot of whining and tantrum throwing (which has become a regular part of our day now!! Yippee for me!!)

Quarantined

We've had to quarantine Max the last two days. Okay, so not really, but he does have a rash that in the olden days would have made him quarantined. On Sunday morning he woke up with what looked like little swollen mosquito bites on his face. By the time he was done eating breakfast it had morphed into this huge red patch and spread all over his cheeks, arms, legs and bottom. It wasn't on his chest, stomach or back though.

We took him to the emergency room, not because it was an emergency, but because it was the only place open early on a Sunday morning. We waited for three hours to finally be seen for (literally) 10 seconds by the attending physician. All of that for him to tell us that he needed some Benadryl and rest.

Poor little kid, we doped him up with Benadryl and put him straight to bed and he slept for like four hours.

He woke up this morning still covered in rash and it had spread to his chest. My step-dad said that it wasn't that big of a deal. It's nothing serious, just some kind of rash caused by a random virus. It looks a lot worse than it is. And, Max is lucky that it doesn't itch since it covers every inch of his body, including his joints which are swollen. His ears were pretty swollen, too.

Let's hope he gets better SOON!!

Here's a slide show to get the full effect: