A Visit From Grammie and Papa

Tyler's parents came down for a short little visit this weekend. Tyler's dad had a deposition down here in San Diego so his mom (and dad) took the opportunity to spend a little time with Baby Max. It was nice to see them and fun to have them see Max and how much he's changed and grown since Christmas. We had a fun time with them here, as short as their visit was. It's too bad they couldn't stay longer!

Tyler, Sally, Max and I all went to the Wild Animal Park on Monday afternoon. We got to see a baby elephant and a baby rhino. It was really cool.


Then we went to dinner at P.F. Chang's (amazing Chinese food) where we scarfed Mongolian Beef and Lemon Chicken. Then, of course, as it has become a little ritual when Tyler's parents come down here, we rushed over to The Cheesecake Factory for some delicious cheesecake.

I think Max already misses his grandparents.

Daddy Time

Maddox loves LOVES his dad. I swear he likes Tyler more than me most of the time. When Tyler comes home Maddox goes from being this fussy little crazy man to this cute, smiley, adorable little lovey-boy. It's completely unfair. You might want to tell me that I should be happy he loves his daddy so much. But really I'm just annoyed. I am the one who feeds him and changes his diaper and rocks him to sleep all day long. I am the one who comforts and holds and bounces him all day long. So why does Daddy get the smiles and giggles when he gets home and all I get stuck with is a slobbery, stinky, fussy-pants? Is it because Mommy means business and Daddy means fun? I play with him. I take him for walks. What, that's not fun? Maybe it's one of those parenting mysteries that will never ever be solved.

Anywhoo... here are some activities Maddox enjoys with Tyler. (Take note of the HUGE grins and dry tear-less face).

Max enjoys shoulder rides from Tyler.
He especially likes the feeling of Tyler's short hair.


One of Max's favorite things about the morning is getting to shave with Tyler. Tyler pretends to shave Max's face and Max watches Tyler intently as he shaves his own face. It's adorable. He gets SO excited when he hears the razor buzzing.


Even dressing up in CAL gear with Daddy makes Maddox
smile from ear to ear.

I guess I am glad that Tyler is such an amazingly attentive, fun and loving father. If he wasn't those things Max would probably cry when he saw him. (Don't get any ideas about me being a horribly cruel mom and that is why Max cries. He's just a fussy-pants during the day).

Between the Toes

The other day we let Baby Max feel the grass with his feet for the first time. He LOVED it! He loved it so much, he wanted to take some with him when we went inside.

Out On the Town

So Tyler and I went on our first REAL date since Maddox was born (he's 7 months old now). There was one attempt when Max was really young and Tyler's mom was staying with us and we basically got our food to go, didn't eat it and came home and went to sleep. Then about a month ago we had this stupid dinner at Tyler's professor's house where there was an incident with me and shoes and no socks and it was so lame I will NOT consider that a date -- more like a complete waste of my life.

Tuesday night was different though. It was really nice to go out with Tyler for a few hours. Tyler surprised me on Valentine's Day with reservations to The Melting Pot. We didn't go out that night because we were busy, but he made them for Tuesday night. I was SOO excited... I LOVE FONDUE!!! It's so fun to just dip little bits of things in stuff and eat it off a stick... love it!! Anyway, he even lined up a babysitter to come watch Max. (He asked his good friend Sarah from the lab).

So I got all dolled up (which isn't much, not to say that I don't need it, I just don't do much) and put on shoes that were a size too small and Tyler put on some nice pants and we headed out. We made sure the baby was sleeping first, of course. I'm not quite ready to leave him awake with someone.

First we went to Roy's for appetizers. It was SOOO yummy!!! Then we headed out for some fondue. We got there and of course, even with a reservation, they made us wait. Typical Southern California. Anyway, we sat down and within five minutes (I kid you not) of the waiter bringing us our chocolate and dippers plate, we had finished the whole thing. The waiter came back to ask how we were doing and we were done and he was like, "WOAH, you guys ate that fast!!" It was a little embarrassing, but we honestly didn't care.

We were home by 9:30, early I know, but we're parents and we were tired. Needless to say we had a lot of fun just talking about grown-up things and spending some alone time. It was weird though, I missed the baby and wished he was with us. As much as it was nice to go out with Tyler and as much as we really needed it, I still love it when we do things as a family, the three of us, together. I love our little threesome.

But Tyler is a sweetie for taking me out and surprising me and setting it all up. Alone time is definitely pretty sweet.

BaHAhahaHAHahaa

This one speaks for itself!

He Sits Up!

Nothing makes a mother prouder than when her baby reaches each and every milestone of his growing years. First it's opening his eyes. Then smiling. Then rolling over. Then sleeping through the night (for some, this comes much much MUCH later).


Then there is sitting up! Let me tell you, this milestone, above all others, is the one I love the best. (Let me remind some of you that I have a 14 month old sister so I've seen 'em all up till now). And yes, MY BABY SITS UP!! WOO HOO!! Sitting up means I can stop worrying about his poor little flat head all the time. It means we can play with a ball and roll it back and forth. It means he can look at things and play with toys and grab his feet and just do cute sitting-up-baby things. I don't know why I'm so happy about this one. I think maybe it's because when babies sit up I think they look more like real rolly polly babies. Their tummies hang over their diapers, the legs pudge out, and they wave their arms around and it's so stinkin' cute!

So anyway, congratulations to my sittin' up baby boy! I'm a very proud mama.

Oh, and he's also begun to scoot (almost crawl) ALL over the place. He gets all over the place now by scooting his little feet and pulling with his arms. He gets up on his knees and rocks and stuff, but no crawling yet; any day now. His favorite thing as of late is to play with power cords. If you have any suggestions as to stop that fun little game, please, I'm all ears (or eyes if you want to leave a comment).

Take a Look at My Sweetie Little Sweetie

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This is what real love is. Not flowers or candy or diamonds (although those are pretty stinkin' nice). Real love is looking into the eyes of your sweet little baby and knowing without a doubt that he loves you and trusts you and wants you and needs you and realizing that you feel exactly the same way.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

(Come on, for those of you who really know me, you know I'm a sap, so don't be surprised at the sappiness of the post)

Screechy Cough McFakerson

So Maddox has this new thing he likes to do. It's called the "fake cough". He coughs as loud as he possibly can to the point where it sounds like he is coughing and screaming at the same time like he is about to die. At first it was cute, then it became kind of funny. And now it is embarrassing.

We were in Target and Max decided to bust out his screechy pterodactyl voice. He then decided to kick it up a notch by adding the super loud cough at the end. Well, it was so loud and so screechy and so really fake sounding that this old lady was like, "Honey, I think your baby is choking on something!" And I didn't really know what to say. I mean, should I tell the lady that my baby is just a loud little ham and and make her feel bad for pipping up (and I'm not even going to mention the fact that people should mind their own business), or should I say thank you and pretend to pull an imaginary dime out of his throat. I think I just smiled as my face reddened and said "thank you".

My interpretation of the screech and cough is that he just wants attention. Mattie did this for a while, not as loud or obnoxiously as Max of course, because of course my baby is the loudest and most obnoxious of them all. But I love him anyway.

Here is a video showcasing his new-found sounds. This video does not really do it justice. It's mostly screeching which is quite impressive on it's own as it reaches decibles that only dogs can hear. (And I apologize ahead of time for the shaky camera movements and loud "boos" in the background).

Helmet Shmelmet... Who Needs It??

So Maddox will NOT be wearing the helmet afterall. Apparently he is allergic to the foam that is used to make the helmets that are manufactured in the United States. So, technically we could probably go to like Peru or Mexico and get some weird space-aged material kind or something else weird they have down there, but most likely we will stay on US soil and rejoice in small miracles.

See, I have a confession to make. I did NOT want Max to wear the helmet. I hated it. I hated the idea of it. To me, his head is perfect. I don't want to change him. I can't really explain my logic, because motherhood is not always logical, but last night I had this completely overwhelming feeling that we should not be putting him in a helmet and that if we didn't everything would be okay. But I couldn't quite tell if it was just me being paranoid and neurotic or if it was something more.

Boy did I get my answer.

When we got up this morning Maddox wore the helmet for a few hours and I started to notice big red welts around his face. I took off the helmet and they were all over his head so I took him back to the Ortho office and Ellie, our orthotist, confirmed that it was an allergic reaction to the helmet. She said it happens in about 1 in 5 bagillion kids who wear the helmet (meaning it hardly ever happens, she had never actually seen it before Max). She then noticed welts on my arms -- apparently Max got his skin from me.

Anyway, I am grateful for small miracles. We were looking for a definite answer as to the helmet question. I suppose I can be content knowing that I did in fact do everything I could to fix him and make him perfect. What he doesn't have to know is that I didn't think he needed to be fixed. I think he is perfect the way he is!

My Baby's a Dancin' Fool!!

Nude Is the New Black

Since nude is totally in right now, I thought I'd post up a couple shots of my birthday-suit clad son. Don't worry, he's got a diaper on (it's way too dangerous to have that kid without a diaper for more than 10 seconds since he still pees on everything every chance he gets).

First... the thighs...


Next... check out those baby pythons...

And last but not least... Max is really in his element when he gets to play with a toy that spins and isn't wearing any clothes...

(He's seriously concentrating here people).

Daddy's Little Helper

Maddox got a HUGE kick out of doing the laundry with Tyler the other day. He was such a huge help, too. You know, drooling all over our clean laundry.

Yes, he's actually sitting in the laundry basket. And smiling.

And of course, right as we were lifting him out of his new favorite place to play and gnaw and drool, he spit up all over our clean clothes. So typical!