He walks... for real... I KNOW!!

Maddox is officially walking. On Tuesday he just decided that that was the day he was going to walk all over the place and he's been doing it ever since. The only time he crawls now is to get to something to pull up on and then he's up and off. It's really funny. Sometimes he walks around pounding his chest. Other times he pulls on his ears. It's so crazy to see such a small kid walking around. He's not even 10 months old yet! He did take his first steps around eight months old, but now he's officially walking. Does that make him officially a toddler? He's such a determined little boy. Here is a sampling of his new skills. He doesn't really walk in any particular direction or with any specific destination in mind. Sometimes he just walks in circles! But it's the cutest thing and I'm very proud of him.

New Words

Here are some new things Maddox says. I've been trying to get them on camera but he won't do them. He's such a little stinker. Here's the list:

• uh oh

• mama

• bubu (for blankie)

• ccc (hard c) -- for cat

• when you say "What does a doggie say" he answers by saying "fff, fff"

• whenever he hears a dog barking, he points in the direction the noise is coming from and goes "fff, fff"

I'm waiting for him to start reciting the Declaration of Independence. I'll let you know when that happens.

Aww...

I have to say this was one of the cutest moments we've had with Max. Tyler and I were busy doing something and noticed that Max had disappeared. We started looking around the apartment (which really didn't take long since our apartment is only like three rooms). We finally found him sitting on the kitchen floor surrounded by lots of snack, an empty box laying not too far away. It was SO so funny to see him sitting there eating his snacks. He must have found them in the cabinet himself. When we actually caught him he looked up at us and started crying! He knew he did something he wasn't supposed to and he felt bad. It was so sad and cute at the same time. Of course we didn't yell at him, it was way too adorable (plus, that is not something the get upset about anyway). But it was SO cute!! He's such a sweet little boy.

Aww... poor kid! But still sooo cute!!

My Little Italian

Maddox is assuming his Italian heritage quite nicely. In this fun little video we hear Baby Max practicing his "Aaa, Ooo's". I think he does pretty well, don't you?

Dance Dance Evolution!

So I'm sure you all remember the original Dancin' Fool post where Maddox was caught cuttin' a rug on camera. Well, here he is again, better than ever. His dancing has evolved from Tyler tossing him around, his little legs dangling to the beat of the music, to actual bouncing, head bobbing, knee slapping, hardcore dancing. Take a look.



(Oh, and I sincerely apologize for the music. It's on the children's music station we get on satellite but it happened to be the weirdest song ever made. Also, I apologize for the shaky camera movements, too. I have no excuse for that).

Legoland

My parents, Danielle, Mattie and Max and I all went to Legoland the other day. The last time I had been I was pretty disappointed. I was a bit Lego fan when I was a kid so the first time I went there I thought that we'd be able to play with legoes everywhere and that everything would be made out of legoes -- you know -- like a true lego LAND. It wasn't. But this time I actually liked it. There were more things than I had remembered that were made out of legoes and the best thing about it is that it is totally geared toward younger kids and babies. There are lots of rides that Max and Mattie could go on and this whole section of fountains and little pools and things that are just for little kids to run around in. Anyway, I recommend it. It's a little pricey but we had lots of fun!

Mother's Day

I had my first real Mother's Day was this year and Tyler and I spent Saturday with Max in Old Town just having some much needed family time. We walked around and looked at all the old historic sites and then had dinner at this really great Mexican restaurant that used to be called Casa de Pico (I can't remember its name now).

I think one of the greatest things about being a mom so far is watching Tyler be a dad. Tyler is one of the most attentive loving dad's I've ever seen and it's so adorable watching him love baby Maddox.

At the restaurant there was a little Mariachi band that Maddox loved. We tried to capture him on film dancing to the music but of course as soon as the camera was on he didn't really do it. But he was really getting in to it at one point!

Backyard Pool Day

It was finally warm enough the other day to pull out the big plastic kiddie pool at my mom's house so we let the kids splash around in it for a while. Mattie LOVED it! And she kept her bathing suit on this time.

Maddox was pretty much more interested in eating the flowers than swimming in the pool but we all had fun anyway!

Jalapeno NO-NO!!

Okay people, I'm finally recovered enough to write this post after the events that unfolded last Friday night. I was making dinner and decided to make my own salsa (I have a great recipe, SUPER easy), and I bought a fresh jalapeño to spice it up a little. So I'm my kitchen, cooking, loving life, I cut open the pepper, scrape out the seeds with my fingers and chop it up. Everything was totally fine, plus, I had worked with jalapeños before so I thought I knew what I was doing.

BOY.WAS.I.WRONG.

About a half an hour later my thumb and index finger on my right hand started burning horribly. I'm talking about the most horrible burning stinging I've ever felt in my life. I had been burned. Burned real bad. I committed the first NO-NO of pepper cutting -- scraping out the seeds with my bare hands.

The pain was unbearable so I googled for some help and found a couple sites with some home remedies. Basically, there is no cure, remedy, relief or any magic spell that will make it stop -- only the magic of time -- and we all know that time takes FOREVER.

Here is the list of things I tried soaking my fingers in:

1. tomato sauce
2. tomato juice
3. tomato puree
4. vinegar
5. milk
6. water
7. ice water
8. milk and vinegar
9. bleach
10. alcohol

Nothing helped. My fingers felt alright when they were in the various substances, but as soon as they were out I wanted to just chop them off. Because capsicum (the chemical in peppers that gives them their heat) is an oil, it basically seeped into my skin for a long vacation. It even ate away at my skin (or that could have been the bleach and the alcohol).

Anyway, I'm over it now. But BE WARNED!!!!!!! Just buy the stinkin' things in a can and save yourself the trouble. This is what I get for trying to be the world-class chef that I am not.

Haircut #2

So our poor baby was LONG overdue for a haircut. Well, it wasn't quite as bad as last time, but it was pretty long. Since his hair pretty much stayed flat this time we had to cut it a little sooner because it was getting in his eyes and it was so long in the back you could make a pony tail. Anyway, thanks to Mariah we have another adorable haircut for Maddox!! He looks even cuter with his hair cut... as if that was possible, but it is!!



And I have to add that Mariah was so awesome with him. He screamed for the whole thing this time (of course) but she still made it super cute (and he screamed when we got home, when I put him in the bath to rinse off, when I was dressing him and when I was feeding him). She's a total pro.

More Swimmin'

Here are some more pictures and a video of Tyler and Maddox swimming together. They go almost every Saturday to swim in the pool together!

Water Babies

The other morning when Tyler was taking a shower, Maddox was very upset that the bathroom door was shut and he couldn't get in. So I opened it and let him in and he was SO excited!! He pulled back the curtains and stood there playing on the side of the tub while Tyler showered. It was ADORABLE!! He didn't even mind getting splashed by the water. He was getting soaked, too. But he was just cracking up hysterical, it was the cutest thing.