Changes...

{July 30, 2006}

{July 30, 2007}

Happy Birthday Maddox!

I can't believe a whole year has passed since Max was born. It's been a very interesting year, to say the least. I can't believe how incredibly hard it is to be a mother. But I also wouldn't have believed anyone who told me it would be this rewarding, either. Being Max's mom has been wonderful and I'm excited to watch him continue to grow and learn. He's becoming such a fun, bright, daring, exciting little boy! I feel so privileged to be able to watch him every day. It's like participating in a miracle (okay, is this getting too cheesy for you all? I'll stop now).

So we had Max's party at La Jolla Shores beach and it was the perfect spot to have it. Max LOVES the beach so he had a great time playing in the sand and the water. We had both families here, Tyler's and mine, and lots of friends to help celebrate. We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and scarfed on potato salad, guacamole, watermelon and amazing dirt cake made by my mom.

I think the party was a success. Of course I was nervous seeing as this was my first birthday party planning adventure for my kids. I didn't plan any games like my mom did for our parties, I think that will come later since mostly Maddox just liked to walk around carrying a pail and a shovel stealing food from everyone's plates.

I made him a surfboard cake! It was my first time working with fondant and I think it came out alright. He really wasn't that in to the cake. I don't think he's a big fan of chocolate. I think he had more fun squishing it around and drinking his milk than actually eating it.

I also made a bunch of balloons out of mini cupcakes that spelled out happy birthday.

And no party would have been complete without a homeless beach bum coming up to us and asking us for some food. When we offered him a hamburger, he politely declined and said he only wanted some chips since he was a vegetarian. It took a lot from all of us not to laugh. We gave him some chips and he went on his way.

Take a look at our album of pictures to get the full pictorial experience. You can view them in the sidebar on this page or here:

Max's First Birthday

**Oh, and a big huge THANK YOU to everyone that helped me out!! Couldn't have done it without all of you!!**

Sweet Little Baby

Since Maddox is about to turn one, I thought I'd do a little reminiscing about when he was first born. He was the sweetest little newborn baby. He slept well, he ate well (except for that little bumpy patch with the whole breast feeding thing -- see here). He loved to be held and he loved to be held looking out at the world. He was so curious from the day he was born. And still is.

He loved his baby swing and being rocked to sleep. He loved his daddy holding him and bouncing him. He loved to burp -- oh how he loved to burp.

Max also loved to be outside. From a tiny baby he loved to gaze up at the trees and watch the branches sway back and forth in the breeze. He loved the beach and the water and the waves. When he was only a couple weeks old we took him to the beach and he loved it. He loved his bath, too. It seemed like he waited all day to take a bath.

And oh how he could smile!! He LOVED to smile. He smiled all the time with this big, toothless grin or his mouth wide open in a silent laugh. It made Tyler and I melt every time.

We can't believe our little boy is turning one already. Sometimes this year seemed like it dragged forever, and sometimes it seemed like it went too fast, like he was growing too quickly and turning into a little boy too soon. But I have to say, we're proud of the little toddler he's becoming. Those little tantrums aren't too cute, but his face is really cute so it totally makes up for it. We love him!!

Santee Spraygrounds!!

Today we went and played at the Santee Spraygrounds and had a BLAST!! It's a little park at the Santee Lakes. We went with my mom and sisters, Mariah and Sadie and Marcella and Marcelle. Mattie loved it! She jumped right in and even made a little friend. This 5 or 6 year old little girl took Mattie's hand and led her all through the water. It was so cute, she was so motherly.

Max had a great time, too. He was a little unsure at first with the water falling in his eyes and on his head, but after a few minutes he was running all through the sprays and splashing everywhere. It was great. And of course the outing wouldn't be complete without lots of cookies ans snacks so he had the energy to run around some more.

We'll definitely be visiting the Sprayground again. It was well worth the $4 it cost to get in. It was nice and clean and the water was well chlorinated and it was all fenced in so the little ones had as small a chance as possible in escaping. There were picnic tables and lots of grass to lay out blankets. And it was only 20 minutes from our house!! Perfect!!

Baby Max Update

As we approach the end of Max's first year I thought I'd give everyone a little update on some of his new tricks.

• He now claps his hands -- FINALLY!! I've been trying to teach him that since he was about six months old (Mattie could do it at 7 months) and one night after his bath he just started doing it.
  
• He does happy feet (see this post).
• He says "this" and "cheese"
• He loves cheese and can eat an entire slice (cut in to little pieces of course so he can gum them down) in seconds.
• He loves to read books now!! He will carry a book over to me and come and sit on my lap for me to read. And... HE SITS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK!! It's amazing. One day he just wanted to read lots of books all the way through. I love it!!

He just seems to be getting so much older so much faster now. It's as though he knows it's time to take that leap into being a big boy now. He talks more, is more animated, understands so much more. He is starting to turn into a little person. He's just more adorable than ever! And more and more fun every day!

Happy Feet!

Max has a new little dance he does when he's really excited. It's adorable!! He moves his feet really fast and sometimes giggles. Check it out!

Is it that time already?

I guess it's time to start the countdown to official toddlerhood -- Max's one year birthday!! He'll be one on July 30, only a couple weeks from now. As I sit here watching Dr. Phil, eating an ice pop, I think not much has changed since last year at this time. If I remember correctly, if someone had walked into my living room a year ago today they probably would have seen the same thing.

Except there actually have been lots of changes. Instead of nice adult things like floor plants and coffee tables, we have plastic tubs full of toys, a little denim arm chair, balls, blocks and what seems like hundreds of little framed pictures of a beautiful baby boy hanging on the walls.


But, truth be told, a year ago this week I was sitting right here on my $32 couch from eBay, nursing my terribly swollen cankled sun-burned feet, praying that I would go into real labor or that the baby would decide to just walk on out of my womb, wishing Tyler were home from work to get me some water since standing made me want to die.

Today I look around my messy house and can't help but smile when I see that sweet smiling face of my little man smiling back at me from [expertly hung] picture frames. Life is much better this year than it was last year, much better.

Beach baby, beach baby there on the sand...

Maddox is a total Southern California boy. He's a blond, blue-eyed, sun tanned little beach bum! He LOVES the beach!! He loves the sand, the water, the freedom of running all over the beach. He loves it all.

We went to the beach with Mark and Mariah and baby Sadie and with Seth and Marcella and baby Marcelle. The guys of course went surfing -- Mark's first time (and he did great!). And us women watched our babies play in the sand. Max loved running in and out of the waves, and even took an underwater tumble where he just stood back up and kept on running like it was no big deal.

Tyler can't wait until he can take Maddox out surfing. I'm not sure it will happen before we leave here, but Tyler assures me they have surfing classes for five year olds, so I have about four years to get okay with the idea of sending my baby out into the waves.

Bathing Beauty Queen

This post doesn't need much of an explanation. My little sister loves to show off!

The Fourth of July

What was going to end up being one of the lamest 4th of Julys ever actually ended up being really fun! The day before, Monique, Marcella and I were letting the kids play in the pool and decided we should have a little picnic for the Fourth. So we had a little cook-out (or for all you West Coasters, a BBQ) in front of our apartment with a few of our neighbors -- the Littles, the Baddas and the Del Pegos. We had great food and tons of it. Our kids played all afternoon and had the best time. Marcella and Monique had the pool set up and of course Max was in and out the whole time. He LOVES being around other kids, watching them and following them around. He basically stole Joaquin and Marcel's food the whole time.

Speaking of food, Max had a staggering amount of it. He ate chips and pasta salad and salsa and meat and he even had his first chocolate chip cookie.

He also carried around a stalk of grilled asparagus for a while, sucking on the ends. When food fell on the ground, he ate it. He stole peas and corn from Marcel and ate a lot of watermelon.

We had a great day and stayed out until 10pm after putting the babies to bed, hoping to get a glimpse of some fireworks (which we didn't), drinking hot chocolate and just acting like adults again. It was a great way to celebrate!