Bitha-Bitha Baa

Max has a HUGE vocabulary now. He says so many words and phrases and sentences. He's so smart! (I know, he's probably no smarter than an average toddler but I'm his mom, I can say that). And Tyler and I can understand 99% of what he says, he's pretty clear when he speaks, but there is one phrase that we just can NOT figure out:

BITHA-BITHA BAA!!

Can anyone figure out what the heck that means??? He points at random things and says it (like pictures of fish on his sippy cup or grass or cheese (and he knows what those things are). He says it when he's excited, too. Here is a video of said phrase... it's so cute, but I wish we knew what it meant. He says it with a lot of conviction sometimes, like he's trying so hard to make his dense parents understand him. Poor kid. All we do is laugh.



And actually, this video is kind of long because I'm trying to get him to say all the words he knows, and of course he doesn't say them. Why do kids do that? As soon as you turn the camera on they stop all camera-worthy behavior. At least the bitha-bitha baa in this video is a good one.

Pho Boy

Max had his first taste of pho the other day (pronounced fuh -- like duh). We went to Pho Cadao, a seriously yummy place, and had lunch together. It was a fun mommy and son lunch date. He seriously loved the pho though. He ate the noodles, the meat, the broth, the tendon. Here's a cute little video of him.

Still our little dancing boy...

Here are a couple videos of Maddox dancing and spinning. He still loves music and loves to dance and sing.

Bahahaahaa....

Berkeley to Marines: You're not welcome in our city!

This was on the front page of CNN.com this morning (click on it, it's a link, read until your eyes bleed and fall out). I can't help but laugh. Can you believe we made it out of there somewhat normal, intact and not that much more jaded than before we lived there? Ah, Berkeley... there is a soft spot in my heart for you and your whacked out sense of reality. No, the world is not centered around you, but I admire you for acting like it does. It's almost refreshing -- in the same way dead flowers or garbage is refreshing -- that hit you in the face, eye tearing refreshed feeling.

I HEART YOU BERKELEY!!!

Husband Tag

Okay, I should be putting up posts about Max because there has been a LOT going on, but I haven't got the time right now. I do have time to fill out this tag, though! Yay!

1. What is his name? Tyler Michael Seibert

2. How long have you been married? Almost five years (yikes!)

3. How long did you date? Umm... you'll have to ask him. Wait, I think it was 9 months (that includes our engagement)

4. How old is he? 26 (he'll be 27 in a few weeks -- HAHA)

5. Who eats more? Hmm, it depends on what we're eating. If it's ice cream, hands down Tyler. If it's Chinese food, hands down me.

6. Who said I love you first? He did (he was really sweet about it, too)

7. Who is smarter? Me. Oh wait. Him. This is supposed to be about him, right?

8. Whose temper is worse? Haha... ME BY FAR!

9. Who does the laundry? Tyler does, but I fold it!

10. Who does the dishes? He does them a lot, probably more than me, but I do them sometimes, too!

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Tyler.

12. Who pays the bills? Tyler. I used to, but I'm not good at math.

13. Who cooks dinner? Me. If Tyler cooks he makes one of three things: quesadillas, fried eggs or grilled cheese.

14. Who drives when you are together? ME. I hate HATE when Tyler drives. I need full control of the vehicle at all times.

15. Who is more stubborn? Again, me. (It sure does seem like I have all the lame qualities).

16. Whose parents do you see the most? It used to be mine. But now that they've moved, we don't see any of the a whole lot.

17. Who proposed? The official proposal was him. But I was the one who told him that he better decide what he wanted to do (meaning marry me or not).

18. Who has more friends? We both have a lot. Who pays attention to that kind of stuff?

19. Who has more siblings? Tyler has three siblings and I have two (although up until two years ago, I only had one -- still so weird).

Golden Bear Fans Will Appreciate This

We almost named Max Marshawn Lynch Seibert.

Vacuum Love

Maddox loves the vacuum. LOVES the vacuum. When he was a baby (I may have written about this awhile ago but I'm too tired to go look it up) I would stick him in his exersaucer while I vacuumed the apartment. Every time the vacuum came on he would get really excited and jump up and down and squeal. When he FINALLY learned how to clap his hands, he would clap and smile and laugh when as soon as I turned the vacuum on.

Now when I turn the vacuum on he laughs and runs around in circles and giggles and smiles and squeals and runs and runs and runs. It's so funny!

Tonight I left the vacuum out and caught him touching it and staring at it. Then he did this:

And this:

He was hugging and kissing it. He has a crush on the vacuum. This could potentially be seriously cute or seriously scary. I don't know, you make the call. My vote, of course, is for cute!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

WE HAVE A SQUEAK!!!! Or actually, I should call it a squeaker. We have a mouse in our house! And although that phrase rhymes beautifully, I AM SERIOUSLY GROSSED OUT!!!


Now, we are not dirty people. I vacuum like, every other day, which is a lot in my opinion (but a necessity when you have a snack toting toddler terrorizing your apartment). I clean everything daily with Clorox wipes (we must spend a small fortune in Clorox wipes, seriously). SO HOW DID WE GET A MOUSE??

For the past few days I had been hearing little scratching noises coming from the kitchen. It was hard to tell what it was. It sounded like a mouse to me, but we hear tons of noises all the time so it could have been a bird outside on the roof or by the skylight. I took everything out of our cabinets and drawers in the kitchen to make sure nothing was hiding in there. But yesterday, I was in our bedroom standing by the closet when I saw something out of the corner of my eye dart under Tyler's desk. At first I thought it was just one of those things that I see all the time (I see spots, regularly, I know, it's on my list of ailments). But then I saw it dart under our bed and I knew exactly what it was and I screamed and ran out of the room and slammed the door.

I'm not afraid of mice. If someone had a mouse pet, I might feed it a little nibble of cheese and aww over the cuteness of its little nose. But when I know it's a wild, dirty little beast from outside in the dirtiness -- I AM TOTALLY GROSSED OUT!!!

We kept the door closed all day and bought some traps and laced them with peanut butter (apparently a favorite snack of dirty rodents) but we haven't caught anything yet. I made Tyler rattle all the junk under our bed and nothing came scurrying out, so hopefully it went out the same way it came in and isn't hiding in Max's room somewhere waiting to chew his toes off. UGH!!!

YAY!! MY PHOTOBLOG!! IT'S HERE!!

Hey everyone!! I'm so excited to announce the debut of my brand spankin' new PHOTOBLOG!! Please take a look around and leave some comments and take advantage of my special!

Check back often, too for updates. And if you have any questions please email me!!

(click right there)

NINA SEIBERT PHOTO BLOG!!

Update on Slideshows

I think I've got them working now -- for those of you who wanted to watch and couldn't.

For quick links to the posts click

HERE

and

HERE

What the...

Once again a celebrity has stolen one of my favorite baby names. First it was Maddox. And I let that one slide because I had liked the name a long time ago when I was younger (I had met a boy named Maddox at the doctor's office when I was about 7 -- incidentally that is also where I met my imaginary friend Marfadia) and then it had been years since I had thought about it until Angelina Jolie named her kid Maddox. We still used the name because it was a good compromise for Max. But now it's gotten ridiculous! Nicole Richie just gave birth to a baby girl (and not to lessen the grand event -- go Mama!) but she named her Harlow. Now, if you were to look way back in my journal from high school you would see that one of the names I've always loved is Harlow (for a girl or a boy, at the time I couldn't decide, although I had written that it was more for a girl). I hadn't thought of the name in forever until I heard Richie named her daughter Harlow. IF I were to have another kid (IF, that's a big IF) I couldn't use the name because then I'd have two kids with celebrity baby names and people would think I was some kind of celebrity obsessed freak! (Also, one of Tyler's best friends coincidentally has the last name Harlow so that would make it weirder still).

Anyway, I didn't really have my heart set on the name, but it's a loss nonetheless.

I needed a good rant, anyway.

I'm always thinking of girl's names because our next baby will be a girl. (IF -- remember that word -- IF). If the next baby is not a girl I will be devastated. Not that I don't love my boy, because oh man I DO (you'd have to to put up with his antics day in and day out). But I want a cute little pink chubby baby girl to dress up and cuddle with (cuddle being the MOST important there).

The Other Lovey

This is my other lovey -- my sweet little baby sister Mattie. I miss her terribly. I can't really watch this anymore without crying. It's kinda long, too, so do with it what you will. Enjoy!

My Lovey

I wanted to post up the slide show I made of Max for the DVDs we made for our parents for Christmas. This is my lovey -- my sweet little baby boy Max. He's getting SO big! He's talking and learning and growing and I love him more and more everyday.

The slide show is almost 10 minutes long, so if you can hang in there, go for it. Of course I think it's cute! But I can understand if you are in Max overload. Enjoy!

Choo-choo

Okay, so this isn't a train, but Max calls anything with wheels that moves a "choo-choo" (and he especially loves when it's a real choo-choo). Here is a video of him on his new toy. He's getting better at learning how to use it. He loves it. We have to hide it in the closet with a towel over it because when he sees it he throws a fit if he can't ride it (and mom doesn't want to take him out in the mud and rain to do it -- I know, I'm so unfun).

I realized he doesn't look all that excited in the video because he was really really tired at this point in the day -- no nap by 3 o'clock means he was kind of out of it.

Christmas Pictures and Presents

We all got so many great things for Christmas this year. I got a new iPod nano, Tyler got a new skateboard. Max got some great gifts like his new slide, his jumpy zebra, his new tent, some adorable new shoes (black Vans and some Converse). Thanks for all the gifts and for everyone making it a great day for us!

Da and Max setting up his new Shark tent (it was a little bigger than any of us expected, but still fun!)

Mattie vegging on the couch with her new tutu.

Max opening his stocking and being excited about his new train set.

Mattie wearing her crown and playing the little plastic trumpet that came from our Christmas crackers.

This elf was working overtime!

Max on his favorite new toy from Grandpa -- a little motorized car!

My bleary-eyed little elf on Christmas morning.

Mattie with the new tutu I made her for a present on one of Max's new favorite toys (thanks Grammie and Papa!)

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN!!

UPDATE: STILL MORE NEW POSTS!!!!!
(If you are checking after January 3 scroll down for more new posts!!)

Literally... do it... scroll past the "New Year's Stuff" and "Merry Christmas".

I posted some new stuff but I wanted to do it in a more chronologically pleasing way.

Since I use this blog as a kind of baby/life journal I wanted it to make sense to me when I look back at it (which is why I often post a bunch of new stuff on the same day with different dates).

SO SCROLL DOWN NOW AND READ UP!!!!

(p.s. there will be more to come, too)

New Year's Stuff...

I know, I know, probably not the post you were hoping for. I actually have a ton of posts waiting for pictures and finishing touches so I can add them and I am so going to get those up by Sunday night -- mark your calendars.

So, with that out of the way...

Happy new year everyone!! I mean that sincerely. For some reason, the start of this year feels very different. I feel so motivated to be better, more than ever before. I don't know if it's because my family moved away and I feel on my own again or what. But this is going to be a changing year, or at least a bettering year. And I don't like making New Year's Resolutions because it's just too cliche for me. I prefer to make goals for myself and the New Year feels like a good time to do it. Maybe I'm just playing with rhetoric -- whatever.

So here they are, in no particular order.

{Nina's Goals For 2008}

• I will lose weight this year. I don't know how much and I don't particularly care, but I will do it. I'm sick of feeling the way I do, I look in the mirror and I know this is not me, I feel trapped in a body that isn't mine.

• I want to be more crafty. I seriously love crafts. I decided I'm going to complete at least two crafts per month. I love being creative and thinking about projects and finishing them. So this year I will be more crafty.

• I will eat healthier. I eat fairly healthy now. I try to feed Max and Tyler good wholesome foods. Occasionally I will cook something not so healthy because I'm lazy or tired, but this year I'm going to make a very conscience effort to buy healthy snacks and eat healthy snacks and cook healthy meals.

• I will have a consistent exercise routine. I'm not going to kick myself in the butt, but I will start out slow and build up to something bigger. I think that this will give me more energy to carry out all these goals.

• I will continue to declutter my life. I will purge as much as I can whenever I can. Clothes, shoes, cards, toys, papers, random crap under our couch (you wouldn't believe what the space under our couch seems to collect!).

• I will spend more time on photography -- learning it, taking it, loving it. I will take pictures of whoever, whenever and however I can. I will put a lot of work into getting my photoblog looking spic and span, too!
  

I may add to the list as I think of things I want to try to accomplish in the future. As you can see, these goals are personal, they have nothing to do with wifery or mothering (two very important things that I strive to do better at daily no matter what). One of my heroes, Dr. Phil McGraw (right) said that goals should be attainable and personal, things that you and you alone can control. So saying "I want to have a happier marriage" is not a good goal because you can only control half of that relationship. You can say, "I want to be a better wife". That you do have control over. (So some clarification added here -- Dr. Phil is not actually one of my heroes. Just wanted to make that clear for those of you reading who don't know me as well or my sarcasm. Although I do think he has a valid point about goals).

Anyway... I feel really motivated to do this. For some reason I feel I've been handed another chance or another page of life. Like I've been stuck in a funk for a while and I'm finally crawling out. Geez, I hope I don't screw this up!