Guess what we've been doing....

here's a sneak peek....

We've just returned from one of our favorite vacations ever, to Southern California. We were able to stay with Aunt Patty and Uncle Scott, celebrate Easter Sunday with our family there....and....we got to go to

DISNEYLAND!!!!!

I went to Disneyland a lot as a child, it became a special place for our family. I have so many great memories there. This time was extra special because I got to take my own family. Erik hadn't been since his 13th birthday and we even forced my Mom to go too! (Only kidding, she would live there if possible). My favorite part was watching Max. We plan on making many more memories at the Magic Kingdom.

Now, I'm still recovering, cleaning, catching up and unpacking from our trip. I just wanted a teaser in here. I have a million pictures from our adventure. I'll post them as I go....heigh-ho...heigh-ho....it's off to dream about our next trip I go....

20 Weeks!

I hit the 20 week mark this week. It's weird to think I'm halfway through. I've been feeling the baby move... A LOT! I'm a little worried that since I felt Max move so much I'm going to have another toddler come out of my body. (Please no!!!) Maybe I should try and beat my record. ha. This one can be 13 pounds...and the next (if we decide on three) can make the news.

This morning I watched my belly move. Totally unexpected this early, especially since I have so much "leftover" from Max. But, I do love it and feeling movement was one thing I missed about being pregnant. That's probably the only thing. I'm still in the easy part (aside from the puking that still haunts me every few days) .

Yesterday we had the 20 week ultrasound. Our tech was great and Erik and I felt like we were sitting in a movie theater. Leave it to John Muir to make things fancy. She agreed that the baby moves a lot. And when the doctor came in he said, "Oh, look at that cute genderless baby". Young guy, totally adorable. And probably totally new being that nice. But that's the secret, our baby has no gender.

Just kidding Mom, s/he will let us know what s/he is in August. We chose not to find out. It was hard at that moment, they just had to turn off the huge, gorgeous, shiny and new monitor for a few minutes. But, I'm okay now. And we didn't take a picture of the "part" home like we did with Max. That was pure torture staring at that frame every day and scowling at the words, "Don't open until I'm born". Rough. Here are a couple of the many pictures we did take home. Above I think s/he is waving. Sort of. And below s/he is pointing. I liked that. I think that's the skull, like her/his hands are above the head.
Things are going well overall. the baby's heartbeat is in the 140's. I need to come up with another name to call "it"...any suggestions????

Fun Weekend!

This weekend was another busy one, but so much fun!

We were able to extend Erik's birthday a few days and spend the whole weekend enjoying the great weather we had. Saturday we met Erik's Dad at the Oakland Zoo, along with Grandma Ariane, Aara, Mike, Christian, Julianne, Roxy, Brian, Nicole, Vivian, Ethan, Parousha and Kayvon...is that it? Oh, us too. It was a big group with a lot of energy. The kids all had a blast and shared their favorite moments while we took a break afterwards at Aara and Mike's. We all got to go out to dinner in Emeryville and Cocina Poblana (YUM!!!!) where Erik was surprised with a sing and cake.
At the petting area. Max got to pet, and cough all over, a sweet little goat.

I tried to get all the kids but Max, Christian and Kayvon didn't make it in. Ethan is in the blue hat on the left, then Roxy, Vivian and Julianne. We were watching the elephants eat. Max loves elephants right now and he got really excited to see them (they don't have them at the Sacramento Zoo). He puts his hand up to his face as the trunk and makes an elephant noise.

And extra special thank you to Lubor for such a wonderful day!!! We had such a great time!

On Sunday we met up with some friends (Jenn, Troy, Justin and Jacob) to see the Giants play the Dodgers. We are A's fans and went because it was good company. The Giants won (sorry Dodger's fans, I know the Kerr's read this!). Unfortunately, Max wasn't very happy sitting at the game so we spent most the time in the shade, climbing steps and walking around. Okay by me. Again ,thanks to Troy and Jenn for a fun day at the ballpark!

(Pregnancy update to come Wednesday...)

Happy Birthday Erik!!!

Today is Erik's 32nd Birthday!!! We hope it's a great one (even though he is under the weather and at school all day)! Lot's of fun coming your way.....

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you!

(P.S. The back of this picture says Oct 1979. That makes Erik about 2 1/2. What a cutie!!! Hmmm...I wonder where Max gets his height???? )

We're going to the zooooooo!!

Today was Erik's last day of Spring Break, so we headed to the Sacramento Zoo. It's a nice, small zoo which is perfect for us. Every Friday for the month of March they have half price admission. Kids under 3 are always free. So, for all of us, it was nine bucks! Can't beat that! Max is really into animals and animal sounds so this trip was especially exciting for him.Enjoying lunch, giggling and watching the birds (above). Below Max was eye to eye with fish. He tries to make a fish face, which is more of him opening and closing his mouth. Here he is making fish faces with Erik.

Below is in front of the Chimp's. Max LOVES monkey's and making monkey noises. So he made sure everyone around knew he could sound like a monkey. They were actually really cute.

We took a little rest to watch some ducks and eat a berry ice treat. Max is signing "please" for more. He liked it. A lot.

This last one has to be one of my favorites of him. It was really hard to get him to look at the camera. There were way too many things for him to watch. I think he's looking at the giraffe's here? Who knows. He had a great time and fell asleep within moments of getting in the car. Next week it's back to boring old parks. But it sure was a nice break!!!

Beach Day

All the kids are out of school this week for Spring Break so we decided to take a beach day. Erik and I talked about how funny it is when you pack for the beach in Northern California. It's so different than Southern California. Here, you pack extra blankets, sweatshirts, and plenty of sand toys because you are CRAZY if you swim in that freezing water. You also bring a change of clothes because there is a chance you might get wet.

When you are a kid, you just don't care though and you get sandy and wet and have a blast. We all had such a fun time. Some are a little sun burnt and all windblown. And how does all that sand get EVERYWHERE!!!! I'm still cleaning it up. Eck!

Jordan getting buried above and some of the kids digging whatever it was they were trying to do below.

Below is Kirra and Clay just starting to get wet. Clay ended up without pants and Kirra (who actually wore a bathing suit) eventually dove into that water. She sure loves the beach.


Max thought he was "one of the boys" as we say often. He thinks he can keep up with his older cousins. They are all really careful with him and (I think) enjoy having him around. Here he is playing with their creation.

It was a really fun day...tomorrow...the ZOO!!!!

15 months

I forgot to add in the last post that Max had his 15 month check-up last week. Here's the latest:

Height: 34 inches
Weight: 24 pounds 13 oz
Head: 19 inches

He hated everything abut this appointment this time. The doctor was great about it and did the examination while Max was curled into a ball on my hip, squeezing the living daylights out of me. I think he's caught on to what the doctor's office is all about. Oh well. He has to go again in 3 months.

Last night we went to a friend's birthday party. Kids were welcome and there were several there. The birthday girl has a little dog, Olive, and Max instantly fell in love with her. Actually, all the kids did. There were four or five people that came up to me telling me that Max has no fear. It's so true. He will walk up to anything, anybody, thinking that is where he belongs. He loves to touch other kids (their heads mostly) and animals are just about the best things. He will talk to what ever it is at the time and tell them/it exactly what is on his mind.

Except at the doctor's office. Then he just screams.

Enjoying the weather

The rain has stopped (hopefully temporarily!) and it's been nice and sunny. We've been outside enjoying it everyday. Now that Max is walking (well, almost running at this point) he needs to get out and get his energy out. The nice weather is making that much easier. These pictures were taken a few days ago in our backyard. Max is playing where our garden was last year. (We still debating on whether or not we should start it up again this year, in case we move.) It sure doesn't take much to entertain this little boy. I moved the cooler to drain (we're still trying to figure out how the rainwater filled it up completely). He noticed the top opened and he kept himself busy by dropping pecans, one by one, into the bottom of the cooler. Occupied him for a looong time. Below is Max trying to feed Obi more pecans.


Last weekend Erik and Max went to the Boer's for a visit. The weather was beautiful and the kids were able to keep busy on their property. Erik said they took a great hike on Saturday, ate good food, and Max had fun exploring around the backyard. The last time he was there he wasn't walking, so this was a whole new experience for him.

They have a big sandbox in the backyard...Max LOVES the sand!!

As for me, I got the weekend "off". I saw three chick flicks, slept and basically enjoyed a clean, quiet house for two days. But, yes, I was ready for them to come home!

Messy Max

Calling Max messy is an understatement. I think it just comes with the territory.

In our house there is a gate between the laundry room/dog area and the rest of the house. Max loves standing at the gate and talking to the "Dah" (dog). He recently discovered he can throw things to the dog. This makes him really happy, so we let some things slide. We find toys, books, blocks, shoes, etc behind the gate. Obi has only chewed one ball and a puzzle piece. I think she has lost interest now, since none of it is real food. Anyway, he now throws...one by one... DISH TOWELS! YAY! And he's fast. The picture below was a few nights ago. This morning while I was prepping the crock pot meal he did it again. So yes, again, the clean towels are being washed. We had tomato soup a few nights ago. He LOVED it. He fed himself and landed himself another bath night.

I don't know why he did this but I'm glad I had the camera close...

He is also getting 4 more teeth. I've heard the canine teeth are the worst and they are here. He's been pulling at his bottom teeth for a while. Long nights and a lot of pain for this little guy. It seems his teeth come in 4's. So hopefully he will get a break. He has 16 teeth now! OUCH!

Max wants to share something...

YUP! Max is going to be a big brother! We found out a couple weeks before Christmas. I am due late August. The date sort of keeps changing, but as of now it's the 25th. Two days after my Dad's birthday and two days before Kirra's. Things are going well so far, as far as the baby goes. We haven't been able to hear the heartbeat yet, but we have seen it on the ultrasound screen a few times. Because of previous complications, the doctor watched me a little closer during the first few months. And he will again at the end, for fear (my fear) of delivering another 12 pound giant. Even though Max and I were healthy, it's still risky. He's 95% sure it will be a scheduled C-section.

As for me, I have been feeling pretty yucky. It's a completely different pregnancy from Max. I was only sick a handful of times with him. This time it's several times a day. I'm pretty sure I'm almost done with it, but it hits me randomly. Most of the nausea is gone, but I'm still vomi...well, you know. I'm getting headaches all the time. I'm very emotional, cry at everything...even stupid American Idol. But, in my defense, it IS sad that the one guy lost his young wife, and it IS sad that the one guy is blind, and it IS sad that the girls are so mean, and it IS sad when people don't make it....right? Yeah...things like that.

Aside from that we are very excited! We haven't decided if we will find out the gender. It's going to be a long summer. A long, HOT summer. Max knows there is a baby in mommy's belly. Well, knows to point to Mommy's belly when we ask where the baby is. The picture below is the one Erik put on his facebook page. It's funny because Max is covering his eyes like, "Oh no!".

Okay. There. It's out. Finally.

Happy Valentine's Day!

(and Happy Birthday Mom!)