Mama trickery.

Life

We've had a few odd weeks so here is catch-up in pictures. The night before Alex was admitted to the hospital, Max stayed up late with me. I was actually talking to my brother, Ryan, on the phone while I took this picture. Max was driving all of his cars through his farm and lining them up...upside down. Odd, right? He lines them up all the time, but never on their sides or upside down. He was very particular about it. Maybe he was sensing that something chaotic was about to happen in our family. The boys got their very own sand box!!! Erik worked very hard this weekend at building it for them. And they love it! It's great to have, one step closer to making our back yard look more like someone actually lives here! (We have about a thousand more steps, but at least the kids have something else to do out there). Great job Daddy!

I walked over to our neighbor's garage sale this weekend and found Max's first real bike. Can't beat 5 buck s for a bike, with training wheels! He's very excited. He's cleaning it up and getting it ready for his first ride. (Which sadly didn't happen that day, shortly after this happy picture was taken he hit meltdown central!)

Max LOVES watching Dad use the "awn moler".

And he's been caught several times lately reading to himself.

Erik finished his internship!! It was a great surprise to finish a weekend earlier than he thought (which allowed him time in the yard). He was presented with two awards from the fire chief and was on his way. He says it's a little bittersweet, though, because he was REALLY enjoying his time there. He got great marks and is getting ready to take his test! We are so incredibly proud of him! It's been two years in this program and he's had to balance a lot in between.

That's about it for now. Look down, there are more posts below! Even a video of our new crawler!

Persian New Year in Carmel

We were invited to spend Persian New Year with Erik's Dad and Ariane in Carmel and what a wonderful weekend it was!!! We had wonderful food, made by Ariane, and beautiful views. Here are the cousins coloring their eggs. Haft Sin.

We got to "borrow" Julianne for a little walk around the hotel and we all laughed because she looked like one of the family. Here's Max with his "big sister" (cousin) Julianne in our condo/room (this is the upstairs, they were incredible!).

Um....our view!!!!! Absolutely amazing, and it was a little foggy. Straight out in this direction we saw whales from time to time.

Sun setting from Lubor and Ariane's room.

Brain, Nicole, Erik and I took the boys for a little walk up the hill. These two will be dangerous together when they are teens. As for now, just adorable boys.

Typical view of Max. Wandering off with no care in the world. And no care that anyone is with him.

Max looking for whales.

Thank you to Lubor and Ariane, we had such a wonderful time. We only wish we could have stayed longer!!! Happy New Year!

Monterey

Last weekend we were able to spend some time in Monterey at the Aquarium. The last time we were there was the weekend Erik proposed to me, over 5 years ago. It was fun to go back and take our kids. The boys had a blast with their cousins. The pictures are all out of order...oops! Here is Max and Alex in the kid area. Big brother is protecting his family! Splashing. He was soaked!

Alex was happy almost all day. He just cruised around in his own little "boat".

Max checked in once in a while. "Hiiiii bakey bakey!!!!"

Max and Ethan telling us what they see in the ocean.

Hangin' with the cousins, feeling sea life. It was a beautiful day.

Crawling? Sure.

Here is a little video of Alex crawling. It's a terrible video with terrible lighting. But you get the idea of the way he crawls. It' so funny. And yes, Max was on crack. I stopped the video about a half a second before he jumped over the baby. Didn't even land on him. Must be all the practice he's getting.

He looks like a caterpillar. This morning he pulled himself up to his exersaucer and stood up. When I had him (7 months ago), they staff at the hospital kept saying how strong he was. I agreed, but sort of figured they told everyone that. When we were there recently, the staff (again) kept saying how strong he was (mostly fighting them for procedures and such). That's my boy!

Hospital stay

Shortly after I filmed little Alex below, he took a little turn...in the wrong direction.

Sunday he started coughing. The fever appeared Monday. Max already had it so we treated them both as it was the flu. Both were vomiting, etc. The rest of the week is sort of a blur but Thursday morning we rushed to the pediatrician to check out both kids who were not improving.

Max has a double ear infection. Medication prescribed.

Alex was a different story. He, too, had a double ear infection. He was also having trouble breathing. We tried another breathing treatment in the office. Failed. His Oxygen levels dropped to 85 and we were directed to the ER. After a chest x-ray, blood tests and more breathing treatments, he was admitted.

Diagnosis: RSV, bronchialitis, double ear infection, possible pneumonia. By dinner time he was hooked up to two monitors, had an IV going and oxygen tubes attached to his face.

We came home today after a eye opening experience at the hospital. 5 days total. He's doing significantly better and breathing very well on his own. We had incredible nurses and other hospital staff. We LOVE our pediatrician, too. I think any Dr. that can comfort you (and hug you!) during something like this is awesome. So many medical personnel are robots now.

I'm getting myself a little more educated on his diagnosis now. I am so glad I didn't know these things before he was admitted. RSV is very common, as are the other diagnosis, but can also be very severe and can change rapidly.

I'm very happy we were where we were. But, the hospital is definitely a place I do not want to be at again. Unless I'm bringing home a new baby. Not bringing one back.

Off to snuggle my boys.

Here is the translation for the video below. Something along these lines:

"...I finally feel better...I don't like it that Max is sick again but, at least he won't try to lay on me or roll over me for a few days...I'm bored...I knew I was bugging Max last night, wasn't it so funny...I have two teeth...I really want that camera...I'm bored...when will Max wake up? I miss him...My jammies are too small...I'm bored...Mom, who is really going to watch this..."

Funny Bath time

Who knew sneezing could be so funny!

Sick...and busy

We've all been sick for about three weeks here. It's been horrible and we're hoping this will be the last week of it. Ugh.

Alex LOVES his teething biscuits. He has two teeth now, finally. The were pushing for almost a month. On the bottom in the middle. I'll work on getting a picture of them. So far his eyes are staying blue! Yay! Max still loves sorting, separating and lining things up.

He loves to help in the kitchen...

Works hard, plays harder, and passes out like the best of 'em!


He loves to paint. When it's too cold to paint in the garage (with real paint brushes and water) he gets to pain on the kitchen floor.

Erik is still doing his internship. Between that and work he is gone a lot. So we've all had to adjust. Soon he will start doing ride-a-longs with another ambulance company too. Hopefully he will be done in a couple months. Now, if California would just give fire departments and other EMS agencies some money, they could start hiring again, and he can get a job! Fingers crossed. In the meantime, he is working really hard to finish and do well. We are so proud of him!

A little of this...

a little of THAT!

We found Max sleeping like this a few weeks ago.

We've been doing a little cleaning....

A little crafting. Or "making cra-puh-suh" as Max says...see video below. I made this for My sister Kelly for her birthday. I admit, it was hard to let it go.

A little playing around. Max loves playing with Alex. I know he can't wait until Alex can really play. I saw this after a few minutes of them "playing". Max said, "Mommy, my did!" (Mommy, look what I did) "Make bake tuhn-oh toooooo." (I made Alex a tunnel too). Yes, he still calls Alex "Bake" Or "Bakey". It all started as Baby Alex and went from there. Or he says "Ay-cuh-suh-ander. Maxwell is "Mah-cuh-suh-weow". Keep in mind this includes all the pauses. He's a funny kid.

A little cuddling. Alex was sleeping on Daddy, Max woke

up from bed and got right in the middle of it.




And this. The night I was making the craft above, Max wanted to be a part of it. Only, much like a duck, he thinks Mommy was making...well, you'll see.

Again, there you have it...Mommy makes CRAP.

Thanks, kid.