Keeping cool...and keeping you informed (via Max).

The last few days here have been in the high 90's, and if you know me at all I HATE the heat. We have two A/C units in our tiny house and they work together to keep the house cool. Which is fine, but the little one needs to get outside! On Monday we hooked up the garden sprinkler and let him have fun. He actually had more fun once we took the sprinkler off (along with his diaper) and let him play with the straight hose. We were in the front yard, you can see by his reaction he has to look at every car that goes by. If it's a big truck or a motorcycle you will hear..."Ohhhh WOOOOWWWW!".

He's also learned to talk. Yes, talk. Do we understand him...sure, why not? He's making sense to someone. And we think it's pretty darn cute. He will walk around the house for hours talking up a storm, pointing to things and telling you all about it, reading books to himself, this boy has a lot to say! He has a lot of facial expressions and talks with his hands too...more cuteness.

Enjoy!

Here is another video that captures him talking. Of course, it's mostly of him with his back to me, but you can still hear him. He'll fill you in on our lives. :)

I have a Good Heart!

Today was our cardiology appointment for the little beeb. There is a history of cardiac issues (pediatric) with two of my siblings so at our 20 week ultrasound they wanted us to have the little one checked too. They didn't notice anything then, just as a precaution.

The only thing found today was a healthy heart and a really cute baby...sucking its thumb...

SoCal Trip- Part 4...DISNEYLAND!!!!!

Oh boy. WARNING: There are a TON of pictures here. You might get bored.

We had a late start that morning, or so we felt. Disneyland opened at 8am and closed at midnight this week. But it still never feels like enough time. The first picture we took was of my Mom, of course. She has a little Mickey living in her heart. One of the first things she said to me this day was, "I could work here. I could be a guide or just hand out fliers." I agree 100%. She would be so happy with a job like that.

We lived in Southern California for many years when we were kids so we went to Disneyland quite often. My parents grew up around there, my Dad even worked there! So they were very familiar with the Park. Little did they know they would pass it onto their kids too. I always thought it was weird that people had only been to Disneyland once or twice in their life. As an adult, I get it...that place is freaking pricey! It's just more emotional for us, I guess. I have so many memories there and even had a very vivid flashback of my Grandpa Del (my Mom's Dad who took us frequently) near the Matterhorn. (He'd also sit out of the Haunted Mansion with me because I got too scared). Of course we had to stop at the Disneyland Fire Department....

And pose like everyone else...

Our first ride was the Jungle Cruise. This is where my Dad worked. Max loved all the animals and water.

After we took him on Pirates (didn't go well) and the Haunted Mansion (went very well) we stopped to hear some music...and dance a little.

The Winnie the Pooh ride was a hit. Easy and slow...and finally a happy ride. :)

Erik went on thunder Mountain Railroad, where he ran into his friends from home (the Lingle's). That helped a lot since there were a few rides at the park Erik would have gone on solo. I actually captured the picture. Erik has both hands up in the second cart. Wearing a straw hat.

On the carousel. LOVED it!!!!

Casey Jr. He really liked any ride that he could sit on his own like a big boy.

Erik and my Mom went on Splash Mountain so Max and I got to take a break. We hung out by the water and watched the boats go by. Max talked the whole time and pointed to everything yelling, "Oh WOW!" This was the part where we realized how cold it was that day.

Then we met up with the two wild ones and saw this:

and this:

It's a little hard to tell in the picture but they were soaked. And it was cold and windy. But they had a blast. We eventually made our way over to Autopia. I drove with the old lady and we giggled the entire time. We sounded like little girls.

Behind us were these cute guys,

We took the train over to Toon Town. Max really liked that. Well, he really liked trying to lick the railing and Mommy saying, "Ewww." Either way, a little boy giggling is a good sound to hear.

It's a Small World was probably his favorite. He and I sat in the back row all to ourselves. He looked and "Wowed" and pointed through the whole ride. He didn't even realize he was in water until the end, when he tried to play in it.

When we got to Toon Town, Grandma kindly offered to head back to the hotel (we got one for the night) and get our warm clothing. We let Max go crazy in there. He loved it. It was all child friendly and he loved guiding us around. Once again, the fire truck.

the jail...

...this may have been his favorite part. He could reach the button/doorbell and he screamed when we moved him onto the next thing...

Inside Goofy's house there was a piano that he fell in love with. Every time a new face would walk inside, Max would run over to the piano, giggling and watching them, to show them what it did.

Minnie's house had a dishwasher...

After we got bundled up, Max fell asleep. We thought it would be for the night so Grandma rested with him while Erik and I went on Buzz Light Year. SO FUN! After that, I rested with Grandma and Max while Erik met up with the Lingle's and went to Space Mountain. Max woke up after we parted (it's was almost 11pm) and got his second wind. I was starting to crash for the night so Grandma followed him around. She was convinced he walked a mile, not looking back once. He had fun playing in the arcade and, I have no idea how, knew how to do Dance Dance Revolution. He got himself up and started stepping on the squares, all while looking at the screen. Funny kid.

they were hiding out inside some game. Grandma trying to figure out what it was, Max is probably explaining it all to her, "Dergle, lergle, lergele, beble, begbleh...."

And finally, at midnight, we think Max realized where he was...he snuggled and squeezed and hugged and kissed this mouse. Then threw it on the ground. Good thing, we almost bought it!

We had such a perfect time there. We hope to go again next year! Thank you to Grandma for all your help, we couldn't have done it without you!

TTFN...

SoCal Trip- Part 3...Downtown Disney.

Monday was our "free" day so we thought we'd get a head start on the Disney park by checking out Downtown Disney. The last time I went to Disneyland they were just building DD. The last time Erik went to Disneyland they were just building Splash Mountain. (Just to give you a little timeline). So we wanted to get the Mickey Mouse vibe going through our blood.

But first, we had to play with the bubble gun.After we got there, we stopped for pizza. The place was really good, and Max almost got us kicked out. Talk about temper tantrum! Good thing we were at Disneyland and most kids freak out there so other families understand. He fit right in!!!

There are many water displays...Max loves water!





And then we found the Lego store. That's all Erik needed to make his day perfect. It's not very big, which made me happy. But it was really neat inside. There are lots of HUGE Lego displays. Including Darth, Erik's homeboy.

I think Lego's will be big in our house as Max grows up. Here he had about five little boxes around him by the time I noticed what he was doing. As I was trying to put them back he started waving them and saying "Yay!!!!".

We walked through the hotel areas and found a cute gardening scene. Max loves Mickey and his pals.

Erik got to drive a little boat. It was really cool, they had an entire boat scene set up. There was even a fire boat!

On our way out we decided to get some ice-cream. After our order, and planning on sharing with Max..we saw this:

Oh well, more for Mom!

Later that night my Mom arrived and we had a steak BBQ with Aunt Patty and Uncle Scott. We stayed up late with chatting and more games. Then it was off to bed to get ready for Mickey's house!!!!!

SoCal Trip- Part 2 ...EASTER!!!!

We were lucky enough to stay with our Aunt Patty (my Dad's sister) and Uncle Scott. They are the best hosts!!! Good food, good company, good games....oh the games...more about those later! It was really wonderful to be there with them. They both love kids and Max attached himself to them instantly.

We woke up Easter morning and after we ate, the Easter bunny remembered he left all of the goods in the car! Imagine that! Naughty Easter bunny. Max was still happy to find a basket with a few small things. He loved the school bus (thanks to our stop at Anderson's) and the bubble gun was a hit... (it's now lays broken in the kitchen). He loved walking around the house talking and playing. It's a little hard to see, but part of the wall behind him is mirrored...another huge hit!

Later that afternoon, our aunts, uncles and many many cousins came over to celebrate Easter. We has SUCH a great time. Aunt Patty is AMAZING!!! She had everything planned out so well. The kids were all entertained and having a blast. It had been a while since Max and Addy had seen each other. Addy wasn't particularly happy to see him at first, but that changed after a little warming up. It doesn't help that Max can be a little pushy, and kept stealing her bunny.

I took a bunch of random pictures and here is one before the wrestling match/pillow fight started. Several of the cousins here see each other regularly so it was fun to see them all play together. It made me a little homesick for all of Max's NorCal cousins.




This is Addy and Lacey (Brian and Elaina's youngest). This just cracked me up. They stared at each other for several minutes, just like this. I can just imagine what they are thinking..."you have no idea what your Mom put on your head"...

We were led outside to play some games. There were many indoor games too. (I won one!) But these were designed for the kids...okay , and adults too :).We started with the Easter Egg hunt...

This was Max's first hunt. He took a few minutes but sort of got the hang of it. Then lost interest because he figured out he could pull the leaves off the plants and put those in the basket too.

A game of duck, duck, goose!

A game of...um...jello egg in a spoon walk?

And lastly, a three legged race...

The adults stayed up late playing games too while the kids watched a movie. We really had a great day. The weather was nice and we had delicious food. It's always fun to see our cousins and the kids. A huge thank-you to Aunt Patty and Uncle Scott!!!!

SoCal Trip- Part 1

The drive down was pretty uneventful. We made sandwiches and stopped at Anderson's. We let the little monkey stretch out and did our best at getting the windmill in the background of a picture. The Easter bunny did one last pick-up and...well..that was the excitement of the drive. Max did well, we brought our portable DVD player and actually used it for the first time (we've had it for two years). As long as we stopped occasionally, he was happy.

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...)