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.

Animal sounds

Max has known his animal sounds for a long time and I'm pretty sure he gets bored with me asking him all the time what a dog says. Well, this one is new. Maybe he stirred it up for my sake, but it makes me laugh every time.

.

There you have it.

A duck says: "QUACK CRAP!".

(I'm not doing very well with the watch-your-mouth part. Could be a lot worse than crap. See, no Supermom here).

"Love" this craft!

I saw a Valentine idea in one of my magazines and got a creative hair up my you-know-what last night. I didn't have the exact things in the magazine so I went through all of my "craft supplies", turned on a movie with Erik

and came up with these. I don't know what I'll do with them.

Maybe make a clothesline/banner out of them? Little doorknob hangers? Gift toppers? They would be really cute as personal Valentines, too. They are nobigger than my hand. I think they turned out cute. It was nice to get some creative energy out.

(click image for a larger view)

On another note, it's already time to use this:

He's not fully ready for the food yet, but we're working on rice cereal and bananas. I'll freeze what I make for now. I can't believe it goes by so darn fast.

(And for the record, I'm not supermom because I made some crafts and make baby food. ha! In fact, Alex is screaming bloody murder at me right now. Max is watching cartoons, rotting his brain. So there! No cape for me! Hmm...that just gave me another craft idea....stay tuned!)

Who needs toys?

Max came to me this morning with a teaspoon asking if he could "scoop". So we got him all set up to scoop. He's been very busy and very focused for about 30 minutes.
And this little guy watches Max like he's magical. I can't wait for them to be able to really play together. (And by the way, he was chewing on Sophie the giraffe until he saw the camera...so he instantly smiled. Cheeseball.)

I just heard Max get into the measuring cups. This should be interesting...

Rainy Update

I realize it's been quite a while since I posted last. We had a wonderful Christmas and have had a busy start to the year. Erik started his field internship with Napa City fire. It's a great opportunity for him, but it takes him away from us for 48 hours (straight) a week. He loves it and is learning a lot. Max talks about the "Geen Fouw Tuk" (green fire truck) at the station all the time.

Max is talking up a storm and we love listening to him. We are having fun trying to translate his words. Most of the time we can figure it out, but there are a few we have to nicely pass through. He is growing and still thinking he's a 5 year old. He blows our minds just about every day with the things he knows and learns. He's mastered the temper tantrum and is behaving like a typical 2 year old.

Alex learned to roll over and gets himself stuck all the time. He has two teeth trying their best to break through but are taking their time, causing a lot of discomfort and drool! He's "talking" a lot ,trying to keep up with Max. He stops crying instantly when he spots his big brother.

Today is a really rainy and dark day. Max recently got a new rain hat, jacket and boots and has been very anxious to try them out...in the puddles! Breakfast started out like this....... it took me a few minutes to convince him he didn't need to eat with his jacket on....then he wandered into the family room to check on the puddle level...(one of the greatest things about having a dumpy yard is the puddles! Please ignore the yard and the chain link fence. We're really not in the ghetto.)...
...he got suited up and out the door. It only took a few seconds...

...digging for rocks to fill the dump truck...

...playing with the dog...

...splashing everywhere!...

..making it difficult for Mommy to get a photo of his smiling and focused face. He only looked in my direction one or twice...

...and riding his mini 4-wheeler. I finally got him to come inside after his boot fell off and soaked his toes. He was in heaven !!!

I added a couple videos for the Grandparents. They are pretty boring. But, I wanted to include Alex in here too. He keeps chewing like he has food in his mouth, which looks pretty cute with his huge cheeks. Enjoy...

Too fast.

Alex rolled over. And , if you look closely, you can see two teeth making their way through. Goes by toof-ast.

Boys updates

We took the boys in for their check-ups today. They both did great. We really love our pediatrician, he is so good about reassurance of good parenting (I'm assuming all Mom's doubt themselves at one time or another, so it's nice to hear it from the Doc.). I think a lot of Dr's probably say nice things, but I think he really likes our boys. He has a great memory of Max and enjoys talking to us about his family and life changes with us. This morning he was teasing me because I couldn't remember how many years Erik and I have been married. I thought my memory was bad after Max was born. It's so far beyond GONE now, it's embarrassing.

Anyway, here are the stats. Sort of boring, but fun for me to keep up on it.

Alex weighs in at 15 lbs 3oz. He is 26 3/4 inches long and his huge head is 16 3/4 inches. (FYI, he outgrew Max by the time he was 2 months and is now still bigger than he was at 4 months)

He has survived 4 months of being Max's little brother but lights up when he sees him each day. He watches Max intently and smiles with every hug and kiss he receives. He is reaching for things now and is trying to roll over. He talks A LOT and it's not just cooing, it's serious chatting. He is a snuggle bug and a mama's boy. He lost his baby cry and has developed a very sad, feel sorry for me cry. And it works. He is constantly sucking on his hands and fingers. His eyes, I'm hoping, will stay blue! Oh, the life a baby.

Max. Oh Max. Max weighs in at 37 1/4 inches, weighs 29 lbs and they stopped measuring his head. He is so full of life it is hard to describe. He talks a lot and is starting to be able to heave a real conversation about his day. His words and pronunciations are funny. He loves making people laugh. He loves playing with trains and cars and loves to hug his brother. He always has to give a hug and kiss to everyone before he goes to bed and knows the way to his Mommy and Daddy's heart. He is a Daddy's boy for sure! He leaves his mark everywhere he goes but is also willing to help clean when needed. He'll have a meltdown in a second and come running for loves then next. He is such a joy to have at home, bringing us smiles and laughter.

We really feel very lucky to have such great kids.

65th Birthday Celebrations!

On Sunday afternoon we celebrated Lubor and Ariane's 65th Birthday's. They share the same day/same year so we did a joint party. Aara and Mike hosted and presented them with these fun hats and glasses. They wore them proudly! Here is the gang. When I first met Erik's family there were two sweet little girls in the group (they were just turning one then)- now we have 8 kids! The family sure is growing, so much fun!

Happy 65th Lubor and Ariane!
May this year bring plenty of love and happiness!!