Max's First Haircut

This was before my trip. (I have a long list of blog entries I've been meaning to post...been slacking lately.) He did so well the whole time. Didn't really watch the Baby Einstein video she put in, but he was happy.

Before:




After!

Can you BELIEVE?!

In case you can't tell, these are BABY HEELS. Yes, you read that right -- at a shop in San Diego. It says, "her first high heels," "size 0-6 months." HA! Oh MY goodness...

More pics from my trip...

My cousin Whitney sent me some of her pictures. (She has a really neat camera that I played with some. I told Andy what I want for Christmas :D)

My Trip!

Whitney, me, Marisa and Kristin

I had such a great time! My mom and I went on a fun 4-day excursion to the San Diego area to visit my aunts and cousins - girls only! It was such a treat. I ate at restaurants and could actually eat my food before feeding others! I did what I wanted...imagine that! It was a huge blessing, but I was definitely ready to get back to see my 3 boys.

The morning of dropping the kids at my friend Amy's house before my flight, Jake threw up on the way to her house!! I planned every detail, wrote out a million instructions (helpful hints...?), packed everything they would need...but couldn't plan for that! Just goes to show Who is in control. It was a lesson in trusting the Lord. Jake was sick for 24 hours, Andy had to take off work and do the take-care-of-sick-kid things I usually do. They were all fine, but it was hard enjoying myself when Andy was dealing with all that! Thank you sweetheart! He did an awesome job. And I was remined once again how our sweet Father is really the One taking care of us...not me and my busy-bodiness.

We spent most of our time visiting with my Aunt Amy (mom's sister) and her daughters, Marisa and Kristin from Arizona and my cousin Whitney (daughter of my mom's late brother) who lives there. It was so good getting to know them better. I hadn't really seen them in 10 years, and we've never really been in touch. We all said that we need to be better at maintaining our relationships. I just had so much fun getting to know them -- such sweet girls. We laughed a lot too -- my aunt and mom do that when they get together.

The weather was mostly nice and it was fun exploring a beautiful place. I couldn't get over 1) how expensive housing was there and 2) the amazing plants! See all my cheesy pictures below - see the crazy huge cactus my mom is standing by? It reminded me of Little Shop of Horrors! And there were gorgeous flowers. We also went to Whitney's graduation, which was neat.

Us mommies rarely get vacations by ourselves - it felt like such blessing/treat. But oh so glad to get back to my 3 blessings here!

JESUS! Sassy Sauce!

Jake's preschool teacher, Ms. Kathryn, told me about Sassy Sauce. Several months ago I was having trouble with Jake talking back, telling me 'no', etc. She said that someone had told her about it, and she wasn't claiming that it was a good parenting tool, but that she had tried it with her little boy (right Kathryn?) and it worked. Sassy sauce is apple cider vinegar sprayed in the mouth or spoon-fed to the sasser. Eeewwww.

Lately we have had quite a problem with our little boy and defiance. He doesn't want to obey, he throws a fit over not getting what he wants or he tells us no. We had reminded him of sassy sauce. So Monday I was shaking rugs out in the backyard and he wanted to come outside, but was wearing only a t-shirt and underwear. I told him to go get shorts on, then he could come. In response, my angelic son pushed past me in the doorway huffing, "but I WANT to come outside."

Uh-oh. Sassy sauce.

I couldn't find apple cider vinegar, only white balsalmic vinegar. Eeewww. He whined and cried a lot but finally took a spoonful from Andy. He cried so hard. Then as Andy was trying to calm him down and talk to him, he cried out in panic, "Jesus help me with sassy sauce!"

In his agony he cried out to Jesus!

We gave him a drink, talked about the offense and hugged and forgave. I was glad to find a consequence that he REALLY dreaded and that he knew Who to cry to for help! And the last few days the defiance has gotten a lot better.

Any thoughts? Are we cruel and unusual parents? :)

Neat Blog

My friend Mommy of 5 has a link on her blog to a blog that I read a lot. It's so good! This old post was listed as a favorite and it really encouraged me. Long, but encouraging and inspiring. Love you mommy friends!

Hope Missy at Almost Naptime doesn't mind! :S

http://itsalmostnaptime.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-was-your-thursday.html

"p-tending"

Jake and his imagination...

I remember before having kids I thought it was so cute when kids pretended and used their imagination. I realize now that I'm so used to Jake doing it, I don't even notice. He's always some character -- baby little foot (a dinosaur from the Land Before Time; he does this when he's sleepy or wants baby attention like his little brother gets), a "bad robot dy," a robot spider (picture the robot from the Incredibles movie), a frog (which he likes to do before bed and explains that frogs jump in their beds), and a few others I can't remember.

An animal in a "tage."
Army men and their house; they were all friends and invited each other inside their house. The army tank had its own garage. (We worked on this one together. :))
they're sleeping
This was just today - Max got a stuffed animal from his surgery. Jake took the tag off of it and wanted these taped to his fingers to make "bad robot pincher things." Random - I would have never come up with that.
Picking stuff up - serious robot face. :D

Lord, may I appreciate these sweet days rather than focusing on the little frustrations. I want to look back at these days and know that I made the most of them and LOVED my boys, showing them how loving You are.

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." John 15:12

Ear Tubes

It went beautifully!



In case some of you didn't know, Max's ear/nose/throat doc said he needed tubes in his ears. He has only had one ear infection, but the fluid has lingered for a long time. He failed a hearing test - one ear was completely blocked and the other was half way blocked -- poor guy! Because it could also be affecting his balance and motor develpment, we decided to go for the surgery. I'm looking forward to seeing if he'll get around better or hear us better, and therefore talk a little more clearly (you know, for a 1-year-old!).

His teeny hospital gown!








Starting to get a little fussy. He had been up since 5:45 (now 7:30) with nothing in his belly.
















Starting to get punchy. They gave him what they called "drunk medicine" to relax him before taking him into surgery where he would go under with a mask. He was SO funny -- really limp and laughing at Andy and me over anything. HA!















He kept leaning WAY back. Wheeeee!

Max's E-I-E-I-O Party

Sunday afternoon we had Max's 1st birthday party at a local park. It was a pretty good spot --warm but not too bad in the shade. I liked the idea of a farm party (want to do the cute baby things like that before we get completely into Spiderman and Transformers :)). We had lots of farm/country decorations and Andy even had bluegrass music playing! It was a fun little party. Thank you sweet friends and family for making it fun!

I found these marshmallow farm animals at Toys R Us (of all places). They were perfect for what I had in mind. Pretzel fence - Andy's sturdy design; mini wheat cereal for hay bales; and a comb through the field to make the soil look "tilled." The past couple years I've gone to this website for great cake ideas.Max's chick cake
Grammy and Old MaxDonald
walking with Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Clay (aka Papa) with Aunt Erin and cousins Elysa and Emilyswinging with Grandma and Grandpa PaulJake and Tyler being airplanes
big brother helping open

not sure what to thinkwe don't need that anyway!he found and really liked the marshmallow chick

See the flying cake? YAY!!he always has his feet crossed :)the only thing he really cared about - the balloons

Grandpa Clay's gift - neat push around car

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Thank you Lord for these and so many blessings.

Max's Year in Review

Happy Birthday Max! You have brought such fun and joy to us. We love you buddy!

Updated note: I'm having trouble seeing the slideshow - it just loads forever. Are you (my few faithful readers) able to see it? I'm needing a better website for slideshows...