Olympics Here We Come!

Today was Max's last day of gymnastics. Those 8 weeks went by much, much, much too quickly. And the 45 minutes of class time literally went too fast since the teacher started ending class earlier and earlier as the weeks went on. But don't worry. Even though she was putting the equipment away, we didn't start getting on our shoes until we got all (and maybe a little more) than we paid for!

Here are some of the events Max mastered during this session of gymnastics--
The rings (one-handed-upside-down AND the basic two-handed)
Jumping on and off everything (Notice the concentration--sticking the tongue out--this takes in the second picture. Very Michael Jordanesque.)
The parachute (on and under)And yes, even gaining enough courage to give the teacher a high five at the end of the class.
But where Max really excels is in mixed doubles gymnastics. And his partner is, of course, Augey.
Mixed doubles parachute--Max thought it was funny to chase Audrey and then fall down on top of her.

Mixed doubles ringsGiving Audrey a ride on the gymnastics car with a little help from Mom.And stealing a little kiss in the tunnel. WE LOVE GYMNASTICS!

I Loved Today

This morning when I asked Max what he wanted to do, he said, "TEMPLE!" How can I say no to that? We packed a little picnic and drove over to Oakland. We were so lucky to have a beautiful, no-moisture day after a day full of rain. After we ate lunch, we walked around all Max's favorite temple spots: Up around the terrace, making sure to touch every light, on every patch of grass possible, and of course, the fountains. After walking around for a while, I asked Max if he wanted to go look at the statue of Jesus. Of course he did! He was such a reverent big boy and sat quietly, with his arms folded through the entire Christus presentation. I was so impressed. We walked around the visitor's center and pushed every button available for touching. Then, after one more stop by the fountain, Max walked straight to the car and got in his seat like I asked him. No arguments. We stopped by the Distribution Center on our way home and Max picked out a picture of Jesus and the temple to remember the day. And I have these pictures to remember! (I know the picture of Jack is a super close up, but he was riding in the bjourn, so I was holding the camera out in front of us and I didn't realize it was zoomed in. Oh well, I think it's cute.) Thanks for making me the luckiest mom ever, Max and Jack!

Andy and Bri Visit!

We were super excited to finally welcome our first visitors of 2008. Andy and Bri came to visit! And their only San Francisco requests--play with their favorite nephews and get their teeth worked on. They've got to squeeze that dental work in while they still can! They arrived late Thursday night and the fun didn't stop until they left a few hours ago.

Besides all the usual San Francisco fun, we added a few new stops to their tour. First was Tilden Park. Max finally got to share the train ride Owen introduced to us with someone else. So fun--well, once Max finished his little "I got woke up too early" tantrum. We were definitely the party car, chugga-chugga-choo-chooing the entire ride. And don't you like Andy's Blue's Clues jacket? It was his SF H&M purchase.

We also piled, and I mean really PILED, into our little car and drove down to Santa Cruz to show them the boardwalk. Andy and Bri were real troopers riding in the back with two car seats. I was so happy they wanted to go, since last time we went I had a huge pregnant belly and didn't get to go on any of the rides. We had so much fun in the beautiful weather. Andy even "won" a basketball for Max. I love having this place so close.
Even Baby Jack had a fun time. It was basically like he was going on a constant ride since someone was holding him the entire time! Lucky guy!And when we only had enough tickets for Max and one other person to ride one last ride we let Max choose which ride and person that would be. Of course he chose the dragon roller coaster, and his lucky ride-mate was BRI! Max loves talking about how he and Bri went up and down and up and down...And I can't go without mentioning our yummy food from their vacation. In-N-Out (twice), Pacific Catch, Mama's, Fenton's, and Ghirardelli. Mmmmm! This is a picture of Max's first Monte Cristo experience. We usually don't share with him, we didn't think he'd appreciate the Monte Cristo's pure goodness. But this time we got him his own thinking we could eat the leftovers. He ate the entire thing. It's official--it's THAT good!

We loved having visitors, especially visitors who brought gifts! Andy and Bri brought us the best themed gift ever. It started Max opening up a stuffed Baloo and Shere Khan. Then Jack opening a big stuffed Baloo (and Max taking it). Then Blake opening the Tale Spin NES game. And lastly, me opening up Season One of Tale Spin on DVD. You just can't find as high quality cartoons anymore, and since Max loves Jungle Book, it's perfect for him. The gift also leads me to the other exciting part of their trips--Game Nights. Each night we were up until midnight playing games. First we played NES Tale Spin, which we only got to level 3 of. Pathetic, I know. The next night we played Phase 10, and actually completed ALL 10 Phases. Blake won, but it was super close. The next night we played Scattergories. Blake won again, but only because my answer of hayfever pills got thrown out for a medicine starting with H. Come on! Andy did win for most creative, though. And our last night we played Friends Scene It. Thanks to pure luck (they landed on a Central Perk and got to double the number on the dice--a 5) the boys beat the girls. And of course, mixed in every night was a little Dr. Mario. Bri has some serious skills! Come and visit us again soon Andy and Bri!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year I had a spectacular Valentine's Day with all three of my Valentines. (Yes, this is the best picture I could get of the youngest two.) We dressed up in red and decided to have a San Francisco first. After living in this beautiful city for five years, we finally rode a cable car. We got on at the bottom of California and rode it all the way to Van Ness and back. Max loved riding on the cable car and couldn't believe he could ride without being buckled in. He did get really nervous every time Blake stood up and would say, "Daddy, SIT DOWN!" and point at the seat right next to him over and over. But my favorite was when we got up to Powell where another line of cable cars run. At that intersection we passed three other cable cars and Max kept saying, "Nother one. Nother one. Nother one." Too cute. He was so intense watching everything around him, trying to figure out how everything worked. He would just stare at the bell ringing. So when we got to the end of the line the driver let him ring the bell. He really is an official San Franciscan. Little Jack was the perfect angel and was a hit with the other passengers. One lady who sat by us couldn't keep her hands off Jack and kept congratulating Blake on having two boys.We made it back downtown just in time to see thousands, and I mean THOUSANDS, of people running around carrying their pillow. Apparently, every year on Valentine's there is a huge pillow fight and we were lucky enough to make it this year. I can't even describe how crazy it is. There are feathers flying everywhere. I tried to steer clear so Jack wouldn't get whacked, but Blake and Max got in on all the action. We even borrowed some pillows to take a picture. We look feisty, I know.
We finished off the night with a yummy dinner at Chevy's. A perfect Valentine's.

Earlier in the month Max helped me make hearts to decorate the bedroom doors. On it we wrote why we loved each person. Blake was the easiest. Max loves his Daddy because he rides the bus, goes to work, and takes Max on the elevator. Max loves Jack because he is funny and poops in his diaper. I thought those were good reasons. Max said the reason we love him is because he's a big boy. I'd add "most of the time." And Max loves me because I make dinner. I take that as meaning I sustain the lives of my boys--pretty important. I heart my family.

Jack is 4 Months Old

The other day I was holding Jack and happened to glance at us as I walked by the mirror. My little baby looks so big all of the sudden. He is growing up too quickly. He has started to grab at everything--clothes, hair, toys, and especially his paci. One of the fun games he plays is pulling his paci out of his mouth, looking at it, then sticking it back in and sucking on it as hard as he can while he tries to pull it out again. I guess he's trying to determine if his arm muscle or sucking power is greater. He also likes to grab his blankets or burp rags, bring them up by his face, and cuddle them. I love getting him in the morning when he is talking away snuggling with his blanket. Jack also loves his toes. One of my favorite things to watch him do is stare at his moving toes and laugh. Jack is a little social butterfly. He is always flashing that toothless grin at anyone who comes near him--very unlike his brother who you had to work VERY hard to get any sort of smile out of. Also unlike Max, he has no desire at all to support any of his weight on his legs. Whenever we try to have him stand up, his legs turn into jell-o. Jack's new favorite place to be is his bumbo. He loves sitting up and looking around, especially at his silly brother running all over the place. Max is his absolute favorite. The other night Blake was trying to read a book to Jack and he wouldn't even look at the book. He was too busy watching Max run around. Max is always giving Jack his paci and even has a soft enough touch now that I just let him do it. They are the best brothers.

And here are Jack's four month stats--
Weight: 15 lbs, 3 oz, 50% (Down from 90% two months ago, which makes me think the nurse told me wrong last time. This time I actually saw the chart and he was about 50% at two months as well.)
Height: 26 inches, 90%

Father-Son Outing

I guess Blake decided he needed some serious bonding time with Baby Jack because yesterday he hopped on a plane with Jack, and only Jack, to go to Arizona. Jack had to meet his Great Grandma and this was the perfect time for Blake to go with his hectic schedule. Unfortunately, Blake refuses to write on this blog, so I will try to do my best describing their little vacation from what Blake and Nanny's email told me.

Jack was as good as could be expected on the airplane. I started feeding him a bottle a day on Tuesday and he ate it like a pro. Blake was even smart enough to mix the hot water with a can of cold for the perfect temperature. Once they arrived in Arizona, Nanny picked them up and they headed straight to the hospital to visit Great Grandma. When Grandma saw Blake and Jack she got the biggest ear-to-ear grin. Jack was only allowed to stay in the room for a minute, so they took a 4-generation picture and left. Jack loved spending the rest of the day around family, and so did Blake. They played at Nanny's house with Grandpa, Nanny, Ashley, Beth, and Zoie, visited the sick BTRs, and played in the Carmona's grassy backyard. I hear Blake even sparked up one of his super fun "would you rather" games at dinner. Nanny invited Jack to spend the night in her bedroom since she had heard he was a perfect sleep-through-the night kind of guy. Too bad he was so excited to see her that he wanted to stay up and play all night! At least that made it so he slept the entire flight back to Oakland early Monday morning. A perfect less-than-24-hour vacation.

And, apparently, Jack loved playing with his cousin Zoie the best, since those are the only pictures that came home on our camera. We love our AZ family!

Sick Babies

So, I know my posts haven't been too exciting lately, and here's why--I have two sick little boys. And of course, they are sick on the warmest, most beautiful week so far this year. Starting last Saturday, Max had a nasty cough, runny nose, and Sunday even had a temperature. He was so cranky one minute, then a cuddle bug the next. He was so sick that he would be playing then all of the sudden it would be completely quiet becaue he fell dead asleep. Poor guy. But some good did come out of Max being sick. I was able to expand the number of movies he'll watch. He likes Toy Story, Toy Story 2, (But he calls it Toy Story 2-4, because after the title comes up, it says "Gamma Quadrant, Sector 4." Get it--2-4.) Lady and The Tramp (The Dog Movie), and Jungle Book (Mowgli). I also learned that he does not like Bambi (who does?) and Dumbo (lucky for his mom or I would be crying every day--that movie is so sad).

And Jack is so lucky to have a big brother who shared the sickness with him. Jack's coughing started late Sunday night, but he never had the fever or the runny nose that went along with Max's. I'm not even sure Jack really knew he was sick--he still slept through the night and ate like normal. In fact, I think the only reason he was fussy was so his mom would stop taking pictures of him.
Today they are both doing much better, but I think I'll stay inside a few more days to make sure. I loved being able to cuddle with my babies, but we are ready to get outside! All three of us haven't changed out of our jammies for too long. And here they both are--THE PACI BROTHERS. (Yes, Max still has a paci. Don't judge me.) Max loves holding Jack's hand. They are the best brothers.

He Can See!

Of course he has his contacts, but poor Blake hasn't been able to see the same since his favorite pair of glasses went up in flames with Nanny's suburban over Christmas 2004.Blake got new glasses the week after the big fire and considered himself pretty lucky. Afterall, he didn't lose anything compared to Gage losing ALL his CDs and Caden and Jace losing their sippy cups.

But the new glasses just weren't the same. They didn't have the half rim he loved, and they quickly got bent from all the nights falling asleep on the couch, watching TV, wearing them. Plus, once Max came along, that didn't help the glasses. He was always grabbing at them and maybe actually got them a few times...

So, back in September we had a glasses accident. When Blake falls asleep on the couch, he usually takes off his glasses and puts them underneath the couch so they don't get stepped on. Well, I was having him help me move the couch and we lifted it up, he took a step, and crunch. One of the sides that goes over his ear broke off. But that didn't bother Blake. He just wrapped some tape around them and he was back in business. Then, just a few days after that there was another accident, this time involving Max, where the other side fell off too. So for a couple months, Blake was sporting some serious nerd glasses--everything but the nose bridge being held together by tape. Then, to make matters worse, there was another accident in which one of the sides came untaped and was flushed down the toilet. So since October, these are the glasses Blake has been wearing.

Anyway, recently he FINALLY got some new glasses and only once has he had to go back to the eye store to get them refitted. He looks so handsome, but is a close second to Max. Here he is showing off Blake's loops. Poor Max and Jack. With their parents' awful vision, I'm sure one day I'll be posting stories of their glasses.

Who Needs Electricity?

Yesterday, while Max was taking a nap, I opened the fridge to get a drink and noticed the light was out. At first I was a little upset with Max for turning off the light since we had a discussion earlier that day about not touching the buttons in the fridge. I tried to fix it, but no button I pushed made the light come back on. I concluded that the light just must have gone out and decided to wait for my Mr. Fix-It to get home. A while later, our upstairs neighbor knocked on the door asking for her spare key. I let her into the garage through the side door and when she tried to exit through the garage door, it wouldn't open. Luckily, I just happened to mention to her how great that the garage AND my fridge were broken now because five minutes later she came back down and told me her fridge was also out along with random lights and outlets. I started checking lights in our place. The disposal wasn't working, but the light right next to it was. An outlet over the counter was working, but the one right next to it wasn't. The dryer was working, but the washer wasn't. SO WEIRD. Our house has had so many electrical problems (a switch in our house turns on a light in another unit) that I was just going to chalk this up to that. Lucky for me though, our neighbor called PG&E and they were here in 15 minutes (some sort of record). After a long search, he told us that there are two main lines going to our house and one broke. To fix it, he would have to turn all the power off for about an hour. Max, Jack, and I had so much fun during that hour (but it was really only 40 minutes). Why haven't I turned off the lights and played before? After I lit all the candles Max yelled "Birthday Party!" So, I sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he blew out all the candles. We also made flash light faces and did shadow puppet shows (I only know how to make a duck). And of course, we took pictures. I know they didn't really turn out great, but the flash sure helped when we needed some light.