Teething!

Oh Baby Jack. I sure hope this explains your fussiness. We've been watching the two big white bumps in Jack's gums for weeks now, wondering when the crying and tenderness will stop, when we'll be able to put away the Infant's Tylenol, and when those little teeth will make their appearance. So, finally this morning when I checked Jack's mouth, Jack-pot!! Enamel! One little tooth decided to show itself. Jack has been so clingy, even reaching for me when other people are holding him (isn't he a little young to be doing that?), and I'm hoping that the teething is to blame for this and not the separation anxiety phase, especially right before we're about to see a lot of family who will want to hold him. So, welcome little tooth O to Jack's mouth! And to the rest of you teeth, can you please take it easier on my little baby?

Zoie, AGAIN!

I told you that little girl couldn't get enough of San Francisco. She came again, her second visit in two months. (Good thing Matt's family keeps having family events in San Francisco!) They picked the perfect weekend to come and we had so much fun playing with them. Of course we headed straight to the beach. Blake, Max, and Matt enjoyed some fun in the sun playing smash ball and nerf turbo football while the rest of us sat in the shade provided by umbrella-holding Beth. And even though Zoie was enjoying seeing her first SF naked people, the beach soon got too hot to handle, so we packed up and left. We were quite the site running from shady spot to shady spot, trying not to burn our feet on the way to the car.

We went to the Legion of honor to sit in the shade and enjoy a nice picnic. Max was in heaven running all over the grass, getting wet in the sprinklers, and climbing the tree providing our shade. And Zoie enjoyed crawling around, following Max. But poor Baby Jack isn't as mobile, so he just dumped out all the carrots. Seriously, it was so beautiful and perfect weather to just sit outside.

I wasn't very good at bringing my camera around with me the rest of the weekend, so a list of the other fun things we did will have to suffice. We went on a long walk and Matt got to experience the joy of pushing a double stroller up San Francisco hills. We played a much, much, much too long game of Settlers (Beth and I wished we could have just gone bankrupt so we didn't have to play anymore). We ate bread bowls at the wharf and ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli. We played a very exciting game of Catch Phrase which ended so closely that we couldn't even declare a winner. We ventured into the Mission and ate some yummy, yummy Mexican food. And we played a lot of Game Boy!
So far this year Matt, Beth and Zoie are our best visitors, visiting us a whopping two times. Who will give them some competition or will they be able to take home the 2008 trophy? Only time will tell! Thanks for visiting us!

It's Getting Hot Out There!

The high today was a record breaking 85 degrees, and it's just supposed to keep getting hotter. To celebrate the beautiful weather, our playgroup met at the beach today. At first I thought the weather man must have been fooling us since I showed up in shorts, wishing I would have brought a jacket. But I soon realized he was definitely telling the truth. It got hot. At first Max was a wimp and didn't want the sand to touch his feet. He quickly got over that when he saw all the fun his little friends were having digging holes and building towers then smashing them. Plus, you can't beat a beach with a view like this.

Even Baby Jack had fun at the beach. Well, until he fell sound asleep for two hours, making my job very easy. He definitely enjoys the beach for lounging around rather than playing. Or maybe he just wanted to stay in his seat this time and skip the sunburned head.
And after Max quickly lost interest in stomping on every one's sand towers, I was happy Hudson was there to entertain him by throwing rocks in the water. And when they were done with the rocks, they came up for a cookie break and sat on the rope to eat them. These two boys are so silly. We are going to miss Hudson so much when he moves away!

And I don't know what I was doing, obviously not paying very close attention to my son, because when I turned around this is what I saw. Apparently those two silly boys wandered off to the hot sand and their little feet couldn't stand it any longer. Good thing Christina was paying attention and ran to the rescue. I guess I'll miss Christina too.
And in true Addi style, I have a bright red spot on each of my legs between the top of the knee and the bottom of my shorts. Over the next few days it's just supposed to get warmer and warmer, the hottest spot in the country, believe it or not. It makes me wonder how I'll do with our trips to the desert this summer.

Max is a Big Boy!

That's right! You heard it from his own mouth. Max is a big boy. Not because he uses the potty, not because he can get himself dressed, and definitely not because he doesn't throw tantrums. Max is a big boy because after 2 years, 5 months, and 3 days, he finally {FINALLY} sleeps with no paci. After several attempts to rid Max of his little friend, I had come to terms with the fact that Max would probably be taking his paci with him on his first date. (Okay, okay. It's not that bad. The rule for quite a while has been he can only have his paci in his bed. At least then I'm spared from public humiliation.) Then, early yesterday morning, Max came in our room to show me that he had bit through his paci. Only half of it was still attached. I told him to just go back to bed and we'd fix it later. Too bad after he quickly obeyed and went back to sleep, I laid awake with the monitor next to my ear, waiting for him to bite off the rest of the paci, choke, and start gasping for air. After we all got up, Blake helped Max "fix" his paci by cutting the entire thing off. I was SO nervous when we put Max to bed last night, but there was absolutely no problem. That little stinker slept through the night like he'd never had a paci. REALLY MAX?!? Yes, it was that easy. Now, whenever I give Jack his paci, Max is quick to tell me that pacis are only for babies, not for big boys.

Max and his many pacis have had quite a journey. At first Blake and I were intent on never letting him have a paci; maybe that's what caused the attachment in the first place. It took Max FOREVER to hold his paci in his mouth by himself. I remember bouncing that little guy and having to push his face into my arm to keep his paci in. And when he was teething, his paci doubled as a soother and chew toy. Max and his paci have traveled all over. They've been to the Atlantic and Pacific and several places in between. They've even traveled internationally to our neighbors in the north and south. Oh, paci. Thank you for calming my baby enough to pass his gas bubbles, helping pop many ears on airplane rides, and basically being a quick fix to any problem. We've been through many ups and downs. I will always remember how big you looked in my new baby's mouth and also how embarrassed I felt at Walgreens buying the humongous size 3 double pack. I will forever be grateful, but it is sure good to see you go!

Happy Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day. My little family made me feel so special today with yummy meals, presents, cards, and even taking over my primary class so I could go to Relief Society. The day was practically perfect until Blake reminded me of our Mother's Day tradition--summer buzzes. Not that Max wasn't in need of a haircut in a major way, but I still always get teary watching his hair fall to the ground. I guess I can at least be grateful Blake didn't buzz Jack's hair.
BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

This year, Blake cleaned up all the hair before I could save a little piece in a bag to cry to, making this Max's first hair cut that I haven't saved a piece from. Blake asked me if I was planning on saving a little bit from every hair cut over his entire life. And OF COURSE I was! Max looks so much older now. My babies are growing up much too quickly. I always wonder if I'm cuddling them enough, praying for them enough, teaching them enough, loving them enough. What am I going to do when one day they won't let me hold them or read to them? I guess I should remember feeling like this when they're teenagers and all I want to do his lock them in their rooms. :) These little boys are the best thing in my life. I love being Max and Jack's mom! I am the luckiest girl in the world!

TGITh--Alamo Square

Really today's TGITh was some spring cleaning. And I mean serious spring cleaning. Like wash the curtains, the baseboards, and the inside of the oven and fridge spring cleaning. Like moving the bed and dressers and vaccuuming underneath them spring cleaning. I love it. It's an early Mother's Day present. But we still had to get outside for those little boys. Max really needed to run off some energy. So we headed over to Alamo Square. We've only really been there to quickly jump out of the car and take a picture by the painted ladies (Although we usually call them the Full House houses...hmmm, maybe this post should have been TGIF! Ha! I kill myself!), but this time we stayed and played at the little park. Max had fun running from the upper level to the lower level and going down all the slides and both boys loved the swings. And come on, with a view like that, who wouldn't love it!?!

FINALLY!

Blake has been waiting 6 1/2 long months for this. Jack is becoming more and more fun for Blake to play with. He's not a fragile little newborn anymore and Blake can officially start roughing him up. But will Jack ever reach Max's balancing heights? I can't decide if it will be Jack or Blake that will hold back the duo. Jack has been pretty good at keeping his legs straight lately, but now he just needs to work on tucking in his rear. And Blake hasn't been building up his muscles mass from the beginning like with Max. It's much different to start balancing an almost 7 month old than a 3 month old. Either way, I know I'll come through on my job--teaching Jack to roll his arms and yell, "Goooo Cougars!"

No Locking Doors

Remember how Max is obsessed with unlocking/locking doors. So, a while ago he started locking the door whenever he went into his room. Harmless, I know, as long as he could unlock it. But we didn't want it to become a habit. So every time he locked a door he had to sit in time out. After a gazillion times sitting in time out he could easily recite to us, "No locking doors. Sit in time out door lock." Our efforts at effective parenting were definitely not working and today Max proved it to us by locking the door to his bedroom, coming out of the room, and closing the door behind him...with Jack inside. Blake had to take off the entire knob for us to get in. So, now this is what Max's door looks like. Sorry if you're visiting in the near future and were expecting some privacy.
The only good thing about the big hole in the door is when Max wakes up from his nap, this is what I get to see. I love this guy!

My Terrible Two Year Old

Okay, I can't decide if Max is really terrible, testing his boundaries and my patience at every turn, or if he just has an extreme case of OCD. For example, to put on his shoes, I have to be sitting on an exact spot on the stair by the door, give him the socks and shoes, then he gives them back to me one at a time and tells me which foot to put them on. And the fun part of this is that he pretends to hide each sock and shoe and then I have to say, "Where is Max's sock?" And he HAS to say, "Where'd it go?" Then I say, "I don't know." Then he says, "Here it is!" The exact dialogue every single time. So much fun! Also, Max has become quite obsessed with locking and unlocking doors. He throws a tantrum if he doesn't get to unlock the doors coming into the house and with so much practice is actually quite good at picking the right key, putting it in and twisting it. Too bad after he opens the door he likes to slam it in my face then tells me to knock so he can say, "Who is it?" And his lock obsession is not just with the house, but with the car as well. He is quite the gentleman and always unlocks the passenger side door then opens it and says, "Here ya go, Mommy." Too bad the rest of the routine is then opening his door, climbing in, climbing up to the driver's seat, putting the keys in the ignition, locking the doors and climbing back into his seat. I really have to be aware of what's going on or I could get locked out of the car, which actually happened the other day. Luckily that time Max actually turned the keys in the ignition so he was able to roll down a window and ask me what I was saying since he didn't get "UNLOCK THE DOORS!" I know, I know what you're thinking. Who's in charge here? But I'm a run-down mom who is carefully choosing her battles. One of my favorites though is when Max bosses me around. While we were at Barnes and Noble tonight I asked him if he wanted to pick a different book to read. He answered yes, then sternly said to me, "Be patient Mommy. Need to clean up. Be patient!" And I can't even count the number of times he's told me to sit in timeout.

But amidst my complaints, I have to say, I never could have dreamed Max would be such a good brother. He is nothing but a total angel to Baby Jack and takes very good care of him. I love it when he tells Jack, "One minute Baby Jack. Mommy coming. It's okay Jack. Mommy be here in one minute." Or when I find him reading a book to Jack or letting Jack pull his hair. I am one lucky mom, loving every minute with my two-year old.

I know this next video isn't very long, but you have to realize that he started doing this, I noticed he was doing it, watched him for a while, thought--WOW, I can't believe he doesn't see me, then thought--man, he just keeps going, I should get the camera--no, by the time I get the camera, he'll have stopped. But he just keeps going. I'm going to get the camera. Then, I actually got the camera and videoed. I should have jumped into action more quickly.

And I just love this video. Max loves to count the numbers on the microwave. I know he's standing a little close for radiation purposes, but it was for the sake of the video. I usually don't let him stand so close. Anyway, Blake already told me that I'm the only one who thinks this is funny, but I don't care. I'm going to watch it over and over and laugh my head off.

TGITh--Happy Hollow

I'd always seen the website for Happy Hollow during my Bay Area researching, but it wasn't until Paula made a trip into the city and said something about it at playgroup last week that I decided we should go. It just seemed so far to drive all the way down to San Jose. But it's a good thing we decided to go since upon arrival (after Max dropped Blake's credit card through the cracks in the boards on the patio where you buy the tickets--what are the chances, seriously?) we found out that the park is closing on July 2 for a year! But it's a good thing it is. Happy Hollow is in much, much need of a face lift. The rides were so rundown that even Max wouldn't ride on them. There was absolutely no line and there was nothing we could do to get him on it. Instead, he played at the mini fire station for a while until we saw the dragon train cruise by. Of course he had to ride on that, and after the ride, he forgot about all the cobwebs and dust and decided to give Happy Hollow a chance.
After the train ride, we went over the the theater to save some seats for the puppet show--The Frog Prince. Max had a prime front row seat, but quickly gave it up after the frog started shooting water at the audience. Poor guy was scared to death. But don't worry, not totally to death since every time the frog appeared on stage he'd announce, "Ribbit, that's what a froggy say." Thanks Max.
Lunch at Happy Hollow couldn't have been better. The picnic tables were right next to the carousel. Max was still being weird, probably still scared of the spitting frog, and chose to ride on the bench the first time around. Silly guy. Finally Blake coerced Max into riding on a horse and even Baby Jack joined the boys for his first carousel ride.

Happy Hollow isn't just rides and puppet shows. Oh no. They also have a little zoo. And in keeping with Max's theme for the day, he would not get close to the animals. It's hard to tell in the picture, but Blake is pulling Max up near the very cute, harmless miniature horses. You can kind of tell that he's trying to push against the fence with his right arm. Anyway, we quickly left the zoo behind and went back for more rides. We found the crooked house which was home to the steepest slide I've ever been on. I swear, it is just short of a vertical drop at the first and then twists around to this opening. When Max hit the turn, it twisted him onto his belly and this is the picture I got of him coming out.
If you need a closer look at his scared little face, here's the cropped picture. And really, I don't blame him. It really was so scary.
And after the slide incident, we started making our way to the gate. Max played on a viking boat and splashed the oars in the high seas and we stopped at one ride, which he rode about 10 times, on our way out then hit the road back up to San Francisco. Thank you Happy Hollow for a fun-filled day. Can't wait for your face lift!