9 Months old

Camera is still broken. This is the most recent picture I have of Max. It is obviously cropped from a huge family picture. I'll probably post the whole picture soon in another blog.

It just seems so crazy that my little boy is 9 months old now. He learned how to do a lot this month, and he is getting in to trouble all the time. We had to bring out the big guns with childproofing, and now it's hard getting around my house with all the gates (there are really only two, but it feels like a lot!).

This past month Max:

-Started sleeping through the night!!! It took a couple rough nights of letting him get used to falling back to sleep on his own, but now he always goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up around 6 or 6:30.

-Cruised around the room using furniture before he started to crawl. I thought he might go straight to walking.

-Started to crawl with his belly off the ground. He's so fast!

-Cut FIVE teeth. He now has a total of seven.

-Learned to climb up the stairs.

- Started standing on his own for a few seconds.

- Made lots of cute noises. He finally makes "mama" sounds, but I don't think he applies them to me. He also loves to yell while covering and uncovering his mouth because it makes a funny noise.

- Took swimming lessons and loved the water. It was so cute to watch him splash around, and he really looks like he's about to swim away when he's in the pool.

- Started initiating peek-a-boo. One day, he took off his bib, covered his face, then uncovered it really fast, and laughed. Now he plays peek-a-boo all the time.

- Developed a talent for finding any cupboard that isn't locked.

He is such a wonderful little guy, and I just love seeing his personality develop every day.

My first Mother's Day

I had such a wonderful Mother's Day! Nic really went all out to make it a nice day. It made me feel so appreciated. The day started with Nic making yummy cinnamon rolls and showing me my gift, which was gorgeous urns filled with flowers for our porch. They look great! Max was sweet enough to take a long morning nap, so I also got a long morning nap. Nic cooked up an awesome dinner and dessert. I wish my camera wasn't broken because his presentation was so beautiful.

Having my first Mother's Day made me really reflect on how grateful I am to be a mother. Having Max has changed my life in so many wonderful ways that I never would have imagined. He makes me laugh every day, and watching him grow is such a privilege. It just amazes and humbles me that I've been entrusted me to take care of this precious little gift. I'm so glad that I had such a wonderful mom to show me how it's done. I hope that one day I can be half as good as my mom!

A Tribute to Nic

So, Nic was looking at my blog the other day, and was disappointed at how little he was featured. He went on to point out that he only had one picture in the last month. I certainly do not want rivalry between my two favorite guys for space on my blog, so this blog is dedicated to my sweet husband.

I am so lucky to be married to such a great guy. I thought I would list some of the things he has done for me over the years.

When we first started dating:

- We'd only been dating a couple months, but Nic planned an elaborate surprise picnic on the beach for my birthday. I thought he had to go study, but he asked me to walk with him. We got out to the parking lot, and he had somehow packed everything up into my car (he didn't have one) without me knowing it!

- At the dorms, there is a list for packages. I would check it every day, but I NEVER got anything. One day I was surprised to see my name on the list. Inside the package was everything Nic had ever heard me mention that I liked. He'd been keeping a list!

When Nic moved to Chicago:

- When we found out that Nic got into grad school in Chicago, I thought we should just break up. I didn't want to do a long distance relationship because I thought we'd never see each other. Nic promised that he would come to see me every three weeks, and he did!

- When his program was almost over, and he was searching for a job he restricted his search to California so that we wouldn't have to be so far apart. A lot of his friends got much higher paying jobs in NY and elsewhere, but Nic didn't even consider any of those jobs.

When Nic moved back to California:

- I was still in school in San Luis Obispo, and Nic was working in Newport Beach. He drove up to see me every weekend. He HATES to drive. (I would drive down sometimes, but less often).

- We were engaged at this point, and knew that we were going to get married in Southern California. Nic totally took the lead in checking out all of our prospective wedding venues!

- For Easter, my parents were adamant that they would not be hiding eggs for me that year, as I was all grown up and about to be married. I was a little bit bummed that it would be my first year with no egg hunt, so Nic made sure I had one!

From the time we got married to now:

- Nic is the entertainer of children. Whenever we have family get-togethers, he is always outside making up a game for the kids. It is so cute.

- He gives really sweet and thoughtful gifts. Nic is known for his frugality, but when it comes to buying me presents, it all goes out the window. He will only buy me the best, which is so funny because I would never buy such nice things for myself. My birthdays and Christmas are awesome.

- When I was pregnant, there were a lot of foods that I didn't like. For Valentine's Day, he made me grilled cheese sandwiches because they were the only thing I ever wanted to eat!

- He is absolutely the best daddy, but takes no credit for it. He is always telling people that I do everything, and that my job is so hard. You'll notice, though, that he's always helping. On Sundays, he is always the one out in the hall with him. As soon as he gets home during the week, he's playing with Max and changing diapers!

This is just a small sampling of the nice things Nic does for me every day, but the main point is: Nic is the best!