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!

8 months old

Max is now 8 months old.

He now "army crawls" all over the place.

He has pulled himself up to standing on our coffee table, and loves if we will let him hold our hands so that he can stand and walk.

He can go from a crawling position to sitting.

He pushes up on his hands and feet like a little stink bug.

He eats BIG meals. He must be a growing boy!

He loves being outside.

He follows me around and holds on to my legs.

He is so snuggly. He always wants to be as close as possible. Just like his dad!

LA Trip

So, my sister is a super terrific mom, and decided that over spring break she would take her kids on a cultural excursion to Los Angeles. Cool, huh? Well, it gets even cooler because Max and I were invited along.

Day one was spent appreciating the art and the views at the Getty Center. I'd never really gotten a chance to look through the gardens before. They are magnificent. Then, we cruised over to the Santa Monica Pier. It was really windy and cold, but we had fun riding the carousel and enjoying the atmosphere.

On day two, our Mom met us at Union Station. It was so glamorous that I've decided that train travel is the way to go! We took the Metro to Chinatown, which is a great place for souvenirs that don't cost a fortune. Afterwards, we headed to historic Olvera Street for some yummy food and a visit to the oldest house in LA.

Thanks for including us in the fun, sis!

Easter

Max had a great first Easter. On Saturday night, we had a wonderful dinner at Nic's dad's house. The food was, of course, wonderful as was the company. We got a chance to visit with Nic's aunt and uncle, who hadn't seen Max since he was a newborn. We also got to talk with Nic's cousin and his new fiance and dispense all of our wedding advice.

Dale sent us home with some Easter presents, which we opened on Easter morning. Max loved his gifts and the paper that they were wrapped in.

There was a beautiful program put on by the choir at church. Afterwards, my parents joined us for Easter dinner at our house.

New York

I HATE when Nic goes on business trips. The day is just too long when you are a stay-at-home mom and your sweetie doesn't come home in the evening. So, when Nic told me that he had to go to New York. I decided to come along. Tagging along on business trips is the best because Nic's hotel was paid for from Sunday to Wednesday, so basically we just had to buy me a plane ticket and one extra night at the hotel. Nic bought my ticket with his frequent flier miles, and it turned out to be a better deal to fly business class. I never want to fly coach again! The seats were so big and comfy. They reclined. There was even room to put Max on the ground by our feet to play. They bring yummy food on nice trays with real dishes. Seriously, it was awesome. Enough about the flight... the trip was also great.

We decided to leave the weekend before Nic had to be there, so we'd have a couple days together. Our first stop was the American Museum of Natural History. This is one of the best museums I have ever been to. I loved checking out the dinosaur bones. Also, if you've ever seen "Night at the Museum" it is really fun to look around for things from the movie.

The next day we took the subway out to Coney Island. Coney Island is interesting because it is kind of run down, but there is such a fun, lively spirit. nice boardwalk by the beach. Nic and I also had a lot of fun taking turns riding the historic Cyclone roller coaster. Then, we waited for an hour in line for Franks Famous Hot Dogs. After an hour, we still hadn't moved, so we called it quits. We got a corn dog at some little place on the boardwalk. It wasn't great, but it was better than standing in line for another hour.

After our lunch, we walked down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach, which is a Russian area of New York. It was pretty cool to walk down the street and hear only Russian. A little lady even came up to us and started talking to us in Russian. I guess that we were smiling and nodding so well that she didn't notice that we didn't speak Russian. Nic said something in English, and then she realized that we hadn't understood a word she said. Then, in English, she told us how beautiful Max was and that we should have lots more babies.

On Monday, Nic had to work. Max had been up all night, so he and I slept in. Then, I had to decide what the two of us would do. I opted for a walk in Central Park, but first I had to get there. The subways in New York are not all handicap accessible, which means that they aren't really stroller accessible either. I had to get Max out of the stroller, put him in his Baby Bjorn and then carry the stroller and all of our stuff down the stairs. We must have been quite a site because people were offering to help us all the time. It was so nice!

When we finally got to Central Park, there was a slight drizzle, but it was so beautiful and peaceful. I was having such a nice time walking around, and so was Max! As we got into the middle of the park on the curving pathways it started to rain a bit harder, and just as I was thinking that I should probably head back it started to pour. Central Park is huge, and we quickly wanted to find the nearest subway station. Even though we took a pretty direct route, we were still walking in the pouring rain for about 15 minutes. We were soaked, and it was still quite an adventure getting home, especially because we apparently didn't know exactly where our hotel was. I'm just so proud that I did it. We had a fun day all by ourselves in New York City.

On Tuesday, I decided that I would take Max to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I had no idea how long the lines would be. First, you wait in line to get a ticket. Then, you wait in a huge line that wraps all around Battery Park to get on the ferry. Then you have to go through airport-style security, which is really a pain with a stroller. Finally, we got on the boat. The Statue of Liberty is beautiful, but I really enjoyed going to Ellis Island. My great-grandmother came through Ellis Island when she emigrated from Holland. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to look her up while I was there because I spent so much time wandering around the museum. It is amazing to think about all the people that came to our country from all over the world, and very sad to think of few people that came all the way here by ship and then weren't admitted. You get to walk through all the rooms that were a part of the examination process, and the audio tour has voice recordings of people who actually came through Ellis Island.

Overall, we loved coming along to New York. Spending time on our own there was much more fun than spending it here, and we still got to see Nic in the evenings. I don't think Nic is going to be able to get us to stay at home anymore. :)