Yummy...Sweet Potatos

Gotta Love Our Dog

Vesuvius had a few presents under the tree as well. He had a bag of dog cookies and a stuffed sheep. After we returned home from Christmas Eve dinner with my dad and brother (my mom had to work), we noticed that Vesuvius was carrying around his sheep. His face was covered in glitter from pushing his way behind the sparkly Christmas tree ornaments. The sheep was still in the packaging, but he didn't mind. I captured a picture of the impatient pooch. He knows he was caught.

Family Project

We are slowly working on small projects around the house. Today, we worked on a little pond/stream in our back yard. I was a little weary at first, but I must say Chris had a great idea. Here is a bit of the progress we made today (pictures don't really do it justice). We still need to add water and more plants, but it is really coming along and at a great price. (We've only spent about $20)
Max likes to watch daddy work.

Max, You Are Amazing

Over the past few weeks you...

• Learned you can put your feet in your mouth. You think it is funny to do while mommy and daddy are changing you.
• Are getting very close to crawling. You try and push up on you knees, but just move in a circle.
• Eat baby food. You like sweet potatoes and apples.
• Have mastered how to take out your pacifier and put it back in. You like to chew on the side of it which makes us thing you are going to get teeth very soon.
• Have grown fond of taking showers.

You are the coolest baby ever. We are so lucky.

Love, Mom

More Christmas Photos

It rained for part of the day. Then out came this beautiful rainbow. Here's our pot of gold! (I have to give credit to my friend Maria for this picture. She posted a similar one on her blog and I thought it was adorable)

Family Christmas present in action. Dad and brother playing Wii.

Mom trying to bowl.

Max with his great grandparents.

Clothes are overrated.

More from Christmas

Here are photos from my parents' house:

Happy baby.
Max and mommy.

My dad picked out this little wagon that was filled with blocks. Max loved being pulled around in it.

My brother picked out this great puppet for Max. He really gets a kick out of the orange hair. Great present uncle Ryan!

Getting some help from mommy.

Merry Christmas to all...

We had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. We woke up and watched Max open presents, which translates into eating wrapping paper. Chris and I are impatient and gave one another our presents early. He got Sabres tickets and I got a sewing machine. I'm determined to sew!!!! After playing with toys for a bit, we went over to Grandma Kelly and Grandpa Rich's house. Max was spoiled there as well. He got lots of attention from grant parents and great grandparents. It was a lot of fun. We missed our east coast family and have kicked around the idea of having a white Christmas in Buffalo next year. We hope everyone had a wonderful day with family and friends.

Below are pictures of presents at our house:

Patiently waiting. Another loud baby toy!

Ripping the paper.

Cute Santa.

Examining the gift.

What Do You Get When Two Santas Meet?

A ridiculously cute photo. Here is Santa Max meeting Santa for the first time.

Just Some Pics to Share

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Especially when an adorable boy does it

Mission Inn Festival of Lights

One of the most beautiful historic landmarks in Riverside County is the Mission Inn. Each year they have they have an amazing light display called the festival of lights. My mom and I have been, but Chris, Cindy, and of course Max were first-time visitors. Actually, Max was the in womb last year when I went. But, I don't think his vision had developed at that stage. Actually we didn't even know he was going to be a Max. Wow, time flies...

Santa Max looks confused. I think he was staring at one of the freaky elves.

Shouldn't you be sitting on Santa's Lap, Grandma Cindy?

So cute

"Cel-e-brate good times; come on!"

I am officially on Winter break from school. Woo hoo. Too bad work won't give me 4 weeks off as well.

So, in celebration of this glorious achievement, I'm going to blog like crazy tonight (and eat a huge bowl of ice cream while watching the office). Here is the remainder of grandma Cindy's trip to CA.

The coolest gift ever. All you parents out there, I highly recommend the Kelty carrier. We take it everywhere!
Fun times.
Happy little So Cal family. Notice the snow way in the distance. It was about 85 degrees when we took this picture.

The little guy waiting to hike

Fun With Grandma

Max is one lucky boy; his Grandma Cindy is here and is spoiling him rotten (actually, she is spoiling all of us. I came home tonight to an AMAZING prime rib dinner). It was wonderful to pick her up from the airport with Max. She dropped her bags and I handed him right over. Grandma, Chris, and Max had fun today while mommy worked. I was updated with text messages and pictures so I felt somewhat included. I decided to take tomorrow of so I could hang out too. Here are some pictures from the day.

Grandma also bought us an awesome Kelty baby backpack. It has a shade cover and everything. Max barley fits in the carrier we currently have; we were in much need of a new one. We'll take pictures tomorrow and post. Thank you Grandma Cindy! We love it and love you!

At the beach.
It was a sunny day!
At the farmers market.

Being rocked by Grandma

Chris with his great aunt Mary. She lives in Carlsbad.

Five Months Old

Okay, I am a few days late, but Max turned 5 months on Tuesday. (Grandma Cindy is in town and we've been having a blast with her. So, I haven't had too much time to post.) The little guy isn't so little anymore; he's huge. I thought it would be fun to see how he fast he is growing....

A few hours oldTwo weeks oldOne month old

Two months old A little over three months old
About a week ago

Santa Came Early

He visited Menifee on Thanksgiving afternoon

Max, You Are Amazing

Over the past few weeks you...

• Learned how to stick out your tongue
• Discovered that you love daddy's beard
• Ate rice cereal
• Started sucking your thumb
• Started Daycare and brought home a runny nose to share with all
• Got dressed up as Santa (and looked adorable I must add)
• Learned that you love to scream really loud just for fun

Everyday is exciting. Life with you is absolutely wonderful.

Love, Mom

I Knew This Would Happen

I was told the once your child starts daycare, you will begin getting sick. Well, truth be told, I AM SICK! I went from having an incredibly strong immune system to getting sick several times in the last month. Poor Max had a stuffy nose too. I stayed home from work today and slept. Wow, do I feel better. So, I'll be posting some pictures from the long weekend soon.

Its not turkey...

But for Max, it might be the next best thing. Tonight he had his first meal of rice cereal. The poor kid has been drinking breast milk and formula for almost 5 months. We thought tonight might be a good time to let the little guy live on the edge. He needs to work on keeping it in the mouth long enough to swallow. But other than that, he did pretty well.