Easter 2011 - Video

Easter

Parties and Balloons

On Saturday, we went to our friend Aoife's 3rd birthday party. It was a dinosaur theme and the kids all wore cute little hats and did some digging for dinosaur bones. Max slept during most of the party, but REALLY loved the balloon that he got to take home at the end. He didn't let go of it for a while!

Playing Outside

Today was the first day nice enough to put the blanket out on the front lawn and go outside to play. Max enjoyed watching Alia ride her "worm" and her tricycle while chomping on some baby toys. Both kids really enjoyed bubbles! Alia chased after them and Max watched them blow in the wind while giggling! It made me so excited for summer! I absolutely can not wait until we can spend more time outside and even bust out the kiddie pool and water table again!

Alia was very excited about her new Dora gardening tools from Nana!

Max loved being outside. He sat on the blanket happily for about 45 minutes watching bubbles, his sister and the neighbors.

Alia riding her inchworm on the sidewalk.

Santa brought Alia a tricycle for Christmas this year and we are just now able to get it out and really work on riding it. She has the pedals pretty much figured out, but we are going to have to work on steering!

Did I mention that I have a new camera?

Seven Months Old

This post is just a little out of order ... oops! Anyway, Max is now 7 months old. He had a weight check appointment last week and was 18 pounds, 3.5 ounces. So, he's gained a little over a pound in a month. He is still NOT sleeping through the night! He wakes up twice a night most nights to eat, but does give us the occasional one wake night just to get our hopes up. He loves his baby food, especially carrots, sweet potatoes and fruits. He is working on finger foods, but so far he isn't a big fan of the texture.

Max is trying to crawl, but hasn't quite gotten it all figured out yet, but it won't be long. He can certainly get from place to place and if I take my eyes off of him for too long, he's in the middle of clean, folded laundry putting it on top of his face!

One of the cutest little developments lately, is his genuine love for his sister. He absolutely lights up when we go to get her out of bed in the morning or after nap and stares at her adoringly when she gets in the car after school. It is too precious for words!

Zoo Trip

We had a rare sunny day today so Alia and I decided that it was time for a trip to the zoo. It feels like forever since we have been there. Alia enjoyed getting out and walking around and Max was able to sit back and relax and take in the sights. I took my new camera along and had fun playing with it!

Cozy in the double stroller

Max loved the sea lions.

Alia loves getting up very close to the glass to check out the animals.

She was watching the polar bears here, I think.

We had to stop and take some time to be silly!

Getting sleepy...

Alia stuck her arm right in there and started petting the goat.

I just about had to pry her away from it.

New Camera

My fabulous hubby got me a new camera for my birthday. Here are a few shots of my test subjects. I don't have any idea what I'm doing yet, but both kids love having their picture taken so much!

Max's Surgery

Max had surgery to remove a dermoid cyst from his head yesterday morning. The whole thing went very quickly. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am, they took him back a little after 7:30am, he was out of surgery and we were able to see him about 9:00am and we were home by 11:00am. Max did very well with the whole procedure. He even handled the not eating part well. He liked looking at all of the doctors and nurses and trying to grab all of the new things around him. He came out of anesthesia very well and was eating again in no time. The surgeon told us that the cyst was actually burrowed into his skill on not just on the surface, so we feel good about the decision to have it removed now and not wait until it had grown at all. These types of cysts do not just go away and tend to grow over time. Max has a post-op appointment on May 4. Here are a few pictures taken on my phone from the morning.

The admit nurse said he was "man enough to wear pink". I think that perhaps a pink gown was just the only option. Max liked rolling around in the little crib and reaching his hands between the slats to try to grab the curtains.

A picture of Daddy and Max post surgery. They dumped a ton of iodine on his head. The bummer is that we can't get the incision wet for 3 days so washing the hair isn't really an option. We have wiped some of it off, but a thorough cleaning will have to wait.

A close up of the incision. It is much larger than we expected, but I'm guessing that's because the cyst was larger than expected.

"Nap Time"

Jason was out of town Tuesday-Thursday this week. Tuesday started out a little rough, Wednesday started out way too early and Thursday was actually a pretty darn good day. I had lots of fun with the kids and they had a lot of fun with each other. Nap time was pretty interesting at our house that day. Let me walk you through it ....

We got home from "school" and put Alia down for her nap. As is standard around here these days, Max and I played in his room for about 10 minutes before going in to check on Alia to find her in a poopy diaper and trying to "handle" it on her own (we've started taping her diaper closed to make this situation easier). So, I changed her diaper and then put Max down for his nap. He cried for quite a while, but eventually fell asleep. Alia was still awake at that point, so I peeked in on her again to find that she had taken off her pajamas and was trying to get them back on. So, I helped her get her pajamas back on and tucked her back in. Max woke up about after a 30 minute nap, I nursed him right away in hopes that he'd fall back asleep, but that wasn't in the cards. At this point Alia was still awake and had her pajamas off again. I decided to just forget it and wave the white flag on nap time for the day.

Max and I went into Alia's room and he was leaning for her and reaching for her so I plopped him down in bed with her. He thought it was just about the best thing in the entire world and only got better when she started jumping in the bed to entertain him. I whipped out my phone and started taking video and just enjoyed the laughter and the fun!

Giggles

Max had the hiccups the other morning and I started imitating his little hiccup sounds and it really cracked him up.

This video was taken on my phone, pardon the size and quality.

His Royal Cuteness

I just love his little smile in this picture!

He's such a neat little guy! So curious and active and lovey!

Happy Easter

I know its not Easter quite yet, but if these pictures don't get you in the mood and put a smile on your face, I don't know what will!

Modeling her bunny ears and feather boa from Papaw and Mimi!

Visiting the Easter Bunny was a big hit!

There was almost no drama at all, which is saying a lot around our house these days. I got the kids all dressed up in their Easter duds and luckily there was no line to see the bunny. (We got there early!) In case your wondering, Alia is giving the Easter Bunny a very cautious hug in this picture :-) Max just sat there on his lap and looked at the grown ups like we were nuts as we jumped up and down trying to get the kids to smile.

Have no fear grandparents ....

a copy of this picture will be making its way to your mailbox soon!

Fun at the Park

Yesterday, we finally had a beautiful day here in Portland. We were able to go to the park and get in some swinging and sliding. Max had his first experience with the swings and, as I think is evident in the video included here, it was a big hit! Alia is getting more and more brave and went down the big slide all by herself!

Sorry that the video quality isn't the best.

I took it on my little digital camera because it was all I had with me. Enjoy!

Surgery Scheduled

Hello everyone! Max had an appointment this morning with a neurosurgeon regarding the little dermoid cyst on his head. He thought it was best to go ahead and remove it now, because it will just continue to grow very slowly over time. Removing it now will hopefully be easier and with a very tiny little incision and scar. Surgery is scheduled at Doernbecher Children's Hospital for April 19th. His surgery is at 7:30am and we'll be checking in at the hospital at 6:00am. Just like with the MRI with sedation the hardest part might be preventing Max from eating before the surgery. He can't have anything past midnight! It's going to be a very long day for us and not the birthday I was hoping for, but oh well! We need to get a little lab work done but other than that the surgery is scheduled and things are a go. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers! Thanks!

Army Crawl

I had a feeling Max had the skills to do a little army crawl, I just had to find the right motivation ... the remote! Such a little man already :-)

Big Boy Food

Thursday, Max had his first attempt at finger food. I gave him a few little Puffs to try. He managed to get one or two in his mouth, but it wasn't a huge hit. I think we'll wait a little bit before trying it again. He seems pretty happy with his "baby" food right now.

Swim Classes

Today we started a new session of swim classes. Max is in the "Angelfish" class for 6-18 month olds and Alia is in the "Blowfish" class with 18 month - 3 year olds. Jason did the swimming with both kids while I fed, changed and entertained the one that wasn't swimming at the moment. It worked out pretty well. Both kids seemed to really enjoy it!