Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day included a sick little Maxwell so a trip to the doctor's office to find out his immune system was working double time on the cold he has causing him to get a vesicular rash. We baked cookies & a Valentine's Day cake for Daddy (A Tropical Strawberry Pudding Cake). For dinner we made heart shaped turkey meatballs with marinara sauce, angel hair pasta, & garlic ciabatta bread. Mason loved the meatballs! Mason now says, "cat", "kiki" (for car), mama, & dada. He has designated special sounds for other words, but we haven't been able to decipher them yet. Mason is officially walking everywhere! He is beginning to become a bit deviant & likes to test Mommy & Daddy. He is also becoming tougher so he and Max wrestle around often. He loves to visit Max while Max is in time-out. Max's behavior is improving; he is the most successful when he is the center of attention and gets a tremendous amount of positive reinforcement. My favorite Max-isms this week, "Yummm... needs salt!" (what he says when he really likes something he's eating), "I like this white cone ice cream.", "I need to play with my itch-a-skitch." , "Can I have some lick-o-liss?" , & "Mom, you look so cute!"

January 17-23

Max can now draw circles & mice. He says "lick-o-liss" for licorice. His funny quote of the week was, "Daddy are we watching Star Trek again?!" Mom got a karaoke machine for her birthday & Max absolutely loves it!

Mason says, "tat" for cat, dog, Tinka, "nigh-nigh" for "I'm tired and I want to go to bed." He can walk across the great room now, but won't do it if he's in a hurry.

Both boys puked at the dinner table on Mom's birthday. Joyce & Jim came to celebrate. We played pinochle.

January 2-8, 2011

Mason took his first steps for Haley on Monday, January 3, 2011, then again for JuliAnn on Wednesday, January 5, 2011, & finally for us on Friday, January 7, 2011.

Mason drinks cow's milk now & loves his bottles. He is not a fan of chunky food yet, but enjoys crackers, canned green beans, carrots, & peaches. He still eats quite a bit of jarred baby food. He says mama (his first word), dada, baba, nana, papa, ah (for Abby), & hi. He signs for more, bottle, & bye-bye. He gives high-fives often. He likes to head-butt as a sign of affection. He sucks his right thumb (just like big bro).

Max told me this week, "Stop hating on the driver. Mommy you're dissing him. You need a time-out Mommy." Though my grumblings were rated G, apparently he could decipher my tone was annoyed & irritated while waiting for a slow truck. Max enjoys playing with his Mickey clock, laptop, listening to music, and watching leapfrog DVDs. Max is slowly progressing to being fully potty trained. He pees in the toilet all the time & rarely has an accident. He refuses to poop in the toilet so his doctor suggested we let him poop in his pull-up in the bathroom & this is working well. He enjoys having his "privacy" as he takes care of business in the bathroom.

We converted the bonus room into the boys' playroom over winter break. It is nice having the mess contained to one isolated area & gives us much more space to run & play in the great room. The boys really enjoying having their own room.

Lars started going to Men's Fraternity at Foothills on Tuesday mornings & he is loving it! I will start up Prosper on Tuesday mornings next week. It makes Tuesday nights a lot of fun to talk about all we learned.

We are going on our first date night of the year tonight. We are excited to start this twice per month tradition together!

Christmas Card 2010

Colorful Frames Christmas

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POOP

Max pooped in the toilet by request! This is a day for the record books!! I am so proud of him. I hope this means we are nearly to the "fully potty-trained" status.

Happy Birthday Maxwell!

Today Max is 3 years old! We are going to celebrate in many ways. We are going out for donuts for breakfast, birthday dinner tonight, and birthday party tomorrow! He is so excited and aware of his birthday this year which makes it even more fun! We are giving him a vacuum and a letter placemat. Today Lars is going to Colton to receive the Oregon Science Educator of the Year award and the State Science Conference. I am very proud of him; he is an amazing science teacher! Our little Mason is now cruising and is desperately trying to keep up with his big bro! Mason is also feeding himself now; he can feed himself his bottle and finger foods (which he uses his new teeth to chew). I love October; it is my favorite month!

CRUISING!

Mason is cruising as of yesterday! Go baby Go! We think this boy may be walking before he fully masters the art of crawling.