Physics 101...Fundamentals of Weight Transfer

Any questions?

I can recommend an outing to the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. We went today and it was quite cool. We arrived right when they opened at 9:30 which is key...since it gets super busy a couple of hours later. Max liked seeing the albino alligator and the fish and the sharks. He also liked the penguins. Oh, and the reptile exhibit was great. We spent right at three hours there, including lunch and had a great time! I know what Max is going to talk about at share time at school on Tuesday!

Cousins

Max and Finn have yet another cousin. Maj Alice Ellberg (pronounced Mai) arrived the evening of Tuesday, May 24th. Big brother Sam will be two in August and since we have not been to Sweden since July of 2009, we haven't even met Sam! We are looking forward to July when we will be able to meet both Sam and Maj! No photo of Maj yet....not sure what is taking my brother so long...send a photo of the new family member please!

The same day that Maj arrived, earlier in the day, our friends Carin and Jim (who now reside in Dresden, Germany) welcomed twin daughters Emma Cecilia and Julia Linnea! Big sister Mia (a year and-a-half years of age) isn't sure what to think of them.. That's Julia on the left on the picture below and Emma on the right. If you ask me, Julia looks just like her mommy while Emma looks just like Jim. Hopefully Carin and the twins were able to leave the hospital yesterday to go home. Sharing a hospital room with another new mother and baby didn't sound ideal and the food...not great. Unless you love to eat bratwurst every day! Since I consider Carin more like a sister than a friend, Max and Finn didn't only gain one cousin on May 24th but three!

Finn will be 10 months old next month. 10 months! My little baby has gotten big and is pretty heavy. The Uffelmans' daughter Brinn is nearly two years old and light as a feather. I swear, Finn weighs more than she does! His feet are long. None of the cute baby shoes ever fit. One day those feet will be huge and smelly. I don't want to think about it! Last week I gave Finn these organic finger food puffs that are good as a first snack since they just melt away in the mouth. That is the only snack he has ever been given, poor kid! Otherwise we just feed him baby food and formula. I told Karen. She thought we were nuts! We are so behind! Honestly, we have not even thought about letting Finn try snacks. We need to catch up or our child won't be able to even taste his birthday cake when he turns one!

Max has been saying some really funny phrases lately. It seems his vocabulary has doubled in the last two days. And questions. He has so many. About everything and anything. He is also very helpful. Tonight I showed him how to fold towels. He handled the washcloths and kitchen towels and did an awesome job. He was quite proud. He picks out his own clothes in the morning. I didn't realize how picky a boy can be about his clothes at this age. It is quite amazing how he simply refuses to wear certain clothes and wants to wear the favorite shorts every single day. Not that we let him. Max is most definitely at the age when he pushes all our buttons and tests us to the limit on a daily basis. Brent and I feel that the three + age has been the most challenging yet.

Our boys are so different, yet so similar. I look at Max who is a carbon copy of his dad. Dark hair, olive skin and green eyes. Finn is fair skinned, has blond fuzz and blue eyes. Maybe he looks more like mom? Well, no - everyone still says that he looks just like his father. And, when I look at baby photos of Max, he looked very much like Finn does now when he was nine months of age. Max used to have blond hair and blue eyes. His eyes turned green pretty late. Time will tell if Finn will remain Scandinavian looking or look more like his brother. Stay tuned...all I know is that we have the most amazing and beautiful boys and I consider myself the luckiest woman and mommy on the planet. I would not change a thing!

Last night, Max and Brent were in the kitchen talking. It was a very interesting conversation and went something like this:

Max: I want a whole bunch of kitties!

Brent: A whole bunch of what?

Max: Kitties! I want to take them to share time so that everyone can see them and when I want to take them home. (FYI, "share time" is when all the kids in Max's group at pre-school has circle time and share something they brought from home, such as a card from grandma or a drawing or whatever.)

Brent: A whole bunch? How many is that?

Max: Twenty!

Brent: Twenty! Wow, what are you going to name them?

Max: They will all be named Mickey!

It seems Max may like to have a pet one day, specifically a cat. Or twenty cats. He is really fond of the cat Mickey that lives on our street...

Finn was 9 months old on Monday, May 9. He is so big! He stands and walks along the couch, tables, chairs, cabinets, anything. He "talks" and crawls and wants to do what ever it is that big brother does. He is no longer interested in the baby toys but wants to play with Max's toys. He loves to go for stroller rides or anything else outdoors. My happy child. My beautiful boy. I love you.

For Mother's Day, my little family gave me roses and hand made cards and a beautiful necklace. We went to Purple Onion for breakfast and spent some time at Bachman park. Max played in the sandbox and Finn liked the swing. For the rest of the day we didn't do much of anything. The best days are those when you don't have anything that has to be done and there is nowhere you need to be. You can just be. I feel fortunate - for my family, my beautiful boys and wonderful husband, for the amazing place we live in, for all of us being healthy and for being able to provide for our family. I cannot ask for anything else in life.

Teething

Finn has done such a great job sleeping past 5am (sometimes 6am or even 6:30) which makes all the difference in the world for me and Brent! However, now he is teething again. His 4th tooth just came through within the last week. So, now the sleeping routine is again off and on.. oh well.

Sunday

We went to Los Gatos today to buy a replacement lovey for Finn since we lost the first one. We bought the same kind as the first one he had - a white doggie with gray spots. He loves it! We enjoyed lunch at Purple Onion and then some play time at Bachman Park. Finn tried the swing for the first time! Later on in the afternoon while the boys slept, Brent stained the arbor and did some yard work. I cleaned out my closet and switched to Spring/Summer stuff, went through baby clothes that need to go to Scott and Amanda and did a ton of laundry. Productive day!