Christmas lights...

Yesterday evening when Max and I got home, he said as we parked the car; "I don't see lights at Max's house"...I just about started to cry. He is referring to the fact that we do not have any Christmas lights up at our house. Not along the roof line, not even around the front door. We should have put some lights up! Tonight, same thing...but possibly slightly worse; "There are no Christmas lights at my house"..Sigh.

Brent is traveling this week. When he is gone, I realize how much he does for us and how helpful he is. Brent is the one who gets our baby up, dressed and fed in the morning. He packs Max's lunch and takes him to preschool. Max has been asking about Daddy every morning this week. He knows Dad is in Dallas on business. We miss Dad and can't wait for him to come home.

Night out with Max...

Tonight, Brent went with friends to the hockey game. Max and I were going to have some time together, alone. Brent takes Max out on adventures on his own all the time and I feel that Max really prefers Dad over Mom lately. Instead of hanging out at home, I decided to take Max to Santana Row to take care of some errands and go out for dinner. Leaving the house was a challenge in its own. We could not find the "right" beanie and Max was devastated. However, Spider Man socks (yes, we have a pair..) made up for him having to choose a different hat. Getting into the car was also difficult. Max likes to get into to his car seat by himself, without help. At times (more like usually) he plays around and takes his sweet time to get into the chair. When I finally got him into the seat I noticed that he had unlocked the seat belt that connects and supports the car seat! I'm glad I noticed it and snapped it back in. We finally got going, arrived at Santana Row and found a parking spot just outside Pizza Antica - perfect! Well, almost. It was 1-hour parking, possibly the reason it was open on an evening such as this when Santana Row was filled with people trying to catch up on their holiday shopping. Oh well, I decided not to care, parked the car, unloaded the stroller and Max who thankfully agreed to ride in the stroller. I tried to stop in at H&M but Max protested and asked to see the Christmas tree. We proceeded to the lawn area outside Starbucks where the large tree stands, all decorated and full of lights. Max wanted to get out of the stroller and touch the ornaments. I let him. Then he ran over to the fenced in play area. We hung out there for a while. Then he took off running across the lawn and did no longer want to ride in the stroller. I forced him into it since there is quite a bit of traffic nearby. Max wails. He calms down after a while, I stop in at Anthropology to make a return. Max is calm. We proceed to Pizza Antica. I ignore the fact that I am parked in a 1-hour parking space. We have to wait for a table for 15-20 minutes. I order milk for Max in the bar. Max sits on one of the bar stools, flips through a magazine, drinking his milk. We look at the lamps, the flowers, the lemons in a large bowl. Then, Max becomes impatient. I hold him in my lap and shortly thereafter we are shown to our table. Max is seated on the bench seat with me across from him at a small table. When the waiter arrives, I order everything at once; more milk, a glass of wine, the gnocchi (to share) and a salad. Max opens his crayons and starts to color. Almost immediately he drops one or two crayons, wants to crawl around on the floor to find them without me helping him. We are so close to the next table. I don't want to bother the people next to us. I get Max up from the floor, tell him that unless he sits down in his seat, he will not be watching any Mickey Mouse tonight. He sits down and behaves for a while. The food arrives and Max does not want to try his food. I bribe him into trying the gnocchi, using the Mickey Mouse thing again. As soon as he tries the food, he of course likes it and eats more. I get through my gnocchi some of my wine but very little of the salad. I have to move over to the bench seat next to Max on numerous occasions in order to get him to sit down, sit still, not touching the people next to him, not spill his milk. What was happening? Max never acted this way when out to dinner with both Brent and me. I got out my credit card, asked for the check and for a to-go box for my salad. We got out of there, I let Max run down the side walk for a while and then we went through yet another battle of him not wanting to get into the car seat. I bet he does not pull this type of stuff with Brent. No way. Max was upset with me all the way home. When I pulled into our street and Max saw the Christmas lights outside the Sanders' and the Manriquez's homes, he lit up. We got inside, skipped the bath, got Max into pj's, teeth brushed and then he was allowed to (of course) watch an episode of Mickey Mouse. Although our night out together may not have been exactly as I pictured, his hugs and kisses before going to bed made me feel loved, yet again. Being a Mom is the most difficult job of all. I realize that I may need to spend some more one-on-one time with Max, away from home, without the support from Brent. We will see when I decide to venture out again... Oh, and thankfully I did not get a ticket parking in the 1-hour parking for 2 hours. Whew!

Secret Mission

I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband who is also the most amazing Dad. With me feeling under the weather, Brent took Max out to handle various errands today. They were leaving for a trip to the store, Max happily rushing out the door, telling me; "I love you Mommy, Daddy and I are going on a secret mission!"

Quotes by Max

A small sampling of the unexpected from Mr. Wonderful:

1. Max is about to take a bath. Diaper comes off and he pees all over the floor. Toss him in the tub and start cleaning the mess.

Max: "Mommy, what are you doing?"
Mom: "Cleaning up your pee,"
Max: "Ahhhhhhhhh, that's a great idea!"

Fast forward 10-minutes - Max by himself in the tub:

"Hey, what is going on here?"

2. Random: "Ewwww, that's gross! Huh, Mom?"

3. We are outside our house and a car drives by, rather fast. Max calls out: "jack ass!"

4. Max is sitting on the couch with a puzzle in his lap. All of a sudden, he blurts out "damnit, damnit, damnit..." (This is not good...and, clearly, we are clueless as to where he could have picked up such bad language...)

His fascination with the word eventually subsides until he becomes frustrated when a puzzle piece won't fit.

"Damnit"
"Damnit"

Sigh...

"Fu*k"

No sh*t. And, not so much as a glance at us. Perfect use of the word and perfect delivery. What can you do...??

The Real Maverick

Viper: Let me ask you something. If you had to go into battle, would you want him with you?

Jester: I don't know, I just don't know ...

I can do it by myself...

On the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree

On Saturday morning, we went up into the Santa Cruz Mountains with the Uffelmans to look for Christmas trees. This is the second year in a row that we hang with the Uffs, let the boys run around amongst all the trees and finally find our trees. Here are some pics from our tree hunting day.

On vacation?

Last Saturday, we decided to head into San Francisco for the day. We took the boat over to Sausalito where we ate lunch and strolled around for a while. The weather was fabulous - like a Swedish summer day! We ended our day with dinner at Union Square. Vacation? No, just another great day in California!

Our beach baby

Fun with Max

Halloween!

Max was dressed up as a monkey for Halloween and this year, he really got the hang of it! We walked around the court with our wonderful neighbors. Cooper was a park ranger and Luke a lion. The boys had so much fun. Kristen hung in there through the entire trick-or-treat event. When it was all over, she and Jay took off for the hospital where Addison Taylor was born at 1:50am on November 1st.

GiGi & PopPop visit!

We had such a great time with GiGi & PopPop who visited with us this week! We spent time at the ocean, celebrated GiGi's birthday, enjoyed trick-or-treating with our neighbors and showed GiGi & PopPop the train and carousel in Los Gatos! A fun filled time to say the least. We miss them and cannot wait to see them again at Thanksgiving!

Ah man!

Last night, Max did not want to eat his dinner. Instead, he wanted to watch a "Thomas The Train" episode on TV. I bribed him (it happens a lot) and told him that if he ate his dinner, he could watch TV. Max whined for a while and I continued folding laundry, waiting for him to stop. He finally did, asked for his dinner and happily jumped on the couch to see his program. (I won)! I made sure to tell him that after the show, he needed to go brush his teeth and go to bed. He agreed. The program ends and Brent says "Okay little guy, time to go brush teeth". Max responds "Ah, man"! It sounded so cute and grown up!

Max and buses

Max loves trains, cars, airplanes and trash trucks. And buses. One morning last week which we were driving to day-care he saw a bus. He shouted; "a bus, beautiful bus"! So cute!

Morning with Max

I had such a great moment with Max this morning. We walked (he rode his tricycle) to Starbucks on Park Avenue where Max ordered his own milk. We sat down for a while, drank our coffee and milk and shared a chicken/pasta salad. He was adorable and cute and so well behaved. I cannot believe how big my little baby has become.

Roaring Camp Railroad

Yesterday, we visited Roaring Camp Railroad in Felton, a small town nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Max was able to see a real steam engine! It was a little scary when it made noise and let out steam. Here are some pics from our day.

Our big boy!

This afternoon when we got home from day-care, we asked Max if he wanted to go out and ride his bike. He said he wanted to ride his red bike. His tricycle is red. We have not used it in a while since we have been trying out the blue glider and Max never seemed to get the concept of actually pedaling without us pushing him along on the tricycle. But, today, he got on and took off as if he had never done anything else. Amazing how quickly they learn!

Isn't that wonderful..

We went to the beach today, as we often do on the weekends. We choose Twin Lakes beach as usual. We threw the frisbee, played in the sand and had lunch at the Crow's Nest (we should be part owners of that place by now).. On the way home in the car, Max asked Brent; "what you doing Dada"? Brent answered that he was driving the car. Brent in turn asked Max what he was doing. Max answered; "picking nose"..

Weekend in Dallas

The first weekend in October, I made a trip to Dallas to visit with Carin & Jim and attend their couples baby-shower, co-hosted by me, Helene, Jenny S., Lena and Jenny O. I finally got to see Carin & Jim's beautiful house! It is on McCommas Avenue in the "M street" area, one of the favorite neighborhoods in Dallas. After seeing the house and the adorable nursery for Mia, Carin and I took a stroll down to a cafe/bakery on Greenville for a mocha, went shopping at Northpark and met up with Jim at home for dinner from Eatzie's, drank wine and sat up talking until midnight. On Saturday morning, we drove up to McKinney to see the family, Brian, Holly, Dom, Gail and the girls. I met Lexi for the first time and we attended Ava's soccer game. It was great to see everyone. The baby shower began at 7pm Saturday evening at the Honebone's new home. The party was a great success with awesome food and fun guests. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and Carin & Jim received some very nice gifts.

Weekend with the Chambers

Carin and Jim were back visiting with us this weekend. We went to see the CCR's at Mountain Winery on Friday evening and had a great time. On Saturday, Carin and I got some shopping taken care of and enjoyed lunch at Pizza Anteca. The guys went surfing early on Sunday morning. Carin, Max and I followed a couple of hours later and hung out at the beach for a while. Max had a blast as usual. Mia is now due exactly 10 weeks from today. Can't wait to meet her at Christmas!

Gliding..

I picked up the "mini glider" bike today that Brent ordered for Max a couple of weeks ago. It is a bike without pedals, encouraging a child to balance when sitting in the seat and kicking their feet. Here are some highlights from Max's test ride.

Haircut

Max received a much-needed haircut on Saturday - by Brent. The trick is to keep Max occupied. This is what worked. Dinner while watching TV! You do what you have to...

Three day weekend

Sadly, our three-day weekend is coming to an end. It has been great though! On Friday, the installation of our central heat/air was completed. Thank you to Dennis and his guys for making it happen in less than 24 hours. Now we share the Uffelman's excitement in having central air in a house built in the 1920's! It is nothing short of fabulous. Angelica made sure the house was spotless so Friday became a splendid start to a great weekend.

The Kennedys came over for lunch the next day. It was great to see them. It had been several months since we got together. It is not as if they live far away. They live in Willow Glen! We will try to do a better job in keeping up with them going forward.

Max and Luke had a blast at the beach on Sunday. We bought a wet-suit for Max at O'Neill's so he can play in the water longer without getting too cold. He looks adorable in his suit.

This morning, we went down to the park in Los Gatos to ride the train and the carousel. Max loved it as always and did not want to leave. I finally got some coffee in downtown Los Gatos after that. What is the reason again why we don't live there? Brent headed over the hill this afternoon to meet with Scott for some surfing. Max slept and I watched a movie. What a splendid life we live!