We Survived. Where is my Merit Badge?

Siiiiiiiggggghhhhh! I feel like a deflated balloon. We just returned from a 4 night, 5 day trip to the Bay Area to see friends and family. People certainly face much bigger challenges as parents but our first flight (only 1.5 hours each way) as a family was a big step for us.

Our ultimate goal was to get through our travel experience without being a breakroom story. What do I mean by that? I didn't want to be the story in the flight attendants breakroom that followed the intro of "You would never believe the lungs on this kid during the flight from San Jose..."

Max did very well and the trip went off without a hitch. (Well, there's a side story about the ineptitude of Alaska/Horizon who ended up switching my/Max's seat as I was boarding but that's a story for another day). I can't say that it was an experience I'd like to relieve in the near future (let's ignore the trip to Tahoe we have planned for August) but I give Max all the credit in the world for rolling with the punches. He naps religiously at 9 and 1 yet I don't think he was "allowed" a single on-time nap during the trip. As I type this, he is passed out in his crib. For all I know he may sleep the next 12 hours.

Here are a few snapshots of our adventure....

Max and cousin Mina spend time with BaNoi (Grandma Le)


Max and Uncle He who was the absolute sweetest and so excited to hold Max and Mina.


Max and Suzanne at Yummi Yogurt. Indeed, it was yummy!

Cousin Mina at the park. I just love this shot because it captures Mina so well. She's one of the most laid-back babies I know. Quite a sweetheart!

Mobility: The Path to Trouble

I swear every month is my new favorite age. Max is so interactive right now. We have this whole new connection where he seems to get the joke. Whether he has the words or not, he's becoming expressive in many ways. He's a blast to be around. Not to say that he's an angel all the time...


"Heeeeerree, kitty, kitty!"

Max's 1st Haircut

Every morning when Max wakes up his hair is a million different lengths pointing in a million different directions. He and I have a morning routine of wetting his baby brush and coming his 'do into place. Not the biggest challenge of my daily routine but I decided it was time for Max's first haircut.

I was under the impression that I should have felt sad that they were removing his baby hair, but really I was just excited that it would be even. Is that a bad thing? I did save a section of his hair for his babybook...or eBay if he becomes famous and I become poor.

Overall, he survived the experience just fine. A few tears were shed and his hair may not be perfectly even but he sure looks cute! Here are a few snapshots of the big day.

Max and Mom say, "Ahhhhhh!" while waiting.


"Hey, Dad. Let me get my hands on that camera!"

Max decided he's had enough of this hair cutting business.
He settles for the final touches. Such a handsome boy!

March for Babies

Our family is extremely grateful that Max was delivered to us a full-term, healthy baby boy. I worked for 5 years in an OB unit and am all too aware that this isn't always the way things work out. My most memorable day at work was being in the OR when a 12 oz. baby was born. I vividly remember seeing her tiny purple body as they lifter her from her mother. Amazingly she lived, without any serious complications even, and was the smallest baby to survive in Oregon at that time. Perhaps she still holds the record?

It was with thoughts of this baby and many others that Max and I participated in the March for Babies this morning. We were blessed with gorgeous weather and the company of the Wang Family. Becky, Dennis and baby Andrew joined in on the fun. The boys cycled between the Bob stroller (sooo nice!), the Bjorn, the Ergo (better than a Bjorn), mommy's arms, and anywhere else we could suspend them. 2 naps and 6 miles later we reached the finish line. Here are a few snapshots of our adventure...

Basement Tour

I've mentioned in previous posts that we've been remodeling our basement. One equity loan and one fabulous contractor later, we've nearly doubled our square footage. The contractor finished his work long ago. It's Alex and I that are taking forever with the do-it-yourself pieces we took on ourselves.

Here are a few before pictures to give you an appreciation of what we were working off of. I'd like you to note that the faux knotty pine was in fact painstakingly hand painted. Somebody was surely rolling in their grave the day we knocked that wall down. Sadly, I'm sure the former homeowners were just as proud of their remodel when they finished theirs. 30 years from now somebody will be mocking our design choices as well.

Here is the new family room that Max has taken over. Plenty of space for him to spread out. Alex's favorite feature of this room is the rather large tv on the wall opposite the chairs. I'd love to tell you all about it the way Alex can but all I know is that it is large. Large and black.

Here is the vanity shot in the bathroom. I'm especially proud of the bathroom since it's only the second one in the house. Alex and I added in a heated marble tile floor. We're in the process of tiling the shower.
Here is the guest bedroom. This gives us our third bedroom in the house. No worries, we have an eggress window for safety. Alex loves to tease me about what a great oppportunity this will be for Max to sneak out or sneak girls in. He thinks he's funny. I do not!
So the next time you're around, stop on by and check out the new digs! Alex might even let you watch his big tv.

Cool Things to do at 8 Months

I turned 8 months old yesterday. Can you believe it? It has been a busy time for me. In the past 2 weeks I've learned....
*To crawl! Cousin Sydney is 5 and she can do all sorts of cool big kid things. Last week she was coloring and I took my first crawling paces in an attempt to get into her crayon tin. Break out the gates!
*To say "Dada"! I came up with this one just the other day. To all the babies out there, you should work on this one. The parents eat this stuff up. I don't even know what "da da" means but I do know that every time I say it my parents react as though I'm a child genius.
*To bite! Just this evening I learned that I get quite a reaction out of Mom if I bite her during feedings. She didn't seem pleased but I couldn't help but laugh. This seemed to confuse her. She gave me a very stern, "No!" but this just made me laugh harder. Right, Mom, you're so hard core! Now she's trying to smother me every time I do it. Something about negative reinforcement. I heard her telling Dad I left bite marks. Ha!
*To eat finger foods. Mom is breaking out the good stuff lately. I knew she'd been holding out on me. I eat mashed bananas, baked apple and sweet potato cubes and anything I can grab out of a person's hands before they catch me.

It Ain't Pretty But I'm Learnin'

The Good....
The Bad...
And the ugly (if there is such a thing)...