And So it Begins...

Alex and I spent half a day organizing our jam-packed garage today while Max was at Nana's. It ends up that we have 2, yes 2, Golden Tee arcade games in there along with a retro pinball machine. I shall now refer to the garage as an arcade since clearly no cars will ever be stored there.

This is Max and Alex enjoying a game of arcade golf. I think they're cute!

Tahoe

As I mentioned previously we just returned from South Tahoe. The Linke family was putting on a reunion which meant that hoards of tall, slender, blonde haired, blue eyed people (Max representing my immediate family) were sited all over Strawberry. There were clusters of family in the cabins and lodge all around. Alex, Max and I were lucky enough to stay in a beautiful cabin with Alex's father, brother and family and step-sister and family. There were three 1-year olds, a 3-year old and a 4-year old. Suffice it to say that Max was in heaven.

Alex's cousin Caroline was the resident expert and set up the daily agenda which meant that we were able to visit gorgeous lakes tucked off the main drag that we never would have found on our own. We hiked 3-miles in to Echo Lake on Friday and 1-mile up to Angora Lake on Saturday. In the evenings we attended festive family dinners and a great time was had by all.

On Saturday, Max's first birthday, he received a very rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' sung by several dozen family members. He didn't have a clue of what was going on but we certainly appreciated the thoughtfulness.

In an answer to my prayers, Max did beautifully on both flights. This was the one part of the trip that I was most anxious about. Okay, really it's like my idea of a personal hell. However, it won out over the option of 12+ hours each way in the car. I'm fairly certain that's Max's idea of a personal hell.

Choo Choo!

I'm so excited about this train set I bought off of Craigslist. Last Thursday I used my lunch break to drive to Gresham to pick up a set that a woman had posted for $10 that promised 50+ pieces. This ended up being a great deal. There were 50 pieces of track alone. I just finished painstakingly setting it up and am giddy at the outcome. What does Max think of it? I don't know. I might let him play with it when he's 5!

In other news, we just returned from our family reunion in Tahoe. Had a great time. Max turned 1 on Saturday. Plenty of pictures and memories to record when I have the time. Right now I'm going to go play with the trains. ;-)

got milk?

The end is near. Max is nearly weaned. He started out life with a feeding every 2-3 hours and has dwindled down to once a day. I haven't given up the 5:00 a.m. wake up feeding because ... well, because it's 5 a.m. and I don't want to get up and make bottle at 5 a.m.

The transition has gone smoothly. Max is so comfortable with the idea that when I laid him and the bottle on the bed yesterday he grabbed the bottle, shoved it in his mouth and looked at me as if to say, "Ha! I'm out from under your control. The power to feed me is now mine!" I looked at him, took a pull off my bottle of Jim Bean and said, "Hey buddy, you're not the only one free to swig from the bottle. Race you to the bottom!" (Yeah, not really.)

In other attempts to gain independence, Max has officially entered The 3 Step Program as I like to call it. He regularly takes 3 steps from object x to object y squealing with delight. The look on his face when he gets there is priceless. Have you ever seen the look on Mary Lou Retton's face when she landed that perfect 10 gymnastics vault thingy? That's pretty much the look he gives me. "Can you believe it, Mom? Was that not the most amazing feat you have ever witnessed?!" It was, Max. Indeed it was!

Max's Cookie

My husband is very sweet. On our neighborhood walk today, he noticed several kids selling lemonade and cookies. We split up for errands and he came back with cash and said he'd like to stop by and support them. I'm sure it didn't hurt that he'd get cookies and lemonade out of this arrangement.

Several blocks later at the stand, the kids were excited to have some business. Alex ordered 2 glasses of lemonade and selected 2 cookies from their tray. When asked what cookie to select for Max, my hesitant advice was, "The simplest one in there." Alex selected a chocolate chip cookie for Max, handed it to him, and we set down the street towards home.

This is what we found when we pulled back the sun shade a few blocks later....

Coooookie!!!!

Summer Fun

Don't you just love summer? The days are long, the weather is sunny, people come out of hibernation, bbqs, the smell of sunblock, I love it all!

Max has been enjoying his. He loves a good walk and this nice weather allows him several a day. Remember that newborn I had that was happiest being walked in a baby carrier? Some things never change! He's more accepting of strollers these days but his favorite is riding up high where he can take it all in. The Baby Bjorn has been traded in for an Ergo to save my back. According to our unofficial weigh-in, Max recently hit 25 lbs.

This morning Max and I had an early morning date at Starbucks together, just the 2 of us and a slice of banana bread. In the afternoon we met up with Nana and Sydney for a play date at the park. After our return, Max TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS! That's right, 3 steps in a row "clomp, clomp, clomp" right to me! 2 days shy of his 11 month birthday. This evening, Alex and I took him down to the riverfront park to enjoy the summer concert series. Thankfully we still have August and September to live it up.

Max's First 4th

Life is good. Max is napping and I'm sitting in the shade on the front porch enjoying sunshine and a light breeze. Ahhhh!

We went to Bandon for the 4th of July and had a great weekend with family. The motel was booked so Alex's dad was nice enough to put us up for a few nights. He lives 10-15 minutes away in Parkersburg, on a hill overlooking the Coquille River. From his windows you can see golden finches, chipmunks, squirrels the size of cats, and many other animals this city girl can't identify.

My favorite animals were the deer. Every morning Alex's dad head out back, spreads feed and half a dozen deer come sauntering out from the trees. There were 2 spotted babies. Here is one of them with Mom....or brother...or aunt...or whoever. That's Max with Opa below.

We enoyed a wonderful time with Alex's mom as well. The motel activity let up enough for her join us on the beach on Saturday afternoon. Max had a blast scurrying through the sand on hands and knees. No matter how many times we pulled his hand down, he enthusiastically shoved beach pebbles into his mouth. Please no stories about how dirty sand is....I know!


Max's sleep schedule was all over the place. So much so that he was actually up for the fireworks. We plopped him in the Ergo and wandered towards the bluff to take in the show. Max nuzzled into my chest and tried to imitate the explosion sounds....the closest he came was blowing raspberries through his lips.


Happy first 4th of July, buddy!