Walking

For the past couple of weeks, Max has started taking a couple of steps. He has never been able to walk that far until this past weekend. During the Thanksgiving holiday, we drove down to Rancho and Max was able to play with all of his cousins. All of his cousins were running all over the place and Max tried to keep up. By the end of the trip, he was pretty much walking. He still falls a lot, but he loves to walk. He doesn't really even crawl anymore. Here is a video of him walking the day that we got back from our little trip.



Here is another video of Max dancing while listening to Christmas music. I tried to get it on tape, but whenever I start to record he always stops what he is doing. I was trying to catch him dancing to the Christmas music. It is really funny because whenever he hears music he will move his head back and forth and start bouncing up and down. I will try to get a better video of it, but this will just give you the idea of what he does.

Halloween Weekend

We had our first Halloween with Max. I will have to say the Halloween is a lot more fun when you have kids to dress up and take trick or treating. I can't wait for him to get older. Well the weekend of Halloween, my mom decided to come for a visit to see our house for the first time and or course to see Max. It was a lot of fun to have her here in Az. On Friday, we decided to drive to Sedona and spend the day. It was so pretty there and perfect weather. We went on a hike, had a picnic lunch, and walked around the shops. It is always nice to do something new and to get out of town just for the day.For Halloween, I decided to dress Max up as Tigger. At first he didn't like the costume especially having something on his head, but after a while he got use to it. It was very cute on him. It was so cute to see him crawl on the floor and all you can see is this tail dragging on the gound. I wish I had a picture of it, but all we have is the front.

We did take Max trick-or-treating and it was so mcuh fun. When we got up to a house, I put him down and held his hands so he could kind of walk up to the door. I would also put his pumpkin bucket around his hand so people could put the candy in his basket. When we got home, I let him play with the basket and he had so much fun playing with the candy and trying to eat it.
Max has a lot of fun playing with plastic cups. He will roll them all over the kitchen. One of the cups got under one barstool and then under the next barstool. Max wanted that cup so he tried to do what the cup did. Go under one stool and then the next, but he got stuck at the first one and couldn't not move.
One day, Paul comes back from running and sees that we have an owl sitting on our roof during the day. I have never seen an owl here especially during the day.
Thank you mom for coming to Az to visit us. It was so good to see you and spend time with you. Thank you for taking me shopping for my b-day.

Homecoming in Rancho

This past weekend, we went down to Rancho to welcome home Paul's brother from his mission. I can't believe that 2 years already went by. I can't believe how fast time goes by. It was so good to see David.

On Thursday we drove down after Paul was done with work. Max did pretty well in the car, but we did have to stop to feed him and to let him crawl around. Friday was the big day of the arrival of the missionary, but he wasn't coming in until 7:30 at night, so we had the whole day to hang out. Because it was such a beautiful day, I mean it was clear blue skies. I have been going to Rancho for about 4 years and I have only seen blue skies a couple of times because there is always smog around. But on Friday the winds were blowing, so for once I could actually see the mountains. We walked around the outdoor mall and had some lunch with the fam. It was a perfect day. I wihs I took some pictures because it was so clear.

Max and his Uncle Mark meeting for the first time. Mark is in the Navy and is station in Washington.

When 7:30 came around, we all went to the airport to welcome David home from being on his mission in Alabama.

The whole family

David with his 2 new nieces, Tiffany and Ashlee and of course Max

Max with his cousin Ahslee

On Saturday, we celebrating Jo Ann's 60th b-day even though it was a week after her b-day. We went out to dinner, which the food was very delicious, to celebrate the big birthday with the whole fmaily and some of her close friends. Before we went to dinner we took a family picture because it has been 2 years since the last one. While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I decided to take some pictures of Max because we have no nice pictures of him. One of these days I am going to take professional pictures of him, but until then these will have to do. (There are more pictures of him in the photo gallery link on my blog)

David and Max

Max with his Grandma and her birthday party.

Max with his Great-grandma

Here are some random pictures of Max that I thought were such cute, so I wanted to pot them. Here Max is ready for a morning walk and wearing is Halloween sweatshirt that is aunt Kim and Uncle Adil gave to him.

Max had a lot of fun eating beans for the first time

A sick boy and pictures

Max is now 8 1/2 months old. These past couple of weeks have been very interesting for us. Max had a lot of his first things happening and it was all dealing with him being sick. He had his first ear infection, first cold, first running noise, and his first tooth. He had to take medicine twice a day for 10 days which he did not like at all. It was always a challenge to give to him. But last Friday we went to the doctors and everything went away. Then last night, Monday, the noise started to run again, the coughing started and the fever came. How can he be sick again? He was just sick. I don't know what is going on. I guess he wasn't over his first cold and plus there is a second tooth coming in right next to the first one. I feel so bad for him when he is sick. He just looks and sounds so horrible. I hope he feels better soon. But here are some pictures of him because he is getting so big.

His first tooth. You can't really see it but it is there on the bottom

He loves to play with the DVDs. He loves to pull them down and put them in his month. Well he loves to put anything in his month. Maybe that is why he is not getting over this cold.

Whenever he sees the dishwasher down, he will come crawling over as fast as he can to play with it and he gets so upset when I shut it. I think it is one of his favorite toys.

Helping mommy folding clothes

I went to check on him during his nap and I found him like this and I thought it was funny.

He is finally crawling on his knees. He loves doing the army crawl, but he will crawl on his knees until he gets tired and then he will go back to the army crawl especially when he is on the tile.

Heidi, Eirik, and Skye got Max the jungle wall stickers and he loves to look at him. At times he gets frustrated that he can't put the lion in his mouth.

Jason, Nelly, and Ali got this shirt for Max from Ecuador and it is the cutest shirt ever.

Laguna

We went to Laguna Beach with Paul's family at the end of August. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and to spend time at the beach for a couple of days. Max did great at the beach. He took his morning nap in his little tent, played in the sand and in the water.

Max with his daddy and his cousin Ella

Owen riding a wave with his dad Rich

Max with Grandma

Max with his cousins Tiffany and Ashlee

Playing soccer

The gang

Tiff with her mommy

Here are some videos of him playing.

Growing Up

So a couple of days ago, I was putting Max to sleep for his morning nap. Usually I let him cry for a little bit until I go in and check on him. For some reason that day I went in as soon as he started to cry which I don't do. When I walked into his room I found him like this.

He was standing up for the first time. He has never been able to pull himself up like that before. Now we have to lower his mattress which is always a pain in the butt to do. Ever since that day, he is all over the house climbing on things and pulling himself up on things. He has discovered our DVDs and loves playing with them and he also has discovered our food pantry which he loves to play with all the food. Then later that day, I found Max in our living room climbing on some plastic containers. He his such a little monkey now. Yes, he has discovered his tongue now. These last couple of days he loves to stick out his tongue and we have no clue why.

I can't believe how much he has grown up. He is getting so big so fast. I was going through his clothes and packing up the clothes that don't fit him anymore and I can't believe that he wore some of the clothes that he did especially the newborn clothes. They look so small and I don't ever remember him being that small.

Danville Trip

This past week I was able to make a trip down to Danville to hang out with family and friends. I forgot how much I love going there. It is so pretty there especially coming from the desert. I had so much fun while I was there. Max and I went a couple of days earlier before Paul came, so we could spend more time with my mom and my grandma. While we were there we went shopping, swimming, Monterey, Mt. Diablo, enjoyed the cooler weather and just hung out. Max had lots of fun meeting new people.We took my Grandma to the mall and she bought this hat for Max. It looks so cute on him. Thank you Grandma!

Hailey was so good with Max. She would bring him toys and play with him. She is a great cousin.

Hailey (3 yrs), Carter (10 months), and Max (7 months)

Max with his Great Grandma. Thank you Grandma for bouncing Max and playing with him. He just loves you and the wheelchair and the fan in your room.

Max with Grammy Babs. Thank you mom for everything. We had so much fun while we were there and thank you for the clothes for Max.

We decided to drive to the top of Mt. Diablo because Paul has never been there. We got out of the car and it was so cold. It felt like winter, but no it was August.

Max with his daddy!

Max with his Granddad!

While I was in Danville, I actually got to see my dad. My dad flew down from Seattle to spend time with his mom. It was so good seeing him and spending with him. Thank you for lunch.

One of the nights while we were there, we went to downtown Danville to listen to music and have dinner. They had all these fun things for kids to do and one of them was to hula-hop. A guy asked my mom if she wanted to try and she said yes. She actually did a very good job.

We took Max to the park and put him in the swings for the very first time. He loved it. He would just be laughing and enjoying the wind blowing in his face.

We went to Monteray and Max loved sitting in the double stoller with Carter. He thought it was so much fun.While we were in Monterey, we went to the Aquarium and it was a lot of fun. I haven't been there since I was little.

We also went to the beach to eat some lunch and once again it was very cold.

While I was there, I was able to attend Caitlin's baby blessing and I am so glad that the timming worked out. Her baby is so cute. I couldn't stop starring at her and I love all her hair that she has. Caitlin, it was so good to see you and see Olivia. Good luck with her new adventure. It is going to be so much fun. Liz, I am so mad that I didn't get a picture of Max and Will together. He has gotten so big. It was good to see you also. Thanks for the decorating tips.

If you want to see pictures of our house and more pictures of our Danville Trip then click on the link on the top right of our blog that says "Photo Gallery"