Party Day

Wow! What a great day we have had. Today we had friends and family over to celebrate Max's third birthday. It was so fun to watch Max running around after the other kids and it was wonderful to have a house to be able to host such a gathering - I feel like such a grown up!

The kids all loved the pinata. Daddy thought it would be more fun to have the kids wack it with the bat rather than use the strings. We did eventually resort to the strings - Buzz Lightyear makes one tough pinata! Of course there was cake and singing. I was so impressed that Max was able to blow out the candle all by himself this year. He enjoyed eating his piece of cake - he was extra excited that he got the piece with Woody's face. After cake we moved on to presents. Max was all excited and couldn't wait to dig into some of his new goodies. We are so lucky to have so many people in our lives that care about our little man. What a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday to Max!

It is so hard to believe that Max has been part of our lives for three years today. Every day we spend with him is a blessing and an adventure. Today was the perfect birthday for Max. I was off school for spring break so we were able to celebrate all day long. This morning Brian set up Max's present. Max lit up when he came down to see his 'b-ball' set in the living room. After a yummy pancake breakfast, we were off to the museum of transportation for some fun on the trains. He loved his hour in the Creation Station. He loves 'reading' and he was so excited to read the stop sign in the community worker corner. We wrapped up his birthday with his favorite dinner - chicken tacos with a side of beans from Chipolte. He cracks us up, but he just can't get enough!

Celebrating Max's birthday makes me think of all the changes we have been through over the past year and just how much I have learned from our little man . . .

• routines are key - even at three
• while routines are great, flexibility is too
• everyone can benefit from an afternoon nap
• moving takes a lot of adjusting
• baby gates are helpful with the transition to the big boy bed
• potty training is not fun. . . at all
• early intervention is so important!
• an informed parent is their child's best advocate
• being a mom has made me a more empathetic teacher
• early morning wake ups are a hard habit to break
• the older he gets, the bigger the toys
• mommy's purse is no longer her own
• we can't leave the house without meow-meow kitty, monkey man, and more recently baby
• a sippy cup of milk and a baggie of O's make for a happy drive to the sitters in the morning
• giving up a pediatrician you love is really tough
• finding a pediatrician you love is really tough
• the older he gets the more entertaining he is
• he can make me smile, no matter how awful I may be feeling
• he wants to be just like daddy - and it is adorable
• I'm the luckiest lady alive!

Mr. Potato Head

Max came across Mr. Potato Head tonight and he was all excited. He just needed a little help with the mustache - other than that he did it all by himself. Mr. Potato Head even helped him feed the pets.

We had a meeting today to talk about our plans for Max and preschool next year. It is hard to believe that he will be in school all day, every day next year - he is just growing so quickly!

Speaking of growing quickly. . . baby #2 is growing like crazy. So far, so good - only another 7-8 weeks to go before we meet this little one that has been kicking me like crazy!

Is it spring yet?

After an awful winter full of tons of snow and horrible, cold temperatures we got a little bit of a break today. I think we even hit the 50 degree mark!

Max gets all excited when he sees him tricycle in the garage. Today was our first opportunity. Max was thrilled that mama actually got out the bike and for the first time he was able to figure out how to pedal to make the bike move by himself. All last summer he just enjoyed the ride while daddy and I pushed him around the neighborhood. Today he got angry when I tried to push. We spent and hour riding up and down the street, running into the occasional pile of snow. I can't wait for spring to really arrive!

Sesame Street Live

Today was a big day for Max. He got to see a life size Elmo! I took some work to convince Brian that it was worth it but all in all it was great. Nonna Carlotta joined us for the fun and Max was thrilled to have her there. The theme of the show was Elmo's Heathly Heros and it was all about staying healthy - getting lots of sleep, eating well, and excercising. I don't think Max quite got the message, but he did enjoy the show. Personally I think it ran a little long. After an hour and a half we snuck out - he was getting super fidgety and he told us 'all done Elmo'. We took that as our que to make a quick getaway. He is just so fun!

We are gearing up for another round with Mother Nature - I think there may be a snow day or two in our future!

Snow Day

In fact this is the second snow day we have had in as many weeks. Last Tuesday Max was wide awake and ready to start his day at 5:30am. Today he slept until a wonderful 7:40am - a real blessing for mommy.

We started our day with a yummy pancake breakfast - Max just loves his pancakes! I love his crazy hair. I can't get it to lay down for anything. I think it may be time for another haircut.

After breakfast we were off to play trains. He loves loading up his roundhouse with anything with wheels.

Max was all about eating cheese today. I think part of the fun of the cheese eating was just trying to keep it away from Sierra.

Max kept opening the cabinet where we house the Kitchen Aid mixer and saying 'cookie'? I scoured the cabinets and all I could pull together was the ingredients for pumpkin bread. Max still insisted we were making cookies. I think I enjoyed this snow day even more knowing that I will be on maternity leave when everyone else at school has to make it up. For once I'm willing to accept any snow day they throw at me!

Happy New Year!

Wow, is it really 2011 already? It's hard to believe that I will be back to work tomorrow. I'm a bit annoyed that Brian has one more day off than I do. What is wrong with this picture? We made the most of the remainder of our winter break with Max this past week.

We visited Nonna and Max had his first experience with a board game. He played Candyland and loved it. He took turns well and only moved his little man. We will have to play again soon.

We also braved the crowds at The Magic House and took Max to have fun with his cousins. He wasn't too sure about things at first. But before we knew it we couldn't keep our eyes on him - literally. I'm just glad there were two of us and one of him! I think his favorite was the touch tunnels, which I find rather ironic because I have a very traumatic memory of getting terrified halfway through and never thinking I would see light again. He just kept going in one end and popping out the other, over and over again. We will have to head back to the Magic House again in the middle of the week sometime. I was done after about and hour but I'm sure Max could have kept on going and goin.