Our Visit with Tony!

Last night Rob and our friend Tony went sailing and then Tony spent the night. It was so wonderful to see him! This morning, Tony, Max, Eli and I went out for a walk and out to breakfast. Tony was a trouper. He pushed Max on his tricycle, but Max kept jumping off (while the bike was moving) and finally ended up walking most of the way with Tony holding on to his "leash" and pushing the empty trike at the same time. Thank goodness we had Max's monkey backpack so that he couldn't run into the street! I never thought I would be the type of parent to use the leash, but now I think its great! :-) It gives Max the freedom to walk around without me worrying about him getting hit by a car. Below are some pictures of us out and about.

Max wearing my sunglasses. He is such a goofball - I love it!

Tony and Max. Tony was great with Max. They had a lot of fun together.

Tony was such a good sport about pushing the empty tricycle and walking with Max. Going anywhere with Max walking takes forever since he has to stop and look at every flower and bush.

Tummy Time!

Below is a video of Eli doing some tummy time. He is growing so quickly. He is now giving tons of smiles and making lots of noises. "Uh guh" is a current favorite of his. :-)

Max in His Dada's Shoes

Max has been cracking me up lately. The other day he was in another room and it got a bit quiet, so I naturally got a bit worried and went to go find him. I found Max playing with Rob's shoes, trying to put them on and walk in them. Too funny! He has done this a few times since then as well. He loves walking in either Rob's or my shoes.

Photos From Our Visit To the Little Farm

Below are a few photos of our visit last week to the little farm. Max really enjoyed it. He has been really into animals lately. His favorite book right now is "The Big Red Barn," and he likes pointing at all the animals and hearing what sounds they make. He knows that a cow says "mooo" and a rooster says "cock-a-doodle-dooo" - although Max calls it "do-do-dooooo" - and makes those sounds when he sees their pictures. When we saw the real deal at the little farm he started mooing and do-do-doooing. :-) I'm going to have to get it on video because it's the cutest thing ever.

Sitting and looking at the cows.

My boys and I taking a little break from feeding the animals.

Max feeding the goats. He was a little shy about getting up close to the animals this time. He would hold out the celery and then as soon as the goat would get up close he would back away. He kept teasing the poor animals!

Picking little flowers in the grass. This is another thing Max has been really into lately. He loves flowers. I have been trying to get him to stop picking all of them and to instead smell them. So today at the park we walked around smelling all of the flowers. It was fun. Then he picked one to carry home with him.

Eli's First Laugh

Eli laughed today for the first time! It was super cute. I took a short video clip of him laughing which I have posted below. He is growing so quickly. I can't believe he is already 3 months old. I also posted a picture of Eli which really shows his cute dimple and bright blue eyes. He is so handsome! :-)

Max at the Pool

Today was a big day for the kids. I took them to the little farm to see the animals this morning and Rob and I took Max to a pool to go swimming this afternoon. Max LOVED the pool - he absolutely loves the water and just smiled and laughed the whole time. He was blowing bubbles in the water and kicking his arms and legs. I am going to look for some swim lessons for him because he is definitely ready. Max swam for about 20 minutes before he got cold and needed to get out. Below are some pictures of Rob and Max in the pool. There is also a small video clip of the guys in the water, which hopefully works! I'll post some pictures from our trip to the little farm later.

A Visit from Liz

My dear friend, Liz, came for a visit on Sunday and stayed the night. It was so wonderful to see her. Liz currently lives in Ireland for her job and is getting married next month in Greece to a guy named Pierre. I can't wait to meet him when they come to the States for a visit in December. Liz was in the country for her work's national sales meeting, and I was so glad she took time to come for a visit. We stayed up all night chatting and catching up. It was a lot of fun. Below are a few pics of Liz and the boys.



Max wore his Ireland shirt, in honor of Liz.

Weekend With The Fam

Rob got back yesterday and Max is now SO HAPPY! Max really missed Rob. Every day Rob was gone, Max would look at me and say "dada?" And two or three separate times he would walk to the picture of Rob and Max on the wall, point to Rob and say "dada." Max was super clingy to me the last few days, like he was afraid I was going to leave and not come back. It got to the point where I basically couldn't be in a different room than him without him getting upset. Now that Rob is home he is fine. That kid loves his dad! Rob and his partner, Doug, did very well in their regatta though. Out of around 30 boats, they took 6th place overall. It sounds like they had a great time.

The kids and I had a nice weekend. On Saturday, Amber, Harrison, Max, Eli and I went up to my parents house for the party they throw every July. It was a lot of fun. Max had a great time checking out the property and Eli loved all the attention he received. This year was particularly nice because my parent's house is finally built. It turned out absolutely gorgeous.

Down by the lake on my parent's property.

Me, the boys, Amber and Harrison. Those are my parent's dogs, Elvis and Presly, in the background.

By the lake. Max liked climbing on the boat then hopping off. He is very into hopping off of things right now.

Me and my sweet boys out for a morning walk.

I love the light in the photo. Max looks so angelic.

Mom and Alex's house. It is really beautiful inside as well.

Playing in the Backyard

Below are some more pictures from our day with Amber and Harrison on Friday. I love the "Auntie Rules" onesie on Eli! Max and Harrison had a great time playing in the water. I have a ton of cute pictures that I can't post here because Max is running around naked! :-) Max LOVES the water and plays and plays in it until he is literally shaking because he is so cold from the water. And he would keep going if I didn't make him stop to dry off. I think I may need to put him in swimming lessons soon. He would love that. . . but he'd probably try to drink the chlorinated water, which would be gross. :-)

At the Park with Amber and Harrison

My sister, Amber, and nephew, Harrison, arrived last night. It is wonderful to have them here. Max is having a great time hanging out with his older cousin. Today we went to the park, did a little shopping and then later played in the backyard. Below are a few pictures of our day at the park.

Amber and Eli at the park. Eli is wearing his "Auntie Rules" onesie that Amber bought him. It's pretty cute! :-)

The boys. . . Max thinks Harrison is pretty cool. Harrison has had Max laughing all day long.

My Boys

So, right now Rob is in Oregon for a sailboat race and I am home with the boys. Rob was so excited to go to this regatta and will be up there for a week. I'm a bit jealous and wish I was up there too!! I love the Hood River area and have had such a great time the last few years we have gone to this race. But it would be too difficult with the two boys to go this regatta, and I am not sure they would be up for such a long road trip. I do hope that Rob has a great time though, and kicks butt in his races. I know he was looking forward to a week of uninterrupted sleep!

This, however, is going to be a nice week for me too. My sister is flying up on Thursday with her son Harrison and I am so excited to see them!! Yay! We are going to hang out here on Friday and then head up to my parents for their annual 4th of July party (which is clearly being held late this year!) :-) It should be a lot of fun. I am also really excited to meet my brother Davis's new girlfriend, Liz. She seems really sweet and it sounds like she loves Davis a ton. Davis sounds happier than he has ever been. I am really happy for them. Liz has an eighteen month old son who I know Max will have fun playing with. The crazy thing is that her son's name is Elias!! What are the odds of that?!

It is amazing how quickly the time goes by. My Eli will be 11 weeks old tomorrow - I can't believe it! He is growing so quickly and is such a sweet boy. He has been giving me lots of smiles and is getting a bit more assertive. The poor kid has had a small cold for the last week and has goopy eyes. I am constantly having to wipe his eyes with a warm cloth so that they don't get too crusty. Gross. Below are some pictures of the boys. The one of Max in his big boy chair really cracks me up.


This picture makes Max look like such a couch potato! I love how he is holding the remotes. . . . such a guy! Generally I let him watch one show a day (when I need to get something done), and he really likes a show called Hi-5. It's pretty cute.

Eli is rolling over a ton. It is really fun to see.


This is just before our morning walk. We've been taking walks pretty early in the morning lately and Max really likes it. I throw both the kids in the wagon and we walk up to Safeway so I can get a Chai Tea at Starbucks and Max can split a blueberry bagel with me. He loves it. He now says "walk," although it his "w" sounds more like a "c." For a day or so (until I figured out what he was saying) I was wondering who taught him a naughty word!! :-)

Max and Taylor Eating Ice Cream

I'm sort of strict with what Max eats (which I will need to get over if I put him in daycare, but that's a different story. . . ). But since it was Max and Taylor's last day together I got them an ice cream when the ice cream truck came by. Below are some cute pics of the kids chowing down. Max absolutely loved his fruit bar. It was cute seeing Max and Taylor sitting next to each other so nicely eating their ice cream. These two kids have been getting on each other's nerves for a few days now. . . had I known it would only take an ice cream bar to make them get along I would have been giving them ice cream for every meal!! Okay, not really.

Leah's Last Day

Today was Leah's last day as Max's nanny. So sad!!! We will miss her like crazy. She has been so wonderful and loving to Max. Leah recently moved and now lives a little too far away to continue watching Max. She has become such a good friend though, that I know we will continue to see each other. Just not every Monday through Friday! So now Max is going to have to deal with just me and Eli every day until I go back to work (in only six more weeks!). We are exploring options for what to do for childcare when I return to work and are debating between a live-in au pair or daycare for the kids. The thought of putting Max in daycare when he was Eli's age made me feel physically ill, which is why he has always had a nanny. But now that he is older, I think Max would thrive in a place with a bunch of kids. It's just Eli I worry about. Although I admit that I am less nervous about daycare for Eli than I was for Max since poor Eli doesn't get held nearly as much as Max did as a newborn. It's tough to give Eli a lot of attention when I have a rambunctious 17-month old wanting me to play with him constantly! Eli would probably get held more at the daycare!! Poor second child.

Anyway, below are a few photos of Max and Leah. We miss you already, Leah!

Ellen and Bob's Goodbye Dinner

Our dear friends Ellen and Bob are just days away from moving to Michigan to start a new, simpler life. I am so excited for them, but so sad that we will not be living near each other any more. They have been a huge part of lives since Ellen and I became friends our first year of law school. Last Saturday Rob and I hosted a goodbye dinner for them and had over Gen and Chris, and Monica and David. It was a lot of fun! I had a great time cooking a fancy dinner for them (which later caused my darn gallbladder attack!). :-) Below are a few photos from our evening.


Ellen, Bob and Jack.

Monica and David. They have a sweet 2-year old daughter named Naiya who is adorable.

Gen and Chris. Gen, Ellen and I all became good friends in our first year of law school. I remember elbowing my way into their study group because I liked them so much and they were two of the smartest people in my section.

The gals (and Eli).

Jack and Bob. Jack is such a big boy now! I remember being there when Jack was born . . . it seems like just yesterday.