Rob, Jess, Max and Eli

Time flies when you're having fun!

2011-11-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

Not sure where the time goes! I guess it goes by quickly when juggling three kids and a full time job!! Max, Eli and Stella are all doing great and are such terrific kids. Stella is almost 6 months old now and is the sweetest, easiest baby. Since my last post we moved into a new house, and I started back to work when Stella was 9 weeks old. I had such a fun maternity leave in Tahoe with her. We went on a ton of hikes and had a wonderful summer. Since being back at work we have fallen into a good routine, and we are very lucky to have my mom watching Stella while I am at work. The boys just switched preschools a few weeks ago and really seem to enjoy their new school - although we were sad to leave their old school after many good years. Below are a few recent pictures of the kiddos.

2011-06-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

Stella is just over two weeks old now and has been such a sweet baby. Today we had a photographer over to our house to take some newborn shots of her. I can't wait until we get the results back in a few weeks. From what I saw, the photos are going to be adorable. :-) The same girl who took my pregnancy shots took Stella's newborn photos. She gave me the disc of all of the pregnancy shots today and they are pretty cute. She took a few cute ones of the boys, which are below.

So, this past week both Max and Eli came down with a nasty flu that lasted almost five days. It was so awful . . . fever, vomiting and stomach issues. They both lost a few pounds and were looking super skinny. I was terrified that Stella was going to get sick, but both she and I seem to have made it through. Rob got sick yesterday, but is feeling a bit better this evening. Getting sick with a newborn at home is NO fun.

My little ham, Max.

Eli looking cute. :-)

Family photo with Stella still in my belly.

Stella Is Here!

2011-05-26T21:43:00.000-07:00

Our baby girl, Stella Anne, arrived yesterday and we are so happy she is here. Here is a quick recap of her birth: I checked in to the hospital about 8 a.m. for registration and was in my hospital room by around 9 getting prepped. At about 9:30 they started me on the lowest dose of pitocin to get labor started. I was about 1 cm dialated at that time, and Stella was showing no indications that she wanted to come out - hence the induction! I was barely feeling contractions for the first several hours and was just reading magazines and chatting with my mom and Rob. At around 12:30, my doctor, Kelly Shanahan, broke my water and they upped the pitocin. I started to feel the contractions a bit more after that, but it was still super mild overall and I wasn't in much pain. Our friend Ike dropped in around 3:00 to say hello and brought us some flowers. He left at about 3:30 when my doctor wanted to check how far along I was (I was at about a 4-5) at that point. Right after that I started to really hurt and the contractions were getting worse. I was checked again at 4:00 and I was at 5-6 cm. The next 20 minutes I was in EXTREME pain and they checked me again and at around 4:20 and I was at an 8-9. Stella was born at 4:31 p.m. Basically, I had an hour of pretty painful labor and managed to push her out with one (extremely painful) contraction. No epidural or other drugs - so that was good! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it through this time without pain meds, but this ended up being the easiest of my three deliveries. And I have bounced back really quickly. I actually feel really great and plan to take Stella out for a nice walk tomorrow.

She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces at birth. Crazy! Almost 2 pounds heavier than both Max and Eli. We couldn't believe it. She is a super sweet baby and the boys seem to really like her. There was a random Spring snow storm the day of her birth - May 25, 2011. Stella had a bunch of visitors the evening she was born. My mom was there, Rob, Davis came by to say hello, Sarah, Stephanie and Erin. The next morning Nichole dropped by to meet Stella before we left the hospital. Bridgette and Lisa S. came by the house later in the day on May 26 and brought us dinner, Sarah also stopped by and brought us some cake (yum!). Everyone has been very sweet and excited about Stella's arrival. We are lucky to have so many wonderful friends.

Below are a few photos of Miss Stella. She is a beauty.

This is less than 24 hours old. Love her chubby cheeks.

My sweet girl.

Eli, Max and their little sister. Max is super excited. Eli is a bit ambivalent. :-)

In the car seat coming home from the hospital.

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

2011-05-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I head to the hospital to be induced. I can't believe Stella is going to be here. It still seems a bit surreal to me that I am going to have another child - and a daughter! I've been so busy for the last year or so that I have not really had time to dwell on this pregnancy, or how I am going to handle three little ones. All will be great though, I am sure!

This has actually been a much easier pregnancy compared to the boys. With Max and Eli I developed high blood pressure at the end of each pregnancy, which is why I was induced. With this one, my blood pressure hasn't gone up at all. I delivered both boys in my 38th week, so at 39 weeks this is the longest I have been pregnant! Hopefully it will be a relatively easy, fast and uneventful delivery. I'm definitely feeling a bit nervous. I managed to deliver Max and Eli without an epidural and I would really like to do that again, but I'm not sure if I am as prepared this time. . . . we will see how it all works out.

A few days ago we took some family photos and belly shots. I booked them at the very last minute! I almost didn't take any, but since this is the LAST time I will be pregnant, I thought we should do it. We will have newborn photos taken in a few weeks. Below are a few photos from the belly shoot.

Max and Eli's School Awards

2011-05-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Max and Eli both go to the greatest preschool. They do the cutest Christmas and Spring programs where all of the kids sing and show off their art from the semester. At the Spring program, they also give out end of the year awards to all of the kids and their teachers say a little something about them. It is very sweet. Max's teacher awarded him the "budding artist" award, since he is such a great little artist. Max really does amaze me constantly with his artistic ability. I have no idea where this has come from, but he is pretty awesome for his age. Eli was awarded the "architectural award" because he is so good at building things and putting things together. That is pretty impressive for a just-turned three year old! :-)

Needless to say, we are very proud of our kiddos. It is neat to see them blossom and find things that they excel at.

They love each other (most of the time!).

The boys have been all about Star Wars and Superheros this past year. Spiderman, Batman, Justice League. . . . you name it.

T-Minus 4 Days Until Stella's Arrival!

2011-05-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

My Dr. has scheduled me for an induction on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 if Stella does not make her appearance beforehand. I will be exactly 39 weeks and I am SO ready to meet her, and not be pregnant anymore. :-)

This morning Rob, Max, Eli and I went to the meadow for some professional "belly" shots. I am glad we did it because I have taken virtually no photos of me pregnant this go around. I think the photographer got a bunch of fun pictures of the boys too, so I cannot wait to see the results. We spent the rest of the day doing projects around the house and getting the yard cleaned up now that it looks like we won't have anymore snow (thank goodness). I am ready for some warm weather!

Below are a few recent pictures of the boys. They are getting so big. Max is now 4, but thinks he is going to turn 5 at any minute. :-) Eli just turned 3 a few weeks ago. They are wonderful boys.

Max working on his letters.

My cutie, Eli. He is getting so big. He is just now starting to potty train and I am very proud of him. He can be a bit stubborn, so he made us wait until HE decided he was ready.

I love Eli's smile. Such a handsome guy.

These boys crack me up!

Back on the Wagon

2011-05-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

I have been terrible about posting on this family blog - primarily because life has been SO BUSY with work and the boys. And it is just going to get busier! We are expecting a baby girl this month, in late May. We are naming her Stella Anne Woelfel. I cannot wait for her to get here!

The backstory to this pregnancy is as follows: We had no plans to have a third child and Stella is our wonderful surprise. About 9 months ago Rob was picking up Max and Eli at their preschool and one of the teachers came up to Rob and said "I don't mean to pry, but are you and Jessica expecting another baby? Max has been telling everyone his mommy has a baby in her belly." Rob and I thought this was hilarious and said absolutely not!!! However, two weeks later I started to feel under the weather, so I got a pregnancy test and it was positive. Complete shock.

So, I asked Max - in jest - if the baby was a boy or a girl. He said, "it's a girl, and her name is Stella." :-)

At my 14 week ultrasound I was convinced that I saw boy parts, and the Dr. didn't disagree. I told Max that I thought it was a boy, and he threw a fit and yelled "No! It's a girl and her name is Stella!" At my 20 week ultrasound we were shocked to learn that the baby is indeed a girl! So, we are naming her Stella. How could we not, right?

I Have The Sweetest Kids. . . .

2009-12-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

Max has been my little love bug lately. Last night he wanted to tuck me into bed and read me a book. He was very serious about the whole thing. After tucking me into bed, he sat down on the floor next to me and pulled out his Star Wars book and "read" it. It was pretty cute. He actually started the story out with "Once upon a time. . . " then proceeded to say "and there was that guy," then turn the page "and that guy was hiking," and turn the page, "and that guys has a lightsaber," and so on. It was a good story. :-) THEN this morning right after I got Max out of bed he gave me a big bear bear hug and said "Ohhh mommy, you are my best friend." He makes my heart melt. :-)

Other Quick Updates About the Boys

2009-12-05T01:33:00.000-08:00

Let's see. . . . Max moved up full time to the pre-school class this past week. He is very proud of himself and keeps telling me that he is now with the "big kids." And at times he will try to exclude Eli because "Eli is small and I am big." I'm sure I will be hearing this for a while! Max is also potty trained now (for about a month now) - which is SO great. Cuts my diaper costs in half! :-) He will go to the bathroom all by himself and most of the time refuses to even let us in the bathroom to help him. Max is also very into dinasours, and loves the movie The Land Before Time. He also loves the movie Cars.

Eli is growing like mad. He is talking a bunch and is running, jumping and trying to do everything Max does. He now says "love you," which is the cutest thing ever, and if he wants me to pick him up he says "Up, please!" He is still very attached to his bottle, but other than that, is a big boy!

Skiing!

2009-12-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

Winter is finally here (although we could use more snow. . . .). We did get the boys up skiing already, and I think its going to be an awesome season. Max is already wanting to "go faster and faster," as he says, and won't let us put a leash on him or hold him in any way. He just wants to ski on his own! And he is doing pretty darn well! Eli got on skis for the first time ever and was a trooper. It was super cute.

Max and Eli with their friend Vinny.

Getting ready to go skiing!

Eli skiing for the first time. Big boy!

After ski snack. :-)

Max skiing with no help. And me trying not to hover too much!

Vinny, Max, Eli, Hunter and Sarah. We went up with a fun group of friends.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

We had a really nice Thanksgiving holiday at my parents. The boys love going there and the weather was beautiful. Rob took the boys out on the pond in a canoe, and Max and I rode around the property in 4-wheelers. It was great! Uncle Richard and Dylan were in town as well, which was really nice. My mom and I braved the black Friday shopping and woke up at 5 a.m. to his the outlet mall. It was actually a super fun time! I have to say that this whole owning my own law practice has been fantastic - I was able to take the entire four-day weekend and not think about or do work at all! :-) It was great to be able to just focus on family and shopping. ;-) Below are some pictures from our Thanksgiving holiday.

Gross Max Story - Which I Fully Plan To Use To Embarrass Him Someday

2009-12-05T00:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is December! Where does the time go? The boys continue to grow at a ridiculously fast pace, and are both talking like crazy and saying and doing new things that constantly amaze and delight me (and some times disturb me!). One story to share, which I look forward to sharing with Max when he is old enough to laugh his booty off about it, is our trip to McDonalds last week. Instead of just writing it all out, I've just cut and pasted a funny thread from my friend Sarah's facebook page below that tells the story. . . . Enjoy. :-)

ORIGINAL POST:
December 1 at 7:20pm: Sarah Lofgren: is cooking a late dinner...pot roast and herb-leek-gruyere potato gratin. The winter pounds are piling up!

COMMENT THREAD:
December 1 at 7:23 Jessica Woelfel: Sounds better than my night! I took the kids to McDonalds and Max pooped in the tunnel, took all of his clothes off up there and refused to come down. I had to climb up there with wipes to clean all the mess up and then walk my naked poopy son out of there. Lovely.

December 1 at 7:23pm · Ricardo Martinez: my mouth is watering!

December 1 at 7:37pm: Sarah Lofgren: OMG-Jess!! That is awful and soooooo f-ing funny. Dave and I are laughinfg our asses off! I guess Max really does poop everywhere.

December 1 at 7:42pm: Sarah Lofgren: Oh-and now I am never going to let Hunter play at another McD's playland ever again :-)

December 1 at 7:44pm: Ann Marie Taheny Seefeldt: I too am laughing my A off.. and I don't even know Jessica! The placement of Ricardo's comment in this list is also priceless! I've always fought my husband's neuroses about letting the kids play in those things.. he always has been disgusted by the germs.. unfortunately I was laughing so loud over here I had to tell him why.. and now our kids will probably never see another play structure :-)

December 1 at 8:11pm: Jessica Woelfel: Sorry, Anne-Marie's children and Hunter for ruining your future McDonald's playland trips! ;-). But I too won't be going there anymore - I'm too embarrassed (and grossed out)!

December 1 at 8:29pm · Erin Anthony Howard: This whole threaded post has us laughing our a$$e$ off....This is classic....and I am no longer hungry!!!! ~A.

December 1 at 8:42pm: Stephanie Mullen: Jessica! this is hysterical...Max loves to poop doesn't he. Was Eli with you?

December 1 at 9:39pm: Bridgette Gangitano: Too bad this wasn't caught on video, it would be perfect for the tv show "America's funniest caught on video" (called something like that)! LOL!!!!!!

December 1 at 10:01pm: Tina Hoy-Barnwell: OMG, Sarah I so had food envy then read this post laughed outloud, woke Gunnar up and was glad I didn't want to snack after reading it!!!! So glad Jessica shared, needed the laugh!!!

December 1 at 10:48pm: Isaac Marr: Priceless. We can testify to Max's pooping ability. He dropped a deuce at our house once. Just marking territory.

Our only Halloween Photo

2009-11-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

Halloween was more scary than fun this year. Pretty much the whole family was sick - it was sad! We had all of these fun plans made and were going to have a party with a bunch of friends with kids around the same age. Rob had been sick with the flu for almost two weeks, and on Halloween morning Max started throwing up and threw up for the entire rest of the day. He couldn't even keep down water! It was so sad. So, he had to stay home with Rob and I took Eli to the Halloween party and out to trick or treat for a bit. But after about an hour, I started to feel bad and ended up coming home and throwing up all night too! Not the best night ever. Thankfully, the kids are so young that missing Halloween was not a big deal for them. Next year we better not be sick! Below is my only photo from Halloween - at the party before I got sick. Eli was a purple dragon. Max had a matching red dragon costume that would have been so cute. Oh well! :-( (Thankfully we are all better now!).

Tahoe Marathon

2009-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

In September, our friend Mark came up for the Tahoe Marathon. Rob and Mark ran the 1/2 marathon and I ran the 10K with the boys. It was a gorgeous day, and the boys were troopers. A few times I had to let Max out of the stroller because he wanted to run with everyone. :-) Fun day!

Max with my number. :-)

Eli and his baba. He took a good nap during the run (since it took me over an hour!) :-)

Playing with trains before the race began.

Getting ready for the run. It started up at Emerald Bay.

After the race, hanging out at the beach.

Fall Festival

2009-11-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos of Max, Eli and their good friends Hunter and Gunny. This is at a Fall festival here in town. The boys jumped in a bouncy house, played in the pumpkin patch, danced to a local bluegrass band and had balloon swords made. Good times! :-)

Cappelli Ranch with dear friends

2009-11-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

A few months ago, we went to our friends Belinda and Marco's ranch in Sommerset and had a wonderful weekend with good friends. Our dear friend Liz and her husband Pierre were in from Ireland, and our friend Rachel came up with her two daughters as well. It was such a great time. Max and Eli LOVED it at the ranch. Belinda and Marco have several apple trees, a bunch of animals at the ranch and a vineyard. They had two humongous pigs and Max filled up buckets full of apples and then threw all of them to the pigs. He loved it (and so did the pigs!). Max kept trying to fill up the buckets and Eli kept trying to eat the apples. :-) Too funny.

Me and lovely Liz.

Max and Rachel's daughter, Ava. They walked around the vineyard holding hands. It was pretty adorable.

Pics from June/July outings.

2009-11-06T11:38:00.000-08:00

Below are a few pictures from our summer in Tahoe. Our dog, Sampson, looks so tiny here! He is now huge and about 80 pounds. These pictures were taken in June and July, 2009.

Eli lounging after a hike. I love this pose. :-)

Hiking with Sampson.Look at that beautiful auburn hair. Love it!A visit from Moira and Daniel. So fun.Running after Max, who was riding a bike. Max learned to ride a bike this summer (with training wheels) and is SO quick on it. I have to chase after him!

At the Rennaisance Faire. My boys love the ladies!

Max was very proud of the dragon tatoo he got at the Faire. This picture cracks me up!

Yosemite - May 2009

2009-11-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Finally figured out my problem with uploading pictures - apparently I had to use a new loader or something. I'm happy I can finally post again. Here are a few pictures from our Yosemite trip earlier in the summer (May 09) with Rob's parents. It was gorgeous. I love Yosemite and the boys had a great time.

I can't post pictures!

2009-11-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been terrible about posting - but not for lack of trying. For some reason I can't get this blog to upload pictures! I will keep trying, but I'm getting frustrated!!!! :-)

Mother's Day at the Beach

2009-06-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

We have been heading to the lake a lot when the weather is nice. It is SO gorgeous up here. . . . the lake and the mountain never get old. For mother's day Rob packed up our small grill, the boys and the dog and we spent the entire day at Nevada Beach. It was a perfect day. We've also been going to Fallen Leaf Lake a bunch, and it is a terrific spot. Below are some pics from our mother's day beach outing. I love living in Tahoe! Especially in the summertime.

Our beach camp site. What a beautiful place to spend the day.

The boys made some friends with some nice older boys. Max had an especially fun time with them because they taught him how to play baseball. Now that is all he wants to do - he LOVES baseball. In fact, I just bought him a t-ball set!

My handsome boy, Eli, with Sampson.

Playing on the beach.

I Can't Believe It's Been Over 2 Months Since I Last Posted and ELI TURNS ONE! :-)

2009-06-07T07:29:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't abandoned my blog - things have just been so crazy and busy that it has been difficult to find time to maintain this blog. While I used to sit down at the end of the day and try to put down what we have been up to, now I am so pooped out after wrangling a 1 year old, a 2 year old and a three month old puppy, as well as working on my law practice, that I pretty much collapse! :-) But I am going to try to get back into the swing of things because I don't want to forget all of the neat things the boys are doing.

What has been happening over the last two months . . . . well, Eli turned one on April 30! He is such a big boy. He is now officially walking and has been for a few months (he started to really get it down between 12 and 13 months). We've been taking the boys to the beach a lot and they love it. And we got a new puppy, Sampson, who is a black lab and pointer mix. My law practice is going great and I just rented out an office space that I love. I'll post more on all of these things individually later.

For now, I am going to post some pictures from Eli's first birthday! It was a nice, mellow party. We had about 10 friends over and had a bbq. My friend Sarah (who owns a bakery) made Eli his "smash cake" and a bunch of gorgeous, gourmet cupcakes. So delicious! Eli's smash cake was awesome - and he had NO IDEA what to do with it! :-) I can't believe he is already one - time flies.

Presents!

Trying a yummy carrot-cake cupcake after the HUGE smashcake (see pic below).

Eli's smashcake. How cool is that? :-)

Max loves his little brother. Poor Eli was so pooped out during his party, it wasn't the most fun for him. Just like Christmas . . . he wanted to sleep through the whole thing! :-)

Max knows how to make us feel bad!

2009-03-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today was another nice and mellow day. Rob and I took the boys for a long walk this morning, and then Eli and I went to Carson City to grocery shop, while Max and Rob went to play frisbee golf with Davis and Elias (Max's cousin). Eli and I had a lot of fun, and Rob said that Max loved playing frisbee golf with Elias and they played together the entire time. Max is a crazy kid - I don't think I've posted it yet, but Max has chipped off a large portion of one of his front teeth. I was doing laundry last week and he thought it was very fun to dive into the huge pile of clothes; well, on his last head-first dive he missed the clothes and landed face first onto the hardwood floor. It was painful to hear, and sure enough, a huge chip cracked off. I guess it's only fitting on Max - he's a crazy dude. :-)

In other news. . . this evening, Max said something that just made Rob and I feel so bad!!!! Max was in his high chair and apparently done eating and started throwing his pasta on the ground. Rob told Max to stop, and he looked at Rob, held out his hand and THREW more pasta. So, Rob lightly smacked him on his hand and said "don't throw pasta!" Max, of course, starts crying hystercially and after about a minute, tearfully says "Don't, dada!" Then Rob says, "don't what, Max?" Then Max said, "Don't hit me, dada!" This made us feel HORRIBLE! I can't believe he even knows how to put this sentence together. Well, another minute later he was back to his normal, happy self. But, geez!

Some pics from the tot spot last week.

Max just dives right in to the ball pit every time. I'm sure that soon he will be doing flips into the ball pit. :-)

Eli loves the ball pit too!

Eli Took Three Steps Today!

2009-03-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Today Rob and I saw Eli take his first steps! He just stood up, and took three steps toward me then tackled me with a big hug. What a big boy! Later on in the day, Rob said he saw Eli take two more steps. I think we will soon have another walker! Eli's top four middle teeth have now broken through and are about halfway in. He is just getting cuter and cuter, and bigger and bigger. Today has been a really great day. The weather has been gorgeous, so Rob took Max skiing this morning. Then, after the boys took a nap, we all took a walk to the meadow. Max and Eli had a great time. Below are a few pictures from our afternoon.

This picture turned out surprisingly well given the fact that our camera was propped up on log and we used the 10-second timer! :-)

Self-portrait of Eli and I.

This is atop a huge, fallen over tree. Max played on this tree for at least 1/2 hour. He loved it.

Eli was just playing on the ground while Max played on the tree behind him. They are too cute.

Here is a video of Max at the meadow climing big fallen trees. Adventurous boy!

The Boys Hanging Out

2009-03-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute video of the boys hanging out one morning. They were both munching on some bagels and watching Max's Mighty Machine's video while I was making breakfast. I heard them laughing with each other so I had to run in with the camera. :-) Max LOVES his "truck" video, as he calls it. It's basically a video of trucks, bulldozers, and other things like that working. . . . I don't really get the appeal, but whatever makes the kids happy and allows me to cook breakfast!! :-) I love that these boys get along well. It makes me so happy knowing that they will always have each other.

Play Time

2009-03-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Playing together at the Rec Center. Every once in a while I take the kids here for some variety. They have a bouncy house and lots of toys every Monday and Thursday. Max also likes to dribble the basketball and try to shoot, although he mostly ends up bouncing the ball off his head when he tries to shoot. I love it!

Hanging out together while I cook Max breakfast.

Eli loves riding his bike. He will actually hold on while you push him around and won't fall off. :-) When did he get so big???

One of Max's favorite things in the entire world. . . . a nice mud puddle. :-) These kids really make me laugh every day.

Very proud of himself after doing some serious jumping and splashing.

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks?

After jumping around in mud puddles.

Max is a Skiing Machine

2009-03-21T19:48:00.001-07:00

Max took Rob skiing again a few days ago and Max loved it. Everytime he got to the bottom of the mountain he yelled "again! again!" :-) We are really glad Max loves skiing. Next year he will be on a snowboard!!! Below are some pics of Max getting ready to head out.

At Grandma and Grandpa's House

2009-03-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

Below are a few cute pictures of the boys at my parents place. Rob and I had a nice weekend away and the boys stayed with my parents. We came back Sunday afternoon and had a fun time playing with them on my parents' property. The boys are getting so big. I think Eli is saying "mama" and "dada" although it is difficult to tell if he means us! :-) He tends to yell "mama!!" when he cries and when he is happy he starts saying "dada, dada. . . " Not sure what that is all about. :-)

Poor Eli has four teeth coming in right now (his four top middle ones) and I can tell it's hurting him a bit. The last few nights he has been up a lot, upset and in pain and just wanting me to hold him. Poor pumpkin. He's not quite walking yet, although he can walk around when he is pushing a walker. He's a speedy crawler though!

Max just amazes me daily with the new things he does and says. He can say just about anything now, can sing his ABC's, and can count to 10. He also wants to do everything himself and has a very strong opinion about what he wants us to do - I'm always hearing "no, mama, THIS way!" or "no, mama, THIS one!" or "no, mama, I do it!" He is also the sweetest big brother in the entire world. Today when I put Eli down for a nap, he didn't really want to go down and started crying. Max and I were downstairs and Max yelled "oh no, baby!!" and then took off running up the stairs to go comfort Eli. What a sweetie.

Max and Rob taking a walk. Max loves being outside and would play outside all day if we would let him.

Playing in the leaves. . .

Could he be any cuter?? :-) I know I'm biased, but still!

Rob, Max and Uncle Davis. Davis's daughter, Olive, is due to be born next week. We can't wait to meet her.

Max throwing rocks in the lake. He pretty much threw every rock he could find, then moved on to the firewood!

My sweet, happy, boy. Eli is such a big boy now. He loves drinking out of a sippy cup like Max - and I have even seen him grab a normal, big person cup and drink out of that! Most of it got spilled, of course, but he did it!

Eli and Max both love dogs. We really need to get one for these boys, but the thought of training one is daunting right now. But I sure love seeing the boys play with my parents dogs, Elvis and Pressly. :-) The dogs look very similar, so Max calls them both "pessly."

I LOVE this picture.

The boys!

They both have such funny looks on their faces here. . . . I love it.

Throwing rocks again. I need to teach this boy to swim this summer. . . he has no fear of water, which is scary sometimes.

Look at these red curls!! I think it's almost time for a haircut again.

Some of my favorite pics off my IPhone

2009-03-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to downloading some pictures off my phone and these are a few of my favorites.

Max loves to walk around the house in his ski boots. Crazy kid!

Look at those eyes. What a handsome fella.

Me and my boys sitting on a frozen portion of the lake. :-)

I love this smile.

At the Tot Spot!

2009-03-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Below are some photos of the kids playing at the Tahoe Tot Spot - Max's favorite place to go play. Seriously, every day he says "I wanna go to the Tot Spot!" I love it too because he plays so hard that he takes a nice, long nap when we get home. :-) Eli is really playing a lot more these days as well. Yesterday he was climbing through tunnels and up stairs. He also loves playing the balls. I can't believe how big these boys are getting. Max is becoming very independent as well. When I ask if I can help him with something, a lot of the time he will say "No! I do it."

Rob's been out of town the last few days at a conference in Washington DC, so I've had the boys all to myself. We've been having fun, but I have a bit of a cold (and sinus infection which hurts) so it's been a bit of a handful. The other afternoon I took the kids to this play area at the botton of Harrah's and Max loved running through the tunnels, ropes, slides etc. So much so that he threw the biggest fit ever when we left. It was great, I had Eli in his car seat carring him through the casino and Max over my shoulder throwing a fit. Good times. I just try to think of it as an arm workout. :-)

Max loves to dive into the ball pit. This kids is fearless.

Eli playing in the balls. He loves it too. . . I just need to make sure he doesn't get trampled by the bigger kids.

Max, Eli and their cousin Elias playing together. They are all too cute together.

Big Day for Max!

2009-02-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Just a super quick post to note that today was a big day for Max. He went poopoo on his toilet for the first time today! Rob and I were very proud. :-) Not sure if I posted this yet, but Eli is getting two new teeth. His fangs are coming in on top. It is going to look awesome since he hasn't yet gotten his two front middle teeth on top yet. No pictures this post, but will post more soon.

Skiing (and falling) in the Meadow

2009-02-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day to all! Today was a nice, mellow day for us. Rob went snowboarding this morning and I took the kids to the Tot Spot to play. This afternoon, we took the kids skiing and sledding to the meadow. It was beautiful outside. Now we just need to get the kids to bed and we can finally open a bottle of wine and eat the shrimp, yummy cheeses and other delicious deserts Rob picked up today. :-)

It was beautiful out this evening. So pretty!

My guys!

Eli and I on the way home. Eli was such a good sport in his sled.

What a cutie!

Brief Glimpse of the Boy's Interacting. :-)

2009-02-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow - Max Turns Two Tomorrow!

2009-02-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my big boy is turning two tomorrow. Amazing. Max is such a big guy now - he has a huge vocabulary, loves to sing and is such an active guy. New words come out of his mouth every day. Right now, he loves to sing the "abc's," "the wheels on the bus," "old mcdonald," and the "thomas the train" theme song. Sometimes in the morning I hear him singing to himself while he's in his crib - I love it! I'll just hear him bust out with an "E-I-E-I-OHHHHHHH," or some other fun tune. :-) Right now he is also loving skiing. Today, when Rob asked Max what he wanted to do for his birthday, Max said "I want to ski. Ski all day, dada." He has also figured out how to crawl OUT of his crib very quickly and quietly, and for the last week and a half has scared the crap out of me on numerous occasions by coming into my room in the middle of the night and standing there looking at me until I woke up! There is now a crib tent on his crib keeping him in.

Yep, all has been really well with us and we are very happily adjusted to Tahoe life. We are so happy the kids are doing great, and my law practice also seems to be picking up. I met with the three Tahoe judges in the last few weeks to introduce myself, and this week I was appointed as conflict counsel by the court in two cases. So exciting! Eli is also doing great. He is getting so big, and is getting his third tooth right now. Not quite walking yet, but he wants to very badly!

Below are some photos of all of us on one of our recent walks to the meadow. Enjoy!

My gorgeous boy hiking in the snow.

Jumping off a log together. Max loves to get on a log and say "one, two, three, go!" then jump.

I love this shot - the sky is so moody looking. Max loves exploring and kept leading the way on our walks. The kid is a leader - not a follower! :-)

My snuggly boy, Eli.

Max found this cool fort to play in.

Heading to the fort.

Eli is a Clapper

2009-02-06T23:26:00.001-08:00

Just a quick post to note the new things Eli is doing (I seriously keep this blog in lieu of a baby book)! Last week, Eli figured out how to clap his hands. It's extremely cute. He is also turning out to be a big dancer - when he hears music he starts swaying to the beat. :-) Today we were at the Tahoe Tot Spot for song time and Eli crawled right up to the guitarist and started swaying to the music on his hands and knees. It was awesome. Eli is still pulling himself up onto everything and crawls up our entire flight of stairs. . . . which is a bit crazy. I think we may have a walker within the next month. He also has his two bottom front teeth, and loves to bite my finger. Not so fun for me. We just met the kids' new pediatrician this past week and he is pretty nice. Eli weighs 18 pounds now. According to the doc, he is in the 80th percentile for height and the 10th percentile for weight. My tall skinny boy. . . . but he's bigger than Max at this age! At this appointment, the doc said Max was in the 75th percentile for height and not even on the chart for weight!! I'd be worried about the weight thing if Max and Eli didn't look so healthy - and they both eat like pigs, so I'm not concerned. :-)

Max Skiing

2009-01-30T22:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Rob took Max skiing at Heavenly for the first time. Max absolutely loved it and is picking it up really quickly! He likes it so much that he keeps going up to his ski boots and trying to put them on. He also says "I ski in the snow?" It's too cute. Max got his first season pass, which is hilarious, I think. Seeing this season pass with Max's little face and binky just makes me laugh. Below are a few photos of Max skiing.

Max at Heavenly on the "magic carpet" to get to the top of the bunny slope.

At home, getting ready to go skiing. Max looks very focused.

Max's first day on skis. He had fun scooting around the yard.

Max's season pass. I love it!

Max on the chair lift with Rob. I can't believe my little guy is skiing at age 1!! Crazy. :-)

Hanging out with dada.

He looks so big . . . until you notice the binky. :-)

2009-01-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

This has been a nice week. We mainly have been working, trying to get our house in order (still a work in progress!) and hanging out with the boys. They are growing up so fast. Max is talking in full sentences sometimes and is just constantly amazing me with the new words that come out of his mouth. Last night he woke up at 3 a.m. and wanted more milk and his binky (which had fallen out of the crib onto the floor). When I went into his room and he was holding his bottle out to me yelling "more baba and binky fell down!" He also is loving trucks and as we drive down the street he yells and points out, "big truck. . . SUV. . . ohhh big truck. . . white truck. . . " and so on. It's all about trucks! Eli is all of the sudden pulling himself up onto EVERYTHING and is even trying to climb the stairs!!!! It's nuts. This morning he climbed the entire staircase by himself (with Rob hovering to ensure no crazy falls occurred). I can't believe how quickly they go from not moving at all to practically walking. I am almost done with my new business website and can't wait for it to be up and running. It's going to be so neat. Right now, Rob is taking the boys to the tot spot to play while I finish up my website content (and procrastinate by posting on my blog. . .). :-) Below are a few pictures of the boys that we took yesterday. They look ridiculously cute, I think! :-)

Are these the cutest kids ever??

2009-01-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

I've been terrible about posting since the Christmas holiday. We have been busy trying to get settled in, get the kids into a routine and get fully unpacked. We are getting there. . . slowly but surely. Rob and I are really happy to be living in Tahoe. It's absolutely beautiful, and we love having a healthier, happier lifestyle. The kids seem to be adjusting well too. We have found some great places to take them to play, and I am meeting some other moms with kids Max and Eli's age. It's been nice! On the work front, things seem to be coming together. I am having a website built and can't wait to see the final product. I also recently found out I was accepted to be on the Eastern District's appeals and habeas panel, which I am very excited about! I was also asked to give a presentation to a group of moms in February on Estate Planning issues, so that will be fun. The boys are getting so big - I can't believe Max is going to be two in less than a month. He is talking like crazy and is communicating so well. We are thinking of getting him a snowboard and starting to teach him this winter (especially since his new babysitter is also a snowboard instructor!). I also can't believe how big Eli is. He is a crawling machine, and is now pulling himself up!! My big boy.

Happy New Year

2009-01-07T13:07:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is already 2009 - where does the time go? We had a fun New Year's Eve holiday, with our friends Tony, Rebecca, Mark and Jill staying with us. It was a full house, but really great to have them all here. We spent New Year's Eve down at the casinos with Tony, Rebecca and our friend Fred, who was also in town (my parents watched the kids!). It was really fun, and I won a couple hundred dollars playing poker! :-) Mark and Jill arrived on the 1st, and the six of us spent time snowboarding and just hanging out. It was great. Unfortunately, Rebecca broke her wrist snowboarding on her last day here! Such a bummer.

Mark, Rob and Tony at dinner.

Down at the casinos for New Years. Me, Fred, Rebecca, Tony and Rob. I won a few hundred bucks this night! Then lost it the next day. . . . of course!

Snowboarding on Boxing Day

2008-12-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

On the 26th, my brother Davis, Rob, Uncle Richard, Dillon and I all hit Heavenly for some snowboarding. It was awesome, and the snow was amazing since we had a huge storm on the 24th and 25th and had clear skies on the 26th. Love the blue-sky powder days! Uncle Richard and Dillon took some snowboarding lessons over Thanksgiving, and are really starting to pick it up! Below are a few pictures from our day. On the 27th, Uncle Richard, Dillon and I went again and had a great time. Below are a few photos from the mountain. Good times!

My handsome hubby and I. We have been having a lot of fun this winter at Heavenly.

My cousin, Dillon, is getting really good! I hope he comes and visits again soon.

My Uncle Richard did great as well! It was fun seeing him on the slopes.

Uncle Richard, me, Dillon, Rob and Davis. It was a great day.

White Christmas

2008-12-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

We are finally getting settled into our new home in Tahoe, and it was a wonderful (and hectic) holiday. We had just a few short days to sort-of get unpacked in anticipation of family coming in for the holidays. Rob's parents came in from Florida, my parents came up, and my Uncle Richard and cousin Dillon also came up from San Diego. It was great to have so much family together. We had a big dinner on Christmas Eve, and the whole family over on Christmas to open presents. It was great. We also had a TON of snow. It is absolutely gorgeous. And the snowboarding has been incredible. Rob and I still can't believe we actually live here now, and we keep thinking we are only on vacation. Several times we have made comments like, "when we head back. . . oh wait, we live here now." I think reality will start to set in after all of the holiday festivities end and we don't have visitors any longer. :-) Below are some pictures from our holiday.

Our tree. We were really excited to get a real tree, and since we bought it on the 23rd (or was it the 24th?) we got it for $10! Waiting until the last minute pays off sometimes! :-)

My mom and Max reading a book by the tree. Too cute!

Max and his cousin, Elias. They love each other a bunch.

Elias and Rob's mom. Rob's parents brought out there little puppy, Bentley. The kids just love him.

Davis, Liz, Elias, Uncle Richard and Dillon on Christmas morning. I am so happy we all got to spend the holiday together.

Some of the fam opening presents.

Our family shot . . . I look exhausted (and was!) from staying up until 2 a.m. trying to finish getting presents together. And our kids wake up at 6 a.m. every morning. Ouch. Next year I am going to try to be ready for Christmas early!

Eli slept through most of the morning presents. He is a bit feverish the past few days . . . I think because he has two teeth coming in.

Max and his new keyboard/drum set thing. He loves anything that makes noise.

Max and Elias had a great time banging their drumsticks on these toys. Pretty cute to watch.

Outside in the snow with my little man.

The boys in their Christmas jammies playing together. They are such sweet kids.

A beautiful Tahoe white Christmas.

I Hate Moving

2008-12-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

Moving stinks. . . . I am excited to be moving to Tahoe, but the actual process of packing, loading stuff up and moving it, and then unpacking is such a huge pain the butt. I can't wait until we are finally settled in. Rob's parents arrive for the holidays on Monday afternoon, so at least we will have some help with the kids while we are trying to unpack, etc.

Playing in the Backyard

2008-12-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

Today was a nice day and we tried to take advantage of our last few days of good weather by playing in the back yard as much as possible. It is supposed to start raining a lot on Sunday and rain something like 8 out of the following 10 days. Great for California, but stinky for our move. Ah well. . . at least we will finally get some snow on the slopes and get some good snowboarding in! Just in time for us to get to Tahoe too!

Eli trying to eat his feet. . .

Max giving Eli a kiss. . . or biting Eli's head - not sure exactly what is going on here! Max now says "sorry, Mama" or "sorry, baby" when he does something wrong, but it sounds like "sa-tee." It is pretty cute and tends to get him out of trouble. :-)

Max loves his playhouse. He kept opening the door and yelling "Hi!" Then would yell "Bye" and close the door and look out the window (see picture below). I think we did this for 10 to 15 minutes.

Max is all about choosing his own clothes and today he absolutely HAD to wear his rain coat - even though it was a perfectly beautiful day. As far as I am concerned, if the kid is happy and warm enough, he can wear whatever he wants!

Tahoe Visit With The Miller Family

2008-12-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

We recently spent a few days in Tahoe visiting our dear friends Mark and Alese, who were on vacation staying in their timeshare. It was wonderful to see them and their two daughters, Ava and Mia. We had a great time hanging out and watching our kids play together. We have spent a lot of time in Tahoe the last few weeks, and it is just getting me more and more excited to move. We are starting the move on Monday and I can't believe it! Goodbye Bay Area! :-) Of course, there has been NO snow in Tahoe all winter, but the weather report says it is supposed to snow for days and days starting tomorrow. So, I guess we will just have to move in the snow. That makes things a bit more difficult, but what do I really expect with us moving in the middle of December?

Eli's first pair of goggles. . . how cute is he?!? :-)

My cutie, Eli, wearing Rob's cap. Eli is getting a tooth! One of his bottom middle teeth is trying to break through. He seems to be handling it very well! Thank goodness.

Our Tahoe family portrait. :-)

View from the Gondola, heading up to Heavenly. We took the kids up there to play in the snow, since there was no snow on the ground in town. It was a fun trip up, until Max had a MELTDOWN.

Happier times on the gondola ride up. . . pre-Max meltdown. :-)

Looking out the window at the gorgeous view.

Eli enjoying the ride.

Eli is sitting up all by himself now! And he is scooting around a bunch and *almost* crawling. What a big boy.

My big boys. Max is really starting to talk up a storm. It is so cool. He is copying EVERYTHING. I really need to be careful. The other day I said "shit" and he said it too!!! Uh oh.

I love, love, love this picture. Eli was having so much fun riding on his dada's shoulders. Rob and I walked the kids from the gondola back to the resort we were staying at. I had Max on my shoulders for a while and the kids kept looking at each other and laughing. It was super cute.

Alese, Mia, Ava and Mark. What great friends, and what an adorable family.

So, this is a photo of Max towards the end of his meltdown. When we got to the observation deck off the gondola ride, Max was happy for a bit. But when I couldn't get him a *rock* (that is one of his new words) he went balistic and threw the biggest tantrum I have seen in a long while. It turns out he was super tired and finally went and stood in the corner of the Heavenly store and almost fell asleep. Since both Eli and Max were starting to melt down I decided to leave Mark and Alese to play with their kids on the mountain and I rode the gondola down with Max and Eli. On the way down, both kids fell asleep on me . . . Eli on my chest and Max fell asleep laying in my lap. So in order to let them sleep I rode the gondola up and down the mountain three times while they napped for an hour. :-) It was very peaceful.

Just before the aforementioned meltdown. . .

Playing with Mia.

Having a snack with Mia.

Hanging with my boys by the lake. Max kept trying to jump in the freezing water. He is crazy.

Max also was having fun throwing rocks into the water. Especially in the places he found ice.

Yesterday

2008-12-03T15:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I took the kids to the Little Farm and then we went on a hike. It was a lot of fun! We are trying to get our Little Farm fix in before we move. :-) Max was cracking me up because one of the cows kept mooing over and over again and everytime it would moo Max would yell "Oh Nooooo!" and then would periodically moo back. Too funny. Our hike was a lot of fun and pooped the kids out (both slept the whole drive home!). Max is such an agile little guy - he was running down the trail, climbing over tree stumps and walking up and down stairs with no problem. He is getting so big.

We love the Little Farm - the Berkeley hills are so beautiful.

Max and his friend Snowdrop.

Exploring the farm.

Some of the cows just chilling out.

My little monkey man loves to climb the fences.

As you may be able to tell from photos in the previous post, Max wore the same outfit two days in a row! :-) He really wants to pick out his own clothes these days, and he wanted to wear this again. Who am I to argue. . . . sometimes I wear the same jeans a few days in a row! :-)

My little lovebug playing with leaves.

I love this picture. These boys really love each other - which just melts my heart.

Out on our hike.

We, of course, had to stop to play with various sticks along the way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful holiday. Our family, my brother and his family, and my uncle and cousin all went to my parents' place for Thanksgiving, then we all went to Tahoe for the weekend. We rented a great house and stayed from Friday until Monday just hanging out in Tahoe. It was great and made me even more excited to move there (in just a few short weeks!!). Rob and I snowboarded for two days and it was awesome! I hadn't been on a snowboard for two years because I was pregnant the last two winters. Thankfully, it was like riding a bike and I picked it up again pretty quickly. Rob and I bought our season passes, so we plan to do a lot of boarding this winter. It is going to be a great winter, I think! We also went to Elias's second birthday party. Max and Elias (as usual) had a great time playing together over the weekend.

Max and I at Emerald bay just before sunset.

Self-portrait of my Uncle Richard, Max and I. Not too shabby! :-)

My handsome little guy just moments before throwing a HUGE temper tantrum. What a stinker!

Eli is doing great sitting up! He is so close to crawling too, and is getting up onto his hands and knees and rocking a bunch. He is also lunging and scooting a bit and can really get around now. I think we will have a full-fledged crawler by Christmas.

Max and Elias playing at the great playground at the Tahoe Rec Center. I think we will be there a lot once we move. . . .

Pretending to drive around. Max, of course, has to be in the drivers seat.

Davis, Liz, Elias and Max. Liz and Davis are expecting a baby girl in March who they are going to name Olive. I can't wait to meet her!!

Max getting ready to go down this huge slide. The kid has no fear.

Visit from Ellen and Bob

2008-11-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

This evening our dear friends Ellen and Bob (and their cute son, Jack) came over for dinner. We were so excited to see them. Ellen, Bob and Jack moved to Michigan in July and we miss them a ton. They were out in Cal. for a few weeks visiting friends and family, and we are so happy we got a chance to hang out. Jack is 1 now and is walking, which is so cute. I was there when that kid was born!! It's amazing to see him getting so big now. Below are a few pics from the visit.

Ellen and I. I ducked at Ellen's request so that we would be the same height. :-)

The boys: Bob, Jack, Max and Rob.

Project "Baby Eviction"

2008-11-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

My sweet baby boy is getting so big. We have co-slept with Eli up till now, but he is getting so big that neither Rob nor I are sleeping very well anymore - with all the getting kicked and smacked in the face everytime Eli wakes up, and so on. So as of yesterday, we have moved Eli into Max's bedroom! Yep, the boys are now sharing a room at night and will also be sharing a bedroom in Tahoe. We had mixed results in project "baby eviction" last night. . . I let Eli fall asleep in my bed, and once Max had been asleep for a while transfered him into Max's room. Max woke up a bit and I could hear him saying "hi" to Eli a bunch over the monitor, but they both quickly went back to sleep. The problem came around 3 a.m. when Max woke up crying, which made Eli wake up and start to cry. It was too difficult to ignore both wailing boys, so Rob grabbed Eli and brought him back into our bed with the hopes that Max would go back to sleep. Nope! Max cried on and off for another hour. Needless to say, we got little sleep after 3 a.m. and are a little pooped today. We are trying again tonight, and I put Eli in Max's bedroom about 1/2 hour ago. Wish us luck, because it is SO nice not having a baby smacking me in the head all night. :-)

Below are some recent pictures of my big boy, Eli. So amazing to think he will be 7 months old in just a few days. Wow, time flies.

Eli is SO close to being able to crawl and can roll and scoot/pull himself quite some distance on the floor. . . . although he generally ends up scooting backwards.

Max, Elias and Eli

2008-11-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

This past week we had my brother, his fiance, and her son down for a visit. Max and Elias are around the same age and love playing together. One reason we are so excited to move to Tahoe is because Davis, Liz and Elias are up there. It is great that Max will have a friend there, and it will be great for Rob and I to have someone to watch the kids sometimes so we can go out alone! :-) Below are some pics of Max, Elias and Eli.

My cute boys.

Max is very into sticks right now. When we go for walks he just has to stop and pick up stick after stick to hand to me. I end up with piles of sticks on the stroller. :-)

Elias and Max playing ball.

Max and Elias were very proud of themselves because they climbed this rock at the park.

Max and Elias ran around this tree about 25 times. It is great that these two can entertain each other. I can't wait until Eli is big enough to play with Max and Elias.

Cracking up at bathtime.

They are good buddies. They are going to have fun growing up together.

Short update.

2008-11-25T12:42:00.000-08:00

So, I just went and saw the photos we took for our Christmas cards, and we are going to have to get creative this year in making a cute card, I think! :-) Poor Eli - who is ALWAYS happy - had his worst day on the day we had our pictures taken. He ran a 102 degree fever the night before, and was just miserable the next day. Needless to say, there are very few happy ones of Eli. Poor guy. The photographer we use is pretty amazing at swapping faces from one shot to another, so maybe we can make one of the family shots look good!! :-) Other than that - all is well. Eli is loving eating solid foods. So far I have made him pears, carrots, peas (didn't love that so much), sweet potatoes, butternut squash and apple sauce.

In non-baby news . . . I just got my business license for my new firm, and registered my fictitious business name: the Woelfel Law Firm is now (almost) ready to do business!! :-) Hooray! Now I just need to get my website created, finalize my insurance and get business cards made and will be on my way. Lots to do. . . .

Will post pictures later.

This is why I don't let the kids watch too much TV. . .

2008-11-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

Look at these faces. . .

Finally an Update!!

2008-11-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

I have been so terrible lately about posting . . . and my friend Jacks called me out on it!!! Thanks, Jacks, for the kick in the butt I needed to get posting again. :-) All is well here, just busy spending time with the boys, while working on getting by new law practice together and getting ready to move. Needless to say, things have been a bit busy. The boys are doing great, although Max is definitely acting like he is two already. Yesterday, we were at the park and he had a great time playing until he started to get tired and cranky. So what does he do? He runs up to a 4 year old boy, bear hugs him from behind and BITES him on the back!!!! I almost died, and we hustled out of the park after I apologized profusely to the little boy and his mom. We left so fast that I left Max's soccer ball at the park!

And two days ago, Max jumped out of his crib for the first time. I couldn't believe it - but he is a little monkey. He was so mad at me because it was 6:30 in the morning and he had been whining for me to come get him out of bed for about 5 minutes. I was trying to ignore him because I was TIRED, and then he jumped out of the crib and started banging on his door yelling at me. When I went in there he was so mad and was pointing frantically at his diaper yelling "POO-POO!!!!" He had pooped, and apparently really wanted a diaper change. :-) That cracked me up.

Eli is doing great. He is so close to getting up onto his hands and knees. I really think he wll be crawling by Christmas. The poor pumpkin has been sick for about a week now, but is on the mend, I think. On Saturday night he had a 102 temparature and had a miserable night (as did I because I was so worried), and since then he hasn't had a temperature, but has a cough and runny nose. He sounds so pathetic too with his super scratchy voice. Poor little guy. I think he has turned a corner though, so that is good! Below are some pictures of the boys I took on my iPhone over the last few months! Enjoy!

Max happy and excited to be at the park. I don't think he bit anyone on this day! ;-)

My handsome little blue-eyed boy, Eli. I just want to smother him with kisses.

Max is such a crack up. This is at the park early in the morning. He like to smoosh his face against the plastic because it makes me laugh. What a crazy guy!

More fun at the park.

The boys swinging together. It is so neat that they can both be in the swings now. Eli just loves looking at Max next to him.

Max trying to hold Eli, but mostly squishing him instead.

Max looks like a little model in this picture, I think! :-) Very baby GQ.

Sweet Eli enjoying the swing!

What a handsome smile. You wouldn't know from looking at these photos that Max has been a little stinker lately!!!

Rainy Days

2008-11-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the first really rainy day of the season, and Max had a ball playing in the rain! We had our friends Monica and David over in the afternoon and Max and their daughter, Naiya, played a ton. Some pictures of the kids are posted below. The first one of Rob and Eli cracks me up.

I think Rob forgot that I had just fed Eli when he started playing airplane and other bouncy games with him. . . Eli spit up all over Rob!

Fun in the rain.

Max and his friend Naiya.

Max loved the rain. . . and especially loved the mud that the rain created. He jumped around in the dirt for a long time.

What a handsome boy!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. We did! Rob, Max, Eli and I went to our friend Karen's house for a fun party and some trick-or-treating. It was great for the kids because Karen, Sarah and Kate all have kids the same age. Max loves playing with them. Max was a lion this year, and Eli was a pumpkin. Max threw a FIT when I first put on his outfit and cried for about 10 minutes, but then he got over it and did really well. . . . even roaring like a lion! :-) We let Max eat only one sucker, and he loved it. He kept asking for more and more. . . we finally had to take the candy away and just leave it at Karens. :-) Out of sight out of mind! I was really amazed at how quickly Max picked up the whole trick-or-treating thing. He was so brave walking up to the doors (taking off without us most of the time) and he figured out that the candy went in his bag very quickly. He thought it was pretty fun! Below are some pictures of our night.

Getting ready to go trick or treating wtih Kyler and Seamus.

Max and Kyler. Kyler was a cute kitty.

Me and the boys.

Our Halloween family portrait! What a fun night.

My big boy, Eli. He is growing and growing.

All the kids. In the carseat is Fiona. Karen dressed Seamus and Fiona as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell - so cute! I forget the name of the girl dressed as a bee, but she was adorable. Kyler was a kitty, Kaden was Nemo (he is not in this picture) and Scotland was a fireman.

The kids again. They were so cute.

Kyler and Max eating his sucker.

My little pumkin.

I love this picture of the boys. I put them in matching trick or treat shirts. They looked so cute.

Good (Old) Times

2008-10-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

I just had to post a few pictures I just found from Rob's birthday a few years ago. This was just weeks after I had Max, and we had a bunch of close friends up visiting us in Tahoe. Now all of the babies in this photo are almost two (and I don't even want to think about how old the rest of us are!!). Good times. . . seeing this picture makes me even more excited to move back up there.

This was a super fun weekend. I think Max was only about 3 weeks old at this time. I am still in my maternity pants in this photo! :-) I think I wore those for a few months after having Max . . . in fact, why did I ever stop wearing them?? Maternity clothes are comfortable! ;-)

This is Mia, Max and Olivia - Max's original girlfriends. Now, Olivia is living in China with her parents and speaks Chinese! Amazing how quickly these kids have grown.

Busy, Busy

2008-10-28T23:54:00.000-07:00

I have been bad about updating my blog this month, but I am going to try to do a better job going forward! :-) Things have been crazy busy lately. I have been getting ready to start my own law practice in South Lake Tahoe starting the first of the year, and between that and planning to move, there is a lot to do. I am really excited though about moving and getting this practice up and running. Tahoe is going to be a wonderful place to live. So, starting January 1, 2009, send legal work my way!! ;-)

The kids are doing great and are growing up so quickly. Max is talking a ton and bursts out with new words all the time. It is really neat to watch. The other morning Rob had his bike in the living room and Max walked up, pointed at it and said "dada's bike." We were amazed that he knew the word bike! :-) Eli is working so hard to get up on his hands and knees and can *almost* do it. I bet he will be crawling by Christmas time, or maybe even Thanksgiving. He is such a sweet, happy baby. He just smiles and cracks up all the time. Max is a super good boy too, but he is getting to that age where he is purposefully testing our limits. It has been interesting to watch and deal with. Overall, though, we are so lucky to have two sweet, happy and wonderful boys. Today I took them to the Little Farm, and we had such a great time. It happened to be one of the days where wildlife docents were there to interact with the kids. Max loved it.

Having a snack break after playing with the animals for a while.

Eli having a snack break too! ;-) This picture cracks me up. Eli has to put EVERYTHING in his mouth. I love this giraffe because it is made with non-toxic materials so I don't have to worry about him chewing off anything icky and dangerous.

This is Max's new BFF. This docent let the kids grind up corn which they then fed to the chickens. Max loved this guy, and must have played with the grinders, corn and cups for 45 minutes or more. Max was too funny today. . . .when he went to feed the chickens the corn he saw a docent walking around with a goat. Max ran up to the goat and started throwing handfulls of corn at it.

Grinding the corn off the cob.

Eli kept grabbing the celery and trying to eat it. He is too funny.

Max and the corn again. . . .

Roaming the farm. This is one of the places we will miss the most when we move.

Some Max Pictures

2008-10-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

I just had to share these cute pictures of Max that I took this weekend at my parents house. He is too darn handsome.

A week of firsts. . .

2008-10-28T23:02:00.000-07:00

This has been a week filled with "firsts" for the boys. Both Max and Eli had their first haircuts. I was their hairstylist and don't think I butchered their hair too badly! :-) Eli had one bit of really long hair and it just needed to go. It was looking a little too much like an old man comb-over. Max's curls were getting a little out of control, so I just gave him a bit of a trim. Rob told me not to cut it again though . . . he apparently likes the long, wild look on Max. And in other "firsts" news, I started Eli on solid food. Eli is SO happy to be eating like a big boy. I am really into making homemade baby food and have made Eli sweet potatos and butternut squash so far. He LOVES his sweet potatos, and tomorrow I will give him some of the squash. Below are some pics of these firsts. . . enjoy! :-)

Eli with a sweet potato face.

Max looking clean-cut after his haircut! :-) His hair looks super red in this picture, doesn't it?!?

Wild and crazy "before" hair. I tried to put the "before" pictures BEFORE the "after" shots, but they didn't upload that way. Oh well!

Eli looking adorable after his haircut! :-)

"Before," with the dreaded comb-over. . . .

At the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T19:30:00.001-07:00

This has been a nice weekend after a crazy last week. Yesterday, our dear friends Moira and Daniel got married and we attended their amazing wedding. The wedding was so beautiful and so much fun. We could not be happier for them. What a terrific couple! We took Max and Eli to the first few hours of the wedding and then my mom came down to watch them for the remainder of the evening. Rob and I had fun having a little "date" night after my mom took over with the kids! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of the wedding. But hopefully I will get someone to forward me some and I will post them on the blog.
Today, we took the kids to a cute little pumpkin patch near our house. Max enjoyed it. . . especially because they had a little petting zoo. Rob and I are starting to plan our move to Tahoe. We are planning to make the move at the end of the year and are excited about everything the future holds.

Quick Update

2008-10-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Work has been so busy the past few weeks for both Rob and I, so I have been terrible about taking pictures and posting on our blog. My friend, Kim, just sent a link to some pictures she took of Max and her beautiful daughter, Sienna, in their backyard a few weeks ago. I can't post them all because the kids were running around naked, but I just had to share this adorable picture of Max. The kids are doing great - Eli is the happiest, cutest little baby ever. He is growing so quickly and has mastered the art of rolling over from his back to his front (he started doing that about three weeks ago). His new favorite thing is his jumparoo and, if we would let him, he would jump in it for hours. We have to now limit it because we DID let him jump around in it for hours and then he had a raw tushie. Max is just turning into such a big boy, and is working on new words all the time - we got him to say please for the first time this weekend, although it sounded more like "peas." His two favorite things right now are animals and trains. He absolutely loves his choo-choo books and we have to read them to him ALL the time. Anyway, that is my quick post of what is going on with the kids. Will post more later when life is not so crazy busy!

Super Fun Sunday

2008-09-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun, but busy day. This afternoon, we went to a birthday party for one Max's friends, Scotland. Scotland turned two today and my friend Kate planned a really fun party at the park. After the birthday party, I went to my friend, Moira's, bridal shower. It was really nice, and was at a super cute vineyard in Castro Valley called Chouinard Vineyard. Moira has a lot of really nice girlfriends and we had a great time drinking wine and chatting. Below are some pics of our day.

I think this picture of my boys is too cute. Max is such a sweet brother to Eli, and Eli really loves being around Max.

This is some of the kids at the party in our attempt at getting a group shot! It worked for about a minute and then Eli and Fiona each had a meltdown. This picture cracks me up, though, because Max and Eli are making the exact same face.

Max loved playing with the balloons and popped two or three of them.

Scotland, the birthday boy!

My beautiful friend, Moira, at her bridal shower.

Nicole and I - Nicole just got engaged a few weeks ago. Congratulations Nicole and Mike!

All the girls.

Moira, Nicole and I. I love these gals! I can't wait for Moira's wedding, which is in a few weeks. I am so excited for Moira and Daniel - they are a great couple.

Last weekened at Mom and Alex's

2008-09-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at my parents place last weekend and some pictures are posted below. Today we are going to a birthday party for one of Max's friends, and then I am off to a fun wedding shower for my dear friend Moira. I will post pictures of those events later. This past week at work was so busy that I had no time to post pictures from last weekend. . . I've only now gotten around to it. Generally, Rob is with the kids a few days a week, but he has been so busy at work and I have been so busy at work, that we had to use my work's back-up care. It is nice because they pay for up to 20 days of back-up childcare per year so that you don't have to miss work. I think we will be taking advantage of all 20 days! They actually sent someone to our house to watch the kids through an agency. She was great with the boys and they really liked her. Anyway, below are some pics from LAST weekend. Enjoy!

Rob took Max for a ride on the four-wheeler in the morning. Not sure if Max loved it, but he didn't cry! :-) Rob had a great time though.

We bundled up for our evening walk down to the lake. There are blackberry bushes down there and Max was extremely excited to pick some.

Max eating blackberries and making a huge mess! I think I got to eat about two blackberries. Max made me give him all the rest. :-)

Eli loves to be picked up and held in the air like this. He cracks up every time.

Yes, my happy baby does cry sometimes. But he still looks cute. . . .

Max and Rob taking a paddleboat ride. Max loved playing in this boat.

Heading back to shore. . .

Last Weekend in Apple Hill

2008-09-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took the kids up to Apple Hill (near Placerville) and had a great time checking out some of the gardens and orchards. We met my parents up there and ended the day at a cute little brewery where we let Max run around and play with the other kids while we all sat and had a beer on the lawn (I had the apple beer - yum!). Below are some pictures of our weekend excursion.

We stopped at a neat organic farm and Max ran around the garden for a while. He sure loved all of the flowers and did a good job of smelling them and not picking them. We've been working on the no picking thing for a while. . . it works most of the time!

The boys sitting in the pumpkin patch.

This farm, and the whole surrounding Placerville area is just gorgeous this time of the year. We loved getting up there for the weekend.

More time exploring the pumpkin patch.

After we left the organic farm we went to an orchard that had a bunch of fun stuff for kids - animals to feed, a tire swing, old tractors to play on. . . Max had a ball and had to sit in every single tractor and pretend like he was driving.

Driving another tractor.

Mom and Alex with Eli.

Some Cute Pics of Eli

2008-09-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

I just had to post these pictures of my adorable little guy, Eli. He is such a sweetie. He is SO close to being able to roll from his back over to his tummy. I can't believe how quickly he is growing.

Our Wonderful Sunday

2008-09-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today was just about a perfect day. After the kids woke up and we had breakfast, we decided to take Max to the steam trains in Tilden Park. He loves trains, so we thought this would be a fun thing for him. I think he had a great time! Eli got a little bit scared when the train horn blew, and I ended up having to nurse him for the second half of the ride. After we rode the steam train a few times we went over to the Botanical Garden area and had a picnic. It was really nice. Max was so pooped out after our morning, he ended up taking almost a three hour nap. After his nap we went to the Lafayette reservoir for the afternoon. I jogged the three mile loop with Eli while Rob played with Max at the playground. Below are some pictures from our day.

The Steam Train is a great little 10-minute train ride through the redwoods in Tilden Park. Max must have yelled "choo-choo" fifty times during the ride. He LOVES trains.

Sitting in the train getting ready for our ride.

This is our little picnic site. Super peaceful.

Eli napped during our entire picnic. :-) The steam train tired him out.

Max was happy because there were blackberry bushes nearby.

The boys!

Yay, it's the Weekend!

2008-09-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

So far we have had a great weekend with the kids. This morning, Rob had to work so I packed up the kids and took them to the little farm to see the animals. The little farm is one of Max's favorite places and we go there all the time. Max is getting very brave around the animals and is feeding them himself now. We were there for a few hours looking at the animals, then sat on the grass and had a little picnic. After that we came home for the kids' naps - Max was so pooped that he fell asleep about two minutes after I put him in his car seat for the ride home. After naps, Rob took Max on a long hike up Mount Diablo, and I took Eli grocery shopping with me. Rob took some great pictures of Max on the hike, and I've posted some below. Max is looking a little beat up right now . . . a few days ago he fell off of the swing onto his face, so he has some nice road rash on his forehead and cheek, and today while Rob was holding him he lunged out of Rob's arms and landed face first on the railing of Eli's bassinet. He got a bit of a bruised eye and a small fat lip from that one!

Eli was such a good boy today. He slept in his stroller most of the time we were at the farm. This is right before we sat down for our picnic.

The cow giving Max a kiss.

My big boy and his battered face. It actually doesn't look so bad - but this was taken before he did a nice face plant after his nap.

Max likes to climb the fences to get a better look at the animals.

Another picture of my sweet little guy. Eli is turning into a little chunky guy - I love it! He has the cutest, squishy tummy and sweet chubby cheeks. He is very kissable.

Max hiking with dada at Mount Diablo. Rob said they had a great time. I think these pictures make Max look like such a big boy.

Photographer Max

2008-09-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get this on the blog before too much time goes by and I forget. . . . yes, my blog is basically my scrapbook of kid stuff and is the only way I will remember details of these times later!

Max is pretty much obsessed with stealing our digital camera and taking pictures. It's pretty cute, except for when I try to take the camera away and he throws a huge fit. :-) The first time he got ahold of the camera was when we were in Tahoe going on a walk. Below are some of Max's shots (the ones that don't have his fingers in them!) - and I've also included a video of what happened when I took the camera away. :-) Enjoy!

This shot is actually pretty good! These are the little wildflowers that Max spent a lot of time smelling. He loves picking and smelling flowers.

A nice, artistic shot of the sky . . .

A nice, artistic shot of my booty. . . :-) I cracked up when I went back and looked at the pictures Max had taken. I normally wouldn't post pictures of my behind, but I thought Max's shots were too funny not to share.

It's interesting to see what I look like from Max's perspective! I am a GIANT!

Our Weekend So Far. . .

2008-09-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy it is the weekend! Being back to work has been okay, but I sure do miss my boys when I am away. So far it has been a very nice weekend. On Friday night, Eli and I went to my friend Sarah's house for book club. There is a really great group of ladies in the book club, and although I haven't been going much the past few months, I am always happy to see them and their kids (the kids outnumber the adults. . . ). Later on Friday night our friends Tony and Rebecka came over. It was great to hang out with them. They live in So. Cal., so it's not often that we get to spend time together. We spent Saturday morning hanging out with them as well, and then they had to head out for a friends wedding. Saturday afternoon Rob and I took Max to the farm to see the animals and for a hike (a typical weekend day for us!). It was lots of fun, as always. I've been bad about posting since being back at work, but have been trying to catch up a bit this morning. Below are some pictures from yesterday afternoon.

Max In a Tree

2008-09-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Max climbed his first tree. . . . well, he didn't so much "climb" it as have us shove him up into the tree. Max thought it was great. Rob and I were having a heart attack though, wondering how we were going to get him down and hoping he didn't fall. It was pretty funny. After he came down from the tree he wanted to go up again. We learned our lesson the first time and said "no." :-)

This is the tree Max just had to climb! He is an adventurous little guy.

Up in the tree.

Looking down at his mama and dada, who were wondering how the heck they were going to get him down! :-)

Max Picking Blackberries with Daddy

2008-09-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

Max has been really into picking blackberries lately. There are a few blackberry bushes up in Tilden Park and he just loves them. So much so that he throws a huge fit when we try to make him leave. Here are some pictures of Max and Rob picking some blackberries.

My Mom's Visit Last Weekend

2008-09-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Below are some pictures from my mom's visit last weekend. We had such a nice time seeing her. We all went to the Little Farm and, later, for a short hike.

Mom and Max heading to the Little Farm. This is one of Max's favorite places. He gets so excited when we get there and practically sprints from the car to the barn.

Feeding the goats.

On a short hike to Jewel Lake.

Max is so sweet to his little brother!

Mom looking happy to be out for a hike! :-)

Our Day at the Beach

2008-09-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

As promised, below are some pictures from last week at Tomales Bay. The Marin area is so gorgeous - we need to try to get out there more often. It is so close, but if feels like we are a million miles away from home. I love it!

This is our little beach tent. We bought this last year when we went to Hawaii when Max was 3 months old. It works great, but there were some wind gusts so we had to load the tent with sand to keep it from blowing away! Max is sitting in Eli's car seat because we were trying so hard to get him to nap in the tent - we finally just strapped him down. It didn't work though and Max ended up having no nap and being a complete terror later as we were trying to drive home. The kid needs his nap!!

Max had a great time playing with everyone else's toys. We don't even take toys to the beach anymore because he is only interested in other people's stuff. :-) The people that owned these toys also had an ice chest full of ice that Max was obsessed with. He must have gone over there and eaten ice from their chest about 30 times that day. Rob and I kept trying to get him to stop, but he wasn't listening. Thankfully the family with the ice chest thought it was cute and told him to eat as much ice as he wanted! :-) Max ended up eating some of their watermellon too.

The boys going swimming.

Max is getting so good at throwing and kicking balls. I think we are going to sign him up for a 2 year old soccer class that starts later this month. He's a bit young for it still, but I think he could do it. Or at least he would have fun trying!

This is a new friend Max made when he went over to play with the kids toys (whose name happened to be Max as well). Max just HAD to jump in this wagon.

After hanging out at the beach for a while we took a nice hike on the one of the trails that started right off the cove. Max loves to hike and look at all the trees.

Eli likes to hike too! Here is my smiley little man.

Max and I at the end of our hike. The trail went from one beach to another, more secluded beach with a little marsh behind it.

The boys. . .

Labor Day Weekend!

2008-09-01T23:38:00.000-07:00

This has been a nice Labor Day weekend. On Saturday, Rob and I took the kids to Tomales Bay for a beach day. It was great to get somewhere new! The beach we went to was great and there were tons of families there. Max basically ran around playing with everyone else's toys. There were also hiking trails right off the beach and we went on a nice short hike later in the day. It was a long day for Max though - we got there around 11 a.m. and stayed until about 5 p.m. We hoped he would sleep in the little tent we brought, but he didn't and had a complete meltdown on the drive home after missing his nap.

On Sunday, my mom came for a visit. It was wonderful to have her here! We took the boys to the little farm and for a hike in the afternoon. It was fun going there with the boys and my mom. Max was extremely excited to see my mom and had a great time seeing the animals. I have a ton of cute pictures to post later - but need to download them first! And the best part was that mom watched the kids in the evening and Rob and I actually got to go out to dinner together! Yay!

Today both Rob and I both had to work (so much for Labor Day!). Boo! But we alternated watching the boys and working and it has been a good day. I'll post pictures later.

Back to Work. . .

2008-08-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I am officially back to work. :-( My first day back to work was supposed to be this Wednesday, the 27th; however, I got a call last Monday asking me to help with some stuff, so I have been working since last Tuesday in the evenings. And today I was asked to cover a deposition that was only supposed to last 2-3 hours. . . nope! It went ALL DAY. I left the house at 7 a.m and got home at 5:30 p.m. Ah well. The work itself isn't so bad, I just miss being away from my boys. This maternity leave sure flew by though! It is hard to believe that Eli is already 4-months old. Time is going by much to quickly, I think.

Me and my handsome boys. I just about attacked them with hugs and kisses after I got home from my deposition today. Max wasn't having it, which was sad. :-) I don't think they understood that I really missed them. They were just happy to have a fun day with Leah.

I took Max on a hike in Tilden Park the other day. He loves going on hikes and looking at the trees/flowers, etc. Rob and I also took the boys on a hike yesterday at a different trail in Tilden. Max was very excited because there were blackberry bushes. He loves picking off the berries and eating them. So much so that he threw a fit when we made him leave.

Smiley Eli. He is such a happy kid. I am crazy about his dimple - I think it is the cutest thing.

A picture of Max playing in Tahoe. We really had a fun time up there. We took Max to the beach a bunch, and we fed the geese two mornings in a row. The first morning, we got bagels and went to the park to eat. Max was feeding the geese some bagel and one of them bit him on the hand when I wasn't looking. Max's reaction to being bit was pretty funny - it was part panic, part pain, part mad. Thankfully the goose attack didn't make him totally afraid of the geese and we were back feeding them the next morning. What a brave boy!

Max and His Friend Elias

2008-08-22T13:45:00.001-07:00

Last week my brother Davis, his girlfriend Liz, and her son, Elias, came to visit us. We had a great time seeing them. Elias and Max are just two months apart in age and they got along great and had a fun time playing together. They wanted to ride on the same toys together and would walk around holding hands. Very cute. I am sure these two will continue to be partners in crime as they get older! Below are a few pics of them.

Our Tahoe Vacation

2008-08-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

We are in Lake Tahoe right now for a little family vacation. It is gorgeous up here and we are all having a wonderful time. Max is especially having a great time playing in the water. Last night my parents drove up and we all took Davis and his girlfriend out to dinner to celebrate Davis's birthday. Today, we spent the morning at the meadow and are planning to head to Pope Beach after the kids wake up from their naps. Below are a few pictures from our morning and our day yesterday.

Max playing in the meadow. He loves looking at all of the flowers, which makes any walk with him take forever!

Eli and I in the meadow. Don't worry, my chai tea was luke warm at this point. :-)

Max and Rob playing in the lake. The lake level is so low right now that Max was able to walk pretty far into the lake. Max calls all bodies of water a "pool" right now, which is funny. As we were walking to the lake he kept pointing to it yelling "pool!"

We let Max run around naked down at the water. He was having a great time. He has two little bandages on his belly right now from his surgery, but since it has been three days since the surgery he is allowed to get them wet.

Rob and Eli getting ready for a short walk while Max is napping. Eli is getting so big and is babbling up a storm. He is very vocal. It's super cute.

At the Boat

2008-08-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

We are currently trying to sale our 30 foot sailboat, and Rob spent the weekend at the marina working on the boat. I took the boys down there for a visit, and have posted some pictures below. Max wanted to help Rob clean the boat and would have been happy staying there all day, but we couldn't stay long because Rob was showing the boat to a potential buyer later that morning and we were distracting him! :-)

Helping dada clean the boat.

At the Waterpark

2008-08-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Below are a few pictures of our day at the waterpark on Monday. I've also included a video clip of Max going down the slide. :-) The second half of the video is pretty much sky because I had to save Max from the water and forgot to turn off the video!

Leah with Max and Taylor. This was the first time I got to see Max's life jacket in action, and it worked great! I feel much better about him falling in the water at the marina now, should that ever happen. :-)

Me and my big boy. In the background you can see the stroller where Eli slept the ENTIRE time we were there. I swear, these kids are on opposite schedules during the day . . . Max is awake and Eli sleeps, Max takes a nap and Eli wakes up. Great for mommy/kid time, but tiring for me! :-)

Max Entertaining His Brother

2008-08-05T22:49:00.001-07:00

Both Rob and I have a cold right now. . . not fun! But the kids seem to be doing okay, so that is good! Yesterday I took the kids to go see Leah and Taylor at their new house. It is super cute. After seeing their house, we took all of the kids to a water-park in Antioch. Max loved it. This water-park had a toddler area and a toddler water slide. It was great. Max went down the slide about five times. I took some pictures and video and will post those once I have downloaded them. Max also started his "guppy" swim class yesterday. It is a two-week class that meets Monday through Thursday. It is very mellow, just an opportunity to get in the water and work on kicking and blowing bubbles, etc. Max really likes it, although he gets cold so quickly! He has no fat at all on him, so he doesn't last long before his lips turn purple and he starts shaking. We had to leave class about five minutes early today because he started shivering uncontrollably in the pool and asking for crackers. :-) I've posted a few pictures of the boys together below. Eli really loves looking at his brother, and Max seems to love entertaining Eli (as you can see from the video clip below!). I think (hope) they will be great friends when they get older.

Max Wants Crackers

2008-08-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Below is a cute video clip of Max at Barnes and Noble. Sometimes we go there so that Max can play with the books, stuffed animals and train set. He really likes the books where you press a button and music plays. Max is such a little dance machine, he will spend 10-20 minutes just pressing the buttons on these books and dancing. I like this clip because it shows Max dancing and then asking for crackers. I know I am a biased mommy, but I think the way he says "cracker" and "thank you" is super cute. :-) Max is talking a bunch now and I know it is just a matter of time before he is talking like a big boy, so I am trying to get his baby talk on video while I can.

Our Visit with Tony!

2008-07-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-15T23:18:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-15T23:08:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-06T22:30:00.000-07:00

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.

The Cutest Pictures Ever of Eli

2008-07-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Below are a few adorable photos of my little guy. I am crossing my fingers that his eyes stay blue . . . I think they might!

Max and Taylor at the Alameda County Fair

2008-07-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Leah took Max and Taylor to the Alameda County Fair. They had a great time! Our gardener works at the Alameda County Fairgrounds and a few weeks ago he gave me some free passes to the fair. I was really looking forward to going, but was out of commission and couldn't join Leah and the kids. I loved seeing the photos though, and thought I would post a few below. Max is such a happy kid when he has Taylor to hang out with. It's pretty funny though, because they fight like they are brother and sister. It's going to be fun to see how Max and Eli interact when Eli gets older.

Leah said that Max got a big kick out of this microphone and stood there for about five minutes talking into it.

Not a picture of the Fair, but they look too cute so I had to add it in!

Fourth of July Fun

2008-07-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a fun and festive Fourth of July! Rob, Max, Eli and I had a very nice day. I am feeling better and better after my surgery, and the Fourth of July was my first outing since having my gallbladder removed. We took the kids to see the parade in Alameda - it was really fun! The boys looked really cute in their red, white and blue outfits. Max made a friend named Mason who is right around his age, and they hung out and ate apples together. Very cute. Below are some pictures from the parade.

Eli wasn't very happy here, but this is the only family photo we have from the Fourth! :-) I love how Max is looking down at Eli.

Max and his new friend, Mason.

Goodbye Gallbladder

2008-07-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Some of my friends know that during my pregnancy with Eli I started getting horrible gallstone attacks, which were insanely painful. I hoped and hoped that the gallstone attacks would stop after I delivered Eli, but they didn't and I have had three attacks in the last eight weeks. I had my last one late on Saturday night and was in so much pain I made Rob wake up the kids, load them in the car and take me to the emergency room. After having an ultrasound and confirming that it was indeed gallstones, they admitted me and took out my gallblader early Sunday morning. I am SO HAPPY it is over and done with. I'm still in a bit of pain from the surgery, but am recovering and am doing a lot better now.

I have never had surgery before, and it was crazy. I was really nervous about the anesthesia, but the doctor put me at ease. It was so weird to be awake one second, then the next thing I know I am waking up again and the surgery is over. My first words upon waking up and being told my gallblader was out was "can I see it?" I think the doctor thought I was crazy. :-) And yes, I was a bit out of it, although I still sortof wished I could have seen my gallbladder. :-)

The first 24 hours after surgery were tough. I was pretty out of it because of the drugs, in a lot of pain, and it was really hard being away from my boys. Thankfully I had already been pumping and storing milk in anticipation of going back to work, so Eli had food to eat. Every day has been a bit better. Thank goodness my mom came to help me with the kids for a few days, because I was not able to pick up or feed Eli until Tuesday afternoon. I still can't lift Max up for about another week, which is tough. Anyway, that is what I have been up to for the last few days. No pictures to post because I am sure no one wants to see the holes in my belly!!

My Adorable Little Boy is Getting So Big!

2008-06-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Eli is getting so big! Today he is eight weeks old, which is so crazy to believe. He just gets cuter every day. He is rolling over like crazy. It is pretty fun to see. Today he was awake a lot more during the day. I am hopeful this means that he will sleep more tonight! The last few nights he has been waking up every 2 hours or so to eat. It's been a bit exhausting for me, but I think he may be going through a growth spurt. He is definitely growing fast. He is already 10 1/2 pounds!

I love this look Eli is giving me. He already has such personality.

Max and His Friend Taylor

2008-06-25T21:09:00.001-07:00

This week Leah started working with us again. Max is so happy to have Leah and Taylor back to play with. He really loves Leah and absolutely loves playing with Taylor. The Kindergym class they were taking ended, so I signed them up for a Kindermusic class, which they now have every Wednesday. Today was their second class. It seems like both Max and Taylor really enjoy it! Basically, Kindermusic is about an hour of singing, dancing and using props while singing and dancing around. Max loves music and dancing, so this is perfect for him.

Leah is now watching the kids at our house, which has been nice. Below are a few pictures of Max and Taylor together going for a walk and taking a bath. The Radio Flyer wagon the kids are in was Max's first birthday present from my parents. I found the great sun shade at Target and added that. Max LOVES this wagon. The other day Rob wanted to take Max for a walk and tried to put him in one of our strollers. Max threw a fit, wouldn't get in and ran to the wagon instead. Rob ended up taking him for a walk in the wagon. :-)