Mister Independent

Maxon has taken his first few steps and now can conquer the world. 

He eats like there is no tomorrow.  There is not one thing that he will not shovel in his mouth.  Seems like he is always in his highchair, gobbling away.

He climbs and explores everything.  He is so adventurous!

And with our insane, crazy busy work schedule (yup, I am employed at a "real" job), Tyson and I deserved a much needed Date Night.  We truly enjoyed our quick nights out.



Friends at Play

I love birthdays.....A LOT!  I love making people feel special, opening presents, devouring cake and celebrating another year of life.  When a person has a birthday, we should party like it is a National HOLIDAY!  And this is why my planning for Maxon's birthday started months ago.  I have most of the decorations, favors, and ideas for food and cake.  Invitations will be ordered very soon. 

We have also, because we have many amazing friends, have been invited to several first birthdays so our party shoes are getting worn plenty.  Max went to his friend Ryan's, Coraline's, Luke's, Cole's and Maia's birthday and is looking forward to his friends Cadence and Kai's birthday.  And before you know it, it will be Maxon's!  So soon!!!

Max and Cadence playing in the ball pit at Maia's Birthday Party

A good sign that Max is ready for bed-thumb in the mouth and blanket in his hand.

Weeeeeeee!  Going round and round on the Merry Go Round with Daddy



Maxon loves Baby Sign Class, especially when it is outside



Gorgeous Baby BOY!

Having a blast on the slide

9 Months Old

We told Maxon to "cork it" and he took us literally.

Maxon's First Superbowl and he was IMPRESSED.  We danced at the Halftime show and cheered loudly.  Max even had some Mom's 7-layer dip, minus 6 layers.  He tried out the ground turkey with Soyrizo.  He LOVED it!

Playing in the grass amongst the flowers in Balboa Park.  Max just woke up from his nap and as one can tell, his hair is still sleepy.

These precious little feet make it hard to find soft sole shoes for pre-walkers.  He is a size 5, which is comparable to a 2T-3T.  Barefoot is better!

At the Natural History Museum checking out the brightly colored reptiles. 

Our lil' prince getting his beauty sleep.  I love when Max goes down for his morning nap and Tyson is still sleeping.  My sleeping boys are my pride and joy....and they look the SAME when they are sleeping

First off, check out the paws on Max.  And secondly, how cute is my giggling husband?!

Max (graciously) letting us see his 4-upper pearly whites bursting through.  He is in such great spirits, despite the drool, snotty nose, bleeding gums and constant pain. 

Let the FUN BEGIN!

Painting with his peas and squishing between his fingers.

Words cannot begin to explain our fun that we are having with Maxon. He is so interested in the animals at the Zoo and Wild Animal Park (now called Safari Park). He loves the bright colors of the aviary and squeals at the bears. He grabs at the elephants and their long trunks and stares in awe at the giraffes and their long tongues. For mommy and daddy, it is unbelievable at the fascination and curiosity Max has with so many different scenarios.

Maxon also started a new set of baby sign classes on Thursday night and Friday day.  He is the big man on campus now and has certainly taken on the role.  He greets the new babies with sloppy, open mouth kisses and happily plays in the ball pit.  As he is turning 9 months, new foods (and different textures) are being explored and so far, peas are still his least favorite.  While our little (big) guy will eat ANYTHING, he isn't too fond of thicker or bigger pieces of food.  We thought that starting the Stage 3 foods will fill him up and with two teeth, he was probably ready.  He isn't though and we are pleased to not push him to grow up. 

Maxon's favorite ball.

I have also started playing games with Max because as an active boy, he wears me out!  I had to do some research on what activities were appropriate for his age (didn't want to be too challenging that he would get frustrated).  Besides reading, playing with toys, looking at pictures and enjoying outdoors, we started "painting" with his food, playing on the cushions from the sofa, popping bubbles (his FAVORITE), playing with different textures of fabric and "cooking" with plastic kitchen supplies.  He loves it all.  Maxon can also distinguish between his ball, book, Mommy and Daddy, Sonny and Grandma. It is so neat to see the wheels turning in his head.  I know he is taking in so much and learning so quickly.

Playing at the Safari Park with silly ears.

Posing and "kissing" the animals at the African Safari Ride

Loved the Giraffes!

Eight months, Three weeks

I am SOOO BAD at not keeping this post to date.  This, among several other items, are on my "up-keep" list and will be part of my usual schedule.  Yes, I want to keep this as a reference/admiration area for friends and family, but most importantly, I am trying to keep this as a journal for our little Max so he can look back on it once he is older.  Every 6 months, I copy and paste so that I can print it out and file it in a binder.  My hope is that Max will read what life was like and how he changed our lives for the insanely better. 

Max is ALMOST 9 months and has his check up appointment in a few weeks where he will be measured and pricked with his constant rotation of immunizations.  He is forever mobile and seems to be interested in everything and everyone.  At the store, he grabs for items or tries to suck on the cart.  He waves hello to anyone who looks at him and smiles so warmly.  A few months ago, his bottom two center teeth poked through and now the teeth between his fangs and top centers are coming as well.  My gripes for this time in his life?  I cannot do anything simple.  Because he crawls and climbs everywhere, he has to be closely watched to make sure he doesn't eat anything or grab at the TV.  Max also has problems with peeing himself at night.  Almost every night, even though I change his diaper before going to bed, he leaks through.  I have heard from several mommy friends to get Overnight Diapers or to get Diaper Covers that will alleviate the problem.  That will be my next step.  Max is also eating soooo much and I have began to introduce more finger foods such as bananas, avocados, pasta and beans into his diet, but I find that he decorates his high chair and floor with the foods, than with eating them. 

And now for my bribes on Max!  He wants to walk so bad!  For Christmas, Max received an alligator walking toy from my Aunt and he walks with it.  He can stand on his own for a bit and will walk really fast and steady holding onto our hands, but he has yet to take firm whole steps.  Max also has a really constant schedule that he has put himself on.  At 730AM, he will wake up and play in his crib, while I quickly get up.  At about 9AM, after eating 12 ounces of formula, he will go back down for a 2hour nap.  At this time, I will clean up (kitchen, laundry, other stuff around the house), work out, get ready.  When he wakes up, we wake Daddy up, change into his day clothes and get some breakfast.  At about 130-2 pm, Max will have lunch and will take his afternoon nap.  He has been kind of off with the afternoon nap and will sometimes not take it or will take a short one, but it varies on his mood.  At about 330pm, Max will get up, play and we'll run errands and go on a walk, then at 530, we will start his bedtime routine of bath, playing in his room, dinner and then bed.  He is so good with it all, it is easy to keep him on this schedule.  And when Tyson is home at night, we can have our own little date night.  We cook at home, watch movies, play games, or challenge each other on Just Dance 2 (our favorite Wii game). 

As for me, Maxon's mommy, I have started planning his First Birthday.  Words cannot describe how excited I am.  Yes, it is ONLY his first birthday, but it is a celebration of how our lives changed in the most incredible way.  I am also beginning a photo scrapbook documenting 2010 with pictures of me pregnant and having Max and onto his first few months into this world.  I hope to continue making them for him.  I am also in the works to make his first Valentines Day cards for his friends.  Tyson and I realize that this might be a little too early to start celebrating holidays in a big way with him, but we want to start traditions that he will never forget.  And having pictures of these moments are PRICELESS! 

Gotta love these pics!

Crawling all over Mommy as we eat at Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach

Putting our toes in the sand at Seal Beach

Enjoying our Family Day at the Pier

Talking and talking at Aunt Linda's house on Christmas Eve

Taking a cold, brisk walk on Fisherman's Warf in San Francisco on Christmas Day

Eating some Chinese food for our Christmas Dinner in Chinatown in San Fran

Happy Holidays!

As soon as Halloween and our Anniversary was over, all hell broke loose.  Tyson's work schedule went CRAZY with San Diego Beer Week,which slowly turned into Visalia for Thanksgiving, and now pushing Christmas in the Bay Area, and we have one hectic life.  Add spending time with family, work, play dates, and a CRAWLING toddler and we have one busy household---and we are loving every moment.  Our little baby is turning into a little boy and I cannot grasp the idea of him turning one in a few months.  Has life really passed by that fast?

Our seven and half month old precious baby can do oh-so-much.  Here are my proudest moments---

• Crawls FAST!  As soon as he was able to crawl, he began pulling himself up on everything and anything.
• Max has two bottom teeth that are growing what seems like INCHES every DAY!
• He can walk along tables, couches, which is so CUTE.....BUT he now thinks he is all grown up and will try to walk without holding onto anything!  I think I need to start taking some anti-panic attack meds because this guy is SCARING ME!
• PBS Dinosaur Train is his FAVORITE show. He loves watching it, but like his mom, he cannot sit still for too long and gets antsy after about 5 minutes.  We like to sing the songs and dance around.....
• He can give kisses to his toys and pictures of people, but doesn't give us any yet. 
• He waves "bye-bye"
• Maxon LOOOVES screaming in joy, especially at dinner.  We (and by "we", I mean "me") taught him to squeal in excitement.  I know it can be annoying but I cannot resist the adorable smile that is accompanied with the screech.
• Loves walking everywhere while holding onto our hands
• Max now wears 18 months and size 5 shoe.....which amazes my fellow mommy friends.  I think it might have been all of the eggs and spinach I ate while I was preggos.......

Maxon still attends Tuesday Outdoor Classroom playgroup that meets as local parks and the Baby Sign Class on Fridays.  We also go to the local library on Thursday afternoons for sign story time.  About once a week, we will hang out with some of my mommy friends for a play date to get the kids together and to chat about everything.  Sundays are dinners at my Aunts House and with working Wednesday and Friday days, those nights are for "catch-up-on-housework." Tyson works Tuesday days and Wed-Sat nights so we try to spend our Mondays  as a family going to the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, on a quick run or walk, catch up with friends or doing some quick errands.  Maxon, with all of our busy life duties, handles it beautifully.  He fits perfect into our lifestyle---always smiling, enjoying his surroundings and taking in EVERYTHING.

And tonight, while rocking him to sleep, he reached out and placed his hand on my cheek, said "MAMA," smiled, and closed his eyes. My gorgeous, loving boy......

Playing with his toys on Thanksgiving

The Blake Boys

Max and Luke at Tuesdays Playgroup

While making our annual Christmas tamales, Max played (and slobbered) in his playpen

At the Farmers Market, talking and talking!

Christmas in the Park....and yes, we are wearing shorts and T-shirts!

Max can say the "Dah" in Duck

Geeeentle, Max

Having sushi, Max gave me this face after I showed him what I was eating

We see this smiling face when he wakes up from his nap. 

Our 6 month old giant!

Maxon is large and in charge!  He now sits up, scoots and almost crawls, eats solids three times a day, (still) sleeps like a champ and says "mama" and "dada".  Everyday seems like a new and different adventure. 

Here are our favorite pictures!

Swinging at the park.  LOVES IT!

In Temecula for Halloween (and our 2nd anniversary).  Tyson and Max were saying "Mama"

Maxon's not-so-little feet

Crawling and scooting

Walking amongst the wine grapes....Silly Monkey!