And now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Okay, so I just realized it's been almost a week and I haven't even posted about our most perfect Christmas tree getting-and-putting-up-experience ever in life, la la la! So here it is: Friday night was Take 1 - go out for a quick bite to eat and get a tree - didn't work, it was dark at 6:30 p.m. (duh!), Max was over-tired and crying and wanting to play in traffic and it just wasn't the homespun Christmas image I had in my head earlier that day, so home we went. The next day we went to a local Christmas tree farm and took a short hay ride to the trees (or forest as I tried to get Max to believe). We could've picked a tree out immediately because they all looked pretty much the same, but that would've made for some short memory making. So we took our time picking the perfect tree. It was freezing cold and overcast and very festive. When we found THE tree, Matt triumphantly cut it down while Max looked on, perplexed. I must mention that I need to get The Boy out into the elements more often. He was genuinely distressed at being put down on the, gasp!, grass. It was as if his dainty feet had never felt such rugged terrain. He simply did not know what to do. Eventually he got used to it, thank goodness.

So we headed back to wait for the tractor, although we were so close to the checkout area we could've easily made it there on our own. It wouldn't be very Christmasy to just walk to the checkout place when you could take a hay ride now, would it? When we got to the checkout, I helped myself to some complimentary hot cider which was just delicious. In the meantime (digression coming), a guy that was working there asked me if I used to teach at Hylton HS. Well, yes I did. It was then that I recongnized him - one of the first students I ever had! I had him in 9th & 10th grade and I remember the day he came to me his senior year to tell me he was dropping out. I pleaded with him not to and tried to get him to see that he could do it, he was so close to finishing. He just hung his head and said he'd made up his mind. I had thought of him several times over the years and wondered what ever became of him. I was particularly worried because the group of kids I had in class with him didn't fare so well. One is currently in jail for murder and another I ran into when visiting a friend of mine who was a drug counselor at a residential treatment facility for teens. So of course I worried about this student. Anyway, it just made the day even better to hear that he is now 26 (Yes!! How old do I feel?? I think I was 23 when I was his teacher.), married, has a 19 month old son, got his GED and works for the government. So that was just awesome.

Okay, back to the Christmas tree story. We went home and put the tree up and it started snowing! Yes, it was snowing and we had Christmas music playing and Max was amazed and filled with wonder at the lights and it was just perfect. Friday night when my plans failed I abandoned hope of having a meaningful tree experience. I couldn't have orchestrated Saturday the way it happened if I had planned it for weeks. What a great way to start out the season!

Turbo Sarah

Check out my new adventure! I have been doing Beachbody workouts since 2005 and have always raved about them, so the opportunity became available to be able to sell the products and actually make a little money. I figured, why not get paid for something I'm already doing??? Hence, my new blog: http://www.turbosarah.blogspot.com/ Turbo Jam is my very favorite workout, so that's where the blog address came from. I don't claim to be a trainer or a nutritionist. I'm just someone who has been struggling with weight and eating issues for as long as I can remember, so I've tried lots of diets and workout programs. I can say with certainty that anyone who actually tries a Beachbody program and follows the eating plan will get great results. It won't be overnight and there are no magic pills, but their products work. AND, you can come blog with me for accountability and encouragement. Come join me!!!



P.S. Of course I will still be blogging here too!!!

Daddy Day Care

Hello, this is Matt. Sarah's husband. Sarah is working this afternoon and I am home watching Max, a reversal of typical roles much like the ancient Roman tradition of Saturnalia. True to form, I have comandeered Sarah's blog and am making my own post about some of the fun things I got to experience with Max today.

Max just had a major language explosion over lunch! Apparantly, Sarah says he's been trying to say the word "banana" for a while. Now, it's probably helpful for you to have some background info about me. I unashamedly look at mealtime not merely as a nutritional experience but as an educational one as well. Much like Pavlov used food as a tool to explore the intracasies of classical conditioning, so I strive to follow in his footsteps to impart knowledge to my progeny at mealtimes. Today, this consisted of me looking at Max while making funny faces and saying: "Banana. Ba - na - na. Banana. Can you say 'Banana?'" all the while waving a piece of said fruit in my hand. It's all very complicated psychology, so I won't go any deeper into it here.

Well, today we struck gold! After a few failed attempts at getting Max to say "banana" (and recieving telepathic messages from him mainly including the phrase: "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?") I turned away to prepare the rest of his highly nutritious and educational lunch experience. With my back turned (and no more banana coming his way) Max screamed to get my attention: "NA BA!"

I swirled back around 180 degrees to see him, barely pausing to grab another piece of banana at about degree #62, and I resumed the educational modus explained above. Max then proceeded to try several different ways to say "banana." They included:

Ba na!

Ba na ma!

Ba ma ma!

And, as you can see, we are clearly well on the way to learning our next important food word... "Bahama Mama."

He also decided to use this time to say "Da Da" (a rarity) and "Ma Ma" and remind me through his signs that he went swimming with Mommy and Daddy yesterday. Nice.

To digress for a moment, Max is sitting on my lap as I'm writing this... reaching for the keyboard. By observing the sheer force of his determination to contribute to this post, he obviously very strongly wants you all to know the following:

nbfbbbhhh n n b f n

Presumably, you will know what this means, as I, alas, do not.


One final note to all the moms and dads out there in TV land... while I readily admit that staying home with a child / children is excruciatingly hard work, it has been a major blessing to spend so much quality time with Max today... time that I hope no parent ever takes for granted.

Until next time, faithful viewers, this is Blaze Johnson, signing off....

Paula Deen Would Be Proud of Me

I often clip recipes that usually have way too much of everything I am trying to avoid: sugar, white flour, butter, etc. I put them in my jumbled recipe box thinking that at SOME point I will make them, but it just never happens. This year as I started going through my recipes I decided to make everything I'd clipped and had never stopped dieting long enough to enjoy, mind you, I have been trying to lose the same 15-20 lbs for the last year, so it's not as if I've been eating clean the whole time. I came up with 7 recipes and could hardly wait to get started. I shopped and made the first two items, The King's Champion Honey Cheese Ball (with Bacon!!) and Cranberry Dream Salad (heavy whipping cream, two boxes of cream cheese AND mayo!) Tuesday. Of course I had to sample the items to make sure they were Thanksgiving-day worthy. They were mmmm....mmmm...good. Wednesday I baked pumpkin cobbler (1 stick of butter), baked corn (1.5 sticks of butter), and sweet potato casserole (1 2/3 cups of butter & 2 cups of sugar). I didn't sample any of those, well maybe a bite of the baked corn, but that was because I wasn't sure I made it right. I still don't know if I made it right, but it was deee-licious. So by this point, almost every dish, pan and utensil I own was in the sink lounging around til I have a chance to wash them and I decided I couldn't wait one more minute to try to Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread that was meant for breakfast on Thanksgiving. Oh....my.....goodness.....it was sinfully good. Among the ingredients are 12 bacon strips, 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese,Italian salad dressing mix and olive oil. Actually, that's ALL the ingredients. You may now rush to the nearest emergency room as your arteries may be clogging just by reading this. And FINALLY..... I just pulled the cranberry-orange pull apart bread out of the oven. It's smells so sweet and yeasty and orangey and cranberry-y. You can't go wrong with Parker House rolls dusted with vanilla pudding mix, sprinkled with dried cranberries and fresh orange juice, oh and drizzled with, what else? Butter!I feel downright June Cleaver-ish/Paula Deen-ish this week and it's a wonderful feeling. For some reason it makes me really feel like a mom/wife/grown-up. Maybe one reason is that for once I didn't pick recipes based on what other people would like and I made things purely for the joy of making them and eating them myself. Somehow I think people will enjoy them even more for this reason.Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! What did you make?

15 Months!

Max turned 15 months old yesterday! He had his check up today and is right on track with everything. He was 27 lbs. 3 oz. and 32 inches tall - up 1.5 inches since his 1 year check up. I knew his pants were getting shorter! His head circumference was in the 90th percentile! He was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He is doing well with all his milestones (stacking blocks, taking his clothes off - who knew that was a good thing?? - trying to cook and clean like mommy) and he was a little ahead of the game with throwing and kicking a ball. He's still not talking much and has more signs (about 20) than spoken words, but his receptive language is excellent. It was really cute when he went over to Dr. Lu and did his little sign that he wanted a hug! Dr. Lu gave him a hug and then said, "Go give Mommy a hug!" and he did. So cute! Here are some of the things he's into right now:

• Dancing and listening to music - especially when Daddy puts a rap/hip hop song on and changes the words to baby-appropriate language.
• Being attached to Mommy at all times - especially when she is trying to do the dishes or make dinner.
• Sitting in his high chair and watching Mommy cook.
• Playing chase with Daddy
• Playing with cars and trucks - pushing them around
• Reading - Fave books - This is the Stable (a really cool book about Christmas - I love it too!), Trucks, Pat the Cat, We Like Kindergarten
• Singing - Five Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Cabin in the Woods
• Talking to Nana & Pappy on the webcam
• Wearing Grandpa's glasses
• Wearing hats
• Going to the nursery at church and playing with other kids

Some Things I Like (and a Few I Don't)

I was walking around the house this morning thinking how much I enjoy this or that and realized I should really write these things down because I'm sure at some point I'll look back at them and remember how these sometimes tiny little details just made my day. So here are a few things I like, and then a few I don't. **Matt,Max, family & friends are a given as far as "things I like" and this post would be far too long if I listed everything I like about them, so for the most part this is just about other mundane things in my life I like.**

Things I like:

• Thunderstorms
• Driving rain (as long as I'm home and not driving myself!)
• Freshly vacuumed carpet - esp. the lines you can see as evidence!
• Windows that keep cold air out and don't frost over on the inside
• Being the only one awake early in the morning
• How green the grass looks when it rains lightly - I imagine I'm in Ireland
• People who agree with me (not virtuous, yet true!)
• An empty laundry basket
• Being asked for advice
• My advice being taken
• Looking at fall leaves
• Looking at Christmas lights
• Singing Christmas carols
• A clean kitchen
• Clean bathrooms
• Holiday traditions
• A fridge full of healthy food and a week of planned menus
• New workout shoes
• Receiving a letter or package in the mail
• Cooking & baking - especially when I have all the ingredients on hand
• Puffs Plus with Lotion
• Recycling
• Receiving the local paper and Sunday Washington Post & having quiet time to read it
• Pedicures & massages
• New haircuts/colors/highlights
• Reuniting with high school choir friends for a surprise concert
• Fresh flowers in the house
• Rashmi's brown paper packages tied up with string

Things I don't like:

• Crunchy stuff on my feet (see previous post!)
• Poopy diapers - esp. those being worn by squirmy toddlers
• Toys with dying batteries that play music (make it stop!!!)
• Moving stuff to vacuum
• Readjusting car seat straps

What's on your lists??

You know it's time to sweep when.....

Crunchy stuff keeps sticking to your feet and upon glancing at all the nooks & crannies of the kitchen you realize you have enough "crunchy stuff" to fill a cereal bowl - it might even look like granola!! Yeah, so my floors are (relatively) clean now. Don't judge me! : )

Thinking of Adopting? Check This Out!

Oh my goodness, I have just been moved to tears. So, of course I had to share this with my faithful few followers. When Sarah Palin came on the scene a few months ago, much discussion centered on the fact that she had an infant born with Down Syndrome. In one of the articles written about her, a statistic was given that made me so sad and angry: 83% of women who learn they are having a child with DS choose to abort the baby. I was outraged about this figure and kept my mourning about it in the back of my mind. So in Sunday's Washington Post, I was thrilled to see an article on people who are specifically adopting children with Down Syndrome. In fact, there are about 200 people on a waiting list right now! I wish all the people who felt that having a child with DS is too much for them to handle would learn about this. I understand we are all at different places in our lives and feel we can handle different levels of stress and I could never assume to know what it's like to be put in the shoes of a parent learning his child isn't "perfect", but what if these women who choose to abort their babies with DS were made aware that there are families out there who would LOVE to have to chance to raise their baby? A statistic given in the article also stated that in the majority of cases, when a woman learns her baby has Down Syndrome, she is not often told that adoption is a very viable option.

If you or anyone you know has ever felt the call to adopt and think this is something that might interest you, please go to this website. You can see children currently awaiting families as well as donate money if you feel like it. If it moved you as much as me, let me know!

Chase-A-Baby!

Chase-A-Baby = the most fun game in the whole world to play with Dad!

Taking a break from the action to try and grab Mommy's camera.

Happy Halloween!

Behold! The Terror of Manassas.....











We went to church for Trunk-or-Treat and it was really fun. Lots of church members decorated their trunks and passed out candy. There was also an inflatable movie screen on which old- timey cartoons were projected. There was a hayride, a moon bounce, snacks, a little play area for the little kids and an area for people to have their pictures taken. The pictures were immediately printed out and people could make frames for them at a craft table. Max enjoyed looking at everything and dancing to the music they had playing. Here are some more pictures and a video for your enjoyment! Don't forget to click, "Slideshow" to see the pictures in a larger format.

Talking!

Max is starting to talk! He has been saying "Mama" for a long time, but now he also says "hat", "hot" and "hi" - which all sound exactly the same, "haa". We just have to use context clues to know which one he's saying. He also signs them so that helps. Now if only he would say "Dada"!

Adventures in Babysitting

Lots of little adventures going on 'round these parts. Let's see... probably the biggest one was Mabel & Weston staying with us this weekend. It was their first time ever staying overnight without their mommy and daddy, so it was a pretty big deal. I didn't really know how to plan, so I spent a lot of time marvelling at how much more difficult it was for me to keep the house/kitchen tidy with two more kids than usual. I learned a few lessons over the weekend:

1.) Paper products are my friend (plates, utensils).

2.) Keep track of cups, otherwise you'll go through all the cups you own before lunch.

3.) Two and four-year-olds can stay up until 11 p.m. and wake at 5 a.m. even though at home they fall asleep by 7:30 p.m. and don't wake til 12 hours later.

4.) The most fun thing in the world is taking a bath with your cousins!

Overall, a fun time was had by all. We made brownies and pizzas and read books and played and played and played and did I mention all three kids taking a bath together?? Max missed the busy-ness when he woke up Monday. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Cute Max Videos

Here are 2 new Max videos. The first is him trying "cuddle" a piece of the banana he was eating for snack - silly boy! The second is my attempt at capturing his near-obsesssion with watching planes flying overhead. Enjoy!

How Rude!

I generally like to stay upbeat in my blog posts, but I have a major pet peeve I need to vent about. What is the deal with people who are walking or jogging BY THEMSELVES and don't move out of the way when someone with a stroller or dog(s) passes them? Ever since I got my dog, Jake, (okay, he's not MY dog anymore since I am a deadbeat dog mom, but that's another post ), I have noticed that there are lots of either (a.) clueless or (b.) rude people out there who are fine with me having to go into the street or onto the grass to avoid them when it would be much simpler and less dangerous for them to step aside. If you have to step into the street with a dog, there's a much greater chance of being hit by a car because of the volume of space you occupy with a person and an animal. That goes for strollers too. I really thought that maybe the clueless/rude bunch were just animal haters but now I see it goes for babies too! In the last few days I have come upon at least 5 people (all grown ups!!) who, upon seeing me approach with Max, look me dead in the eyes and basically play a game of "chicken" with me as if to say, "If you think I'm moving for you and your little brat, think again, Breeder!" I don't think I deserve special treatment because I have a baby, I just think this is common courtesy. I would, and do, extend the same courtesy to others if I happened to be walking alone. Has anyone experienced this? Am I being unreasonable?

Oh My Goodness My Baby is SO CUTE!! Oops, did I just say that outloud??

Max had his one year pics taken today with Rashmi, the same person who took my maternity and Max's newborn photos. If you click on her blog, you can see a few pics from the session. She usually posts quite often, so if you look later in the week you may have to scroll down and find the blog entitled "Max". I highly recommend her if you've ever thought of having non-studio pictures taken. It's not cheap, but the photos will be priceless and so will the experience! Now it's time to start saving for his 2 year photos!!

Pumpkinville

Nana, Daddy, Max & Friend

Daddy, Mommy & Max on the hayride
Nana, Daddy & Max on the hayride

Nana & Pappy came down yesterday and took us to Pumpkinville at the Leesburg Animal Park. It was really fun. There were donkeys, pygmy goats and other animals in pens to look at as well as a "contact area" with animals such as sheep, goats, llamas and pot bellied pigs that you could walk right up and feed and pet. Then we went on a fun hayride and Max sat in our laps the whole time. He got to go in a moon bounce by himself, but was quickly joined by some "big boys" ending his first moon bounce experience. I took him down a giant slide and he was terrified, but once he got to the bottom, he signed "More" and "Please" over and over. He went down a total of five times and never appeared less terrified, but was equally eager to go again at the end of each run. To top it all off, there was all-you-can-drink-cider and all-you-can-eat- apples, only it should've been called "all-you-can-drink-out-of-a-Dixie-cup-the-size-of-a-shot-glass- cider", but the apples were normal sized! On our way out we each got a baby pumpkin. The weather was perfect and Max enjoyed it more than I expected him to. Thanks Nana & Pappy! Check out this link for more pics.

Mommy & Max Sick for 3 Days + Rain + Now Daddy's Sick = GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!

So how are you doing? We're doing just swell, thank you! It's been a fun couple of days and is now ending with the grand finale of Matt catching what we had, but hey, it was raining anyway so it's not like we could go out and enjoy the weather or anything (anything meaning we missed: birthday parties, babysitting engagements, opportunites for socializing and tons of church events ) BUT, today I was determined that Max and I were going to do at least SOMETHING I had originally planned to do this weekend before the attack of the flu/cold/notstrepthroatbutreallyhurtythroat thing Wednesday night.

So we went to an alpaca farm. Actually, we went to two. I've loved alpacas since I took my class to the Double "O" Good Alpaca farm in Gainesville, VA several years ago. They are so cute and gentle and amazingly clean animals. They look so adorable when they've just been shorn, almost like a furry ET. I knew they would be good animals for Max to go see. He enjoyed looking at them and we even fed one. We also got to feed Rosebud the llama. I should've known better, but I held the feed pellets in a cup in the same hand I was holding Max and then fed Rosebud from my other hand, as Rosebud was chomping away, Max was also chomping away, he had helped himself to the pellets! The owner assured me that there was nothing in it that would hurt him, but I have noticed him spitting a lot more. I kid! I kid! Here's a link to the rest of the pics. If you click "slideshow" at the top you can see bigger versions of the pictures.

You Mean My Baby is Going To Have a Mind of His Own One Day?? HELP!

I'm not sure why this is just occurring to me now, perhaps it was my lack of finesse at handling a little skirmish by a couple of the 4 year-olds in Sunday School yesterday (my first day teaching the class!), and then the off-hand comment someone made that "that's how boys are so you'd better get used to it"*, but as of today, I am officially floundering in Mommyland. I mean, I know Max has a couple months before he really hits the terrible twos, but I already see the writing on the wall. Mabel will be playing with something and Max meanders over to look and she gets territorial, but Max continues trying to get whatever she has. Then Weston has a toy and Max wants it so he tries to take it. Thankfully, at this point, Max doesn't really protest if I redirect him, but having witnessed the last year of Mabel & Weston's interactions, I know that the day is coming when he will fight to the death to get his paws on some tempting item. So I need the help of all my friends who have been down this road already. What are some good books to read on how to handle battles between kids and other discipline/growing up issues? I also would be happy to have some ideas for how you handled the inevitable fights over sharing. I feel like I was really prepared for the infant stage, but not for the social skills training, limit testing, independence-grasping years that we're on the brink of. HELP!!!

*I know it's not just a "boy thing" - As I told some people the other night at Mabel's birthday party while she was in her new Cinderella dress - She's just as likely to tackle someone in that dress as she is to dance around. Girls can be rough and tumble too!*

Have We Gone Too Far??

"I deserve a paper plate that's as strong as I am." What?????? I just heard this on a TV ad and HAD to post it! It was a "busy mom" character who was reflecting on what she deserves in life. While some advertisers have been playing to the whole concept of empowering women for a while now (case in point: the Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty") and that's great, I think this is going over the edge. It just seems like something you'd hear on one of those fake ads on Saturday Night Live, not on a real ad. Does this strike anyone else as funny????? What are some other petty things we can add to the list of things we deserve? "I deserve toilet paper that's as strong as I am" I'd love to hear your ideas so post 'em!

Our Super Fun Weekend!

Mabel, Weston & Max hang out at Nana & Pappy's House

We had a really fun weekend last week! We went to Pennsylvania to Matt's parent's house and the best part was that my sister's family came too and so did my brother, Josh. Mabel (4) and Weston (2) had a great time at Nana & Pappy's house while the grown-ups went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival. Max's Aunt Sara and her boyfriend, Adam, came over and helped Matt's parents all day Saturday. I think the kid's favorite activity was swimming in Nana & Pappy's pool. I don't think Mabel had ever seen an inground pool in someones yard so she was amazed. She was also excited about the "magic bed" she got to sleep it (pull-out sofa)!

The Renaissance Festival was fun. I always enjoy seeing what some of the patrons consider renaissance costumes. You get $4 off your entry fee if you come in period dress and let me just say that I didn't know cleavage could be hoisted that high. Also, I'm not sure a French maid costume counts as "period dress", thank thee very much.

A fun time was had by all. Here are some more pictures of our weekend.

Oh, and on another note - congratulations to Kyle & Tavia on the birth of their little girl!

Some things to remember

Dear Max,
You are 12.5 months old now. So many things have happened over the last year, I wonder how many of them I've already let slip away from my memory. Tonight as I was reading you bedtime stories I was thinking of how much I love our bedtime routine and it occurred to me that a few months or years from now, our routine will be different and I wondered if I would remember the specifics of why I enjoyed our time together. So here are some things I love doing with you so that one day we can both look back at this and remember:

At Bedtime:

• I love reading you Goodnight Moon and pointing out all the objects as they're named.
• I love seeing you get excited when I ask if you want to brush your teeth. It's even better when you stick your finger in your mouth and pretend you're brushing.
• I love holding up two books and having you reach for the one you want to read, and I love that usually the book you choose is Max's Birthday.
• I love when you put your foot up over and over again for me to kiss when I'm nursing you.
• I love when I say, "You want to cuddle Mommy?" that you let me hold you and rock you and rub your back and sing to you, even if it's just for a second.
• I love singing to you, especially "Mama's Little Baby", "Hush Little Baby", "Jesus Loves Me" and of course, the "Belly Button Song".

Other times:

• I love taking you outside or to the window to look for airplanes and seeing you get so excited when we spot one.
• I love seeing you sit in the hallway yelling, "Ah! Ah! Ah!" to hear the echo.
• I love seeing you toddle around pushing your green push toy, looking so proud and accomplished as you amaze yourself that you can actually walk.
• I love seeing you pretend that everything is a phone and how you hold the object backwards to your ear (or rather behind your ear) and then shout, "Haaaaaaaaaaa!" over and over.
• I love how excited you get when I ask if you want to take a bath.
• I LOVE how you like to cuddle anything soft and will almost freefall onto things that look cuddly to you like Mama Bunny or the down comforter.
• I love how you tilt your head to the side and grin when anyone asks, "Are you so cute?"
• I love how you get so excited to see Daddy and reach for him and how you seem to feel content and secure when we have a big hug with Mommy, Daddy & you.

Most of all, I love you. I hope to make many more lists like this as you grow so we will always remember the little moments that add up to a life well-lived.

Love, Mommy

When Door Locks Attack

Here's the punch line of this story - the lock that my father-in-law Doug worked so hard to install last week on our front door (think hotel-style latch for super safety) is the "now defunct lock Doug worked so hard to install."

Here's what caused Max and me to be out front in our jammies for 45 minutes this morning: We waved bye to Matt as he left for Richmond this morning. I closed the front door and locked and latched it. Then we played for a couple hours. Finally, it was time for a bath and a nap, but before we went to do that I thought I'd take Max out to the deck to look for planes. We are in the flight path for Dulles airport so there's almost always a plane to see. I proceeded to close the sliding glass door when all of the sudden, the safety bar fell from the standing position into the horizontal position, locking us out from the back. I frantically hoped that I hadn't latched the lock on the front door and peered through the SGD to see, yes I had. So, after a few words that I hadn't planned on teaching Max were muttered under my breath, I rushed down the deck stairs praying I hadn't locked that door. ARRRGGHHH, yes I had. When did I become so diligent with our personal safety??????????? Then I remembered I had placed a lock box with a spare key on the fence, so I congratulated myself for doing something right and got that and prayed that the safety latch had miraculously jumped off. No such luck, but at least I had 2-3 inches of room to work with.

I swallowed any pride I had left and went to my next door neighbor's house and they spent 45 minutes helping in any way they could. Just when I thought a call to the locksmith or maybe even the non emergency police was inevitable, Sam (my neighbor/hero who I had only met in passing prior to this morning) was able to get the latch off by pounding it with a wrench. There's a nice messed up patch in the wood from all of that, but it was cheaper than a locksmith and got Max and I back inside much more quickly. Oh and Max also had a nice smelly dirty diaper while we were out there. But I guess I don't care as much about my car as I do my house, because my car was unlocked and I was able to find a diaper and some wipes in it. See, I knew my messy car would pay off eventually!

So that was our adventure this morning. Hope your morning was better than mine!

First Hair Cut & 12 Month Stats!

Before: I don't know why people were starting to say, "Oh, she's so cute!"

After: Definitely a boy!

We went to Cartoon Cuts and he did great. They gave us a certificate for his baby book as well as a little Ziploc bag of his curls to keep. It took all of about 5 minutes to take him from baby to little boy. Thankfully the stylist left the curls in the back! Here are some more pictures of our playtime today.

We also went to the doctor for Max's 1 year check up today. He weighed in at 25 lbs (up from 22 lbs at 9 months) and 30.5 inches. He was in the 75th percentile for everything. Way to be consistent little guy!

Another Birthday Shot

Mommy & Daddy with the birthday boy. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Daddy Time

The main reason we moved - so Max could have more Daddy time! It's definately worth it.

Birthday Party Recap

Mommy & Daddy prepare to make the cakes - one for Max and one for everyone else
Mabel, Max & Weston play with the new toys
Max enjoyed the frosting and couldn't have cared less about the cake
Max tries on Grandpa Allen's glasses

Max had a mostly great birthday! We had a yummy dinner of strawberry spinach salad, grilled chicken and baked potatoes and of course cake and ice cream for dessert - but I forgot to take any pics of the cake! I was hoping Max would dig into his cake with abandon, but instead he carefully got all the frosting off with his hands and then licked his fingers. As usual, he enjoyed all the attention being on him. Later he had his first bowl of ice cream ever. He loved all the junk food, but we paid for it later! He was up 1/2 the night, my guess is he had a tummy ache. I later thought about it and realized he probably had the adult equivalent of a whole tub of frosting and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream for his little body. That's enough to make anyone sick.

He got lots of fun toys and our house was pretty well put together after moving two days earlier. It was a special time with family and a few friends. Check out the rest of the pictures here.

Happy Birthday Max!!

Max climbs in the cupboard at our old house.

Wow! What a year this has been. My favorite phrase, already repeated at least 20 times since yesterday is, "This time last year I was _______________." So..... this time last year Max was 5 1/2 hours old and we were ecstatic and in disbelief that Max was finally here. He is such a blessing.

We are having a small (is 17 people small??) birthday party for him at 5 p.m. today at our new house. We are all moved in and most of the boxes have been unpacked and is feels very homey. We love it!

Party report coming soon........

If We Are The Body

A couple of weeks ago in church the youth performed this song and it really spoke to me. I had never heard it before. There's nothing like hearing the under-10 set speak truth to the grown-ups. I don't know if it'll speak to you or not, but if you have a minute, give it a listen. I know so many people who are turned off by church and it's a shame that some of us who call ourselves Christians have been the reason for that. We tend to forget what we're supposed to be about as the body of Christ and all too easily turn into a "club" for those who fit our mold.

**For some reason my link isn't working - go to YouTube and look for If We Are The Body by Casting Crowns if you'd like to hear it. Will try to fix this later. : ) **

Happy Anniversary To Us!

We're back! Maybe you didn't know we were gone. We just got back from a whirlwind 27 hour getaway for our 3rd anniversary. We went to 4 wineries and then to the Mimslyn Inn in Luray, courtesy of Matt's parents. I think they knew how much we needed a little getaway. Nana (Matt's mom) arrived Monday and hasn't stopped going since arriving. She's been playing with and caring for Max AND packing up practically our whole house while he naps. We move one week from today and most people thought we were insane for going on vacation at this point, but I don't think it could have been timed any better.

If I get time, I'll post more about the wineries and hotel, but until then, here is a slideshow of our trip. Long story short, we LOVED Linden Vinyards, were bummed at the deterioration of Oasis (the site of one of our most romantic dates ever when we first started dating and now it's embroiled in a bitter family fued that is having a really negative effect on the winery) and we had some time to remember why we married each other in the first place. Life gets so busy sometimes that it's easy to let the day to day stresses take priority over everything else.

The hotel was very grand and Matt tells me he wants to write a review of it for the blog, so you'll have to wait for that.

Enjoy the slideshow and I hope to post more soon!

We're Moving!

We got final approval for the new house and we'll be moving on August 21st! I'm so excited and also a bit daunted as I'm realizing what all this entails. Actually, I'm doing my best to remain in denial because I will surely have a nervous breakdown if I think about the fact that we're moving in two weeks AND I am having Max's birthday party at the new house two days later. Thankfully it will just be immediate family so I know they won't hold it against me if the place isn't ready. In fact, I know they'll help me finish unpacking so that's good! Here is a picture of the house and a link to interior pictures.

Sweet Boy

I think he's eating some clover here. The child eats anything and everything. I could definitely place if there were an Olympic event involving jumping from a seated position clear across a room or yard to prevent something from making it into Max's mouth. If I don't make it to him before it gets into his mouth it's pretty much a lost cause. I pray that it's nothing poisonous or sharp and I know I'll see it on "the other side"! You might suggest that I just clean more thoroughly or not sit more than 6 inches away from him to prevent this, but this little guy has super-vision as well as a pincer-grasp that would make Mr. Miagi jealous (remember him catching the fly with chopsticks in Karate Kid?) We all have our gifts, I guess.


A few more:

Why Would a Realtor Rent??

As I alluded to in my last post, many people express surprise when they hear that we currently rent our house and are planning on renting again. Those that don't outright ask "why?" are sometimes secretly wondering and, I think maybe, just maybe they think it means we must not be very good Realtors if we "can't afford to buy". The truth is we could definately buy something right now, but there are many other things to consider other than just whether we can afford it right now. So here is some info on why renting is sometimes the best choice - maybe it will help you or someone you know in trying to decide whether to rent or buy sometime soon.

Why renting is better for us:
1.) First and foremost, with our constant involvement in real estate and tracking the market locally and nationally it is our opinion that next summer/fall would be a better time for us to buy - more house for even lower prices! Since we can wait, we will. We anticipate home prices will fall at least another 10%, but we don't have a crystal ball so we could be wrong! Some people HAVE to buy now and now is still an excellent time to buy, but next year looks to be even better. Since we don't have a house to sell, we don't have to worry about the value of our house plummeting even more in the next year.
2.) Matt's job - the UMC has an itinerant system, meaning they can move their pastors whenever they want to, usually in the late spring. We don't think Matt will be moved next year, but we don't know for sure.
3.) Buying can be a great investment, but you should usually plan on either living there for 5-7 years minimum or be able to and interested in renting it out if the market won't support selling the home at that time. Markets such as the one we saw from about 2002-2005 when you could buy a place and sell it the next week for thousands more are extremely rare. The 5-7 year timeline is a better guideline, though also not foolproof.
4.) When you buy a house you are responsible for sometimes costly upkeep such as replacing the AC system, roof and appliances. Personally, it's been a load off my mind to not have to worry about that in the last year and a half having a new baby and going to one income.
5.) Between us, Matt and I have owned 6 homes (8 residences if you include the duplexes) and been landlords for 4 of them. It has been a great experience for us and we lucked out with our timing, thankfully, but we are comfortable kicking back and being tenants for at least one more year.

So that's pretty much it for why we are choosing to rent for another year. I hope this provides some insight to any of you who are making the choice to move any time soon. Feel free to e-mail me for more specifics if you have any questions! ** Shameful Plug Alert!! (Hey, my baby has to eat - okay?!!!!) **By the way, I do still have my real estate license and I still work part-time with my dad. If you need any real estate help, let us know. I've been doing real estate since 2001 and my dad has been in real estate since he retired from the Air Force 20 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long. We've seen all kinds of markets, so don't worry - things WILL get better with the current housing market. At this point, I mostly give referrals to my dad and I help with the clerical things, but I still show the ocassional house and write the ocassional offer or rental application. I'm willing to be more invloved for friends, so keep us in mind!!

Mi Vida Loca!

I keep trying to find time and inspiration to write a new post, but things are a bit nuts around here right now. In the last week and a half we've decided that we should move to Manassas to be closer to Matt's church. Since then we have been praying and talking and driving the neighborhoods we're interested in and looking at several houses. These are the times it's great that both of us are licensed Realtors. We are able to check the system ourselves, look at houses whenever we want to and write offers and rental applications without waiting around for someone else. We have an application in on a nice end-unit townhouse in Manassas that's a 4-6 minute drive from Matt's church. We should hear in a couple days if we get it or not. Regardless of if we're accepted, we've put in our 30 days notice on our current home, so we will be homeless as of August 31st unless we find something. Good times!*

On top of that, Max had his worst night of sleep since he was a newborn last night. He was awake from 11 p.m. til after 4 a.m. What made it extra fun was the routine we developed over those 5 hours - 1.) Max cries pitifully and in pain, from what I can't tell 2.) Mommy goes in to rock him, nurse him, etc., 3.) Max calms down and falls asleep 4.) Mommy puts him in crib, goes to guest room next to nursery and begins to fall asleep for 5-10 minutes 5.) Max wakes up and cries pitifully and in pain again 6. ) Lather, rinse, repeat for 5 hours. I was really perplexed about what the matter was as I have never seen him like that for that length of time. He was also rubbing his head a lot, so I thought maybe he had a headache or that he had another ear infection. We went to the drs. this morning and we learned that his molars are arriving!

So that's the latest with us. I will try to post some new pics soon!

* For those who may be wondering why Realtors would rent instead of buy, we are thinking of buying next year once prices come down even more. Anyone else who'd like to discuss the market, shoot me an e-mail. It's a favorite topic around here.*

FunTimes

We're back from our first summer vacation since we got married! We had a great time - we first drove 5 hours to Weston, WV for Joseph & Amanda's wedding. It was so much fun staying at the same hotel as my whole family (the Allen side), the Hewletts and Mike & Rossana (friends from church). This was also our first night away from Max. Matt's parents came down to our house and took Max with them back to Pennsylvania where we met up with them the next day. I had a bit of separation anxiety, especially when Max reached over to me and said, "Mama" very clearly for the first time ever just before we left! It ended up being good that he wasn't at the reception as there wasn't much room for him to crawl around so he would've been miserable.

Sunday we stopped at Cooper's Rock on our way to PA and stayed with Matt's parents for the week. We always enjoy our time there. It's a great little resort! Matt's mom always asks what we want to eat and has all our favorite foods on hand. We got to swim and relax by the pool and enjoy many adult beverages as well as take a few field trips. I loved the tour at Hope Acres Dairy Farm and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys factory tours or seeing behind the scenes. We even got a delicious scoop of ice cream at the end. We also visited the Shoe House - an adorable little house shaped like a shoe. Check out my pics to see more of the story behind this unique place.

Once we returned, I got to experience the other highlight of my summer - a get-together with all my best friends I grew up with in church and their kids, spouses AND parents! It was such a special time of reconnecting with lots of laughter.

It was so refreshing to get away and have more than two or three days to catch our breath and enjoy the wonderful family and friends we have.

A Boy and His Panda - A Love Story

I'm a Lucky Aunt!

How cute are Mabel & Weston? Josh took these pictures last week and I just had to share them. The one of Weston looks like he's straight out of The Little Rascals and Mabel's crazy side is evident in the next one. No matter how much they beat each other up, tackle each other and make each other cry it's obvious they love each other a lot!!

Indiana Trip

Happy Fourth of July!

Crazy boy!

My Grandma/Max's Great Grandma, me & Max

Max got his own seat for part of the flight home

We Survived!

Thanks for the prayers! We survived two plane trips and 4 days of a messed up schedule and now we're back home. Max didn't sleep at all on either flight, but he remained entertained by the books, toys and,most especially, the food that I brought along. On Wednesday he was awake from 4:45 a.m. until about 1 p.m. without a nap. I believe he got about 5 minutes of shut eye in there somewhere. He made friends with a little girl at the airport and they crawled all over the place and chased a ball and tried to eat disgusting things off the floor together (twist ties, half of a banana, ants...) He LOVED all the attention and activity at my Grandma's house and seems to be suffering from a new type of ADD - the kind where there are not enough people paying attention to you at home.

I was curious as to how Max would respond to his first experience with fireworks. We went to a park in Beech Grove and waited until about 10 p.m. for the show to start. He sat on my lap, started shaking a little and looked confused and scared, then immediately wanted to nurse and then fell asleep while nursing for the whole show. He even slept as I carried him most of the way back to my Grandma's house. I felt bad about keeping him up so late, but it was fun to go down to the park and see some of my Grandma's friends and hang out with my cousins and aunt and uncles.

In other news, Max is currently the king of TemperTantrumLand, but I think it's because he's getting ready to walk as well as getting some more teeth. I keep wondering if it's just that he's very advanced and is going through the terrible two's at 10 months old : ) . Anyone else have experience with this?? It's very frustrating and I hope it passes soon.

Thanks again for the prayers. I hope to post some pictures from the trip in the next couple days.

Off to Indy!!

Say a prayer for me tomorrow (7/2) at 9 a.m. and Saturday (7/5) at 11 a.m. Max and I are flying to Indianapolis to see my Grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles, 2nd cousins, etc. on my dad's side. We are flying with my dad and brother. We flew there when he was 8 weeks old and it was a piece of cake since he wasn't mobile. Ten months old is a completely different story! I am wondering how I'm going to keep him on my lap the whole time given his new penchant for what I have termed his, "gymnastics dismount" or maybe it should be the landing. When he doesn't want to be held he straightens his whole body and throws his arms straight up in the air so as to render him unholdable and to force the holder to put him on the ground and get in all manner of trouble - it looks a bit like an Olympic gymnast finishing a vault or coming off the balance beam.

So anyway, I don't have high hopes for a relaxing flight on either leg of the trip, I only hope that I do not become one of "those people" with the crying baby. I got prescription ear numbing drops for Max's ears since he is still getting over an infection and the doctor thought these might help any pain from the remaining fluid. I'm thinking that they might be better used by offering them to passengers if things go as I expect.

Wish me luck!

Book Recommendation

Reclaiming Childhood
Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society
By William Crain

This is one of the many books I am currently reading and I highly recommend it even though I'm only about 1/4 of the way through. Having taught in the public school system for eight years, I became very aware of the lack of time and resources for teachers to be creative. There is so much pressure to have kids perform on standardized tests(some of it is good, but much of it isn't) that teachers are just trying to do the best they can to fly through all the material they are expected to cover in the limited time they have.

The pressure to perform and to prepare kids for adulthood doesn't start when kids go off to school. When I was pregnant, I was amazed by all the so-called "brain boosting" products available for purchase and use during pregnancy. Some of the items I remember seeing were head phones that you could put on your belly to pipe in classical music and foreign languages to complete courses, in what I'm not sure, to play for your child. Then when the baby gets here, you can use flash cards, videos, and yes, even sign language to give your child an IQ boost.

I love this book because it shows that children are natural explorers, dramatists, artists, poets and linguists. All we need to do is follow their lead and let them be children. How often do you see kids in your neighborhood playing outside today? I have several friends who teach elementary school who say that watching the kids on the playground is downright sad because the kids don't know how to play with each other. It is summer vacation and it's not uncommon for me to not see any kids out playing on a given day. They're so used to sitting in front of the TV and playing video games that going outside is not a joy, it's a chore. Add to that the fear that many parents have today of their children being abducted and you get a generation of children who are missing out on all the fun and opportunities for creativity that being outdoors affords.

If you have had a nagging feeling that babies and kids don't need all the commercialized products out there to boost their IQ's, that their brains can be challenged by being given safe opportunities to explore and create, check out this book and pass it along to a friend!

10 Months!

Wow! It's hard to believe Max will be 10 months old tomorrow. I swear time is flying even faster in the last few months than it was before. It's a bit risky for me to post an update on him at this moment because he barely slept last night for some unknown reason, which means I am not the most well-rested or happiest camper on the block today!

Max continues to be on the move every waking minute, which is a great workout for me. He loves to climb steps and can make it up two flights in no time at all. He has no idea how to get back down yet, but we're working on it. He is babbling a lot, but so far he isn't saying any words consistently. Last week I pointed to a light and said, "Can you say 'light'?" and he showed me the word using sign language AND actually said "ight!" I nearly fell over! However, he has yet to repeat that word since then. He makes a lot of "mmmmmammmmaammmma" sounds but I don't know if he is saying "mama" or not. Usually he is trying to show me he wants to nurse when he does that rather than get my attention for other things.

I thought maybe he was starting to wean himself from nursing a couple weeks ago, but now he must be going through a growth spurt. Whenever I hold him or carry him, he starts climbing up my side and trying to get in the nursing position.

He is eating pretty much anything I eat, but I try to make sure he doesn't eat junk food. He eats "super porridge" in the morning for breakfast - a mix of frozen food cubes. It usually consists of kale, brown rice, a vitamin A food cube (usually sweet potato), avocado, and a legume (kidney beans this week) into that I mix powdered kelp, flax oil and his daily vitamins. Yummmmmmm! It's actually not that bad. I feel like if he eats that for breakfast he's gotten most of his nutrients for the day so I can relax a bit. He eats things like cheese and fruit for snack and plain yogurt mixed with fruit or breakfast leftovers for lunch and then more yogurt for dinner, or bite sized versions of what we're eating such as chicken and veggies. I should eat as healthy as he does!!

I am still trying to find the time to baby proof. He gets into everything and eats everything he finds on the ground, be it food, dirt, paper, etc. Speaking of paper - this child has probably consumed and entire tree worth of paper. I try to make sure to keep it away from him, but he's drawn to it with some kind of strange magnetism. Maybe I'm not giving him enough fiber??

He loves people and it's fun taking him out to restaurants right now because he enjoys watching all the action going on as well as the looking at the decorations and light fixtures.

He has started dancing when he hears music sometimes, which is super cute. He also loves it when we get on the floor and chase him, then catch him and tickle him.

He's not walking yet, but he can cruise all over the place and he's stood unassisted for several seconds at a time. It won't be long now, so I'd better make time to get the gates up and the drawer latches in place.

He loves books and will sit in my lap while I read 5-6 books to him. He gets a bit annoyed when I won't let him eat the pages though! One of his books has a picture of a panda in it and that seems to be his favorite animal at the moment. It must have something to do with the black/white contrast. He LOVES pandas!

So everything is humming right along here in Max-land. It's hard to believe just two months from now we'll be blowing out the candles on his first birthday cake!

If you'd like to see more pictures, click on the title to this post. Have a happy Sunday everyone.

P.S. Check out his adorable new jammies!!

Happy Father's Day!

Update

No more pink eyes! I don't know if the ears are getting better or not, but Max is taking his antibiotics, so we'll go back for a check up in a week or so and find out how they're doing.

We made it to the wedding Saturday and Max seemed to feel fine. The reception was outdoors and it was HOT and super humid, so we weren't able to stay very long.

Hope you all had a Happy Father's Day! We went to church and heard Daddy preach and then had a birthday/Father's Day dinner with Grandpa Allen since Daddy had to go to Annual Conference in Roanoke right after church (he will be gone until Wednesday night) - bummer to have that on Matt's first Father's Day, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do! I'm stealing the idea for my next post from The Other Max Arthur's Blog. Hope you don't mind WCMA!!!