Max is 3!

Max,

Happy birthday angel muffin!!

This marks number three.
The week leading up to your birthday I had a few conversations in my head. They all boiled down to something a lot like this:
Three?? Already??  Yup..Already. *sigh*
THREE!!

Really? REALLY.

Then the day came. THREE! Balloons suspended from every light fixture and inch of the ceiling (you can thank Daddy for that one. I fell asleep on the job. Literally). For some reason, certain ages seem so much older then the previous one. Three is one of those. It's a biggie for me.  Ancient in comparison to two. Not so much a baby. Don't be fooled, you will always be MY BABY.

But to everyone else, I think you are a "big" kid. A preschooler maybe? Okay, okay. LETS NOT GET CARRIED AWAY.

I remember your birth so vividly. Not so much like it was yesterday, but the details are still rich. 5:27 AM. 7 lbs even. 19 3/4 inches. The smell of the hospital, the excitement of your impending arrival. The anticipation. The decision of your name. You came to us quickly. So early, before the sun had risen.  And you were wide awake. Your little eyes stared straight in to mine. When I saw you I felt so content. My heart was so full. When your eyes met mine, it was like they'd been waiting to see me as long as mine had eagerly awaited seeing you. EYES, PURE BLACK. And you my darling.
Such a love.

Everything you do is done with energy and determination. You are feisty. Bubbly. Often times strong willed. You are so well spoken for three. You love to swim, color and blow bubbles. You sing loudly. You repeat TV and radio commercials. One of my favorite things about you is your voice. Sometimes quiet and timid, others so deep and hoarse.  I want to bottle it up and save it forever.

Your favorite things to play with are your Legos. You refuse to wear a shirt to bed or for much of the day. You pee more than any living thing I have ever met. The minute we get anywhere you HAVE TO PEE. In the car you HAVE TO PEE. I swear you do it for kicks.

You also devour sweets. If you ever have a hard time finding a job, just call Willie Wonka. You don't even discriminate against the sweets. Chocolate covered anything - sure why not. Lollipops? Two please. Ice cream, for breakfast, lunch and dinner? AMEN.

You can imagine your delight of sprinkle covered donuts FOR BREAKFAST yesterday.

Most days after your nap you come lay next to me. Still sleepy. You lounge lazily. A snuggler for sure. Little legs criss cross together, you perch yourself on my lap, your back rests neighboring my chest. Your thumb tucked between your lips.  And we breathe. More like sighs of comfort. Slow, heavy, with no place we have to be. Delaying the inevitable chaos soon to come.
These moments are fleeting.

You are the wild one Maximo. Yes, yes you are. Often times it's trying. I know it is just part of being three. But part of it is just your temperament. Strong. Determined. Stubborn, but not quite uncooperative.  As you age, it will be a wonderful characteristic. You are just you, with little regard to your surroundings. You do your thing, your way. I hope that never changes, because the little you who you are is exquisite. You are full of compassion. Even your soft, bitty lips kiss with force.



Happy third birthday little peanut butter.
I love you so incredibly much Max. You will always be my pocket-sized tornado.
I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE MINE.

to the moon and back -
Mama

Christmas 2011.

I originally wrote this post in December of 2011. And just got lazy to go through/upload the 1000 Christmas pictures I'd taken. Then I lost our Nikon on our Spring Break trip. With the Christmas camera card in it. (Cue the sobbing.) So I have very very few Christmas pictures from Christmas AM. Thankfully I did take a handful on my phone to send to family that morning.

Ok, enough about that.

It's always hard for me to put into words the experience of Christmas morning. It's pretty much just...awesome. The twinkling lights on the tree alone make the whole house feel all warm and nostalgic. And then the little guy's eyes.

TOTALLY MAGICAL.

It was a special Christmas for many reasons. The biggest -- we had FIVE stockings hanging this year. It's funny how just one more stocking looks like so much more. AQ celebrated his first Christmas. And in style. Dining on lamb chops.

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This year we tracked Santa on my phone. There's an app for that. No seriously, there's an app for that. From about 7ish on Christmas Eve and consecutively in ten minutes intervals, with zero break. Mason was so excited. And totally in to the business of finding Santa. He would randomly inform any family member who would listen about the jolly ole dude's whereabouts. We tracked him from Peru to Lima, then all the way to Nashua and Maine. He was getting close -- all the way to Georgia when we tucked them in. At one point Mason excitedly told Max "he had better get to bed....AND QUICK". At this point, I was considering tracking Santa every night.

The boys eagerly put cookies on a plate, wrote Santa a little letter and poured some cold milk. Our house was completely ready to welcome St. Nick. And luckily the presents were already wrapped and hiding in the garage, ready to be shuffled under the tree.

Max through us a curve ball the week before Christmastime. At our last Santa encounter he politely requested "a red bike" and "a patta-pus" (platypus). Neither request has been mentioned.

On any list.
In any conversation between Max and I.
Or Max and Santa.  
Ever.
Well until this very minute. Awesome.

One small problem though...the shopping? Yeah, it was DONE. The gifts? Yup, they were WRAPPED. And Christmas? Umm I thought it was READY.

This mama, as crazy as I may be, was not about to set foot in a toy store, the week of Christmas. And a Target? HA. People get crazy up in Target in December y'all.

Luckily for Max he has loving grandparents. He received all his little heart desired. Thank you, thank you and thank you Amazon. Overnight shipping is a beautiful thing.

They woke up just as excited as they went to bed. Mason ran down the stairs and saw gifts, the twinkling lights on the tree and exclaimed, "HE CAME HE CAME HE CAME".
Indeed baby, he did.

Thankfully Michael was ready with the video camera and caught it all on film.

I really wanted to do a yearly picture of the boys in their jammies under the tree before gifts were shredded open. It was going to be my annual tradition.
Matching jammies.
Babies lined up all snug and sleepy eyed, smiling.

This picture was the weekend before Christmas.

As most of my "plans" go with these guys, this vision also went awry. Mason was too excited to sit for a picture, Max was too tired to smile and Alexander had totally lost his jammie bottoms to a blowout diaper. I tried to dole out stockings while the chaos was contained and sorted out. That picture? Yeah, it never happened. And looking back at last year's it wasn't so "magical" and smiley anyway.

Notice how smiley Max was. The yearly choke hold. (2010)

Their eyes and reactions to nearly every gift was priceless. Four and a half was the perfect age for Christmas!!

Mason has wanted a Wii forever. Santa finally delivered. We spent the day in our PJs, playing Mario Kart, brunching and sipping mimosas. It was total bliss.

I love the holidays. The feeling of Christmas morning can't be replaced or beat by any other minute. Ours was lovely.

Max-isms.

This is my first Max-ism post. He's always been a chatter box, but lately he's hit an all time high. Most of it is just random cuteness that he does/says. And probably not really that funny.


- Whenever I ask "Who wants XYZ (raisins, apple sticks, juice box, etc)"? Mason always says "I do!" and Max's response? "Maximo William does". Thanks for the formality Maximo. Which by the way, WE NEVER CALL HIM.

- Along the way we've acquired a ton of stuffed animals (seriously, I hate most toys, but I LOATHE stuffed animals). One of which is Smurf. I don't even think it's a real Smurf.  Who makes knock off stuff animals?? The boys take turns sleeping with it and it's not really that funny, but I love that Max calls it "a smartie'' instead of a Smurf. I don't have the heart to correct him and I hope he ALWAYS calls it that.

- He refuses to sleep with a shirt on. I thought this was something teenage boys did, but not two year olds?? It is hilarious and precious.

- He is obsessed with superheroes. And legos. And army guys. Which you would know even if you didn't know him by just seeing him out  and about. EVER. Most days he insists on wearing his cape, even if we aren't leaving the house. He carries this little man purse (I think it's to a play doctor kit) with all his army guys in it, and a few random legos, and a sippy cup. Random right? You never know when your are going to need a GI JOE and a drink. I'm with you Max. Cheers baby!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Yup.
That is a fist pump.
And a crotch grab all in one picture.
He's pretty awesome.

Reappear. Redo. Recommit.

I'm reappearing in to the blog world. I'm working on redoing the blog. I'm recommitting to this. I miss writing, sharing, storytelling.

I'm not going to give the whole "I started this blog for memories.." speech. Again. But yeah. That.

I'm going to do two catch uppers. Then, just let it go and move on. Christmas and Spring Break in Miami coming soon.

COMMITTED. READY, SET, WRITE.