love me some max.

Oh Max - you are such a little pistol. You've earned yourself the hilariously fitting nickname "train wreck" from your Papa. You are a non-stop tornado. Lately I've caught myself reveling in your awesomeness. I constantly find myself thinking wow, this baby is a bad ass. I tell your father numerous times a day, how comical you make the afternoons. I love me some Max.

I mostly love you just because you are you. You make loving you pretty easy. But my favorite things, oh how could I ever start to count them.

I love your ability to be completely filthy five minutes after waking up perfectly clean. Any given meal time or playground outing pretty much guarantees a mess. I really don't like dirty kids, but you make dirty look good. It's only a matter of time at the breakfast table before yogurt is slung, oatmeal is run through you bed head and the fruit is on the floor. But I love that about you.

Your hands attract dirt at the playground. I really love the way your chubby hands meet your soft forearms to create a perfectly, delicious roll. And yes, I find myself wiping that roll clean of dirt almost hourly. You are a mess. A beautiful, playful, terror of a mess. And I love it.

I love the way you repeat the words mommy and daddy all day long. I've heard my name called out eleventy billion times before noon. You bounce through the house, waddling, running a tad off kilter, shrieking. Rehearsing in a sing songy tune - mommyyyyy, mommy, mommyyyyy. And if I didn't love your sugar coated voice I may have gone crazy by now.

I love the way you firmly tell me NO NO, loudly and sure of yourself. After you throw a train directly at your brother's head. I love the way your purse your lips when you discipline. I love the stern look in your eyes. The uncertainty of what will happen after your naughty little episode. It's so Max.

I love that bedtime kisses always guarantees a little tongue slippage. I really just love your tongue. The way you use it to say 'turtle' and fifteen other words that I've yet to decipher. You often use it to lick up a cheerio or goldfish you've placed on the floor. After each snack is successfully eaten you look up proudly and clap and giggle. Quite the character.

I love the way you fight a diaper change, putting on shoes and clothes and brushing your hair. Which is why most days you sport the birthday suit and a mangy mess of curls. Then some days all you want to wear is shoes while your naked. A perfect little train wreck.

I love the way you have to carry three things with you at all times. A train, a book, a ball - it really doesn't matter, so long as there are three of them. I've tried to convince you that two would be exponentially easier, since you know, you have TWO HANDS. I love the way you stubbornly lash out and insist that you carry all three. Maneuvering that the third object in your hand securely, never letting go. Determination.

I love the way you say cheese when you see my phone or camera come out. Automatically assuming I'm headed for a picture of you. I love the way you sit still for a book but not a movie. I love the way you cry at the pantry right after being fed. I love the way you stand before you throw things - your like a little ninja. I love the way you cock your head back to laugh from your belly. Oh, how I love your laugh. Lately you cover your sweet mouth with both your hands, tilt sideways and giggle for days. Over any little thing. You rarely do it unless I'm watching - it's like you know it's too cute to be done in solitude.

I love so much about you little man. You are one awesome baby.

NO MORE CAST.

We went to our four week "broken arm checkup". Good news, NO MORE CAST. NO MORE BROKEN BONES. Look, mom TWO hands.



Then we immediately went to the grocery store. Stocked up on bubble bath essentials. Bubbles. And bubbly. It was no cast party time people.


We used an entire bottle of Mr. Bubbles. Both boys soon became Mr. Bubble and Mr. Bubble Jr. Max had really missed having his big bro accompany him at bath time. Mason had missed the fun of soaking up in the tub. His little arm was ready to be cleaned and scrubbed down. I couldn't wait to get my hands on that smelly, shriveled, tiny little arm.


The splashed and laughed. Giggled, doused each other with soapy suds over and over again. The sounds from the bathroom were glorious, total bliss. A bubble bath party like no other. The two of them and their infectious smiles, contagious laughs, and lathered bums.


Cheers, we are cast free.

first haircut.

We did it. Finally. We cut Max's hair! It was so long and starting to get a little unruly. I'm not sure how many times he was referred to as a precious, little, "she"...seriously people he is decked out in boy clothing - are you THAT confused? Clearly they were. We were so close to making it to the 1.5 year mark with out a snip, but we had to for the sake of him being able to see.



He wasn't thrilled to say the least. He refused to wear the smock, which resulted in a sprinkling of baby curls on the floor throughout the day. The first snip made my heart skip a beat and then I was all good. I know I sound ridiculously dramatic. He was totally rocking the baby mullet - rocking it well if I might add.

There's something about the first real haircut. It's the token from babyhood to childhood. It was bittersweet, but definitely time. Most of the cut went a little something like this.




Though we got a few of these.


I now know lollipops, bubbles and perhaps straight jackets were created for first haircuts. This pretty much sums up our trip. Curls snipped and a hairy Dum Dum.


We made it out alive. With some curls intact! Before we started, I asked numerous times if she thought he'd lose all his curls when she started cutting. She was really hesitant and didn't want to offer false hope, but said most babies do lose a lot of it. After the cut the stylist said she thinks he'll keep his curls since so much was hacked off and they were still unscathed.



A flashback of Mason's first cut. What a little munchkin he was. And are they seriously siblings - because I don't see it.

the sharpie bandit.

I have heard stories about those kids. The ones who search cabinet after cabinet for cleaning products to destroy/empty/ingest, the kids who find the one not proofed electric socket in your house for their tiny little finger, the ones who empty drawers, color on walls, the ones who scream and refuse a restaurant highchair, rip pages out of books, throw food and tantrums daily. I didn't really believe these kids existed. More that it was some evil way to prevent people from every choosing to become parents in fear of having one of the those banchee babies. Max is one of those kids.



Max searches out the sockets for his fingers, he happily will take a DVD from it's case just to run it across the tile and destroy it, he will find your keys high and almost out of reach and forever rid of them. He's one of them. His newest title is the Sharpie bandit. He found my missing (apparently it wasn't forever lost) Sharpie and while I slipped away to put away clothes he decorated our (in his humble opinion) not so glamorous flooring.

{I'm so sad this picture turned out unfocused and blurry. He was so proud of his work when I busted out the camera to document his lovely behavior, he turned and exclaimed "Cheese". The best parenting advice I got, "Don't get mad, take a picture". And so, I did.}


His own special touch of decoration to our house. Thank you Max, you are numero uno at interior decor. Consider yourself fired.

when life gives you lemons

You make lemonade right? So what do we do when the forecast brings on loads of rain? We play it in it. Obviously.


Playing in the rain is more fun than you can imagine. I even enjoyed the freeing experience this past Tuesday as well. It'd been pouring for nearly twenty-four hours and we even had some flash flood warnings and street closures in the area.

So Max and I went and scooped Mason up an hour early from school, rushed home, got our rain boots on (and our pants off...?) and puddled jumped, splashed around, and ran in the rain.
Don't you love their fashion? Okay, the headband was my doing, but the humidity and the rain combined made for stringy face bangs that Max detested. He much preferred my headband. Mason's lovely ensemble on the other hand is totally his doing. As we put on his boots he informed me that he could NOT play in the rain wearing shorts. I thought he wanted pants - but by the time I'd gotten some he already had his boots and umbrella ready by the door. I didn't have the heart to force any bottoms on him.


If were breaking teh rules and playing in the rain - heck we may as well break some fashion rules right? Fashion faux-pas # 1 - Crocs + headband. Faux-pas # 2 - Rainboots + boxer briefs. Although I have to admit I think Mason looks pretty cute. I mean he is just 3 and if undies and rainboots aren't what being three is all about then life is not fun.


We splashed for nearly 30 minutes before I thought hey, maybe these kids need to warm up. So we went inside for a warm bubble bath and snuggled up in bed for an afternoon of watching Monsters Inc. It was a lovely afternoon, even though the forecast tried to rain on our parade.


When the forecast shows rain, put on your boots and get out there for some splashin'! Don't forget your shark boxers.

hey, he's got favorites too!

I am the worst mom ever. You guys wouldn't even know I had a second child other than his cute little face up in the corner icon. I feel like my blog posts are grossly unfair. It's hard because Mason talks and says lots of funny things that I feel like I need to write down and quick because they are witty and cutesy.

But Maximo is his own little character sans words. Well, hey he can say a handful of nonsense - like ball and hi and daddy! My favorite is the combination of "aye addy" right when Michael walks through the door. We are usually all so ecstatic for Daddy that Maximo bolts to the door waving and "aye" - ing and sometimes clapping away. Hell I usually feel like a round of applause is appropriate too.

Some of Maximo's favorites are grapes of any color, chocolate milk, brushing his teeth, the toothbrush in general, dancing, destroying story time, night lights, pillows, being diaper-less, being outside, dogs, birds and noodles.
Not such fan favorites for Max are watermelon, white milk, eggs, bath time, swimming, the feeling of grass on his bare feet, nail cutting, movies or any television, having to share and being gated away from stair climbing.
He has a few baby tricks and will still high five til the sun goes down. He likes to blow bubbles in a straw. He loves pantry exploring, emptying nicely folded laundry out of baskets, and exploring the fridge. He will climb anything in sight - especially brick fireplaces and couches. He loves to book it to the stairs and sleeps like a champ. He had his fifteen minutes of fame and was featured on a short snippet of the Austin evening news.

We've yet to cut his hair and I think he likes it that way. He's got a head full of curls and eyes as dark as midnight. He's a totally different toddler than Mason was.

So there you have Maximo's favorites - edition "almost 15 month".

snacking, sharing (or stealing) & standing.

Snacks are a favorite past time in this house. Mason has always been a big snacker, there is not snack food in the world he will turn down - unless you consider a raisin a snack, but be let's be serious. Max is following closely in his big brother's footsteps in his love of snacking. They are die hard snack lovers. If you could be paid for snacking, I'm fairly certain they would both choose a career in it. Max does not even discriminate against raisins, truth be told, they are one of his favorites! Mason much prefers Cheetos, obviously right? And it seems like he prefers them on days he is wearing a white shirt. Perhaps, that is my fault for even purchasing any articles of clothing in white.

So most afternoons we snack outdoors and sometimes they share. And lately they stand. Max is standing! He's been pulling up on furniture for at least two or three months and standing and cruising but in the last ten days he's mastered standing from the ground up all on his own. It's so exciting and he is super proud. He'll often flash us a look of accomplishment, I want to eat the grin off his face he's so damn delicious. Almost as delicious as a Cheetos puff. But maybe not.

Sharing is not a strong point for my kids. I really don't know why! I enforced it early on with Mason even before he had a built in "sharing" buddy [known to some as a baby brother]. Mason is gung-ho to share if it's something he doesn't want. But the real sharing gets ugly. Like a mini WWF series on my living room rug. I usually just watch and laugh, because I'm afraid of getting a chunky baby foot straight to the eye. Really, it's not that bad. They share, well they steal and smirk. The theif gets approximately twenty seconds to gloat and grin and bask in their glory until the robbed brother realizes and attacks the thief.

Snack stealing...sharing....is the most fun to watch.The other day Mason had Cheetos (are we sensing a theme?) and Max had a rice cake. All was well on my front lawn, snacking children are always happy and always quiet and content. Well almost always. Then Mason suggested they share their snacks. I had to do a double take - I looked back over at him and made sure I had given him Cheetos for snack and not grapes. He wants to share with Max? Hmm okay. I think that's a great idea. Mason snuck a bite of rice cake and basked in his glory, flashing me a cheesy (literally) smile.

Max didn't have a clue and the exchange took place a handful of times before Max realized his rice cake was quickly vanishing and his fingers weren't turning orange like Mason's. That's basically how Mason "shares". It was under three minutes before Max understood what was happening - he learns quickly. He copies more quickly than he learns and he stole some Cheetos, only for Mason to steal them back.


Did I mention Max is standing? I probably did - because I brag about my [genius] babies a lot. But that's one of the best perks of parenting thinking or sometimes, knowing, your kids are the coolest, smartest, cutest kids on the planet Earth. Anyway this was a little snapshot of Max conquering his newest trick of standing without any furniture, adult, toddler brother assistance. Step one, put hands firmly on ground to thrust chubby body upward, step two, stand tall and proud for one minute even, step three, WIPE OUT.
So that's what were up to. Snacking, sharing, stealing snacks and a little standing. The boys summer has pretty much started the only S were missing is swimming; Mason's lessons start in a week. He is so excited. We'll be back with swimming pics!