Our Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend!

This weekend was a bust. And, unfortunately, (or fortunately? I'm not sure.) it was Walter's weekend off. We decided to drive to Joplin and do Max's birthday shopping. We only have (less than now) 3 weeks! After stopping for lunch, we got loaded up and the car wouldn't start.

Luckily, our friend Brandon works in town, so he was nice enough to take his lunch break early and he gave us a jump start. The car started up, but as we were driving out of the parking lot, the radio started acting weird, and the power windows were moving slooowly. Walter said he was pushing on the gas and the car wasn't really responding very well. Thankfully, Auto Zone was just a couple of blocks away. While there, our car died again.

The manager at Auto Zone was very nice. He told us that our alternator was bad. A very long story short(er) after 2 1/2 hours, we found a ride from our friend Dan. He dropped us off at the mall, one of our intended stops. We shopped, ate, and waited around until Brandon got off work to drive us home. The manager of the Auto Zone charged the battery so Walter could eventually drive it to the mall, and actually we drove it back to Pittsburg with Brandon following in case we died.

The next day, we met Walter's parents in Pittsburg to fix it the car. It was pouring of course, and Walter's wipers broke. We were close enough to a store that we could drive very carefully, but then we couldn't figure out how to get them on, and I'm still not certain that we got them on correctly.

Along the way, there were other smaller things (aren't there always?), and I just felt like the weekend would NEVER end. It just wasn't a good weekend. Although I did get 1/2 of Max's birthday shopping done. So there's that. And Max was a trooper. He missed his afternoon nap, and entertained us later that night with his deliriousness.

Camera

Well, Max may or may not have broken my camera. All I know is it no longer works, and he was the last one seen with it. I researched it online, and it says there is a grain of sand or something stuck in the lens, and you can bang the corner of the camera to jar it out. After a week of banging the heck out of it, I think I am giving up. :( But anyway, here are the last few pictures from my memory card. RIP Sony Cybershot.

Max trying to play with the kitty. He was dangling her toy mouse over her face. :D

He loves to play under the table. It's like his own personal jungle gym.


So happy! What a big boy.

Gated out of the kitchen. :)

This was when he wasn't feeling good, right before his 103.5 temperature spike. Look how cuddly he was.

His new favorite thing- yelling. Look at those chompers!

And stay tuned for the very long post about our crummy weekend!

Random Bits

Max and I are hanging out at the house alone tonight. Daddy has to work, so we won't see him until tomorrow. Grandma and Grandpa went to Branson for the weekend, and Uncle Dustin is out somewhere too. Today, more than ever, I looked at my son and just had to give him a big hug and a kiss because I love him so much. (What a sap.)

The other day, I walked out of the room, and Max yelled "Mama!" and proceeded to chase me down the hallway yelling, "Mama!Mama!Mama!" I melted into a great big, giant puddle on the floor right there.

Yes, big boy is running, at practically full speed. He looks down at his feet while running, so a good amount of the time, he runs into something or someone. He bends his elbows and kind of sways his arms to make himself go faster. Pretty darn cute.

This morning, after his nap, I walked into the room when he was still waking up, so he let me hold and cuddle him for a good 10 minute before he was up and ready to go play. I don't get a lot of cuddle time anymore. It was delicious.

Max has such personality. He is sure to let us know what he likes (cats, dogs, being chased, being picked up, mimicking, laughing) and what he doesn't like (diaper changes, being corralled, feeling left out, certain foods).

The copycat game is getting fun. He loves to try to do whatever you do A couple of days ago, Max learned the "Roll it..." part of patty-cake, and he will do it anytime you say it. He is starting to get "Throw it in the pan!" I swear he has been saying things that we have said to him, like, "Who's that?" and "Hi Daddy." He is going to be talking in no time! I'm sure it will seem like "no time" anyway.

I had a great day with my little "baby."

Testing My Patience

Max has really been testing me lately. He has started hitting. He will hit when he is frustrated, bored, or just because he thinks it's funny. I try smacking his hand, but that just seems hypocritcal. I also have tried putting his hand back down by his side, but he thinks its a game, so he laughs and hits again. I have tried holding his hand down, tightly by his side, and that really pisses him off, so then he cries, and tries to hit me harder. I just don't know what else to do. It's really driving me crazy. Disciplining a baby is not fun.

Also, Max has been extremely moody lately. I'm sure it's partly because of his ear infection and partly because of teething, but I think it's also partly a phase. He's trying to test his boundaries and gets frustrated easily. Man, the tantrums are irritating. I try my best to comfort him when I think he needs it, and ignore it when I can.

Birthday and Christmas Ideas for Family

Everyone keeps asking what they should get Max for his birthday/Christmas. I usually can't even answer that question, because I feel weird telling people what they should buy my kid, you know? Anyway, I'm sucking it up and throwing out some ideas. These are by NO MEANS a must have, but I was just browsing online and these are some things that stood out that I thought Max would have fun with.
Chomp and Clack: Max is really into pushing and pulling anything he can find. The bigger the better. Chairs, his toybox, music table, everything. Anything he can push around would be a big hit.

Books: I'm a big fan of any books.

Mozart Magic Cube: Anything that plays songs/music. Max is so into dancing, or his version of dancing anyway. It's pretty darn adorable, so I won't be too irritated with noise-making toys. :o)

O Ball: The kid loves all balls. He likes to carry, kick, and throw them. Big crowd pleaser.

Pelican Bath Toy: Actually any bath toys. We only have a couple rubber ducks, fish/net set, and a plastic cup. So Max would appreciate some more entertainment during bath time.

Playskool Ball Popper: Again with the balls. And I've heard lots of great things about this one.

My First Tool Box: I just think it's really cute and Max would have fun putting the tools in and out of the box. Adorable.

Pound N Play: The kid loves to hit things lately, and these pound toys are right up his alley.

Rody Horse: I've been hearing about these bounce-on toys all over the place lately. They just sound fun, and I kind of with they made one in my size! ;o)

Shape Sorter: A classic. Any type of sorter or stacker or building toys are great for development. And they last forever too.

Of course, Max will love anything he gets, so please don't feel like you have to stick to these types of toys. He loves big cars he can push around, or giant stuffed animals to wrestle with, and pretty much everything else. He loves to play.

I love the clothes option too. My little guy grows like a weed! He is in size 18 months for most clothes and size 7 shoe. We can always use pants, shirts, socks, and pajamas.

I hope this helps you!

:o)

Tulsa

On Sunday morning, after Halloween, we headed to Tulsa for the extended weekend (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday). Max is now drinking out of a regular sippy (he has been using a different kind of sippy that only required squeezing the nipple and not actually sucking to drink). I feel like everyday he is less and less a baby.

Richard raked up the leaves so Max could jump in them. Grandma showed Max how to jump in them. :o)

Max watching all the leaf action. Again, he looks like such a big boy!

Richard trying to get Max to jump in, but Max wasn't so sure.

Finally, I just tossed him in. He sat in the leaves without really moving for probably 20-30 minutes. He would just pick up a few leaves, or drag his arms through them like he does in the bathtub.

He turned into such a grubby little kid! LOL

Later (after his bath) Jaxon came over to play. I love how he is peeking around to see Jaxon's face. What a silly boy!

Haha! He wasn't so sure about Jared.

Then it was costume time again. We wanted to get pictures of the boys in their costumes together.

Max the puppy dog and Jaxon was Chewbacca! We only missed Mason, who was a puppy dog like Max!

Jaxon brought over his police motorcyle toy and Max thought it was so fun!

Jaxon's turn to ride! Max looks like he's ready for another turn. And yet again, I can't believe how old he looks in this picture.

Walter borrowed Richard's "Big Bad Wolf" mask and we thought Max would be scared of it. He wasn't scared, but he wasn't quite sure either. He just leaned away, stared, and smiled. It was funny.

We met Grandpa for lunch on Monday. This is one of the amazing views of downtown Tulsa. We love downtowns!

Max decided to throw one of his fits over something or another. I really do not want to have a bratty kid, so we try to ignore it. But I thought it was funny, so the least I could do is take a picture. Here's proof that my kid isn't always smiles and giggles. :o)

Max's First Halloween

Max's very first Halloween has come and gone. We ended up having 2 costumes.

The first costume, an organ grinder monkey, was the one we originally wanted. For some reason, monkeys are our thing for Max. Maybe I subconsciously made it that way, I don't know. But we thought it would be cute. When Max learned how to clap two items together (dish drain stops that looked like cymbals), well that just sealed it. Unfortunately we never found little cymbals before Halloween. :(
Three days after we bought Max's costume, I won an online contest for a free Halloween costume. I picked the puppy, and we decided this would probably be better, in case it was cold on Halloween night. Both costumes, he was HATING the hat on his head, though. We tried to get his 9/10 month pictures in his monkey costume and every picture showed him ripping the ears off his head.

Here is our precious little puppy getting ready for the Heler Costume Parade. The weather was really nice, and he probalby could have worn the monkey costume anyway. The only reason I decided to keep the puppy dog costume, was because the hat fasted on the back of his head, and he couldn't get it off AS quickly. Also, it turned out, if we kept the ears out from in front of his face, he was distracted enough to leave it alone.

From behind. I just love the tail. And the ears. And, well, everything. :o)

At the parade. We didn't take a bucket because Max doesn't eat candy, and I certainly don't need it lying around. But we still ended up at home with a bowl full of candy.

Puppy paws!

We decided that since it was Halloween, it was only fair to let Max have a piece of candy. We gave him a (mini) Mounds candy bar. He kind of looked at it for a minute, like he wasn't sure.

Taking his first bite...

Haha... doesn't it look like he's saying, "Hey...where have you been all my life?!" He was loving it.

The Aftermath! :o)

We ended up being pretty lame after that. After a short sugar rush by Max, he crashed around 7. We watched the football game and fell asleep at 8:30! Having kids makes you OLD! :o)