A Tie Record

Max tied his record of five passouts in one day today. He had two this morning, one this afternoon, and two tonight. I think I have to take some of the blame because last night he was kept up until 9pm because we were moving my Grandma into the Tower (which you can read my rant about in the next posting). So, needless to say, he was VERY tired today, and they do increase in number when he is tired. But seriously, how could holding your breath, turning blue, and literally passing out be fun for him. Maybe while I was pregnant I did something to really piss him off and he is getting his revenge now. Every time he passes out, I remain calm because I know he will breathe as soon as he passes out (ah, the benefits of a brain stem), but, deep down, I find myself praying for that breath to come. To be perfectly honest, every time he does it, which is usually daily, I hold my breath in anticipation. The added stress, that I DON'T need. Thanks a lot Maxwell. But when he is concious he is just the cutest thing on four limbs (two knees and two hands!).

Repeating Parrot

I am pretty sure that I have already discussed the fact that if you want to ever hear what you sound like you just need to listen to your kids. We have been working (for a while now) on the concept of being patient with Alexis. Sometimes she is really good at waiting for things if I am busy feeding Max or folding laundry or cleaning something. Other times, when she wants something she wants it 5 seconds ago. I'm pretty sure that the concept of patience is pretty difficult for any three year old. We are trying to keep our house exceptionally clean now so every time Alexis takes something out we are making sure she puts it away (funny how I have to do the same thing for Ben, but I digress). Earlier tonight, she had about 20 of her 75 purses out in the family room. Ben asked her about 3 or 4 times to put them away before we left for the pool. Finally, he asked again and her response was "Dad, you have to be patient for me." Priceless!

Swimming Lessons

Alexis had her first swimming lesson today from our friend Hilary. Actually, her swimming lesson made me feel REALLY old. I used to babysit Hilary and her two brothers (yes, they are triplets) when they were about 5. Now, she's in college giving swim lessons to my kid. How crazy!!! For some reason it doesn't seem all that long ago that I was babysitting for her, but I guess 15 years go by fast. Wow, that makes me sound old again, so back to the swimming lesson.

It started out well, and Alexis was quite happy in the water.

It even began to progress somewhat well without the swimmies. (By "somewhat well", I mean that after some tears and me getting in the water with her clawing onto my neck and passing her over to Hilary, and eventually she stopped crying. But please note the scowl on her face.

But then, Hilary uttered the words "under water" and all HELL broke loose. Alexis began crying uncontrollably (like snot dripping down her nose, unable to breathe crying). Then she tried the old "I have to go potty" attempt at getting out of the water. Of course, I didn't want her to pee in the pool, so I took her, but made her get back in. Then she wouldn't do anything Hilary asked her to do including things that I know she can do (i.e., breathe). Here is a video, but it's kinda hard to hear. Just listen for crying and someone screaming, "Moooooommmmmmmmyyyyyy". Yeah, that's probably her.



So we can only hope that things get better from here. Actually, now that I think about it, Alexis has gotten a lot of practice screaming these past few days. She had some eye problems (not related to her blocked tear duct) so we have to put drops in her eyes three times a day. Ben literally has to pin her down by sitting on top of her with her hands under her butt and hold her arms down with his legs, then pry her eyes open while I quickly squeeze the drops in (please don't call DFCS!). It also involves lots of screaming. I guess I should monitor her vocal folds :)

Strong Woman

This weekend we spent some time getting our house ready to be put on the market. On Tuesday there should be a sign in our yard! One of the things on the to-do list that the Realtor recommended was to power wash the driveway and walkway. Luckily, our nice next door neighbors let us borrow their power washer. The day started out like this:

But quickly it turned into this:



Yes, that's right. I power washed 3/4 of the driveway and the whole sidewalk in front of our house. I felt like a real man. That darn wand was heavy too. My shoulders were sore the next day!!!! Just in case that wasn't enough proof for you, here is a video:



I take my work very seriously!!!!

Father's Day

Father's Day has a different meaning this year. Instead of celebrating together with my dad the great father, mentor, example, and friend he is, we are left to reminisce about the father, mentor, example, and friend he was, without him. No more memories left to be made, only recollections of ones left behind. This is who my dad was in this life and who he will always continue to be in my heart.

The word “dad” evokes first a smile to my lips

Followed by a feeling of heartache and then a tear,

A smile because all my memories are goodness,

And a tear because he is no longer here.

As a child, he held my hand

Watched me dance and skate, ride a horse, and race

He never missed a moment or a special day

I could always look out in the crowd and see his grinning face.

He taught me how to ride a bike, sled down the hill

Watch me fall and help me back up

I can see his smile and hear his laughter still.

As I grew, things never changed,

He cheered me on at every school event

Always wearing a look of joy.

I hope he knew what that meant.

He delighted in my first detention

That fateful middle school day.

Finally, finally, finally

Was simply all he could say!

He helped me grow up

And come into my own.

Teaching me to drive a car

Begging for me to get off the phone.

Rooting for me in the homecoming parade

Walking down the football field in the rain by my side.

He was there for everything I did

Forever a gleam in his eye full of pride.

Applauding me for every hurdle I jumped,

Praising me for every race I completed.

He gave me the confidence to do what I wished

He gave me the tools to feel triumphant and never defeated.

As my biggest cheerleader,

He took the most pictures in our backyard for my prom,

Behind the camera with a beaming smile

Standing there tall and proud with my mom.

Family dinners and trips to the beach

Will forever be ingrained in my mind.

No matter what we did together

We always created memories that were one of a kind.

He supported me to follow my dreams,

Go to college and explore.

No matter what, he loved me,

I couldn’t ask for anything more.

I moved away crying because I would miss him so much

But I knew it was my time,

To take everything he taught me,

And to really shine.

He admired my grades, my friends, my choices,

By watching him, I knew the person I wanted to be inside.

He gave selflessly of himself

And I knew I could be just like him if I tried.

He taught me to work hard for anything I wanted.

Yet, he taught me how to have the most fun.

I learned so many life skills from him

I felt confident I could take my dreams and run.

And so I excelled through college

And had the best time.

I found the perfect match for me

Just like that dad of mine.

I never saw my dad cry before

Like when he saw me as a bride on my wedding day.

Walking arm in arm with he and my mom down the aisle,

He made our wedding the best day of our life in every way.

I looked into his eyes and knew the best was yet to come.

He didn’t lose a daughter, but rather gained a son too.

I always knew what I wanted in a husband,

Because what he and my mom had could only be matched by so few.

So the new chapter of all of our lives began,

And finally when grandkids came along,

He was the ultimate Opa,

Treating them like they could do no wrong.

He took off work to babysit

Because it was his greatest pleasure,

Being with those sweet faces

They really were his treasure.

But too quickly he was taken away,

Their memories will be hardly any

But we will make sure his legacy lives on

And the Opa stories will be many.

They will know the man their Opa was

And who his soul continues to be,

They will make him proud

And we will all be there to see.

If we can be half the parent he was to us,

Our kids will be blessed.

And his soul will reach the heavens,

Where he can be blissful and rest.

A New Hobby

Alexis is going to be a flower girl this summer in my cousin's wedding. We got her a fabulously cute dress (see below), and adorable shoes (shoes not pictured :).)

But the wedding's color is purple. Hmmm....how to incorporate purple into her sweet get-up. Ah, of course, the hair bow!!!! But how difficult would it be to find an adequately dressy, white and purple hairbow that will stay in Lexi's thin hair? My guess was that it would be very difficult. So my crafty side decided to come out. And I made her a hair bow.

And I have to say that I am quite impressed with myself. So impressed that I decided to make multiple more hair bows for her.

The picture doesn't quite do them justice, but you get the idea. Ben thinks I should sell them. I think it is just going to be a fun hobby! Hopefully, it won't cost us too much money!

Pool Progress

Alexis has been making great strides in the pool despite the fact that we haven't started swimming lessons yet (they will be starting on Tuesday). Our pool gets overly crowded in the evenings and one evening last week we decided to brave the pool. Alexis was enthralled with watching two tiny little girls jumping in the pool with their swimmies on and getting under water. She said, "Mommy, I want to jump to you". I thought, yeah right! But she actually started slowly basically falling to me, and worked her way up to a jump as long as I didn't let her go under. Finally, after some behavior modification she was able to swim holding my hands, progress to holding one hand, to finally achieve no hands!!!! Here is the proof:



She has now had multiple chances to perfect her swimming. On Thursday, I took the two kids to the pool myself, which is now a lot more fun now that Alexis will swim with us. All of a sudden out of no where she started a conversation that went like this:

Alexis: "Mommy, isn't it wonderful?"

Me: "Isn't what wonderful, Lex?"

Alexis: "That I can swim now."

Me: "Yes, Alexis. It is wonderful".

What is she preparing for the SAT? Who actually uses the word wonderful?

Here's my wonderful girl!

Resemblence

I came across these picture recently as we were packing up Grandma to move to The Tower. (In between dodging a shelf crashing breaking dishes, mugs, and glasses, I managed to find time to pour through some of her albums.) I always hear from people that "oh, Max looks exactly like you" or "wow, he looks just like Ben". But I think after finding these pictures, I can safely say who he looks like. Ben likes to call these pictures "Maxine" since they are of course me. The deeply faded and discolored pictures (perhaps because they are about 27 or 28 years old) on top are me and I think the ones below of Max most closely resemble these pics from when I was little. Even down to the facial expressions!

Aren't we cute??? I love my Maxwell!

The Next "So You Think You Can Dance" Contestant

If you know Alexis, you know she loves to sing and dance. She has three favorite songs that we must listen for on the radio every time we get in the car. It's a darn good thing that Q100 plays all three of these songs quite often and on every ride we can usually hear at least one. They are: The Climb by Miley Cyrus, Single Ladies by Beyonce, and Poker Face by Lady Gaga. I'm tellin' ya....the girl likes Top 40 hits! Anyway, she loves to watch American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, etc. (I don't know why I said etc. because those are the only three I know of, but if there were other similar shows I'm sure she'd want to watch them too). So she was watching SYTYCD this morning while Max was napping and she got a brilliant idea to dress up in various outfits and dance to each song. Yes, you better believe there were ten dances and we had ten outfits and danced to ALL TEN SONGS. Oh, and she made me video tape them and watch them back with her. She is awfully conceited and likes to watch herself perform! Here are a couple of the better ones (including one to her favorite song, Poker Face). FYI, I had to video one song completely over again because I stopped videoing before the song was over. Come on, Mom!!!!

Ok.....so I've tried to upload the video like 8 times and it's not working. So you'll have to use your imagination!!!!

Pool Patrol

Alexis has crowned herself "Head of the Pool Patrol" as of today. It didn't start out as a very nice day today, but we decided to hit the pool anyway since it was supposed to be sunny all day. While there, Alexis made a little friend and that little girl walked over to Max at one point and said she wanted to play with him. Alexis, in her sassy little attitude says, "Max, is NOT a toy". The little girl calmly says, "well, I just wanted to play with him". Alexis possessively responds, "Well, he's MY Max". I didn't know she was so possessive of him.

Additionally, she didn't want anyone to play with her noodle at the pool, but since we weren't using it, some other kids were borrowing it. Alexis kept asking us to get it, but I kept telling her that it was ok if they borrowed it and we would get it back eventually. Again, in the new sass that she has developed, she says, "Well, I'm Alexis. I like pink (the noodle is pink, of course). And so it's mine". I really love that logical deduction there. I think Alexis could be a philosophy major one day!

Also, she told a little boy that he needed to go to time-out. The little boy then proceeded to go to his mom and tell her that he needed a time-out because that little girl said so (hey, at least he was listening to Alexis boss him around). She asked him if he deserved one, and he said no. Of course, he was trying to steal her prized noodle right out from under her.

With all the smack that she talks, you would think she was a big, brave kid; however, her bark is bigger than her bite. The girl is scared to death of the big pool. I see the torture of swimming lessons in our future. She screams like a banshee and carries on when we make her get in and swim with us. She would rather just stay on the nice, safe steps. Max, on the other hand, loves cruisin' around the pool in his float. Here are some pics from our pool day.

Surprisingly Alexis is not with her noodle here!!!

Max under his sun canopy....what a prince!

Max crawling around with his toys!!!

Lunch time!

My Sweet Baby

The kids and I had a very fun summer day today. First, was the not fun part - Max's 12 month checkup at the doctor's office. He did fine....still a small fry weighing in at 17 pounds, 2 ounces (not on the chart yet!). He got two shots and only cried minimally. No passouts while we there for the doctor to witness. After the doctor, we went over to the Avenue for a "picnic" lunch at a table outside and to walk around (aka shop). While we were sitting at the table eating, I started hearing the tornado sirens. Of course, my brain immediately says to myself, "oh they must be testing the tornado sirens" since it was a beautiful sunny day today. It was so natural to me that I didn't even say anything about it to Alexis. But my sweet little Alexis's naive little brain says to me while looking up with big bright eyes, "I think that's God". My heart melted and of course I laughed. After I told her what it really was, she says, "well, I thought it was God because I could hear it from the sky far away". So sweet..... We talk about God often, she says her prayers at night, and she talks about Opa being with God, but I still didn't think she had any real understanding of what God was. I guess she has more thoughts than I realize at her ripe old age of three!