We have a Heartbeat!

Today was my first visit to the Dr. and it was so fun to hear the heartbeat! She couldn't find it for a long time, so that made me nervous, but Riley, the optimist, said he didn't get nervous at all because he knew everything was fine. For me, I was just really excited to get in there and hear the heartbeat and be told that everything really was fine. All of my labs came back excellent, and the baby's heart rate was 174, so we are very excited. Now, I can really have peace of mind that everything is fine!!!

Lazy Sunday and Other Ramblings

Today we've been having a lazy Sunday. After our bi-weekly "stock up" at walmart and costco, we've just been hanging out playing video games, surfing the net, and watching TV. It's been really nice.

In other "news", yesterday Max and I went to the 70% closeout sale at Dreamcastle on Lehi Main Street. We got there about 5 minutes before they were shutting down, so they were hauling a bunch of stuff out, but we got some great deals on cute games, puzzles, and wooden train tracks. As we were leaving, the owner of the store came up to Max and gave him a whole bunch of toys for FREE!!! LUCKY! He got some wooden trucks and cars, wooden people figurines, and train tracks. It was awesome and he's been having so much fun with his new stuff! Riley and I have been glad that he is finally not asking for the DS every 5 minutes.

As far as the DS goes, Max LOVES to play it! Especially Mario games, which he is still trying to master. Riley and I have figured out how to use the DS to our advantage and have started a reward system for DS time. It has been working out great, and helps us to really limit the amount of time that he spends playing it.

Max is getting very excited for his birthday! I cannot believe he is going to be 4!!! We have finally figured out Max's B-day party situation. We have decided to just go ahead and have his family party on Easter night. Between dance competitions and Riley's work schedule, it's the day that seems to work out best. Also, it will make it so that we aren't dragging out birthday parties for Max over a whole week. I think we'll just have cake and ice cream at our house later that day/evening. Should be fun! I'm also excited that we can have his friend party ON his birthday! We let him choose where to have it, and he has chosen Backyard Adventures again. We looked into some other places, and besides being more expensive, they were also really restrictive and the party wouldn't have been private, so since his birthday is on a Saturday, I'm sure there would have been millions of kids running around. So, Backyard Adventures it is!
Now, back to my lazy Sunday!

Easter

Easter is messing me up this year! LOL! Why is Easter so early? (I looked up the answer and it has something to do with the moon cycles and equinoxes, but it's really bugging me still). This year it falls on March 23. We were planning to have Max's family B-day party that day, but then I found out it was Easter, so now I have to try to find another day that works...ahhh....my dilemmas!

It's Been a While

I'm here again! I changed some things around, added some things, played around with the template a little bit, and I'm finally posting again after about a year. Hopefully I can stick with it this time, I think it's a great way to keep up with friends and family, and some of my friends have been motivating me to start writing--thanks Andrea and Cat!
Today has been a tired and lazy day. Max woke up with an earache last night, so I didn't get much sleep, so after preschool today I took a LONG nap! I usually hate naps, but with this pregnancy, I have been taking a lot of them. Max stayed home from school today and seems to be doing a lot better thanks to his nurse daddy! I love that Riley always knows what to do. I can't wait for all of the winter colds to be over though. It seems like one of us is always sick. BLAH!
Well, at least there is only 52 days to Mexico!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Max!

This post is finally posted a little late. I kept meaning to post it, but forgetting!
I haven't updated this blog for a while, but what better time to do it than a birthday post for Max!
Max turned 3 yesterday! He had a great birthday, although I'm not sure he knew it was his actual birthday. He kept telling me "mom, my birthday is tomorrow". I think we have confused him by having his parties before and after his actual birthday.
Max is so much fun. He is getting so big and independent. He loves doing things ON HIS OWN. Sometimes it's nice...other times...aggghhh! Like yesterday, we were driving down state street and he decided he needed to open his door. Thank goodness for car seats! We had to pull over and have a talk! He is also a little bundle of continuous energy. He is pretty much done with naps, he doesn't have the time for them. He needs to be going and doing at all times. Luckily, he has learned that we can take breaks to go the bathroom...it just took a while to teach him! Max is also a talker. I love it when he has his little conversations with me, especially when he tries to use big words. He sounds so old. Max sings songs all day long. I am convinced that he will be a singer when he grows up...American Idol, here Max comes! His favorite right now is "I am the egg-man, woooo, I am the egg-man, woooo, I am the walrus, cucukachoo, cucukachoo!" and whenever we're in the car, that is his CD of choice. I can't complain! It's given me a much needed break from Laurie Berkner and other various kids CD's.
His birthday was great. Riley had to work, so he slept for most of the morning, so Max and I went down to the Dinosaur Museum where he got his first present, a Thanksgiving Point pass. He loves it there so much, I'm pretty sure he could go everyday and still be excited about it when we got there. We met up with my mom and dad and my little sister and let him roam the museum as he saw fit. Max had a blast, he even got to have Dino Nuggets before we left.
After we woke up Riley, Max opened all of his presents. I love that his birthday is in March, because I can give him his whole new summer wardrobe for his birthday. He got bored with the clothes really quick though (imagine that)! He was excited to get Hungry Hungry Hippos, a shark kite to fly with daddy, his own piggy bank, and some new Thomas trains. Max was really sad to see daddy leave for work.
I love being Max's mommy and I am very excited to see what adventures his 3rd year holds for us! Happy 3rd Birthday Max!

My Special Moments

I love looking back at all the fun memories we have captured over the last 17 months. I think Max could possibly be the most photographed baby in the world. We have the camera EVERYWHERE we go! On our Disneyland trip alone we took over 750 pictures and 2 hours of video! I tend to get obsessive with photographing all the funny, new, exciting, strange, adorable, and even sad things Max does. A few days ago I was upset that I didn't have the camera ready when Max was being really goofy. I knew that if I went downstairs to get the camera I would miss watching him, and by the time I got back, he wouldn't be doing it anymore. He was being so cute that I decided instead of getting the camera, I would watch him and enjoy his silliness for a moment.
I stressed about not getting the camera for a while, (there wouldn't be pictures to illustrate the story I tell Riley!!! Dang!!!) and then I realized that the moment we had was one of those "special moments" that only I will remember. There will be no photographs, no video footage of that moment, but I was lucky enough to live that moment with Max and only I will be able to replay the memory in my mind or recount it to Max when he grows up. For the bazillionth time I realized--I am so lucky to be Max's mom!! It is so AWESOME to have these special moments with him--the times that are OURS!

Being a SAHM

Being a SAHM has proven to be more rewarding than I had ever imagined. I still don't have the whole homemaker thing down yet, but I'm having a lot of fun! I NEVER thought that I would be a SAHM. I didn't think that it would make me happy...I figured I'd always need time away from home and the kids. It's crazy how much having a baby has changed my thought process!
Now that school has started, it seems so weird to me that I am not there. I see the school buses drive up my street and I'm so happy that I don't have to be where they are going! I do miss some aspects of work, but when I sit down to play with Max and listen to his giggles, I know it's worth it!
Will I be a SAHM forever? Probably not. One day, my kid(s) will grow up and go to school and I'll probably be bored at home. I don't think I'd ever go back to what I was doing before, it was too stressful, but I'll probably go and do something. Until then, I am so much more content and happy then I ever thought I would be! I love it!

Disneyland

Ok, so we're back, and everything was great. All my worrying for nothing! We had such a blast. Disneyland was SO busy, but we never had to wait in a line (thank goodness, Max would've hated it). While we were there, we got to do so many cool things! Max got to drive the "Mark Twain" boat--I didn't even know that people got to do that. Some guy--Justin--that works there just came up and asked us if we wanted to--so we got VIP priviledges on the boat! It was so amazing! Max looked so cute driving the boat, and he loved every minute of it!
Then, we decided to ride some rides during the fireworks show since the lines were shorter. We ended up getting in a boat on the storybook ride just as the fireworks were starting, and our boat driver just let everyone sit on the boat and watch the fireworks--we were sitting RIGHT beneath them. It was awesome! She also happened to be a disney fanatic and she was telling us a whole bunch of stuff about disneyland, the boat we were in (which happened to be the "golden boat" that Walt Disney rode in), and the fireworks show. Disneyland spends $75,000 on the fireworks every night! It was so cool! As we were getting off the ride after it was all over, she gave us "honorary disney citizen" stickers. So, the busy day at disneyland ended up being pretty fun and eventful for us! We made sure to get great pictures too! (about 750 of them from our whole trip--thank goodness we have a digital camera!!!)
While in Southern California we were able to visit Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and Huntington Beach. I know that Max won't remember the vacation, but the rest of us have so many great memories!!! Before we left home, I was afraid that Max would be too young/a pain on the vacation, but he did great! He was an angel baby on the car ride (12 hours) down, and he was nothing but giggles through the rest of the vacation!
On the way home we ate at our favorite buffet in Vegas, The Feast at Green Valley Ranch. MMMM....I love that place! We stayed at the Stratosphere hotel, which was much nicer than expected, and the most comfortable beds on our whole trip!!! Booking through Expedia ended up really great!
All in all, fun was had by everyone! Now, when are we going back?!?

Laziness

I am really good at being lazy. I have been so lazy since school let out! I really need to do some stuff around the house and edit a dance recital video, but it's been so nice to just be lazy. I quit my job (hooray!) and have lost most of my faith in the public school system. I have been hanging out with Max a whole bunch. We do everything together and it's so much fun!!! I love watching him learn new things. He learned how to walk last week and his new favorite word is "A-Oh". It's so cute when he says it! I have been taking him to a playgroup and he loves it! He is getting so big and is much taller than most kids his age.
Besides hanging out with Max, I haven't done much. I'm sure my husband would love it if I would clean up around here, but I can't seem to get motivated, and when I do, Max wants to take up all of my attention (he's really good at distracting me!)
Anyway, I'm loving my laziness and enjoying being finished with school! It's so great!

Thanksgiving

I am so excited it's finally Thanksgiving break. Teachers everywhere have been waiting for this break since school started. My students all asked what I was doing for the break, and I responded "sitting at home" to which they replied, "that sounds boring". But it isn't. I'm so excited to just have some time to spend with Max. He's becoming so active and it's so much fun!
I'm also very excited to make my part of Thanksgiving dinner. It's so strange how much more domestic I've become now that I don't feel forced. I'm even thinking of making some Christmas decorations while I'm hanging out at home.
I'm looking forward to having some self-reflection away from work. Within the next few months, I need to decide whether to keep teaching or to stay home. This has proven to be a very hard and emotional decision. I honestly don't know which way would benefit my family and me more.
Off to self-reflection!!!