Daddy's Boy

Max loves his dad. Yesterday's morning while Mikey was still sleeping he was going around the house saying "da-da, da-da" and this morning while I was giving him milk he jumps up and yells "da-da". But my favorite is when Mikey is coming home from work. As soon as Max hears the garage door opening he knows that da-da is coming home. He will crawl as fast he can to the garage door. If he gets there before Mikey walks in he will do one of the three things. 1. Baby sign da-da, clap, or he will start climbing down the stairs (which is becoming one of his favorite things to do). Max loves his dad.

Max's Crawl

This was taken forever ago but he stills has this weird monkey crawl.


Here is Max dancing...

Max's Walker

Max has invented his own walker. He pushes around my kitchen chairs as a walker. So I got him a nice new truck walker from Toys R Us. But what does he still use as a walker?? My kitchen chairs.

Mr. Balloon

During the BYU football game against Utah. Let me remind you that we won. Mikey and I brought home a gift for Max a BYU balloon. It had had great big Y on it. We knew he would love it. But unfortunately the string broke and it floated to our high, high ceiling. Since we do not own a ladder we were not able to get it down. We had no other choice but to let nature take it course. 79 days later on February 15th it finally decided to come down to earth. It then became Max's favorite new toy because it was a ball that floated just to his level. He looked like a cat chasing a butterfly.

I took this picture after is was starting to come down to our level.

Our new Hair styles

Our baby

Here are some cute pictures of our baby.

Couponing

I don't know if I am insane or not but I decided it is about time that I learn the art of couponing. I even took a class on it last Tuesday. The teacher said that her monthly budget is $100-$150 a month and that most of the paper goods that she buys is either free of cost her .25 cents. I ordered the Sunday newspaper actually 3 to be honest so that I get 3 coupons. I am going to try this out. I am hoping to save at least $100 dollars of our food budget each month. So this has been my latest project.

Book Babies

Every Friday at the Provo library they have a little program called Book Babies. I have been taking Max since he was around 3 months old. It is a fun program they have all sorts of songs that are interacted with the babies. They also will bring out wooden sticks so that babies can learn rhythm, they have puppet shows, today they even brought out bubbles for the babies. Max loves this little program. I think that is because he is a social baby and he loves people and it is chance that he gets out of the house and he gets to play with other babies.

Baby Signing

During the summer Mikey mentioned that one of his co-worker was teaching his kids sign language. I thought that was interesting so I looked more into it. I found a lot of people who loved baby signing. They claimed all these amazing things...

*That babies learn how to speak more words earlier.
*They are able to speak in complete sentences earlier.
*By 47 months they can speak up to 1500 words
*They score 12 points higher on their IQ test at the age of 8 years old.
*They have less temper tantrums because they are able to communicate what they want.

I also heard from some people that it slow down their speaking because they are learning sign. I don't know if that is true because you are saying the word as you sign. I also don't know if signing is the reason why your baby can do all those things. I think a big part of it is because you are playing with them and working with them one on one and most importantly you are spending time with them that helps improve their abilities.

Mikey and I did attended a 3 week class of baby signing. It has been a lot fun. We have learned fun games to play with little Max teaching him sign language. I do believe that Max is figuring out that we are trying to communicate with him through sign. It is hard to know if he is signing or not because he seems to clap when we are signing with him. For example the sign for "more" you put your fingers together. He claps because I don't know if he has the abilities with his fingers to put them together. Another example is "ball" you make an imaginary ball with your hands and he also claps. But with car he does makes driving motions and he can sign Dad.

In the end I think it is just has been a lot of fun signing with Max. We have now have a new way to communicate and play with each other.

Ten Months

As of yesterday Max is now ten months old. I can not believe how fast time goes. He is so much fun to have around. I love playing games with him. Our favorites are Peek-a-Boo, chasing the empty hot chocolate can around the house, playing with cars, and reading books. Max is also in love with Popsicles, and clapping.

I am also very excited because we are starting to teach Max some baby sign language. I have heard some great things about it with child development. Because babies learn how to communicate first with their hands and with verbal. We are going to be taking a class on baby sign starting this Tuesday.

Happy Anniversary

We just celebrated our 2nd year anniversary. The great thing is we are just as head over heels in love as when we got married. We got ourselves a babysitter for Max. For our date we went to Benihana. The Food was alright but it was fun to watch them with their knives and cooking in front of us. We also went dancing at the Murry art center. It is a great place and the only place that I know of that does ballroom dance. They also have a dance class that you can go to. We learned how to do the street hustle. I love going there because there are so many grandmas and grandpas dancing. You can just see how good of a relationship they have after all those years. It also makes me feel like a great dancer until the BYU Ballroom dance team showed up. They are amazing. It was just as fun to sit back and watch them.

Mikey couldn't wait to give me my present that he gave it to me early. I got something that I wanted and needed. I got a tripod. I am so excited to use it. I on the day of our anniversary got some yarn and made a maze throughout my house so he had to follow the yarn. He went all over the place until he found his present. I got him Mario Kart. We been having a lot of fun playing it.

Max was having fun playing with the wrapping paper.

My Christmas Deco

Last year I hate to admit it but I only put one Christmas decoration. Our little nativity set that I got when I was like 12 years old. The reason why is that I did not want to buy anything at full price so I waited until after Christmas to buy anything. Here are a few things that I bought and made.

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas. We had a great Christmas season this year. It started out going to Mikey's Grandparents house where they made a yummy dinner and than the little kids did a great job doing the nativity play. Afterward his family has a great tradition were we all played the game Bingo. Bingo is not my game but lucky for me they have prizes for everyone. I got some great kitchen towels and Mikey got some yummy chocolate.

On Christmas Eve we went up to my parents house and had a little party with my family at my sister's new house. My mom read a Christmas book that we all get every year.

On Christmas we were so excited because it was Max's first Christmas. We knew that he wouldn't understand the gifts from Santa but we were excited anyways. We got Max some clothes and a few toys. He is starting to enjoy cars. I got Mikey some intertudes so that we can go sliding in the snow. Mikey got me the Wii. We played Mario Brothers all Christmas.

Christmas was so much fun that I really did not want it to end. I struggled at putting down the Christmas tree. But after the New Year I realize that Christmas is over. I think the reason why I don't like it to end is because there is nothing to look forward too until Spring comes around. So I know that I have a long winter ahead of me.

We tried to put Max in the sock because we thought it would be cute but I guess he is a little too big for it.

Mikey vs. Tonsils

Last week Mikey had his tonsils removed because he had what you call tonsils stones. They are gross white chunks that collect in the back of his throat. He also had a septoplasty where they removed some of the bone from his nose so now he can breath a little easier.


Well the nurse said that it will hurt a lot more days 3-5. I think that Mikey would disagree with that. That it kills from days 3-7. He has been having a hard time sleeping because he wakes up at night in pain. For awhile the pain pills would take about 45 minutes to start working and it would last for about hour maybe hour and half than the rest of the time he is in pain waiting for the fours hours to be over with so he can take more pain medicine. On the first day he throw up blood a couple times. He said that it wasn't that bad because he could not taste anything. He still does not taste much unless it is really strong. He is doing much better today. He has been working on the laptop all day. Mikey's work has been very good to work with him at home. They even were so nice enough to bring over an ice cream cake which I have eaten most of it. Mikey is such a trooper.

During this Max also has been sick and I caught myself a cold. So we really have not been the best people to hang out with this week. But we are definitely on the uphill:)

BYU vs. UTAH

This year Mikey's work made some great lanyards for the big game. Mikey volunteered us to pass out the lanyards before the game. We had to be there by 12:30. to start passing out the lanyards. The game started at 3. I was very nervous with leaving Max for that length of time. I never left him for that long and he still does not take bottles. But he is eating solids foods now. Luckily, I had a great roommate who happens to love babies and she gave up the chance of going to game so she could babysit. I owe her for that one.

We got to stadium and started passing out the lanyards. I think they did a great job at making them. They turned out great. I was even able to give some to a few Utah fans:) Right before the game started we were able to hand out all the lanyards on our side of the stadium. It was fun seeing all the fans come dress in blue.

What can I say about the game? It had everything. It had a nail biter finish and BYU won! Which makes me happy every time we beat Utah. I had a fun time at the game but I have to be honest I was missing Max like crazy. By the third quarter I was ready to go home to him. If you watched the game you would know the 3rd quarter was the longest. Than the game went into overtime. I didn't know if I was going to make it. Over all it was a fun game. I am glad I went. Maybe next year Max will enjoy the games a little more. When we have taken him to some games this season he cries through most of the game. That is why we decided to leave him home. I think we both had more fun with him staying at home. GO BYU!!!

Thanksgiving

This year it was our turn to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving. So we headed up there Wednesday afternoon. My sister Michelle happened to be moving that day so we went up there and helped her pack and move some stuff to her new house. She promised us pizza I think she still owes us some pizza:)

The day of Thanksgiving the boys always get together and play touch football. The boys have so much fun every year at playing football. Mikey is always hoping that I am to get all the right pictures from the game. While I was watching the game a family came and they had a turkey walk. They had a 1 mile race and also a 100 yard race. I think that next year I am going to tried to convenience my family to do that. I think it would be fun to run a mile to work off what we are about to eat.


After the game we back to my parents house and started to prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner. That I mean I went in to help my mom cook and the boys started a Fantasy football game with the Xbox. Over all we had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner and football one. It is always fun to go home and just relax and just have fun with the family.

We stayed up there until Friday. We slept in on Friday and that felt so good. I don't understand why people would want to lose sleep over a few dollars. Maybe one day I feel like I have to have this and wake up but I don't think so.

November

What can I say about November? I can't believe that it is not here anymore. It started off as the sick month. Both me and Mikey were not feeling well. I was not as bad and Mikey. I was afraid that he might had the H1N1 virus because I was not able to get Max in yet to get his shots. But lucky for us Max never did get sick.

We did go up to Clearfield to visit my sister Colleen and her now one year old child Ronan to wish him a Happy Birthday. He is so cute. My favorite part was when all the babies were fighting over the toys. They were so cute trying to see who could suck of it first.

I don't blame Max Hall

"I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything," Hall said. "It felt really good to send those guys home."

"I think the whole university and their fans and the organization is classless," Hall said. "They threw beer on my family and stuff last year and did a whole bunch of nasty things. I don't respect them and they deserved to lose."

Do I blame Max for saying these things? No, I do not. Let me explain by going back last year to the football game. Max Hall family came to the Utah's stadium to support him, the BYU football team and to have fun. But unfortunately they were robbed of the pleasure of having fun. They were threatened verbally and much more. They had Beer thrown on them, they were spit on, physically assaulted, vile comments about his wife and his mom, his religion. Some Utah fans had a blow up doll of his mom and they peed on it and did other things. In the end they had to escorted out of the Rice-Eccles Stadium by the police.

Let me say it again I don't blame Max for saying those things. If anyone did that to my family I would say the same thing and most likely add in a few other words or actions. Utes fans if you can honestly tell me that you would have acted better than that. You are a better person that I am. I also don't think that he meant to say that he hates every Utah fan, and that he thinks every Ute classless. He is guilty like we are of generalizing. How many times do we catch ourselves saying "I hate BYU" or "I hate Utah" or even "I hate the Lakers"? I am sure all of us have said it at one time or other. We are all guilty of generalizing. Do we really hate them? No, we are just generaliazing.

Which brings me to the next question. Do I think he should have said those words? I would have to say "yes and no". No, because he should of been the better person. Yes, because I do feel like something needs to change. No one desires to treated the way Max Hall's family was treated last year.

Do I believe BYU is innocent? No, not at all. We are just as guilty. My mom said that when she was walking back to the car after the game. Some young BYU fans most likely students where heckling an elderly couple in red. They were yelling at them to go back to Salt Lake and much more. This is just inapprociate. I feel like as fans we are on this downward spiral. We are competiting to see who can be worse. That is why I feel like we should rise the bar of sportmanship.

I believe that rivalries are a good thing. It pushes us to be better than what we were. It gives us to goals to work on. To beat the other team. Life is full of competition. It is a good thing if we treat as such. I am going to create a challenge for all the fans. Lets be better, start a new competition of who can be the most respectful. Lets show the other team the respect they desire. Because lets face it we need each other. Who knows what type of team BYU or Utah would be without each other. Lets be respectful by not throwing beer at them, or spiting on them, or throwing their cell phones to the field, or saying mean things or making them feel so threaten that you they have to be escorted out by the police. But instead lets have sportmanship. Which I now believe forgotten by so many people. If you find out you are sitting next to the other team's QB's family be polite and wish them luck. If you see elderly couple supporting the other team limping to their car give them your hand and tell them that it was a good game as always. We can do better. We can be more respectful. There is no need for inapprociate behavior from the fans. Let bring back the innocent fun to the games.

Next year is Utah's turn to house BYU. I challenge the Utah fans to be respectful that way when it is BYU's turn we will try to be more respectful. Let change the downward spiral to a upward spiral. Let's Change for the better.

Happy Halloween

What is not to love about Halloween: Candy, dressing up, free lunch (Mikey's work knows how to party), pumpkins, decorating, parties, and much more. I love Halloween. We started off the season at our ward Halloween party. I worked on our costumes all that day. We were in fact a little late to the party because of it. We arrived and to our dismay none of the adults had on costumes. We were very disappointed. In our last ward I don't remember anyone not in costume. So it totally took me by surprise that people do not dress up for the Halloween party! Oh well at least we supported our ward and the kids were all dressed up.

On Friday Mikey's work had a little party for their employees. The families of the managers were able to come. It was fun to see all the employees dressed up for Halloween. They provided subs for lunch.

That night Mikey and I had a little party that we had a few friends over. We had ham and funeral potatoes for dinner. We played the game to "To Tell the Truth". We than made haunted houses. Mikey's brother Matthew is known for making towers. He made the highest haunted house. Our team made a smaller house with lots of zombies and ghosts. It was fun seeing our friends again.



On Halloween I made my dinner in a pumpkin. Which Mikey hates. I make it anyways because I think it is fun. We also had loads of trick or treaters. We had to go to the store and buy more candy. I love Halloween because it just a fun holiday.

For Halloween we were Mario, Yoshi (which I couldn't find a dinosaur costume so I used a frog's costume and turned into a dinosaur. Everyone still thought he was a frog) and Princess Peach.

The Year of Doctors

This year Mikey and I have decided that it is the year of Doctors. I can't even count how many times I have been to the doctors with having Max. This week I took Max in to get his tongue clipped. He did so good with getting his tongue clipped. I was very proud of him. I guess with clipping the tongue it is better if the baby is crying. Max being the happiest baby did not cry. He was just smiling away. They had to do some tricks to get him to cry so they could clip it. After the clip he cried for less than five minutes and was happy for the rest of the day smiling at anyone who would look at him. He did bleed a little through out the day. We think that he might need it a little more clipped because he still can not stick his tongue out of his mouth but at least he can move his tongue to the side of his mouth. He couldn't do that before. I know that the Doctors don't view clipping the tongue as something that is necessary but I do. How is he going to play in the band without the movement of his tongue? Shouldn't every child be able to stick their tongue out with they get in a fight with their sibling?

Mikey is now adding to the number of doctor visits. He is just plain sick of getting tonsil stones. I don't blame him because it is just gross. So we have decided that since it is getting worse we are going to get his tonsils removed and he is also going to have nose surgery. The nose surgery is to open up his air way so that he can breath a little better. I guess he has a lot of extra bone in his nose. Mikey is hoping that he will be able to sleep better with having his nose being clear and will be less tired. I wish that I could have a simple surgery like that so that I will not be tired all the time.

We also are seeing a new dentist! He is telling us a mile long list of problems. We are going to get second opinion.

Some other things are happening. Max is very good a scooting across the floor. He also is starting to like scooting underneath things for example: Chairs, tables, coffee tables and much more. He is also starting to eat solids a little better. He does not blow raspberries with every bite now!