Christmas

Christmas Pictures and Videos over at the Max Blog!
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Combining the Two

In an effort to consolidate websites for the family I'm going to try and make all new posts on a single website. So I will be using the max attack web page for future updates!
Stay tuned and check back often for lots of pictures and Max anecdotes.
www.maxattack.typepad.com/

I will post links on Aspen's blog for those who get emails updates. So you'll still get updates! Blogger is just too hard to post pictures on so I'm sticking with typepad for now!

Cheers! Have a great day!

Sick Girl Again

Aspen is sick again. Poor thing has been battling a cold for almost two months now. She has had periods of days where she feels better, but then that follows with several bad days. We are going on day 3 of a really horrible cough and lots of yucky green stuff, so I decided to finally take her in to the pedi today. Please send some get well vibes for her if you have them. She needs to feel better. She has pretty much stopped taking solids over the past month. Every once in a while I can get her to eat some jar food, but its very rare. Plus she doesn't want to nurse much, so I'm afraid she's just not getting the nutrients she needs.

Here are a couple pictures from last night. She looks so pitiful it just makes me want to cry!


Trying to smile for daddy,

Poor baby



UPDATE:
We are back from the pedi. He seems to think that she has allergies. Since the cough has been ongoing for so long he thinks that is what the main problem is. He didn't see any signs of any infections or asthma. So he gave her Zyrtec and wants us to try that for two weeks and if that doesn't help he wants to do allergy tests on her. Hopefully the zyrtec will do the trick!

Also, she hasn't been gaining like I thought. She was 14 lbs 3oz today. That's only 1 oz gain from her 6 month appointment. She will be 8 months this week. The doctor didn't say much about that, so I guess he's not worried about it? Seems like she should have gained more than that though since then? Oh well.

Pictures to share

And a few more because I think she's cute ;o)

Doing what she does best :)

Hey Mama!

I love the ear stuck in the coat, lol


A little help from daddy,

If you don't stand for something....

Aspen is trying so hard to stand by herself! It's crazy! We joke that she is never going to learn how to crawl because she won't sit down long enough. She's trying to crawl though. I don't think it will be too much longer. I'm in NO hurry for her to be more mobile though! It will be a hard battle to fight to get Max to keep all his toys up off the floor and away from her.
Here she is trying to take off the other day.



She'd much rather do this though,

BUSY Update!!!!!!

GAH!!!! I have been ridiculously busy lately. I finally finished up shopping and was able to wrap some presents today while Max was at school. I took my last final yesterday, so I'm done with school for a while thankfully! Aspen is sick again so she isn't sleeping well at all. I'm going on my fourth or fifth day of getting about 4 hours of sleep a night. While studying for finals I usually go to bed about 11pm and then get up at 2am or 3am to study until it's time to take my test at 8am. So between studying and dealing with Aspen during the night while she's sick, I'm pretty much useless, lol.
Max's MDO school was out last week and this week is his final week at his other preschool. They are having their Hanukkah party on Friday that I'm going to try and go to. We are also leaving to go out of town on Friday for the whole weekend to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family.
I finally got our Christmas cards today. I'm going to try and get them out tonight. Hopefully they will get to everyone by Christmas!
Oh and I've been getting picture orders done for a couple clients that I did sittings for last month.
I think that may be it. Somehow I've got to fit cleaning my house and my truck out before Friday.

Some Merry-tainment!

Christmas Foggy Christmas Seas, lol, WITH BLEE!


Christmas just isn't Christmas without "Dingle Bells"

It's Christmas Time!

I love this time of year! It's especially fun now that we have kids. Watching their faces light up with excitement over anything that is Christmas-y at all makes this time of year so amazing! Max is really fun this year too. He is old enough to understand everything and you can just tell that it is so magical for him. Ah, to see the world through the eyes of a child.
Here are some recent holiday pictures and videos for you to let you know what's been going on around here this year.

Our attempt at getting a good picture for our Christmas cards this year. I did them last minute last Saturday and these are what we had to choose from. I think these pictures really show off their personalities, especially Max.








Curt and Max adding their homemade star to the tree. Afterwards Max proclaimed, "The tree is FINALLY beautiful!" (I just realized that the chair they are standing on looks like its about to buckle. I assure you it wasn't, lol)


Max during his Christmas program at preschool. He was so cute! He made sure to hold his star way up high and you could tell he loved being on stage!



A family picture attempt afterwards,


Aspen helping me wrap presents at home. I sacrificed quite a bit so she could get some practice crumbling it up. It was instant entertainment for her!



And the Santa picture for 2008. Max asked for a Batman watch and a robot. I was a little worried about how Aspen would do, but she didn't seem to mind him at all. I think having Max there with her helped though. She can't help but smile when he's around. She loves him, lol.

Be still my heart...

I'm pretty sure Max has his first real crush. There's this little girl named Sadie in his preschool class whom he declared was his girlfriend the first week of school. Since then he has talked about her and how he much he likes her. At first it was really cute, but now I think he really must like her. He always talks about Sadie when we are driving and after sitting quietly for a bit in the back of the truck he will usually say something about how Sadie is a princess and he wants to buy her something. Like one day he said that he was going to build Sadie a pink castle so she could live there and be a princess.

The other evening we were driving home and Max declared his love for Sadie once again. He said, "Mommy, I want to buy Sadie a ring. A special ring with a diamond in it. That way she can be my princess and I can be her prince."

My heart fell into the bottom of my stomach at that moment. I don't know why and I can't explain the feeling, but I had a slight sense of panic. It was like I realized right then exactly how fast his childhood was going to go by. I was saddened by the fact that my time spent with him just as he is now was such a small sliver of time compared to his whole lifetime ahead of him. I realized that in a blink of an eye, he may be talking about buying another girl, whether it be Sadie or some other special princess, a ring 20 or so years from now. Although I'm excited to see what kind of man he will become, I'm also reluctant to give up these years of innocence so quickly. No matter how hard I try though, time just will not stand still. So I laughed and told him,
"I think that would be a fun idea Max!"

The Thumb

Aspen has become quite the serious thumb sucker. She never would take a pacifier and as soon as she figured out how to uncurl her fist when she was a newborn she was addicted to her thumb and it became a constant source of comfort for her. It's really SO cute to, so I don't mind. Lately though she has become quite serious about it. Poor thing sucked a little blister on her left thumb knuckle, which is the predominant thumb she sucks on. The skin on the bottom of her thumb is also chapped with a rash from the constant sucking. She has been trying to suck on her index finger instead or her other thumb, but you can tell it just isn't the same to her. I've been trying to keep lanisoh on the bottom of her thumb and the rash is starting to look better.
Little Sweetpea

A Family of Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Turkey Legs

At Max's school on Thanksgiving day they made a craft. I assumed that most kids make top hats or feather headresses to represent pilgrims and indians. Max's class made Turkey leg hats. He was sooooo proud of his hat too. Curt thought they were champagne bottles before I had to tell him otherwise,

Update on Vaccination Situation

So last Tuesday I called the pedi and talked to someone about what needed to be done to get Aspen's shots. It was getting close to her being a month late on them (she'll be 7 months this week). The lady on the phone was very apologetic about what was going on with the whole situation. I basically told her that something needed to be done or she wasn't going to get anymore...end of story. I asked her about a delayed vaccination scheduled. She agreed that would probably be best since we were having to pay out of pocket for them. The pedi's office agreed to give us a discount on the vaccinations. I'm not thrilled with the discount, we really only save $40 dollars or so, but what do you do.
So I took her today and she got one shot and one oral vaccination and it cost me $142 today. She will need two more shots in a month and then one more at her 9 month appointment. But Max is going to need shots in January at his 4 year appointment. Hopefully we can get some new insurance soon and have something better.
But the positive side to just getting one shot is that she isn't fussy at all like she was when she got 4 shots in one day. I really like doing it that way.

Oh and she was 14lbs 4oz today. She had just eaten a 4 oz jar of babyfood right before we went, but I'm not sure if that matters or not.

And to top it all off...

Max has been vomiting continuously since about 6pm yesterday evening. GAH! He's not running a fever or anything, so hopefully its just a quick bug or something.

CALGON TAKE ME AWAY!!!!!!!

So Frustrated!

OMG! I'm just so frustrated right now. Today has not been a good day.

First of all. Aspen didn't get her vaccinations over three weeks ago because she was sick. But at that appointment we also learned that our insurance didn't cover her vaccinations (well they will, but they apply it to the deductible and they would be full price and we would have to pay that full price) so we owed our pediatrician like $500 for her two month and four month vaccinations. They told us that we should take her to a Health Department because they have discounted vaccinations there and they would be cheaper. So I thought, fine, I'll take her there once she starts feeling better. Well 3 1/2 weeks later she is FINALLY feeling better so I go today after my classes to go to the Health Department for her shots.
On the way there I couldn't find the building so I accidentally passed it up. So I had to go to the next block to go drive back around. I came to a STOP sign and stopped, and started to go again. I didn't realize it was a two way stop and a guy in a truck hits my truck as he's coming through the intersection. GREAT! censored It's obviously my fault because I ran the stop sign at a two way stop. So we had to wait in the middle of the intersection for the police to come and take our information. Max thought it was exciting though because he got to see a police officer. LOL. The guy's truck wasn't hurt at all, and but now I have a big busted hole in my front bumper.
I finally get back in my truck and go back around the block and get parked (at a meter on the street) by the Health Department. I get Max and Aspen out of the truck and in the stroller. Oh I forgot to mention it's raining today so it's cold and wet and just a pain trying to get everyone out of the truck and into the building.
Once I get in the building I told the lady in the lobby that I was there to get some vaccinations. But she said that since I wasn't there for government help I couldn't get the vaccinations there. They only do it if you are there for assistance. I couldn't believe it! All that I had just gone through to get there and they wouldn't let us come in for the shots. GRRRRR!!!!
I called the pedi back and told them what was going on and they said that I could try some different places. They gave me a list of places to go to get the shots for a discounted price. I called several of them and nobody had anything available. I FINALLY got a place to give us an appointment and then they asked if we had insurance. I told her we did, but we needed to get them someplace else because they were too expensive with our insurance. She then tells me that they only give discounted vaccinations to people without any insurance or if your insurance won't pay for them at all. WTH!?! I told her that the insurance won't pay for them until we meet Aspen's deductible and that we will have to pay out of pocket for the more expensive ones at our pediatrician. She said she didn't think that we would qualify because of that. But she gave us the appointment anyways until I find out for sure.
Now I just don't know what to do. Our pedi doesn't want us to get them there because they have to bill us for them, but we can't go somewhere else for them because we have insurance even though they won't pay for them.

I'm not sure where I go from here. I guess just call the pedi back and see what they say about it.

On top of all that, I've been awake since 2:00am. I had a huge test to study for at 8am this morning. I wanted to study more last night after Max and Aspen went to sleep but Max was having trouble going to sleep. So I laid down with him and fell asleep myself. So I woke up at 2:00 this morning so I could study for the test.

I'm just so tired of today and want it to be tomorrow.

Get Well Vibes Needed!

Aspen is still sick :( I thought she was getting better and even called the pediatrician today to make sure it was ok if I took her to get her vaccinations. Then after lunch she started puking and within an hour she puked like 6 times. All day and evening she has puked anytime I have nursed her. We gave her a little bit of pedialyte earlier and some applesauce and she seems to be doing a little better. I called the pedi back and they said to just let it run its course and that as long as she isn't running a fever they don't need to see her. I will of course take her in if she is showing signs of dehydration. I just feel bad because she has been sick for over three weeks now. First it was a lot of congestion, then a fever for a few days then for the past two weeks she has had a horrible cough and now she's been puking. Poor thing! She's still our happy little girl though. She's all smiles for the most part!

Weekly Update 11/20

I've been SO busy lately! I feel guilty for being on the computer at all. School is kicking my butt. But should be over soon. I can't wait until Christmas break. I really want to spend some quality time with Max and Aspen without worrying about whether or not I should be studying.
I did get some Christmas shopping done the other day. I'm pretty much finished with Max and have one more thing to get for Aspen. I'm sure some odds and ends will be bought between now and Christmas for their stockings, but nothing major.
I also have a photo session to finish proofing and get back to a client. I did a session with an 18 month old boy the other day and he was SO cute! His mom is in nursing school like me so she totally understands if I don't get them back to her right away. Hopefully they will be done by this weekend though.
Oh and we are all starting to feel better now. Poor Aspen has been sick for over 3 weeks now. I think she is finally well enough to get her vaccinations. I was going to take her tomorrow, but I'll probably wait until next Monday or Tuesday.
I'm thinking about putting our Christmas tree up this weekend. I can't think of another weekend that I will have available between now and Christmas. So I think that will make Max excited for Christmas! Seems a little early, but oh well.
I also have so many pictures to share from October and November! I'm probably just going to have to post gallery links because I'll never be able to get through them all in seperate posts!

Aspen's New Trick

Yesterday Aspen was sitting next to her incrediblock while I was studying and when I looked up she was standing next to it. I had never seen her pull up or anything so I asked Max if he had helped her up. So I sat her back down and watched to see if she would do it again. As soon as I sat her down she reached up and pulled herself up! I couldn't believe it! So I got the camera out to show Curt when he got home. As soon as he got home I told him and he was like, "Oh yeah, I know. She was doing that the other day." Why don't guys tell you these
things?
Anyways, I'm proud of my little girl! She hasn't figured out crawling yet, but I think she is starting to formulate the idea in her head. She's going to keep me busy I think once she figures it out!

Please excuse the dogs, messy floor and the whiny boy Smiley One of these days I'll be able to balance housework, schoolwork and mommyhood.

6 Month Appointment and Sick Girl

First of all, I can't believe she is already SIX MONTHS OLD!?!? How did that happen so fast?!

Aspen had her 6 month appointment today. However, last night she started running a fever of around 101. So I gave her some tylenol and decided I would have them look at her at her appointment. As for her six month well check, she's doing great. She's meeting all of milestones right on target. The doctor said she looks perfect. He didn't see any signs of any infections or anything to explain the fever, so he figured she may be coming down with something viral. So we didn't do any vaccinations today. I will take her back for those in the next week or so once she starts feeling better.
He did ask what she was eating because her weight gain wasn't much, but he wasn't really overly concerned about it since she seems to be getting enough food. She is still breastfed and gets solids twice a day. I think she is eating plenty so I'm not concerned about it at all.

Her stats today at 6 months 1 week,

14 lbs 1oz (25%) up from 13 lbs 3 oz at 4 months
25" (10-25%) (up from 24" at 4 months)

And a couple pictures from this past week,
Eating green beans for the first time,



Her and Max reading,




Playing with Max's old incrediblock. She LOVES it! I should have saved it and gave it to her for Christmas, lol

On a lighter note...

Max is continually making us laugh. Here is something he did a few weeks ago.

We were preparing for dinner like usual and we were all getting ready to eat. He took his first bite and then suddenly dropped his fork.

"WAIT! We can't eat yet! We forgot to say our blessing!!"

So he proceeds to go stand in the middle of the floor. He goes to a Jewish preschool, so he is trying to remember the Hebrew blessing they say, but just can't quite get it out.

So, he does this instead..."I pledge allegiance to our flag..."

Max Funny

After lunch today I gave Max some yogurt for a snack and I decided to eat a brown sugar pop tart. He finished his yogurt and promptly asked me for a pop tart too. I told him he couldn't have one because he already had some yogurt. I went back into the kitchen and Max came in a few seconds later with a magazine. He said, "Mommy, I want to show you something." Holding up the magazine, pointed to some words on a page. "Do you know what this says?"
"No," I replied. "What?"
"It says, Max Needs a Pop Tart." he said with such a serious face.
I couldn't help but laugh at his cleverness, so of course I caved and gave him a pop tart.
"It also says, Max Needs Some Toys!" He said a few minutes later. Man, he catches on quick! Hehe!

Faces

This is the funniest video of Max. I guess they were doing expressions or something at his school so he was showing me all his "Faces". He's always been so expressive, even as a baby. I love it!
Oh and by the way he likes to practice his "mad" face in the mirror when he is in Time Out, lol!

First Bites

We tried giving Aspen cereal a couple weekends ago. I was going to wait until she was 6 months to start anything, but she was practically attacking us if we were eating while holding her. So I thought I would give it a try. And she loved it! Gobbled it right up! I couldn't believe it! Max NEVER liked food and didn't really eat much until he was close to a year old. So this is completely different for me.

She wasn't sure what to think about sitting in the chair at first.

First bite,

She loved getting some water afterwards! I think that was her favorite part!


The next time she tried it she did better.


What is she hiding?


I got the spoon Mommy!



And a video :)

Tootsies

Aspen has found her feet recently. It's hilarious to watch her try and get them in her mouth. It's a constant thing too. It's like her main goal all day is to get her foot in her mouth. When you put her in her swing, she grabs for her feet. Put her on the floor, she wants her feet. Carseat, feet. It's a good thing she isn't walking yet, that could get yucky, lol!

Not looking good

My sister-in-law is probably going to have the baby tonight. She is having major bleeding so that means the placenta is probably detaching more. Please pray now if you can. If she has her now the baby doesn't have a chance. She's still only 22 weeks. I'm so sad right now.

Updated:
I just talked to my brother, he's on his way to the hospital now. He is an hour away. He said they were able to stop the contractions, but they were pulling on her circlage. So I'm not sure about where the bleeding is coming from.
I'm just praying so hard for right now. I went to find my post about her loss last year and it was a year ago this week. I can't even imagine how her heart must hurt right now. That level of pain must be indescribable.

The Blessing

I have to smile at a little thing that Max did yesterday.
We were preparing for dinner like usual and we were all getting ready to eat. He took his first bite and then suddenly dropped his fork.

"WAIT! We can't eat yet! We forgot to say our blessing!!"

So he proceeds to go stand in the middle of the floor. He goes to a Jewish preschool, so he is trying to remember the Hebrew blessing they say, but just can't quite get it out.

So, he does this instead..."I pledge allegiance to our flag..."

Invisible Moms

As a mom, sometimes you feel out of touch with the outside world. It's hard not to become solely reliant on your child's needs. This short article reminds all moms that we are not just the invisible mom. It's the little things that build strong foundations.


It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England ... Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe . I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' . . . 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're going to love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!"

YIkes!

Aspen is going to be a mover I can already tell. She is constantly trying to get to things. Today I had her in her swing and noticed that she was trying to sit up in it. So I strapped her in. We have the papasan swing, so it's different than the others with just the chair. Anyways, she had herself turned completely sideways when I picked her back up a few minutes later. I then quickly sat her back in it to go to the bathroom and I forgot to strap her back in. I didn't figure she would be able to get out or anything. Well. when I can back she was laying on the FLOOR!!! She wasn't crying, just fussing a little bit. It scared me SO bad! I can't believe she got out of it!

White Sweater

And yes, just in case you are wondering...I do kiss on those cheeks all day *swoon*