Getting Ready for Christmas

My little baby Sam is growing so fast! He is so much fun. I wish I could freeze time and have him stay this size for a couple more years. He always wakes up happy as can be, never screams "NO" in my face, is cooperative thru clothing/diaper changes, and will provide the most beautiful and gratifying smile whenever I talk to him. He loves to snuggle and he giggles when we play pat-a-cake. He will happily hang out on his belly, lifting his head and chest up to gaze around and absorb his surroundings. He's just so stinkin' cute!

And, Sammy loves bathtime. He is almost too long for his little tub, though, especially when he starts kicking and splashing.

Everyone always comments on how much Sam looks like Max. I couldn't personally see the resemblance--until now. Now that Sam is getting older and no longer looks like a newborn, he is really starting to look a lot like his big brother did.

Sam is in the above pic, and Max below. I think Max was a couple of weeks younger than Sam in that picture, and the camera we had back then wasn't all that great so the image quality is weak--but I think they look very similar.

And even more so in these pictures. Sammy is above and Max in the pic below.

Okay, now for a little catching-up. I haven't posted in a while because all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays has really chewed into my free time (wait a second--what is free time? I am actually typing this with one hand as I nurse Sammy with the other--I have gotten good at doing things with one hand!).

We had a small Thanksgiving at our house this year. I say small because the spread wasn't nearly as vast as it is at my mom's house every year and also because there were only 4 adults at the dinner table (the three little ones didn't really eat much so they don't count). However, it was spectacular--even if I do say so myself (I was the chef, after all)--especially since we got to spend it with Joey, Maggie and Koa. I am so glad that they decided to make the long drive down yet again to spend the holiday with us. They have made several of the long car rides to visit in the 8 months (wow!) that we have lived in PA. This has made us feel like we really aren't that far away from all our family.

We purchased a fresh turkey (it was literally alive only 3 days before we cooked it) and soaked it in a brine for 24 hours before roasting it and it was so juicy and tender.

Definitely not a spread to rival Mom's, but it was plenty for our small crowd.

Sammy and Mimi

I think he kind of looks like me.

Paul and Joey--they definitely look alike.

West Chester has an old fashioned Christmas parade every year and since we enjoyed the Halloween parade so much we decided to check it out. Max really had a good time. There were so many bands in the parade with really loud drums--Max still talks about the drums. It's not like a Filllmore parade where you set your lawn chairs out the day before--it is standing room only. Paul and I took turns carrying Max on our shoulders so that he could see the procession.

We were standing right in front of a pizzeria and Paul wanted me to go in and grab him a slice. Max spotted the pizza as soon as I walked out and immediately wanted it. He ate the entire thing while wiping his greasy paws all over Paul's head. It was quite funny--pizza is definitely one of his favorites.

Sammy enjoyed the parade from the warm comforts of his snuggly stroller. At least while he was awake--most of the time we are out and about he is asleep.

Here are more look-alike pictures: Sammy is above and Max below.

We have spent the month of December getting ready for Christmas. We put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and slowly but surely Max is helping un-decorate (which I guess will make my job easier come January--so long as I can find where he puts everything).

And of course we have been trying to stage a "candid" Christmas card picture. This is always really funny on retrospect, but as you can see Max didn't enjoy the "staging" one bit.

I ended up getting really frustrated and thought briefly about just sending cards with Sammy's picture since Max was being so uncooperative (he really is "two" in case I somehow forgot--will the "two's" ever end???).

But I persisted and finally captured a couple that were card-worthy.

I had to make brownies for the Mom's club Christmas party. Max always knows that when I get the mixer out I must be baking and to him that means he gets to lick something yummy.

Mmmm, homemade frosting! So much better than the canned stuff!

Oh, and the boots--he just loves these boots. They are hand-me-downs from cousin Koa (and probably from cousin Alex before that). He can put them on all by himself and does so everyday. And he will just hang out around the house with these boots on.

Finally, I will end this post with adorable pictures of my adorable boys.

Max Turns 2!

Wow! I can't believe that my little baby turned two!

It seems like only yesterday ...

...we were terrified to even bring him home from the hospital!

But then he grew and grew and even his first birthday caught us by surprise...

And wouldn't you know it, my sweet little bundle grew into a rowdy, noisy (and even sweeter) 2-year-old!

We decided not to have a big party this year. It's too cold outside and we weren't excited about a bunch of toddlers running crazy through our house, nor did we feel like planning a "destination" party--just too hectic. Max is at a stage where he really doesn't like to share his toys anyway and he really wants the spotlight all to himself--so we figured inviting his friends over to celebrate would distress him more than excite. So, we gave him a three-day Birthday Celebration Extravaganza! (And boy, was it ever exhausting for the adults)!

The one thing Max can't get enough of right now are tractors. He LOVES them. He categorizes, though--backhoes, excavators, bucket loaders, graters and scrapers, combines, swathers--they are all "tractors". But, he can definitely distinguish between them all--he knows the difference between a bulldozer and a backhoe. He can even point out when one has "track" wheels. Every time we pass one while driving, he begs "More tractors, mommy, more tractors!" Sometimes I have to circle back and pass them again, but I never realized how many "tractors" we pass on a daily basis--it's quite surprising. And his toy "tractor" collection is ever-growing as well. He even has a favorite DVD of real tractors at work on a construction site.

Given that, we decided that a perfect birthday outing for Max should include a lot of TRACTORS! Unfortunately, a three-day drive to papa's farm was out of the question, so we set out to a John Deere dealership instead.

Max was in tractor heaven. He didn't know which way to go first.

Inside the dealership were more tractor toys than we could have ever imagined! Not surprisingly, Max wanted one of everything. Since it was his birthday, we obliged and he ended up with a few John Deere goodies.

Day two of the Birthday Celebration Extravaganza came with gorgeous fall weather--73 degrees and sunny. What a perfect day for a trip to the Philadelphia Zoo! This zoo is awesome--it is very large and has a lot of cool animals. It was the first zoo in the nation.

Maggie was nice enough to push a sleeping Sam in the limo stroller so that both Paul and I could have fun with Max.

On day 3--Max's actual birthday, we went to the Please Touch Museum. I had heard from a lot of people that this place is really great, and indeed Max had a wonderful time.

He got to drive all kinds of cool vehicles...

Ride in a train...

But his favorite part was grocery shopping.

It was so funny to watch him push this little cart up and down the aisles, grabbing boxes of macaroni, cans of soup, and produce. The food looked so realistic he actually tried to take a bite out of the bananas.

He also really enjoyed the carousel since he got to ride a "horsey" (another favorite of his). He did get a little upset when it was time to get off, though.

And of course, the celebration wouldn't be complete without a big birthday cake--with candles. Max has been invited to a lot of b-day parties and he has always been so excited about the cake, especially the lit candles and the whole custom of blowing them out.

We got this cake from Sam's club so not only was it five times too big, but there were about 3 layers of frosting too many.

Of course, Max's favorite part was the frosting. I am pretty sure that is all he ate of his huge piece of cake. They must have dumped an entire bottle of food coloring into it because Max had bright green poop for the next three days.

No celebration is complete without presents!

Max got a lot of wonderful gifts that he really loves. However, his biggest gift of all was this huge train table. I don't have all of the track set up in these pictures, but it is a neat table. Several of his friends have one just like it, and they have them at random places like bookstores. Max loves to play with it at any of these locations, but the one we gave him for his birthday--he couldn't care less about it. He has played with it maybe once. Darn! Hopefully Sam will like it one day.

Like I mentioned, the extravaganza was a little exhausting, but we all had a terrific time--especially Max.

I have to post a few pictures of my two boys. When I am sitting with the both of them I will often say, "I love my two boys." So now Max will get next to Sammy, give him a hug, and say, "Two boys, mommy, two boys!" Then he tells me to go get the camera. He is too funny.

And I need to post a couple pics of Sam--he is changing so much and growing so fast. He sleeps next to me in a co-sleeper that attaches to our bed. I always take a big glass of ice water with me because I am constantly thirsty and I set it on the night stand that is just at the head of Sam's co-sleeper. Sammy was sound asleep in his little bed last night when I reached over for a drink and accidentally dumped the entire huge glass of icey cold water all over him! I felt so bad. I had to cuddle him the rest of the night after that rude awakening.