Sunday, January 17, 2016

15 months


Halloween:
Kam was the man with the yellow hat and Max was curious George although George did not want to wear his hat.  Kam loved trick or treating and we practiced it for weeks.   Max crashed early after the part.

Thanksgiving:
Grandma kathy visited and as I was on my way home from picking her up at the airport both kids got the stomach flu.     This was Max's stomach flu, and Kam's 2nd.  Mom was here the first and only other time Kam got the stomach flu! ha.    Anyway max threw up first and then shortly after Kam threw up and said "look daddy, I threw up like Maxi"  haha.  The boys recovered within 24 hours but unfortunately Grandma Kathy woke up with it Thanksgiving morning!    It pretty much wiped out the whole house for the whole visit.  


Max is 15 months.

He weights 26 lbs

wild in the bath he love water poured over his head.  will lay back and put his head down and roll over in the water, blow bubbles.

all his teeth have finally popped through

tries to say turtle, train, truck cracker, daddy, dog, car, ball, 'toots', signs please, more, all done.   he will NOT say mama, mommy, or mom he will try to say everything else like 'joker, darth vadar, ben' just not momma.  he's torturing my heart!  walks up the stairs by himself.   can climb up on the couch.  throws fits and jumps up and down or throws himself on the ground.  yells REALLY loud.

love his cat puppet.

no fear will 'walk off' the couch.  he pretends to count "un, uh, ehh" then jumps.  also tries to say his "abc's" when he washes his hands.  Can ride Kam's scooter.  helps himself to food in the cupboard.  follows directions like 'get a diaper, time to take a bath, time to go to bed

love to ride in his little blue car.

can open the door to outside to the garage

Tries to buckle himself into his high chair or blue car.  loves to snap and unsnap buckles. stack legos.

still loves to swing and go down the slide.   starting to watch tv.  loves mickey and the elf on the shelf.  likes to dance.

Will eat and eat and eat and eat.

Went home to Illinois for  Christmas.   Got sick - with Croup  - first urgent care visit.
Loves to sing, dance and clap

Got the flu for the first time over Thanksgiving

fell off the couch and fell and bit his tongue.



Kam -
swim lessons - swam across the pool.  has a great imagination and pretends really well. his vocabulary is pretty impressive as well.  He's starting to do different voices.  He has a daddy's voice, a darth vader voice, and several others.

loves to play with play dough

favorite tv show - pj masks, paw patrol
favorite movies - inside out, the incredibles and the elf on the shelf and  Robots.  he LOVE robots, and pretends to be rodney copper bottom.  Tells me he's going to be an inventor 'when he is a man'  that's he new saying "when I'm a man I'm going to..."  

Frankie the elf has made an appearance.  Kam pretends to be the elf on the shelf - even sitting on the shelf and making us dress him in his elf PJ's and sing the elf on the shelf song even months after christmas.

He 'reads' books - the OPS! book and Dragons love tacos.   he has the pages memorized and repeats them.

Monster Jam

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Max is ONE!

Where did time go?  Our baby is ONE!   I just can't believe how fast a year goes with the second baby.  I feel like we blinked and Max was ONE!

Max is walking, running, climbing, clapping, laughing, jabbering and attempting to talk.  He says mama, dada, ball, dog, car, attempts to say 'duck' and 'sings' or jabbers along in melody to different songs.  His favorites are the ABC's or the Ironman song.   Max really likes music, when it is on he always perks up and dances.   He has started signing "all done" and "more" regularly.  He also love to read books.  He will grab books off the shelf walk over to you, hand you the book then plot down on your lap and make you read it.   He loves this tiny cardboard train book and the baby pumpkin book.  He will 'ROAR" when we get to the picture of a lion and a dinosaur in his pumpkin book.    He  VERY mechanical.  He will screw on and off the cap to our water bottles over and over again.  He loves to stack things and play legos.   Kam was NEVER into stacking or anything like that so it's so funny to watch how intrigued Max is with everything.   He also is starting to fight back.   He will push Kam, pull his hair, and even bite.  It's hard for Ken and I not to laugh when we see it because Kam has been picking on him for so long we are secretly cheering Max on.    This kid still eats and eats and eats.   He will eat pretty much anything we put in front of him and then he'll eat whatever is in front of Kam as well :-)   Lately he's been loving saltines.  He will walk over to the cabinet, open it pull out the box and bring it you and yell until you get him a cracker!    Max now has 6 teeth on top (4 and 2 molars) and 4 teeth on the bottom but he is working on 2 molars on the bottom and 1 incisor on the bottom as well making 13 teeth total.     He loves to give open mouth, slobbery kisses.   He still has THE BEST belly laugh.    At his 12 month appointment he weighted 23.8lbs (79%) and 30.5 inches (68%)   Max loves the blue car, anytime he walks into the garage he wants to sit in the car; he will even try to buckle himself in.  Max can now climb up the stairs at the park and go down the slide by himself (SEE VIDEO)



He also loves to swing.  He will walk outside and point up to the swing and 'yell' until you put him in there to swing.  He always loves to put on Al's purse and walk around the house wearing it.   After dinner he knows when it's bath time and he will climb up the stairs by himself and then he will close the gate behind him.   He loves to 'swim' in the tub by flipping over onto his stomach and then kicking his legs like a frog.  He also always tries to drink the water!  ehh!!



  Sept was a big month for us - Max turned 1 and Kam turned 3!!  We celebrated in style with  a joint superhero party.  It was a huge hit.  We had a jumpy house, a piƱata (Kam's favorite part), mini superhero capes and masks for every kid.   Ken's mom and dad were able to join in all the madness for the party, and we needed all the extra helping hands we could get!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the party.


My mom bought the boys (and Al) passes to Legoland and the kids are obsessed.   Al takes them once a week, usually meeting Mila and Donita.  The kids love to play in the splash pads, and especially enjoy watching the 'fireman' show there.  Kam is now obsessed with legos.  He has 3 spiderman lego cars (all gifts for his bday) and he has an ironman lego guy.  He also loves to watch lego the movie and cartoons.

At Kam's 3 year appointment  he weighed 32.5lbs (59%) and was 3'3" tall  (84%).    He has been growing a TON lately.    He is still a really picky eater.  Usually we can get him to eat scrambled eggs, chicken nuggets, and mac n cheese.   He will eat grapes.   He will NOT touch veggies.  He can pick them out from a mile away.  No matter how hard I try to hide them in food, he always finds them and picks them out!  

Kam's crazy about Ironman.   He always wants to watch it, play it, pretend it... everything ironman literally.

Kam learning to swim, can push off the wall and go under water on his own for a while but he needs work on learning to  come up for air.   He can flip from his back to stomach in the water.

 Kam is actually starting to be nicer to Max will go up to randomly give him hugs and kisses.    It's really sweet.  Kam is usually genuinely excited to see Max in the morning when he wakes up.

Kam loves to take pictures and is really good at it, especially with our iPhones.  We bought him a kids digital camera for his birthday and the loves to play with it, but the iPhone is still his favorite.

This month I had an unfortunate run in with Kam's finger, literally.  I was getting Kam ready for bed and he was stepping into his PJ bottoms and he lost balance and flung his finger right into my eye.  Turns out I had a severe laceration of the cornea.  It took several trips to different eye doctors, eye drops, and dilation but it finally healed after about 2 months!

"I am shy of them"  Donita tried to drop Kam and Mila off at a Church Preschool for a few hours and that didn't go over too well.  ''

Kam knows how to spell his name "K - A- M"  and we are starting to work on recognizing numbers and actually counting items.   He can count well, we are trying to work on counting out itms.  He is speaking really well and remembers everything.   He walked outside and pointed up to the sky and said "look mom, a quarter moon"  I looked up and he was right.  I was shocked.  I asked him who taught him that and he said "grandma did"  hahaha.  SCIENCE!  

Another funny story about Kam.  I was giving him a bath the other night and he had sticky on his chest so I said "Kam, what is this, a sticker?"  he said "No, I think it's gum" I said "Gum? who gave you gum"  He said "Al Freaked out!" hahaha. I said "I bet she did, what did she say"   he said, "She said KAMDEN!"   then he proceeded to tell me "I was just trying to make my ironman button on my chest"   oh my goodness this kid and his imagination and superheroes.   He really is playing well by himself and pretending a lot.  I could sit and listen to him play all day.  Sometimes I find myself giggling just listening to him.   It really is such a sweet, fun age!

Kam is also into drawing self portraits.   He makes them out of his food, kitchen utensils, or draws them.  He always draws eyes, eyebrows, a nose and a mouth then he yells, "look mom, it's me!" :-) I hope he always stays that creative!

Monday, August 17, 2015

Max is 11 months

Well, it's official.... We have a walker!   Max is taking 10+ steps at a time and walking more and more on his own.

This month we had more beach time.   My mom, brother and Johnny and Lucas came out to visit us.   We rented a beach house in Mission Bay and made lots and lots of memories swimming, biking, flying kites, and having endless water gun fights.   The house had a pool, a hot tub, it was steps to the beach and it included beach cruiser bikes, stand up paddle boards, and kayaks!    Johnny loved being able to bike along the boardwalk and the little boys loved sitting on the end of the paddle boards while we paddled.   The 3 older boys slept in one room with bunk beds - although we didn't trust any of them to sleep on the top so we put one of the mattresses on the floor!   Getting them all to sleep at night was quite the fiasco but it certainly will make so many memories.    Lucas would beg to go into the pool about as soon as he was up.  The kids spent all day jumping in and out of the pool and hot tub.   We even brought a small pool for Maxipoo!    We also wandered to the oceanside (we were on the bayside) of the beach one day so they could see and play in the big waves.   










We were also able to celebrate my mom's birthday all together which was just wonderful.  We started her big day off by getting family photos.   Believe it or not the boys all cooperated and I think we got some really great photos.  I can't wait to see how they turned out.   We haven't seen the proofs yet but I'll be sure to post them when we do.    Johnny had been dying to go to Legoland so we also made a trip there.  It was the first time Kam and I had been as well but all of the boys really enjoyed it.   Unfortunately, it was pretty hot that day and the lines were long but the boys didn't seem to mind.    Johnny said he wanted to ride his first roller coaster but then he changed his mind in line :-)     Lucas and  Kam were a little small to ride a lot of the rides but with a little white lie they were able to ride this horse ride.  they were supposed to be 36 inches AND 4 years old both were definitely tall enough and they passed the test when asked how old they were hehehe.  Here's the video.    

Speaking of tall - Kam is growing like a leaf - he grew another inch in just a few months.   We've been measuring him on the door frame in the garage and he just keeps growing and growing.  While he's getting taller and skinnier, Max is just getting rounder :-)   That kid LOVES to eat.  He really does eat anything and everything.  Max's been outside so much this Summer he even has tan lines in his wrist rolls.     He's now intrigued by feeding other people as well.  He loves to share his food by shoving it in your mom if you are holding him.  Hey, at least he likes to share!  Max is working on his first molar, or his 9th tooth.   He gets fussy from time to time but not too bad considering how much pain he must be in.     Max will also give lots of wet kisses with tongue.    He loves to wave and babble  occasionally saying dada, mama, hi, and duck.    



Kam's imagination is exploding.  He's still obsessed with all things super heroes and now makes us play along with him.  I often find myself playing 'evil hydra' or being 'all trapped up' by spider man (Kam's webs).    At night after I put him in bed and say his prayers he says 'now batman' and I have to sing the batman song.  Then he will say "and spiderman?" and I have to sing that.  Sometime's he will throw me for a loop and I say "and joker?" or some superhero that doesn't have a song and I will tell him "Mommy doesn't know that one, how does it go?" and he usually just makes up a tune and says "Joker joker joker" or something along those lines.    Cracks me up.


Kam's language is also really exploding.  He will say things like  "I need to ask you a question" (his favorite  bedtime stall tactic' or 'Almost forgot my blanket' but it really sounds like 'most forgot'   He will also 'taddle' on himself.   Every night when I get home from work I always ask him how his days was.   Lately he tells me what he did wrong.  For example he said "I climbed the stairs, I wanted to watch TV in your room,  I got a time out"   hehehe   or he says "I pushed Mila"  I wonder how much longer that will last until he figures out he's telling on himself.   He's also on a donut kick and been asking Al to take him to get donuts in the mornings so maybe he's smarter than I think.    Other funny things Kam says:  "want some dude?"  he calls Max "maxi poo poo" and will say "i need to climb the walls" when he pretends to be spiderman.    He asks for privacy now while using the restroom.  If I go in there with him he will say "a little privacy?" and then point to the door like I should walk out!  haha


In July I started doing the 21 day fix diet/workout which involved 30 minute workouts on DVD's.  Kam loves to get his weights (3 lbs) and 'exercise' with me.   He also likes to 'go for a run' he won't sit in the stroller anymore he likes to run alongside the stroller.   He actually keeps us pretty well and can go pretty far.   I'm really happy that our kids are starting at a young age to understand how important health is.  I want them to see that Ken and I both make time to workout and stay healthy.  I hope it can always be part of their lifestyle.  

I can't believe I'm busy planning a 1st AND 3rd birthday party for the boys next month.   How is it possible I will have a 3 and 1 year old.   I'll give you one guess what the theme is. 

max is 10 months

life is busy busy busy with 2 boys but oh so fun!


This month we took a trip back home to  Illinois for the 4th of July.  Both boys were good on the plane.  Kam was soooo excited to get on an airplane he could barely wait to board it.   He was awesome on the flight too just watching the iPad with his own headphones and looking out the window.  Max was good too - a bit squirmy and only slept 30 mins on both flights.     It was so fun for the boys to see their cousins.  They got a lot of time with Haily, Johnny and Lucas.   We had a great trip to Brookfield Zoo with all the Laws.  It was great to spend the day together!   Max and Kam were even able to play with their 2nd cousins on both sides.     We went to Ken's Grandma's memorial service and a BBQ at Uncle John and Aunt Kris so they got so see most of the Ohse Family.  Then we went down to Paxton for the 4th of July and they were able to see all of the Rodeen cousins including Joe and Heidi's girls Tuesday and Cali, and Jerry and Bethany's girls Brylie and Brielle.    They all had a great time swimming and boating on the lake.    Kam also loved "fishing" He would sit on the dock so patient hoping to catch a big fish just like Johnny.  Too bad his poles never even had line on it!   We also celebrated Lucas's 3rd birthday -I can't believe Kam will be 3 soon too.    This trip Lucas and Kam interacted much more than at Christmas.  They played like brothers and fought like brothers.   They really are two strong willed kids.  Haha.  Johnny is just as sweet as ever and such a good big helper!   Max is standing more and more on his own and will even take a step or two here and there but definitely prefers to crawl lickety split wherever he can go!      Kam also got see a ton of tractor's of the Paxton Old Fashioned 4th of July.     He was lucky enough even sit on the one that my mom's neighbor Dana owns.   He was in heaven.






















Al has been taking the boys to the beach a lot this summer with Mila and her Nanny Donita.  It's great that they get to see Mila so much.  Mila just loves her 'maxi' and she thinks he's her baby.  It's so sweet.  Kam also got in his first 'fight' at the park when he was there with Al.   He was playing with a little boy when Max crawled over.  The little boy said "no babies allowed" and Kam piped up "Yes babies allowed!!" but the little boy said "No, no babies allowed" and Kam walked over to Max put his arm around him and said "Yes, babies allowed" and then 'shot his webs' at the little boy and walked away. hahaha.  Makes my heart happy he stuck up for his little brother - especially since he is usually the one picking on him :-)





As I mentioned Max is taking a few steps on his own but he will walk by pushing anything he can.  He loves to walk with Kam's turtle, his walking, trucks, toys, you name it if he can balance on it he will walk with it.

The boys are also loving all the pool time they are getting this Summer.      Kam has started taking semi private swim lessons once a week and he his really improving.    Max is fearless - of course and he will jump right in the pool of the side of the wall.   We call it playing 'humpty dumpty'.     Here's a video


Kam also so his very first movie in a theater -  the Minions movie!      He thought it was so cool and sat through the entire thing (minus one potty break)  Dad stocked him up with popcorn, his own pop and some fruit snacks and he was set!   He said it was the biggest TV he had ever seen and when it was all done he wanted to watch it again!



We also are officially a solar power family.   We finally got our solar panels installed and approved to turn on.    We talk about it so much Kam will often tell me he's "working on the solar panels" when he pretends to fix things!

July was full of all the best things summer has to offer -the beach,  pool time, lake time, BBQ's, sunshine and family and the boys are loving every minute of it!  

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Max is 9 months




max is waving and saying "hi dada"  
Taking a few steps while supported
Standing a few seconds unsupported
Crawling like a maniac 
Clapping a Maniac  with mimic you 
Weights 20.4 lbs and 29.5 inches 
Max got his 8th tooth - he now has 4 on top and 4 on the bottom
Finally consistently sleeping through the night!  wooohoo!


super heroes and bubbles galore




Took the boys to the fair.  Kam was big enough to ride the rides now.  



say 'cottage cheese" 

kam loves listening to music with his new head phones 

Kam got his first real hair cut at a salon - kids kuts  He was very serious but he did great!   


so handsome with his hair out of his eyes!

Father's Day at La Costa