Max and Sam

Rained out at the game

2010-06-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

A thunderstorm hit during one of Matt's softball games. Eventually Rylee, Max and Sara took shelter.

from Waaay back when..... Halloween

2010-03-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2009 was great. Max was Buzz Lightyear and Sam was an astronaut. Both of them were candy monsters and couldn't believe that they would get more and more at every moment.

We went to the Trunk or treat at church on the Friday. Our friends the Weinbergers came with us - Lucas was a fireman and Parker was a doctor. Matt and I were H1N1. Matt was H1 and I was N1. We were all in black with our signs around our neck and we carried a huge bottle of hand sanitizer and some tissues. Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture

On Saturday (Haloween proper) Rylee came over as a "spider princess", Tannen was a lion, Parker was a cow and Lucas a giraffe.

We got out just in time for sun set

Pre trick or treating festivities - carving the pumpkin

The bigger (and meaner) Buzz Lightyear. We have video of him telling max in a confontational voice how he is bigger and has bigger wings. Then the bigger Buzz started crying because he realized he didn't have a hood that came over his head.

The loot

Sam's latest words

2010-02-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

Suddenly Sam is a talking machine - in the last week or so he has started to say all kinds of things and will try to copy most things you ask him to say. Some of his words are as follows

please (beeese or peeese, accompanied by a head tilt to the right), more, cookie, go, go, go, hippo (pipphu), apple (abo), Bye-bye or Bah- Bye, a bite (my favourite as he says it so cute), bubble, stop it, good job, sprinkles and now he says Ginko too (what has become a family expression of frustration, started by Max)

Spiderman pays back

2010-02-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

I have already mentioned how our neighbour Drew gave Max his old spiderman suit and how it became the bain of our existance. Every waking second Max wanted to wear it. We had a really hard time getting it in to the washing machine or off him to leave the house or go to bed. For a while we would let him wear it under his clothes when we went out just to avoid the fight. The problem was that he would end up stripping off his clothes while we were out to reveal his suit. By this time his suit was laddered and worn terribly and had huge holes in it. One day Matt met us at Chick-fil-A where Max was climbing around in the play place in his spiderman. He was terribly embarrased and declared the end of wearing it out of the house. From then on he could only wear it at home. Spiderman suit was the root of many an argument and tantrum and on many occasion Matt threatened to throw it away altogether.

On another, but related, subject Max had shown signs of potty training for a long time. Since the summer he would sit on the toilet and go "wee" as we call it. The problem was he would never ask to go so if we forgot to ask him he would go in his pants. It was very frustrating so we just let him stay in nappies until he would start asking because we didn't want to make too big of a deal about it.

Over Christmas break Matt had an idea. Max knew that if he peed in his spiderman suit it would have to be washed. He hated waiting a day for his suit to be ready again. So Matt started making Max wear his big boy underwear when he wore spiderman. Magically he started asking to go wee when he needed to. He hardly ever had an accident in spiderman but at first would pee when he got changed back in to his clothes. Soon he started to ask to go even when he was in clothes. Then he was potty trained and did great when he was out and about too. We didn't even have to buy the expensive pull-up pants. Well done Max - and thank you spiderman suit.

And as a bonus, Max doesn't even wear spiderman all that much anymore.

funny things said in 2009

2010-01-27T09:40:00.004-08:00

This entry for Sam will be very short as he still sees little need for verbal communication. He gets a lot of what he wants in other ways - usually by brute force. He does however, with some consistency, say hot dog (go.gog), candle ("ca. ca." followed by blowing) and mummy (muu-meeeeeeeeee). He also says"Blaaah" at the end of the little green frog song. Matt swears he said brownie but I didn't hear that one. His favourite little phrase which he says over and over is "oggi, oggi, oggi." He's a funny little guy.

Max is always saying funny things that make us laugh. Occasionally I remember to jot them down on a little pad on the fridge so that I remember them. Here are a few from the last several months.

Max's pronouncation is now pretty good but he used to have a few words that he said completely different from the actual word. One that I have mentioned before was "wawa" for screwdriver. Another which persisted for quite a while is "penkint" which meant blanket. It's funny how you start to use their words too which is probably why they persist. Another one which we still use is "fric fray" which means Chick-fil-A. When we would leave somewhere he would wave and say "bye, tee you waiter" instead of see you later.

He also had his own expressions which were a mystery to us. When he would get frustrated, he would shake his head and say "ginko, ginko, ginko." One day when I was frustrated with him I said "ginko, ginko, ginko." He stopped, looked right at me and shouted "NO GINKO." I guess it really has meaning to him as a word.

It's also funny how kids hear things that you read and get different meanings from the words. Max loves the book "the very hungry caterpillar" and always laughs at the page where he eats lots of junk food all in one day and then gets a "stomach ache". One day he opened the book and giggling pointed to the big piece of chocolate cake and said "look, a stuma cake."

For the first 2 years of life Max would not watch more than 30 seconds of TV at one time. The first programme he started to watch was "back at the barnyard" which he called "cows." Then, for a long time all he wanted to watch was "Mickey Mouse Club House." During this phase I was trying to get him to ask politely for something by saying please so I asked him "what is the magic word?" He immidiately reponded "Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse" and looked expectantly. Lately Max's viewing has expanded and some of his favourites are Super Why, Little Einsteins and Dinosaur Train. He also loves the movies Finding Nemo, Toy Story, 101 Damations, Cars, The Grinch and Disney Prep and Landing.

One day Max was playing with Sam and out of the blue called him a "stinkin' Dolphin" - and he said it with such distain. I couldn't work out what he meant by this but then we realised that it is what the shark on Finding Nemo says when expressing his dislike of the dolphins. It's amazing what they pick up.

One time I was in the kitchen and I heard heard Max shout "time out, two minutes" and run to the time out chair. I asked him what he had done and he answered "I hit Sammy." I'm sad to say that this self discipline incident was just a one-off occurence. In fact he has started to blame others for things sometimes. One time I asked him why something was broken and he immidiately replied "Richard did it"

Sometimes when Max spills something or makes a mess I tell him that it makes mummy sad when he does that. Then when he or I have cleaned it up he will say "you not sad anymore" and one time he said "are you so happy now?"

I heard him playing with his cars one day and he said "I have a flat wheel (not tire but wheel), can Daddy fix it? No, not a screwdriver, a saw...........a tablesaw."

Another time he was playing with Rylee-
Max: I'm a big boy
Rylee: I'm a big girl
Max: That's Sarah(pointing to me), she's a big mom.

A while ago we went to visit Max's friend Jonathan who has cool dress up clothes. Max wore a muscle chest spiderman suit ALL DAY long and cried terribly when he had to take it off to leave. A couple of weeks later we were sitting together on the couch when he put his face right up to mine and said "remember when we went to Jonathan's house?............I turned in to Peter Parker"
Sometimes Matt and Max butt heads (imagine that). I will often hear Max defiantly stating "I say no to you Daddy" and once heard "I spit at you Daddy." I couldn't help but chuckle to myself but obviously Matt was not too happy. Sometimes during their tiffs he will say "go back to school Daddy". For the most part they are best buddies and fix things together and snuggle while they watch TV.

The first time it snowed this year I went in to Max's room in the morning and showed him the snow out of the window-

Max: What happened?
mum: It snowed
Max: That's not snow, it's just bird poo.

The first time I asked Max what he would like Santa to bring him for Christmas he said a motorbike and some candles!

One day I came down after getting ready for church he looked at me-

Max: (pointing to my necklace -I never wear jewellery) what is that, balls, beads?
mum: it's a necklace, do you like it?
Max: yes. What's that (pointing to my net tights)
mum: they're tights
Max: (looking very impressed) I wuv tights

Within seconds Sam had spotted the beads and almost choked me with my necklace so I took it off. I still never wear jewellery.

Max is amazing with names. At church he will point to people and say "there's ....." and get their name right.
Our pediatrician (who is a great doctor if you are looking for one) is Dr. Gary Weinberger. Last time we were at the office Max told the nurse "Weinberger is my friend." I have become friends with his wife and our boys have play dates. One time we were over at their house in the kitchen and Max looked up at Dr. Weinberger and, nodding with approval, said "that's a big old fire place Gary." Dr. W looked at me rather shocked and said "did he just call me Gary?"

I can't wait to see what they both say in 2010

What do you take to bed?

2009-12-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

Max waking up

Q:what does he have in bed with him?
A: two screwdrivers
for about three months Max refused to go to sleep without his screwdrivers. We tried to give him toy ones but they would not suffice. Thankfully the phase is passing and he hasn't yet impaled himself in the night.

We love destroying the kitchen

2009-12-28T19:01:00.001-08:00

Sam and Spiderman in the kitchen cupboard. Our neighbour Drew (mentioned in the previous post gave Max his old Spiderman suit. Ever since Max has worn it at every possible moment. I am writing this in December even though the pictures are from October. EVERY day - no exaggeration, Max asks to wear the suit. He waits for the dryer to finish and shouts "Dryer done, Spiderman all clean". I'm going to dedicate a post to the Spiderman mania some other time. Back to the kitch saga. Every bottom cupboard in the kitchen is now empty . I thought Max was terrible at getting in to things in the kitchen but I had no idea how much worse it could get. Sam has broken so many things by unloading the diswasher or a cupboard and throwing things on to the tile floor. What he can't brake he pushes around making loud and terrible noises. Of course they can both break in to the child locks we have so they do no good. Consequently, the cupboards are now empty and are referred to in our house as "Space ships". There may be those who say "why doesn't she discipline Sam so that he won't do it any more. To them I say "please come and try"

snacking in one of the spaceships, just before it got emptied.

No wonder our drawer handles are loose

One of the many messes that result when I sneak off for a few minutes to get something done.

Family bike ride

2009-12-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

Our super duper jogger also turns in to a bike trailer. Last time we went out on a family ride Matt made me pull the trailer. I thought I was going to die. This time Matt got to tow.

Pumping up Daddy's tires

by the end of the ride Max was asleep on Sam's shoulder.

out and about

2009-12-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

Max and Rylee playing baseball

McKay

riding Drew's scooter. Drew is the "big boy" next door (I think he's 6). Max always talks about how Drew is a big boy and when he is a big boy like Drew that he will go on the school bus. Sometimes he will just meet someone at the mall or somewhere and start telling them this. Is that really what is on his mind? Getting to ride on the school bus? He doesn't want to be an astronaut when he grows up, he wants to ride the school bus.

Drew is to him, as cool as it gets. One time I asked him "is Daddy a big boy?" he replied "no, Drew is"

Sam, Rlee, Max and Tannen

more swimming in Max's "swimming cool"

story time at the library ends with bubbles - what could be better?

More birthday parties (in October)

2009-12-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

Rylee's third birthday. The princess Barbie in the background is her cake.

Sam dug right in

and then found two of his favourite toys - a bag of potatoes

and a broom

Max and Chloe showing off their new teeth

And Sarah's second birthday

Max showing his sensitive side

"Hi Sarah, what you doing?"

and then showing his manly side as he battered the princess castle pinata to the ground

wow, can he swing a bat. Notice how everyone behind is thoroughly entertained.

Sam enjoying the fruits of Max's labour. 3 lollipops at once.

and then he found another pumpkin. I think he's a little perplexed as to why these strange orange things are appearing in everyone's houses and yards.

Jessamine parade - event of a lifetime

2009-12-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

Downtown Nicholasville in early October.

As we wait for the parade to start

Rachel and Parker

Daddy and the boys

Sam with the pumkins that he kept throwing down the hill

The Shriners in tiny loud vehicles

Miss Jessamine junior and her dad holding the handwritten sign as he drives

You have to love small town Kentucky and enjoy it for everything it offers

Sam's first birthday

2009-12-28T10:48:00.002-08:00

Sam's first birthday was a two-part celebration. On his actual birthday he had a little celebration with Matthew and Jonathan and Matthew.
The stunning cake

and my first attempt at sugar cookies

Sam likes to help bake...

and to eat

and to squeeze

5 little boys eating cake.

and outside for a self-hosing-down

The following weekend we had a big gathering with lots of friends and neighbours.

Lyman made the kids line up quietly for food by scaring them!

Daddy and Sam eating watermelon

"I'm so happy everyone came"

"more cake - what do I do with this? "

"nevermind, I remembered "

great neighbours

another hosing

cornhole for the dads

lots of presents - which Max enjoyed more than Sam

Everybody in the house. Asha, Max, Lulu, Ava, Rylee, Sara, Gaby, Alana, Cloe and Ali

look at Max's choclatey smile from behind all his girlfriends

another day

Chick-fil-A in sports clothing to get free food.

New adventure

2009-11-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

I know that I still haven't posted pictures of Sam's birthday back in September. They are coming along with many more. Lately any computer time I have managed to steal during Sam's sleeping hours has been taken trying to get ready to start my own little business. Yes, you heard it, I'm taking the plunge and starting "Sarah Lassen Photography". I have just started a blog with some of my pictures and my first photo shoot. Very exciting and fun.

http://sarahlassenphotography.blogspot.com/

Sam at 12 months

2009-11-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

Sam hit 12 months of age with 12 teeth and a full 30 lb. He is above the 100th percentile curve for both weight and height. When we are out people frequently laugh at us and say "he's almost bigger than you". This boy is not messing around. He is determined to be able to do all Max can and more. Having been walking since 10 1/2 months he feels pretty confident on his feet and uses his size to get a lot of what he wants when playing with other kids - even ones much older. He doesn't need to hit, scratch or bite to get what he wants he just throws in his shoulder or his head and pushes. He is extremely determined but never malicious in his actions and his feelings are very easily hurt. He only has to be told "no" by an adult or shouted at by another child to be reduced to sobbing tears. He frequently needs to be picked up and comforted because his feelings have been hurt. Max is a major contributor but somehow is Sam's biggest hero. No one can get Sam to smile and laugh like his big brother. Max was always a very jovial baby who was prone to fits of giggles at the smallest thing. Sam on the other hand needs to be really impressed by something to let out an audible chuckle. He does have a great smile though which lights up his whole face. His eyes are very expressive. Sam doesn't speak any English. He would fool a non-english speaker into thinking he is speaking entire sentences but what comes out is non sensical. He will have converstions with himself and anyone else who cares to listen but no real words come out. He also growls A LOT. Sam's favorite things are currently large kitchen bowls to push around on the tile and anything with a plug on the end of it. He also likes to dance to the tune "Hot Dog" which comes on at the end of each Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode. When he hears it he will stop what he is doing and come running to dance in front of the TV

Summer evening in downtown Lexington

2009-11-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

Way back in August

2009-11-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

Way back in August our friends Sarah and Matt (Sarah was my house mate at university and she decided to copy me and marry a Matt too) came to stay for a few days. They were on a mammoth bike ride from the west coast to the east cost of the U.S.A. The ENTIRE way on their own pedal power. What an adventure and its all captured on their cycling blog if you are doubtful that anyone would be so crazy. http://www.pannierpeople.typepad.com/
We had a wonderful few days with them letting them eat well and sleep in a real bed.

Trip to Keeneland

Post nap activity

swimming in their "pool"

A visit to the bike shop for a few supplies. Sam and Sarah try out a tricycle beach cruiser.

Inspired by Sarah and Matt, Max hopped on a bike and started to pedal - what a little natural. Note that he is wearing his three favourite items of clothing - Spider Man t-shirt, "Favourite shorts" (in quotations because that's what he calls them) and his football boots.

Max's sunflowers

2009-10-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

Early in the summer Max got some sunflower seeds in a party favor bag from Lucas' birthday. I decided it would be a good exercise for him to learn about how things grow so we carefully set about planting them. Max at first wanted to eat the seeds, or "teeds", like daddy does but eventually accepted the fact that we were burying them in durt. He overwatered them and then set them aside. Much to my disappointment he showed very little interest as they began to sprout. Eventually they got much too big for the pots they were in and we took them and planted them in the ground. They started to grow much faster and Max became much more concerned with their well-being. We would always call them Max's sunflowers and tell him that they were going to grow into big flowers and then give us lots of seeds like the ones he and daddy eats. Here they are in their full glory - not quite the 7 foot towering beauties I had seen in my mind but pretty nevertheless. And Max was very proud. Sam took the photo-op as just another opportunity to show off his tummy.

We eventually harvested and roasted the seeds, which were very good. All that was left were the tall stalks which started to go brown. One afternoon while we were all outside Matt decided to mow them down while he was cutting the grass. All of a sudden we hear this death scream and frantic running. Max comes flying over to the mower crying and shouting "NOOOOOOOOO, MY SUNFLOWERS". It was so heartbreaking. Daddy had to apologize and replant the stalks in the ground. He eventually calmed down and now apparently remembers the incident with some fondness. The other day we were pulling out of the garage in the car and Max giggling said "Daddy mow sunflowers.............. Cheeky Daddy".

The history of Max's hair

2009-10-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Maxwell James Lassen was born with a small amount of straight dark hair.
Over the first month or so of life it fell out leaving a tiny amount of blond fuzz.

At 8 months of age Max still had very little hair on his head except for a strange rat's tail at the back. Before our trip to Utah for Christmas 2007 I chopped it off incase it was rumoured that we were taking the Kentucky lifestyle a little far. I called that his first haircut.

Max remained mostly bald up until about the time Sam was born (17 months) and then his hair started to grow in.

By Christmas 2008 he had a descent amount of straight blondish hair.

Once 2009 came around he started to develop a little wave in his hair which gradually turned into a curl.

He came back from England in April looking like he'd had a perm.

It went even more blond in the sun as his skin went darker and we couldn't bear to cut it ...

until it just got plain out of control and we had to do it.

I took Max to a special hair salon for kids where they get to sit in a little car and watch a movie of their choice. He cried - but mostly because the boy next to him was wailing and he thought that was what you were supposed to do.

Then he got to play on the slide

Don't worry, it still has plenty of curl and is growing back rapidly.

Birthday parties

2009-10-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

This has been the summer of parties for Max and Sam. It's funny when your two-year-old has a busier schedule than you. Max loves birthdays and wishing people happy birthday. He loves to go to peoples' birthday parties and take presents. Every time he gets a little present he asks "my birthday???". Poor kid, he still has a long way to wait until it will be his big day but in the mean time seems happy to celebrate other peoples' birthdays. Sam is just happy for any time to get together with people and eat cake, or chalk.

Parker Weinberger's 1st birthday

I love the expression on Sam's face in this picture - it is so typically Sam

McKay Cox's 1st birthday

Caleb Nicholls' 4th birthday. Note the amazing Buzz Lightyear cake that Caleb's mom Kauty made.

Max with the big kids

A big bag of lollypops from the pinata

Calor Hicks' 1st birthday

Ava Minx Hamilton and Lulu White's 5th bithday - a wonderful princess party

Max decorating crowns with the girls

Than jumping on the trampoline with his brother and a big metal dumptruck that he kept sneaking on there.

They have also been to Axl Hamilton's 1st birthday party and this weekend have Rylee Romney's 3rd birthday party and Sara Darby's 2nd birthay party to attend. Oh what it's like to be under three and popular.

Aunty Chrissy came to visit

2009-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

Keeneland

Riney B water park

all we could capture of Max

Sam having a marvelous time

Sam tired out and hungry

Not quite sure

Graeters

Black raspberry chip ice cream

Joel and Renee joined us too

Max and Rylee - what a pair

2009-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

July/August time

2009-09-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thomas' farm

Max's first pony ride at Southern States. It took a few attempts before he was brave enough to get on.

Sam, August 2009

Max, August 2008

Brothers in the pool

Sam didn't get a pony ride this summer so he just rides Richard. Richard is very tormented by Sam and avoids him as much as possible. I think he feels a lot more love towards Max than his younger brother. Look how tightly Richard's eyes are closed as he "tolerates" Sam.

eating candy off the floor at church

Dad's softball game

Max and Matthew wait patiently for the game to end so they can "run bases"

tiny dancer

2009-09-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

Max and Sam's cousin Sofia lives in Norway. In Norway it is very cold for much of the year so boys and girls alike wear nice cozy tights - sometimes with grips on the knees for better crawling. One night it was a little chilly so we decided to put Sam in the Norwegian tights. Being a chubby little fellow to say the least, he looked hilarious and we couldn't stop laughing at him. We called him the "tiny dancer". After many minutes of mum and dad's laughter Max decided that he needed in on the action. He said "Sammy tiny dancer... Max tiny dancer too" and started trying to pull the tights off Sam. Finally we gave in and Max became the tiny dancer. He slept in the tights and the first thing he said to me when he woke up in the morning was "Max tiny dancer".

Sam's pose

2009-09-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

Bathtime

2009-09-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Fire cookies

2009-09-28T12:52:00.000-07:00

Max was very excited about the fireworks around the 4th of July. The kids in the neighborhood would set off firecrackers quite frequently and Max would get all excited and say "what was that?". One day the Max came running in to us saying "fire cookies". We were very confused. What are fire cookies? He kept saying it and we realized that firworks were going off and then it all made perfect sense. The terms animal-crackers and animal-cookies are used interchangably in our house ... and apparently so are fire-crackers and fire-cookies. All other fieworks and sparklers are also called fire cookies too.

We had a nice inside BBQ at the Darbys' for the 4th July due to the rain and then brought Sam home to bed while Max watched the firecookies from the bench on the front porch and sparkled his own little fire cookies. Sam stayed asleep through the whole of the RJ Corman fireworks dispay.

I'm too sexy for my shirt

2009-09-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

A walk in the park

2009-09-24T12:34:00.001-07:00

"Hi Geese, I'm Max"

Once Matt had taken the boards - which he passed - we had a little time to relax. This was a day out in Georgetown which turned into a play at the park. Max was quite taken by the geese. When he first saw them he went skipping up to a grown of them exclaiming "Hi Geese, I'm Max". They didn't respond as he had anticipate but all took flight and then landed in the lake. He thought this was fabulous and went around finding all the geese he could and running up to them waving his arms and shouting "fly geese".

Ready, Set ....

GO!!!!!!!!!!

Friends

2009-09-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

Max and Sam are very lucky to have so many wonderful friends who have made our summer fun. Here are some of them.

Rylee and Max with his crazy locks

Max with Asha, Ali, LuLu and Ava at the Jacobsen park summer movie night. Still don't know who the crazy looking guy is.

Max and Lucas in their nappies

Sam and Parker eating chalk

Max and Matthew in their favourite hangout

Sam and McKay

Grandpa's June visit

2009-09-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

How we love it when Grandpa comes to visit

....though our faces don't always show it

Max often talks about how papa is in Utah and that he went on an airplane and how Max is going to Utah in an airplane too. I can't wait until we can go again - Max will just love it.

June-ish 2009

2009-09-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Jumping in Sam's bed

reclining in mum's lap. Sam is a real softee and likes to be held alllllll the time.

Jacobsen park at night

I love tools too

The first thing Max usually asks for in the morning is his football boots "boot on?". Matt thought it would be cute if Max had his own cleats for when he went to watch him play softball and for playing at the park. Little did we know he would want to sleep and eat in the darn things too. We have had many tantrums because he cannot wear his boots to go to a friend's house or to church. Be careful what you buy thinking it to be a fun gimmick - it may become more a part of your life than you imagine.

Here is Max fresh out of bed in the morning with half his Pajamas still on, wearing his boots and Daddy's helmet and carrying his screw driver while he pushes his lawn mower. This was a good morning.

yummy whipped cream

McKay's first birthday party

Out in the "gogger"

Lyman, Jay, Brian and some other crazies synchronised cliff jumping at Red River Gorge. Note Max in the foreground totally oblivious to the action behind him.

He was busy wearing a pink lifejacket and playing with a watering can.

May-ish 2009

2009-09-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

a few photos from some time around May of 2009.

some of Max's favorite things are...

playgrounds,

baseball,

real football a.k.a. soccer,

tools,

his little brother Sam,

and Daddy's hat.

oh, and Daddy too.

As I was putting in these pictures of Sam getting into the dishwasher and fireplace I had major deja vous from a year and a half ago when posting almost the exact same pictures of Max. For anyone interested go to our old blog http://mattsarahandmax.blogspot.com/ and look at the January and february postings. Did we just have the same baby all over again??

Some of Sam's favourite things are currently..

not having his continually nasty nose wiped,

the fireplace,

the dishwasher, tools (like his brother)

plus, the dogfood, the pizza stone, the washing machine (which we occasionally find running an empty cycle), any kitchen items which he can drag out of cupboards, and his all time favourite - the toilet!

a taste of birthday

2009-09-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Happy first birthday Sam!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful time Sam had for both his real birthday and his big party on Saturday. Thank you to everyone who joined in.
Here is a little sample of his birthday fun. I love the part in the middle of the video when he tries to get his whole face down in to the cake. The full birthday posting is to follow - along with all the rest of the summer pictures. Computer time is limited with two destructive boys.

Tarr Fork, KY

2009-08-12T12:31:00.001-07:00

Jay and Brooke Hamilton invited us up to the family cabin in eastern Kentucky. We went last summer too, with Tom and Bonnie, shortly before Sam was born. Joe and Challis White and their girls and Jeff and Cami Winters and Isabella went too. It really is a beautiful peaceful spot.

The family on the porch swing

Max had a whale of a time running shoeless with the kids. They found all sorts of bugs and lizards and snakes and swimming creatures - crawdads I think.

Cute girls and limitless pop - Max is happy.

Corn-holing - Matt's new hobby. He is now building cornhole boards - what a suprise!! Note also the many stray dogs that joined in our weekend fun.

Tired out already

The best night of Max's life. He was so excited to sleep in a tent with his daddy. He couldn't wait to go to bed and was so excited to be there. Matt expected him to be all over the place and crazy but instead he was the perfect little camper. Matt said that he kept thinking Max had fallen asleep but he would look over and he would just be staring up at the cieling looking happy. When he did fall asleep he slept all night long and woke up in a great mood. He opened his eyes, got a huge smile on his face and said "Tent".

Another highlight of Max's trip was the four-wheelers which he also calls "mo-bikes". He would have spent every waking hour on them if he was permitted.

And some sleeping moments too. He fell asleep on the homebound trip both days.

Sam playing on the porch

"if only I could break out of here and go free"

Ava Minx

Trying to catch fish and other creatures

Lu Lu

Playing in the rocks with Isobella

Max and Alli with the snake bucket

Hanging out with Rockwell

Happy and exhausted is the best state for little boys.

Up and walking

2009-08-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

disclaimer and update

2009-08-06T11:49:00.000-07:00

So my dislaimer is that I really do love Sam just as much as Max and the fact that there are 5 times as many photos of Max is not reflective of my affection. I realize that many of the posts focus on Max but that's simply because 2 year olds are just more entertaining than less-than-one year olds. Well, you may say, there are thousands of pictures of Max when he was that age. Yes, that is true, but we didn't know any different then and I had much more time and energy before Sam came along. The first time the first child unloads a bookshelf it's cute and entertaining. The first time the second one does it is purely frustrating - very sad but I've just had to come to terms with the fact that this is the lot of a second child - especially one so close in age to the first.

This is not to say that Sam is a boring child - quite to the contrary. He is serious entertainment. One of the best things about Sam is that he does not know he is a baby. He fully believes he should be included in anything that is going on and that he can do anything that Max can. He loves his big brother and seems to want to be just like him. Hence if Max is throwing himself off some piece of furniture Sam will do everything in his power to follow him up there and do the same. If Max is being ticked on the floor, he will throw himself down next to him and giggle as he waits to be tickled himself. The two of them will play outside for hours together. Usually this involves Max filling the empty swimming pool up with mud, both of them climbing in and sliding down the slide into the dirt piles. They both laugh. Whenever Max goes outside now he looks back and says "Sammy coming too?". Sam invariably speed crawls for the door before anyone can block his exit. Max is still clumsy and still makes Sam cry from time to time but generally they play much better together and have a good old time. It is really fun to see and makes us excited for the future with the two little buddies.

Sam tries so hard to keep up that he has started walking already. He's not even 11 months old yet. He is still unstable but can make it across the entire room now if nothing is under his feet and Richard doesn't cross his path. He can't walk when he is overly excited either. Max is quite entertained by the bipedal Sam and will exclaim "Sammy, walking". We never meant for Sam to be called "Sammy" but that is what Max calls him and he says it so affectionately that it's become one of his names along with "Sam-o" (short for Sam Mateo) and "Tam-o"(because for a long time Max couldn't say S).

Sam continues in the 100th percentile for his weight and height. He eats almost anything - except meat. I think his favourite food at the moment is tomatoes from the garden. He goes wild for them. He has plenty of hair and has had his front 8 teeth for a couple of months now. He's just planning on catching up with Max as fast as he can. He also still looks uncannily like the younger pictures of Max. Max will see pictures of himself as a baby and gets very frustrated when you try to tell him it isn't Sam. We have a couple of photo books of him that he flips through pointing out Sam in all the pictures not finding it at all strange that the little girl he correctly identifies as Rylee is a baby too. I can't help but wonder if they will look like twins in a couple of years. So far Sam's hair is still straight but Max's didn't curl until he was about 22 months old -and look at him now.

Perhaps the most notable things about Sam, besides his size, are his loud voice and determination which often go hand in hand when he does not get what he was going for. Whether he is happy, sad or in between Sam is seriously LOUD. Oh, and he growls a lot too.

Max get's skinnier by the day. He is way too busy to eat. He exists largely on bell peppers and pickles plus the several gallons of liquid he consumes a day - he got the thirst of his father. He talks in several word sentences now, though the words that go together are not always conventional. He has just started to use "I" instead of "my" in sentences like "I like that" or "I'll get it". His favourite things to do are still digging and playing with tools and also baseball - he swings tha bat like a natural and can occasionally hit a moving ball. He is truly obsessed with mowers and motorbikes. Matt thinks it's funny that he calls tham motorbikes and not motocycles. He'll hear a motorbike and say "aaaagh motobike..........my see it. Brian motobike.... max motobike too. Daddy has motobike...No". That's the one thing that makes Daddy less cool. Though Daddy does mow a lot - especially during this wet kentucky summer. Max has a little plastic mower which he hijacked from his friend Lucas that he pushes around a lot. If we happen to walk past a store selling mowers, such as Ace Hardware, or we are in Lowe's he demands some time to browse the selection.

Very fun little boys. We can never complain of not enough to do in a day.

Matt just went back to school for his third year and is now more than half way through dental school. Sarah is starting to feel human again as Sam is finally sleeping through the night (until 6a.m.)at least 50% of the time. Fingers crossed it lasts.

Worcester with the Sheffield girls

2009-08-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

I felt the Whichcraft girls (we lived above a craft shop called Whichcraft during university) deserved a post of their own as Sarah took the photo's and they are very artistic. She has a very good eye. Jenny, Charlotte and Sarah came. Jo and Sian did not make it over from Australia for the gathering which I thought was pretty weak of them. Unfortunately Sarah is not in any of the photos as she took them all. As an aside Sarah and her husband Matt (great name combination) are cycling across the entire U.S. of A. Crazy people. Soon to arrive in Kentucky for a couple of days. Their cycling blog is http://www.pannierpeople.typepad.com/.

We had a very jolly time together even though it rained the whole time.

A nippy picnic in the Malverns. Jenny, Charlotte, Max, Grandma, Sarah and Sam

Off in to Worcester

Feeding the swans. Worcester could be called SwanHaven as there are always hundreds of swans in the river next to the cathedral. I suppose the fact that tourists feed them great loaves of bread every day encourages them to stay around. Max liked feeding them for a while but preferred chasing around the pigeons in the square and eating the bread.

So Max

2009-08-01T20:13:00.001-07:00

Norway

2009-08-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

Max and I left Sam with Grandma and Grandad and ventured to Norway to see Patrick, Marianne and Sofia.
Passing time at the airport

Along came the scruffiest little Norwegian urchin and really brightened up our wait. He had older brothers with him and was very rowdy. Max thought he was very cool and went to play guns with him - shame Max didn't really know how to hold a rifle. If you've ever flown RyanAir you'll know that it is extremely low-budget and attracts some colourful characters. This lttle boy's family were pure entertainment the entire flight. I don't think they sat in their seats at all as they were too busy brawling in the isle - Dad included.

Patrick and Marianne's lovely home just outside Oslo. We arrived shortly after the snow melt so the landscape was still very wintery.

Playing on the swingset - neither Max nor Sofia minded one bit that it was freeeezing cold.

Bundled up ready for a walk to the woods

Big purposeful space to represent the entire day lost at the doctors office with a fevered Max. Max went to bed at 8:30p.m., woke up at 12:30a.m. and didn't go back to sleep all night, despite the dose of sleeping medication I slipped him around 4a.m. Poor little guy was shaking and shivering and just burning hot.

After a good night's sleep and Norwegian antibiotics Max was feeling much better. We set out for a day in Oslo. Of course, our first destination had to be Ikea. Max does not like Ikea, especially when he's not feeling too well. Come to think of it, one of his most memorable melt downs as a tiny baby was upon visiting the new Ikea in Salt Lake when Max was less than 3 months old.

He did however appreciate the sign. Translation: oops! Did you forget Daipers?

Sofia pushing Max on our slow-paced tour of Oslo

Marianne, Sofia and Max outside the Royal Palace

Max pooping outside the Royal Palace - just squatted down in the middle of the square.

I can't wait until we can go back for longer.

A while in Worcester

2009-08-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

How nice it was to be home. Matt always frowns when I say that, as he feels it somehow belittles our home and life in Kentucky, but England will always be home. And nothing beats a while at home with my mum and dad.

The whole Reg and Pat Stobbs Family:

Matthew, Paul, Elliott, Nicola, Grandma, Daniel, Grandad, Sam, Patrick, Sofia, Marianne (with baby Emily still in the making), Sarah, Matthew and Maxwell.

The boys with Grandma and grandad

4 generations from Nana Dunderdale.

Patrick, Marianne and Sofia came to visit from Norway. Max and Sofia had a joint second birthday party - on Max's real birthday - and Grandma threw Christmas in April so that we could all celebrate it together - we had a turkey dinner, Christmas crackers and even Christmas pudding. Unfortunately I cannot find any pictures to document either event.

Sofia with her birthday bear

A chilli day out

Daniel and Max ride Grandad's horse

Sadly, Matt could only stay with us for 10 days as he had to get back to school. We missed him very much but I think he missed us even more.

Jenny and Sam - more about the Sheffield girls to come.

Sam started crawling in England - see earlier video.

Max and Grandad spent a lot of time in the garden. They watered plants and looked after the vegetables but mostly they just played around with the wheel barrow.

Karen, Jamey, Saul and Mani came to visit us. The last time we were all together was when we all lived in Provo - except Max and Sam who were not yet born. Saul had a little American accent and Mani wasn't talking. Now they are pure Essex - especially Mani. Saul has a few northern words from his dad but Mani is true Karen. Loved our time with them but needed another few weeks together to catch up properly.

Digging in to a chocolate Easter Bunny - ears first

A rainy day at the farm with the Stobbs cousins. Max just loves his older cousins to death. Even now, he still talks about them. He could not get Elliott's name right and would call him Eddie. For a while, Daniel was Eddie and Elliot was Daniel. We finally got the identity mix-up sorted out but Elliott remains Eddie to this day and the rest of us ended up calling him that too. Max asked to see the boys every day and had a particularly soft spot for Eddie as he played with him so tirelessly. I wish he had his big cousins around all the time.

Feeding a cow with uncle Paul

So happy holding hands with Eddie and Daniel. Note: Max does NOT hold hands freely.

Holding a baby Chicken with mum.

Milking a cow with Grandma. The cats would wait beneath the cow and drink the milk as it came out. Max also got to hold baby ginea pigs and feed lambs with a bottle

Our very own lamb drinking his bottle in the barn. He even has a tail and pointy ears from his little devil sweatsuit.

We also had visits from Natalie and Aneurin and their cute little boy Noah from Sheffield, Brendan Leece and his adorable little redhead firecrackers and Ashley Leece (now Balloch -or something close), Naomi, Emma and thier little Sam who is a few months older than our Sam but weighs less and is waaaaay less trouble. In fact, all of Ashleys kids are amazingly sweet and pretty- if someone could clone them they could make a fortune.

Paris in the spring

2009-07-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

Due to our delay in Newark, we landed in Birmingham on Saturday morning instead of Friday. Matt and I had already booked flights to leave for Paris with Annette and James on Sunday, the very next day. Max and Sam were not included in these plans and we felt pretty wicked leaving my mum and dad with them after just one day. We knew we were pushing it when we thought the boys would have two days to acclimatize. Grandma and Grandad deserve an award.

Off we went feeling footloose and fancy free. I really had forgotten what it is like to go anywhere without packing a daiper bag and I have to say it was fantastic.

Wonderful sunny weather and excellent company made this the perfect little get-away. Too bad the food was so expensive and our French so poor.

Angelina's for breakfast

Melted dark chocolate, otherwise known as chocolat chaud

we walked over 10 miles in two days due to the boys refusing to get a taxi.

The Louvre

Annette blending in with the locals

Notre Dame

And, how old are we??

p.s. the street our hotel was on was lovely during the day but was the homeless capital of Paris at night. The first night we were there James thought that the people all stuffed into the entrance of a fancy dapartment store were camping out waiting for a big sale starting the next morning.

Our Trip to Europe really did happen

2009-07-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

I realize that late July is not the best time to report a trip which took place in March but here we go anyway. Armed with much excitement and some seditive for each child we took off for Europe.

An unwelcome delay left us with a missed connection and a 24 hour delay in Newark. I was hopping mad as the plane had not left the gate when we arrived (after a record breaking 2 mile sprint across Newark airport) but the cabin door had been closed and they would not reopen it. Thankfully we had purchased American Express travel insurance so we made the most of our misfortune by booking into the Hilton and ordering a fancy room service meal. We spent the next day in New York City. We visited Ground Zero, some old church next to the Stock Exchange building, an inner city playground and Katz's Deli. A pretty fun day.

The boys were tired out for their flight and slept most of the way.

Family pics

2009-05-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Potty star

2009-05-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Over the last two days Max has gone wee wee on the toilet three times. Each time he has done it because of the promise of English chocolate as a reward. He has tried 4 times and been sucessful 3 of them. Good old Cadburys - I don't think he'd do it for Hersheys.

oh, make that 4 out of five times. He just woke up from a nap and did it again. The only problem being that he refused to put his nappy back on afterwards and I foolishly thought that as he had just been for a wee it wouldn't matter. A few minutes later he came to me saying "poo mummy". I ignored him until he said it many times more and beckoned for me to follow him. The little monkey had indeedleft a little present for me on our closet floor.

May update

2009-05-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Steady old Max (24 months) remains in the 95th percentile for both weight and height at 34 lb and 36 1/2 inches. At his 2 week check up he was in the 7th percentile for weight but quickly climbed to the 95th where he has remained ever since.

Sam (at 7 1/2 months) is in the 100th percentile or setting his own curve, as our doctor said, with his 25 lb weight and almost 30 inches.

Sam has 6 teeth and is crawling like a crazy man. His seemingly mild nature appears to have been overcome with curiosity and sheer brute force. He now crawls and climbs on anyone he can catch and usually attempts to pull their hair or bite their toes. He loves Max's curly blond locks which are growing by the minute and frequently reaches out to pull them. It appears that Max preferred the stationary version of Sam and has much less affection and patience for the forceful, toy stealing one.

Max's vocabulary is growing very fast and he will attempt to copy just about any word you say. Now when he meets people, or people stop to talk to him at the shop, he will usually point to his chest and say "Max". Then sometimes he will go on to introduce others who are with him. The other day, a neighbour who we hadn't seen for a while said hello when we were out with the bikes and Max blurted out"Max... Mummy........ Daddy........ Mummy's bike". He also likes to clarify "Max, boy".

As hard as he tries though, meaningful sentences still illude him and his attempts at novel communication are often interspesed with clicks and foot stamping in frustration if we fail to understand him.

Since we have been in England Max has developed a very strong Northern English accent for a few of his words - much stronger than anyone in my family so I don't quite know where he got it - maybe he just exaggerates the differences. The most obvious ones are "MUmi" for mummy, "BUni" for bunny, "MUni" for money. He also says things are "ponga" meaning stinky. This isn't really an English thing just something my dad (who max calls papa)taught him. He would say Max did a ponga or that max's feet are ponga and max thought this was great. Max burst in on him on the loo one day and said "uuurg, papa ponga". When you ask him who is ponga he usually says either "Max Ponga" or "papa ponga".

His strangest prenunciations, which he has said for a long time and do not appear to be changing, are "Tur Tur" for Richard and "Wa wa" for screwdriver. As thay are words which he uses several times a day, I would imagine they would improve. Part of the problem may be that we start to use the new words too - "hey, Max, pass me your wawa".

All day long Max still has tools on his mind. If something is not working he immidiately says "mend it" and then "wawa". He thinks screwdrivers can fix just about anything. Then if you tell him that we can't fix it with a wawa he looks you in the eye nodding and says "battey" meaning battery. He goes running at the speed of light if he hears Matt in the garage or using a tool. Most of his biggest fights with us are over us confiscating tools that he has found. One time our doctor had to come out of his office to help me in with Max and Sam as max was lying in the middle of the parking lot kicking and screaming because I wouldn't let him take a screwdriver in to the doctors office. Luckily our doctor has boys the same age as Max and Sam and understands all too well. When I told him we were taking the boys to England on the plane he looked at me very simpathetically and wrote them both a prescription for a seditive which worked like a dream - thank you Dr. W.

Now Max will re-live events that happened and try to talk about them - he talks about the "Air pane" (Air plane) and points up in the sky saying high and "bump bump". then he will tell you who he saw when he went on the air-pane.

Other things he likes to tell storises about are times when Richard gets told off. He will start saying "no, tur tur, kennel" and acting out how we tell him off. Sometimes he acts out Richards part too and makes barking, whining and panting sounds. We sometimes worry a little as Max will occasionally stand at the window and woof when someone is coming up the driveway. We hope he grows out of this.

He notices the funniest of things and he loves shoes. He notices when he sees shoes similar to those of someone he knows. A while ago he was looking through a book with pictures of Jesus and looked at me quite concerned and said that Jesus was wearing papa's shoes.

For the past couple of months, one of Max's most common words has been "Carfu" or careful. I suppose we must dsay it to him a lot so now he says it to himself when he is doing something risky or to us if we are carrying him and he doesn't feel secure. It can get quite frustrating - "mummy, carfu. Max Carfu too".

He also says everything is hot and when you tell him it isn't hot he immidiately looks you in the eye, tilts his head and says "worn" meaning warm. It started with food, when we would tell him his food wasn't too hot to eat but he applies it to everything. In fact if he tells you something and you disagree he will often mutter"worn" (as if it means, to the contrary or that's not the case).

Two words that spring to ming when I think of max are entertaining and exhausting. What a funny little chap.

Crawling in England

2009-04-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Sam started crawling yesterday at 7 months and 2 days. He is now after everything that Max has. I can see huge fights breaking out before long as Max used to take things off Sam with very little resistance but Sam is getting faster and stronger all the time. At 7 months and almost 25 pounds he's quite a force to be reckoned with.

Utah in January

2009-03-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

Uncle Danny and Max up at Uncle John's cabin in Sundance

Grandpa got a prize at work for being fabulous - we think he's fabulous too

what more can I say

A lovely day with the Steffies

Auntie Chrissy and Cousin Sadye

Auntie Barb and Aunt Di

Auntie Em and cousins Sam and James

Uncle Dave and cousins Max and Olive

James Sam and Max kick back

Mommy Shannon would not like Olive's diet of Cream Soda and.......

chocolate donuts

Max still loving pickles

The four cousins

Grandma Myrt and Grandpa

Aunt April with Sam

Bestest friends and snuggle buddies

The Max and Sadye story.........

Sayde the princess is very pretty

How can I make a move??

What if I just pretend to be stretching

I think she suspects something

I'm just going to kiss her

Ha haaa I did it, nevermind the elbow

Apacas are for kissing

2009-03-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

puckering up .........

.........and in for the kiss

Max supervising as he tells auntie Chrissy to kiss the alpaca too. Notice his lips in the background

Riding on Carlotta with cousin Sadye

Aunt Barb or "Bahba" with Max and Sadye

So we may have a problem. Max thinks that all animals are there to be kissed. He loves to kiss anything with a furry face but still will not give a proper kiss to adult people - though he will kiss babies and other small children on occasion (grown-up people just get a light head-butt). Whenever Max sees a dog or cat or any animal he goes running up to it with his head forward and making kissing noises - you can see where this could be a problem. We realize it is partly our fault because we wanted to teach him to be kind to animals and love them so we would tell him to give Richard kisses - now we are concerned that he may get his face bitten off as he goes in for the kiss with some strange beast. He also kisses pictures of animals in books, or anywhere else and then he wants you to kiss them too. When we were it Utah we went to watch a cousin play basketball at a school where the mascot happens to be a bear. After the game Max went running down on to the floor and kissed the nose of the giant bear painted on the court. He then took Aunt Barbara by the hand and lead her to the bear pointing at it and wanting her to get down and kiss its nose too.

petting zoo heaven

2009-03-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

At the petting zoo Max was very excited when he saw other children feeding the animals. He stooped down and took a handful of sawdust and shoved it in a goat's face expecting him to eat it. Then he went to the camel and the mini horse getting more and more frustrated that the animals wouldn't eat his "food". Feeling saddened by his growing frustration we repented of our cheap ways and went to buy him some $4 animal food. Does anyone else love the way they do that? - charge you extortionate rates for food to feed their animals. Max got to feed (and try to kiss) kangaroos and ostriches and pigs and camels and all kinds of other odd looking things. By the way, miniature kangaroos may be the softest creatures on earth.

Christmas - at last

2009-03-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's only March right?? I don't feel too bad as we got two Christmas letters last week.

This was the best Christmas ever and I have three letters to tell you why: M.A.X.! We just stayed at home in our little Kentucky house, I gave Matt socks and a summer sausage, he gave me tweezers and a wallet, Sam got a few recycled gifts from his baby shower and Max got everything an almost two year old boy could want - trucks and tools and balls and bats and lots and lots of lollipops. I have never seen such glee as he ripped off paper and shreaked at his new treasures. He's such an enthusiastic little fellow and it's contageous. He played and played and ate candy and played until we thought he must be exhausted but when we put him down for a nap he was so excited that he just sat in his bed singing and shouting. As it was Christmas, we let him get up and he played some more and ate more candy. Then we went over to his best friend Rylee's house and he got to play some more and sit at a princess table for Christmas dinner. I think we finally dragged him away from his toys at 11p.m. and put him to bed. Christmas with Max was fantastic and we are excited for next year when Sam will be able to join in a little too.

The stockings were hung.........

The Christmas pajamas were on.........

Sam's head doubles as a drum

We go to bed and Matt and I wake before the boys. Finally we get too excited to wait any longer on Christmas morning so we go and wake them...and the fun begins.

still holding lollipops

Rylee's house

Christmas kisses

Dad and Sam worn out

"Tanta" at the neighbor's house. This is the Santa that I mentioned in an earlier post that Max would stand at the window and stare at. Each night when Santa inflated we had to take a trip over the road to see him and to give him "five" and "bones". If you look closely you can see Max's hand is clenched ready for Bones. Max misses Santa greatly and still asks where he is from time to time even though it's March. He used to say "tanta, wher'd go?" now he says "tanta, gone". We hope Tanta comes back next year.

Boxing day play

Boxing day was much like Christmas day too - filled with toys and giddiness and candy. I don't think Max cried atall. The next day Max got up for another fun packed day, got into bed with us and was cuddling with Matt - which he never does. "What's wrong" I said looking at his concerned expression. "Hurts" said Max. Next thing we know, a fire-hose-sized flow of throw up is squirting out of Max's mouth and onto Matt's chest. I'll spare you the details but just let it be a lesson to us all that you can't just indulge in endless play and candy eating without there being consequences.

The Ice Storm

2009-02-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

I have heard about freezing rain and ice storms but I could never really picture what they would be like. Any way we got to experience a pretty good one about a month ago. It is very surreal to look outside and see every branch of a tree, every blade of grass and every car encased in half an inch of glass - that's just what it looked like. And every flat surface becomes an instand ice rink. I took Max outside to walk on the crystallized grass forgetting that we had to cross the patio. Not the wisest of outings.
When the roads were finally somewhat safe to venture out we went to look around. It was the most magestic thing I have over seen.

Many people were without power for over a week. Luckily we were only without power for one night.

photos that should have gone with the last post

2009-02-23T14:10:00.000-08:00

The boys and their tools

Heaven on earth - Home Depot screw and bolt section

Oh, pleeeeeeeeeease let me go outside, I'm so miserable in here.

I'll only get a little bit dirty. (note the screwdriver, fly swatter and undone flies)

We didn't mean for this to happen

warming up (a different day)

brrr, it's chilly in Kentucky

February update

2009-02-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

(Photographs are coming - I'm aware that Christmas is not even posted yet)

Sam and Max are becoming fast friends. Max, much to our relief and pleasure is a wonderful big brother. He spends much of his time dancing and chattering in front of Sam. Sam loves to watch Max play and gives him more smiles and giggles than anyone else - which suits Max perfectly. Sam is also showered with Max kisses throughout the day. Max is very interested in where Sam is at all times and gets very concerned if we ever go anywhere without him. He points to the spot where Sam's car seat should be and continually asks "Baby?"

Whenever Sam spits up or does something Max believes he shouldn't Max shouts "oooooh, baby" He is yet to call him Sam, it's always baby. here's a typical exchange
Mum: "Max, say Sam"
Max:"baby"
Mum: "no, Sam"
Max: "baby"
Mum: "no Max, say SAM"
Max: "tam"
Mum:"good, who is this?" (pointing at Sam)
Max:"baby"

Max's current obsession is tools. He watches Matt whenever he works with his tools and just loves it. Matt put up some racks in the kitchen about 3 weeks ago and every day he still points to them and says "daddy" or "too" for tools. When people come to visit he takes them to the kitchen to tell them about his dad's handy work. Because of his interest, and the fact that he hoarded any of Matt's tools that he left lying around, we bought him a small tool kit for Christmas. Though they weren't quite as fascinating as the real thing he still loved them. The problem was that he would collect all his tools together in his tool box and then ask "more, more?". For Valentine's day we got him a huge tool set with a working drill and saw - when he first saw it he squeeled with absolute disbelief and joy - I have never seen such an expression of pure delight. Now whenever we are planning on going out he grabs all the tools and starts stuffing them in to the daiper bag, knowing that we never leave the house without it.

Max likes Sam to be next to him when he is "fixing" things with his tools. He directs Sam by pointing to where he believes he should be. His favorite thing to do the last couple of days has been to fix the kitchen cabinets - he will do it for a long time which would be fabulous if he would fix the bottom cabinets, and leave me alone for a whole. However, he needs to stand on the counter and fix the upper ones. So, if we are feeling particularly tired of fighting Max's demands, Sam and I give in and stand dutifully watching Max while he shows us how to screw and hammer.

Max is going through that really trying stage when he will say the same word over and over and over until you respond to him. The worst one he does is "more". For those of you who are familiar with the seaguls in Finding Nemo, subtitute the high pitched "mine, mine, mine" for "more, more, more" and you've got it. The other problem is that he expects you to know what he wants more of, whether it be pickles or puzzle pieces but when you ask him what he wants more of he thinks you are asking him to use his manners before you will give it to him so he says please. Of course you are no closer to knowing what he wants and he is frustrated because he's being as polite as he knows how. The daily conversation goes much like this:

Max: "more, more, more, more"
Mum: "what Max?"
Max: "more, more, more" (getting closer and closer in your face as he says it - staring right in your eyes)
Mum: "more WHAT"
Max: "peeeeeeeeeeeeeeese

Another thing that Max frequently does is mix up syllables in his words

Sleeping is Peesin: "baby peesin, shhhhh" (as he puts his finger to his mouth)

Unfortunately his sippy cup is not sippy but "pissy"

One of his friends whose name is Gaby is called "Baggy"

Chips are "pich"

I know there are more but can't think of them right now.

More Max-to-English translations:

uf=dog, cuc = truck, goc=sock, rue=screw, wawa=screwdriver (which he says alost as frequently as more), wawa, Go?=where did the real screwdiver go? ( he says this while searching for Matt's screwdriver that we confiscated from him. He gets up in the morning and empties out all his tools on the floor, searches through them saying "wawa, wawa". When he can't find Matt's real one he goes looking under all the couches and then follows me around questioning "wawa, Go?". It makes me really sad and I used to give it back to him every day because I couldn't stand to see his sad confused face. Finally I've come to terms with the fact that his pleading face is not as heartbreaking as a pierced face would be if he fall on the wawa, or worse, fell on Sam.

Both boys had a cold and a bad cough a couple of weeks ago - it was so sad to hear Sam barking. We took them to the doctor and thankfully it was no more than a cold. At the appointment Max weighed in at 32 pounds and Sam at 21 - he wasn't even 5 months old. My poor back.
Sam is not close to crawling yet but he can get the whole length of the living room by rolling. It's quite the skill and gets him where he wants to be.

The winter is long and we are longing for the spring when Max can run and play outside without coming in with mud all over him and blue lips. We are also beside ourselves with excitement about our upcoming trip to England- or at least I am. My mum and dad treated us to plane tickets so the wee boys and I will be going for a month and Matt will be with us for the first 10 days.

A long entry for future times

2008-12-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

Written in the middle of December, 2008 - I just didn't get aroumd to posting it until now:

Christmas is upon us and we haven't sent a single Christmas card, written a Christmas letter or taken a family Christmas photo to mail out. I had good intentions. Maybe next year.

I also had good intentions of writing a journal but haven't made a single entry since Sam's birth. I'm thinking the blog kind of counts as a journal so I'm going to write a few of those things that seem common place now but in a few year's I'll wish I could remember more clearly

We'll start with Max who is the life and soul of the Lassen party. I often say that the most joyful sound and the most dreaded sound in my life is Max's voice. There is nothing more wonderful than the sound of his highly contagious giggle, or the first time he says a word you didn't know he knew, or when he says please (peethse)thank you (co-cou)- and seems like he means it. On the other hand, there is nothing so fearsome as hearing that yell from upstairs when you were sure that nap time should not be over yet. Max is a force to be reckoned with at the best of times but if he wakes up early from a nap there's real trouble.

Max has a funny little vocabulary. He doesn't name off animals (though he does like to make animal noises) or names of people he knows. It consists mainly of things he is interested in us getting for him. He can say most of his favourite foods and drink- pickle, pepper, milk (meek), juice (oosh), ice, cookie, bacon, chocolate (coco), chips (cyip), candy, popcorn (co-con) and our favourite "millions" (miyons) - candy from England that are like mini Mentos. He also likes saurkraut but hasn't managed to say that yet. When we go to Costco he eats about two bites of his hot dog and the entire pot of saurkraut. He is also a huge fan of fizzy drinks. So you can see that our little guy has a strange and not overly nutritious taste. We have to hide any candy or pop from him or he won't stop asking for it. We now realize the wisdom in not letting kids try junk food so they won't realize what they're missing. We can't chew gum around him any more either as he continually asks for some. We try to sneak it in the car sometimes but he always catches us chewing and starts yelling at us.

Some of Max's other words are Richard (ichad), baby, (beebe or a-beebe), Santa (easily confusable with dada except for the fact that he is pointing out of the window to our neighbour's huge inflatable Santa), candle (cagguw - usually accompanied by a blowing sound), ball, ball, ball,
outside (eitze), shoes (ooesh - similar to juice), Max, computer (puta), hat (at), keys (eeys),

He is always coming out with things we didn't think he knew - last night he yelled over to us "stuck" - Matt went over to him to find that he actually was wedged between the toy basket and the couch. The toy basket is a loose term as it rarely contains toys - it could more accurately be termed a step stool as it is carried around as a means of getting to hard to reach places. As soon as Max sees we've cleaned up and put the toys away in his step stool he tips the whole thing over and drags the basket away.

He also says "urtz" for hurts and "ouch" which originally got him much attention so now he greatly over uses them.

Max loves the Christmas tree. We decorated it one Sunday afternoon and undecorated it on Monday afternoon. Glass decorations and Max's obsession with balls are not a good combination. This year our tree is simply decorated with colored lights and popcorn and cranberry chains. For the first few days we had the tree Max would get up in the morning and come to find us making a blowing sound (which means light as well as candle). The he would lead us to the tree and show us that the lights weren't on yet. Now he doen't even bother to ask us - he goes downstairs and squeezes behind the couch to plug them in himself.

The winter doesn't suit Max very well. During the summer he is as happy as a clam playing outside in the dirt and sand, driving his trucks around and climbing. He loves walks to the park and playing in the garden with Richard. Since winter has arrived we have a ard time keeping Max happy and occupied. As Max doesn't feel we do an adequate job of entertainment he finds his own. He is constantly emptying cupboards and drawers and smashing the odd plate or glass that he reaches off the counter. He is still spilling Richard's water and eating his food.

Here are my top 5 favourites from the past couple of weeks.

5- Max and Rylee disappeared upstairs one day to play. I didn't realize that they were playing in Sam's room. When I went up to see what was happening I found them dancing and jumping on a huge pile of clothes and baby supplies. The had unloaded every draw in Sam's closet and pulled out all the lotions and shampoos as well as emptied a big crate of clothes that I'd been sorting.

4- We now need to hide every pen in the house. At first Max would just like to bring us paper and draw but the other day I found that he had heavily decorated one of the dining room chairs with a ball point pen - and I mean heavily.

3-Whenever Max is quiet we know there is trouble. After a particularly blissful 20 minutes of peace on Saturday morning we decided we should probably check on the reason for the quiet (though we were reluctant to break the quiet). We found Max in our closet waist deep in clothes. Every item on the lower rack of the close was on the floor - not a single solitary item remained on a hanger. Several hangers were broken and the drawers were all empty. Matt laughed as his clothes are up high out of the reach of grabby hands. Wait, it's not over - two days later I went upstairs to find I had left the bedroom door open and Max was back in the closet pulling clothes to the ground. To add insult to injury, I opened the closet door to find Max grinning at me with my brand new toothbrush in his grubby little mouth (the reason it was a brand new tooth brush was because he has used my last one to clean the floor).

2-I hear a scattering sound coming from the kitchen - I go in to find the entire box of multigrain cheerios spread over the whole floor. He had reached it off the kitchen counter and spun around shaking the box upside down. It was one of a string of frustrating things he had done while I was feeding Sam (he seems to take advantage when he knows I can't get up fast). I put him in time out (which, incidentally is our downstairs toilet) and then made him help me pick them up and put them in the box. We had almost finished when Sam needed my attention in the livingroom. Foolishly I left Max finishing the job. The next thing I hear is that same scattering sound back in the kitchen. This time I just sat down on the couch defeated while Richard ate all the cheerios his stomach could hold and Max jumped up and down in cheerios crushing them to pieces before trapsing them through the entire downstairs. I turned on the TV and prayed for Matt to come home early.

1-Max asked me for a chocolate pudding one morning. As I wasn't quite ready for the day I thought it would be a good chance to keep him occupied while I went to finish. I put him in his high chair with his pudding and a spoon knowing that I would have to sponge him down when I came back but thinking that it was worth the 10-15 minutes it would afford me. On returinig however I found that it wasn't just the boy that needed sponging down but the walls, the floor, the table, and the entire bookshelf complete with books. That will teach me.

Now for our Sam
Sam is a sweet boy. He was a very mellow newborn and easy to please. Were it not for the fact that he had his days and nights switched for the first 6 weeks of life he was almost the perfect newborn. From the first few days of life Sam has liked to stretch and stand. He could not be swaddled as he brke right out of it with his legs. Now I know why he hurt my ribs so much. We usualy call him Bam or Sam Bam - not sure why actually but it seems to be his lot - maybe it will wear off. We also call him Max quite frequenly as he looks almost identical to how Max did as a baby. Max sees pictures of himself ans says "aaah, bee-be". We can't really tell the difference in baby pictures except that we remember taking them. That's about it for Sam - 3 month olds don't really do much of interest to report.

Scattered pictures

2008-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

He still loves those large utensils

Max at a stone wall building contest - there is so much going on at the weekends in Kentucky!

Rylee's second birthday

Napping on the couch

Max enjoys the packing from his Christmas parcel

Helping in the back garden. Max loves to "help" around the house and even more in outside projects with his Dad. He gets so excited when the broom is left out and runs to it yelling "Boom, Boom"

Sam at the park in his owl outfit from cousin Sofia

Happily swimging at the park

Max with a crayon - not a wise idea unless he's strapped in to his high chair

Snacking on whipped cream (with Richard looking on longingly) ...

and dog treats - eaten in Richard's kennel. Richard and Max are great buddies but Richard definitely gets the short end of the stick. Max torments him to no end and often uses him as a step stool to climb to places he cannot reach alone.

prying the ball from Richard's mouth. If Richard won't give up the ball freely Max yells at us to intervene. If we won't do it he goes in with both hands and tugs until Richard gives in.

taking a break from Max

Haloween

2008-12-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

Max made a most handsome pirate

and was quite a natural with his cutlass (see how the sword is captured in mid-air as he threw it at a girl helping serve dinner)

Max's girlfriend "Little Rylee Ridinghood" was looking stunning and was most concerned that Max should keep his hat on. Mad would shake it off and Rylee would go running after him shouting "Ax.....hat".

Sam the bat was bored by the festivities and slept through the whole dinner at church

and the entire way aroung the neighborhood while trick-or-treating

...still sleeping

Giving kisses to McKay the friendly tiger

Sarah the princess was terrified of Max's new appearance. She was terrified of him and screamed everytime she saw him. This continued the whole evening until we wiped off his moustache and eye brows - then she looked most relieved andstarted playing with him like there was no problem atall.

Every time Max was offered a candy bowl he would scan for lolly pops and grab as many as possible. It took him forever to go from house to house as he was so busy sucking away on his lolly.

He even took a break on someone's front steps while he sucked.

The pumpkin patch

2008-12-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

The boys at the pumpkin Patch.
Max is chewing on a piece of green bell pepper which is one of his favorite foods!

Matt went off to take photos from a distance and Max was very concerned that he had left -below you can see his favorite question "Where'd go??" complete with hand gesture. He asks this to no end even when he knows where something is e.g.when he has hidden something or turned out the light. Then when he produces the hidden object or turns the light back on he squeels "there 'tiiiiis".

"I still can't find my dad"
(He's such a Daddy's boy)
Note that he is still clutching his pepper

"there 'tiiis"

Happy because he found Daddy

We had so much fun that we had to go back again on a date with Rylee - this time we also got to play on the playground and the giant slide. Rylee went down the slide and then went over to Max telling him "Ax, fun" - Translation: "Max that's fun, you should try it". Max went down once and then begged Matt not to put him on again. When Matt carried him back up he hung on to Matt's shirt ond pleaded "ooooh noooooo". Rylee on the other hand was a sliding champion.

Wonderful Visitors

2008-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

I do not know how we would have made it through the past couple of months without our visiting family members. Mum came over from England for a month and took care of us all. She spent her days on Max duty and many long nights on Sam duty - as well as keeping the house in order and caring for me after the surgery. Max loved having Grandma here and whenever he needed something he would yell "maaaaaaaaaaaa" - he couldn't get the "Grand" part in there. We were heart broken to see her go but I'm sure she was glad to go home and get some rest.

Grandma and Grandpa Lassen came out to visit from Utah too. It was Grandma Bonnie's first time to Kentucky so Max was able to show her around and let her see all the horses (which Max thinks are cows and says "moo" as he drives past the fields). He also had a lot of fun giggling with Grandpa who makes him laugh a lot.

Auntie Chrissy came to visit us over Haloween - we love auntie Chrissy. And she loves those boys to death - it's probably good she doesn't live here bacause they would be spoiled rotten and eat slurpees for lunch every day. Max is a very bossy boy and Chrissy says she fears his wrath when he is disappointed so he usually gets his way. It's also pretty hard to say no to his pleading little face when he wants something. Sam developed a breathing problem shortly before Chrissy came which makes him snort like a little pig much of the time. It's nothing serious but it means he sometimes has trouble sleeping (the doctor said he may be allergic to Richard - oh dear). To give his parents a bit of rest during the night Chrissy would often take little piggy in the early hours of the morning which is usually his snortyest time. We had sooo much fun going out on adventures with Chrissy - especially at Haloween. More Chrissy to follow with the Haloween posting.

Chrissy has a pretty funny report of her visit on her blog - see link below:

Kentucky, Crazy Capitol of the World

More on Sam's arrival

2008-11-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hanging out at the hospital

The boys' first meeting

Heading home - very tired

Relaxing at home

Sam Mateo Lassen

2008-11-25T12:36:00.001-08:00

He's here, at a whopping 9lb and 21 1/2 inches, Sam Mateo Lassen.
I realize it's been over 2 months and I'm only just getting around to posting a picture - I've been a little preoccupied and very disorganized. I wasn't ready for the shock of looking after two babies!! Nobody adequately warned me. It's exhausting but wonderful and Max (to our great surprise) is a most loving and sweet big brother.

There are many more photos and updates waiting for me to post and we have set up a new blog address which I will post here soon. Thank you to our wonderful friends and familys who have done soooo much to help us during this crazy time.