Max's New Tricks

Luke and I discussed today about how Max is way cooler than a dog because you can only teach a dog a few tricks whereas Max learns something new every day!  (Yes, we truly have these very intellectual conversations.)  It's so exciting to watch him learn.  For example some of his newest words are:

1. "Uh Oh" (This one is said when things fall to the floor, when he falls down, when mom falls down, when he can't find his pacifier, when mom can't find his pacifier... it's pretty much all day long)
2. " Nooooooooooo" (He says it elongated I think because I'm typically yelling it while running in his direction to try and stop him from things like putting his finger in the outlet we haven't baby proofed yet.  The funny thing is that he sticks his tongue out when saying the "n" so Luke kept asking why Max was saying "mo?")
3. "Hello" (This is his newest word that he now says while putting the TV remote, calculator or cell phone up to his ear.  It's almost creepy the way the tone of his voice changes when he says it.  It sounds a little like "ellow"  I'm thinking he's been hanging out with a British women lately)
4. "Oh Sh**t" (Yes I heard him mumble this one a few times lately and thought to my self "OH SH**T!"  I'm blaming this one on his dad.  The good thing is Max says it pretty quiet because I don't think he's really confident with this one yet so I'm hoping that without reinforcement he will forget he ever heard it!)

So being that Max is now 14 months you would think the next new trick I'm going to tell you about is him walking... sadly no.  He can cruise around anywhere while holding onto things but has yet to venture out on his own.  He's so close though so maybe soon we will have a video out of that one.

No, the next new trick is one that him and his father showed me today while out shopping.  It's the first of the "Oh man look what my husband taught my son" tricks.  Soon he will be peeing on cars and spitting out windows!  This one isn't that bad, it's actually pretty cute.  It's hard to explain in writing exactly what they do so at the risk of being non-politically correct, Luke pretty much taught Max how to do the "Indian."  You know where you take the palm of your hand and put it over your mouth repeatedly while saying "o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o".  That's the only thing I could think of to describe it!  Max loves it and thinks it's really cool.  He's not really great at the hand coordination though and sometimes ends up saying "oooooo" while banging himself in the eye.

Lastly I had to share that, according to my husband, Max had his first "make out session" at day care on Friday.  You can imagine the imagery that this statement put into my head so of course I asked him to clarify.  Beaming (as most dads would) he said that when he went to pick-up Max the little girl who is almost two ran over to say good bye and gave him a huge smooch "RIGHT ON THE LIPS".  My reaction was "Oh, that's all"?  Knowing that French people kiss on the lips all the time I did not consider this a so called "make out session."  However, Luke was so proud that Max was such a stud at day care that I let him gloat a little about it.

Total Stud!  Notice how he styled his own hair using a new product I like to call "Spaghetti Sauce"

A Special Request

So this weekend I was asked by Max's daycare lady's son, Leif, (did you catch that?) if I could write a blog post about his girlfriend to surprise her as he said she reads my blog.   I of course obliged because I'm nice like that :) and I like people that read my blog. hehe :)  When I got back into my car after accepting this request I thought to myself... hmmm what can I write about Chelsea?

Should I write about the fact that she was the only babysitter that I liked/trusted to watch Max and now that she's off to college trying to pursue the rest of her life I'm stuck watching DVDs on my couch instead of going to movies in the theater?  This is serious as I have a bad case of narcolepsy when it comes to watching movies in my living room.  I purposely leave every single light on, sit up straight and sometimes drink caffeine just so I can sit through an entire movie.  It's horrible.  Due to this habit of falling asleep Luke has banned me from selecting movies as he hates it when it's my turn and I pick out a chick flick only to fall asleep halfway through leaving him to finish watching "my dread full movie" by himself.  Why doesn't he just turn it off you may ask... he can't.  Much like my falling asleep he has a problem with finishing movies.  It could be the dumbest movie out there and he WILL NOT turn it off.

On the other hand, I could write about the fact that Chelsea and Leif blow-up each others facebook walls with "I love you" "I love you more" I love you too" I miss you" Can't wait to see you this weekend" "loved seeing you this weekend"... etc all day long.  She went off to college 2.5 hours away and now the rest of us have to suffer.  I'm totally/ somewhat kidding :)  I understand what it's like to be separated from your sig other (I think that's what cool people are calling it these days) but at least keep it to texting or skype or something. :)

So in the end I decided the best thing to write about Chelsea is the fact that she's a super sweetheart and Max loves hanging out with her and Leif so I guess I'll keep them around a little longer.

P.S. Chelsea, if you ever come back to Madison for the weekend and want to watch Max let me know!  We will pay you in cash plus Arbonne products as a bonus :)

Pumpkin Train

Even before I was pregnant my mother-in-law talked about taking our future kids on the little Pumpkin Train to pick out a pumpkin.  That day has finally come.

Today my mother-in-law, Max and I drove to Marshall, Wisconsin to ride the train and get Max a pumpkin.  Max was soaking in all the kids running around and I think he was really enjoying the sites.

Then the train started to come around the corner and he almost started to cry.  In his defense it was a little louder than I expected and there were kids yelling everywhere.

Once on the train he still wasn't so sure but he started to enjoy himself a little.  Then came time to pick out the pumpkin...

Let's just say he was not as excited to sit in prickly grass next to a pumpkin in the middle of a field with kids running around screaming... as I thought he would be

Not happy!

What's that pumpkin doing? 

The ride back was much better and I think Max relaxed a little and started having fun.

The tunnel spooked him a little bit as it was pretty dark in there but it didn't make him cry again.

My favorite picture of the day

I really enjoyed taking Max to a new experience and hope that in the future we can spend more time together.  He's such a fun little boy!  Thanks Grandma for a fun afternoon trip!

Yeah Solid!

All I'm going to say is this is the text message that I received from my daycare provider this morning.  Max has been a little under the weather these past few weeks and without being too graphic I'll just tell you that there was a lot of clothing changes going on due to "leakage."  I'm sure he wasn't feeling too well but I'm more excited for selfish reasons, if you know what I mean.

What a pleasant text to receive at 7:30am :)  I'm thinking his tummy and his booty must be feeling much better!

Go Pack Go?

It is the opening night of the NFL (National Football League) and I have mixed feelings.  I know most people (my husband) are SUPER excited about tonight but I'm feeling a little "eh"  I'm excited that Maroon 5 (mostly Adam Levine) sang "Moves Like Jagger" to open the night and it's pretty cool that the Packers are the reigning Super Bowl Champs but what tonight really means is now every Sunday I'm "husband less."  With 8+ fantasy football leagues I can't even get him to look up from his i-Pad/Computer on Sundays to even acknowledge me. (seriously)  I have plans a few Sundays from now and even though my husband will be home, I'm considering hiring a babysitter just to make sure Max is well taken care of.  

I will admit that I did watch the super bowl... I think?  But like most women it was the commercials I was most interested in.  I guess I just don't exactly get the obsession with sports but then again I'm a girl - disclaimer- some girls like sports, I'm not judging :)

Some of my family will be disappointed that I'm cheering for the Packers, as they are Vikings fans, but as a true Minnesotan and "Fair Weather Fan" I'm sticking with the winning team.  No I'm just kidding... about the fair weather fan, not about cheering for the Packers (sorry to my brother).

Wish me luck the next 16+ Sundays :)

My new office!... well sort of.

If you haven't noticed I've been a little scarce with posts lately.  I blame it on the fact that even though I have a one year old and currently work full time I decided to start my own business!  I am a new Independent Consultant with Arbonne International!!!!!

It's taken me over a year to finally jump in and see where this amazing company can take me and I'm so excited.  I feel like I'm back to my college days when I sold cosmetics at a cosmetic counter... only better.  I tried the RE9 skincare for the first time about a month ago and after using 10+ different brands of products in my lifetime I have to say that it's the best thing I have ever tried.  My goal is to reach Regional Vice President within the next year thus earning my white Mercedes Benz.  Wish me luck!

Since my launch party over a week ago I have been accumulating samples, products to use in my presentations, products for clients, catalogues and other materials.  They are beginning to take over my small two bedroom apartment.  Therefore, I knew in order to stay organized I needed an office.  Unfortunately, as I just stated we live in a two bedroom apartment.  Thus I decided to take over a corner of our Master Bedroom and make that my so called "office."  

 Here is the small corner that I had to work with.

Here is what the corner looks like now!  Complete with organizing cubes from Target {favorite store}.  I have a box for office supplies, one for samples, another for paperwork, one for gift bags and tissue and the last for catalogues. {which by the way the new Holiday catalogues are out and I"M OBSESSED}

I love my new office.  Hopefully once I become extremely successful I can have a real office but until then this will work just great.

Max's 1st Birthday {Whale Birthday Party}

Saturday was Max's first birthday!  I cannot believe how fast this year has gone.  When he was first born the only song I sang that would calm him was "Baby Beluga" by Raffi.  Therefore, when I tried to think of a theme for his first birthday party I came up with a whale theme... baby beluga whale.  The colors I chose were blue and orange.  I had so much fun collecting blue and orange things and thinking up food that would go with the whale theme and also be blue and orange.

The party turned out great.  We had about 25+ people there of mostly family.  For food I came up with the idea to do a Mac n' Cheese bar because Max loves Mac n' Cheese.  Also, it's a kiddie food but as there were mostly adults at the party I had more adult toppings like chicken, broccoli, hamburger, tomatoes, scallions, Parmesan and bread crumbs.

The sailboat centerpiece is from my mom's personal collection.  She loves all things nautical.

I made this banner on my computer and then tied it together with orange and blue ribbons.

For the dessert bar I had blue cupcakes, angel fish cookies and chocolate covered pretzels.  I made the pretzels myself, the rest of it I bought from Market Street Diner.  They did an amazing job!

I made the cupcake toppers on my computer as well.

The chocolate covered pretzels were a hit.  I added food coloring to make the white chocolate orange to match the theme. 

Jello with gummy fish.

For table centerpieces I had little pales filled with gold fish crackers topped with a pinwheel. 

Even though Max was the only kid I found this whale pinata and just HAD to buy it.

I figured Max would get bored with opening gifts but he LOVED it.  He was so excited about his gifts.

Grandpa John got him his own loader to help with the construction.  

He loved that everyone sang him happy birthday!

Market Street Diner made him his own smash cake with a whale on it. 

I expected him to dig into it but all he wanted to do was throw it on the floor so I scooped some frosting up with my finger to try and entice him to eat it.  He didn't like the frosting that much and wasn't really interested. 

Instead he just chewed on the spoon.  The smash cake is almost completely untouched and sitting in my fridge.  I guess that plan backfired!

My best friend Morgana got him his "Beep Beep" It's a super cool car that is used instead of a stroller.  He had a blast riding around in it! 

It even has cup holders.  No drinking and driving allowed! :)

Popping a wheelie.

At the end of the party we realized that we never hit the pinata so we gave Max his mini stick (of course) and he tapped at it a few times. 

Then all the adults took turns.  Isn't this a sad picture of the little whale?

Morgana and my mom tried to help Max finish it off but as soon as they began beating the whale he started bawling.  I guess he didn't want to hurt it.

I have to thank my mom, dad and Morgana for all the hard work they put in helping me pull off such a great birthday party for Max.  I know he will never remember it but hopefully he will look back at the pictures and know how much time and love I put into making his first birthday special.

Pink Bridal Shower

Yesterday I hosted a bridal shower for my sister-in-law.  She loves pink and everything girly so I ran with it!  I came up with the idea to do and dip party and was trying to think of a way to combine the dip idea along with it being a bridal shower but I couldn't make it click so I stuck with the dips and left it at that.

There was a great turnout of people and thanks to the Maid of Honor, my sister-in-law's best friend, for putting the games together.  So much fun.

Maid of Honor, Bride, Me (we did not plan the coordinating colors)

It's worth it to ME!

Somehow the conversation at our class reunion last weekend turned towards cleaning the house and with pride I announced that YES I have a cleaning service.  I know I only live in a two bedroom apartment and that to some people having a "Cleaning Lady" is an extravagance but to me it's a necessity.

The first time the idea was put into my head was when we were living in Muskegon, Michigan for hockey.  My friend and neighbor in the building had a women come clean her condo every week or every other week and so whenever I went over there for wine it was always so nice and spotless.  While downstairs in my apartment there was a dust bunny farm in every room.  The hardwood floors were "hard" to clean especially without a vacuum and I just didn't see the need for anything other than a swiffer.  Which by the way does not really get the job done.  I'm not a dirty person per say I just don't enjoy cleaning so I typically only did it once a month... if that.  That meant walking around on sandy floors, rings around the toilet {yes I'm admitting it} and pink shower grout.  Not so cool.  The kitchen is the only place I clean daily and that's because it's not appetizing to have a gross kitchen and I enjoy eating.

So this friend of mine suggested I hire her cleaning lady and I thought it was a genius idea!  I brought it up to Luke and he laughed in my face.  I guess he figured that with me working from home and not having too many friends in town that I should have plenty of time to Swiffer the bunnys away.  So much for that!

It wasn't until we had Max that the cleaning started to be non-existent.  Luke would make snide comments about things being dirty and in the middle of feeding, changing, burping, doing laundry and trying to get Max to sleep I would shoot him dirty looks and sometimes even felt the urge to growl {although I never did}.  Instead I would just get angry and overwhelmed... that mixed with lack of sleep made me a SUPER FUN person to be around let me tell you!

I tried asking Luke to help but his idea of cleaning is spraying Fabreeze on it and letting it air dry.  I'm not even sure he would know where to find the Fabreeze if he needed to use it.  Therefore, in January I called up a cleaning service and had them come look at my place.

They talked about cleaning cob webs every time and getting on their KNEES to clean the floors and how they clean dirt out of the bathroom vent {I didn't even know you could do that}.  I was so giddy that I hired them on the spot.  They come every two weeks and I love it.  Some people hear this and possibly look down on me for spending money on something that I can damn well do myself but how I see it is this: I work full time, have a one year old son and and thirty year old husband and I would rather spend my time with my family, reading, crafting or just doing ANYTHING other than cleaning.  Therefore, this is worth the money to me.

What is something that you do or have that is worth the money to you that sometimes others just don't agree with?

My apartment on cleaning day {friend Hartman on the couch in his usual spot}