E-Christmas Card

Well,

I always have good intentions of sending out a Christmas Card. I ACTUALLY did it last year. But Alas. Christmas will be here in 6 days and I haven't even mailed out my Christmas gifts to my sisters and sister in law. And I have to work the next 3 days. So...

I will have to do a Blog Post/Christmas Card again this year.

Here we go.

This year started off with a pretty traumatic event. Just 4 days into it we had the notorious Tylenol PM incident that gave Max his very first ER visit.

But he also learned to walk. Which may or may not be a good thing. Because now he runs away from me any chance he gets! I can't believe he's only been walking for a year... seems like he's been walking forever!

Just a day before Max's First Birthday Chris was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. A little atypical for someone his age, but not crazy rare. He has been doing well making changes to his diet, being aware of carbs, and taking his insulin. He has managed it very well.

Max turned 1 year old.

Chris completed his final classes at the end of April getting his degree in Network and Communications management. He worked hard and I am so proud of him!

To celebrate his graduation, both our Birthdays (Chris turned the big 3-0), and our 5 year anniversary we went to Peurto Vallarta for some much needed R&R. I got to sleep in for the first time since Max was born! 

Chris officially graduated in June and he spent 2 and a half months looking, applying, and interviewing for jobs.

He had interview for a job at Skywest (Where he was currently employed) for an IT job. It was going to require a lot of travel. He really wanted it and was a pretty good candidate. He interviewed on a Wednesday and was supposed to hear their decision the next Monday. He had another interview on Monday and was hoping to not have to go to it because he wanted to have the Skywest Job. When he didn't hear from them, he went to his interview at EMC. He came back telling me about what a good company it was and now he was confused which job he wanted. On Tuesday he got a call. But not from Skywest, from EMC wanting a second interview the following day. He spent all night preparing and studying for questions they might ask. On Wednesday he went to his second interview and they offered him a job. And as he was accepting it Skywest was calling him on his phone to offer him that job. But EMC offered him a really good wage, as well as lots of opportunities to advance in a fortune 500 company. We are so grateful that Skywest hadn't called on Monday when they said they would. Or else he would never had interviewed at EMC. And our lives would be so different!

Life is busy now. Chris works during the week and I work weekends. We are both working full time right now in effort to save some money.

Max is a busy boy. He loves to be active and explore. He loves to be outside. He has an unexplained obsession with the moon. He loves looking in the sky and looking for the moon. He also love's "Sta" (Stars) Maybe he'll be an astronaut one day?

I can't believe he is going to be 2 in a few months! He loves shapes and knows all of them. He finally started calling his cup a "cup" instead of a "Ga". He knows all of his body parts. He loves "turtow's" and "Efa's" (Elephants) and Sha (Fish). He loves to throw tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. I have been working on my ignoring skills, but it is hard sometimes. He is just a spoiled little boy. But he will give you kisses whenever you ask and he really brings so much joy to our little family.

We really have had an eventful year. I have called it our year of illness, because despite the fact that Chris got diabetes, we have had multiple colds, Chris had the flu and pneumonia and I got food poisoning last week. So I hope that we are done for awhile.

Here's to 2011 and hoping 2012 will be amazing!

November Events since I didn't blog...

So....

It's been awhile. Again.

Not sure if I am good at this blogging thing anymore. I think that Facebook and Pinterest have crowded my Internet time. Not to mention precious time that Chris and I actually get to spend alone together. Not to mention the time I can actually watch what I want to watch instead of Baby Einstein, Sesame Street, and Super Why. But I do like to blog. I mainly do it as a photo/journal of what is going on in my life. As well as documenting my feelings at the time.

November

Chris left for Boston for 18 days in November for special training at the headquarters of EMC. It was difficult for me to be a single mom. Juggling work, baby sitting, Max's endless energy, and household things I can typically get out of like taking care of the cats (food and litter box) and taking out of the garbage were all me. I was lonely at night after Max went to sleep. I woke up at least 2 times every night while he was away. I sleep so much better when he is here. I would get scared often and find myself startling at shadows or even my cats thinking it was something scary. It was hard. I am glad he is home.

But a really exciting thing happened while he was away! On 11-11-11 my little sister, Sara, got married to my brand new brother (in law) Spencer. I have never had a brother before and I am so excited!

She was married in the Draper Temple and than had her reception at the University of Utah's Museum of fine arts. She was beautiful and it was a very special day. I am gonna miss her now that she is in California for good, but I know she is happy and she picked a great man. Plus her roommates (now ex-roommates) were absolutely AMAZING. They hadn't even known her for more than 2 years, but contributed large amounts of their time and energy to her wedding. I was way impressed and glad that they are out there in Cali to help take care of her since I am so far away. She has surrounded herself with good people.

Max getting his groove on.

It is hard to take pictures of a toddler that wont sit still for more than 2 seconds!

My little man Max is now 21 months old. He will be 2 years old in a couple of months... crazy!

He is an active little guy. Always on the go. In fact, I feel like the older he gets, the more energy he has. It is exhausting!

Max is absolutely fascinated with everything around him. Watching him discover the world is so fun. He is in the mimicking stage right now which is so cute. Except when he tries to clean the toilet with the duster because he thinks it is like the toilet brush. In fact he is quite fascinated with the toilet.

I have tried to use this stage to my advantage to get him to try new foods, to brush his hair and his teeth, to let me put his shoes on. I have even got him to sit on his little potty as long as I am sitting on the big one. I honestly don't believe potty training to be anywhere in the near future, but I might as well get him used to the idea for when it is time. 

The one thing he loves to mimic is putting things in his hair like daddy does. He's watched Chris put putty in his hair so he wants to do it too. Trouble is he has used daddy's putty as well as neosporin, diaper cream, and toothpaste in his hair.

Here is the toothpaste:

  

He missed most of his hair and it was just on his forehead! Ha ha ha

We went to free day at the zoo with my friends and their kids. It was fun even though it was FREEZING! Max really loves the train and the carousel. I can't wait to take him on more rides at either Lagoon or Disneyland. I can tell he will love them. He loves elephants and lions.

He never wants to let me change his diaper or get him dressed. It is a constant struggle every time. Here he is running away from me. I was just lucky to get that diaper on! 

Spaghetti face. He loves "noodows"

When I look at this pic I get the sense that this is how he is going to look when he is older. 

I put up Christmas today. I was going to do it right after Thanksgiving, but delayed it a little due to Max's high energy and enormous sense of curiosity. Even while I was putting it up he managed to take 5 ornaments down and kicked the "balls" (meaning the glass balls) across the room. I just hope I can put up with 2 and a half weeks of "don't take it off the tree!"