Max is 2!

How in the world is my baby 2?!?! There are no words to describe this sweet soul.  But I will try because I truly want to remember him forever at this age.

• "Sweet" is always how I describe Max.  He truly is the sweetest thing.  He's a kind, gentle person. I see it in the way he treats everyone, the way he loves animals and babies, in everything, really.  
• He's still pretty cuddly and I LOVE it. 
• He loves to be sung to.  And if I start singing the "wrong" song, he starts screaming "no!" until I start singing the song he wants. He likes me to sing "Key!" (Mickey). And more specifically "Ot Dog!" (the Mickey Hot Dog song). He also loves "Skin-a-ma-rink." And always sings along to "moon" and a few other words. And he's always right on pitch! Mark my words, this kid is a musician. 
• He's a total mama's boy.  Maybe more than ever? It's *almost* gets exhausting sometimes. ;) He is constantly yelling, "MAMA!!!!" and trying to get my attention. He is persistent until I give him attention. He sobs when I'm not there, leave the room, etc. I pretend to be annoyed sometimes, but I secretly love it. 
• He's talking more and more.  I'm impressed with how quickly he's learning! I can understand most things he's saying, but most others can't. He's stubborn about his words.  He still insists every moving vehicle is a "choo choo." He'll see a car and say "choo choo!!!" over and over, even when correct him and tell him it's a car. I eventually give in and agree it's a choo choo, and he's very satisfied. 
• He's pretty stubborn in general.  He's more soft spoken in general than Andy is, but he still knows exactly what he wants. Zero to sixty in two seconds.  He goes from sweet to ANGRY. He can get some serious rage over the smallest things.  I know it's typical toddler behavior, but it just feels so unexpected with him since he's always been the sweetest, most easy going guy. Most of his rage is directed towards taking something away from him that he really, really wants. Like Andy's markers. (Which he calls "elmo" for some reason.) He's quite the trouble maker in general.  He's always getting into things and making messes.  Exciting things like painting our bathroom floor with nail polish. 
• Recently, he's become quite the climber. It's terrifying. Andy's a little more cautious so I never really had to deal with this with him.  But with Max, I turn around for two seconds and he's on the kitchen counter playing in the medicine cabinet. And then I'll take him down and he's up there again two seconds later. Stinker. 
• He HATES nursery.  With every fiber of his little being. He did better with it in the beginning, but he just can't handle it now.  You've never seen anyone so upset. I'll leave him in there for twenty minutes and he still can't calm down--he's just hysterical. 
• He has quite the sweet tooth.  He loves "tweets" and "cookies." He constantly asks for them. This means Halloween was his favorite holiday ever. 
• He is obsessed with his little "choo choo," a push-along bike thing. He always asks to ride it and oftentimes just goes into the garage to sit on it. 
• He loves when I chase him around and tickle him. He asks me to do it all the time, "MAMA?! Get you?" Coming from me saying, "I'm gonna get you!" It's very cute. 
• He loves Andy. He gets sad when Andy goes to school and always points out "Andy buh-bye" a few times while he's gone. 
• He's a picky eater. Drives me crazy.  He'll love something one day and won't eat it the next.  The one thing he consistently loves is his green smoothie every morning. He also loves cheese. He has kind of an adult pallet and loves nuts and other things that surprise me. He HAS to feed himself everything now and always throws all of his food on the ground when he decides he's done. (I can't watch him eat...the mess stresses me out.) He surprised me at this two year visit and had gained 6 pounds! I'm always nervous he's not eating enough, so that was nice. I think he's 28ish pounds now? 
• He finally loves some TV shows, which honestly is really nice. I can occupy him for a few minutes if I'm trying to do something. 

This sweet boy is an absolute joy! The Terrible Twos are alive and well, and he's testing me more than ever, but I'm still wrapped around his little finger. Love this sweet boy. 

He'll sit like this for five minutes after his bath.

He loves to play the piano. He does NOT like when it's Andy's turn to practice piano and not his turn.

Livin the life on Halloween on his choo choo.

The cutest little naked bum running around the house.

Sweet brothers.  Max is more likely to do what Andy says than what I say, so I usually put Andy in charge of holding Max's hand. 

Cute guys reading. Max is a lover of books.

Summer

My keys are locked in my car today, so it gives me a good excuse to catch up on the blog. :) We had a great summer! The boys were at such fun ages to really enjoy everything.

Here are some highlights:

• Completely last minute, I decided to do the Little Red 50 miler.  It went well considering I literally did zero training. :) And our costumes were a hit!  

•  Cam went on a fishing trip with his dad and brother to N. California. They had a blast! 

•  I got to go to Youth Conference with our stake! We went to Flaming Gorge and rafted down the Green River. I had a blast with the other YW leader from our ward, Amanda. We had a super fun/crazy boat crew. We may have gotten stuck multiple times going down the river, and we all became true sharks (got thrown in the river), but it was a blast! And the good news is that I think I've almost recovered from being in charge of planning and buying snacks for the entire stake.  

•  We did a little hiking on date nights. Best date ever, especially when you follow up with Yogurtland. :) 

• Cam went on on early morning, long hike with some work friends.

  

• Lots of fun at our neighborhood splash pad! Max loved it this year. 

•  I got to go to Girls Camp for a few days, and it was a blast! I had so much fun hanging out with the girls and the other leaders. 

•  We went to Seven Peaks just about every week! The boys LOVE it.  My parents got to come with us quite a bit too. Andy got brave enough to go down the big orange slide (after my parents practically tricked him into it, lol), and then he was obsessed the rest of the summer. 

•  We had a great July 4th! I ran in the 10K in Provo, we watched the Parade, we went up to Sundance with Cam's family, and met my family for a pool trip and dinner.  

• We went to the zoo a few times! Andy was obsessed with the dinosaurs. He barely looked at the animals.  

My dad retired, and it's been amazing to have him around to do so much with the boys.  They adore him. 

• We had some fun park dates with my parents! 

•  A major highlight was that we officially started a business in June! We sell baby bandana bibs on Amazon with some friends of ours.  It's gone great so far! As of now, we have six sets total. It's been such a fun project for us!  

• A not so fun part of the summer: I had a really tough miscarriage. :( I found out I was pregnant at the end of June. We were thrilled! I prepped to get really sick, then the sickness never came.  It made me a little nervous, so I went in for a 6 week ultrasound, and there was a heartbeat and everything! All was well, so I stopped worrying.  I went in for a routine checkup at 9 weeks, and the baby had stopped growing at 8 weeks--no heartbeat anymore. :( I was devastated, of course.  I ended up being rushed to the ER a week or so later from losing too much blood.  I ended up being admitted overnight, and then spent most of August in bed.  It was a rough ordeal that, unfortunately, isn't completely over yet.  One of the hard things in life, I guess! Many thanks to the many people to helped out in so many ways during the whole thing. 
• Cam and I celebrated our 30th birthdays! Cam's big day happened to be the day we were driving back from California, but his parents made it special when we stopped there for dinner on our way home.  We had a fun dinner on my birthday.  Plus, I got to go to Lagoon with my sister Rachel that day too! I love my kids...but so fun to go to an amusement park without them! I'm a total roller-coaster junkie, so I loved Cannibal. 

•  Andy took another round of swimming lessons at the Rec Center with his pal Logan. 
• We had a great family reunion with Cameron's Baker side. 
• We went to a Bee's game with Cameron's work. 

All in all, a fantastic summer! 

Andy at 4

This is the best age.  I think I say that at every age, but I really mean it this time.  Andy's just as cute and fun as ever, but is also a little more capable and obedient.  It's a magical combo!

• Andy loves doing what he calls his "learning book."  He begs me all morning until we do it. Basically, they're just little Kumon workbooks to help him get ready for preschool/kindergarten.  He can count to 30 and can write through 20.  He can write all of his uppercase letters and can usually tell you which letter a word starts with. I love how much he loves to learn! 
• Same thing with plano lessons! He begs me all morning until we do it.  (And no that's not a typo...he calls them plano lessons. :) I've decided he's not quite ready to start serious, formal lessons, but I work with him for 15-20 min a day on rhythm, notes, etc.  He loves it, and I think he's talented! I think early music education is so important, so I love that he loves it. :) 
• He loves his sweet friends!  He loves to play with them.  He calls both kids and adults his friends--it's cute. :) 
• He LOVES to swim.  We've gone to Seven Peaks a lot this summer, and he loves it.  He's (overly) confident in the water and could spend all day swimming.  He can swim a few strokes by himself, but still mostly uses his puddle jumper.  
• As always, an early riser.  He wakes up at 6 or 6:30 every morning.  Before you feel to sorry for us, know that he just plays in the toy room until Cam and I wake up.  So it's fine! 
• He's very good about his morning jobs. He has to clean his bedroom, make his bed, and brush his teeth. And occasionally he has to clean his toy room if needed.  He's actually a great worker! He does it all the first time I ask, even if I can tell he's not in the mood that day.  
• His favorite foods are cheese han-ga-burs and basagne. :) 
• He loves going to primary at church.  He loves his teachers. He loves the songs.  (His favorite is Follow the Prophet.) He's learning so much! He even taught (I use that word very loosely) our Family Home Evening the other night.  He taught us about baptism, prayer, and Jesus.  
• He's obsessed with praying.  He HAS to be the one who prays or he throws a fit.  If we convince him it's someone else's turn, he still has to say a prayer after them. 
• He and Max are starting to play well together, occasionally.  But for the most part, Andy is way too rough with him.  We're not sure how to help Andy be more kind to/gentle with Max.  
• I think the hardest part of life with Andy right now is how destructive he is.  He loves to throw things that shouldn't be thrown, push things over, push every button, pull every lever, etc.  It's very frustrating. 
• He loves his independence and the things he can do by himself! He has to be the one to close the garage.  And he and I both love that he can buckle and unbuckle himself into his car seat.  
• He's gotten a lot better at his balance bike! He loves to ride around the block.  
• He LOVES to sing.  We play Disney songs on pandora in the car, and he's obsessed.  He also sings along to all the songs on the radio.  
• He went through a phase for a few months when he was constantly pointing out people's "big bum bums" and asking people if they have a baby in their tummy (when they didn't). And usually patted their tummy when he asked.  It was the WORST.  He literally did it a few times a week.  I've got a huge list of people he's offended.  Thankfully, he seems to have finally caught on that you can't say those things to people.  Even though his sweet, naive mind still can't understand why it would make people sad for him to say those things.  
• He's obsessed with our garden! He goes out to water with Cameron every night and is constantly having me come out to see how big the plants are getting.  
• He calls Cameron "Cam" instead of Dad.  So funny.  Especially since he calls me mom.  He's just as obsessed with Cameron as ever.  He is the best dad.  
• His memory is incredible!  We'll pass somewhere we went a year ago, and he starts talking about what we did/saw there.  
• He still gets into plenty of trouble.  So much of it happens, it doesn't even some noteworthy to me now.  Last week's event was when he poured cups of water through our vacuum pipes during quiet time.  I dumped it out and let it dry out for a few days, and *thankfully* it still works.  How does he even think of this stuff? 
• He loves to be on the go!  He's always asking me what's next, what are we doing today, how many days until school starts, etc. He's excited about life.  
• As always, he's a big boy.  He seems to have skipped size 4 altogether and has been wearing size 5 for six months.  He's tall (43 inches?) and weights 43 lbs.  Anytime I try to lift him, I about die. 

Andy is an absolute joy in our lives!  He makes everything fun and exciting.  I'm convinced he's destined for greatness.  I feel so privileged to be the mom of such a special person.  

He asks me to take his picture all the time and does the funniest poses.

Andy's Birthday Parties

We rushed back from camping so we could have Andy's friend party on his actual birthday.  He was SO EXCITED!  I let him pick everything out...his (weird) robot invitations, which he loved delivering to every guest.  He picked out funfetti cupcakes with orange frosting.  And cotton candy ice cream cones, of course.  He had about a dozen friends over (craziness!) to run in the sprinklers and play on our slip 'n slide.  Andy loved every second of it, so I'd call it a success.  

He could hardly wait for his friends to come.  Can you tell? His job was to put a party hat on everyone.  

We played a rousing game of duck, duck, goose while we waited for more guests to arrive. 

4 is THE cutest age.  This is the friends playing hide and seek.  They loved to hide in large groups. :)

 We had a family party a week later with Andy's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and G.G. (Cameron's grandma.)  We had "cheese han-ga-burs" (Andy's favorite), and of course, cake and ice cream.  He was spoiled to death with tons of fun presents.  He's one loved kid!

The birthday hat made a reappearance. :)

Max and Jordon have the sweetest bond.

Monster feet!

G.G. gave Andy this biking jersey, and we're all obsessed!  She knows how big into biking my family is, so it's perfect.  Andy has to go put it on now every time he's going to ride his bike. :)  

Birthday boy with his four candles.

I think he was a little confused, basically having three birthday celebrations so close together.  He's still asking when his birthday is, like it's going to be next week or something.  He's officially a fan of birthdays!