Max - 2 Months

Max is 2 months old now. At his doctor appointment he measured 22 inches and 11 lbs 14.5 oz. He is in the 50% percentile. The day before he hit 2 months he started sleeping about 6 hours from his last feeding around 8 pm. Before that he was doing 4-4 1/2 so 6 is wonderful! The pediatrician kept thinking that Max was 4 months instead of 2 because he is so strong and social. If he catches your eye he'll flash you a smile and coo at you. He loves to watch McKay and have him play with him or talk to him. When Max cries in the car, McKay and I sing to him songs picked by McKay and he usually falls right to sleep. Max is very social and likes to be where we are. He seems anxious to grow up and play with McKay so I am doing my best to enjoy him while he is my sweet little baby!

Max likes his bumbo. McKay had to get his chair and sit by Max.

I rarely get a picture of Max alone because McKay wants to be in it too. McKay also likes to lay by Max on the floor which actually keeps them both entertained for quite a while!

So far Max hasn't been the greatest napper but he always sleeps when we go for walks.

Now who is this toy for??!? :)
McKay is sure Max wants music on if the toy has music with it. He is very attentive to Max and if Max happens to sleep longer than an hour during the day, McKay is excited when he wakes up.

McKay - 3 Years

McKay turned 3 years old on July 17, 2010. Some of his 'skills' are the following:

• He can count to about 15. Then there a bunch of 'ufteen's until he hits 20.
• He recognizes most of the letters in the alphabet and knows which are the vowels. He can spell his name, On and Off. He likes to 'play abc's' on the computer (www.starfall.com) and can run the mouse. He has also started tracing letters I've written for him.
  
• McKay LOVES to sing songs, talk on the phone and computer (web cam) and read books.
• He loves the park, the library, the discovery museum, playing with his friends (Thomas, Andrea, Evee, Connor, Jared), and cars and trains.
• McKay loves to 'create' whether it is painting, coloring, or sticking stickers and does a good job.
• He has an EXCELLENT memory and is constantly amazing us with what he remembers.
• He is day-time potty trained.
• His favorite shows are Word World and Cars.
• His current lunch time preference is a cheese sandwich. Peanut Butter and Jelly was the favorite for a few months before that.
• McKay loves cookies, both eating them and making them. He is always very eager to help out in the kitchen and is very good at licking the bowl, which he comes by VERY honestly. :)
• McKay loves family home evening and again amazes us with what he knows and remembers. He recognizes by name Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, Temples, President Monson, baptism and that Daddy will baptize him at 8, the Sacrament, etc. At our last home evening we started quizzing him after he surprised us by recognizing the Book of Mormon in a picture.
• We can tell what stood out in McKay's day or what he wants to do by what he prays for at night. The most recent was that we could move our house and set up our Christmas tree. He has been anxious for 'Nanna Papa Dustin Chantelle' to come back so I told him the next time we would see them will be at Christmas. Now he regularly asks if we can set up the Christmas tree - then it will be Christmas and they will all 'come home' right?
• McKay can't fall asleep mad. Since he decided he was done with naps at 2 1/2 he is often so tired by bedtime that it isn't a very pleasant experience helping him get ready for bed. He will not fall asleep until we've gone in and given him hugs and kisses.
• McKay understands pretty much everything we say to him and we can understand most of what he says.
• McKay is a tease.
• He is really sweet with Max and can't wait until he is big enough to play trains and cars with him and run and the list goes on and on.

We celebrated McKay's birthday when my family was here so on his actual birthday we took him to lunch at Stacks.

It is a breakfast place so the white stuff is actually whipped cream with fruit on the bottom and chocolate chips. Not the greatest but it still made McKay happy!

After lunch we took him to a movie in the theater. It is so expensive that we haven't been to a movie as a family since we lived in Utah and didn't have to pay for McKay. We took him to Toy Story 3. After the movie ended McKay exclaimed "I love that show!" and we decided it was totally worth the ridiculous price!

We celebrated McKay's birthday on the 4th of July. It was so fun to have family here to celebrate with us! We invited friends over to help us eat cake and ice cream for McKay's first 2 birthdays but it isn't the same. We told McKay Nanna would come back with everyone else in July for his birthday. Boy was he excited for July to come!

He even took a nap that afternoon which gave Chantelle and I a chance to decorate his cake. It was fun having help! I let her do all the hard parts. :) He was so excited when he saw the cake waiting on the counter. Needless to say, he ate his dinner in a hurry!

Last year he wasn't too sure about blowing out his candles in front of the friends we had invited over so all year we talked about candles and blowing them out. He helped Jordan and I on our birthdays and knew exactly what to do when it was his turn.

We made some delicious homemade ice cream but McKay preferred his Cars cake.

McKay got Yahtzee Jr which happens to be based on Toy Story 3 (total coincidence) and LOVES playing his 'dice mame' any time anyone will play with him. He got the Memory game from Nanna & Papa and is very good at it and loves to play it too. It is looking like I will have someone to play games with me. Yay!

He also got a Thomas the Tank Engine remote train and track. He set it up and played with it every day for a solid 3 weeks after he got it. He is enjoying the additional cars he got on his cake and often gives one to both Max and I to play with him.

After he opened his presents we walked to Central Park for the 4th of July fireworks show. Everyone enjoyed it and McKay keeps asking if we can all go to the fireworks again. I have a feeling Nanna and Papa may need to come visit us again next July 17th. :) Thanks for helping us celebrate McKay's birthday guys! I am pretty sure McKay will never forget it!

We love our sweet boy and feel so lucky to be his parents.

Last Visitors

Well, we've had our last visitors here in Northern California. Yep, we're moving! Jordan will be working on a project in San Diego so we will be moving south in the fall. We are all excited for a new place to explore. We will still be about 13 hours from Jordan's parents (go figure) but we will only be 9 hours from my parents instead of 13, which is perfect timing for our drive home for Christmas this year with a 7 month old baby!

We really enjoyed having my parents and Dustin & Chantelle visit us for Max's blessing. This was Dustin's first time visiting us and they were here for a full week. We did some sight seeing (of course), relaxed a couple of days, blessed Max, and celebrated McKay's birthday. As has happened whenever anyone leaves, McKay goes through withdrawals and asks me to play with him all day every day. And no prayer is complete without saying 'please bless Nanna, Papa, Dustin Chantelle to come back soon.'

Uncle Dustin and Max

Grandpa and McKay reading 'The Gruffalo'. I think my Dad spent the first hour of each day reading books to McKay. And everyone got the opportunity to read 'The Gruffalo' to him!

McKay decided to lay on Grandpa instead of next to him to watch a show. He seemed to think on Grandpa was also the best place to be when he was helping him get ready for bed. Silly boy!

We went to Monterey/Carmel on Wednesday and did the 17 mile drive with them. The weather was much better than when we went in November!

Cannery Row in Monterey.

We are sitting on a bench made of rocks.

Chantelle, McKay & Nanna 'by' the Lone Cypress

Thursday we went to Big Basin. Dustin & Chantelle had not seen the majestic redwoods, which is a definite must when visiting Northern California!

We did a beautiful 3 mile hike to see some waterfalls. McKay is a good little hiker.

Exactly 6 weeks after Max was born. I was glad McKay was setting the pace. :)

On Saturday we went to the city. Because it was the 4th of July weekend, it was more crowded than we've ever seen it - people everywhere! We still managed to see everything and ended up at Ghiradelli Square. Man, thats good chocolate!

Sunday was the 4th of July. That evening we walked 1/2 mile to Central park for a fireworks show. McKay is still talking about it and asking for Nanna Papa, Dustin Chantelle to come back and take him to see more fireworks.

Monday was supposed to be a perfect beach day so we headed out to Santa Cruz. Well, we never did actually see the sun. The waves were enormous and the water was frigid, as usual. The ocean really is calming and Max slept the whole time, minus the few minutes he woke up to eat.

We just got this lovely sports-brella and I am a fan! I wanted it to protect us from the sun but this time it was the wind. Love it!

The rest tried out a skim board and found it is MUCH harder than it looks. They've got the bruises to prove it!

I think his eyelashes grow every day!

McKay loved flying the Buzz Lightyear kite he got for his birthday. The wind was perfect! He didn't quite understand that it isn't something you fly and then come back to later and often left Grandpa or Daddy holding it while he played with something else.

McKay sang the whole way to the beach. He gets his song making-up skills from his Daddy. He was SO excited and still talks about everyone coming back to go to the beach with him. In fact, when we leave to go somewhere, he points the opposite way and says that is the way to the beach.

Blessing Day

Maxwell Lester Moser was blessed on Sunday, July 4th, 2010. He was just over 6 weeks old.

I love this sweet baby!

He is Nanna & Papa's 6th grandchild and 4th grandson.

Dustin & Chantelle were also able to come. Dustin will leave for his mission to Peru on July 21st so we were glad to get to see him before he leaves. We really appreciated them all coming to support us and Max.

Our first family picture with Max.

Things to Remember

6-28-10
McKay was excited when we purchased our van. He LOVED car shopping. Once we came home with a van, McKay climbed up on the couch to look out the window at the 'red van'.

6-21-10
'Daddy's Best, Mommy's Genius, McKay's Crazy, and Max is Perfect.'




6-16-10
Just before going to bed, I went into McKay's room to shut his windows & turn off his fan. McKay was asleep on his pillow on the floor and stirred when I helped him into his bed. It was cooler than I'd expected so I put a blanket on him. As I did he said 'love you' in his semi-conscious state. So sweet.

6-15-10
McKay was coloring a fathers day craft with markers and when he finished, he started drawing on blank paper. He drew suns with happy faces and some with sad faces. He drew one with a grumpy face. I asked why the face was grumpy and he said he was 'not listening to Mommy'. So then I asked him why the next face got a happy face. That one 'listened to Mommy'. :)

"M-C-K-A-Y... ME!'

6-11-10
'O-F-F is off, O-N is on'. Smarty pants!

'Red means stop, green means go'.

When we go in to get McKay up in the morning he has all his clothes, including socks, shoes, and underwear laid out on the floor 'all ready for Mommy'. His shirt and pants usually match too.

At the end of his prayers, McKay prayed that we could go to the park. We haven't been as often since Max arrived. :)

6-4-10
'Me have good idea. Read this book!' or 'play ABC today' (starfall.com)

'Is Baby Max poopin' again?' Usually the answer is 'yes'. :)

6-1-10
McKay was making his 'hugs n kisses' round before bedtime and it was my turn. I had him give me a couple of extra hugs and told him he was the best. McKay said 'no perfect, wrong way' and started over at the beginning. One hug, one kiss, nosey kisses, and 'I Love You Buddy' whispered in my ear. Then he got down and said 'thats perfect'.






McKay knows the vowels are 'A-E-I-O-U'. Yes, he dresses himself.