thanks for praying

bekah had her procedure done and everything went well. she'll be back next week on Tuesday to have another one that involves the doctor putting radioactive dye in the cyst trying to collapse the walls around it to prevent it from filling up again. hopefully that will be successful. keep praying.

max just had a rough week. i was at work and erin, my sister in law was here at the house. i got a message that he threw up on my sidekick(please note: he did NOT throw ON my sidekick but the message appeared there). max pukes sometimes. he has a sensitive gag reflex. so i kinda blew it off. well, then about an hour later. i got like 15 messages all at once from erin and chris frantic because he threw up three more times. we sometimes have a horrible delay on our pagers....they think i'm being nonchalant but really i thought he threw up once.
so it was terrible. talk about mother of the year award...

when i got home he was as limp as a rag doll and white as a sheet. we went straight to the doctor's office. he immediately pepped up. i thought "oh no we have carbon monoxide in the house". i was so scared. (paranoia will destroy ya) the doctor quickly reassured us that it wasn't carbon monoxide or we would have serious headaches too. he thought max might have rotovirus. i couldn't believe that he was sitting up perky and talking to me in front of the doctor when he had been so limp and lifeless. then the doctor examined him and he threw up all over both of us. confirming he was sick. we gave him an ounce of water every 15 minutes and he really perked up. by 9 pm he was eating pears and crackers and talking a mile a minute like usual. chris stayed home yesterday and today so max can have a full recovery. what a week!!

ps...doesn't have rotovirus...no diarrhea. thank you GOD! puke i can handle poop up their back and down their legs....yikes....

bekah update

well bekah had her checkup. her cyst did fill up with fluid again. her brain was being shifted again. she is undergoing surgery tomorrow afternoon. they wanted to admit her but she said that she wanted to stay here (my house) with nina tonite. she's knocked out, snoring on the couch behind me but she's been really positive. same stressors, nothing definitely okay so it's a little stressful. my parents drove home to get some stuff for the week and possibly will get trapped in johnstown due to our unbelievable weather. pray that doesn't happen...

wow...it's only been a month since she was diagnosed with a brain tumor....it feels like four years.

our hats!!!

a boy's obsession with his hat continues. now daddy needs to wear his hat too...

he wants to be just like daddy. while daddy was out buying our new couch...see below

he put on daddy's iPod.

it was time for some change at our house. we finally gor rid of our old hand me down couch from chris's parents. you can see the monstrous size of our living room without a couch. max LOVED that.
this is our new couch. it's much cuter than it appears. we are going to follow a dear friends artistic genius and use blue and green in the living room. dark blue and lime green. dark couches cover a multitude of toddler sins.

sleep striker...

max is contesting his naps as you read in earlier blogs. this making him overly tired at night. so he can't fall asleep til very late throwing his schedule off. he reads books, plays with toys, etc..
well last night, everything caught up with him. he snuck out of bed (like normal) and fell asleep before he could pick up any books. here's the sweetest picture, i've taken in a long time....

please notice his beloved bear as his pillow...

tough guy

max has been bonked like crazy recently. the other night he had the bonk of a lifetime. pictures could not contain in...it was HUGE!! i actually could "palm it". so he's been so wild so it's tough to keep him un-bruised. his legs, ugh. he's black and blue...here's a review over some of the best...that big bump is from him jumping and biting his lip

sleep striker

max is refusing his nap today. i'm home with him, looonnnggg story, and he is refusing to nap. that would be fine if i knew that in 2 hours he would be pleasant. hah! anyway, i just was washing some dishes and heard the pitter patter of tiny feet upstairs. i checked on him and he heard me coming so he hid. i found him behind the automan (sp?) in his room, his small head, in a black ski cap, see story below, poking out. i asked him to return to bed and he was very quiet. i was officially the seeker. he didn't want to "make a peep" so i could find him. it's hilarious that you teach kids these games and then get annoyed when they play them.... i put him in bed and laughed so hard inside. right now, he can hear me typing and he's saying "i'm sorry mama. i'm sorry mama." he says that and i feel like i've just beat him and he's apologizing for provoking me. aahhhh, guilt. i love it. fortunately, no tears or screams....that really wrecks an afternoon....:)

fun in feb...

this is max's hat...really it's his "unca ciss's" hat. he loves it and wears it all the time. he threw it in the sink, accidently, yesterday. so it's been drying off. he misses it.following in his ganny's footsteps. chris's mom, ganny, is a metalurgist. she'll be thrilled to see this. i am always ripping out magazine articles from the dr's offices or people's bathrooms...they are always about art projects, reading, or how to challenge your toddler....she gave me one on how to teach toddlers about science. i guess that's what they do on their afternoon together.
this is his favorite toy...the zebra. he spins at speeds unknown to most humans. most recently, he started closing his eyes and saying "mama? where are you?" so cute...
water play. the most serious part of his life.
we have to take a change of clothes with because he gets so soaked during his water play...

we got a membership to the science center for max's birthday. chris loves messing with max. notice how max starts to lose it at the end...

cleanliness is next to godliness

wells reminds us when we don't pray before each meal. he says "mama, pay"...

so we do...this is what he does...

classic sweet tubby shot

love that classic mr. bubble smell...

happy birthday to max

birthday boy...

i had told stacy that i wanted to get him an abacus but couldn't find one that i liked. she found this one at IKEA...everyone laughed but he LOVED it. i knew he would. he got so many cute toys and clothes. it was a low key day and we had a lot of fun.

finally we had a party for max. he threw up on friday and saturday but seemed fine immediately aftewards. the dr said that it was all mucous in his stomach and that the party could go on...

carly made this UNBELIEVABLE cake for max...wow....he stared at that cake FOREVER!!

all our pals and family gathered together....

some random pics

"mama, i runnin and fall down. i bonk my head on dat bucket."

"i wearin daddy's hat." 

this was hilarious because of course, it's too big. but he would pull it up to the top

of his head so it would fall off when he ran. then state, "oh, no! daddy's hat fall down"

picking up the hat...

christian and sasha

this picture is bad but it was hilarious to see nina trying to push max in the baby stroller

he is fearless...this wasn't a huge hill but he ran down at full speed.

it's been awhile....

warm day at the zoo with ella
my little gymnast
"pin the ball daddy" he saw a victory "dance" after a touchdown and

has loved that idea ever since

this picture is so sweet...this was taken at the glass at the tiger exhibit two seconds before the tiger walked directly up to the window to see them.

i wish i had a picture of their reponse to the tiger...

the last day that bekah was in the hospital my mom watched the kids for the afternoon. she couldn't get them to nap, so they were pooped! i sat down to watch Thomas the Tank Engine with them and they conked out before the story started. buna, my mom, ran them ragged. i held them on the chair but they got so hot, i started sweating. their bodies were sweaty...ugh.