Happy Birthday Dave!

So this post is a little bit late. Dave's birthday was at the beginning of the month, but I got distracted before I could post his birthday photos. I won't be telling you how old Dave is. You can ask him, but I won't be giving that info away (at least not for free). I do tease him that he's robbing the cradle fairly often, since I'm four years younger than him. I'm also not telling you how old I am.

Here's Dave, Max and Sophie with the famous Crunch Cake. It's the traditional birthday cake for the Edgerton's. Sorry that Sophie looks like such a wreck. Dave came home from work super early, and I wasn't finished with all my preparations. In fact I was in the middle of wrapping his presents when he arrived. I had to throw myself bodily over the unwrapped stuff to keep him from ruining the surprise.
Here's Sophie and Dave opening his presents. He got a pair of shorts and two high ball Waterford glasses. Just what he wanted!


Here's Sophie showing me the card she was about to give Dave. She colored in it.

My Little Thumbsucker

Max finally discovered his hands and joy of joys, every once in a while he manages to get his thumb in his mouth. He's such a sweet baby. As long as he's well fed (which you can tell he always is) and has had a cuddle he smiles and coos most of the day. He gets cranky when he's trying to fall asleep, but who doesn't get cranky when they are tired.

Mother's Day 2010 - Gift

Here's the photo book I put together for my mom for Mother's Day.

Memorial Day

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

-John McCrae

For all the men and women who didn't get to come home and hug their loved ones, we honor you.

Max's First Smile, on camera

I've been trying for weeks to capture Max's smile on camera. He's such a serious baby, in fact he rarely smiles. I get lots of frowns and lowered eyebrows. Sometimes I feel like he's judging me =). The other day though, he was smiling and Dave was able to get some photos of it. I can't believe how fast he's growing.

The Best Mothers I Know

I thought in honor of Mother's Day I should write about some of the mother's who have inspired me. I'm pretty new at being a mom. I'm only two and a half years into it and some days when Sophie's hitting me and Max is screaming, I wonder what I've gotten myself into. So I like to think about what someone whom I admire would do. It helps me get through the crazy times to get into the happy part of mothering. When Sophie gives me a big hug and tells me I'm her friend. Or when Max hangs onto my neck when I'm trying to put him down. Or the way they smell after bath when I'm tucking them into bed. Being a mom is a LOT of hard work, but every day my kids remind me how rewarding it is to be their mom. So onto the mom's I admire (in no particular order).

Nicole-a good friend

My friend Nicole found out she was pregnant with her second child around the same time I found out I was pregnant with Max. Except it turns out she was pregnant with twins and it was a high risk situation. I can't explain how much I admired her upbeat attitude throughout her experience. She has such a positive outlook on life and I can tell she's teaching that to her daughters.

Missy-Dave's Mom

Missy has been without question the best mother in law I can imagine. First of all, she raised this wonderful man who I was lucky enough to marry. Then she accepted me into her heart and her family with no reservations (that I could discern =)). She laughs at my stupid jokes, we can talk about books we love, and we could go on endlessly about how great Sophie and Max are. How can I help but love someone who loves my children so completely. She is truly an inspiration. I only hope one day when Max and Sophie get married I can be as wonderful to their spouses.

Melissa- my little sister

I can't believe the little terror who used to bite me like a rabid shark has grown up into this amazing, smart and funny mom. She's the person I call when the kids are screaming and I'm crying because it's all just too much. She can make me laugh at myself and whatever bad behavior Sophie is currently immersed in. She is calm in the face of my crazy and I'm pretty sure if I needed her to she could talk me off a ledge. Not that I would need her to, because she would never let me get that far. She loves without reservation, which is a quality I wish I had in a little more abundance. She is strong and strict (a quality more parents should adopt) and more than anything she loves her kids with every beat of her heart.

Mickey -my Mom

I was by no means an easy child. Actually according to all accounts I was a pretty easy child, it was those nasty teen years that were really hard on me, and my mom. I was mean and ungrateful and she loved me despite of my attempts to push her away. I think the best thing she ever said to me was, " I love you. I don't like you very much right now, but I love you." It made me believe that there was someone out there who would love me no matter what I did, but also made me realize my behavior was pretty sucky. She is kind, generous, unfailingly polite, and can find the best in everyone. She laughs at me and with me. She's a free babysitter and the person who tells me when I'm acting like an idiot. She doesn't referee fights between siblings, but makes us work it out. She taught me how to be a woman and tells me to put on my big girl panties when I'm too whiny. She's my best friend and a darn great mom.

I am so lucky to be surrounded by all these strong and wonderful women. Happy Mother's Day!

Note: This was supposed to be done on Sunday, but let's be honest, I'm consistently running about three days behind right now.

Impromptu Photo Shoot

Since my sister and her family were visiting a couple weeks ago, I held an impromptu photo shoot on my parents lanai. Here's Danny, Jonathan, Jack and Melissa. My mom was jumping around like a crazy person behind me.
Here's my parents with most of their grandkids. Don't ask me why Sophie is looking at me like that. I'm assuming she's already hit the teen years when she doesn't want her photo taken.
My dad and his girls. I can't believe we're both the mothers' of two kids. Melissa sure doesn't look old enough to have two kids, and I don't feel old enough to take care of myself most days.
I think Melissa and I look more and more like our Mom every day.

Max's Surgery

I've been kind of derelict in my blog posting lately. I'm always amazed at how busy it can get around here. Two kids, two dogs, and a husband, sometimes I think it's a miracle I get a shower (and sometimes I don't even worry about the shower).

About a month ago, I was changing Max's diaper and noticed a large lump in his lower abdomen. It was really big and kind of scary, so we took him to the local ER. After four hours and about four different doctors we had a diagnosis, he had a bilateral inguinal hernia. Which we found out is pretty common. Basically his abdominal wall didn't close completely before his birth and his intestines were poking out a bit. Kinda gross, I know. The surgeon didn't want to waste any time, so a week later he was admitted for surgery. It is a common and routine surgery, which didn't make it any less scary. I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling as I handed Max off to the anesthesiologist right before his surgery. I was and am so grateful for Dave's unwavering support. It was a blessing to have Dave at home during this experience. The surgery went really well and after an overnight at the hospital just to be safe we brought Max home. Other than some residual crankiness for a couple days he did great. He's such a little trooper.

We just want to thank everyone who said prayers and sent good wishes his way. Max is a happy little two month old right now. In fact, we went in for his two month well baby check up and he weighs almost fourteen pounds. He's quite the chunker.

A Fat Baby Boy

I can't believe Max is already six weeks old. It seems like he's always been a part of our family. He is starting to be awake more often, which is fun and keeps me a lot more busy. He also weighs almost 11 and a half pounds. He has a double chin and fat little legs. He is a good eater and seems to be hungry all the time.
Melissa (my sister), Danny, Jonathan and Jack are visiting on their way to their new duty station. It looks like a trip to Okinawa is in the works now. I better start brushing up on my Japanese.
Here's my mom loving on Max. I can't believe how humid it's been here lately. All the cousins hanging out at my parents house. Sophie and Jonathan are pistols. It's a constant battle to keep them from knocking each other out. My Sophie is a hitter. She just doesn't get that she can't punch someone when they make her mad. We're working on it, hopefully she'll get the memo soon, or I'm going to tape her hands to her sides.

Favorite Swaddling Blanket

I thought I'd start a listing some of my favorite stuff. I think I'm a pretty good judge of kids products, considering I've been taking care of kids since I was twenty. That sounds kind of snobby, but oh so true =).

I just received these baby blankets from my sister Melissa. I LOVE them. They're sold by Luna Lullaby. Made of cotton muslin, they are huge and soft and really light. They're perfect for swaddling Max in our tropical climate, but I imagine they would work just as well in a cooler climate. They're also great as a nursing cover, carseat cover, I think it would even work as a scarf. Love, love, love them. They come three to a pack and have the cutest patterns.

Here's my little man hanging out with his new blanket.

Swimming at Mare and Pops House

Sophie hasn't been able to pronounce Grandma, so she's been calling my mom Mare. It's really cute, and to be honest I'm going to be a little sad when she gets the pronunciation correct. So that explains my title. My sister Melissa, and her boys are visiting Hawaii on their way to their new duty station and the kids were playing in my parents backyard. There was a lot of screaming and running as they sprayed each other with the hose. In fact Sophie has a tendency to go for the face. My poor nephew, he's pretty good natured about it. I'd probably pop her one =).

Here's me and Max. Max is almost five weeks old. He's still a good natured little baby.

Here's my most recent Mommy Fail. Sophie took it upon herself to feed the dogs. Apparently we're (and by we I mean me) starving them. This is Duncan's food. I was working on my computer and she came to tell me she had fed Duncan.

She was so proud of herself. The dogs had helped themselves to quite a bit of food before we managed to clean up the mess.

Sigrid's Carrot Cake via Pioneer Woman

I made Pioneer Woman's carrot cake for Easter. I halved the recipe and baked it in cute little bundt cake pans. I also warmed up the cream cheese frosting enough to make it more glaze like. It was really good. You can find the recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/03/sigrids-carrot-cake-my-favorite-easter-treat/

Easter Bunny

Sophie and Max met the Easter Bunny a couple weeks ago. Sophie thought he was great. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

Easter 2010

We had another great holiday. Dave has managed to be home for most of the major holidays this year, which is always wonderful. We're all slowly settling into life with a newborn, and before we know it, Max won't be so new. Sophie is still a great big sister and Max is so sweet. Sometimes I'm just astounded at how lucky I am to have such a beautiful and happy family.

The Easter Bunny picked up most of the kids gifts before Max was born in anticipation of being busy and tired closer to the actual day. Max got several things he needed and a couple toys. The bath towels, wash cloths and pacifiers were needed. The toys are pretty much the only ones he has that aren't hand me downs. Plus he got several books, since we're such big readers, and the original Toy Story movie.

Here's Sophie basket. The Easter Bunny went with a fairy theme. Daddy helped the Easter Bunny choose a fairy book and Mommy chose fairy wings. We were both disappointed when she seemed more excited about the Hershey's Kisses. Oh well. She also got bubble bath, bubbles, and some more books. She is really loving the Bearenstein Bears books, and Target has started carrying the originals.

We were attempting to get Sophie to smile at the camera. At this point having her look at the camera would have been sufficient.

She is such a little sour puss sometimes. This is by far the best photo, and you can't tell, but Dave and my Dad are looking at Sophie. In. Every. Photo.

Here she is waiting for the Egg Hunt to start. It rained off and on all day, so we had to fit the Hunt in between rain showers. We had it in our backyard.She was chomping at the bit by the time it started.Nope, no eggs there. The Easter Bunny did too good a job hiding eggs. Apparently the Easter Bunny didn't have realistic expectations of the abilities of a two and a half year old at finding eggs. We ended up tossing some out into the middle of the yard after the Easter Bunny realized Sophie was too short to see some of the eggs.

Luckily Sophie had some help with her Hunt.

Happy Easter!

Grammy's Visit

Dave, Sophie, Max and I were lucky enough to have Dave's mom, Missy come visit a week after Max was born. She was so helpful, she cooked, cleaned, played with Sophie, rocked Max. Sophie just loves her Grammy and they had so much fun going to the playground in our neighborhood. Here's a couple photos we took right before she left.