Max the Lovebug

My sweet little baby is 8 months old.  I cannot believe it.  Time goes by WAY too fast.  Max is such a sweet baby, we love him so much.  Here are some things about Max at 8 months.

I weighed him on my home scale yesterday with clothes and diaper and he is 18lbs.  Skinny little runt.

He loves to give open mouth, slobbery kisses (and I love to receive them).

He is a pretty good night sleeper, going to bed around 7pm and sleeping until 6:30-7am, too bad it took him until about 6 months to do it.

If we are home he naps well but if we are out and about he is too interested in whatever is going on to nap, but he manages to stay happy so I try not to stress about it.

He is a good eater, there hasn't been anything he won't eat.

He is a crawling machine.  He started when he was 6 months and has just mastered it.  Now he is standing up to things :/

He has had ear infections twice (Ollie hasn't ever had one).  In fact right now he has a double ear infection, but you would never know it.  I finally took him in to the Dr. cause he had been sick (runny nose, cough) for 2 weeks and wasn't getting better, that was why.

He has had 3 haircuts already.

 He loves his big brother and just laughs and laughs at him.

I already notice personality differences between my boys. Max is so much more smiley and giggly than Ollie was.  He is also pretty fearless so far, where Ollie has always been a cautious kid.

What a handsome little devil.

Happy boy.

 

Those big, brown eyes just kill me.

I love sleeping babies.

He tends to get himself into some funny predicaments these days.

Macaroni hanging out of the mouth.

What  you don't know is that 30 seconds earlier that net was on his head, courtesy of big brother.

Stop growing up so fast Max!!

Ironman St. George

Last weekend Jason and I headed to St. George so Jason could participate in the St. George Ironman.  I drove up to Lincoln with the boys Tuesday evening (so our parents could watch them while we were gone), went and looked at houses Wednesday morning, and then flew out of Sacramento that afternoon.  It was a busy couple of days.  Jason flew out of San Jose Wednesday and we met each other in Las Vegas.  By the time we got our rental car and checked into our hotel I was starving.  We heard that the Bellagio has an awesome buffet but the line was like 45 minutes long so we opted for the next highest rated buffet The Wicked Spoon at The Cosmopolitan.  It was pretty delicious and we loved being able to sample lots of different foods.  I had high hopes of catching a show as well but it just didn't work out that night.

So hungry and ready to eat.

Some of the yummy food.  Isn't that individual sized pot so cute?!?

We really love to eat out and try different food but it is so hard to do with the kids, so needless to say we really enjoyed ourselves.

Dessert was SO good.

I don't even like marshmallows but I couldn't resist trying one of these.

We aren't gamblers, but we had to put a little money in 25c slot machines.

We watched the fountain show at the Bellagio.

Had to get a picture with the Las Vegas sign on our way out of town.

 We got up Thursday morning and drove the two hours to St. George. We stayed with Jason's grandparents, and it was so great to spend time with them.  Jason's sister Jen and brother Mike also made the trek down from Lehi/Provo which was so nice, and we were so happy they came (especially me since we hung out during the race).  Thursday and Friday were spent checking into the race, dropping off all Jason's bags of stuff, a trial swim, etc.  It was nice though because we took our time and if we wanted to do something we just did it.  Thursday night they had a dinner/info session for the participants so I went and saw Water for Elephants (is it weird that I love going to the movies by myself?).

Tom, Jason and Austin in front of Sand Hollow reservoir where the swim took place. 

We toured the St. George tabernacle.  It is such a beautiful building.  We learned that every prophet of the LDS church except Joseph Smith has spoken from this pulpit.

Saturday was the big day.  If you are friends with me or Jason on facebook you know that the race did not turn out as Jason had hoped.  Long story short the heat, and improper nutrition made it so Jason suffered dehydration and consequently a heat stroke (the temp was 93 degrees that day) causing him to drop out of the race at mile 92 of the 112 bike ride (if you are interested in the long story, you can read it here, and in case you are wondering DNF stands for "did not finish").  Jason was pretty disappointed since he trains so hard for these races and was excited to do this race with friends.  I am just happy he is ok, things could have been much worse if he had waited any longer to stop.  Here are some pics from earlier that day.

Jason's support team (Jared, Shannon and Jamison Burton, me, Jenny and Mike)

Jason after the swim about to get on his bike.  He had a great 2.4 mile swim, with a PR time of 1:12.

Cute little Jamison ringing his cowbell.  He was such a good sport that day.

After we saw Jason transition to the bike leg, Jenny, Mike and I  went and had breakfast.  I felt kind of bad enjoying a delicious breakfast in an air conditioned restaurant while Jason was out in the brutal heat, but he is the one that signs up for these crazy races.

 After breakfast we went out to try to see Jason along the bike course.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  I always worry if Jason doesn't come right around the time I expect him to and normally my worries are unfounded, but on Saturday just when I was starting to feel a little pit in my stomach I get a text from a number I didn't recognize saying, "Your husband is ok.  He has suffered a heat stroke, he is ok.  He has dropped out of the race and will be back shortly."  I'm pretty sure Jason, even though he was kind of out of it, made sure the girl emphasized that he was OK, because he knows how much I worry. It took him a long time to get back because they were picking up so many people who had also dropped out.  Jason was pretty bummed when I did finally meet up with him, but I was just happy he was ok.

Here we are with Jason's grandparents and siblings.

Sunday we went to church, ran a few race errands, and stopped for a walk around the St. George temple.  It was a wonderfully relaxing day.

While some aspects of the weekend were kind of a bummer, overall we had a great time.  I loved spending time with just me and Jason.  It felt like we had so much free time.  We missed our boys though and are happy to be back with them.  By the way, the boys had such a great time.  We were just leaving to drive home and I asked Ollie if he wanted to go home, or back to grandma's, he said he wanted to go back to grandma's.  Don't worry, it didn't hurt my feelings, I'm just glad he had as much fun as we did.  I may even convince Jason to attempt Ironman St. George again next year so we can go back, on second thought, I'm fine with him being done with Ironman distance triathlons for a while...

Easter Weekend 2011

We had a really fun Easter weekend with family.  Jason's parents came down Friday afternoon and Michelle and Eric live here so we got to spend all weekend together.  Ollie loved Easter this year, and I loved planning stuff for him.  Holidays are so much better with kids!  Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Saturday we went on a walk to our favorite little farm and had a picnic.

Jason and Ollie.  For going on a walk Ollie didn't actually do too much walking.  He had 6 adults to hold him, well 5 I guess because I refused to do it, he is too big, when he is with me it is either walk yourself or sit in the stroller.  I know I am such a jerk.

Max and Grandma.

Eric, Michelle, and Jason.  Eric loved the double BOB and wants one now :)

Max with Aunt Shelley.  She has 3 nephews that she loves so much.  She is such a good auntie, we love her! 

I sure do love this guy.

Ollie checking out the pigs.  This is the look he gave me when I asked if he wanted to eat a part of that pig for dinner the next day :)

Max, Max, Max.  I am pretty much totally obsessed with this baby.  The one thing he has been doing that I don't think it cool is growing up WAY too fast.  He is crawling everywhere, and he is quick.  I have caught him multiple times standing up against things like the open dishwasher, or the couch, or this step, not cool Max, not cool at all.  It is so much more work having him this mobile.   

Ollie loved jumping off this stage onto a pile of hay he made.  It is a good thing Saturday is bath day!

Saturday evening we dyed Easter eggs.  I kind of thought it would be like craft day, where Ollie is into it for about 30 seconds and then moves on, but I was wrong.  He loved it.  He just kept dunking those eggs over and over.  I think each egg got dunked in each color about 5 times.  I loved watching his excitement.  

I love his profile, so sweet.  And that dimple...seriously I die!!

Very pleased with his egg.

It is a special day when I can get Ollie to smile at the camera, this kid on the other hand is so smiley.  You just glance his way and he shoots you the biggest smile, I love it.

This is what Ollie looked like by the time we were done coloring eggs, I should have started him out this way.  We called him Shrek the rest of the evening because his hands were dyed green.

Some of them actually turned out pretty good.  He dunked them so many times they were almost tie dyed.

 Sunday Ollie woke up to a basket from the Easter bunny (I didn't make Max one because he is only 7 months old and honestly he just doesn't care yet).  We try not to feed Ollie too much sugar so his basket had things like freeze dried peaches and 'organic' fruit snacks (because if they are organic they are obviously way healthier, I mean the first ingredient is organic cane syrup instead of sugar...way healthier   ;-)  He also got the movie Tangled (because he wanted it, not his mother, how dare you question my motives), and a much needed piggy bank.  He has been really into money lately and has been carrying a bunch of change around in a baggy, haha.  Now he has a giant plastic pig to put it in.  Later that morning we had a big egg hunt, just for Ollie.  Basically it went like this, six adults followed Ollie around while he repeated "I found one"excitedly every time he found an egg.

A little weary of the camera.

Pure happiness!  His eggs were filled with either jelly beans or money (pennies, nickels, and dimes), he loved it.

As I have said before dressing my kids in matching clothes is my FAVORITE thing to do.  They looked so adorable in their matching Easter outfits.

This is what I see in my face about 90% of the day.  He is always grabbing at something, usually my hair.  

Sunday evening after church we ate a delicious dinner outside, went on a walk, and just hung out.  It was a wonderful Easter.  Having kids has made me focus more on the reason for the holidays we celebrate.  I want them to know that their Savior loves them, atoned for them, and the miracle of his resurrection.  I just hope we can adequately teach them, what a huge responsibility!!

Wursten Family Pictures

We went home last weekend to spend time with my family.  My brother in law Dave was there on leave before he deploys to Iraq, my mom's sisters were in town from PA and Letty was getting ready to head up to BYU-Idaho.  These conditions made it the perfect time for a family picture since we won't be all together for a while.  My wonderfully talented friend Brendi took the pictures.  It was a little chaotic with five little kids but they turned out so great, we love them.  We took pictures with Jason's family a few weeks ago too, so hopefully I will have those to post soon as well.

Mom with her sisters.

My sisters, we are always laughing and having fun and totally not posing.

Siblings.

The original family.

With spouses, minus kids.

How cute are my boys?

Got to have a jumping picture. 

Isn't my little sister Letty so beautiful?

It seems like my parents are too young to have this many grandkids.  

This was a difficult picture to take, but this one turned out cute.

Ollie looks so grown up to me here.

Everyone.

What we looked like when we weren't posing.

Another one with everyone.

Grandkids in the grass.