So I just need to put the disastrous 8 weeks that was the end of September, all of October and the first 2 weeks of November behind me. 1 vent to get it all out and be done with it.

Sad:

- Mike had to have in an in-grown toe nail removed for the 2nd time!

- I got ecoli & was sick for 2 weeks. Most likely from Disneyland where I had been 4 days earlier.

- The root canal I got a few months ago apparently didn't take. Who knew that could even happen? After 9 appointments to have my bite adjusted the Endodontist finally agreed to remove the cap and look to see if anything was missed. Ya' think? So I had to have a 2nd root canal on the same tooth. Pleasant.

- The 1 wart (I know, eww gross) that was on the bottom of my left heal is now 4 warts. Commence 4 weeks of going in to Podiatrist to have heal treated with acid and scraped. Can't get my heal wet which makes showering and trying to enjoy the 90 degree weather difficult. Finally decided to have the surgery to remove them. Instead of 4 more weeks of acid & scraping.

- Mike lost his job. The division he works for is closing December 1st.

- We were invited to my sisters in No. Cal for Canadian Thanksgiving, the day before we were to leave the our dog Boo jumped off a chair & tore her ACL. $3200 later she was home with stitches and the cone of shame around her head. There went any savings we were counting on.

- Its nearly impossible to keep a dog immobile for 4-6 weeks. All she does is whine try to jump out of her pen.

- It rained for close to 7 days in a row. I was ready to shoot myself on day 3 of staying inside all day watching Thomas the Tank Engine. Let alone trying to run errands & unload 2 kids in the rain.

- Cable went out for 4 days. Of course it did.

-I got a cold, followed by both boys having a cold. I'm better, they have had the sniffles for over 10 days.

-Max has shifted to be a bit whiny and aggressive towards his brother. I debated & delayed too long on the preschool thing so he has no friends for play dates since they are all in preschool or sick. We finally applied at a few & fingers crossed we get in somewhere.


Happy:

- Mike found a good Podiatrist to take care of his toenail once and for all.

-Luckily I got ecoli on a Tues. Mike was able to stay home for Wed/Thurs then my sister came Friday afternoon & took the kids Mon/Tues. Also, my Dr. happened to put me on the right antibiotics to treat ecoli before lab results came back & even though I thought I had a kidney infection.

- The 2nd root canal still not taking, but it is less painful.

-Thankfully Mike just found a good Podiatrist & we have insurance to treat the stupid tumors (as the podiatrist calls them). I got it wet anyway when I went swimming in my sisters pool for Canadian thanksgiving.

-3 weeks after Mike lost his job, he got another 1 within the same company. Hooray!

-We were still able to go to my sisters for Canadian Thanksgiving because our fabulous friends who were going to watch the dogs still agreed to do it. Thank goodness for her experience as a vet tech!

- The boys are sort of fascinated by the large pen we set up in the dining room for Boo. So it sort of entertains them. Plus we got tranquilizers. (Sadly, just for the dog.)

-At least it wasn't raining any more when the cable went out so we could go outside and play.

-This time of year everyone has the sniffles. At least they don't have fevers.

-We bit the bullet and got a KIDSPACE membership to entertain the boys outside of the house. The very same day we found out Max got into Pasadena Christian Preschool 2 days a week. Just the right amount of time for him & me :)

Let's just say we're glad that the last 8 weeks has past, holidays are around the corner & it can only get better. Right? (seriously, I'm asking. Please tell me it will all be better.)

My Max is 3!

When you woke up this morning at 6:15 you came to Mommy & Daddy's bedroom door & I wished you a Happy birthday. You said "Why THANK YOU Mommy!". How can you already sound so much older? When Daddy asked you how old you were, you answered "4 1/2". Random. That's certainly not the "3" we've been practicing for days.

Some Max facts:

- You are an avid talker, just like your GiGi. You talk non-stop to anyone & everyone. Including yourself if no one else is paying attention :)

- You love to talk on the phone and call GiGi almost every day. Sometimes you start naming off your aunts, uncles, cousins & Mugga to try and get me to dial them for you. We've never caught you at it, but will often find you talking to some of them on the phone & have no idea how you were able to turn the phone on & dial it.

- You learn songs so quickly its amazing. The end of August, after listening to "Follow the prophet" 1x through, then watching Mommy & Mugga sing it you joined us in the chorus. Songs might just be the key to teaching you anything!

- I love how you raise the pitch of your voice when you are sweetly talking to Tate.

- You use the phrase "I guess" a lot and we have no idea where you got it.
i.e. "I'll go to bed now mommy, I guess." "I guess I'll watch my show now" "Tate wants to go swimming with me I guess".

- Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. You are still obsessed with all your Thomas & Friends trains. Almost every conversation turns to Thomas & almost every toy is named Thomas or Percy.

- You are very polite. You always remember to say THANK YOU & are very good at PLEASE. Sometimes you even throw out a BLESS YOU when someone sneezes or coughs.

- You are struggling with sharing- particularly with your brother. If he has it, you want it & almost always try to pull the old "I was playing with that!" Yeah, like 2 hrs ago. We try to get you to trade him for it, but time-outs are still a-plenty these days.

- When someone gets off the phone you are quick to ask "What did they say?". Usually telling you that they asked how you were doing makes you happy enough not to ask for more details.

- You say your bed time prayers on your own now. You never forget GiGi, Pop, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Krista, Carson or Macie. For some reason you have to be reminded about how thankful you are for your own immediate family. Dinner prayers are often said much more quietly then bedtime prayers, but we can usually make out "bless the food".

-Bargaining is your M.O. For example, If we say NO or LATER when you want to do a computer game, you say "How about you do your computer Mommy, then I do my computer?"

- When one parent says NO, you go ask the other, or any other adult around. This shopping for answers can get pretty annoying, but I do recall trying it myself a few times in my younger days.

- You are still a huge Daddy's boy. When Daddy is home, you can't let him out of your site. Most of the time you wrestle or build trains. But some days I think Daddy is thankful that you go to bed 1 1/2 hrs after he gets home from work. You have a TON of energy.

We love you so much Mr. Max,

little prince, hubba bubba, mighty Max, Mr. Man, buddy, & lovey.

Opening your present from GiGi & Pop this morning

With your presents. We opened them before Daddy went to work & to entertain you today in the pouring rain!

Some new 1sts for Tate

Black eye. Did he get it by...

A. Crawling over to Uncle Ryan for hugs and instead getting hit by a swinging nail gun.
B. Pulling a stool down on top of him which in turn banged him in the eye.
C. Falling down the stairs at Aunt Krista's and taking out a couple toys on the way down.

(This is actually taken on day 3 of healing. It looks much better)
Hair cut. Did he cry the whole time, or...

A. Only cry at the end because Max started crying thinking we were hurting him.
B. Start crying soon after mommy started the haircut and blocked him from walking away in the walker.
C. Cried only for a minute, but not from the haircut. Cried because the dogs startled him barking at some squirrel.

Standing. Was the 1st time he stood...

A. Showing off at his cousins 1st Birthday party.
B. While sneaking away one of Max's prized toy trains & holding it out to taunt him, he let go of the chair not realizing he had let go.
C. Letting go of the couch to reach for the dog who ran away.

1st taste of Pizza. Why did we wait so long for him to try pizza?

A. I have no idea why he hadn't tried it before this summer.
B. Max had an allergic reaction to pizza so we waited until he was almost 1 to try it.
C. This is actually the 1st time he ATE it. The 1st time we gave it to him he threw it on the floor. Still can't believe its been a year!

A recipe for good parenting

How to break your 1 year old from waking up every morning between 2 & 3 for a bottle.

Night 1-

1) Make sure baby is particularly tired before bed.

2) Snuggle baby & sing songs.

3) Give baby an extra large bottle before bed to make sure he is extra full.

4) Quietly walk away & close door. Baby may fuss for a couple minutes before falling asleep.

5) Ignore the first sounds of crying at 2:20 a.m.

6) Continue to ignore crying at 2:45 a.m.

7) If baby is still crying at 3:00 a.m. send daddy in to give him back his pacifier which he has obviously thrown out of the crib & try to lay him back down.

8) Continue to ignore the crying at 3:30 a.m.

9) Breathe a sigh of relief when crying stops at 3:40 a.m.

10) Be happy when baby wakes at the reasonable hour of 7:00.

Night 2-
(repeat steps 1-8 from above)
1) If baby is still crying at 3:45 a.m. send Daddy back in to try pacifier again. Also give baby a dose of Tylenol.

2) At 4:15 a.m. Mommy & Daddy should start arguing about this ridiculous idea & Daddy should concede to getting up at 2:00 a.m. for the rest of his life to feed baby (which will become toddler, child, boy, tween, teen, man. But Daddy will still be feeding him.)

3) 4:30 a.m.- When baby stops crying, Mommy & Daddy have a brief discussion about how painful this was but they are glad its probably gonna work after tonight.

4) At 4:45 a.m. when baby starts crying again, Mommy & Daddy start crying.


5) 5:00 a.m.- baby quiet, try to relax and forget that older brother usually wakes up between 6-6:30 a.m.

6) 7:00 a.m. Mommy lays on couch comatose while big brother watches cartoons & baby sleeps peacefully.

7) Go get baby at 8:00 a.m. when he wakes up. Feed him breakfast and notice while he is eating the 2 new teeth that have broken through- 1 on top, 1 on the bottom.

8) Look closer at baby's mouth and discover there are also 2 more teeth just about to break through.

9) Insert a huge amount of Jewish guilt, mothers guilt, and any other kind of guilt you can think of and cry with baby while you give him more Tylenol.

Now that's good parenting.

The EH team part 2

Hopefully I paired this down a bit better than the last post :)



Day 4- Horseback riding at a stable owned by my Mom's cousins. It's the only 1 inside Waterton park and they've owned it for years. Mugga & Grandpa watched the little kids and took them on pony rides while those who wanted headed out on a 2 hr trail ride. Then some good ole'fashioned competition with Family Olympics. Team Brownstein would have taken it if Grandpa would have cheated like I told him ;)

Not even a little afraid, unlike his brother who would not even pet one.

We now call him Mountain Man Mike.

This is the way the ladies ride, the ladies ride, the ladies ride... (Me, Jana & Kim) I love the height G-pa got with his whip cream- you can see it in the air above him. Plus he caught it!

Chad totally blowing his whip cream catch. Day 5- Crypt hike for the brave, so Mike went golfing & I stayed home with Mugga, Aunt Kim, Max, Tate & Jaxon. Max had fun playing with Jaxon all day plus we hit the shops in town and got some killer new jammies eh?

Max & Jax having breakfast.

Canada, Eh?6 Days of fun finally caught up to Max.
Day 6- A quiet day that included a trip back to the shops with everyone who was jealous of the Brownstein's awesome jammies & we picked up a few gifts we had our eyes on.

Mike wearing the coyote he hunted down. Just kidding.

They have special bear-proof garbage cans. Didn't stop these bears from trying.

Day 7- Everyone headed back to the states at their various times to catch flights, drive, etc. Our flight was not 'til 3 out of Kalispell Montana so we stopped at Cameron Falls & then a Bear Reserve in Kalispell. The black bears are literally feet away from you (and were all born in captivity, not captured).

Brownstein Family at Cameron Falls

Max at the Black Bear preserve scouting out the bears.

We loved seeing everyone and can't wait for the next reunion in 2012.

We vote for a Caribbean cruise!

Tate turns 1!

Tate Michael Brownstein

August 29, 2009. 5:02pm

You were born on a Saturday, 2 days before Mommy's planned induction. After eating a late breakfast at I-Hop with Grandpa, Daddy & Max Mommy announced that the contractions she had been feeling since early in the morning were now regularly coming at about 15 minutes apart. We all went to a nearby park to call Grandma & let her know that we would be going to the hospital well before her Sunday night arrival. We then called Aunt Krista and asked her to meet us at the hospital as official photographer & coach. We arrived at the hospital after 1:30 & the Dr. arrived at 3:44 to break the water & get the ball rolling. It rolled WAY to fast & you were born an hour and 18 minutes later before Mommy could get get her epidural, a fact she doesn't let Daddy forget :) You were not breathing well and were whisked away quickly and swarmed by Dr's and nurses. After a quick injection you let out a large scream which got lots of applause. To this day you make a fabulous entrance with a giant smile for everyone in the room.

We are so thrilled you joined our family.

About you:

-Mommy has always loved the name Tate & since Daddy officially named Max, Mommy got to name you.

-Other names briefly considered: Van, Ace, Emmet, Ryder, Nash

-Nicknames: 'tato-bug, bubbalicious, tater-tot, big'uns, cheekers, 'tato

- Started officially crawling on Friday the 13th of August, 2010.

- Love to throw things, go get them & throw them again.

- Smile a lot. You have this little nose crinkle when you smile. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

- You always wake up with a smile, particularly if your big brother is there to greet you.

- You are a little stubborn. When you want to be picked up, you refuse anything else. I have no idea where you get this.

- You have 3 teeth. 2 on the bottom, 1 half-way in on the top & 3's 4,5. & 6 are taking their sweet time.

- You are my snuggler. I love walking you to your naps becuase you just snuggle and play with my hair as we stroll back to your crib.

- You try to play with anything your big brother is playing with, much to Max's dismay.

- You say "momma" & "dadada". For someone reason "momma" often comes out while crying or whining, much to Mother's dismay.

- Enjoy pushing cars around on the floor.

- When someone walks out of a room, you cry every time. You hate being alone.

- You can read "clap", "wave" & "point" from your flash cards and perform them.

- You like to eat and prefer to feed yourself.

- When you are done crawling, you high-center yourself on your stomach and refuses to let anything but your stomach touch the ground while you cry waiting for someone to rescue you.

- Anything with wheels is eagerly pushed around on the floor, particularly your brothers trains.

-You started standing on your own in Canada- birthplace of your grandparents. :)

We love you Tate! Happy 1st Birthday!

The EH Team

Holmes Family Reunion- Waterton, Canada 2010-- Round 1

So we've returned from our trip & just when we think we recovered nicely, we all got sick. Damn airline travel and all its germs!

However, we did have a blast in Canadia!

Day 1: Our first day was spent driving on Going-to-the-sun Road from Montana to Canada. Gorgeous drive that I will never do again. 75% of it you are driving on a cliffs edge. Oh, and the road was originally paved in the 30's- NOT for modern day SUV's. I spent a good portion of the drive trying to distract myself from crying. I have this nutty a fear of driving off a cliff that stems from my youth- another blog, another time.

Family at Big Chief Mtn.

(side bar: My mom told us a story that when the Cardston, Alberta temple was built, the Temple President, President Wood said that the temple would stand until Big Chief fell. Big Chief now has large fissures in it.)

Day 2: We did a hike up to Bear's Hump that Grandpa claimed was an "easy" one. As If!!! this hike was basically steep "s" curves for almost 2 miles. I'm totally out of shape & dragging Max while Mike had to carry Tate. We made it to the top where we met up with some cousins on the Holmes side of the family who were vacationing the same time as us. Fun to visit with them.

My mom really wanted a family picture at the top of this hike. So while we set up to take one, a lady noticed her coat was in our way. She ended up crashing our photo. can you spot her? she's our new friend Marsha from Jamaica who did the hike in flip flops!

Every time we get together for a reunion my parents are under the allusion that every family wants to share a talent. Do we want to see other families perform a talent? Yes. Do we want to perform a talent? No. So instead of a talent (Tate refused to read his flash cards & Max wouldn't sing one of his mash-ups) Mike & I split the family into teams for competing in Minute-to-Win-it games. It was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s.
Day 3: Was supposed to be the tough crew hiking up to Crypt Lake. Crawl through a 4ft wide tunnel blasted out of a cliff wall? Hiking a cliff wall while holding a safety cable? All while dragging Max... No, thank you. turns out the weather report was for rain so we decided to head into Magrath & Raymond- my parents home towns about an hr. away.

We stopped for a picture on the front porch of the house where my mom grew up & drove by the farm & barn where my dad grew up. We then visited the Magrath Cemetery where my Maternal Grandparents, brother & family members from my mom's side are buried. We found a headstone for a young Max Hindley (my mom's maiden name). We didn't know we had Max's on both sides of the family.

On the drive home Our car swung by the Alberta Temple where my parents were married for a picture. It's a beautiful building.

Here's a sampling of the fauna to be found in Waterton. Literally our first 48 hrs in the park we saw: a grizzly bear & her 2 cubs, a black bear, a mountain goat & her baby, tons of deer & squirrels so tame you could feed them.

Stay tuned for days 4-6 :)