http://raisingmyrainbow.com/2012/01/15/my-son-the-dancer/

I really applaud these parents for loving their 5 year old for who he really is, whatever that may be…what a lucky little guy and what lucky parents!  Oh and make sure to read PART II of this, because the dad is ADORABLE.
Since I’m a mom now, I think about my son’s future CONSTANTLY. I wonder if Max will be a dancer like mama and dada, I wonder if he’ll be…rich, smart, gay, successful, HAPPY, healthy, etc. The other day when we were at my parents house, Max pointed to my old barbie.  My mom said, “I think he wants that truck”….and I said, “No, I think he wants the barbie” and I gave it to him. He also asks for the truck or the basketball, or the tupperwares…so who knows!  I want Max to be who he IS and for those who help raise him not MOLD him into something he is not. I want to encourage him to GRAB ONTO WHAT MAKES HIM HAPPY. After all, what’s the most important thing you can wish upon your children? HAPPINESS AND HEALTH.

I even get defensive when people try to make him use his right hand when he wants to use his left. He’s only one! He’s still realizing he has fingers! As you can see, I’m ready to take off my earrings and throw it down for my little man. That definitely won’t change when he’s older and his choices become more complicated.

I pretend to be annoyed, well sometimes it is annoying…hhahah, when my dad and Max play CHEERLEADER. Yes there are these pompom type things at their house and their favorite game is, “give me an M!!! give me an A!!!! give me an X”. I’m glad that my dad isn’t thinking about, “Oh, this is too girly”. Do whatever’s fun for crying out loud. If Max wants to take ballet like C.J here in this blog, so be it. Straight boys cheer (aka NICK…well he didn’t use poms like Max..hahaha), straight boys dance ballet, straight boys can play with barbies…and so do gay boys. Whether Max wants to be a basketball player, dancer, or accountant…WE WILL ENCOURAGE AND LOVE HIM NO MATTER WHAT. Easier said than done I know. Especially when that day comes when he asks, “hey ma, I wanna play football”…which I hope he doesn’t want to, CUZ OUCHHHH…or “Mom, I wanna join the math club”…SAY WHAAAAT….are you sure you don’t want to take Breakin for beginners??!?!?! Hehehe.
And when we have a girl someday (hopefully…maybe…)…when she’s old enough to choose, she can wear all the blue, pink,  or all the green she wants.  As long as it compliments her skin tone. Duh.

What will you be when you grow up little baby? 

Happy 14 months (2 days ago) to my big baby!  I think I’ve been getting sad that Max is getting so big and grown up in just the past MONTH that I’ve had a couple of dreams of being pregnant again.  He’s still a cute little baby but he keeps learning so much that I know in just the blink of an eye Max is going to be 7 years old.  So much growth is happening right now.  The big one is that he is walking so much now.  He started at 13 months and has been gradually walking more every day since.  Now I can say he walks maybe 50% of the time.

Other big boy things that Max does:
- he knows the titles of books and loves to read his favorites over and over again.  Been reading Goodnight Moon every morning, noon, and night.
- he can understand and point to soooooo many objects except for hard ones like “whisk” and “cell phone charger”.
- he can now say or kind of say, “ba-ba” (meaning “down” in tagalog), “bear”, “bread”, “grandma”, “lola”, “ninang”, “this”, “baby”…along with his old words, “dede”, “mama”, “dada”, “ball”, “bird”, and “AY!”
-he’s a pro at signing for milk/dede, more, all gone, and eat.
-he LOVES to sing and dance.  Favorite songs are “Baby” by Justin beibs (Thanks to Kuya DeyDey and Ninang) and “Just Like a Rockstar” by the fresh beat band, and “American Boy” by Estelle.
-he knows to cover MY mouth when I sneeze.
- he knows how to count (well he pretends)
- he knows his ABC’S up until E, kinda.
- he knows how to put away his toys
- he wants to feed himself with own spoon

He’s basically a grown man! Waaaaaaaaaah!

Here are some random recent pictures:

FIRST TIME PLAYING IN THE SNOW!!!  He didn’t really like it…not yet at least.  The only way he wanted to touch it is if we made a snow ball.    4 days of winter wonderland but maybe a just a total of 15 minutes in the snow!  My friend’s FB status the other day was so on point.  She took 20 minutes to dress her son in a bunch of layers for only 3 minutes of “playing” in the snow.

Here are some snow pics:  (happy Tita Dezi??)

Taking over Lola’s office.

I love him.

PS.  I think 14 months old is the cutest age yet.  He’s so funny right now, learning so much, still so little, and I love it when he calls for me…”MAMAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

What do you guys think is the cutest age?

Took these photos after church with Auntie Reina…one of Max’s biggest fans.

Then we went home.  Cleaned the house.  Napped.  Went to Fred Meyer to buy storage bins that were on sale.  Thennnnn we took our friend Marc’s (aka Dales) Hot Yoga class at http://yogatothepeople.com/ in the U-District with our friends, Grace and Jason. 

Marc is an amazing instructor and really WANTS and HELPS you succeed during class.

This was my second time ever taking yoga…hot yoga. I think I did so much better this time around compared to my first time. I think it’s because I knew what to expect.

What to expect for first timers like myself:

• It will only get hotter and hotter until the very end.  Like SAUNA hot.
• It will seem like the longest 60 or 90 minutes of your life…at first.  It’s kind of like a scary roller coaster ride.  At first you’re excited.  Then you get on the ride and think, WHY DID I DO THIS?  GET ME OFF!  Then when it’s all done, you want to do it all over again.
• You will think you can’t breathe or you have to throw up or pee…just lie down on the floor and breathe and regain composure
• People will be 1/2 naked around you before and after class.
• Do not drink too much water RIGHT before or else you will have to pee during the whole class.  Drink a lot of water 2 hours before and pee before class.
• Do not eat A LOT within a couple hours of class or else it may want to come back up.
• BRING WATER
• You have to focus, believe in yourself, relax and push through it and you will feel SO GOOD afterwards (and maybe a little dizzy).

THEN after class we went to Trader Joe’s to complete our crazy night out without the babies.  Last time the 4 of us together (with Kim) we ended our crazy night with Babies R Us.  Ha.  Oh Parenthood.

Max loves toys, of course.  However, it is so funny that he can entertain himself so long with the more unconventional toys, like…my undies and back scratchers.

What is it about babies and panties anyway?  I think they like the small piece of fabric that’s easy to toss around.  Max likes to twirl it in the air, wave it like a flag, or toss it behind his head.  He also yells while doing it.

The back scratcher, the stick for the sliding door, paper towel rolls, are also some of his fave toys.  I just wish they were as safe as panties.

Panties actually make for the perfect toy, as long as they are clean.  They are BPA free, 100% cotton (the good ones at least), come in fun colors and prints, machine washable, dishwasher safe (I’m assuming), easy to fold up and travel with, you can fit plenty spare panties in the diaper bag, they have 3 holes in them so you can put it around your baby’s neck so it doesn’t get lost and also doubles as a bib!   Best part is, Victoria Secret’s semi-annual sale is happening now!

Also, Daddy likes to play with them too!  JK.

One of my family’s traditions is to go downtown to see the beautiful Christmas trees at the Westin Hotel at “Oh, Christmas Tree” and then the SUPER CUTE and amazing gingerbread houses at the Sheraton Hotel.

The best part is you get to vote for your favorite tree!  Too bad I didn’t take a picture of my favorite one.  Ugh.

Here are some of the gingerbread houses.  The theme this year was “train stations of the world”.

Here are some actual photos from Christmas and New Years.  Didn’t take much pictures this year.  Oops.  I was too busy enjoying the moment?  Hope so.

Christmas Eve, is also my cousin’s CJ’s birthday.

Christmas morning was nice.  Just me and my 2 favorites.

We opened presents with just the 3 of us.  We gave Max that wooden activity center pictured above and some cute socks.  I gave Nick a new work bag and a foam roller.  ANNND I got a the Marc Jacobs baby bag I’ve been eyeing for half the year!!! I love it because it doesn’t look like a diaper bag and can be used as a normal bag.  I also got a pretty rose gold thick bracelet chain.  It is so pretty!  Nick always goes all out with presents.  I get a little upset at the money he spends, but how can I really get mad at my husband for being so generous and excited to GIVE?  I can’t.

Speaking of my husband.  Poor guy had a 24 hour bug on Christmas Eve.  So we weren’t able to go to his sister’s house like we usually do.  Max and I stopped by at CJ’s party on Christmas Eve since they are close by, but we didn’t make it down south for the Golla Christmas.  So after church on Christmas day, we visited them!

Then we had the Mostrales dinner at Nanay’s house.  Everyone usually goes to my parent’s house, but they lost power on Christmas day!  My poor mom was so stressed…on HER BIRTHDAY!  It all worked out though.  It takes like an HOUR to give out all the presents.  We joked about giving everyone their present one by one.  Then we decided “NAHHH” and just shoveled out the gifts like we usually do.  Complete chaos.  Just how we like it.

Then as tradition holds with our close friends, we meet up on Christmas evening.  HELLA LATE.  We love each other that’s why.

kaSAma Christmas was at our house this year.

Can we remember to take a decent GROUP picture next year?  At least I got this shot of the babies and I! 

He so does.  When we go over to my parents house for dinner, they first plan Max’s meal and then they plan ours.  One time we went there I looked at the stove top and saw this:

Max had his own little pot of stew, Beef Nilaga to be exact, boiling on the stove.  They make his meal with less fat, no salt, and boil it a little longer so it’s more tender.  Lolo and Lola love him so much.

When I saw the Christmas cards they sent out this year it was a picture of the 3 of them (meaning my parents and Max) and then signed,

“Love,

Ed, Cristy, and Max”

Nick and I laughed and said, “Omg, we’ve been replaced”.  They used to take photos of us 4 for their card.  In my mom’s defense, she has tried to get the 6 of us (Lolo, Lola, Nick, Me, and Max) to take a photo but it just never worked out.

I don’t mind at all though.  It actually is one of the best feelings in the world when people LOVE Max.

We love photoshoot time!  The morning of December 11, I said to Nick, “Max’s photoshoot is today!!!! What are WE gonna wear?!?!”    What can I say, I love photo shoots.  I also love the idea of capturing a special moment on camera.  I know we will look back at this time 10 years from now and want to relive it.  Max is SO adorable right now.  He’s learning so much and it’s so fun and cute to see.   Here are some of my favorite shots:

So after his first birthday we decided to shave his head.  It is custom (for a lot of Filipinos, Mexicans, and Chinese) to shave their baby’s head when they turn one or even younger so that they will have thick hair.   So with the help of our Tita Me-An, we shaved his head after church one day.

He cried and cried.  Poor thing!  But once we got started, we couldn’t stop or else he’d look like….umm…patchy hair baby!

The final look:

I really miss his baby hair but his bald head is so cute and BIG.   Hopefully his hair grows back thicker like its supposed to.  Unfortunately, it looks like it’s coming in exactly the same, like a yarmulke…if only we were Jewish it would save us from having to buy him one.

I had 2 requests that I made perfectly clear from the very start.

ONE: a matte lipstick.  TWO:  a shade that was pinkish in color.

I don’t know what happened but I ended up with SUPER GLOSSY NUDE ASS LIPS.

MAC lady:  “I think it looks really pretty on you”

ME:  “ummmmm…” (looking in the mirror)

MAC lady:  “Do you want me to go ahead and grab it for you?”

ME:  “Let me think about, thank you though.”

I walked away to show Nuggs and Kim.  They didn’t like it to no surprise.  I walked back to MAC to just glance at OTHER colors real quick.  Ms. Thang saw me and had the nerve to ask me again, “Oh did you want me to go ahead and grab that color for you?”

NO LADY!!!  I was completely nice to her…but seriously?  GEFF.

Kind of annoying.  LISTEN NEXT TIME AND TRY TO PLEASE YOUR CUSTOMER instead of just trying to make a sale for your own benefit.  Speaking of Benefit.  I Should have went to that counter instead and got me my creaseless cream shadow that I was supposed to buy.

I still love you though Nordstrom.  You’re usually so keen to my needs.

Papa almost cried too. But he was having a drank at the same time…ha.

AWWW BABY BOY IS GROWING UPPPP!!!

At 12 months and 25 days…Max walked! ))))