Back again?

I find myself looking back on this ALL THE TIME and thinking how cool it is too have a diary of sort of our kids and the first few years of their lives. Every time I look at it I kick myself for not continuing it. SO with big aspirations (not really) I’m hoping to start it up and stick with it! Facebook is great but this really captures it in a different format. With our insane schedule I likely won’t update as often as I once did but I think it’s a neat way to capture the day and the life of M&M. I’m hoping that maybe one day I can find a way to print this and drop it into both of their baby books. (which is another area in which I SUCK at capturing information, especially for little Mason)

So where do I begin….

Max –
5 ½ as of YESTERDAY! He’s Mister Independent these days. His shyness is still there but it’s not nearly what it once was. He’s really into sports & video games. He’s still an amazing big brother to Mason. Such a good kid!

Mason –
2 years 2 months. He’s our wild one. He’s got more energy than you can imagine! I always call him my "monster" but he’s one lovable monster! But man is he mischievous! He too is really into sports – most recently golf and baseball. Watch out Tiger and Jeter!

We made it through May, which was an insane month of events – Sunday soccer started for Max, Ray and I went to the Red Sox/Yankees game, birthday parties, crazy work schedules and most recently Ray & I went to Hartford for two Dave Matthews concerts (AMAZING!) and while we were there the boys headed up North with Ray’s parents to the Belgrade Lake area for the long weekend! We joined them at lunchtime on Sunday and spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the beautiful weather!

What’s ahead …

Max is going in on Wednesday to meet with a pediatric surgeon about a condition that he has on his poor wee-wee (https://health.google.com/health/ref/Hydrocele) which we will find out if he need to go in for surgery. They say it’s very common and nothing to worry about - its quick day surgery and he’ll be back to him old self within 24 hours. But they will have to put him under (that’s what scares me most!)

Mason is getting his hearing tested next week. As many of you know he’s slightly delayed with his speech and receives services and they are thinking that he may have some built up fluid behind his ears that’s causing him to hear things a bit muffled. So we’ll see about that!

Max goes to Kindergarten Screening next Wednesday!!! Exciting! He’s SO READY!

At the end of the month Max will go to Summer rec for the full 8 weeks which he’s ecstatic about! He cannot wait! I wish I could go to rec! They go on two field trips a week! Lucky! The same day Max starts Rec Mason will be headed to a new childcare center. It’s more center-based and he will be in a classroom of 8 peers his own age and two adults so I think we’ll see his speech improve quite a bit!

Next weekend we head back to Boston. Ray’s going to his brother, Steven’s bachelor party weekend celebration and the kids and I are off to the Lozano’s! Crystal and I have a fun weekend planned for the kids – zoo during the day and outdoor projection movie in the backyard and popcorn at night! FUN!!

The weekend after that is Ray’s 5th annual (4th maybe?) Trek Across Maine! 180+ miles of biking over 3 days. Sunday River to Rockland. The boys and I will be at the finish line to greet him since it’s Father’s Day.

I am doing my very first (and maybe last) Sprint Triathlon in August! Today is DAY 1 of training! It’s on the treadmill I go tonight to see how my leg holds up (soccer injury 5 weeks ago – long story but it was a ruptured tendon and I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy…but it’s pretty much healed so hopefully the training will go smoothly!)

It’s an insanely busy summer – camping at Sebago, 5 days out in Colorado for Steven and Erin’s wedding and then A WEEK in paradise – BEAR ISLAND on Sebago Lake! H-E-A-V-E-N!

So that’s the rundown and latest and greatest! More to come! (hopefully!)

I'm baaaaack...

After a long hiatus – I’ve had a few requests to keep this updated – so here we go! In a real nutshell!

All is well – we are very busy, as you can imagine with a 4 year old and 10 1/2 month old! Mason is developing quite the little personality – he’s quite the little devil. So I’ll update you all on little Mason first…oh where to begin…

He had his 9 month appointment a while back and he weighed in at 21lbs. 12 oz (75th percentile) The first time EVER either of the boys have been under the 90th percentile for height or weight! His height however, 31 ¼ inches which put him in the 97%ile. He’s a lean, mean crawling machine! Yes, crawling ALL over the place and “furniture walking” as we call it. It won’t be too much longer before he’s off and running! Oh dear – lord have mercy! He’s now got 5 teeth…well maybe 4 ½…he’s got one on the top that’s split in half – it’s weird! I think it’s one tooth that split and Ray thinks’ it may be two little ones. Either way – it’s funky! All in all he’s quite the little love bug. And his first words….MAMA – yeah that’s right !! Woohoo!

Max is growing up more and more by the day – he’s turning into quite a little boy and sweet as ever. My “sensitive one” as I call him. Couldn't’t hurt a fly. And he’s SO SMART. Counting to 30 easily on his own (sometime 60 with a little help) He’s spelling things now – he can spell Mom, Dad, Max, Mason, Maddox, no, TV (he thinks that’s hilarious) and various others. He’s an absolutely sponge! He can write all those above as well. He’s very into working on the computer and playing video games (RAY…argh!) which Daddy got him hooked on!

We’ve been busy, busy, busy! However, it’s looking like things are finally slowing down! YAY! (Knock on wood, right?) Below are a slew of pictures over the past few months!

I will do my best to be a bit better updating for those of you that I know take the occasional peek!

Oh yeah – doing my 2009 Avon walk again and need donations, so if you in the giving mood – feel free to help me raise my $1,800! Boy, this year is going to be tough raising that amount in this lousy economy! But remember...every little bit helps

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2009/Boston?px=3849715&pg=personal&fr_id=1770

Cutting down our Christmas tree...


Daycare's Christmas Party...

Christmas...

VACATION WEEK... we had to get creative at times - it was a loooong week! (yes, that's a tent set up inside!)

New Years at the Lozanos!

Ray, James & the boys playing guitar hero!

Mason hammin' it up for the camera!

Stone & Max playing "dress up" in Fallon's Tutu's! Ray loved this! HEHEHE!

Ray and James at the Margaritaville Murder Mystery Party - "Sandy Beachbum" (aka - my husband) had a few too many and didn't make it to the New Year! :-P

A LOOONG ride home. Thank goodness for Wally the Green giant - I got to sit in the way back seat and entertain Mason.

And I'll end with a picture of the kiddos that I really like...

4 YEARS OLD!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!

Keeping busy as the cold weather arrives...

I'm not really sure what's going on with this website lately but format is all messed up, which is a bit frustrating but it appears to post ok but when I'm looking it it it's all over the place! Here are a few pictures of the boys!

Quick trip to Willard Beach in South Portland...





Halloween....

Max was Mister Incredible and Mason a red M&M...





MASON IS 8 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!! He's growing up so quick! Cutting his two upper teeth, crawling all over the place and starting to pull himself up!

Mason's on the move...

Mason has started the "army crawl" He pulled himself around all weekend! If he sees something across the room - he'll squirm his way to get it! Oh lord - time to baby proof the house again! He's changing all the time! He's growing up way too quickly! He's now holding his own bottle (YAY!!) and he's cutting his top two teeth.

Last weekend we headed to North Conway for a mini vacation (in the Minivan...which BTW - I LOVE! HA, I can't believe I just admitted that, but I really do!) It was such a nice time and much needed! We stayed in a hotel where there was a few water slides which Max, and Ray and I :), had a blast going down! Then we went on a hour long train ride...it was beautiful and the foliage was at it's peek! Here are a few pictures~

Some of the beautiful foliage from our train ride and drive through the white mountains...

ONLY IN MAINE...we actually stopped on the side of the road to take a picture of this beauty that was in someone's front yard!!!

And lastly...a picture of the boys that I love...

GO SOX!!

AND HER NAME IS...

WALLY, THE GREEN MONSTER...(She is a '05 Toyota Sienna)

Yes, I did what I said I would never do...I bought a minivan!

As for other photos from this past weekend...here are a few:

Off to North Conway, NH tomorrow afternoon for a mini two day vacation, just the 4 of us!

HAPPY OCTOBER!

It's been a while! We've been busy and unfortunately I haven't been snapping photos! BOOOO! Hopefully this weekend I will be posting a few! We plan on taking the kids to the Cumberland Fairgrounds for a pumpkin lighting contest. Camp Sunshine (great place in Maine that does a host of things for kids with life threatening diseases) does it every year and they are trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records for most pumpkins lit at once. It's something like 33,128, so it should be a perfect opportunity for some really cool photos! We may also try going apple picking, where we'll take a few more cute photos with the nice foliage in the background :)

The kids are great! Max is loving every second of preschool and is counting the days until his 4th Birthday (which isn't until Nov 30th!). He's got it all planned out from the venue, who's coming, the menu and what kind of cake he wants!! Unreal!! So much for the days of throwing together a small gathering and calling it good!

Mason is getting up on all fours so crawling is in his near future! Oh boy! He already manages to roll himself all around the house! He's still a breeze of a kid. He's such a good baby, with such a happy, mellow demeanor!

Ray & I have been running a few 5K's and with every one our times improve! And it's helping with the weight loss, coupled with Weight Watchers! Since I started WW, which I think was on September 1st, I have lost 10.5lbs!! YIPPEE!! It's been tough and I've had to exert a lot of will power but I'm fitting into some of my old clothes and feeling really good! So I've already met my first goal of losing 10-15lbs by Julie's wedding...maybe I'll be 15+ by then! I'm certinaly going to keep on chugging along with what I'm doing...it seems to be working!

Well a few have asked when I am going to post on this so here you go! :) I'll update this weekend with some picture of the kiddos!

Time to hit the treadmill! Check again for photos!

6 months

Mason had his 6 month appointment yesterday.

19lbs. 9oz. (90th percentile)

28 1/2 long (97th percentile)

All in all he's a healthy little boy! They did find a slight heart murmur, which of course had me in a state of panic but the doctor said that it's nothing to be concerned about, it's just something that they are going to have to monitor. Still, it gives me a knot in my stomach thinking about it.

Tomorrow Ray & I are running a 5K in Falmouth. We've both been running a fair amount so hopefully it will go well!

I started Weight watchers 2 weeks ago and I've lost 4.5lbs. I'm hoping the pounds keep coming off! Here are my goals:

• Nov 15 (my friend Julie's wedding) - to have lost 10-15lbs.
• Dec 31 - to have lost 20lbs.
• Feb 19 (my birthday) - to have lost 30lbs which will put me back at my college weight and where I would be VERY happy!
• Summer '09 - to be in a bikini- HA, HA, HA - I'm hilarious...I think the days of bikini's are LOOOOONG gone!

Here are a few photos of the boys!

Cool dudes!

Sound asleep (in the most awkward position!)

My favorite picture of the two of them!!! Priceless!!

Is it really September???

I was sort of putting this to the back burner because I didn't think people were really looking at this but I've been getting the "when are you going to update your blog!?!" a lot lately so here we go...

It's been a whirlwind last few months but I think we've finally slowed down...thank goodness!! In a REAL brief nutshell this is what we have been up to:

• Sebago Lake/Bear Island with the Lozano clan last week which was FABULOUS! (Thanks to James and Crystal for being great hosts as always!)

• Labor Day weekend (Sunday) at my parents camp - they have an annual celebration for all the kids for all the residents in the area


• Ray & I have been hitting the pavement running again as we have three 5K's coming up in the next few weeks. ** Ray also is going a dualathlon at the end of the month! (biking & running)


• Max started Preschool 3 days a week (M-W-F) and loves every second of it!!





• Mason is already 1/2 year!! Holy cow, time flies!! He's sitting up all by himself, rolling all over the place...the days of putting him in one spot, leaving the room and coming back and he's still there is LONG gone!

I'll try to update a bit more often now that things have slowed down a bit!