Family Maz

Sibling Rivalry

2010-07-07T21:48:00.002-04:00

Max and Lauren fight. A lot. Sometimes it feels like they fight all the time. Their constant bickering exhausts me and irritates Josh. I finally understand how much it must have worn on my parents when my brother and I fought (which was all the time. Maybe this is just Karma?). Recently, during a really unpleasant argument (usually, Lauren does something Max doesn't like, Max either takes a toy from her or yells at her, and then Lauren smacks him. Shrieking from both children ensues. It is really fun (eye roll).), Max yelled that he did not like Lauren. I told him that I didn't think that was true, but that I thought he just didn't like her actions. I could see him think about this (I actually repeated something similar to one of my students today when he told me he hated his sister, who had just beaned him in the eye with a ball. Sigh.). Today, I walked into the kitchen to find Max drawing. I looked over to see what he was making, and it was a red, heartshaped piece of paper with two figures on it, one with short hair and one with long. Both had angry/sad faces. I asked him if he was sad about something and he said no. I asked him if he was angry and he said no. I asked him why he was making a sad/angry card and he said "no, it's a nice card, see the picture inside my picture?" and he pointed at another little face inside the body of the short haired figure. "This is to show Lauren that even though we fight a lot, I really love her inside my heart." and he held his hands to his chest.

I cried and hugged him.

Priorities

2010-04-28T14:22:00.007-04:00

I started this last week but never had a chance to finish it. I figured I would finish it and post it anyway....

It's been a rough week. For the first time in a long time, I am seriously considering going back to work full time and either I am paying attention better or the children have been doing some really cool stuff which is showing me how much I will miss if I am gone. I have taken more hours since Josh got laid off and will be gone every afternoon when Max gets home from school, and that is really hard. I miss him already. He is reading everything he can get his hands on now, which is so much fun to watch. He is doing some really neat stuff in school, too. Yesterday, he brought home a map that he made in school of his neighborhood. It included a picture that he drew of the inside of our house. He showed me and Lauren and him in the basement. Lauren was vacuuming up the water that had leaked in during the flood and Max and I were saying "uhoh." Meanwhile, Josh was drawn in the attic, emptying mousetraps. I have no idea what his teacher must think of us. :)

Lauren never fails to make me laugh, when she isn't making me pull my hair out. She alternates between being sweet and fun and demanding and rude, and it can be very frustrating, but the good stuff is so good that it often makes up for the bad. She is so much her own person and continues to have her own style. I love the stuff she does at school and the crafts she does at home. She continues to love art and carries the case of art supplies that Grampa Rich got her for Christmas everywhere she goes. She has started to enjoy board games, too, rather than just dumping them all over the floor. She and I have been doing a lot of gardening together. I promised her we would plant blueberry bushes this year, because she loves blueberries. She is enjoying her speech class, too, and hopefully we will be able to understand her better soon. It has to be so frustrating when you can't get people to understand what you are saying.

James is just amazing. He seems to find joy in everything, especially throwing balls and playing with cars. Finally a child who falls into a stereotype. ;) I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to spend the time with him that I missed with Max when I was working and with Lauren because I didn't have the bandwidth to pay attention. (Poor Lauren. She really has gotten the short end of the stick in life, and yet she is still such a happy child.)

Way Too Long

2010-03-08T22:18:00.006-05:00

So much has happened and I haven't posted in ages so I am just going to post a few pictures of our growing like weeds children. Max is 6.5 now and enjoying school very much. He has some close friends, is Lego and Star War obsessed and adores his baby brother. He learned to ski this winter and seemed to really enjoy it. I hope that I will get to ski with him next winter.

Lauren is almost 4 1/2 now. She suddenly looks like a girl instead of a toddler. She has gotten taller. Her speech is still difficult to understand, but she had her adenoids and tonsils out last month and hopefully that will help things. If nothing else, she can breathe through her nose for probably the first time in her life.

James just turned one and continues to bring me so much joy. He is a funny little guy and into everything. He isn't walking, but crawls faster than you would think possible, usually laughing hysterical as he runs away from you. He is great at going up and down stairs and climbs as much as his sister did at this age. God help me. I am loving every minute with him.

December family photo album(s)

2010-01-03T10:11:00.002-05:00

Here is the family photo album for December. What a fun month it was. So much fun that we have two albums to share this month! I hope the holiday season has been great for all of you!

Here's the recap of the whole month....

December 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/joshmaz/December2009?feat=directlink

I also put together an album just for Christmas day...

Christmas Day 2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/joshmaz/ChristmasDay2009?feat=directlink

Wishing you all a happy new year

2010-01-01T22:28:00.001-05:00

Welcome to the new year everyone! Just a quick post today to start this new year off on the right foot. The kids (and us parents) all has a nice night out at a friend's house last night for NYE and today we mostly stuck around home and took it easy. James and I had fun taking some pictures for a new photography challenge I started today. (See my photography blog for a post about that.) We recently got the playroom organized again and James was enjoying playing with the trains on the train table and other fun stuff that we can now find again. I think he is holding some measuring stick in this photograph, and boy is he happy with himself. He's got such a cute smile, how could I not put his happy face on the blog again? Anyway, have a wonderful 2010 and enjoy all that the new year has to offer!

A day in the city

2009-12-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

Today we took the train into Boston with all the kids. I (daddy) took a day off from work to have a nice family day. Our trip started out at the Museum of Science, as it often does. We spent a few hours there despite it being packed with the vacation week crowds. After the museum we made our way over to Boston's "north end" for some authentic Itallian pizza and pastries. Now we're all on the train north taking us back to home. It's been fun and it was good to spend the day together.

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T23:22:00.002-05:00

We had another wonderful Christmas this year. Dorothy's mom and Grampa Rich came down to spend the holiday with us. The kids were a real joy, and James seemed to enjoy his first Christmas day too. (Even if he did nap through 3/4 of the gift opening.) As usual I spent plenty of time hoping around with the camera to try and capture some of moments of joy and laughter. I hope that your holidays were full of love and happiness too!

Here is a link to our web album for our pictures from Christmas day...

Christmas Day 2009

James and the tree

2009-12-20T09:35:00.001-05:00

This is (was) our first Christmas with baby James in the house. I guess he's not so much of a baby anymore, but he'll always be our baby boy now. I took this photo just after the tree went up around the middle of December. It was a great tree, which was amazing considering we took all of about 10 minutes to pick it out on a very cold day at the tree farm. James was amazed by the strange new object in the house, covered in colored lights and dangling decorations. Fortunately we never caught him trying to climb on it, though there was one day when the tree was found mysteriously leaning dangerously to one side. Anyway, I love this picture of James with Mom and wanted to get it posted before the new year arrives. Hope the holidays have been wondrous for all of you as well!

"Family & friends" - November 2009

2009-12-11T13:24:00.004-05:00

Just uploaded a new "monthly" album for November highlighting family and friends. Going to try to make this a habit every month, and maybe even go back through the previous months to see what I missed.

If the slide show doesn't work at all (requires Flash player) then you can jump to the album directly with this link.

Builder boy

2009-12-10T15:21:00.000-05:00

Every now and again I see photos like this one and I think about what a proud and imaginative builder Max is. He's always creating something out of something, whether he's building with his growing collection of Lego things or just taping together pieces of cardboard from the recycling bin. He hopes one day to be featured in the Lego Club magazine's "Cool Creations" column. (Though I'm a bit perturbed at Lego at the moment for wasting no time in sending us catalogs we but still haven't received his Club magazines.) He's made airplanes from milk cartons, droids from old buckets, and helicopters from pieces of scrap wood. Lauren too likes to build things like just like her big brother, and I'm sure in a few years she'll be putting together some pretty cool creations as well. Occasionally we see her going around wearing one of my big leather tool belts with every toy she can fit crammed into the various pouches. Needless to say they both love to help Daddy in the workshop, and I try not to discourage it too often. Sometimes we even build things things together just so they can learn how to use the different tools properly. Building with the Lego's is a bit less stressful for Daddy though, so it's nice when we end up sitting around Max's Lego table putting things together. As you can see in the photo here, he's very proud of his creations. And we're very proud of him.

Joy Through the Eyes of a Child

2009-10-16T10:16:00.008-04:00

It snowed this morning, which made most of the adults I know pretty grumpy. I have to admit that I was none to excited about it myself. But, the children were thrilled. Max flew through breakfast and got dressed faster than any day this school year so that he could go outside. Lauren's first words of the morning were "It's snowing! I need to put on my snow pants!" and off she went to dress in clothing suitable for blizzard conditions. I figured it wasn't worth arguing about, so I helped the dress and they played outside for quite a while. It was really fun to watch.

It is easy to forget how much I love my children when I am parenting each day. Lauren has been a huge challenge recently. She is completely exhausting me. She still isn't fully potty trained and a good day is one where she only has one or two accidents, and they seem like true accidents rather than when she says "No, I don't have to go to the bathroom." and then pees on the floor standing next to the potty. She is definitely struggling with James and I have to watch her like a hawk with him because I really fear she will hurt him. But, this morning was just pure joy for me. They were so happy out there. Even James seemed to sense the excitement. I wanted to post some pictures while it is quiet here and I am still remembering how nice it was.

Silly Time

2009-10-11T13:34:00.006-04:00

Boy, over 2 months since we have posted. I will try to be better. For the time being, though, here are a couple of silly pictures of four out of five of our "kids" playing together (okay, I don't think Cisco was really playing. It was more like he was waiting for them to go someplace else). Lauren and Max have a definitely love/hate relationship these days. One moment, they are playing really nicely together, and the next, they are yelling, hitting, screaming, crying, etc. In fact, as I wrote this, they did that exact thing. Sigh. Obviously, I prefer them getting along. :) Max adores James and James adores Max. Lauren goes between being killing James with kindness and just killing him. He might be scooting along on the floor and she will decide to "help" him sit up. Or, he might be sitting up, and she might shove him over. James usually looks at Lauren with suspicion. Who can blame him. However, Josh managed to capture a moment when all three were happy. Here are a couple of pictures.

Fear

2009-08-26T06:30:00.002-04:00

We had a pretty good laugh the other day. Lauren, as many of you know, is pretty fearless when it comes to things like climbing, swimming, and all those things that often instill fear into the hearts of the young and inexperienced. While vacationing up at the lake house in Maine we were swimming with a group of kids at a birthday party at a neighbor's house. Most of the kids were much older than Lauren, so she seemed like a peanut compared to many of the children who were jumping from the dock and swimming the lake. We still keep Lauren in a life jacket while swimming there... mostly because she's not a strong swimmer yet and partly because we just don't know when she may decide it's time to launch herself into the water. Anyway, she spent a lot of her time in the water doing what the big kids were doing... climbing up onto the dock and then jumping back in, often onto some random "floatie" in the water. After one of the small breaks from swimming she asked me to put her life jacket back on. Once she was secured she ran off down the length of the deck, right past a group of the older kids, and threw herself back into the water. One of the kids, realizing that the flash that just passed by him and into the water was the three-year-old girl, called out to us in disbelief and asked "Is she afraid of anything?" Ha ha! No, no... I'm afraid she isn't.

Time Flies

2009-06-21T20:03:00.017-04:00

How did it get to be summer? I can't believe we haven't posted since April (though I have beena bit better about Max's blog). We have been busy enjoying life. James is thriving and thrilling us daily. I can't believe how much I adore this little guy. He is full of smiles and giggles and just lights up the room when he sees us, or pretty much anyone else. Max and Lauren continue to enjoy him, especially Max. When Max is around, James only has eyes for him. He always looks at Lauren with a bit of nervousness, like he isn't sure if she is going to love him or hurt him (often it is a bit of both as she doesn't know her own strength). We keep a close eye on her around him. It has been a surprisingly easy transition, adding him to the family, I can't imagine life without him.

Max finished Kindergarten last week. (http://maxmaz.blogspot.com/2009/06/kindergarten-graduation.html) He and James and I took a train trip up to Maine after it was over. We enjoyed that. He is still very into Legos, and spents a lot of his time building with them, as well as taking trips to the Lego store with Josh, and driving us crazy asking for more Legos. He has gotten pretty creative with his building, though Josh would like him to try harder to keep the kits together better (and this is why I like the generic blocks rather than the kits that build a specific thing.)

Lauren's school wraps up this week. She has really enjoyed it. She will be going to Max's school next year three mornings a week. If she had her way, she would go every day. She loves school. She wrapped up her session at The Little Gym with what they called "The Big Show." I didn't expect much, but it was tons of fun to watch and she was so proud. She was really funny to watch on balance beam as she kept pushing the instructors hands away so that she could do it herself. Poor Mr. Dave.

We took a trip to Damariscotta to visit my father and stepmother a few weeks ago. Josh rented a kayak and took Max out for a bit, then they paddled to the dock at their house and the kids switched out. The weather was too cool for the beach, but plenty nice for outdoor activities.

We have had the opportunity to see Josh's parents a couple of times since their return from Florida. The kids love having Grandma and Grampa Mazgelis back. We have also had some nice visits from Josh's siblings.

We are looking forward to the summer. We don't have much specifically planned, but enjoy the freedom to visit Maine and go to the zoo and other fun activities. I will try to post more frequently, esp as James changes daily.

An Active Dad

2009-04-15T09:51:00.003-04:00

I sometimes don't give Josh enough credit for all he does with the kids, so I want to call him out for being such a wonderful father. He has been involved with his kids since Max was born, and they adore him. He takes so much of the burden off of me sometimes, doing stuff with them on the weekends, doing bathtime, and doing half or all of bedtime. They are thrilled when he comes home at the end of the day, wanting to play with him or sit on his lap, and even if he is exhausted, he will usually do stuff with them. I think this picture sums it up so well. He is wearing James, who snuggled in and went to sleep as soon as he put him on, and trying to eat dinner with a very happy Lauren on his lap, all while wearing a hat that Lauren picked out for him. Happy kids, and one very amused mom.

Brothers

2009-03-20T22:01:00.001-04:00

Brothers
Originally uploaded by skilovr

Max wanted to snuggle with James tonight as he waited for Daddy to come read him a book. They fell asleep together waiting.

Max has been a very sweet big brother through all this. Both kids really like the baby for that matter. Lauren is always trying to calm James down when he is crying, though from what I can see her approach may be less than effective.

Anyway, this was one of those sweet moments and I thought I would share it here.

Not our baby girl anymore

2009-03-18T23:45:00.001-04:00

Not our baby girl anymore
Originally uploaded by Some lucky guy

I remember there being a photo of our oldest boy that when I saw it I realized that our todler had become an official little boy. I had a similar reaction when I saw this photo of our little girl. For the past 3+ years she has been our baby girl, but I knew when I saw this photo that those days are now past.

Sweet Baby James

2009-02-11T19:25:00.010-05:00

I just wanted to do a short post anouncing the arrival of James Philip Mazgelis, Feb 5, 2009 at 10:35PM. He was 7lbs 14oz at birth, and 21.5 inches long (the pediatrician kept saying he was a tall one), with the trademark Mazgelis full head of dark hair. He has a lovely personality (well, except between 2:30-4AM when not much seems to please him) and we adore him. Max is smitten by him, and Lauren is dealing much better than anticipated, giving him hugs and kisses (well monitored), bringing him important items for a child under a week old like dolls, jars of jelly, and shoes, and fussing over him if he cries. She has been more prone to crying spells this week, and alternates between telling us she is "a big boy" (I know she knows she is a girl, but I guess she is trying to be like Max) and "a little baby," but she hasn't spent much time being upset over the time James is spending with mommy, which is surprising. Diamond seems to have figured out that at this stage, they don't play ball and has just basically ignored him, and Cisco seems to think he is the most intriguing thing ever. Needless to say, he is spending a lot of time safely worn in a carrier. :)

I can't believe that just a few weeks ago, I was still in shock at the idea of having this little guy. It feels like he completely belongs here.

Winter Fun

2009-01-26T11:18:00.011-05:00

I have been really lax about posting to the blog but I wanted to post a few fun pictures. We have had an odd winter so far. First the ice storm, then a big snow storm, some rain, and for the last several weeks back and forth between bitter cold and snow storms. But, we have managed to get outside some to play (no me so much as I have no snowpants or long underwear that fit). Josh got the kids their own snowshovels, but unfortunately, they have outgrown the sled. Still, they manage to enjoy the snow. Diamond and Cisco love it as well, and every time it snows, Diamond acts like a 2YO dog, not a 12.5 YO with arthritis. I love watching it. No snowmen this year so far, though. It has all been perfect powder snow.

After the storm

2008-12-16T12:32:00.006-05:00

Our town got hit pretty hard in the recent ice storm. Power was knocked out throughout the region as ice-covered trees and branches pulled down power lines for miles around. The storm came in on Thursday night and we work up to a dark house on Friday morning. Not only was most our town without power, but the power cables had been pulled from our house as well. I went to work on Friday and I managed to contact an electrician who came out over the weekend to re-attached the electricity service entrance to the house where it had been pull loose.

Friday night we drove to Maine and stayed with Dorothy's Mom, and on Saturday through Sunday we stayed with Dorothy's Dad for a weekend we had already planned. They both had power at their houses, though Maine had not gone unaffected. I had spoken to one of my brothers on Saturday and he updated me on the rest of the family. All five siblings were without power, and my sister and her family had moved in with another brother who was running on a generator. The rest of us were making due with candles and wood stoves. Sunday we drove home to Massachusetts, ever hopeful that service had been restored.

So we got lucky, at least for one day. Power was on when we got home on Sunday, and even the Internet came back not long after our arrival. Considering many of our neighbors were still without, and all of my family in NH was (is) still without, we felt pretty lucky to be back with heat, water, lights... all those good things. Well, apparently that was just a teaser. Monday afternoon Dorothy came home to find the house dark again! Our street has power, but we and our two adjacent neighbors do not. To make things worse, the town has been notified by the

power company that they are pulling out of Westford to focus on areas where they can have a bigger impact. Our little stretch of three houses is not going to be a priority and it will be at least the end of the week before we see the crews again. So we have a fireplace and some wood, some bottled water, and a car battery with an inverter to power some lights. Still, the kids love watching the candles, and we even roasted marshmallows in the fireplace the other night. We're a little lacking on the conveniences but we're going to make it through just fine.

Today I surveyed the branches in the yard. Besides the pile of branches that took down the power, and one large branch that narrowly missed our shed and fence, things don't look too bad. There is plenty of timber on the ground, most of which was the pines and not the maples. I'll be having some fun with the chainsaw this week, but at least there was no real damage to our property. So we camp indoors in for a few more days and spend time together as a family. It's going to be nice.

-Josh

Giving Thanks

2008-11-26T19:09:00.002-05:00

I know it is a day early, but this evening, when we sat down for dinner, I asked everyone to talk about what they were thankful for. This was actually prompted by Max's teacher, who mentioned to me at pickup that I would really be happy to see what Max had said he was thankful for when they did that at school today. Unfortunately, I have a very short memory these days and forgot to check his backpack to see what it was, so I just figured I would ask. Max said he was thankful for the baby growing in my belly. I can not begin to tell you how that made me feel. Tears welled up in my eyes. He is one of the sweetest children that I know, and I am very thankful that I am lucky enough to be his mother.

Funny Things Kids Say:

2008-11-26T08:24:00.001-05:00

Max, while explaining that the ancestors of one of his classmates "were Pilgrims:"

"They came over on the Cauliflower."

Picture Day - Lauren

2008-11-03T11:01:00.008-05:00

Today is our very first picture day. Max missed his last year because he started school so late, so we have never done one before. They said put on your best outfit or something like that, but we just don't have a lot of dressy girl stuff, with the exception of the dress Lauren wore to Greg's wedding (which will be posted about one of these days) which is sleeveless, and with the pixie cut, there was no doing a fancy haircut, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. However, Lauren got up and had plans. She dressed herself. It definitely wasn't what I had in mind. I spent the next 30 minutes requesting, suggesting, begging, pleading, and bribing Lauren out of her chosen outfit. We finally managed a compromise, a dress that I think looks nice on her, some leggings that actually match, and socks and shoes chosen by Lauren. I don't think that part of her will show so that shouldn't matter. It took another 15 minutes to get her hair brushed and calm down the fuzz in the back. We got there and all the other girls had hair bows and fancy skirts, but let's face it, that is not really Lauren, so it is probably better to just let her personality shine through. I just didn't want it to shine as much as it would have had I let her go to school in her chosen outfit. In case you can't figure it out, the first outfit pictured is what Lauren chose, the second, my choice. I am not sure I am looking forward to another 15 years of this....

Super Lauren

2008-11-01T13:44:00.008-04:00

Lauren has always seemed to get the short end of the stick around here. (I probably shouldn't write this or she will use it against me in about 12 years.) Just when she was starting to develop her own personality, Max got sick, and life became all about Max. She has never had a real birthday party. Her first one got cancelled because of Max's illness, I just wasn't up to throwing one for her second because things were still stressful because of Max, and this year, her uncle got married two days after she turned three, plus, I am pregnant and tired all the time and once again just wasn't up to doing much. Yet, she is one of the happiest children I have ever met, and a total joy to be around. She makes me smile every day with her humor, hugs, and laughter. She seems to enjoy pretty much everyone, even giving total strangers hugs (we may need to work on this one, but she is still little and it is so funny to see the confused looks on people's faces). She is still into everything and so strong, especially for her size. When we met with her teachers, they laughed that she was the youngest and smallest child in her class and yet nothing phases her. They did mention having to tell her to get off the table on a regular basis. I was really hoping she wouldn't do that there, but they said it with a smile. She is definitely my little tomboy, spending hours playing with trains and trucks, though her "babies" don't get ignored. Josh brought home a Hotwheels for Max and a Barbie for Lauren (from a super rare visit to McD's) and while Lauren did spend time playing with the Barbie, the car was much more popular. She was a pirate again this halloween and it was the perfect costume for her personality.

Even now that Lauren is 3, she is still a pleasure to be around most of the time. Yes, she is stubborn, but she has always been that, and she has hit the "it didn't go exactly as I wanted so the world is ending" phase, but compared to many 3YOs that I know, it hasn't been too bad. I still do think I should have had her in my 20s, though. Her level of activity often leaves me worn out. But, I can set her up with paints or crayons or trains, and she will play quietly for quite a while, so I do get a break. I am trying to do more to take advantage of the us time, and instead of just giving her things to do by herself, have been making an effort to do stuff with her. She seems to really enjoy puzzles right now, and often asks to "play puzzles, mommy" so we are doing them a lot. We only have three at the moment, but she is plenty happy with them. The dinosaur one seems to be her favorite.

I sometimes worry that having this new baby come along will stiffle her some, but I hope that it won't affect her. I think that her strong personality will survive the middle child syndrome, and can't wait to see her take care of her little brother. Another thought that just makes me smile.

Sibling Time

2008-11-01T12:37:00.003-04:00

I have been getting complaints that I haven't posted in ages. I am so sorry. Since the kids started school, I theoretically have more time to myself. The results have been that the house is cleaner, I am behind on laundry less often, and I have managed to get my web work done, but I certainly do not feel like I have any more free time. I am not even sure what that is anymore. I decided to write up a lovely post about how much Max and Lauren enjoy each other's company, and keep getting pulled away to keep them from screaming at each other, hitting each other, etc. Oh well, Life is filled with irony. Anyway, the kids continue to enjoy school. If Lauren had her way, she would go every day. She just loves it there and asks to go on the off days. Max is enjoying it as well, and learning so much that is just amazes me. He is learning to write, spending more and more time sounding out words, and is picking up Spanish at an amazing rate. He has been taking enrichment classes one to two days a week, and really likes the women who does the science based enrichment classes. She was nice enough to put her science ones on Wednesdays going forward, which is the best day for me to have him gone all day. Boy does Lauren miss him when he is gone, though. She spends much of the day asking me to go get him. When he is home, they spend a lot of time playing together (though, as mentioned earlier, they do have their moments of unpleasantness). A couple of days ago, they had a lovely tea party, with real tea (lucky me). Baby and Giraffe joined in. They really seem very fond of each other most of the time, and I hope that they continue to have this relationship. I know that it will have to change as they grow older, as they will change, but in some ways, it should also improve. Max finds it frustrating when he wants to do things with Lauren that she isn't capable of doing yet. She does not always understand that fort building is for playing in the fort, not knocking it down, for example. But they are getting there. It always makes me smile. More often than not these days, I really enjoy their company and they fill me with happiness.