Pimp Max's Ride

You've seen this before, right? Need a reminder? WATCH THE VIDEO! Anyway, that carriage is actually ours. Caitlin and I picked it up for free at a garage sale. It's a truly vintage baby carriage from the '60s, not unlike the one seen in the epic, but messed up, film Rosemary's Baby. The only problem? It's old, rusting, and starting to brown inside.

See what I'm saying? Well, that doesn't stop people like myself and D Wo. All the way back last December we got the idea that we needed to Pimp Max's Ride - before he was even born!

D Wo was pumped to be a part of the transformation. We started by sanding off all the rust from the metal and preparing it for paint.

We chose shiny metal paint to give it a certain glow. I don't think our neighbors really loved us doing this in the basement, but whatever. After about 3 or 4 coats, it was looking amazing. We also repainted the wheels white.

To truly pimp this ride, we needed to bling it out. By then D Wo had moved to Minneapolis, so I was on my own from now on. I bought large faux diamonds and glued them on tight to the wheels.

Bling bling, money ain't a thing for max. I figured this would give it the glow I was hoping for.

But bling bling isn't enough...Max needed to ride in comfort. I was given a big slab of egg crate padding which I cut up to precision. I laced in the interior of the carriage with the softest padding ever.

Awesome. Now I could cover this up with any blanket of my choice and he'd be on the cushiest surface ever.

I also added some dope mirror rims to the wheels for extra pimpness.

And for me, I resurfaced the handle to keep my hands soft and sans callous.

I had this all done by February, but we decided to wait for better weather and for D Wo to return in order to take it for the virgin run. We were ready. We put Max inside and he was instantly loving his life.

The grills and wheels were shiny and bright...blingin' in the noonday sun.

Max was promised cush...and he got cush.

Instantly the coolest dad in Evanston, hands down.

Thanks D Wo for all the help and support. Thanks Caitlin for letting me do crazy projects and spending money on random stuff. Your welcome Max for building you the best ride in town. My next steps? Add a light for the inside of the carriage for night walks and maybe a Mercedes Benz logo on the front. We'll see.

Visitor From a Far Off Land

Okay, not that far off...just San Francisco. Okay, Oakland really. But it was SARAH! Boom. She popped on over on Sunday afternoon after chilling with her friend she likes more than us. Hey, we'll take whatever Sarah time we can get at this point. Its been a solid two years since we saw her last. Max certainly did love having her in town.

Sarah and Caitlin were roommates for quite a while, including the year that Caitlin and I were dating. Poor Sarah was constantly walking in on me making inappropriate advances on Caitlin, which probably made her puke in her mouth and swallow it back down again. Here are some things we love about her:

1) Boom.

2) Her amazing stories, some of which involve her love of drama (though she will persist that she does not seek out drama).

3) Her sense of adventure at the pinnacle level.

4) Her sense of chill.

5) Her pimpness.

Come back.

Tootsie Roll

I was filled with daddy pride earlier this week when Max learned how to roll over. Caitlin and I were sitting there talking when Max suddenly started doing some serious rolling from side to side, as if building up the momentum for the big moment. I hurried and grabbed the camera - would this be the moment?Undeterred by a camera in his face, Max went for the big attempt.

Having overcome the biggest hurdle, his shoulder, he was bound for success!

And boom...it was done. It scared him the first time and he started whimpering...but then we cheered and he got psyched.

And pretty darn proud of himself I must say. Good work duders.

Remember This...

It's been getting much warmer here - and humid. So this requires extra bathing for Max...which he quite enjoys. This picture demonstrates his new thing, which is biting his bottom lip. Its cute, wouldn't you agree? Max had to get all clean on this Memorial Day - because he had visitors coming.

AMBER GOT YOU!!! Amber dropped by from DC with local friends Alissa and Matt as well as some new peeps that are moving up to Evanston.

Matt and ball playin' boy Tate. Or homie. Either way, the hat suits you boy.

These are the new peeps I was speaking of - Kellie and Tyson. They are moving to Evanston soon as Tyson will be starting at Kellogg in the fall. We are psyched to have them cause, well, they seem like good people (whatever that means). Also, Max has his eye on their daughter Alpha.

I agree Max, she is cute.

You ain't so bad lookin' yourself kid. Especially with your thuggin' hat on.

Tate. Adorable. Playa.

Hooray for Memorial Day! After a meal of Mediterranean food (to help us remember our soldiers), we went on a walk. Alissa was OBSESSED with doing this jump photo. I tried to talk her out of it, but there was no talkin' her out of it. Cool.

Men and their babies.

We went to this new yogurt place called "OrgaNicks". Seriously, that name is terrible. But Alissa's purple dressed looked cool with the orange interior. OrgaNicks. Lame name. Decent yogurt.

Max dug it. Fun times on a chill Memorial Day.

Al's Deli Sucks the Big One

On Saturday we went to Al's Deli briefly with Don and Liz. Like many people, we have gone there several times to enjoy a refrigerated, iced sugar cookie. They are pretty good - basically like sticking any decent sugar cookie in a refrigerator. But, upon closer inspection, we found that they were a little bit puffed up in thinking their product is awesome.

They have a plaque up that states they are one of the neighborhoods best restaurants for 2010 - 2012. WOW! They can see into the future! That IS impressive. The cookie is pretty good, but not so good that I can be confident they are one of Evanston's best restaurants in 2012, let alone 2010. There are plenty of restaurants better than Al's.

After standing in line (of only like 10 people) for a ridiculous 30 minutes, we finally got to the counter. In order to save the establishment time, we decided to combine our order of 3 and 2 cookies into just 5 cookies and pay together. The following conversation happened:

Man: You can only buy 4 butter cream frosted cookies and 1 of any other cookie. 4 is our limit per party.

Don: Okay, we'll pay separate.

Man: 4 per party.

Me: But we aren't together. I am ordering for myself and my wife, and they are ordering for themselves. We combined to save you time.

Man: 4 per party, you can have any other cookie you want.

Don: But we don't want your other cookies (because let's be honest, they look stale and gross and only reason to even go to Al's is to get one of their refrigerated cookies).

Man: (rudely) Its 4 per party.

Me: (matter of factly) So if I had walked in here 10 seconds later and not have spoken to these guys, I would have been able to get a cookie for me and my wife (who happens to be standing outside to not crowd the place, holding our baby for 30 minutes).

Man #2: NOW YOU CAN HAVE NO COOKIES! GET OUT!

Me: Fine, your cookies aren't worth the trouble. I will never spend a dollar in this place again.

And I won't, because honestly, the place isn't that great and its owned/run by douche bags who wish they were French, but are just old farts.Here's Caitlin just laughing and waiting patiently for her cookie. Little did she know that I was dealing with a bunch of idiots at the time.

So in short - PEOPLE OF EVANSTON. I call you to boycott Al's Deli. Do not spend another dollar there. Go buy a cookie from Jewel Osco and put it in your refrigerator. You'll have a better tasting cookie for less many and significantly less douche bagginess. Also, feel free to get on Metromix, Yelp! and menupages to trash the place. I know I did.

Don and Liz Get Fresco

Guess who was in town Memorial Day weekend? No...not Lindy and Trevor, they live here silly. Don and Liz!!! They drove down on Friday night from Minneapolis just to see us. Well, to see us and many other people they like. But we like to think its us - is the vain? Anyway, we spent Saturday morning at the Lincoln Park farmers market. Apparently farmers markets really don't get good until later in the summer, so there was limited goodness here. But we enjoyed the beautiful weather. Not pictured is the six of us going to Chicago Pizza and Grinders for lunch, which was awesome.

To be honest, we mostly just relaxed and enjoyed genius weather with Don and Liz. They lived here, they know what they wanted to do. Don was kind enough to take some power shots of me, Caitlin and "HELLO BABY"...aka Max.

Seriously, the weather was amazing. I'll have to do a post later about the terrible experience we had at a dessert place in Evanston that tastes like fart.

This picture is about as dreamy and cheesy as precious pictures get...but don't mock. Secretly, you love it. At least it was candid and not a set up.

Ella and Heather met us up to party with D&L. It was great, they got to see Lindy, Trevor, Heather and eventually Jenna in downtown Chicago (click here for more about that awesome adventure we had with Jenna). They also got to see Chunqing. Good times. Did I miss anyone? I'm sure I did.

Keep this on the DL (not downlow, but Don&Liz). Cute couple? Me thinks yes. They kind of thought this picture made them look special.

We stopped by Frontera Fresco for Mexican goodness and the opportunity to touch my first iPad. Me likey...both the food and iPad. Don't worry, I only bought the food.

Talk about special...especially delicious soup!

Don and I have identical cameras, so its clear that we like to take pictures and discuss them.

Finally, Caitlin and Max. The other day Caitlin complained that there is not enough pictures of her and Max together, so we are trying to be more aware of that. The thing is that when I get home, I basically monopolize the time with Max because I miss him all freakin' day. Also, the weekends are MINE! But I can learn to share if she can. Max, is it hard to be so loved?

I'd Rather Be At Burger King

"YO DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! I'm ready for some food. No, not the boob juice. I'm ready for some real food. You know, rice mushed up in boob juice? Yeah, that's what I want. Give me a chance and I'll make you proud."

How could we turn down that request. Last night we decided to give Max his first chance at solid foods. And when I say solid foods, I really mean 2% more solid then boob juice by mixing in some rice flake things for babies. But he did get to eat from a spoon, so that's pretty adult.

Max watched us eat every night from his bouncy chair on our table, so I think he was fully ready to embrace the spoon. As we put the spoon closer to his mouth, he opened right up and took it and started chewing.

His first reaction was "what the frizzoodles?" But that didn't last too long.

By the second or third spoonful he was leaning in to get more in his mouth - he was so psyched. His little jaw was chomping away. He was taking it in so fast that it soon became apparent we needed to get out a bib.

Which he used to wipe his goobered up face in no time.

This is the face of a very satisfied baby boy. While he'd probably have rather been at Burger King for his first meal, this one was probably easier to digest. To go from boob juice to Whopper in one step is quite the leap.

He ate about half a cup and was done.

Hooray indeed Max - you rock! Congrats on your first spoon feeding dude!

Hey Idiot.

I can't tell you what's wrong with me. All I can say is that I'm acting like an effing idiot this week (I had to write that with some harshness). Need an example?

Today at work I realized that I didn't have my keys in my pocket. Weird...they are always in my pocket. I checked my bag - nope, not there. COULD I HAVE LEFT THEM LOCKED IN MY CAR? Oh I wish that were all I had done. No, I was even stupider than that.

I ran outside to find my keys in the ignition. Ah man...but then I tried the doors and they were unlocked. What? I never leave my car unlocked. As I grabbed my keys the construction guy nearby said, "Hey - is that your car?"

I responded in the affirmative.

"Well, you left your CAR DOOR OPEN, THE KEYS IN THE IGNITION AND THE CAR ON."

What The Frizzoodles?

Yeah, I left my car door open, keys in the car, and the car ON. What is wrong with me? I know I have a very stressful meeting tomorrow, but come on.

(Let's not mention that Caitlin and I left the car door wide open with my laptop and iPod sitting on the front seat at the mall last week for a few hours. Somebody kick my groin please.)

Happy 5 months Maxers!

We can't believe precious Maxers is already 5 months old! He is such a good baby and loves to smile and giggle. What would you expect when you have Jeff as your daddy? Max is obsessed with his dad and he gets a huge smile on his face every day when Jeff gets home from work. Right now Jeff is crazy busy with work which is why his posts are lagging right now. Hang with us people.. after Thursday Jeff's life will become significantly less busy and he'll have time to blog about our recent activities and visitors- the Wortleys from Minneapolis and Amber J from DC!