Shrinking

Max is shrinking. He is wearing the same shirt in both pictures. The first was taken today (with a mouthful of watermelon), and the second is from last October.

Max's One Year Pictures

We had Max's birthday pictures taken a few weeks early so that we can use them for his party invitations. I knew that we was growing up, but wow, I hadn't realized how much he looked like a little boy and unlike a baby until I saw these pictures! He wanted nothing to do with the cake and started crying shortly after these pictures because he wanted the frosting off of his fingers.

Eleven Months

Max has grown up so much in the last month! All of a sudden baby Max is gone, and now we have a sweet, spunky toddler. He has been communicating with us so well lately which has been so much fun. He's sure to let us know what he wants with the cutest point and grunt. 

At eleven months old Max:

• is just sure that he is as big as Natalie and thus entitled to exactly what she has. He doesn't want a similar purple sippy cup; he wants only the purple sippy cup that is in her hand. 
• has six teeth. He cut four top teeth this month!
• gives the best hugs.
• likes to sing with Natalie while they swing.
• LOVES to play outside. He points out the window while saying, "eh eh eh," countless times a day.
• walks everywhere and speed walks when he's really excited or when he thinks he might be able to play in the toilet before he gets caught.
• is starting to climb.
• shakes his head "no" with an ornery little smile. 
• loves to play ball. 
• has big dreams of one day making it to the fridge before the door closes.
• makes us laugh daily.

We love you, Max.

A Week of Change

It's been a big week around here! Both of the kids seem drastically older now. Last week we had babies, and this week we have kids.

What changed?

Natalie is mostly potty trained

and Max almost prefers walking to crawling.

I'm so proud of them I could burst, but it's all a little bittersweet. Where is the slow down button??

Max is Walking!

Ten Months

Today Max turned ten months old, and he celebrated with a few bites of his daddy's brownie after supper. The brownie eating went unphotographed, but his smiles were pretty similar to these:

At ten months old Max:

• likes to eat green beans, potatoes, carrots, peas, chicken, meatballs, yogurt bites, peaches, apples, bananas, pears, blueberries, grapes... most things really!
• is starting to walk! This one deserves its own post. Maybe tomorrow.
• gets really excited when Chris comes home from work.
• puts his hands together and claps when we do the sign of the cross before meals. 
• still only has two teeth.
• loves to wave.
• dances when he hears music. 
• loves to see Natalie when he wakes up. If she isn't awake when he wakes up, I ask, "Where's your Natalie?" and he crawls to her room to get her. 
• has started saying, "Mamamama" when he wakes up at night instead of just crying. Somehow this makes the wake-ups a little sweeter. 

Not our best work, but these are getting hard to take, so we're going to live with the glare and the power outlet.

Max's 9 Month Pictures

The drive to and from Wellington to get the kids' pictures taken is getting so so so much easier. This time it was especially fun because we went on my birthday and stopped for birthday lunch at Cracker Barrel on the way home.

Natalie was really excited about going to Susan's because she loves to play with all of the props while Max gets his pictures taken. Susan had a Valentine's Day backdrop set up for Valentine mini sessions later in the week, so we got to use that and take Valentine pictures too. Here are a handful that Susan posted on Facebook. She never ceases to amaze.

9 Months

Happy nine months, Max!

Nine months old! Yes! I love this age! Older babies and toddlers are more my cup of tea than newborns and young babies. Don't get me wrong, newborn snuggles are so so sweet, but laughing and playing with the little personality that somehow emerged from that sleeping newborn is magical. Also, I am the worst at baby naps, so once they grow up and take fewer naps, my life gets exponentially easier!

At nine months old Max:

• likes to eat bananas, apples, chicken, eggs, carrots, and green beans. He's a really good little eater. He usually eats whatever we put in front of him, and we usually have to keep refilling his tray.
• claps and waves but not always on command.
• still only has two teeth, but he seems to be working on some more.
• says "mamamama" when he needs something or can't find me. 
• hates having his diaper and/or clothes changed. 
• loves to play peek-a-boo with his bib or wash cloth after he's done eating.
• stands up in the bath tub with the orneriest look on his face waiting for me to tell him to sit down. Once I say, "Sit on your bottom, Max," he sits down, smiles, and does it all over again. 
• likes to "drink" from a sippy cup. I use the word "drink" loosely because he does more playing than drinking.
• loves to walk behind anything he can push. His favorite thing to push is Natalie's kitchen chair while she's sitting in it. Natalie is usually less than thrilled.

2014

What a year!

Every once in a while at the end of the day, Chris and I will look at each other and one of us will say, "We have a pretty great life," and that's exactly what I thought when I looked through these pictures. This year has been good to us, and we're excited to see what 2015 will bring.

Happy New Year, everyone! We wish you all a blessed 2015!

Eight Months

Max is eight months old today!

I blinked and all of a sudden my baby is this little boy!

At eight months old, Max:

• ruins Natalie's life on a daily basis. He wants to play exactly what she's playing, and so far bulldozing over her princess line-up and gnawing on her carefully prepared plastic food meals have proven to be pretty catastrophic. 
• is told by almost everyone he meets that he looks like his daddy. 
• loves to wrestle with Natalie. I used to get on to Natalie for being rough with him, but anymore I just let her go because Max giggles and plays along.
• is working on perfecting his fits. They currently include quite the back arch.
• loves to explore. He has been roaming around the house playing independently a lot more lately. 
• has three different crawls. He crawls with both knees, his right knee and his left foot, and both feet. The most popular is the right knee/left foot crawl. 
• doesn't eat from a spoon very well anymore. He likes to feed himself. He eats Cheerios, bananas, apples, shredded cheese, yogurt bites, peas, carrots, and green beans. He makes the cutest faces while he figures out how to use his jaw.
• gets nervous around new people. He is much more likely to give a pouty lip and worried eyes than a smile. 
• loves to push the kitchen chairs all around the kitchen. He loves to walk with anything really, and he is starting to practice standing by himself without holding on.
• is the sweetest little mama's boy, which I love (most of the time). It can be pretty draining to be so wanted and needed all of the time, but it's also pretty magical. 

Seven Months

Our sweet Max is seven months old!

Do you notice his fat lip? I was hoping it wouldn't show up in his seven month photo, but on second thought, I'm so glad that it did. It depicts his current stage perfectly. Crawling, standing, on the go -- sometimes it results in a fat lip. It definitely won't be his last. Of that I'm sure.

At seven months old Max:

• is really getting the hang of eating baby food. His favorites are bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, and blueberry applesauce.
• has two teeth poking through! And he's sleeping like it.
• LOVES to stand. He grins and laughs every time he pulls himself up. 
• goes by "Maxy" around our house. It's a nickname that, before he was born, I didn't want him to have, but I'm the one who started it, and I love it now. 
• is getting better at crawling. His scoots have turned into a combination bear/normal crawl. 
• loves his baths so much that he starts crying the second that I lift him out of the water.
• is a little leery of most people other than Chris, Natalie, and me. He is not nearly as quick to smile at other people as he used to be. 
• is good at getting into Natalie's things, but Natalie is good about giving him something else to play with. I'm dreading the day when he no longer goes along with that trick. 
• makes lots of faces with his mouth and tongue. My guess is that he is feeling out the new teeth in his mouth. Look reeeeaaaally closely (and maybe use your imagination a little!) and you might be able to see them:

We love you, Maxy.

Nap Time Surprise

This is how we found Max today after his morning nap! This is one of my favorite milestones. It's so sweet to walk into the room to a smiling baby waiting at the rail to be swept up!

Crawling?

Not quite. Definitely on the move though!

6 Months

Today is Max's half birthday!

His personality is really starting to blossom, and he is proving to be much more like his sister than we originally thought. Our once laid-back baby is now very much the opposite - curious and on the go.

At six months old Max:

• is quite the outdoorsman. He is almost always happier when he's outside.
• really wants to crawl. He spends a lot of his time on all fours fussing because he can't go.
• scoots backward on his tummy.
• loves to splash in the bath with Natalie. 
• likes pears and sweet potatoes. 
• prefers to be perched on my hip.
• is constantly chewing on a toy. Come on teeth!
• likes to cuddle and rock, which I love.
• is still the most smiley little guy!

He and Natalie are the best frenemies you would expect from siblings 18 months apart. Their relationship is mostly sweetness peppered with the occasional push. Max can't wait until he can reciprocate... but enough about the pushing. On to the sweetness... oh the sweetness! When Max sees Natalie for the first time in the morning or after a nap, his grin is as big as it can be, and when Natalie hears Max wake up she says, "I hear our Maxy!" and runs to him. Then she smothers him with hugs while saying, "He's so precious! Oh! So sweet!"