Firsts

This weekend I have enjoyed several firsts that I thought I would share. My cousin Sydney came over Friday night and we had our first sleepover. It was a great time. After she woke up, Syd insisted that she hold me and we watched Care Bears in Mom's bed. Doesn't she have great morning hair? I aspire to have that much hair someday...


My other first happened this morning. After my morning nap I woke up to a beautifully sunny day. Mom packed me up in the stroller and surprised me with a trip to the park. Hardly my first trip to the park but now I get what makes parks so great....playgrounds! I had my first ride on the swing. It was love at first take off!

Two firsts and I've barely started my weekend! I'm on a roll. Maybe I can talk Mom into my first nunchucks?!

Erruption

Poor me. My second tooth errupted through my gums last night. I was sucking away at my gums yesterday and when I woke up this morning...there it was! I'm up to a total of 2 teeth right now. "What's the use?", I ask. I go through all this pain and my mom still feeds me pureed everything. What does a guy have to do to get a steak around here?

Today Mom and I are having a quiet day. I woke up several times early this morning. Mom finally let me stay in bed with her at 6:00. I slept for 5 minutes or so, just to get Mom off my case. Then, when her breathing slowed, I started reaching around for goodies. I found...nursing pads. Oh, they make this wonderful crinkly sound and smell like mom and food! Could there be a more glorious combination? Well, she caught on pretty quickly and soon enough I found myelf on the changing table getting ready for the day.

Hope you all enjoy a wonderful day!

Max Takes Over

Hello, everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Max and I'm the baby my mom keeps blabbering on about. I decided since I'm nearly 6 months old and my mom is a busy lady that it's time I took this blog over. I may not be the mother of Max, I'm even better....I'm the man himself! Anarchy!

I'm a pretty busy guy myself. I like to roll around, grab at stuff, babble, cool stuff like that. You know, it keeps the ladies ooohing and aahing so what can I say? I'm the man.

My mom likes to do annoying things like hold onto me tightly. I keep bucking away and throwing myself in the opposite direction to show her I'm my own man and can handle this on my own. She mutters something about me having "delusions of grandy jury." I'm not sure what that means. I think she's just jealous of my physical prowress!

I've recently started eating solid foods. I enjoy sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, apples, and apricots. Mom fed me some sweet peas for lunch today. I wasn't sure how to eject them from my mouth so instead I grabbed the tablecloth and wiped my mouth out. Trust me, the tablecloth tasted a lot better than those green vegetables.

During the week I like to split my time between my house and Nana's. She watches me 3-4 days a week while my parents go to work to pay for my toy habit. It's ridiculous, people. I act as though I might enjoy a particular activity. Let's say jumping. My crazy parents go out and buy the largest most expensive jumping toy they can find. In this case a jumperoo. I'm now up to a jumperoo, swing, exersaucer, 2 bouncy seats, a Bumboo...the list goes on. Although I suspect they're wising up to me since they've been buying stuff off of Craigslist. Anyway, my master plan to take over the house is progressing well.

My parents kindly hired a contractor to remodel the basement as part of my square footage domination plans. Mike is building me a family room, bathroom and a bedroom down there. There's also some room they call the laundry room. I don't have much interest in that one other than it allows my servants to launder my clothes and bed linens.

Alas, this is all that I have to share for now. It's my nap time!

Max & His Exersaurcer: A Love Hate Relationship

I highly recommend double clicking on these images to get the full effect. I'm not smart enough to figure out how to make them larger.

White Noise Averts Case of PTSD

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we have construction going on at our house. Specifically in our basement. We only have one story above this so as they've gotten into heavier construction I've had to find alternate locations for Max's naps. Lucky me, I have a kind sister and mother who live approximately 1 mile on either side of me. They have both opened up their homes for my use during the day. Still, there is no place like home.

This morning our contractor showed up at 8:30. Max's first nap is at 9:00 so I loaded him up and headed to Shelby's. She was just getting up for the day so Max and I visited with her while she put on her makeup and headed out the door. She works just around the corner (literally) so is able to get away with waking up at 8:30 to make it to work by 9:00. Lucky! Anyhow, Max went down but only slept for 45 minutes of his usual 2 hour nap.

From there it was back home to meet my aunt and her boyfriend who were picking up a shower stall out of our garage. The contractor had gone and there was a fan going in the basement so I figured he might be gone for the day to allow the cement to dry. Yippee!

After family cleared out I fed Max and he sweetly fell to sleep in my arms. ...Oh! What is that noise? Could it be? Yep, it's Mike the contractor puling in the driveway and he'd brought company. Well, I might as well try it. Ilaid Max in his crib and turned his white noise machine on full blast as well as the bathroom fan in the room next to him. Would it work?

He was out for 10 minutes when the pnuematic (?) nail guns started up. He started fussing and I thought the gig was up. I was going to have to load him up and head over to Shelby's only to start the nap routine all over again. However he quieted after 5 minutes of fussing and is now fast asleep. I cringe every time they whack, thump or drop something but the white noise seems to cover enough of the noise to allow Max to sleep. Perhaps this experience will set Max up for sleep in college dorms. Is there a Saint of White Noise? I shall send him a prayer of thanks tonight!

Nearly 5 Months....

I can hardly believe how the time is flying. Max will be 5 months on the 16th. Ever since I've gone back to work, the time has flown at a startling pace. Some evenings I only spend 45 minutes with him before he's ready for bed. Fortunately I'm still only working 3 days a week so those days are the exception to the rule.

What's new with Max....

-He's making crawling motions when he's on his belly. He draws his knees up and then strikes his legs out. He's not going anywhere yet but perhaps soon?

-During meal times he watches Alex and I intently and is fascinated by food. Tonight Alex put the empty spoon in his mouth and he eagerly sucked away. Max definitely gets that this whole meal thing is a process he would like to be a part of. We're going to attempt rice cereal next weekend.

-He's exploring with greater accuracy. Now when I place him in his car seat instead of screaming bloody murder he quietly explores his infant seat. He scratches his fingers on the cover above him, pulls at the handle, etc. I think I definitely prefer quiet exploration over screaming bloody murder. Call me crazy!

-Growing like a weed. Well, I guess that's not new. He's nearly outgrown his infant carrier. He's an inch from the top and weighs...plenty. Many of the tags on his clothes read "12 months". Which don't even get me started on how confusing sizing is amongst clothes makers. I could rant about that for days.

Most of all he's remaining a grogeous, sweet, genius child whom Alex and I are madly in love with!

The Honey Bucket is Back!

I wonder if the Honey Bucket company has a Frequent Renter's Club? If so we're on our way to qualifying. In July there was the infamous event where at 8 months pregnant I came home to discover Alex had torn out the bathroom and we were without facilities. His solution? "I can get you a bucket." And no, he wasn't initially referring to the portable outhouse variety. Anyhow, that story has made the rounds to the point where people I didn't tell it to will bring it up to me.

Alas, the Honey Bucket is back in our driveway. The reason this time? A basement remodel! We're taking our tired, musty basement space and turning it into a finished laundry room, family room, bedroom and bathroom. We will now have a moment of silence for the shag carpet and faux fire scene that were casualties of the remodel........

It's exciting to walk downstairs every day after work and see the progress. Today they cut up the cement floor to lay pipe. There is also a large hole by our back door where a well window will be. Of course all of this progress comes with inconveniences such as systems out of commission. Did I mention that we won't have heat this weekend? The duct work is in shambles. I hear that we'll be without water for a few days at some point. Will I be using the Honey Bucket? Not on your life! Max and I are checking in at Chez Mom's. Call me when the remodel is over!