Max's First Meal

He's willing to take a bite...

But no one said he had to like it!

Please Mommy -- No More!!!

But you don't get to almost 20 pounds in 6 months without being a good eater. So he ate it. Three days. Tomorrow I'm going to let him try Mango.

Six Months and More...

Family Photo. :)

Julian, Max, and Nik

A box of Santa Max...

Future Xmas Card Photo

Max says Hi!!

Max is working on his rocker hand motions....

Max says "Thanks for my taggie blankie toy Hopie!"

Max hanging out with Daddy...

He's one happy baby!

Another photo of Max with the toy from Hopie.

Happy Baby! This is the bib from Vegas that matches the sleeper. Under the bib is another doggie that looks just like the one on the bib.

50% Mommy + 50% Daddy = 100% Cute

Thanks Hayley for the Pirate Wear! I Smell Trouble and then Caution Below Deck!

So the official figures are in:


Weight: 19 pounds, 6 ounces (85% percentile)
Length: 26.75 inches (65% percentile)
Head: 17.75 inches (82% percentile)

He has had his first non-cereal food -- avocado!

He has been to his first RenFaire in external mode, and he seemed to generally enjoy it. A few times he was stuck in the stroller with the umbrellas covering him up to keep him dry and he wasn't a big fan of that. But once he was out and able to smile at people he was very happy.


He has learned his name and will turn his head in response to his name. And he will not respond if you say Nik or Julian.


He also today started saying "da-da" over and over and over and over and over.

I have been working on making baby food. So far I have made acorn squash, sweet potato, nectarines, papaya, and mangos. Most of the foods are for the freezer for later. I've spent about $10 at Whole Foods and have about 60 meals for Max. I'm very pleased and happy that I know exactly what he'll be eating. Single ingredient foods.

Max and the floor gym

The photos, as promised

Max and his muffin top, being silly. This is the silly smile that reminded me of Abi.

Max has a new addition to his floor gym. The rainbow "kick toy" that he is kicking in this photo. It has nice mellow chimes.

Max modeling the duckie jacket from Granny's friend.

Max in the sweater from Auntie. A perfect fit!

He's such a goof!

Here Max is watching the animusic video with Nik. He was really into it. Nik is not quite visible in the photo but he LOVES to watch these videos.

Max of Arabia with Nanny Jo!





Yay!!!! Feet in Mouth Photos!!!!


Santa Max!

Max had way less issues with his crib than Mommy...

Out of order photo, but Max of Arabia deserved a second photo. :)

Julian really knows how to get Max laughing!

Vegas kept me from posting...

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I was in Vegas most of last week and recovering most of the weekend... I'm not at home so I can't load up photos, but I promise I will do so very soon. There are lots of photos and a few videos too...

The trip to Vegas was good, although I missed Max and the rest of the family. That part was very not good, even with zillions of photos of Max on hand to help me through. I also thought I would magically catch up on my sleep and that didn't happen either. I was able to do a little knitting on the trip which was nice. I made Max socks to match one of his sweaters. It worked out nicely that I could do a sock on the flight between Atlanta and Las Vegas. And I was also able to bring back a half a gallon of milk in my suitcase with no problems. So that was good news.

After I returned home and Max had his first meal from the source he was all smiles and happiness. :) Apparently he was a very good boy while I was gone. Mark's Aunt Maria came and stayed while I was gone to help out with all of the kids. She said that Max was a happy boy while I was gone but that he was clearly happier when I was back home. She also thinks Max will walk early. He was showing off to her by moving his feet as if to walk while she was holding his arms. He also loved to do the bucking bronco ride with her, and he loved his "taxi rides" on her shoulder. He likes to be able to see things and to move around.

On Friday evening I put him into a new outfit and I wanted to photodocument, of course. But he was crying. Until I took the first photo. Then he was all smiles and poses. What a baby!

On Saturday we had our big photo session ready for our Xmas photos. The first set of photos included everyone in blue shirts and jeans except Santa Baby. He was adorable to the point of the photo people asking to keep one of the photos of him! We did a number of photos like that and then we had a costume change to a blue shirt and jeans for Max so that we could have a regular family photo. And then one last costume change to the sweater I made for him with the matching socks and jeans. He's such a ham! It was hard for me to choose just a few pictures to purchase. I wanted a photo of me and Max together and those ones didn't come out like I wanted. So I'll go and try again after my next hair cut. I got all sorts of emotional and teary-eyed when I was telling the photographer what I wanted. I guess I'm not done with the crazy hormones quite yet!

Last night we moved Max into his crib for the first time. I wasn't really ready emotionally. And Max seems to be having another growth spurt or he is just having a feeding frenzy. So it was a long night of not much sleep with him crying, me getting out of bed, me getting him out of his crib, me taking him to the rocking chair and feeding him, me rocking him a little, me putting him back in his crib, and then me getting back into bed. Much more involved that having him right next to me. I'm totally exhausted today and hoping that sugar and caffeine can serve as a sleep replacement. Or that I can cut out of the office a little early today to head home for a nap. :) Max seemed to do ok with sleeping in the crib, other than waking up to eat. So I just need to have him sleep for longer chunks of time and I need to come to terms with having less snuggle time with him.

And now it is time to get back to working. Alas...

Fashion Show Advice Needed

Ok, putting aside the facial expressions which I only include because I think my baby is just too adorable for me to pick just one picture with a hat and one picture without, how do we feel about this sweater and photos? Does it look ok? I was thinking he would wear this sweater for his big baby portrait in about 10 days time. And I'll put pants on him. And make him socks to match the sweater (or nearly match the sweater, depending on what yarn is available when I go shopping tonight). But I didn't want to go and do the photos and then realize the sweater looks horrible in photos even tho it is beautiful in real life... Let me know...

Mid-Weekend Update

My family. :)

Max and Julian (and the bunny from Damon and Maaria)

Max and Daddy (taking Nik to school)

Max and Linwood!

I guess it should not have been a surprize that the first thing Max did in his first ever bubble bath was put a handful of bubbles to his mouth.

This is what he did to himself.

And this is what I did. So he could look like his Daddy. :)

Maybe I can have a career in advertising with my excellent product placement!

He LOVED the bubble bath. And the magic of the vapors seemed to help his little baby cold.

Friday I was home from work with Max because he got sick on Thursday night. Mark was watching Max on Thursday night so that I could try to get some sleep. Very sadly for Mark, Max' s new cold made it impossible for either of them to sleep for chunks of time in excess of an hour. When I got up at 5am to get ready for work I found a very exhausted Mark and a baby who was snuffly and pathetic. Mark went up to get some sleep and I took over on baby duty after sending an email to the office to say that sick baby trumped privacy.

The doctor's office confirmed that it was just a cold and told me what to look for as far as food allergies or ear infections in the future. They said the would much rather see a baby with a cold on a Friday than miss something else and have it wait until after the weekend. So that was good news. They also confirmed his weight at 18 pounds, 8 ounces. He's a major chunk! In knitting related fat-baby news, his ankles are 7+ inches around, so I need to pull out the sock I started and make it again at double size so that it will fit around his monster legs.

We pretty much had a quiet weekend so far because of Hurricane Helena. Lots of rain and darkness but no major power outages or flooding.

I was surprized to hear from Linwood who is rarely in the DC area, so Max and I braved the rain and headed down to Jay and Bart's to visit. Lindwood is great with kids and Max really enjoyed hanging out with him. Me too, of course. :)

Because of Max's cold we opted to give him a bubble bath with the vapor bath stuff. It was his first time really having water to splash around in. He seemed to really enjoy it. He was splashing about and looking at the bubbles. When I turned on the water to rinse him off he had a good time again. Now we have a humidifier downstairs so I'm going to retire to the couch and hope that the steam and sitting upright will help him (and therefore me) get some sleep.

Big changes at 5 months

Max and Karen.

Max loves that baby in the mirror!

Before the haircut...

Max in his carseat wtih his super soft bunny from Damon and Maaria in Finland.

Max playing with a balloon! He had such a great time laughing and playing with his brothers. He was just going wild!

I said he was standing. I didn't say he was all that happy about it...

Max's Hokie Butt at Chipotle.

Max's first bites of cereal.

Max in his "Miriam Hat" to compare to the earlier photos where he looked so shrimpy and delicate. He's delicate no more. He's officially 18 pounds at 5 months.

Max had a lot of big moments this weekend.

First solid food!

First movement forward while crawling!

First moments standing unassisted!

Second haircut!
First balloon!

Max mostly enjoyed the long weekend with Mommy and the family. I was home on Friday as well as Labor Day, so it was a great long weekend all around. It will be hard to go back to work tomorrow!

Friday Max went with me to take each of the big kids to their schools for Open House. He took a moment to sit at Julian's desk as well, while sitting on my lap. It was nice to meet the teachers and to see the rooms so that I have a feel for how their day will go. Both kids have very nice teachers, so I think it will be a good year for both of them.

Saturday morning we went to the Kindest Cut for haircuts. I got mine cut and blow-dryed (so it looked longer afterwards than it had before). And then Max got his cut. Max was less hungry and more cooperative so Karen was able to really give him a good haircut. He was even able to hide the little baby-pattern-baldness he's got going on. His hair at his neck is now about 2 inches shorter! It's quite the dramatic change.

Saturday at lunchtime we gave Max his first taste of cereal. We put him in his London bib from Pauline and then I held him while Mark fed him. At first Max seemed confused by the experience. And then he decided he didn't like it. I don't know that any of the cereal actually made it down his throat. We tried again on Sunday with the same success ratio. This morning I gave him a little "cream" on a spoon and that seemed a little more positive although he still seemed confused. We are about to have lunch so we'll try again with the cereal. We are mixing it with milk to try to make it seem more desirable.

This morning Max woke up around 9am. That was fantastic for me! I went to bed around 9pm and Mark kept Max downstairs until about 3am. Six hours of sleep in a row. And then I fed Max and we went back to sleep until 6am, and then I fed him again and we went back to sleep until 9am. Yay sleep! When he woke up this morning for the last time I snuggled in bed with him for a little bit. He rolled towards Daddy so that he could pull on his hair (Daddy slept through the whole thing). I scooted Max away from Mark so that he didn't wake him up. He had already rolled to his belly so he was in the right position for crawling. He managed to scoot himself forward just a little bit, just so that he could reach Daddy and Daddy's hair. It wasn't a great crawl, but it was a huge improvement over his other tummy time pre-crawling experiences.

Early this afternoon I was holding Max on my lap. I put him down so that he was standing on the floor. Then I moved his hands forward so that they were on the kitchen chair. I moved my hands away and he stayed standing. Not for long, before moving enough that I grabbed him, but for a few moments. We did it a few more times and he seemed pretty happy about it. So we will keep working on that...

Time for lunch for everyone and then more Labor Day shopping...