Happy FIRST Birthday Max!!

I cannot believe it has been a WHOLE year!! Seriously, where does the time go?

Here we were that morning, Ready to get Started!

The Calm Before the Storm!! (for many reasons)

Max One Year Ago TODAY!!

We are so blessed to have our sweet baby boy. This has been such an amazing year of firsts and we still have SO many more to come. Max has FINALLY started showing some interest in standing. He'll get on his knees and with a little help he'll go through the motions and actually stand! I have to say, he does not enjoy standing, so I think we still have time before he actually takes a step or stands unassisted. He still army crawls everywhere. We have him pretty contained but once he sees an opening, he goes FAST. It's hystercial to watch him crawl, which looks more like a wiggle, really fast to try to get to a "no zone" (as we like to call them) before being stopped by one of his mean ole parents.

Riding his Birthday Present

He has this new pout of sorts. It started at the hospital last month. He kinda puckers up like he's about to kiss you when showing his disappointment. He does it sometimes when he teasing you. It's SOOOO cute! Speaking of kisses, we've been working on blowing kisses. So far, he'll only go as far as to place his hand over his mouth - he hasn't actually conquered the "blowing" part. Last night, we were giving each other five. He loves to clap or slap hands. It always makes him giggle. I love when we lay together and he holds my hand. He'll giggle sometimes and it just warms my heart. His new favorite song with hand motions is the Itsy, Bitsy Spider. Max particularly loves when the rain comes down and washes the spider out. One of his new favorite past times is to get on his knees and change the channel on the television or turn on the dvd player, especially when Kelly is watching something. He absolutely LOVES babies and little kids. We've gone on a few play dates and all he wants to do is hold the baby's hand or pat the baby on the head (or pull their hair and grab their faces - whoops! We're working on gentle too.) A few weeks ago, we went to the park to swing and he really enjoyed it. He would just scream and squeal in delight when swinging towards me. His smile is so infectious and his little laugh is enough to bring a smile to anyone's face! He's definitely discovered pitch! Now, he not only "talks" and squeals, he does so at different volumes and in different frequencies! He has this new really high pitched scream. It's provided lots of entertainment!

This doesn't fully capture the new pout, but you get the idea

Max is still such a happy baby. Lately, he's been a little under the weather but even when he's sick he's just an angel. (Poor guy is actually sick on his birthday and went to the DOCTOR!! Luckily he's young enough he doesn't realize the bad timing of his illness.) He just sucks his thumb and snuggles with his mom or dad. I hate that he's been feeling bad but have really enjoyed all the extra LOVIN'. Sleeping is still one of his favorite past times. He goes to bed about 8:30 at night and wakes up about 7:30 or 8:00. He still takes 2 really good naps around 10:30 and 2:30 (Sometimes he'll sneak in a cat nap around 5:00 - he's definitely my child). As far as eating, he really only wants to eat food he can feed himself. We've started branching out to big boy foods and look forward to adding more dairy to our diet. He LOVES turkey and the lunchable jr.s are a real favorite. As far as clothes and size, he is wearing 18 months and moving into more 24 month clothes. He isn't really gaining more weight, but it seems as though he continues to grow taller which makes some of the 18 month clothes too short. We go to the dr. Thursday, so I'll have stats then.

Max and his weird sleep positions

His party is this weekend. We can't wait and will have more pictures soon!! All and all this has been the most amazing year of my life. A year ago today, I had no idea what mother had in store, but I've loved EVERY moment. We are so blessed that I'm able to work from home and spend my days with him. It's just been amazing to be here for every milestone! I love spending my days with him and look forward to what this year will bring.

Happy Birthday Sweet Angel Bear!!

Samantha Claire

has arrived!! She was born at 5:14 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs. and measuring 19.5 inches. Everyone is doing great. We don't have any pictures yet, so I thought I'd share some of my sweet sleeping baby to tide you all over until we get some! Good night!

3 Weeks To GO!!!

Three weeks from today Max will be a 1 year old! I just cannot believe it!! He is feeling much better this week and is ALL over the place. We have some new pictures we thought we'd share.

This is Max's new sleeping position - that boy is FLEXIBLE!

He had a great time playing with the box!

Here is one of the invitations I made for Max's first birthday party. It was SO much fun, however it will probably be the last time I EVER make his invitations again. I would not have gotten them all finish with out Lauren's help! YAY Lauren!! The inside is yellow with all the information for the party. We can't wait for his big day!!The McNultys are expecting ANOTHER girl!! Isn't that wonderful!! Samantha Claire is due to be here tomorrow! We are SO excited for Shawn, Molly and Ben. I wish Sam would have waited until Friday to make her appearance on my birthday (unlike Kelly I think it would be great to share my birthday)! O, well. Please keep Shawn, Molly, Ben and Sam in your prayers. Hopefully, I'll have pictures to post. What a big year for Max - two GIRL cousins in ONE year!! WOW!!

Poor Baby Max

Max is taking a much needed nap, so I thought I'd update. We've been at Children's Hospital since Monday. Apparently Max caught the normal cold virus but rather than giving him a normal cold he got a really bad respiratory infection. He was admitted and we stayed at Children's until this afternoon. I can't believe what a good little boy he was the WHOLE time. He was SO sweet. Needless to say, we are TIRED!! He's doing SO much better and we go to the dr. tomorrow for a check up. Thank you to EVERYONE!!! We are so blessed to have such great friends and family! Here's a picture of our sick little guy (please ignore his mother - remember, I was at the hospital with my sick child.)

On a happy note, Max turned 11 months old yesterday!! All in all it has been a FABULOUS 11 months. Monday was the first time he'd been sick - so I can't really complain. We are so excited about his 1st birthday. I'm almost finished with his invitations and they'll go out soon. We aren't really going all out but are planning just a nice day with family and close friends. (We are also going to have a night out at Cajun's the night of his party with grown-ups - my dad's band will be there! FUNTIMES!!)

Max spends his days crawling EVERYwhere and in the hospital he would get on his knees and try to pull up on the crib bar - this is something new. Also, last weekend we went to Memphis for AC/DC and, for the first time EVER, he slept through the night away from home. He has completely weaned himself from his mommy at his own prompting - no nursing in about 2 weeks. It's a little sad, but I'm so happy he did it on his own rather than me having to battle him later. He's just too independent these days.

He wears 18 month clothes. He's about 25 lbs and 33 inches. He loves to eat but these days he really won't take things fed to him - he really only wants to feed himself. Eating baby food has almost become a battle because he turns his head from the spoon. So, he's getting lots of big boy foods.

Well, I'm so exhausted and am going to sneak in a nap while he's napping. Happy Wednesday.
Love, Us

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Mmmmmmmm - Blueberries (and pasta pick ups!)

Maxnificent Max

So, this was opening weekend of the horse races. Unfortunately, Kelly and I didn't make it. I've had a lot of work lately and working from home (with busy little Max) usually translates into a lot of weekend work with Daddy Daycare, but we sure hope Pop and Sugah won big!! Max is just getting so big and continues to amaze us every day. He has really gotten the hang of crawling. He crawls everywhere and gets faster every day. (It's still an army crawl of sorts.) We have him blocked out of the other rooms pretty good, but as soon as he sees an opening into another room he is right there in a flash!

It seems like he is eating all the time. He LOVES eating solids and has started to wean himself (I definitely think we're on target to be finished at the year mark). He seems to prefer bottles these days because they allow him to move around while drinking. He'll lay in his bed (at nap time) with a bottle and play for about an hour and then go to sleep. This week we started putting his milk in a cup so he'll be ready for a cup once he's on regular milk. He doesn't even seem to notice.
I can't believe Max is so close to being a year old. It just doesn't seem as though that much time has past. I've started working on his invitations for his first birthday party - I may have mentioned it, but I'm making them. I think they are so cute! I'll share later. I figure if I don't start now then I won't have them ready in time to mail!

This weekend is the march for life. I think this year, more than years past, has more meaning now that I have Max in my life. I've always had such a respect for life but being a mom just gives a completely new perspective on the miracle that's life. It's so amazing. I am (Kelly too) so blessed. I just thank God daily for my sweet baby boy. We plan to attend mass with the group from St. Micheal's including Mary Jo and Susie.

Well, here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy them (we sure enjoyed taking them!)

Here's Max trying to feed himself
Doesn't he look like a little boy in this picture??

He's got his spoon and is ready to go.
(Check out the WILD hair!! It reminds me of Ace Ventura)

He's trying to get mommy!

I sure love this face (even the hair!)I must say that his hair has been really wild lately. It is acting as though it is going to curl. His daddy had really curly hair as does his cousin Ben. So, we may have a curly headed little boy!! It's getting pretty blond too.

What a sleep position, huh?

Here's our little stinker, playing with his diaper bag!

We hope you all have an amazing week!

TEN MONTHS OLD!!

And what a happy ten months it has been!! Well, nothing much has changed since my last post just a few days ago. I guess we can say Max is crawling? It isn't a traditional type crawl but he does go forward. It is kinda like an army crawl and as I said before sometimes resembles a frog. Here's a video of just a short trip to a toy. (As you can tell from the pictures and video - we like playing in our pjs!)

Here are a few more pictures. Enjoy!!

He might be a duck hunter!Just a cutie!

I don't know if I mentioned it but Max DEFINITELY understands the word no, and he REALLY doesn't like hearing it. Here is a no incident with some "bacon."

Uh, O - he's gotten into Rocky's treats!
And he goes for a taste - so naturally at this point I say, No Max!
And this is what happens...
I have NO idea how I can POSSIBLY say no to this face! Look at those tears welling up! Poor guy - Mom is no fun.

SOOO SAD!!!!

Have a great week! Hugs and love