14 months

max is now a little over 14 months old. what a difference a year makes. last year at this time i was hysterically crying over going back to work and leaving my nearly 3 month old baby. well, that hasn't changed. almost every sunday evening i feel the same feelings as i did then. i am so in love with this little boy i can hardly stand it. he is extremely smart and funny. he has the best sense of humor. he makes scott and i laugh and smile. here are some of the many reasons why:

 ~when he loses something underneath the couch, etc., he gets down on his hands and knees just like an adult and looks for it.

~when he is wondering about something he puts his hands up and shrugs his shoulders like we do when we say "where is rex?" or some other question.

~when he wants to go outside he brings us his hat even when the temperature got up to 70 degrees...we still had to put it on to prevent any tears.

~when he wants you to pick him up, or anything else he wants you to do and you don't right away, he will bounce his legs, tuck his chin into his body, begin to make a spitting sound, and cry so hard...pitiful.

~his new thing is hide and go seek..."hides" behind the peace lily, i "hide" on the other side and peek at him through it, then "unexpectedly" i come through the plant and say "boo"...he laughs hysterically.

~jac taught him a new game he loves; whack it...climb up three stairs, put basketball in between banister rails, count to 3 and then whack the basketball through the rails onto the floor, retrieve and start again.

~he has recently become enthralled with books. he becomes attached to one book at a time. scott and i have to read them all.the.time and many, many times in a row each night at bedtime. first it was brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?. then, hello baby! by mem fox. along with those 2 he then added a few more that never quite made the cut but he wanted to read once a night; goodnight moon, pat the bunny, polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear?. we are currently reading doggies by sandra boynton at least 10 times a day. the teacher in me is so glad he loves good, quality books.

~he loves to be outdoors. he loves using his tools to "fix" things (sorry rex and lucy). he loves food (new foods include chili, broccoli corn casserole, and chicken-apple sausages). he dislikes diaper changes and nose wipings.

~he waves to everyone everywhere. he gives the best open-mouthed drooly kisses.
~he cleans up around the house (puts his dirty laundry in his basket, throws away trash, picks up dirt). he loves to turn on/off the vacuum. p.s. he is getting a dyson of his own for christmas...too bad it doesn't actually pick anything up.

okay, enough, right? what can i say, i love him with all my heart.

signing all done...he also knows the sign for more

loves to push/pull around his corn popper

holiday photo shoot

by now you have probably all received your christmas card in the mail. i took max's picture myself with the help of scott, josh, sarah, and jacquie during my thanksgiving break. we went to the alpharetta elementary park beside josh and sarah's house so i could capture max in his element; playing outside with the people he adores. just look at these precious faces and you will know how much he loves his family. thank you for making max smile, laugh, and be his adorable self so i could get some unforgettable pictures. and, in case you were curious, i did get all 50 of my shutterfly cards FREE!

speaking of thanksgiving. we had a wonderful holiday with my mom and sister. we all spent the day at josh and sarah's enjoying the most delicious foods. sarah's mom, her brother zach, and her soon-to-be sister-in-law lauren were also visiting for the weekend. we had a great time being with family, eating, and being thankful for each other and all that we have in our lives that make us happy and whole. aunt sarah, always thinking of max, made all of the food milk/dairy free so max could eat everything with us. my mom and i made our contributions milk/dairy free as always as well. max loved eating the stuffing and sweet potato casserole. i mean, you have never seen a 13 month old eat like this before...i can guarantee it.

yep, those are skinny cords he has on...adorable!

happy holidays

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happy halloween

meet monkey max and his friend ladybug lily...
could they be any cuter?!

max and lily had a great time trick-or-treating for the 1st time.

picking pumpkins

around here we love fall. the weather, apples, football, mums, halloween, snuggling when it's chilly, and most of all pumpkins. i dislike pumpkins that are round and orange and perfect. i love pumpkins with lumps, and funky colors, and crazy stems, and weird shapes. scott and max and i went to pick out some pumpkins a couple of weeks ago at grimes in roswell and scottsdale farms in alpharetta. max had fun looking at the pumpkins and sitting on top of a really big one. both places have dogs that run around so he loved that. these pictures were too adorable not to share. notice the outfit...go bucks. the last three are just some cute ones i had to stick in somewhere.

 making that noise where you hit your hand against your mouth "wa, wa, wa". he uses the back of his hand and does it all. the. time.

 eating

sliding down the slide at the park with daddy. he loves that.

giraffes and elephants and warthogs oh my

we had a three day weekend so today scott and i decided to take max somewhere we had no doubt he would be in his element. today we went to zoo atlanta so max could spend the day outdoors and with animals. we were both so amazed at how observant and perfect he was. max loved seeing his favorite animal the giraffe most of all. he saw two adults and one baby along with zebras and an ostrich. our 1st exhibit was the flamingos. he loved seeing the elephants and the warthogs too. he saw monkeys, gorillas, a rhino, a deer-like creature, kangaroos, pandas. the lions, tigers, bears, and leopards were hard for him to find (and us). we went into a bird sanctuary where birds were flying all around us (he loved that too). he truly enjoyed every second of the trip; he even sat on a table outside a cafe to eat his lunch (and watch all the other children running around). at every exhibit we showed him he would point as soon as he saw the animal inside and "oohh" really loudly and serious and excited as if to say, "mommy, daddy do you see that?". he would look at us to make sure we were looking at the animal too. he just stared and pointed and tried climbing on the tops of the railings to get a closer look. when he got to the warthog exhibit they were laying right in front of the glass and he got down and just pointed and stared and "oohh"ed at them. he looked through the glass at the tiger too. it was a perfect day with the most perfect baby boy and the perfect husband.

one

wow! i cannot believe i have a walking, talking (okay, maybe it's more yelling and noise making than actual talking) one year old! max celebrated his 1st birthday on october 1st. i stayed home from school that day to spend time with him. on saturday we had max's birthday party. my mom, dad, jacquie, and my aunt judy all came from ohio to be here for the big one. max is so lucky (as am i) to have such wonderful, loving family who would travel so far to be here to celebrate his amazing and precious 1st year of life! scott and i had both our families (minus jarrod) in attendance for the party. my mom made her famous carrot cake (with dairy free cream cheese frosting) and sweet potato cupcakes (also with the same frosting). max ate a sweet potato cupcake for his "smash cake" and loved it (he now wants a bite of cake/cupcake/icing after dinner every night). he was given so many gifts. i don't think i have ever seen so many toys for one child. i will just share a few of his favorites with you...mommy and daddy gave him the all terrain radio flyer wooden wagon. he enjoys going for rides around the neighborhood in it while eating his edamame and blueberries; also enjoys pushing it himself. grammy gave him the radio flyer retro rocket which he can sort of push himself around on while riding; he gets so excited when he sees it and pushes all the buttons that say things like "ready for take-off". grandpere gave him his 1st chair; loves to go over to it and lay across it or lounge in it with his bottle or his leaptop (from lily). aunt jac gave him a cozy coupe that he loves getting in and riding around in or pushing it himself. uncle josh and aunt sarah gave him a blow-up ball pit that he thinks is so fun. nana and pop gave him a top that spins with a train that goes around a track inside it. so many more toys, clothes, books, puzzles, balls, trucks, etc. are now a part of our bursting with love home.

max's 12 month stats:
weight: 22.8 lbs (50 %)
height: 30 in (50%)
head 75%
received 4 shots and a finger prick; doctor says he is absolutely perfect; we are still nursing; loves all his fruits and veggies; some new additions are honeydew and macaroni and "cheese" and toddler strawberry mum-mums; words: mama, dada, ra (rex), do (dog), ba (ball, book, banana); becoming a babbling chatterbox in the recent days with many sounds being put together just nothing that makes a whole lot of sense to us; wonderful walker; points and says "oohh"; loves giraffes; very good at making connections to things (if you ask him where his giraffe is he will want to find all three of them throughout the house, same for his monkey halloween costume and his red talking monkey); loves his books millie cow, alien al, charlie monkey, rusty robot, dizzy dragon, and halloween jack (all big books with bright colors and on the last page they have sound and lights). my mom and i have been adding to his collection ever since she first gave him one for christmas and we realized how much he loved it; wants to always be outside walking around and playing; loves to play with any type of ball; loves outings with mommy and daddy to anywhere; getting better now that he is in his britax big carseat in the car (hardly ever cries at all anymore); loves animals; loves all dogs big and small; doesn't mind wearing his first pair of little white stride rite baby shoes (what a precious moment that was watching him get fitted for his shoes and reach down ever so slowly to touch them and then look at scott and i while he was bent down for reassurance all with a grin on his face. when he took his 1st step in them he leaned over to grab onto something stable because he thought he might fall. when he finally walked in them he lifted his leg up to take steps.); dislikes diaper changes/clothing changes; loves music and dancing; gives open mouthed kisses to mommy; gets so excited to see mommy and daddy if they are returning from somewhere; well, i could probably go on for days thinking about this boy but i will leave it at that. i just never want to forget the way he is and the faces and smiles and sounds he makes and maybe some of these posts will help me to always remember him at each age. thanks for hanging in there while i write this book for max and scott and myself. now here are the pictures and videos i know you really came to see.

sorry for the blur on this picture but the setting was off on our camera and the moment of opening his first gift on the morning of his actual birthday had passed by the time we corrected it

11 months old

I cannot believe what once was my little newborn baby will be a ONE YEAR OLD is less than 1 month! Max is the most wonderful baby! He has really started to copy everything we do when it comes to playing with his toys. He puts his rings on his stacker, he pushes his shapes through his shape sorter with assistance from us, he points at things he wants or sees that interest him and makes an "ooohhh" sound, he understands just about anything we say to him and responds to it by looking or going to do it (for instance; "Max, find the tennis ball and throw it Rex.", Max searches around for a tennis ball and then goes and finds Rex to give it to him or "Max do you want to play basketball?" , Max gets into his big toy bag in his room to get the basketball hoop out and shoot baskets.), he likes to walk over to his car and get on to be pushed around the house for a ride (he beeps his horn and gets off by himself), he likes to play with a plastic zebra and giraffe and make roar sounds with them.  Max is walking very well. He does a side crab shuffle alot of the time. He still loves to be outside most of all. He now prefers to go on the tire swing, sit on the big boy swing with mommy or daddy, and slide down the slide with daddy when we go for our walks to the park; no more baby swing for him! He loves to talk on the phone for real or pretend using mommy's cell phone or his own hand. He listens to music in his room to fall asleep for his naps. He had his first fever and vomiting over Labor Day weekend. He was just not himself all weekend and just laid his sweet baby head on mommy's shoulder for most of the day Monday. He then proceeded to throw up all over my shoulder. I am at home with him today for our first sick day together. I am enjoying our time together alone although I wish he were feeling better than he does. Pictures coming soon! Gotta go get my sweet boy; I hear his little voice coming from upstairs!

walk this way

Max has been standing on his own for about a month now. For the past couple of weeks he has been taking a few steps to get to something close by. This past week he began to really walk! It is so exciting for me and Scott to watch him take his first steps. Each time he walks we get so excited and think it is just about the most amazing and adorable thing we have ever been witness to! I know for some people this milestone means more work, etc, but for us we are just so happy for Max and could not wait for this day to come. It seems to us that this has been Max's goal since the day he was born. My little baby boy has never been content to be still. The look on his face when he takes steps is absolutely priceless. He is so proud of himself and so excited! He is still wobbly and still crawls and sometimes takes steps backwards or in place but nevertheless he is walking and he is determined! Here are some pictures and videos of him walking this week. PRECIOUS!