happy easter

max awoke to find that the easter bunny had visted him and delivered some goodies inside his easter basket. he loved his hand-carved wooden train, three new balls,

and some sand tools to go with his new sand/water table.

easter eve day he hunted eggs at the annual easter egg hunt at pop and nana's. he was more interested in finding pop, playing ball, and picking up the enormous decorative plastic eggs laying around the yard and placing them in his easter basket (which is big enough to fit those large suckers).

he loved his easter basket from pop and nana.

this is max watching sesame street. so, this is the first time he has watched television. scott and i want max to grow up the way we did; playing outside, getting dirty,making his own fun, real playing with real people. so, when the pediatrician says no media until the age of 2 we were glad to have two reasons to keep him away from the tv. lately we have been watching about 20 minutes of sprout when we wake up on the weekends. he definitely enjoys the shows we watch and he always wants to snuggle up on our laps to watch and talk about what he sees. you can see how precious he is while he watches in this picture.

wills park

this has become our favorite place to take max on a sixty degree saturday morning in february. he loves this park. he explores every nook and cranny of this wooden playground. he walks around like he owns the place no matter how many big kids are running around. his favorite activity is sliding down the big slides all by himself, tunnels and all.

vday

we had a wonderful valentine's day. we celebrated as a family on sunday so that we could give max his gifts and watch him appreciate them. its the best feeling when i think of something to give him and he loves it and enjoys it more than i could have imagined. we gave max a lights/sounds fire engine, a big red ball, and a child-size broom. my mom knit him the most adorable red sweater,gifted him a 3 part geometrical stacker, and found the perfect dear zoo book. josh and sarah gave him a talking car he likes to fix and push around the house. all of these items have become his new favs. i hope you all had a meaningful and happy day of love.

outfit provided by jacquie

17 months

amazing. i haven't blogged since max was 15 months old. tuesday he turned 17 months old. we have been busy enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having (nothing like those pictures from my last post) for the past couple of weeks. max has been so happy to be outside playing with all the neighborhood kids. they are all so sweet and max loves when they come over to play. we have lots of new balls that max has insisted on having when we shop at target/toys r us. he is growing so much. he is growing out of all of his 12-18 month clothes already. he is so precious although he does have his fair share of head smacking, body throwing temper tantrums at times. he has been getting so many teeth. lots of molars are in or on their way. he is talking up a storm. mama, dada, ba ball (basketball), ball, bye-bye, rock, hot, ac (aunt jac), car, go, up, baba (banana), pop (scott's dad), and his all time favorites uh oh, wow, and whoa. he attempts to copy just about everything we say and do. he is even putting words together  like "go car" and others. i love hearing his sweet voice. there is nothing better than when i ask for a hug or a kiss and he gets so excited and wraps his arms around my neck and goes in for the open-mouthed drooly kiss. my heart melts. max is currently obsessed with his books about trucks, his first 300 words book, and dear zoo  with lift the flap boxes containing his favorite..zoo animals. each night after his bath he chooses one of us (mommy, daddy, or aunt jac) to read him the 300 words book. we say the words and he points to the correct picture. it is unbelievable to me how much he learns and retains and how quickly he does so. that's why his head is so big...all that brilliance. he can identify almost every vehicle, animal, object in that big book. he also does many sounds. ambulance/fire truck, helicopter, airplane, elephant, crocodile, camel, duck, cow, hippo. he can hear/spot an airplane in the sky before anyone and if he hears or sees a fire engine he copies the sound (or a tornado siren). on many occasions he has come home with scott to find mommy cooking at the stove and points and says so enthusiastically "wow". i love it when he says that. right now he loves bird watching, ball playing, drawing, geometrical stackers (in the correct order), fire engines, and hiding. i feel like i could tell max stories for a living. there are so many smart, funny, sweet, and adorable stories to tell. i love him more than any words could ever express. tuesday we were home together. we were up all night in the steamy bathroom with our wheezing baby. at our doctor's appointment he was diagnosed with croup (just like his mama) and was on a 3 day dose of steroids to help clear it up. poor little guy.

see next few posts for goings on in the smith household over the past month or so...

ice and illness

so, in case you haven't heard or seen, atlanta was hit by a winter storm on sunday while we slept. about 5 inches of snow covered the ground causing school and everything else in and around the city to completely shut down. after the snow came freezing rain and temperatures. school has been closed all week and we will be closed tomorrow as well. scott just went back to work today with shortened hours. it has been so wonderful to be home with max but he has not had it so good. max has had a runny nose and bad cough since saturday. he has been unable to nap and wakes up multiple times throughout the night because of his cough. yesterday i started to think it might be more than just the cough preventing him from sleeping well. i called the peds office, closed. i called again this morning and they finally answered at ten. i took him in (moving at about 5 miles per hour due to accidents and taking triple the time to get there) and sure enough, double ear infection. my poor sweet baby! he started his antibiotic and i hope he feels better very, very soon. he is so tough, he never even shows signs that his ears hurt. he did take his battery powered toothbrush and put it in his ear yesterday afternoon which was my first hint that they might be causing him some pain. i am so glad to have this week to take care of him, love him, and cuddle with him. we have rocked him through his entire afternoon naps so that he could sleep better. we haven't done that in months. i love watching his angelic face while he sleeps. today while i was rocking him after he had just fallen asleep he said "ho. ho. ho." and then did his where sound with hand motion and then went right back to sleep. i guess he was looking for santa in his dream?. he is so sweet even when he feels lousy. looking forward to another day off tomorrow and hoping max feels better. we are excited to see my aunt judy who is coming to atlanta tomorrow to meet her husband (who is currently in paris) here for her birthday this weekend. here are a few pictures we took when we went outside with max yesterday. he threw a fit when we went inside about 20 minutes after we went out. poor guy probably has cabin fever, i know i do. maybe tomorrow we can get out and about.

1.1.11

happy new year! hope everyone had a very merry christmas and enjoyed bringing in 2011. we had a wonderful christmas in ohio with my family. max and i drove to ohio on sunday with josh and sarah. we drove in two cars and one of them rode with me at all times to help with max. he was a perfect, sweet, happy baby getting love and attention from his aunt and uncle for 9 hours. scott flew up on thursday night. due to his job change of sorts he had no vacation time through the end of the year so he was only able to take off a couple of days over the holidays. we were so glad to have him with us when he finally arrived. every time one of the dogs at my mom's house barked he said "dada?". it was precious. the three of us drove back home on monday. it was so great being with my family for christmas. i am thankful to scott for understanding how important it is for me to be with my family when i have time off from work. they were so glad to get that time with us and max too.

we want to wish josh a happy birthday! it was his birthday yesterday, new years eve. we love you! thank you for being an amazing brother and an even more amazing unlce to max. he adores you. i wish i could post a video that would do justice to this story...each morning in ohio max would go into josh and sarah's bedroom to wake them. when he sees josh he just stares at him adoringly. he doesn't do that to anyone else. each day he would go to josh's guitar and carry it to him to get josh to play and sing for him. he will not give up until josh starts to play (not that it takes much). while josh plays max will just stare at him for awhile. when josh plays the song lion man by mumford and sons max will start to dance and yell and clap. he loves music so much. his new form of dancing is to twirl in circles and to step repeatedly on one foot. love.

max is 15 months old today. he has learned so many new things over the past month. it is unbelievable how amazing and precious and smart he is. okay, maybe not that hard to believe, but he is all of those things and much much more! here goes the adorable baby max's 15 month update...
*max has been talking alot lately. he seems to learn so many new things when i am home on breaks which i am thankful for being witness to. here is an updated list of words in max's vocabulary: mama, dada, baba (banana), go~with a short o sound (dog), eyes (my mom swears he said this while looking at a child's picture of a reindeer and pointing to it's eyes while we were visiting her at her school one day. i heard it too and wasn't sure if it was purposeful but she says yes) quack quack, up, and go (the last two are hard to come by).
*as i mentioned above, twirling and foot tapping dance moves have been added to his list of skills.
*piano playing while grinning at mommy and daddy while he "plays".
*vacuuming with his  very own dyson. he loves that thing. so glad i found it for him. wish it really picked up dirt.
*shooting baskets in his new basketball hoop. he is really talented at hoops. he can wing that sucker from pretty far back and really hard and make it nothin but net. he also palms the basketball and with the other hand hits the side of the ball a few times before he shoots. where does he learn this stuff?
*jarrod gave him his first haircut. just a little off the sides and back.
*first sled ride wearing a snow suit and snow boots in my mom's backyard. he loved it. not so much when jasper did a flying leap over him and his back legs caught max's head and he went face first into the cold, hard snow, but he recovered quickly.
*still does his where thing with his hand and now does a "eh" sound that sounds like he is questioning something when he does it. he does this frequently and every time we start a sentence with a question word he can distinguish this and does his little where/what thing like he is trying to figure it out.
*loves to sit at child size table/chair to color or draw his own picture. this is precious to me. he really concentrates. maybe he will have the glaze artistry gene?
*he is a one nap a day baby now.
*he is no longer nursing at all. wow, i never thought we would make it a month when we first began nursing and now look how far we've come.
*still an outdoorsman and loves mowing with his new fancy lawnmower.
*he loves all his new toys and gear he received from his family for christmas (dad, you were so right about the two toy bags). thank you all. and santa too. he loves santa. when we went to visit him at perimeter mall max kept doing where when i would ask where is santa. when it was our turn santa asked max to give him a high five and he did. he sat on santa's lap, no tears, and even stared up at him. he wanted to find all the santas at my mom's house everyday and if he was upset about something and we asked him where santa was he would immediately stop crying and do where and look for santa.
*l.o.v.e.s. animals. check out the photos below to see the proof. he wants to love them, hug them, play with them, follow them, pick them up, roll around on them, anything to be near them. he pats his belly to tell our dogs to come to him. he insists on giving them their biscuits when we leave each day. he has to wave goodnight to rex and lucy before he can go down for a nap or bedtime everyday.
*said his first sentence. scott said "i'm going to eat your banana." and max said "dada baba?"
*he listens to and understands everything we say even when we think he's not listening or he wouldn't understand. i.e. my mom said one morning (max was playing nearby) "grammy forgot to finish her wine." her wine glass was sitting on top of the entertainment center from the night before. max stopped playing and went over to my mom and pointed up to where the wine glass was sitting. i was sure he was pointing at his picture of santa that we had been looking at each day. she took him over to show her what he was pointing at and he pointed to the wine glass. too funny.
*adores his daddy. he loves that man so so much.
*loves and needs his momma especially when something doesn't go his way or he is feeling blue.

we hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2011.

climbing behind the tree to get to the cat. he toddled around in circles following kate the cat the entire evening at my dad's. he never stopped. he loved her so very much.

chasing the cat. yes, he is climbing over presents to get to her.  

he wanted to pick up my dad's cat so badly. 

 my dad's dog. he lets max ride him.

loves grandpere and his animals. 

seeing his presents from santa.

 shopping with daddy.

sing us a song piano man.

 opening his dyson.

 the newly engaged couple in the background.

aunt sarah gets a laugh.

 loves jarrod's dog, jasper. wants to pick him up.

thank you for a wonderful time, mom.

other special news: my lovely sister jacqueline has graduated with a masters degree in early childhood education. in order to work towards being hired  as a teacher in georgia for the upcoming school year she will be moving in with us and begin substitute teaching. oh, and she got ENGAGED on christmas to her boyfriend of many, many years, ty! they will offically relocate to georgia together this summer. wedding date t.b.a.



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!