Spork

Max learned how to use his spork!

Max's New Stats

Due to some scheduling issues around Max's 12 month check up we got behind on his Doctor visits. Then when we finally got him in when he was 13.5 months, he had a fever of 104.5 the night before so they recommended him not get his vaccinations at that time. Then we just were way behind, because they scheduled his 15 month checkup for today and he is 17 months. So we sorta had his 15 and 18 month checkup today.

He got 5 shots today to catch him up on his immunizations. :'( Now Select Care will no longer call me and harass me about not getting my child immunized and how it is comparable to not putting him in a car seat or placing a helmet on his head before recreational activities... Blah blah blah.

He did pretty well, not as much crying as I had expected. He has cried longer when I took away a piece of paper he was trying to eat then he did after getting 5 shots in his legs. He's a trooper.

His Stats:

Height = 34 inches (95%)

Weight = 28.4 lb's (85%)

Head Circumference = 19.8 inches (98%)

He's also right on track developmentally. My pediatrician agrees... this is just a hard age because it is the age of exploration, and everything still goes in his mouth. You have to watch him like a hawk.

I'm glad he is healthy and doing so well!

Where is your...?

Here's Max pointing to some of his favorite body parts:

His Belly Button is his favorite. And apparently he learned a new word, "Eye". Now if only I can get him to point to it instead of trying to eat the camera...

Graduation, New Job, and 17 months

Lots of things happening over the past month!

Chris technically graduated (done with classes) at the end of April. But his commencement ceremony was on June 25th. He was a Summa Cum Laude meaning he graduated with a GPA average of greater than 3.9 (his was actually a 4.0!) We are so proud of the hard work and effort he has put into his school work over the past 3 1/2 years.

 Chris and his proud Momma

 Max proud of his Daddy, but he shouldn't have graduated during nap time! 

 So proud of my man!

 Excited!

 His Graduating class

We also have some very exciting news! After two long months of job searching, resume preparing, interview prep, and intense interviews... Chris found a job!! He actually got a couple of offers, but chose to work for a company called EMC as a Technical Support Engineer. It sounds like a great company that has lots of opportunities for him.

Max turned 17 months yesterday! He is starting to pick up more words and he loves to imitate us. He will blow kisses, give high fives, give "bones" or "knuckles", points to his nose, eyes, ears, and belly button, and claps whenever anyone else is cheering. His vocabulary includes the words, "Ma Ma, Da Da, Hi Dad, Ball, Car, Cheese, Shoes (sounds kinda like Jews or choose), Nana (banana), and Kitty (ditty or De De).

He has fallen in LOVE with Sesame Street. He loves Elmo especially. Why Elmo is cute, he has to have one of the most ANNOYING voices ever. But I am starting to get used to him now.

Here is Max's version of the "Elmo Slide". He dance to this song twice before I got out the camera, so he was a little tired of dancing... but it is still cute.



I'm so excited for the new changes and feel excited for the future!

16 Months

1 year ago this was Max:

And here is my big boy today.

I can't believe how much can change in just a years time.

Max is doing well. He is starting to be a little sponge. He is absorbing and learning new things every day. He isn't quite talking yet. He says a few words, but he has learned the sign's for "more" "what?" "all done" "eat" "baby" "milk" and he smacks his mouth when he wants a drink. He will give us kisses when we ask for one. He barks whenever he sees a picture of a dog. He finds the strangest things hilarious and giggles about it for 5-10 minutes. He tries to figure out how things work. He loves my iPhone. AND He loves being outside and going for walks.

He is a lot of work, but so much fun!

Silly Boy

Max does the funniest things sometimes.

For example, he broke into the cabinet (even though it was "baby proofed") and did this for a good 10-15 minutes and thought it was HILARIOUS!

He also likes to pick up objects that are much larger than himself



And I think I might have the next American Idol on my hands...

Silly Boy!

Why I Can't Get Enough!

 Max is like Chris.... he makes me laugh every day.

 He loves to smile

He loves to climb

 He still loves to eat tags and he loves to RUN!

He loves to be CUTE!

  

He loves to hide behind the curtains and have mommy find him!

He loves to grab the remote and miraculously turn on the Picture-in-Picture feature that I can't seem to turn off and have never been able to figure out!

He loves playing in front of the mirror

He loves hanging out with his mommy.

That's why I can't get enough!

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And to top it all off... he does silly things like put an orange cup in his mouth and run across the room, even though he can't see where he is going!

And he likes plastic bags

I definitely have a boy!

Febrile

Max is sick

AGAIN

So is Chris. I feel like the illnesses will just not go away.

It started out with Max getting fevers last Thursday-Saturday. They weren't too high 101 at the most. He also had a little bit of a runny nose. "Teething" we thought.. Then they went away. And all that was left was a runny nose and mild cough.

Then today they came back with a vengeance. He woke up at around 100.6. Not bad I thought, and gave him some Motrin. At noon they were 101.5, gave him some Tylenol. He was a little more fussy, and didn't want his bottle, but otherwise business as usual. Then he went up to 102.7. So I did Motrin again and got a little worried. His fever wouldn't break despite the medications. He went down to 100.4 after the Motrin (about 45 minutes after) then spiked up to 103.6 about 1.5 hours later.

So this is where being a nurse and being a mom gets hard. You would assume that being a nurse I would be like "stick a band aid on it and you'll be alright". Fevers are common and many virus's cause fevers. But this is MY CHILD. And with my knowledge I know that many virus's cause fevers and they just have to run their course. BUT I also know that many other things cause fevers, ear infections, UTI's, abscess's, bacterial infections, pneumonia, and God forbid MENINGITIS or SEPSIS! High fevers can even cause seizures in kids! So maybe being a nurse is to my disadvantage. Maybe if I was naive I wouldn't know the worst case scenario and just believe my baby is just a little sick (which is probably the case). Instead I'm fence sitting here trying to decide if he needs to see a doctor now, or can wait for his "12 month well child checkup" tomorrow.

As I put him to sleep tonight I just held him and rocked him. My normally active-always-on-the-go-never-really-cuddles-unless-he's-almost-asleep boy let me hold him, even though he was awake. As I rocked my feverish bottle refusing child, I sang to him. I sang (I actually hum) all his regular songs, then I started singing all the ones I sang to him all hours of the night when he would not sleep as a newborn. The ones I sang on the floor to him when he finally needed to learn to put himself to sleep in his crib, yet I felt too guilty to let him cry all alone. All those songs brought so many memories back.

I had a moment. I know he is only 13 months, but in the last 13 months I have experienced emotions I never even knew I was capable of. From the most unexplainable blissful joy to the most extreme frustration to the most intense urge to protect to the craziest anxiety to uncontrollable laughter and the deepest depression. Being a parent is hard (and I know it will only get harder). But as I held my little boy just wishing I could take his fever, discomfort, sadness, misery, and any horrible experience he EVER may come across away from him... I knew that being a parent is the most fantastic, amazing, and extremely sacred experience I have the honor of being a part of. In that peaceful moment, when he was finally able to calm and go to sleep, I was his Momma. One of the most important jobs in the world.

Has it Really Been a Month?

And boy what a month it was!

After the big news finding out Chris was a Diabetic, then planning and executing Max's birthday extravaganza, plus overall stresses with work and life landed me with a bad cold. Then Max got it shortly after, then I started to get better when I suddenly got sick again with ANOTHER virus, which I of course gave to Max. Then it was passed on to Chris. So my entire household for the entire month of March has been a cesspool of infection.

I am now feeling better with a lingering cough and occasional mucous ball (sorry TMI). And my crappy laptop is finally out of the picture for good. After months of trying to decipher pictures through the lined screen, we bought a new one with our large Tax return. The rest went to Chris's tuition. But I LOVE my new laptop and hope I can finally get Max's photo book done and start blogging again.

Max had a little photo session that my friend from work took. He was quite "shell shocked" that day so we didn't really get any of his adorable smile. I don't know if it was the stress I was feeling after finding out Chris's diagnosis that he could sense, or if it was all the cool flooring and background props she brought over, or the fact she was taking pictures with a CAMERA and he was wondering what that cool machine did.

But here are a few of my Favorites!

  

I can't believe he's already 13 months!

Bieber Fever

One Morning when I was watching The View and they had Justin Bieber as a guest. They were playing some of his music and Max just started dancing. I was laughing so hard, so I downloaded one of his songs to see if he would dance, and sure enough... he did! He will dance to other music (including the choir at church), but nothing gets him going like the Bieb's.

So here he is:

My little dancing machine

Par-tay

We threw Max his first birthday party!

It has been a long and exhausting week. Emotionally, physically, and mentally. I had dreams about how this party would go. It started out with an immaculate house, food all dolled up on party trays, his cake perfectly shaped and decorated with the fancy frosting dots you make with the tube frosting decorating thingy, Cup cakes with swirled frosting and sprinkles, pictures in frames all around the living room of my favorite pictures of his first year, all the video's I took of his first year compiled together and running on the DVD player, Camera all charged up and ready, his Shutterfly photo book completed and printed for every one to leaf through as they enjoyed cake and ice cream, and a completely happy and cooperative baby. But life happens and things get in the way.

So Maybe things didn't pan out how I had dreamed, but really? Does it ever? I would still say it was a success! Lots of Family and Friends showed up to show their love and support for our little man. It was nice to see everyone, especially my sister who is in town, and for the kids to get together and play.

Here are some of my favorite photos:

The Mini Cake

 Max LOVED the latex balloons.

 I tried not to let him bite them

 His girlfriend Samantha. This is right before he gave her one of his "kisses" (mostly a slobbery open mouth that touches your face)

 All the kids playing with the balloons

 Opening gifts

 He doesn't like to wear shoes... but he sure loves to eat them!

Family picture with Great Grandma Homer 

 Can I get some cake?

 Birthday Boy!

 Here it comes!

 Eat it!

 He didn't want to dive in. Maybe he wasn't in a cake mood.

 He loved the balloons though!



I am grateful for everyone that came and hope they had a good time.

I can't believe my baby is already 1!