The middle of December

The middle of December was pretty calm and quiet.  Not much happened since I barely left my bed.

We did go to Peter's work Christmas party.  I really enjoy the people he works with and had a lot of fun.  Also, now that I know everyone better, I enjoyed myself much more than last year.  (It wasn't bad last year but because I didn't really know people I just sat there quietly.)  I just sat on the couch with my foot up while everyone brought the food and goodies to me.  We re-gifted the white elephant gift we got last year.  It's a smaller version of the leg lamp in "A Christmas Story".  I've held onto that thing all year and kept the box where I wouldn't see it frequently and not forget about it.  When we took it, I was a little worried that people might think we were totally lame for bringing it back and re-gifting it.  However, when it was opened during the game, it got a good, long laugh - SCORE!  The gift we took home this year was great.  We brought home some lights that go on your fingers.  Max is going to love watching those on our fingers.

Since I was unable to do it, Peter was now in charge of bath time.  Up to this point, I was always the one taking the lead on Max's bath time so it was tough to pass the baton.  :(  This broken foot has caused me to miss out on many of the things that I used to do with Max.  I know it's not going to be that way forever but for the first couple weeks it was really hard on me because I felt like I never really got quality time with Max other than when he was nursing or laying on my bed (which he didn't like for very long).  So even though I was around him, I missed him a bunch.

Max getting his first bath from only dad.  (I had to sneak into the bathroom and watch - I couldn't bear to stay in the front room away from the action.)

All clean!

Have you met my chubby baby? :)

Max hanging out on mom's bed

Peter all ready to take Max to Brittany's since I couldn't take him over there (I wasn't driving at this point) but also couldn't take care of him while I worked from home.

Britt and Joe were great about coming over to visit since getting up to their apartment on the second floor wasn't in the cards for awhile...

Maxwell and his uncle Joe

I just love this face - especially his dimple!

Sweetly sleeping

We had some cold days so it was fun to break out the "winter" clothes and bundle up Max.

It's been fun to watch the difference in how Max plays as he gets older.  He's now a pro at grabbing onto the toys when he's on his mat.  He likes to bring them to his mouth, of course.  He still doesn't like the mirror very much and he ends up crying if he looks at it too long (he doesn't like looking at the mean baby in the mirror).  He's also started liking to keep his legs in the air with his feet together.  Here, you can watch it happen...

Hayden loves Max and always wants to give him kisses. He shows concern for Max and is a great cousin.

Max loves Hayden right back

Here's a video of Hayden playing with Max. 

Max finally grew too big for the Size 1 diapers so we moved up to Size 2. 

Before I broke my foot, I had plans to have a girl's baking day with a couple co-workers just like we did last year - you can read about it here.  After I broke it though, I thought I'd have to cancel.  When the day came, I decided to just make it work.  My friend Jana wasn't able to come so it was just me, Lori, and her family.  Lori wanted Max to come too so Peter drove me over there and then Lori got Max.  I was nervous about how he'd do, especially since I wasn't able to walk around with him or do much with him if he started getting upset.  Overall he did well - he enjoyed having the kids sing Christmas songs to him and handing him his rattle.  He watched a little football with Lori's husband and Lori rocked him to sleep when he got tired (with her oven vent fan on, of course since my boy is so dependant on that white noise).  Since I had my crutches, we weren't as ambitious as last year with what we made.  I sat at the table and dipped pretzels, cake balls, and decorated mini cakes while Lori made some snickerdoodles.  

Max and Lori's son, Austin

I had a great time, and loved getting out of the house after being cooped up for a week, except for the one trip to the doctor's office.  Plus it was fun to see Lori's family coo over Max and play with him.  I'm glad he's getting bigger and less fussy. 

Once I was out, I wanted to stay out, so we tested my scooter out at retail.  We hit Babies R Us and it was certainly better than using my crutches.  I could cruise around quickly and the scooter was pretty nimble as long as I didn't need to make any sharp turns or turn around.  I also felt good that I was able to get a little of Christmas shopping done. 

Max is sucking on his fingers/hands all the time.  This 3-finger version makes me laugh.

Another fun thing Max has started doing is he likes to make noises while we are singing to him.  To me, it seems like he is trying to sing along.  It's super cute.  I tried to capture it on video but of course once the camera comes out, Max stopped doing it as much.  I got a little bit though - - -