Mmm...that tastes good!

Max is absolutely at the stage where everything goes in his mouth...

Food!

So, we don't have a high chair yet.  I'm waiting for the perfect coupon to come out so I can save some money.  So Max either eats while sitting on the floor or Peter likes to feed him sitting on the table.  We aren't using a bib all the time.  I figured, the food will just wash out of his clothes, right???  Wrong.  So we have ruined a couple outfits but oh well, learning experience.  He still often shoves his fingers in his mouth right after taking a bite and sucks.  I think it helps him swallow the food but it makes for a messy experience.

He loved the butternut squash I made.  (Costco has an awesome package of pre-cut organic butternut squash.  Super easy to use and prepare!)

TOES!

 Oops!  You caught me!

Fingers!

Max likes to chew on my long fingernails.  He sticks my fingers in his mouth and then pulls them out so he's got my long fingernail between his teeth.  I like it because it means when he bites down, it doesn't hurt.  :)

TOYS!

Aunt Aja feeding Max.  He did awesome when she fed him.  He didn't stick his fingers in his mouth once!

Sometimes rather than something going in his mouth - -things come out the other end.  When Aunt Aja was feeding him, Max was giving her back lots of "presents".  If you listen closely to the video below you'll hear one of those presents.  This went on many times during this particular feeding.  Poor gassy kid.

Max meets his Aunt Aja

Aja came to town on March 10th.  We had a fantastic time with her and her boyfriend Ken and have lots of pictures.  So many, that I'm going to have to spread them out over a few posts.  :)  There are so many pictures that I love and her camera is clearly superior to mine.  It may seem like a ton of pic but I promise, I DID weed some of them out.  :)  Thanks Aja for taking such awesome pictures that really captured Max!

I think she's awesome for making that long drive from Utah to Texas two times now!  You can click here to read about her visit last year. 

Max didn't take too long to warm up to Aja and she, of course, loved him to pieces.  She had done a lot of fun activities the last time she came and this time she said she just wanted to make sure she got lots of time with Max.  That warmed my heart and made me happy.  Max sure is blessed with some great Aunts and Uncles!

Uh oh, he's getting upset.

 Now he's really upset.  (He still rocks that pouty lip!)

No more crying, I'm with dad now.

He wasn't very happy this morning, but isn't this vest ridiculously cute?!?!  Thanks Tida and Jason!!!!!

Playing with Aunt Aja

Max LOVES his Giraffe.  It's his favorite toy.  Max loves that he sings the ABCs.  I look forward to when Max can squeeze his belly himself in order to make the giraffe sing but until then, Peter and I are very experienced at squeezing the giraffe to get the song to start.

Some of the fun things we did while Aja was here:

• Went to a real Texas steakhouse - Salt Grass to celebrate Aja's birthday
• Hung out and enjoyed being around each other
• Peter and Aja spent HOURS playing some old school Nintendo game they played together as kids
• Played the card game "Golf"
• On Sunday Aja, Ken, and Peter got up early and went to breakfast.   I refused to get up early plus deal with all that meant for Max on one of my weekend days so they went without me.  I wasn't willing to sacrifice sleep for food.
• Left Max with Brittany and went to enjoy lunch and a movie at Studio Movie Grill
• Visited the Dallas Heritage Village (more pictures of that to come)

It was a fantastic visit.  I am grateful to Aja for taking the time and making the effort to come out and see us, it really means a lot.  It was hard to see her leave.  I wish we could talk all of our family into moving here!

My favorite subject...

MAX!

I know Peter loves getting the lunchtime text messages with the pictures I've taken and I love going back and looking at them when I have a free moment.  Sometimes Peter and I will lay in bed once Max is asleep and we'll just look at pictures on my phone and gush over how cute our son is, how awesome he is, and how grateful we are to have him in our family.

It's great to have so many pictures to show people at work when they ask how Max is.  I say he's awesome, and then whip out my cell phone and start showing pictures.  I'm that mom.  I will show anyone pictures of Max.  I can't help it.  Showing him off makes me happy and brings a smile to my face regardless of what type of day I'm having at work. 

I am soooooooooo grateful that I have Brittany to watch Max during the day.  And I'm soooooooo grateful that she lives roughly 12 minutes from CROSSMARK so I can go see him every day at lunch.  It really helps me when I don't want to drop him off in the morning.  I can tell myself that in roughly 4 hours I will get to see him again.  It helps my day go faster.  While I still struggle often with my decision to be a working mom right now, the fact that I see Max in the middle of my day has made it much easier on me.  I know that I am very lucky with the situation we've got.

Max lately likes to have one finger or his thumb in the side of his mouth.

His shirt says "Hello, my name is Trouble" - - So true! :)

Playing tug o war with Momma!

Brittany has lots of fun toys to play with!

I was holding Max up with my legs and when he started slipping, he got a little worried.

My little boy in a big highchair - you can't even see his legs!

Happy with a belly full of rice cereal!