Max sort of meets Santa

We didn't get pictures with Max and Santa last year so I really wanted to get them this year.  Brittany's apartment complex was having a holiday party on Dec 20 where "Santa" was going to make an appearance.  I figured we'd go to that and get a picture with Max sitting on his lap.  It would be FAR easier than going to the mall.

The night of the party it was colder than I had expected so we bundled the boys up and Britt let us borrow a hat and gloves.

Max enjoying some of his dad's apple

Hayden was excited

We tried to get a picture of all three boys, bundled up, in front of the Christmas tree.

Let's try again....Max wasn't cooperating.

Now it really wasn't going to happen.

Max in his vest with his jacket on top - he looks puffy.  :)

We went right when the party started at 6 pm but then when we got there we saw a sign that said Santa wouldn't arrive until 7.  grrr!!!  So we worked on keeping Max entertained for an hour (which also meant that it was getting closer to bedtime).  I still figured it would be worth the wait...

Family picture outside

Santa arrived.  He was the worst Santa EVER.  First off he must have been 25 years old and weighed 150 lbs.  His tennis shoes were clearly visible under the leather flaps that were supposed to be boots.  He had put a pillow under his suit to pad his belly and the pillow was just so horribly placed.  It was really bad.  It was so bad that once I saw Santa I immediately knew that the "Santa picture" that I wanted to get wasn't going to be happening with this Santa.  This picture was as close as we ever got to Santa.

Pictures with Santa?  FAIL for tonight. 

The next day Peter and I met at Bass Pro Shop after work because Santa was there taking pictures as well and I figured it, again, would be better than the mall.  WRONG!!!  They were handing out time slots that you could come back to get pictures with Santa (that way people didn't have to wait in a line forever, they just had to show back up at their assigned time).  The time we were given was 3 hours later!  There was no way we were going to hang around that area for 3 hours.

So...pictures with Santa?  FAIL again.

At this point it just seemed like such a hassle.  So...pictures with Santa?  Maybe next year.

Max's first "sick" doctor's visit

We took Max, for the first time, to the doctor's for being sick on December 19th.  I'm pretty happy that he made it to 16th months old before we went to the doctors!  I will tell you more about that but first, some pictures...

Max loves to wear hats

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Video - Max is getting faster and faster with walking.

Max made a mess eating at Brittany's so she gave him a bath with Landen.  He loved it.

Max wearing his elf hat.  Also, he asked to wear his vest today so I let him.

At Brittany's, when Landen saw that Max was wearing his vest, he wanted to wear his vest too.

Brittany and Joe taught Max some karate moves.

From karate master to peasant girl...

As I mentioned, we took Max to the pediatrician's because he was sick.  I let it go on for about a week when it just seemed like a cold but then his cough worsened and he started to have a fever.  So I was concerned that perhaps I was thinking it was just a cold but in reality was something worse.  After Dr. Gondol checked him out (he now weighs 22.1 lbs), she determined it was just a cold which meant there was really nothing to do for him other than to let him get over it on his own.  I was glad it wasn't something serious however it stinks that I took him to the doctors unnecessarily.  We will just keep using the DoTerra oils on Max to help with his symptoms and help him get over this cold. 

Playing with the toys

Checking out the cool wall

Sad face

Sadder face (or pouty face)

REALLY sad face :(  He was not happy about being at the doctor's once I put him up on the table.

Sweet sleeping boy - this is still how he naps at Brittany's, in the swing.  She doesn't even both to have it "swing" anymore.  He just sits in it with his arms all bundled up and goes right to sleep.

Things about Max from the middle of the month...
- He LOVES pickles.  When we were giving him pickles today and didn't give them to him fast enough, his sign for "more" started getting more emphatic and exaggerated.  It was pretty funny.
- He has starting trying to say words after you say them to him (mimicking)
- He is more attentive to music in the store, on the tv, etc.  When he hears it he starts bouncing.
- As I said, he loves wearing hats and also shoes and socks.
- He is such a boy and has discovered he has a penis... which has turned into a fun thing to touch, especially when someone is changing his diaper.  As you can imagine, that can be a VERY bad time for him to reach down there.  I now try to keep a toy or something else in his hands during every diaper change.
- He is sure moving faster and doing what I would consider running (or walking very fast).
- He loves playing Peek-a-boo!
- He is really good about putting things away when we ask him and remembers where he got things from.
- Since he has been sick, I have been putting him in the shower every day to help clear up some of the congestion and boogers.  As a result of the daily showers he has now learned to enjoy being in the shower.
- Another thing that has come with him being sick is he now talks in his sleep.  He will start coughing in the night which must wake him up a little bit because after he coughs, he talks to himself a little bit and then goes back to sleep.

He's a talker!

So...think back to the end of my last post...Remember Maxing sucking so cutely on that baby food pouch?  Well, he liked them so much that I gave him one on Sunday morning a little bit before we were going to go to the store.  I was going to take it away from Max while we were in the car but Peter said that I should just let him keep it.  I was a little nervous about it just because he's still rear facing so we wouldn't be able to watch what he was doing but I went with what Peter thought we should do.  So when we got to the store and went to get Max out of the car seat, this is what we found...

The baby food is EVERYWHERE (the lighting makes it hard to see).  It's all over his clothes, face, hands, and especially all over the buckle and straps.  It was a MESS!!!!!!  He must have done a lot of squeezing and not so much swallowing.  The honor of cleaning up went to Peter since this was his idea.  :)

Here's the "after" picture with the frame for the screen up on the wall in the media room.

We finally took care of Max's crazy hair and buzzed it all off.  I wondered if he was going to freak out but he really liked it and wanted us to keep going after we were done.  I feel like he looks so different with his hair buzzed, I don't prefer the look.

Peter and I sure made a cute baby!

See?  he looks like he doesn't even have hair!

He can't figure out how to sit on the trike the right way but can get on it backwards.

Video - Max is doing great at learning his body parts and words.  This video is longish but worth it to hear his sweet voice saying words.

Here's the view of what our neighborhood looks like lately.

Maxwell loves riding the horse that Nana and Grandpa gave him. 

My sweet husband brought me home flowers - thank you babe!

I LOVE getting fresh flowers.

Some things about Max during the second week of December:

• He's great at letting me brush his teeth with the little thumb toothbrush that looks like a thimble
• Words that he's saying, "Hat, No, Up, Ears, Shoes, Banana (or more accurately, nana), apple, and turkey
• I have now stopped nursing Max at Brittany's during lunchtime.  He just isn't staying focused anymore and is distracted by anything so it's a hassle.
• He is so smart and it's clear that he now really understands most of what we say
• He's able to communicate with us (which is crazy!!!)
• He is "singing" more
• He's really talkative
• He has 2 molars that have broken through each side of his mouth on the bottom but no canine/incisor teeth yet so there's a gap there

I hate when vacations end...

...but they always do!

Seriously though.  The worst part of cruises is the last day.  You have to get up so stinkin' early just to hurry to the airport and WAIT for your plane.


We got up and went to breakfast at the buffet for the last time.  Max was a great eater during breakfast this trip.  He liked sitting by himself in the big chairs.  (We learned that it was just easier to have him sit in a chair rather than wait for a highchair that might never show up.)

He takes small, dainty bites?

Nope, never.  It's always SHOVE your face full!

Happy now...if he only knew what lay ahead of him!

So we took a cab to the airport and got to wait like 4 hours for our flight.  Imagine spending 4 hours at an airport with your 1 year old.  I tried to keep him happily contained in a small area.  That lasted for minutes.  Then we spent time walking up and down and up and down and up and down the terminal. 

He got pretty silly and started pulling faces.

I brought some packaged baby foods for Max on the plane, beach, etc.  I let him try sucking it out of these pouches one day on the cruise and he thought that was the coolest thing ever.  He happily enjoyed them whenever I offered one.

So, by late Saturday afternoon we were back at home and back to real life.  I have learned that Saturday is the perfect day to end a vacation.  It's nice to have Sunday to adjust to post-vacation life.