Beginning of April

April is here!  I love springtime in Dallas.  Things are getting busy at work.  I am missing lunches with Max at Brittany's due to meetings.  That makes me really sad.  I am grateful though that I was able to do it for this long. It sure made my days go by faster, me miss Max a little less, and feel a little less guilty for choosing to work (even though I know that it's the right choice for me and my family, it's still hard to leave Max).

Sorry, Max.  You're too little for that big bike!

Happy kid that doesn't stay still for long.  Most pictures I take of Max are blurry.  I have to take like 10 before I get one that works.

This is his "blankie" for Brittany's

Faster than a speeding bullet...

Movie - Max and Landen love running across the room from the TV stand to the couch.  This is a common game.  They tend to be territorial and fight over who stands where.  I think it's really cute how in the video, Landen mimics Maxwell and stands with his hands behind his back.

Good morning cuddles with Daddy!

Notice the wound on his head?  Yeah, wounds happen more frequently now.  He is becoming more daring which means he sometimes gets hurt despite my best efforts.

Movie - I enjoy getting out and enjoying the weather by going on walks.  We brought Max's scooter on the walk along with the stroller because we figured he wouldn't last the entire walk on the scooter.  It takes work to ride his bike like this!  I think it's pretty cute how he pulls the handlebar right up to his belly.

Movie - We had to stop our walk to enjoy the puddles.  Max loves to splash.

I found this cross stitch when I was going through some boxes.  This was made for me by my favorite AUSTRIAN nanny, Monika.  I believe it was sometime around 1989?  Anyway, I still have it.  She made one for each of us kids.  I love that I have been able to reconnect with her through Facebook.  I was able to visit her in Germany when Kimberly was stationed there.  I really would like to take Max and Peter over there to meet her.

Wanting to climb on the table

Momma and Max!

Don't you just love that look of pure joy on his face? (or the double chins - which is what Peter noticed)

Pretty Cool Cousins

He's enjoying playing with cars

Here is an update on Max as of April 3rd -

• He is more cuddly and affectionate now than he has been in the past.  When you hold him, he will put his head on your shoulder.  When he gets a sippy cup with milk in it, he wants you to pick him up and hold him in your arms, laying down, like a baby. He will come up and hug your leg.  He will walk with me and hold one or two of my hands sometimes. If either Peter or I are sitting on the floor, he will come up to us and either sit in our lap, lay next to us, or if we are laying on our stomachs he will sit right under our face so he can be close.
• He gives kisses and cheek smooshes.
• Whoever is reading to him at night will be the one he will cuddle with.
• He is starting to say "love you".
• He gives hugs to Landen and Hayden, it's super sweet.
• He is really good at his Melissa and Doug vehicle and animal puzzles.
• He is always up to watch a movie or TV and asks frequently (we don't give in frequently). His favorite movie is Tangled.
• He enjoys playing with his blocks, reading books, and being outside.
• We have started giving him his liquid vitamins in his morning milk because his teeth were starting to get a grayish tint.  That can come from either the antibiotics he was on for his ear infection or from vitamins that have iron (which he takes).  So we followed his pediatrician's advice and diluted it in his milk.  We also rubbed his teeth with a baking soda and water paste a few times.  It worked awesomely but it was nasty so we had to hold him down and force him to let us do it.  :(  I was glad that the gray teeth weren't permanent!

Another update as of April 8th - 

• He has been FEISTY over the past week.  I don't know what is going on with him!  He has scratched my arm and my neck.  He has hit and pinched me.  He BIT me today!  Each time I have told him that it's not okay and made him tell me he's sorry, which he does.  I think we are going to have to figure out either "time outs" or how we want to discipline.

Waves not found on a beach

The 25th of July was a very exciting day.  We have been working with Max, trying to get him to wave but it hasn't been sticking.  UNTIL TODAY!  All of a sudden, he just started waving.  It's such a cute wave too. 

I turned the camera on my phone so that it was front facing and Max could see himself in the screen.  It was so crazy cute because he started waving to the baby on the screen (himself).

He doesn't wave by moving his hand up or down.  He doesn't wave by opening and closing his fingers.  Instead he waves by rotating his wrist.  I have no idea how he learned to wave that way because we don't wave that way.  But, I LOVE IT.  I hope it's a long time before he learns another way to wave.

Video - You can watch how cute he is at waving.  He is so proud of himself for accomplishing it!  I love how all the sudden he starts waving with the other hand too.  And then he looks at his hands like, "wow - look what they are doing.  How do they do that?"


(From earlier in the day)

Love that toothy grin

Video - You can enjoy watching Max crawling with one fist.  Silly boy.

Another thing he has been doing just recently that ISN'T so cute - remember how I talked about Max waking us up in the morning by blowing raspberries on any skin he can find?  Well, somehow that has morphed into BITING.  So now he wakes us up by biting us.  He also will bite me on my legs when he's standing there wanting me to pick him up.  Again, I ask, How did he learn that??  I really hope this one is just a phase and doesn't branch out into him biting other people.