He crawls!

It's official.  On May 8, 2012, Max crawled...for real.  And by real I mean, leg...opposite hand...other leg...other hand...  No belly touching the ground, no scooting, just real crawling!  Way to go buddy!  I didn't get video of it on the 8th but I'll show you some video soon.  Here are a few pictures from the days surrounding that day.

 Max likes to read, even magazines.  Look at him turn the pages.

Video - Max is laughing more and more now however it's not enough yet to make it commonplace.  I still dive for my camera and try to capture it everytime he laughs.  I think is is just so stinkin' cute to hear his little laugh.

 Serious drooling going on lately.  I wonder if it will ever stop!

Max wanted to play with the bike just like his cousin Landen was.

 All smiles...but with all those teeth, it can look like a creepy smile sometimes.  :)

 Looking at himself in my phone.

 Turning on the charm

See?  I am crawling!  Watch out!

Searching and Soccer

Now that we were back from Utah, it was time to take embark on a new adventure.  We decided to wait until we were back from Utah to start and now I can't believe it's here...  We are going to put down roots in Texas and buy a house. (I know, I didn't think we ever would either.)

 We started the day off with some homemade beignets.  It was an authentic mix brought to me by my friend Gina who lives in New Orleans.

Then we hit the road.  We look at house after house after house.  We looked at 13 houses total with one break in the middle so I could go nurse Max in the bathroom of a grocery store.  Luckily it was a nicer store and they had a nice bench I sat on in the bathroom.  First time I've done that - glad that I don't have to do that often.  Max was such a trooper through the long day.  He took two naps over the course of the day and most of the time Peter carried him around in his carseat.  House hunting is no fun for babies!

That night we took Max to his first professional soccer game - FC Dallas!  We went with Brittany and her family and had a good time.  The weather was really nice and Max was pretty easy going.  It helped that he had his cousins there to entertain him.  It was a lot of fun, I enjoy soccer games.



Back to "Normal"

While we enjoy being on vacation, now that we have a baby who does better when he's on a routine, it was nice to get back to our normal lives.  (Although I think both Peter and I would have enjoyed more time off from our jobs!)

Max was so happy to see Brittany, Hayden, and Landen when they came to pick us up at the airport.  I knew he'd be happy I went back to work and that he got to go play at Brittany's house all day with his cousins.  When I went over there at lunch - he was certainly a happy baby!

Catching up on his reading.

Yeah for different toys and time back with his cousins (more like brothers since I say Brittany is his second mom).

See?  He's now a pro at falling asleep in his car seat - Thank you Utah trip!

In Utah, Max started making a bbbbbbb sound.  It's fun listening to him saying new sounds!

Max typically goes to sleep between 7 and 8 pm and then wakes up around 11 - 11:30 to nurse.  Usually he wakes up right as I am done with everything I need do to for the night and am ready to turn in.  (I swear he's got some sort of sixth sense that alerts him when I walk in a room and am ready to sleep.)  There is one big reason I rarely complain.  And that's because after he's done nursing, he lets me hold him and snuggle with him. 

My Max is an amazing little baby but he is not a snuggler.  He doesn't want to lean into you when sitting on your lap, he doesn't snuggle up next to you on the couch but instead will sometimes sit close, he doesn't lay his head on your shoulder when you hold him, he doesn't want you to put your arm around him when you're laying in bed.  I wish he was, but it's just not his thing.  He wants to do his own thing, sit on his own, etc.  Unless it's 11:30 at night.  :) 

So, I take advantage and soak up this chance to snuggle and cuddle my Maxwell.  I hold him close with his sleepy head on my shoulder and his eyes closed.  I feel his body rise and fall with each sweet breath.  I smell his hair and kiss his head.    I breath him in, close my eyes, and take a few minutes to just treasure him.  My heart fills with love for this wonderful gift I have been given.  I am so lucky and blessed.  My life is good.

Time to go home

It was time to go home.  We had a great time in Utah.  We were able to spend time with a lot of people that mean so much to us.  It was fun to see everyone interact with Max.  And Max, overall, did a great job.  He still had some stranger danger going on but not as bad as in Vegas.

So all we did was wake up, eat breakfast, pack, and head to the airport.  We had so much stuff - we certainly left with more than we came with (diapers/organic baby snacks/etc).

Max getting checked at security. 

(Just kiddin' I set him down after we went through to get everything gathered back up.)

Hanging out in the terminal. 

We have learned that one of the best toys while on the plane is an empty plastic cup - thank you flight attendants!

We made it home safe and sound!  Thanks to everyone we got to see for making it a fantastic trip.  Hopefully next time we'll have even more time to see more people.

LeeAnn photoshoot

Here's my favorite pictures that LeeAnn took.  I like so many of them!  I'd love your input.  Please let me a comment and let me know which of these pictures of Max are YOUR favorites (use the number in front of the picture).

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Our Family!