Size Update

I took the big man to get his RSV shot yesterday and he weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds 2 ounces. He gained almost a full pound in just over three weeks. Wow! What a growing little dude! 

Photo taken with the new camera. Turned out quite nice as I am still learning how to use it.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend and of course we toted around the big man every where we went. On Saturday night we had dinner plans with friends in Old Town Scottsdale. We were the only ones with a baby, but we brought the big man anyway. I did have a chit chat with him before we left the house. I asked him to show our friends what a good boy he is by behaving himself. He listened and I am proud of his good behavior. We got to the restaurant by 6pm and the big man chilled in his car seat for a bit as he just stared at everything around him and soaked it all in. Once that got old he wanted out of his car seat so he could really get a good look at everyone and everything. Andy and I switched off holding him because he is such a little heater. At one point he kept leaning towards Andy's beer trying to grab it. This was super cute and entertained everyone at the table so it warranted a picture. 

Around 7:15 the big man got a little fussy and started turning towards me. This was to be expected since he goes to bed about 7:30 every night and starts to put himself to bed sometime before 7:30. So I just held him and rocked him and he fell asleep in my arms. I was able to transfer him to his car seat so he could snuggle up with his blankie and fall asleep for the night. 

He stayed this way until we got home and changed his diaper around 9:30. Since we did have the big man with us we headed home after dinner instead of out on the town with our group of friends. Mr. Max was so well behaved all night that I was a proud mamma. He typically is well behaved as long as his nosie self can see everything that's going on. 

On Sunday we spent the afternoon with our friends at the AZ Food Truck Festival. Boy have festivals changed for us. We go on Sundays as they are more family friendly. We don't go into the bar area since we are toting around kids. We leave early because the kids are tired. One thing has not changed though, how much fun we have together as friends.

Perfect picture of how times have changed. Kim and I toting around our babies while we carry around our glasses of wine. Keeping it classy!

Here, the big man kept wanting to help me hold my wine. What a good little helper.

The big man just chilled all day at the festival taking in the sights. He was either in the stroller or in the Bjorn, but either way he was a happy baby all day. 

It was a busy weekend for the big man to soak up new scenary and he was such a good little boy the whole time. He was just very chill and go with the flow. This mommy can only hope he stays this way. 

7 Months

I honestly can't believe we have already hit the seven month mark. I am kind of freaking out. We past the halfway point of the first year and time is speeding fast towards the one year birthday...UGH! I do not know the size of Maxim, but I am assuming he is about 16 pounds and I am very curious as to how long he is. He has another RSV shot appointment next week and that is where I will find out how much he weighs.

Maxim, this past month has been a lot of fun with you, but also crazy busy for your mommy and daddy. We have been dealing with everyone getting the flu or a virus so you have only gone to the sitter's two days this past month. This has caused for us to be a little stressed out, but you seemed to enjoy being home with mommy and daddy.

You started the "I only want mommy" phase. You are not too bad about this, but you definitely only want me from 5pm - 7pm everyday. You just want to snuggle with me. We are not sure why you are like this from 5pm - 7pm everyday, but I was thinking that I snuggled with you everyday in the NICU from 5pm - 7pm, so that could have something to do with it. Don't worry, I am not complaining, actually I kind of enjoy it. Daddy does not because if I am not home right at 5pm from work you scream until I get home. When you see me you light up like a Christmas tree, smile and giggle. I do enjoy this moment as it just warms my heart.

Earlier in the month you figured out a new trick...lifting your leg. You will lift your leg and just stare in awe of it. I find this very amusing.

These last couple weeks you have found your toes and have become flexible enough to grab your toes on your own. You even try to put them in your mouth. I call them your piggies and ask you where your piggies are. You find this hilarious and you crack up every time. 

We started giving you pureed food earlier this month as well and you just love it. We started with sweet potatoes and you didn't care for them, but would eat them. Once we knew you were good with them we introduced bananas to you and you absolutely LOVE bananas. When I get you ready to eat you squeal with excitement assuming it's always bananas. Once you fell in love with bananas you pretty much refuse to eat sweet potatoes. We then gave you peas and you don't mind peas. I just gave you pears the other day and you like those too, but not as much as you love bananas. You love eating food and will inhale it. You get mad if I am not ready with the next spoon to your mouth. You are such a good eater that you eat three servings of food already per feeding and you nurse afterward.

You still love your bath time. You have now gotten more interested in splashing and playing. Bath time is very soothing to you as it still calms you down after a long day. You know that after bath time you will nurse and then go to bed. It's a nice little routine for you.

You think it's pretty cool when we hold you and you stand up tall. You just love doing this and get really excited every time. You think you are a big boy and are proud of yourself.

Daddy bought you a new play mat that you just love. I think you like it a lot because it gives you more room to flop around and you like to feel the different textures of the mat.

You don't mind tummy time on your new mat, but when you are done, you are done and you make that very clear.

A couple weeks ago you stopped sleeping through the night. This was a little alarming as you started to get up 3-4 times a night screaming and it made for a very tired mommy and daddy the next day. After some investigating we saw that it appears a tooth is working it's way through. We can see the white spot in your gums where the tooth is. This is causing you to be crabby at night and unable to sleep through the night. We started giving you Orajel and Tylenol when you get really bad and they both help. We are just switching off in the middle of the night on who rocks you back to sleep every time. I am ready for that tooth to poke through so it doesn't bother you anymore. Here you moved yourself completely sideways and look grumpy because you just wanted out.

You are still a VERY CURIOUS baby. You love to get out of the house to "see the world," or it's called Target. You are good in public places as long as you can see what's going on around you. In restaurants you just want to be out of your car seat so you can see all the people and movement going on. This nosiness makes it easy on us when we leave the house with you.

Well, Mr. Maxim, these first seven months of your life have gone by so fast and I believe you have made me a better person. I am much more relaxed, laid back and patient as well as much more loving. 

You are getting so big and I am enjoying watching you learn new things. You are so much fun right now that I can only imagine what this next month will bring.

Love your Mommy

Picture Perfect

I have been wanting a DSLR camera for quite sometime. In fact I planned on getting one before the big man was born, but as we all know, things in life don't always go as planned. The next thing I knew the big man turned six months old, it's Christmas and I am without a DSLR camera. Ugh, it was time to get my s$&% together and start researching cameras. 

Andy was not on board and didn't think we needed such an expensive camera...so I was on my own. After some research I decided to splurge on a Nikon D3200 for various reasons. I purchased the package deal at Costco and once I got it home Andy busted it out and was teaching himself how to use it. For someone who didn't think we needed one sure was into it and after he saw a couple pictures he realized the camera was a good purchase. 

Since I just bought the camera last weekend I have no idea how to use it. I have played around with it, but this mamma does not have excess spare time on her hands. The package deal did come with a video tutorial so hopefully I can watch that soon. I am really excited about this new camera and can't wait to learn how to use it so we can have amazing photos of the big man. Until then, here are a few photos Andy took with the camera as he was just messing around with it trying to get a feel of it.

Look at the awesome colors and those big baby blue eyes!

Sleeping beauty!

I look forward to posting better photos of the big man! Hopefully I am a fast learner.

Fun Saturday

Today started off with laughter with the big man on the couch. We snuggled up on the couch with a comforter and had our morning conversation and many giggles.

After play time and conversation the big man worked up an appetite for bananas. He loves bananas and ate almost the whole serving I prepared. He's proving himself to be a good eater because later in the day we introduced peas to him. At first he made a funny face but then he ate almost the whole serving again. 

After the big man pigged out we headed to lunch at the Scottsdale Quarter to get out of the house and provide him some entertainment. The big man loves to get out and look around at everything. At restaurants he doesn't like to sit in his car seat/stroller because he wants to be able to see what's going on. As long as he can see everything he's a pretty good baby. He sat on me while he watched all the people walk by. His eyes were so huge the whole time. 

There was so much entertainment at the restaurant that the big man passed out for a sweet little nap as soon as we put him back in the car. This made him miss all the happenings at the grocery store. 

Snuggle Time

Saturday nights are spent at home either cleaning, sleeping or snuggling with my favorite little man. The big man received a Xmas gift of a glow sea lion (I think) and he is in awe of this thing. He was struggling to let his eyes shut tonight so I busted out the musical sea lion and he put his arm around it and pulled it close. It was so sweet that I decided to snuggle right in with them. Of course Andy had to take a picture of this.

It's moments like this that I just love and cannot get enough of. I love my Saturday nights in with my family!

First Food Experience

From the last doctor appointment we decided to give the big man his first taste of food to see if he is ready or not. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to try and make his baby food. This is something I really want to do and hope that I can keep up with working full time. We received this neat baby food maker that will steam your veggies and then puree them as well. I was pretty excited to test this out, but first we hit up the grocery store to get two sweet potatoes because as a first time mom I thought two would be a good amount. Of course I found out that two was WAY TOO MUCH food, but it's ok because I just froze the extras for later. Here are the frozen chunks that I put into an ice cube tray and once they were frozen I was able to pop them out and into a freezer bag.

We cooked the potatoes, pureed them and then added breast milk to thin it out. We got the big man in his bumbo, added a bib and Andy got ready with the camera for video and photos. 

The big man liked it. He did not make any weird faces and he ate as much as he could. I think it was a success.

Day two of the sweet potato feast. It was hilarious because I got him in the bumbo, bib on and picked up the cup with the sweet potato and the big man squealed with excitement. He obviously remembered from yesterday. 

I gave him a little sweet potato puree and then nursed him and he was one happy big man. I look forward to trying new foods with him as I just love watching him learn and do new things. 

Six Month Appointment

This past Thursday Maxim had his six month check up. He has grown a whole 10 inches since he was born. He measured an even 26 inches in length and he weighed 15 pounds 3.5 ounces. He is getting so big that I am very happy, but also sad at the same time. I don't want my baby boy to grow too fast. With those measurements he landed on the premie charts at 85th percentile for length and 45th percentile for weight. Not too shabby! For the premie chart all they do is go off his developmental age instead of his actual age. When his numbers are put into the system they are put in as if his birthdate was September first. 

He also got his six month shots and he took them like a champ. He cried for a hot second and then started smiling right away. It was kind of funny. 

We also discussed giving him food and the doctor said it's hard to say with him because he is a premie but he has been excelling at everything else. She said to give it a try and if he's ready then great, but if not then we will wait a little longer. Stay tuned for my next post on Maxim's first food experience. 

Maxim is munching on Sopie the giraffe and just livin' the dream!

Happy New Year

Two years in a row I did not make it to midnight to watch the ball drop. Last year I was pregnant and super tired and this year I was super sick and felt awful. Since I have had excuses I don't feel bad for not even making it to midnight. 

We headed over to the Seifert's for NYE dinner and laughs. Due to my sickness and the big man having enough we were home at 10pm. I fed the big man and then headed to bed myself to try and get rid of this awful cold.

Today the big man watched, with dad and grandma Laura, the Badger's play in the Capitol One Bowl while sporting his Badger jersey. Is this not the cutest Badger fan ever?

2013 was a very crazy and exciting year and we are looking for what 2014 will bring for this family. We wish our family and friends a happy 2014.