10 Months

Ok, another month has passed like a speeding bullet. I really do wish I could slow down time because Maxim is growing way too fast.  The last doctor appointment was a couple weeks ago where he measured 28 inches long and 18.5 pounds, but I really do believe he has gotten longer since then. He just seems to be getting longer and longer. 

Maxim, you are such a sweet boy with a ton of energy. You laugh and giggle all the time and you love to snuggle with me and I am just enjoying every second of it because I know one day you will not want to snuggle with your mommy and daddy. If you are crabby there is a reason for it. You are either tired or hungry because you do not just fuss for no reason. This helps us out a lot to figure out what you want...you make it very easy on us.

This past month you experienced daddy's Christmas, which is the craziness of March Madness. Of course we supported our team the Badgers as we watched them together in the Final Four.

We also celebrated daddy's birthday. You had fun helping him open his presents. Seeing you do this will make your birthday a lot of fun. Your favorite part was the tissue paper.

I came across this adorable rocking chair online and thought it would be a great decoration for your bedroom. It conveniently arrived on baseball's opening day and you just love it. I set you on the chair and you got it rocking. Your giggle and laughter the whole time made every penny worth it. Now, it's not decoration for your room, but instead it's another one of your toys.

Speaking of toys, your favorite right now is your red car. You just love to press every button and play with every inch of that toy.

Not only do you like your toy car, but you also got a kick out of my car. We were waiting for daddy one day while we hung out in my car and you just kept laughing as you played with the steering wheel. You also managed to turn on the blinker and thought that was way cool. Of course I had to get many photos of your giggly self.

You started seeing your new sitter, Ms. Marie, this past month and everything is going well. You get along great with her two year old daughter and you love going there. You are usually pretty exhausted when I pick you up.

You started sleeping through the night about three weeks ago. We don't talk about it due to fear of jinxing ourselves, but so far so good and we are enjoying getting a little more sleep these days.

You are an excellent eater. I couldn't ask for a better eater. You pretty much eat anything and you inhale your food. I pretty much have to try and slow you down, but you do not like that at all. You still do not eat sweet potatoes and you don't care for blueberry's but you will eat them. It just takes you a little longer to eat them since you are not a fan. Other than that you are eager to try new foods and love it when it's time to eat. Right now your favorite is cheese, toast, cheerios, peas, bananas and mangos.

We had a mommy and Max dad this month since I had some time off of work and we went to the zoo. It was so much more fun this time because you were able to see a lot more of the animals. You LOVED the goats, flamingos and elephants. After a couple hours at the zoo you were exhausted and passed out.

We have started to teach you how to use a sippy cup since you started to refuse the bottle. I have no problem nursing you, but for some reason you just do not a bottle anymore. This has been going on for the past month. Your doctor told us to keep trying, but in the mean time try the sippy cup because maybe you are just over the bottle.

You still do not have any teeth yet. You are definitely teething, but no teeth in sight. We are not worried as they will come in when they are ready.

You had your first Easter this past month. We enjoyed taking you to meet the Easter bunny, which by the way, you LOVED! I also had a good time giving you an Easter basket. You definitely make the holidays a ton more fun than they ever used to be.

You still LOVE the dogs. They make you giggle just by walking into the room. You enjoy petting them and giving them kisses. Madison sees you as an opportunity because she knows you will drop a morsel of food over the side of your high chair. Izzy is a protector of you. She does not like it if you cry and we let you cry longer than a minute. She wants us to get up and get you right away. Wherever you are, Izzy is. She always has one eye on you at all times.

Well, Maxim, we are two months away from your big birthday and from your mommy breaking down in tears because her baby boy is growing up. You are the sweetest most loveable little boy any mom would be grateful to have. I feel lucky and blessed to have you in our lives.

Love, your mommy

The Easter Bunny Came

This was the big man's first Easter so of course the Easter Bunny dropped off a basket for him. After breakfast we went out back where I gave him his basket filled with goodies. He had fun pulling out the toys and Izzy kept trying to get involved too. I also had someone from Etsy make the personalized basket because this mom doesn't have those kind of skills, nor do I have the time!

He had so much fun playing with all the goodies. His basket was filled with plastic eggs with quarters, and he loved to shake them. He also got an Easter book, bunny rabbit, wheebles, a wooden car/animal, pajamas and a talking Mickey Mouse. 

After that grandpa TK and grandma Shelley were in town so we had a ham dinner with them at our house. We hung out for a while and played with the big man before everyone called it a night.

Holidays are so much more fun now that we have Max around. It's a lot of fun to watch him with his gifts and figure out the wrapping. By the way, he loves tissue paper...mainly the noise it makes when he crumples it. Too cute!

Meet the Easter Bunny

On Saturday we took the big man to meet the Easter Bunny. I was bracing myself for tears and a first picture that was going to be less than stellar with a screaming baby, but I got the complete opposite. I was expecting this because of the whole stranger danger show he put on at the doctor's office the other day and because he hardly napped at all on Saturday. When I put him in the bunny's lap he immediately smiled and started playing with the fur. Way cute! He then smiled for all the photos and when I picked him up the bunny started to play with him. The bunny got the big man rolling with laughter. It was way too cute and this mommy was very happy.

Size Update

On Thursday Maxim had his 9 month doctor appointment. We learned that he is growing FAST! That is a good thing but also a sad thing for this mommy. He is 28 inches long and 18.5 pounds. This was the first visit where he freaked out when the doctor looked him over. Apparently he's starting to recognize the stranger thing where he does not want to go to just anyone. He's also quite active and constantly moving...this should be interesting once he starts crawling and walking. I did ask if I should be concerned that he's not crawling yet and she said no because he's a premie. She said we should probably expect it closer to the 12 month age for him, and closer to 18 months for walking. I guess the bonus of having a premie is that we get to enjoy the little baby stage a little longer than if he was full term.

He's a happy baby at the Doctor's office. Hey, when is he not happy?

Also on Thursday was Andy's birthday. Since Max did not take an afternoon nap we did not go out to dinner because he would be crabby at dinner and then that will roll into Friday. Since he is home with Andy on Fridays he did not want a crabby baby. We opened presents at home and played with the big man. Max really had fun with the tissue paper. He was playing with it and laughing. This will be fun when it's his birthday and for Xmas this year.

A New Sitter

About three weeks ago Stephanie informed me that she could not watch Max anymore. My heart immediately sank. What was I going to do? Who is going to watch him? How am I going to find someone...that I can trust? Max loves Stephanie and her children and I have never felt guilty for leaving him there for the day. Will I ever find that again?

I started out my journey with serious anxiety and nerves. We wanted to stick with in-home daycare as we feel he is too young to go to a center and needs more attention. I started my search with CCR&R and was provided with a list of 14 individuals in the area by my work to contact. I scheduled interviews with the ones on the list that had availability. At the end of week one I was freaked out because my interviews were not going so well. Nothing seemed to pan out and let me just say that we met some very interesting people. One place we skipped the interview and just drove past the home. Yes, it was starting to get very scary and I didn't know what we were going to do. I was kind of freaking out, so I did what anyone would do at 1am on a Saturday morning...sign up for Care.com. (Perfect example of how my life has changed. Instead of being out partying at 1am I am having anxiety and creating an advertisement on some website in search of a stranger to take care of the most precious thing in my life.) This is a website that I have heard so much about and came highly recommended by many people that I know.

After some unique emails that I received, I set up a couple more interviews. I did come across one person that I really liked and felt would be a good fit. She has two daughters (10 and 2) and has been a stay-at-home mom for 8 years. She is a former teacher and military woman who wants to pursue her goal of having her own preschool, so she is starting by having one in her house. She was advertising for 1-6 year olds so she can teach preschool skills to and Max did not reach that age range, but since she is just starting out she is taking him. Andy and I were looking at this for the long term that he will not just be sitting there all day watching talk shows (yes, one house we visited was like that) he will be learning as she will have activities planned. One room in her house was set up just like a preschool...way too cute! Her house is 2 minutes from my work, so things started looking up and I started to feel a little better about this. I took Andy and Max there for a second round of interviews and meeting and we both agreed that she is the one as long as her references and background check came out good.

Max is now being taken care of by Ms. Marie during the day and I feel good (as good as a mom can feel about a stranger taking care of her child) about this. I am excited for him to learn new things with Ms. Marie and Emmy (her two year old). I am happy our search is over and my life can go back to being a little less stressed out.

A New Target

The big man loves trips to Target, or pretty much anywhere out of the house. For the past 9+ months (technically not 9 months since 7 of those weeks he was in the hospital) he has been viewing Target from his car seat...until now. I bought one of those cart seat covers and we used it this weekend. I did not buy one because I am a germaphobe, (ok, maybe a little, but big man puts EVERYTHING in his mouth right now) I bought one because I felt it would help him sit up better and strap him in. Plus it would be more comfortable since it is cushioned. 

It was our normal weekend Target trip and I was ready to bust out my new purchase and see how the big man likes it. Oh, he definitely likes it. He acted like it was his first Target trip as he looked around at everything. He thought he was so cool sitting up in the cart. He just sat there, looked around and played with his toys. I watched this thinking how my big man really is getting so big! Very sad!!!