More Zoo Time

What does one do on a Sunday morning at 6am? Head to the Phoenix Zoo! Ok, so we didn't exactly get there at 6am, but that was our goal. We couldn't get out the door as early as we wanted to, but we did manage to get there at 7am. The family zoo membership is definitely paying off and the big man loves it. 

This time his favorite thing was the petting zoo (minus the petting) that included goats, sheep, cows and a giant tractor. The cow almost licked his feet and the big man thought that was hilarious. If I didn't move him the cow definitely would have licked his feet with his giant tongue. That would have been funny, but also gross all at the same time!

He didn't quite get the Rhino, but he still looked good in the photo.

Besides the zoo we also spent time in the pool and plenty of playing and standing.

Starting the early day off with the zoo and plenty of other activities throughout the day made for a VERY long (but fun) Sunday. This mommy and daddy are exhausted. The very energetic big man wears you out!

Shopping & Swimming

This weekend I took the big man shopping with me. I haven't really shopped for myself since my girls trip to Palm Springs. Welcome to mom world! I took the big man with me so Andy could get some home projects done, but before we left the house we had a nice chat. I asked the big man to behave because mommy really wants to shop and needs new clothes for work. He more than behaved himself...he entertained me while I shopped. He talked to himself while I pushed him around. He would reach out for clothes and if he managed to grab one he would look back at me and giggle. He laughed at himself in every mirror we passed and most importantly he received a ton of comments on how cute he is. My favorite part of the shopping trip was trying on clothes, not because of the smaller size, but because the big man was playing with himself in the mirror. He would wave and then giggle at himself. This just cracked me up.

I had more fun shopping with the big man than I have ever had shopping by myself. I just got a kick out of him being a chatter box and his giggles. When he was done shopping he definitely let me know it. It was perfect timing though because I needed to be done spending money. The most important thing I purchased was the outfit for his one year photo shoot in two weekends. I am so excited for that. 

After shopping we got in the pool for the big man's first time. Due to his bath time behavior I thought he would just love the pool. He didn't hate it, but he also didn't love it. He was just trying to figure it out. 

We tried the pool again on Sunday and it was kind of the same reaction until Andy brought out his bath toys. Then he got a little excitement in his face and played on the first step of the pool. He did have fun standing on the baja deck. 

We will try the pool again and of course I am getting him swim survival lessons.

Happy Anniversary

Three years ago today Andy and I were standing in front of family and friends, sweating our butts off, exchanging vows in VERY HOT Cozumel, Mexico. We have been married for three years, but have been together 10.5 years. I can't believe we have been together as long as we have because I certainly don't feel like we have been together as long as we have. I guess that is what happily married is supposed to feel like. I do feel lucky to have met my soul mate over 10 years ago at The Big 10 Pub in Madison after a Badger football game. Ok, to be technical, we did know who each other was (but didn't really know each other) before that fateful September/October day, but that was the day that changed everything for us.

It's been a wonderful 3 years of marriage and 10.5 years of togetherness and I look forward to many more.

 

11 Months

Time is flying by fast as Maxim is already 11 months old. I do not know how much he weighs or how big he is, but I do know that he is bigger than his last measurements. I can just tell that he has grown.

Maxim, we had a lot of fun together this past month. You did your first charity event with us when we Hiked for Hunger out in east Mesa. You were such a trooper and had fun. I found a play gym on the trail and we swung together on the swing while daddy took pictures. You just loved it as you giggled the whole time.

You had another development appointment with your doctor this past month and for the most part you are doing really well. You are a little behind on your fine motor skills, but that's ok because we are working with you on this and you are improving already.

One of the things your doctor suggest we get is a kiddie pool to help you with crawling. We put your toys in the pool and you are supposed to climb in and out of it to get what you want. That's not exactly what happens though. If I put you in the pool you will pick out your toys to play with and then lounge back on the edge of the pool playing. If I put you outside of the pool, for you to climb in to get your toys, you will grab the edge of the pool and pull it close to you so you can reach in and grab what you need. I think you have climbed in/out one time. Oh well, you still have fun with it.

Your favorite activity this past month is climbing and standing. You think it's so fun to pull yourself up to a standing position and then see who is watching you as you giggle with pride. This gets us every time because you are just so stinking cute. This standing addiction has made it difficult to get you to sit down. You will straighten your legs when we want you to sit and it's always a struggle...but you find it hilarious.

You LOVE to eat and will east almost anything. There isn't much you will turn down, unless you are over tired then that's a different story if it's a new food. You eat a lot of food and you eat often. You ate pancakes and hot dogs for the first time this month and just loved them. You still love bananas, mangos, peas, carrots, basically any fruit, but you LOVE mashed avocado. That you can never get enough of. I have been introducing more table foods to you this past month instead of mashing them and as long as you are not overly tired you are good with it. If you are tired you have no interested in chewing your food because you just want to inhale your pureed food and go to bed.

I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day with you this past month and it was very special for me. Your daddy gave us a very fun day that of course we captured with photos.

This past month we had plenty of snuggle time...your (and my) favorite thing to do. I take full advantage of this because I know that one day this will all end and you will not need a nap time and definitely will not want to snuggle up to mommy.

You are a very good sleeper. You go to bed at 7:30 sharp and you wake up at 5:30 on the dot every single day of the week. It's like you are a human alarm clock. One night you did not want to go to bed at 7:30 (this was quite the shock to me) so I let you snuggle with me on the couch and this is how you ended up before daddy carried you to your crib.

You have plenty of toys to play with and it's hard to pick your favorite right now because every day it's a little different. I will say that you do love to play with balls. We will roll them with you and you will kick them with your feet.

You had your first cabin experience this month as we went to northern AZ with our friends for Memorial Day weekend. We lucked out that AZ banned fires for the weekend otherwise we would have been out in the woods roughing it in a tent. Instead we rented a cabin! You were such a good little boy all weekend even though you did not get much nap time in because you did not want to kiss anything. We went for a long walk in the woods, played with the dogs and just soaked in all the entertainment around you. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to cabining/camping with you again.

You just love the dogs and get excited to see them every night when you get home from the sitters. You always have to say hi to them and get kisses. This is way too cute!

Maxim, you are such a sweet little boy who brings happiness into our lives. Your smile and laughter is extremely contagious and I just love watching you giggle. I can't believe you will be one year old very soon. The time sure is flying by fast and I am cherishing all of our time together because I know it's precious. I love you more than words can say!

Love your mommy

Mother's Day

This was my first Mother's Day as a mom and I enjoyed every second of it. I truly never understood this day until I got to celebrate it as a mother myself. Of course I always appreciated my mom and celebrated her on this day, but I never truly got it...now I do.

I give many kudos to Andy for making my first Mother's Day very special. He asked me if there was anything specific that I wanted to do and I let him know that all I wanted to do was spend every minute with my big man since I don't get to see him much during the week. Andy came through with my request. We started out the very early Sunday morning with play time in mommy and daddy's bed (like we always do) followed by a quick 7am nap on my chest.

Then Andy made my favorite breakfast...his homemade pancakes with turkey sausage. We gave the big man his first pancake and he just loved it. He got super excited as I was walking toward him with food and then couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough. It was way too funny and was probably the highlight of my day.

After that we went outside for some play time and of course photos.

We spent most of the day standing. Yes, standing. All the big man wants to do these days is pull himself up and stand around. He always gets a good giggle out of this as he is very proud of himself for pulling himself up to a standing position...and this mamma is proud too!

We also opened the presents Max got me and I had so much fun watching him with the tissue paper again. He got me a nice framed picture of himself for my office at work, lottery tickets and a bottle of wine for those days that a mom just needs a bottle of wine. We went to lunch and ended the day with daddy making us a nice dinner. All-in-all I must say, I had the perfect first Mother's Day. I got exactly what I wanted...100% Max time and family fun time!!!

Developmental Appointment

Max had his development appointment with the doctor last Friday to see how he is doing. Andy and I were hoping this would be the last one, but unfortunately it is not. For the most part he is either right at his adjusted age of 8 months or a little higher around 9 months. He did come in under his adjusted age for fine motor skills. Honestly, we are not very shocked by this. The doctor informed us that we really need to work with him on his fine motor skills so he isn't behind. He is barely a 7 month old with his fine motor skills. The doctor said based on all the other tests she can tell he is a smart baby, so she isn't worried that he can't do it...he just needs to do it. 

We were given handouts and plenty of ideas on what to do to improve his fine motor skills. With grandma Laura in town we hit up Babies R Us to get a couple toys. One of his favorites is the below contraption with plenty of activities to keep him busy and most importantly work his little hands.

After standing up and me providing support in case he fell backwards, from all the excitement, he decided to use me as a chair. This lasted for a while and my arms were getting really sore, but I stuck it out because he was having a great time.

He has a follow-up appointment in four months and if he's not better with his fine motor skills he will have to go to therapy. Hopefully we won't have to go that route and I am pretty confident he will figure it out.

By the way, this mamma is pretty proud of him. This morning when I dropped him off at Ms. Marie's house he waved bye to me. I have been showing him how to wave bye and this morning was the first time he actually did it as I was leaving. I will admit, this mamma got teary-eyed. Oh, it's the little things in life that are so special and meaningful!

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