Maximilian 4 years

Weight: 33 pounds 15.2 ounces (30.81%)
Height: 39.37 inches (27.34%)


I can't believe my first baby turned four. He is my snuggly boy.
This year, he went to preschool and really excelled. He has been reading since Christmastime. Like, actually reading. One of the first books he read was Go, Dog, Go. He reads to himself, reads to others, and still wants some stories read to him. Now, he knows how to spell a lot of words and can even spell some based on saying them.
He loves to ride his bike, especially to the park. He likes swimming, but does not like being sprayed with water.
He is adjusting to his big brother role really well. He loves to hold his baby bro. He also sings to him "I will protect you" and other cute little songs he makes up. A couple times he has said something about him going back in mommy's tummy now. I think he has felt a little left out because mom is unavailable or shared a lot of the time while I'm feeding the baby. All in all, though, he is doing well.
He still loves his Halley Bean. Sometimes when he's upset he'll cry "I miss my sissyyyyy." A little cute, but annoying :).
He has said he wants to be a singer when he grows up. At least, he did a few months ago when he had a project about himself for preschool. He does love to sing and dance.
He loooooves Grammy. She spoils him with her undivided attention and with letting him get away with murder. He goes to her place for the weekend once every month or two.
He is mom's little helper. We put the dishes away out of the dishwasher together. He also feeds the dog and cat. He needs encouragement and continual redirection when it comes to picking up, though.
He loves to go places and gets stir crazy just like his mother does.
Dad took him to get his first professional haircut a couple months ago. He sat well for it.

1 month old!

Miles is one month old! I don't even know where the past month has gone. Mr. Miles, or Mr. Smiles as we sometimes call him, is a little snuggler. He loves to eat and today probably spent more time eating than he spent not eating. Last time he was weighed he was 10 pounds 2.2 ounces on July 8. We got off to a slow start with breastfeeding because he got a cold a few days after coming home and was sick for 2 weeks.
He is not a fan of being put down.
He likes to furrow his brow when he's looking around. He's smiled quite a few times in the past few days... possibly gas related.
Speaking of gas, he does get fussy sometimes when he's gassy.
I love his hair. He has a natural faux hawk. I think he looks almost exactly like Max did except Max's hair laid down. Miles' hair sticks up on top no matter how you comb it.

I put him in the crib tonight for the first time. It was 10:30 when he went down and 11:37 now, so I think it's going okay.
He doesn't seem to mind tummy time too much. He is really good at holding his head up when being held, and does not like to be held horizontally unless being fed.

Crabby shark

Trick or treating last night was... something. We dressed Max up as a shark, since he still fit in the costume from last year. We drove into town, parked, and decided to try to let him walk with us. He just wanted to run! By himself! Without holding hands! Onto the road!... Yeah, no. AJ took him up to one of the houses, and Max picked up a piece of candy, put it back in the bowl, then took a piece of the candy from his bucket and put that in the bowl, too. It was cute. And then, he tried to run away from us, so I picked him up. And he screamed. And screamed. Then we decided to go home. As we were walking back to the car, he screamed the whole time. Like 10 minutes of screaming and bucking while we carried him. AJ thought maybe his costume was bugging him, so I set him down to try to adjust it. Well, the second I set him down he stopped crying and started running. So... we strapped him in his carseat and booked it home with him still screaming in the back seat. It was the worst fit he has ever thrown. Fast forward to tonight when I was playing with him before bed. I noticed a little white speck towards the back of his mouth. I thought maybe he was chewing on something, but lo and behold... he got his 7th shark tooth! It was the 1st molar on the top right.

6th tooth!

We noticed Max's 6th tooth 2 days ago! It's on top, to the left of the middle two.
Also, I've been trying to work with him about saying "please" when he wants something. He is getting the hang of it! He will say please when we tell him to when he starts whining. I am hoping that he learns that "please" is a good alternative to whining!

15 months

Words: shoes (just started that today!), mama, dada, book, ball, bear, baby, boat, bowl, hi, and sometimes will say something like "Halley" when we ask you to. You have yet to say it without prompting, though.

Sleep: usually 8-6. You are not one for sleeping in. You are in between 1-2 naps.

Teeth: still 5 (top 2, bottom 3). You're getting better about letting me brush your teeth.

Eating: you will generally eat anything we put in front of you. We do need to work on utensil use, but I'm in no hurry! You have slowed down on your weight gain again, so we do need to up your calorie count more.

Reading: you still love your books! Grammy brought a whole bunch of books that were mine when I was little. As we go through them, it is apparent which books you enjoy and which ones you don't. If it's a book you don't like, you will push it closed after about the first page. Your favorite book right now is The Hair Book by Dr. Seuss. You bring it to us, and if we do not take it right away, you'll throw it at us. When we read your counting books, we point to each number. Now when we do this, if I don't point, you will use my finger to point at each number.

We have a magna-doodle (or doodle pro? not sure what the exact name is anymore) and you will "write" on it.

Potty: We usually set you on the potty about once a day, and you usually will go pee on it! This has created a whole new awareness of your penis. If we don't have a onesie or one piece jammies on you, you will have your hand in your diaper or pull your penis out of your diaper. One morning, I came into your room to find that you standing up with you holding your penis (outside of your diaper) and you had peed all over your crib! Ahhh the joys! :)

New actions: you started "jumping!" A couple weeks ago, I was lifting you up and down, and I said, "you're jumping!" After that, you'll walk around, stop, then stand up on your tippy toes! You'll also do it if we say "jump." You're so proud of yourself!

When Grammy was here, you started having a bigger interest in pop/water bottles. You will unscrew the cap, then screw it back on. You get upset if you screw it on too tight to where you can't loosen it again.

Something you've been doing for a while now (much to your mother's displeasure) is going into your room and pulling every. single. item. of clothing out of your drawers.

The cutest thing: you will get your bear that Halley gave you or my old teddy bear and will hug the bear! Then you will bring the bear to me to hug, then you hug me and the bear. You are such a little lover boy. You will also get one of your sister's baby dolls and hug the baby or bring the "baybaybaybayby" to me.

You have been really into your blocks the past couple weeks, and now will put them into the right shaped holes! You will spend at least 15 minutes at a time doing this.

NurseMom gets healthy(ier)

Ughhhh the scale. That damned scale. In April of this year, I bought a scale and weighed myself.  The blaring red numbers showed 250. Two hundred fifty pounds. The last time I had weighed myself was fall 2011, a couple months after Max was born, and I was at approximately 236.

In my defense, in the last year I had given birth, said goodbye to 2 of my grandparents, had the 5 year anniversary of my dad's death, lost my job of 3 years, and moved across the state.

Today, I am at 237. Last week I was at 235, but I had a bad weekend of bad food and no exercise. It has taken me 5 months to lose 13 pounds. It's better than nothing, I suppose, but definitely not what I had hoped. I have been slowly trying to change habits, and it does seem to be working.

Goals for this week:
1. No eating after 7pm. I had been doing well the past couple months, but the last week I have been snacking late night.
2. Go for a jalk(jog/walk) or bike ride 5 days per week. Sunday, yesterday, and today I have jalked. Yesterday's was pretty short, so I tried to make up for it today.
3. Limit soda to 2 per day. I have been failing at this. Bad.
4. No eating out. Since we moved, we really only eat out or get fast food once every couple of weeks. Except when I'm at work and am really wanting Sub.way. I need to break that habit. I've limited it to once a week or so, but my belt and wallet would do better if I just skipped it. The sandwich itself isn't what gets me, but I always get cookies. They call to me!

A reasonable set of goals, I think. I will check in this weekend to update on how I did.

14 months

You are 14 months old today! It's crazy how much you have developed into your own little person.

You say ball, book, bear, hi, mama, dada, "bum" (for bumblebee). You repeat some things when we ask you to, and you've even said something like "Halley" when we asked you to this weekend!

You are a full time walker, and have been for over a month. Just a couple days ago you started spinning! It is so cute. You'll be walking and all of a sudden you'll just pivot. So funny. You also are very into dancing, which consists of some combination of stomping your feet, shaking your arms, and swinging your head around. I love it.

You are great at giving hugs now, too!

When you are asked, "how big are you?" You put both arms straight up in the air and we say, "so big!" Grammy taught you that when you visited her last month.

You know which button turns dad's Xbox on, and you have for at least a couple months now.

You sleep from 8 or a little after to 6-7 now and it's so wonderful! You even slept well when you and I went to Auntie Mallory's house last week. You don't fall asleep very well (if at all) if not in your bed, though. When you were sick 2 weeks ago, we brought you in to our bed and you won't settle down, really. You climbed on us and kept pretty much scooching around.

You can point to your ears, our ears, nose and mouth, and can show your tongue when asked. If you're sitting on one of our laps, usually you will just start touching one ear, then the other, then nose, mouth and eyes. You're so smart! (I will shamelessly brag about you lol).

You love love love books. Every night at around 7, you go over and start looking at your books. Then you bring one over to me, and if I'm sitting on the ground, proceed to turn around and plop down in my lap. It melts my heart, and I love that you seem to enjoy books as much as I do.

You still have just the 5 teeth. Top middle 2, bottom middle 2, and the 1 next to the middle bottoms on your left.

You're coming in at about 20.6 lbs according to our home scale. We need to make a doctor's appointment for next month to have you weighed again.

You eat anything and everything we put in front of you. You've been liking cut up grapes a lot recently.

We went swimming last month and you really enjoyed it this time! You wanted to walk around in the water, or have us hold you up so you could kick your feet! You were so proud of your "swimming."

All in all, I can't even begin to express how much I enjoy being your mother. You are such a blessing. I love to sneak into your room when you're sleeping to steal you from your crib and rock you. You are such a lovey boy. I never imagined that I would like this age so much more than I adored the newborn/little baby stage. Just thinking about you growing up makes my heart ache. You will always, always be my baby, though, no matter how toddler/big boy/teenager/adult-ish you become!

Wordless Wednesday

Max went pee in his potty last night!!!

Wordless Wednesday

He's a gamer lol

5 long years...

All because, on this day in 2007, 2 people played disc golf.



(then)

Err...

(now)

Fell in love.



Sickies

We've been a little under the weather around this household. First, about 2-3 weeks ago I felt like I was getting a UTI. Of course, I haven't been at my job too long, so my insurance didn't kick in until July 1. I decided to just try drink bucketloads of water and cranberry juice and take over the counter Azo. This seemed to help and for a few days I thought I had flushed it out. Then, on Monday the 2nd, I started getting a backache at work. It got progressively worse over the day, and my head started hurting as well. On Tuesday the 3rd I woke up with the worst headache, back ache, and nausea I've had in a long time. I cried. That's how bad it hurt. I went through 28 hours of unmedicated labor last year without crying, and I cried. I decided it was time to go to the Urgent Care. I get 3 minutes down the road, and have to pull over and throw up. 20 minutes later, I show up at UC, tell them I have a UTI, and have to give a urine sample. I then wait 45 minutes for the doctor to come in to tell me what I already know... I have a UTI. He gives me a prescription for Bactrim and sends me on my way. I feel much better by the time I get home, thank god.
I was in normal-feeling bliss until Saturday the 7th, when I woke up with a sore throat. I don't think too much of it, until Sunday the 8th, when I wake up with really itchy hands and feet. I could no longer eat/drink anything that wasn't soft. Then, Monday, I have this red, spotty rash on my hands and feet. My fingertips looked like someone pinpricked each one about 20 times. I decide it's liveable, so I don't go back to the doctor. When I talked to my BFF, who is also a nurse, on the phone on Thursday, I mentioned my symptoms. She "diagnosed" me with hand, foot, and mouth. WTF? Seriously? I had thought only kids got it, but apparently her brother-in-law just got over it. My sore throat and rash have gone away, but my hands are still super dry and my skin feels tight.
Then, AJ called me on my way home from work yesterday to say that Max had been crying a lot all day. He had noticed a diaper rash and thought that was the cause. I started worrying that I had given whatever I had to him! I got home and looked at his tush, and of course it was red, red, red. Max and I took a nice long bath. I stripped his diaper off, then climbed into the tub by myself. He was standing next to the tub, and all of a sudden he peed all over the rug. He hasn't peed out of his diaper since he was probably 2 months old. I laughed so hard, and I think he was proud of himself because he smiled ear to ear. After getting out of the bath, getting lotioned and creamed, and reading stories with mama he seemed to be feeling better.
We haven't had a breakout of sickness of this magnitude round these parts... ever, I think. I'm so glad we are back to full force.

Family Time/Visitors from Alaska

On June 29, AJ's brother Travis and wife Micah flew in from Alaska. We hung out with them quite a bit while they were here. Halley enjoyed Uncle Travis teasing her, and Aunt Micah's attention and game playing. We think Uncle Travis taught Max how to play peek-a-boo with just his hands, because he didn't know whether to cover his own face or Max's face. We spent a lot of time at Paula's (my mother-in-law) house, since that's where they stayed. Bella has a new obsession with "baby Max" and kept trying to hug him and smother him pretty much, haha. Then, towards the end of the week, she got mad that he was playing with her toys and kept taking them from him. So funny. I got to know Travis and Micah pretty well, I think, for having never met them before. They said we need to take a trip to Alaska soon. I don't know about that... I would sometime like to go there, but there are so many other places I want to go before there.

Travis, Micah, Darren, Paula, Bella, AJ, Halley, Max, and I went out for dinner the first day

She wanted to be by him so bad! haha

Oldest brother and youngest brother

Travis, Micah, and Halley

End of the week, Max and Bella getting more okay with each other

Movie Monday

12 months

You are now walking at home about 90% of the time, but still crawling mostly when outside or somewhere else. You also can now stand up from sitting without pulling up!

You still love playing peek-a-boo.

Now you can use my or daddy's finger and point to our noses and mouths and to your nose and mouth. You also stick out your tongue when asked.

You definitely know what "No" means and hate to hear it.

You say the words mama, dada, ball, and book regularly. Also, this past week you've said something that sounds like b!tch a couple times, and I think you're trying to say "Prince" (the cat's name). I think. Haha. But the first two times I heard it, Prince was walking toward you.

Speaking of Prince, you still love him and always smile at him.

You also love your sister, a whole lot. She's been here most of the summer so far, and you've definitely enjoyed it. She does all sorts of crazy jumping around and always makes you laugh.

You still love books and always are bringing one to Mama or Dada.

Recently, you've become very interested in your shape blocks and can sometimes put them in the right holes.

You are definitely shy around strangers. You'll put your head on mama or dad's shoulder if someone you don't know is close or tries to talk to you.

You give kisses when we ask for them! They are open-mouthed and slobbery, but so cute! You've also been giving hugs a lot lately.

Another "fun" thing you've been doing is taking all the clothes out of your drawers. Whenever you go to your room you'll drag more of them out.

On your birthday, we noticed that you got your 5th tooth! It's the bottom one that's to the left of the middle. You have bumps on the top on either side of the middle as well, and you've been drooling A LOT the past couple days.

You usually sleep from 8-5 or 6ish and sometimes will go back to sleep until 7 or 8. Then, you still take 2 naps during the day, and the first one can be up to 3 hours at around 9. Usually the second nap is around 3 for an hour or so.

You finally will hold your cup by yourself again. When you were like 6 months old you would hold them just fine, but for the past month or two you decided you needed someone to hold it for you. Finally, you've gotten the hang of it again.

You've been completely off bottles for a couple months now, and we weaned last month. You switched to formula like a champ, and the doctor wants you to continue getting formula for a couple months yet.

Silent Saturday

One year stats

Birth (6/27/11): 9 pounds 0.4 ounces, 21 1/4 inches, 14 1/4 inch head circumference

1 day old (6/28): 8 pounds 10.8 ounces

2 days old (6/29): 8 pounds 5 ounces

3 days old (6/30): 8 pounds 6 1/4 ounces, 20 3/4 inches

2 weeks 1 day (7/12): 9 pounds 1 1/2 ounces, 21 1/4 inches

2 months (9w4d on 9/2): 11 pounds 14 ounces (50%), 23 5/8 inches (75%), 15 3/4 inch head circumference (40%)

4 months (11/1): 14 pounds 3/4 ounces (30%), 25 inches (50%), 16 inch head circumference (40%)

6 months (1/3/12): 15 pounds 1 1/3 ounces, 25 3/4 inches

9 months (4/4/12): 16 pounds 4 1/2 ounces (2%), 28 inches (39%), 17 3/4 inch head circumference (37%)

12 months (6/29/12): 19 pounds 0.5 ounces (15%), 29 inches (28%), 46.5 cm head circumference (61%)

WW: ONE!



6/27/11- newborn

6/27/12- 1 year old!

He turns 1 tomorrow

...and I have no idea how. I was thinking about how my little Maximilian came to be in this world, and I have no idea how we got so lucky. I had a relatively easy pregnancy; I probably only got physically sick 10 times or so. I remember driving to the Dollar Tree to buy a pregnancy test at 10pm because I was starting to feel yucky, going home and watching a couple episodes of Nip/Tuck with AJ.. then at like 2am taking a pregnancy test and being in complete shock. I mean, SHOCK. We had been trying for 4-5 months, but I was starting to think it wouldn't happen. I remember when I first felt him move in my tummy on Valentine's day. I remember seeing him via ultrasound go from a shrimp-looking alien, to a little gummy bear, to a black and white 2 dimensional picture of my baby that I was so anxious to actually SEE him. When the ultrasound tech told us that he had hair at his like 36 week ultrasound, I was in awe. I guess I knew that some babies had hair, but I hadn't thought about what my baby's hair growth would be. Black? Brown? Blonde? It was dark brown when he was born, but now it is more strawberry blonde. His eyes went from ruddy and cross eyed (but damned cute!) dark blue to a lively, lighter blue. He is now walking most of the time. I don't know how or why my mind can't save all the little things that he's done, but he keeps on going to bigger, better things. I remember the first time I breastfed him in the hospital, when all he needed was me. I took for granted when he just needed and wanted me 24/7. Now I wish he needed me more, wish I could sit all day just holding him like I did then. I want to be the only ones awake at 5:30 in the morning, both of us half asleep in the recliner in the living room watching Country Girl and Homeboy videos on the CMT Top 20 Video Countdown. I was so frazzled then, catching an hour of sleep at a time. Now my big ol' one year old usually sleeps at least from 8:30-5 or 6 straight. He has changed so much, both in appearance and personality. He can say ball, book, mama, and dada. His words just erupted the past couple weeks. He still loves reading books. I hope he will always love books. He can also point to eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and stick his tongue out when you ask him to. I am just so sad, because if the past year has gone this fast, this next year will go just as fast. And before I know he'll start kindergarten, then he'll be learning to drive, then graduating from college, then getting married and having a little one of his own. My heart hurts thinking about it. I am so excited for these things, but I just want to live all these experiences with him a little more slowly. I'm sure I've already forgotten a lot of little things that he's done. I just want to fully enjoy every minute. I want to be able to hit pause when he lays his little head on my shoulder, or gives me a kiss when I ask him to. I will love my son as long as I'm alive; he will always be my baby.

We Weaned

We weaned! It was the right time for us since Max really only wanted to nurse when I got home from work and at night. Plus, since I started working again, I remembered how much I HATED pumping. Especially since I just started a new job and pumping while eating lunch was just not something I wanted to do anymore.
We took Max for a weight check since he hadn't been gaining enough. AJ and I decided previously that if he had gained a sufficient amount we would wean. I knew I wasn't really producing much during the day anyway since at the beginning of April I was with my grandpa for 2 days and barely pumped anything.
On Friday, May 25 we began the weaning process. I went camping with some friends and decided to only take my manual pump along in case I became too engorged. It turns out I did need to pump, and people I don't know too well kept looking at me weird because I absentmindedly kept massaging my boobs. Full boobs hurt! I came home on the 27th and was still pretty engorged even though I had been pumping every 8 hours or so to take the edge off. Max really wanted to nurse and I was still hurting so we did. I wasn't quite ready to not do it anymore, and actually getting kind of emotional about it. I kept nursing him when I got home from work, but we started giving him a sippy of breastmilk when he woke up at night and formula during the day when I was at work. The last time we nursed was Thursday, May 31 when I got home from work. It was bittersweet, but I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be. Actually, when we started giving him sippies at night instead of breastfeeding, Max went from waking up at least twice at night and ending up in bed with us, to once a night, and now 2 weeks later he usually sleeps from 8 or 9 to 5ish. It is amazing!!!! Plus, since AJ can feed him at night now, if he wakes up we take turns.
The transition went really well. It was better than I ever imagined. The only time he wanted to that I didn't was the next night I got home from work, and then I just distracted him and gave him a sippy. I am glad that we decided to wean then. We were both pretty ready, and I was getting anxious to have my body back, and maybe a bit more sleep. I was still leaking until a couple days ago, though, but I am hoping that is finally done.
My baby boy is not so much of a baby anymore! He has been walking across the room for a few days now, but not full time walking just yet. Before I know it I'm sure he'll be 28 with a little one on the way and I'll be butting into my daughter-in-laws plans to breastfeed! Oh, sigh of happiness.

WW: Happy boy