Doing nothing for the fun of it...

With how busy our lives have been lately we truly appreciate the days of doing nothing. Nothing may sound boring but it's our purposeful enjoyment of that nothing that makes days like this something to remember. The simple act of living in the present with no agenda is something I have to work at...it doesn't come naturally to me being a "planner" by nature. Is it bad that I actually scheduled this day of "nothing"? Ah, one step forward, two steps back. At any rate here's what nothing looks like...

Max did a little early morning yoga to get things started.

Then he spent some time laughing at momma being silly. Gigglebox.

Ok, now what?

Naked baby time!?! Yesssss....Max's favorite.

Another one of his favorites: books. He will literally look at books by himself for 20 minutes at a time. This may not seem long, but in baby-attention-span time its an eternity.

Then, late into the afternoon, we attempted to get dressed but didn't get very far.

(to be fair the mom behind the camera is still in pjs)

We spent a little time watching the cars go by.

And chatting with some stuffed animals.

Max likes to play with Oliver's whiskers. Oli doesn't mind.

And that was pretty much it. Just laying around being lazy and being together.

More evidence...

...that Max is growing up right before our eyes. We had to lower his crib as a result of these nap-time hijinks that were caught on tape:


(Click on the microphone to turn up the sound. You don't want to miss what Max has to say! :)

Go. Do. See.

MAX IS OFFICIALLY CRAWLING! This new energizer-bunny baby is a bit of a shock to our senses. Max is hell on wheels in the best possible way these days. He's turning into a real-life person and we're not exactly prepared for what all that entails. His hand-eye coordination is getting more and more refined too. So he takes what he wants and now has the skills to motor himself wherever his little heart desires. He's unstopable. All he wants is to go and do and see and go and do and see. I love the sense of adventure I see emerging in his little personality. I'm going to try and nurture it as much as possible.

Coming Clean

Max has graduated from his little whale tub to a big boy seat in the bath. He had started moving around and kept trying to stand up when we were scrubbing him down. So now we have to keep him buckled in this contraption so he doesn't slip and slide around. It's the little things that make me realize my baby is growing up.

Before...

and after...

Another milestone that's quickly approaching is Max's first haircut. He has locks that any baby girl would envy, but for a husky boy its just getting too long. If he had been a girl I'd be putting in bows and barrets. Since he's very much a boy the only hair-do I can play around with is the mohawk. And it keeps getting taller and taller. I like to give him different outrageous styles in the bath and then let him admire his 'do in the mirror afterwards.

If it's still standing after the wrestling match of getting him ready for bed then I'll put him night-night with it. I can never bring myself to brush down such excellence.

8 months! Unbelievable.

When I was pregnant I cried over everything. Especially happy, sappy things. Correction...I still cry over everything. Maybe it just comes with the territory of being a mom, but I "happy cry" more than any normal person I'm sure. When I was about 5 months pregnant I was shopping at Macy's (buying up all the XL clothes I could before I had to convert 100% to maternity clothes) when they started playing "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts over the speakers. I started bawling. It was embarrassing but I couldn't control it. If you listen to the words I'm sure it's exactly what every parent wants for their child. I looked down at my growing belly and hoped that the little person in there was going to have the best possible life he or she could. "My Wish" has been one of my blog songs from its inception and it still makes me cry today.

Now that Max is here and has lived the first 8 months of his life, I'm confident that he is as happy as he can be. He's surrounded by so much love, attention and encouragement from family and friends and, of course, his mommy and daddy. I know there will be many days of uncertainty as a parent but so far I feel good about the job we're doing.

For his 8-month bday celebration we thought we'd take our big guy toooooo.........the CASINO! Well, not exactly our idea (and we explained to Max that he still has 20 years and 4 months until he can fully enjoy all that the casino has to offer). It was just that Daddy had an overnight work function there and we were invited to join. So Max and I pretended we were on "vacation" while Dad went to his event. We explored the shops and watched the fountains. Then we ordered room service and had a picnic on the bed in the hotel room. Max seemed to really like the change of scenery. I think he's got the travel-bug like his mom and dad. Hey, he didn't know that we were only about 20 minutes away from home...we could have been in Italy for all he knew :) Dad came up to the room just a bit later to make it feel like a real-life family vacation. It was a fun little overnight trip in honor of Maxer's 8 months!

Octoberfestivities!

We're very excited for Halloween! This was the first year we were able to go to the pumpkin patch without feeling weird that we didn't have a kid with us. Max has become our "ticket" to all the childish things we like to do. Last year when we went I was getting quite large and it was freezing cold. Billy promised that "next year" would be better. And then he fed me hot cider and apple donuts to keep me from complaining more. Of course he was right. The day was perfect and the little dude had a blast. And so did we.

The place we went was not just a plain old pumpkin patch. There were pig races, train rides, hayrides, a petting zoo, a tricycle race track and TONS more. It was kind of overwhelming actually. Max watched the other kids play, instigated a staring contest with a goat and touched every single pumpkin he could.

And for those of you who can't stand the suspense of waiting for the "Halloween" blog post at the end of the month...Max is going to be Max from "Where the Wild Things Are". :)

Pumpkin for our punkin!

Daddy's little monster

Yep, this is IT!

Just over 2 feet tall!

Max Learns Manners

Max had a little play date this weekend. Jenn (a dear friend from my past work life) brought her daughter Makena over to visit. He is so interested in other kids...he's just not sure how to interact with them appropriately. He grabbed at her shoes, her hair, her shirt. Then he "patted" her arm a little too hard and tried to take her sippy cup. Needless to say he wasn't the best host. It was a good opportunity for me to teach him "gentle" and "nice". Not sure he grasped the concept though. We're working on it.

Makena wasn't sure what to think of him and his uncivilized behavior. Before she left they hugged and it was the cutest thing ever. I think Max loves her. Hopefully she'll want to come over to play again in spite of his ill-mannered antics.