Merry Christmas to all!

Hey, the snow is taller than Max!

Snow in the backyard!

First cereal on his first Christmas!

Poppy got him a barn for Christmas!

Yay for Christmas!

This was Grandma Kay's gift, and he promptly fell asleep on his frist ride.

I was surprised how much he enjoyed opening presents!

Max's stocking courtesy of Grandma Kay

Max loves his great-grandma!

Max and Travis catching a football game!

Max with his Pop!

He was so mesmorized by all of the lights and sounds at Chicago O'hare



Taken before we left, I looked much better than 14 hours later when we arrived in NC :)

We had an awesome visit in North Carolina with all of Zak's family as well as my dad. It was so great to see everyone again, and for Max to meet his Uncle for the first time. We had a little difficulty getting to NC because of a snow storm, and we beat the big Kansas Christmas blizzard coming home by about 4 hours :) Luckily we made it home in time to have enjoy our first Christmas as a family! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

A vist to the Doctor and to Santa Claus.

Obviously, Max loves mama's kisses!

Daddy and Max

Max telling Santa how good he has been!


Max holding onto his candy cane from the DCB santa

Well, we had a great visit with Santa and the Doctor this past week. Max is weighing in at 15 pounds (51st percentile) and is 24 inches long (15th percentile). The doctor had lots of good things to say about him. Zak and I are really enjoying introducing Max to all of our Christmas traditions! We'll be leaving for North Carolina in a week to visit with family again. Max can't wait ;)

Max turned 4 months old on December 6th!

Here are some pictures of Max at 4 months! Zak and I can't believe how quickly he is growing! He is doing so many exciting things - making fun noises, laughing, smiling, and - sleeping at least one stretch of 7 hours. It is simply amazing! We are looking forward to the holidays visiting family. More pictures and videos to come!

I LOVE this picture!
Having fun with dad at the Christmas Parade
He fell asleep on the way home from the parade

I keep trying to catch a picture of him when he is fussy because he has the most hysterical quivering lip, but every time he sees the camera, he gets excited ;)

Max caught on camera!

As promised, here is our little Max talking in a secret language with his daddy. As usual though, he goes a bit camera shy when he sees the camera! Enjoy!

Ever So Thankful!

Last year, the day before Thanksgiving we found out my grandmother, who I was very close to, had terminal cancer. This mind blowing news of nan's short time left with us overshadowed the day. Needless to say, this year it was difficult to see that empty seat on Thanksgiving day, but it was impossible to dwell on nan's absence for too long, especially with our newest family member. Max has filled our lives with more joy than we could have ever imagined. His cooing, smiling, and laughing is an amazing gift. He is such a happy healthy baby. I've always dreamed of being a mom, but I never imagined it to be this rewarding. And, never on Thanksgiving have I been so thankful! Max has been the most precious gift, and I know that nan's spirit will live on in her namesake!

Ok, enough with the overwhelming emotions!!! And onto the pictures. Max has mastered a new talent - grabbing and playing with his new favorite toy - a blue chiming elephant attached to his car seat. On the way home from our Thanksgiving festivities, Max played with his elephant for about 30 minutes before taking a snooze for the last 15 minutes of our journey. It was so cute to watch him play!

Max has settled into our KU basketball obsession quite well. We had a great time last Friday watching the game with Friends - GO HAWKS! Speaking of KU, Zak and I have decided that it is best for me to finish my master's degree next summer while we have a large assortment of teachers who can help out with Max during the 5-6 weeks it takes me to finish up. Zak will finish before me, he'll be done with school the beginning of February - we simply can't wait!

And a little more of what Max and I have been up to...

Max and I have been SO busy 'staying at home.' I have been blessed with some awesome opportunities that have allowed me to make a little money, while staying home with Max. Working for Insight (the online high school), has been a lot of work, but overall a huge financial blessing! Not to mention the fact that I really enjoy it. I am still interacting with students, and feel like I have the chance to make a difference in the lives of my students. My job supervising teachers for KU has been another blessing, and I am gearing up for round two as my student teachers enter the schools again in the spring. And, of course, there is eBay! Above you see a chubby Max enjoying some Hallmark ornaments. This month has been a great income earning month with all of the hallmark stuff I have saved up from garage sales this summer. We are so busy, but we're having a blast.

As for the promised video - Zak is working on figuring out how to upload it to the blog - hopefully we'll have some video VERY SOON!

The nursery revealed!

Well, back in the pre-baby days Zak and I mentioned in a blog post that we would be posting final pictures of the nursery in the coming days - well, then Max happened :) I still wanted to get final nursery shots taken, and finally accomplished this tonight. There is a contest at a baby store in KC for the cutest nursery that I really wanted to enter. I don't think we have a shot at winning (it is a high end store, with many, many fancy items, so I doubt they will choose a nursery with 99% recycled furniture and toys - wouldn't be the best advertisement for their business), but it was fun taking the pictures none the less. I must say a huge 'thank you' to all of you who were so generous in your gifts for baby Max. He is surrounded with symbols of love from you all!

Mr. Smiles!

CHUBBY BABY!

He LOVES his frog!

Thanks to Stones Photography for capturing this great family picture!

Where does the time go? It is the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and it seems like just yesterday Zak and I were begging for license plates for the nursery. With that said, we are just having a blast! Max is growing so quickly. He is smiling so much now and making all kinds of fun noises! We have been taking video and need to get one loaded soon. Zak and I had to take the post bath photo to prove that we now have a chubby baby! He has some great rolls! He is really enjoying different textures, and just loves that soft frog in the second picture. It is so fun seeing him explore different toys and textures! Our good friends Randi and Rick (firstbabystones.blogspot.com) took a few pictures of our family this past weekend, so I thought I would share one. We'll post again soon with Thanksgiving quickly approaching. Zak and I are looking forward to a few days without the distractions of work.

Bumbo and Diapers

Max tried out his bumbo for the first time this week, and did pretty well. I think he was a little irritated that he had to hold his own head up :)

Also, we are (finally) starting to use cloth diapers at home. Our friends, Zach and Alicia, use them with their little guy, Micah, and I finally bit the bullet and am doing it. We're still using disposables at night and on the go, but, I'll tell you, it is going surprisingly well! Thanks Alicia for all of your advice! Looks like little Max's carbon footprint might be as tiny as him. Afterall, practically everything he owns is recycled!

Our first 'jog'

As soon as I posted Max's three month post, I realized that if Max was three months old, then we could officially break in the jogging stroller. And my did we have a nice walk.

I must brag a bit here... I wanted a fancy BOB revolution jogging stroller (retail for $350 +), since I have, after all, been obsessed with baby products for longer than we shall discuss. However, when I found this gem at a garage sale for $2, Zak and I decided to pocket the extra $348 +. Best part: once we are done loving it, surely I can sell it for at least five!

The three month mark (sniff, sniff)

Can you believe it's been three months already? Talk about the most amazing, most exciting, best three months of my life (I can hardly even remember the sleep deprivation). Zak and I feel so blessed to be parents. We just love our new job as mom and dad! Above, Max and Zak are chillin' after Zak finished working in the yard, and below, is just the sweetest face I have ever seen.

I am beginning to think Max is taking after me as far as talking non-stop goes :) He is making all kinds of noises. Also, Max is now firmly holding onto to toys and such (see below). Zak couldn't resist snapping this photo as Max carefully held of onto his bottle. We are using bottles every now and again, as it gives me a bit of a break. Speaking of which, I have my first girls night planned tonight with the carpool girls, and I couldn't be more excited to catch up!

The holidays are just around the corner, so many festive pictures to follow! If you know Zak and I, you know we go a little overboard with Christmas decorating.

A shout out to Uncle Josh

Max's First Surfing 'experience'

Well, even though every article I read explains the importance of 'tummy time' I just can't convince Max that it is a good thing (he much prefers 1. to be held or 2. to lay on his back). With that said, he is tolerating tummy time a little more with his cool surf board tummy time mat complete with water and fish too look at. Watch out Uncle Josh, you might have some serious surfing competition!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Well folks, as promised, the much anticipated lobster outfit has been unveiled. We have had so much fun with Max and his lobster pot! Today we went to the Louisberg Cider Mill and did just a bit of trick-or-treating (see the Snicker's bar in Max's hand - last pic). In the picture below, Max is sleeping - that's right, couldn't even stay awake for the photo!

Zak won the Halloween costume contest (although I definitely voted for myself (as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle)). I won the 'guess how many m&m's are in the pumpkin' contest. Who knew that a Math degree would come in handy! Aren't we the cutest family ever?

Leave my snickers alone daddy!!!