Where the hell is the olive??!!!??

The story: I was packing boxes and thought Max was content playing with his toys across the room. I went to grab the tape so I could close up the box and came back in the room to find that Max had so kindly unpacked the box for me. At least he'll be helpful when we're all moved in to the new house and actually need the boxes unpacked.

Max's Two New Tricks

Max love hanging off of his high chair and opening the dishwasher by himself. He is so helpful to mommy during the day: Max will open the dishwasher and unload the dishes all by himself. Big, huge help to mommy.

Look What I Did!

This was mommy and daddy's Easter present....



Needless to say, bath time was cut short.

Max's First Easter

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the basket when we set it next to him Easter morning, but they the time we got to Aunt Cathy's later in the afternoon, he was a pro.

Bath Time Fun

Max LOVES bath time. He's become quite skilled at splashing water aaaallll over the bathroom. He loves to stand up, jump in the tub, and then splashes down. At the moment, one of his favorite things to do is practicing his loud clapping and shrieking while being washed up.

Obstacle Course

Max loves to climb on things, so Daddy set up an "obstacle course" of boxes one Saturday afternoon. Needless to say, it kept him busy for days!

8 & 9 Months Old

Once again, I've have fallen way behind in keeping this up to date--oops! Things have been quite busy around here, with Max learning new tricks every day (literally). So, here's all about Max and what he's learned to do the past month and a half.

-He knows how to crawl on his hands and knees, but will only army crawl. Because of this he has constant rug burns.
-Crawl, crawl, crawl, sit up, pull up, stand up, jump, jump, jump, sit down, crawl, crawl, crawl, grab kitties tails. This is how our days go.
-He now has 5 teeth, with 3 more getting ready to come in (he's been getting a new tooth in every week and a half or so, which makes for a very miserable mommy).
-His favorite foods are: grilled cheese, any kind of cheese, green beans, frozen peas (he refuses to eat them if they're in a can or pureed), carrots, sweet potato fries, waffles, pancakes, newspaper (hey, at least he's getting his fiber in), strawberries, pasta (more so the sauces then the noodles), fettuccine, corn, beef brisket, hamburgers, chicken, deli turkey, pretty much anything that he sees mommy and daddy eating.
-He's not a big fan of fruits. Strawberries are the only thing we can find that he'll actually eat with his fingers. Because of this, he still gets fruit purees=(
-When he doesn't want finger foods, he'll eat anywhere from 3 to 5 jars of baby food a day. I can't wait to stop buying that crap!
-He loves pulling himself up to stand. When he's having trouble, he uses his two front teeth to help him. We now have teeth marks in our nice book shelves and dishwasher...awesome.
-Max loves being a big boy and drinking out of a regular glass. However, he will not drink from a sippy cup. I'm a little worried because I really want to be done with the bottle in a few months. I'm dealing with the fact that may not happen quite like I want.
-We're working on transitioning from 3 naps a day to 2 longer naps. I would like it to be easier.
-Since he's learned to pull up and stand, we've caught him in his crib, jumping up and down, feet totally coming off the mattress. Naps have been interesting the past few weeks!
-He loves to scream and has even developed a new shrieking cry that could make my ear drums burst.
-Max definitely needs socialization with kids. We went out to lunch the other day with one of my friends and her almost 1 year old and Max was scared to death of him! While it was entertaining, I also feel kinda guilty for not getting out a lot with him!
-We still haven't been able to get rid of his newborn green soothie pacifier. I was hoping to be done with it, but with all of the teething he's been doing, I'd feel guilty for taking away one of his favorite comfort items.

As for Matt and I, not a whole lot is new. Matt keeps busy, busy with work and comes home to play with Max (who LOVES when daddy come home). I thoroughly enjoying staying at home with Max, although there are many days I feel I'm about to lose my mind! We're actively trying to find a new home, so wish us luck! I'm making it our mission to be all moved into a new place by Max's first birthday. I'll say it once again, I'll try my hardest to keep the updates coming, but I'm finding this task difficult!

A Few of Max's Favorite Things (This Week)

Another New Trick

Army Crawl

2 Teeth!

7 Months Old

Today Max is 7 months old!!! This is Matt by the way. Month 6 was very eventful. Master of Sitting. Eater of Finger Foods. Proprietor of Tooth. Max has added many titles to his resume. We were hoping to upgrade from Taker of Baths to Chief Bather. He was doing so well with bath time, but he grew out of the infant tub. We switched to a larger, inflatable ducky tub... the video explains what happened.

It Has Happened....

Max has his first cold (which he so kindly gave to Mommy as well). He's been pretty fussy the past few days and started pulling at his left ear once again. So, Matt took him to the doctor yesterday evening to make sure it wasn't an ear infection. Good news that it wasn't--Matt and I are still hoping for no tubes! He's just a little congested (nothing horrible) but I'm pretty sure he's getting in another tooth or two, so that could me the main cause of everything.

He's sleeping pretty decently so hopefully that means I can get some rest too and enjoy the rest of our three day weekend with Matt!

First Tooth!

All of the fussiness has finally paid off: Max got his first tooth in earlier this week! However, I'm beginning to think I should change this title to First Teeth. One feel around his mouth and I feel a couple more coming in......I've been dreaming that he would just get all of his teeth in at once and then we can be done with the whole teething process (wishful and unrealistic thinking, I realize). He's being very protective of his mouth so I have yet to get a good look, let alone a picture=(  I'm just hoping that his fussiness, screaming crying, and low grade fever mean more teeth and not that his getting sick....oh well, we've at least got one down!!!

6 Months Old

Actually we're closer to 6 1/2 months old, but I have been meaning to post for a while and haven't quite found the time! My days are spent following Max who has seemed to master rolling around the apartment to get where he wants to go. We're working on the crawling, but mostly he just looks as if he's swimming. Max thoroughly enjoys sitting up all by himself and playing with (aka chewing on)  his toys. Still no teeth, but as the doctor has been telling us for several months now, there's six teeth that look like they could come up any time now (I'll believe it when I see it).

As of last Wednesday at his check up, Max was 19.2 lbs and 28 inches long. He was awesome when Great Grandma Ann gave him his shots, but was fussy for a few days (not so fun for me). They gave us the okay for finger foods and so far his favorites are pancakes and grilled cheese. He's not a big fan of the Puffs, but they've become one of my favorite snacks.

This past weekend we switched Max from his infant carrier to his "big boy" car seat. Matt and I spent the weekend looking for the perfect one. Poor Max had to run around with us so we could fit him in all the ones we wanted to try, but he was a trooper and was rewarded by getting to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Sheaffer.

The biggest news we have is that Max is FINALLY sleeping through the night with NO PROBLEMS once again!!!! After a lot of talk (and a few 3 am fights) we decided to go ahead with "sleep training" and picked up the book by Dr. Ferber. I was skeptical at first, but couldn't keep living on 4 hours of sleep, so we tried it and it was a huge success! (A little back story for those that don't know: Max went through a sleep regression at 4 1/2 months and we've had trouble getting back on track ever since then. His biggest problem was waking up in the middle of the night and needing to be rocked back to sleep, find his pacifier to put it back in his mouth, etc.) Ever since that first night, Max has slept like a rock star and the greatest thing: he no longer takes any naps in his swing! We're back to two hour long naps and ten to twelve hours at night.

Once again, I'll try to be better about keeping this up to date over the next few months as there will be lots of changes in our lives!

*Sorry about the lack of pictures. We just got a new computer and haven't switched over the files to this new one, so we'll upload them all in the next few weeks!

Max's First Christmas

Andy's idea of parenting

He loved opening his presents (especially when he was able to chew on the paper before someone could grab it away from him). This is Max and Daddy bright and early Christmas morning.....so early that mommy and daddy had to go back to bed during morning nap too!

Max fell asleep as we were getting ready to open presents at Grandpa Brownie's (he woke up just in time to play with all his new toys)!