26 Weeks Old

I'm sitting here thinking of what to write. This week has gone by so fast that I just can't even remember what happened! I really thought that we would write the blog announcing that Max was crawling, but not quite yet. He is pulling up on all fours and rocking back and forth. He'll push forward with his legs, but until he figures out what to do with his arms, he is just burying his head down and rolling over. We've just had a busy week this week and seem to be getting into a routine of coming home, going for a walk, having dinner, bath and bedtime. He is a lot more chatty too! He is always saying, "da da da da da da da da!"  I love his laugh. No matter how early or how late it is, all he has to do is flash me that cute little smile or let out a chuckle and my heart just melts. I have to say that it has also been a joy to see him interacting with the other kids at daycare as he gets older. They all play together and his teacher puts them in a circle and they have 'Circle Time' where they sing songs and play. It is just so cute. So that is about it for now...I will leave you to the picture...I tried to upload a video, but the website is hating on us. I'll see what I can do for later, but for now here we go...

Reaching for the creepy ball that sings and rolls by itself.

It's fun, Mommy!

Kisses from Mommy

Playing music for us on his alligator

Cute feet...his big toes bend all weird

In the little outfit that Cousin Wyatt picked out for him...he likes it!

Gimme some Gripe Water!

Playing with his monkey

Such a cute boy!

Mommy and Max the morning before she chopped all of her hair off!

There are no words...

Here he is pushing up on his head just before he rolls over!

Playing with Simon's tail

Max and Mommy after her haircut, but you can't really see it :)

Playing with his worm from Grandma

But, Daddy...I want the wii-mote!

Enjoying Friday night dinner at Casa Tequila

25 Weeks Old

Oh, CeraVe! You are a miracle cream! This is the cream that the allergist recommended to us and I finally broke down and bought it (it ain't cheap, but my little guy is worth it)! I cannot believe how soft his skin is. There are hardly any red spots left on his body. Just his hands and around his elbows and shoulders. He is constantly putting his hands in his mouth so I am not surprised that they are chapped. We have gotten used to our bath time routine and the greasing up of the boy afterwards. The trickiest part is getting that diaper on. He is so slippery and of course he wants to roll over on the changing table, so I'm constantly trying to keep him from rolling off of it and getting the diaper on all while he is slipping out of my hands. It's a workout! But, he seems to be doing loads better and he is not scratching his head near as much. Usually when he is tired is when he goes after it. I love feeling his soft skin and his hair is even really soft...and getting long. Yes, we are finally starting to see his hair grow! Yay! I thought he was going to be bald forever! It is still thicker in the middle and looks like a mohawk, but the sides are getting longer and it's getting thicker all over. Even the patch that he rubbed bald is growing back.

It is amazing to watch your baby grow and do new things every day. He is so chatty lately, constantly talking it seems like. The thing I've been watching this week that puts a smile on my face and fear in my heart at the same time is him pushing up on his elbows and knees and just rocking back and forth. He is so close to crawling. He will push off with his legs, but hasn't quite figured out what do to with his arms yet, so it just results in his head going down and him rolling over onto his back. He's gonna figure it out soon though and that scares me! There will be no turning back. I'm thinking we will move the coffee table downstairs, we'll have to move the cat food and water (probably into the basement bathroom) and all of the other things that are not baby friendly. Even though he isn't crawling yet doesn't mean that he isn't able to get places and get into things. He will roll across the room I think if I would let him. Gone are the days of putting him down and him staying in that one place. Last night, I put him down on his mat with a toy and went to make some dinner. I would peek over the couch every few minutes and check on him. He rolled over to his activity center and was playing with the rattles. The next time I looked over, he had gotten all of the way to the tv, turned on the PS3 and grabbed a Wii-mote off of the bottom shelf and was chewing on it. He was just having the best time. Here is a video of him last Saturday.

He is really starting to take an interest in the cats. He always wants to touch them, but they usually take off as he will grab handfuls of fur and pull. I can sympathize with them. He usually does this with the few hairs at the very back of my neck. It hurts! But, he loves to grab my hair. I have tried to scream thinking that I would scare him and he wouldn't do that...nope, he just laughs and pulls harder. Oh well, maybe this will be my excuse to finally cut all of my hair off! But, for now I will just wear it in a ponytail as much as possible.

Last weekend, I took his baby seat and bucket out of my car and replaced it with his convertible car seat. He is now sitting up in it every day and no longer in the infant carrier. It's hard to realize how quickly he grew out of it, but it does make getting him in and out of the car easier every day. I think he is getting used to it too. He likes to throw his toys to the side. I'm sure the day will come when we turn him around and toys, sippy cups or cheerios will get thrown into the front seat.

Tonight, we went out to eat at a local chinese restaurant and since we don't have the infant carrier anymore, we took the floppy seat and he sat in a high chair at the table for the first time. Well, he's been in his high chair at home, but whenever we've gone out, he's either been in his infant carrier or one of us has held him. He had the best time just looking around and smiling at everyone and banging his hands on the table. His new favorite food seems to be sweet peas. He was actually opening his mouth and leaning toward the spoon tonight. He is getting the hang of eating and doing so great at it. We still make somewhat of a mess, but no spit up. He does always seem to sneeze at least once during his feeding and just after he takes a big bite, so it's exciting to see what kind of mess we make each day.

So, another week down. We are all doing great and looking forward to the summer time, getting outside, going to the farmer's market, swim lessons and just spending time together as a family!

Up early on a Saturday morning just playing in his exersaucer!

It wasn't long before he pooped out and took a nap with his chicky.

He was scratching his head, so I put a wet rag on top of his head. Seemed to work...he stopped scratching and played for about an hour with the rag on his head. Spa treatments on the go!

Ready for fun in the sun! C'mon summer!

In his big boy car seat. He seems to like it!

Wearing his new pirate hat that I found for him..on clearance!

I just love how he sleeps with his butt up in the air!

Happy Max!

Doesn't seem interested in swinging...this took place in a matter of seconds and while the swing was in motion. Guess we need to start strapping him in!

Prune face...he's a mess, but he liked what he was eating!

Such a big boy in the restaurant high chair.

In his bath...I think he looks like Mother Theresa wrapped in this towel...such a cute expression on his face!

I think most times, he would rather chew on the toys than play with them.

 Here is a video of him playing with his drum tonight...

24 Weeks Old!

Wow...the time is flying by so fast. Max had a good week. He must be going through a major growth spurt because he has been eating so much! He is getting better at eating his solid foods (well, as solid as pureed veggies can be)! He has had a little bit of bananas this week as well and he seems to like them. We are going to keep trying veggies before we start too many fruits. We switched over to soy formula and he seems to be tolerating that a lot better than the regular formula. It stinks...stinks like crazy, but I can't keep up with his demand anymore. 

He continues to be a happy and playful boy. Still rolling around everywhere and grabbing absolutely EVERYTHING, especially Mommy's hairs...the ones right at the back of my neck...ouch! But who can get upset with a face like that?

He is still waking up at night...sometimes twice. How, I long for the day that he sleeps through the night again. We'll get there someday, but until then, we just have to keep plugging along.

We went to see our doctor on Monday to talk about the possibility of Max having allergy issues. He seemed to think that there was some significant signs there, prescribed us some Zyrtec and referred us to an allergist. We thought it was going to be quite some time before we could get in to see them, but they had an opening on Thursday. So, away we went. We had to answer a lot of questions and when the doctor came in he was more concerned with Max's skin. He kept referring to it as dermitites (or eczema) and said that it can cause some food allergies. So, he gave us a lot of prescriptions for different creams and stuff to try and a folder and booklet of information. He told us to do a lot of things differently than what our dermatologist told us, but the way he explained it made much more sense. Basically, his skin is not retaining water, so it is dehydrated (just his skin). He said that Max should be taking 1-2 baths a day and just soaking in the water for at least 15 minutes. This will help his skin to soak up the water. Then, take him out, don't dry him, work in the cream and then slather on the ointment to seal in all of the moisture, cover with long sleeved jammies and we're set! Oh, and we have to do the latter part all within about 2 minutes...yeah right! Well, I had to work on Thursday and Friday, so Eric has had to take on this responsibility and he has done a great job! You can see the picture below of Max receiving his spa treatment. He's such a trooper.

I think those are the big points of this week! So our future goals are to just keep him hydrated and keep him from scratching (that is a tough one, but he's getting better at it).

Thanks for checking in on us and we look forward to updating you next week!

He loves reaching for the bird!

Max's spa treatment or as Eric calls it...Hydration to the Max!

So, this is where he starts out...

...and this is where he'll end up. Just rolling and scooting!

Mmmmmm....tasty butterfly

He is so tall in his exersaucer. I remember when we had to put a blanket under his feet because he was too short. Now we are up on the second height setting. He's getting way too big. Measured just over 25 inches the other day!

Standing on the counter with Daddy

My Mighty Max

Just lounging around with Daddy

23 Weeks Old

Oh my big boy! Every day with this little guy is such a blessing. I am so happy he is in my life. I love my family!

Sorry for the late post, but I was exhausted Friday night and had a show on Saturday. I tried to post when i got home, but was just so tired! Here it is...

I wish I could say that Max enjoyed his first Easter. Well, I think he got to enjoy some of it, but he was sick for most of it. I think he had some sort of stomach bug. He just couldn't keep anything down and he slept for most of the day. All of Eric's family came over to celebrate Easter (except for Dwight...we missed you, Dwight!) and it was so nice to have everyone here! Like I said, Max slept for most of the day. He did wake up later in the afternoon and I gave him a bottle. I thought we were in the clear when after 30 minutes, he had kept it down, but just as I was thinking we were in the clear...bluh! All over him, me and the floor! Poor thing. So we got all cleaned up, changed and started laundry. Then, a little while later, he started dry heaving and threw up some bile. I was really scared. We called the nurse and of course, they say to bring him in to the ER. So, off we went. I was worried that he was getting dehydrated. So, we got to see the doctor relatively quickly and she said that he was on his way to becoming dehydrated. They gave him some Pedialyte there to see if he could kep it down and he did, so they sent us home with like 6 bottles. On Monday, we stayed home. Didn't think it was a good idea to send him to daycare since he had been experiencing such nastiness coming out of both ends. We thought we were in the clear, but Monday afternoon he started throwing up again. So, Eric stayed home with him again on Tuesday and took him to the doctor. Of course, she just said to suck his nose out and that he was through the worst of it. Whatever! I get so frustrated with them. I really think that he might have allergies. His eyes have been a little puffy this week. So, we are going to go back on Monday and talk to our doctor about it. But, he has been feeling better and having a good week. We have started to feed him some veggies. I steamed up a sweet potato the other night and put it through the grinder. He doesn't quite know what to think of it yet...but I think he likes the mess he makes. I have learned to strip him down to his diaper before feeding time! :)

He has been rolling around and playing with everything in his reach. Still not crawling, but we are getting closer. I am so not ready for that.

So, we are looking forward to the warmer weather, getting outside and just watching Max grow and learn!
Our photographer posted Max's pictures. (Click on 'Max's pictures' and it will take you straight there). I personally don't think there is a bad one in the bunch. It was so hard to pick the ones out for my package!

Enjoying some time with Grandpa Wilbanks on Easter Sunday!

Everyone eating around the table

Another shot of mealtime

I forgot to take a picture before we ate, but that's the spread!

My Easter center piece

My little man was tired and not feeling too hot

Such a cutie!

Loving on his Chicky...kisses!

A sweet potato mess!

I think he's trying to find some more somewhere!

A really big mess!

Sleeping in with Daddy and Simon