1 Year Old...Happy Birthday, Mighty Max!!!

Well, we had a wonderful birthday celebration yesterday. More on that in a second. First, a few things we did this week with Grandma and Papa visiting from Texas. We started their visit off right by taking them down to Kinnick Stadium and letting them experience Hawkeye tailgating. It was Max's first experience too. He loved the ribs and Brandon's tailgate (Mommy will have to get the recipe)! Once the game started and the crowd went into the stadium, we made our way home. Max was pooped and went down for a nap. We watched the game...our boys lost, but just barely. It was a good game. I can't remember right now what we did on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, Eric and I worked, Max went to daycare and Grandma and Papa did some driving around, seeing movies and visiting Amana. On Wednesday, we took Max to get his one year pictures taken. I didn't take a cake, but I did make some big, blue number one cookies and he really liked munching on those! Can't wait to see the pictures. Thursday, we didn't do too much. It was really windy and cold, so we just stayed in and lounged around the house all day. Friday, Max's school had a costume parade. All of the kids in the daycare come dressed in their costumes and the teachers take them around to the surrounding businesses so they can trick or treat. We took Max up there so he could experience this with his friends. It was so funny watching all of those kids dressed up just walking around. Max is going to be a little Chewbacca and it was so cute. When we got to his classroom, one of his friends was dressed up as Yoda. They were so cute. That morning wore all of us out. But, it didn't slow us down. We had a lot to do to get ready for Max's big day.  The evening was filled with cake baking, cookie making and lots of cleaning!

Then, Saturday was finally here! It was so exciting to wake up and see that big boy and hard to believe that a year had already gone by. We had Eric's family here and some friends to help us celebrate. It was a really good afternoon. Aunt Mary, Uncle Doug, Wyatt and Cora even joined us via video chat for the cake and present portion of the party. Max had a good time eating his cake...even got a little mini-ice cream cone to enjoy with it! Made quite the mess, but cleaned up pretty quickly! Then, he got to open his presents and after playing with them for awhile took a late nap. And it turned out to be quite a late night for us...between the sugar rush and the over-stimulation, he had a hard time settling down and getting to sleep. But, he did and after we took Grandma and Papa to the airport this morning, he has been having a great time playing with his toys. Here are some pictures from this week and from his special day!

51 Weeks Old

Wow! We are just one week away from that 1st birthday celebration! I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by. Max had a great week this week. We got to go to a Pumpkin Festival with his friend Ava last weekend. He had a great time in the Corn Dive. It was pretty dusty, but hey...they wash off, right? He got to eat cookies, look at a fire truck, go on a hay ride and sit in the pumpkin patch. We even made it home with a little pumpkin. It was a beautiful day. He had a really good week at school. He is starting to be so independent and wanting to walk up to the doors instead of having Mommy carry him. He knows right where his room is too. Once I open the door, he goes right in and finds a toy and just starts playing. I think the structure in this room is good for him. They get to go outside and play and have story time, even all go down for a nap at the same time. The teachers are great. I've noticed that his appetite has really increased the past couple of days. Guess he stays pretty busy throughout the day and with only one nap now, he tuckers out a bit quicker in the evenings. It's a little disappointing to feel that our time with him in the evening is so limited, but I'm sure he'll start staying up a little later as he gets older.

Grandma and Papa got to Iowa today and they will be staying with us for a week. It took him a little while to warm up to them, but I'm sure he'll catch on really quick that if Mommy and Daddy say no, he can just go to those crazy grandparents.

I'm trying to think of some cute Max stories were from this week, but I'm drawing a blank. One thing that Eric and I have noticed is when he eats, he'll take a bite and then say 'OM NOM NOM'...this is from Eric and I doing this when we feed him, but it is the funniest thing to watch. He is a cutie and can't believe that he is getting so big. Here are some pictures!

Swimming in the corn dive!

He really enjoyed his cookie!

Max the Ghost

Max the Vampire

He had way too much fun unloading the lazy susan

Blueberry Bars!!!!!

No more high chair for Max...he enjoys sitting at the bar to eat dinner

What a handsome little boy

Laughing at Daddy

50 Weeks Old

OK, so I have to do an update, then turn around tomorrow and do another one. All I can say, is that I'm losing steam. I have done the best I can this year, but once we hit one year in another week, the blog updates will not be as frequent. There is just too much going on! I did intend to post last Sunday, but then our cable and internet went down that night, so...

Max had a fun week last week. He started his new room at school. He got moved up to the 1 year old room already. He is having so much fun. They get to go outside and play on the playground twice a day. He has gotten much better with wearing shoes and walking. He walks into daycare now, I don't have to carry him and he all but runs to his classroom door. He really likes it there. I can't believe how big he is getting. It's impossible to keep my living room cleaned. He just likes to have all of his toys all over. Although lately he seems to be more focused on unloading whatever is in the lazy susan cabinet. I like having him right in the kitchen where I can see him, but I'm constantly tripping over bowls, tupperware and anything else he can get his hands on. We have put all of the bottles away. He is strictly on sippy cups now. I still can't give up our bedtime rocking, but I have shortened it some. We now read a book and he gets about one song on his cd...sometimes he is out by then and sometimes not. He doesn't like to be left in his crib, but it usually isn't too long before he cries himself to sleep. I hate it, but Eric seems to think that he sleeps better when he does that. I don't know. Here are a few pictures from last week. Tomorrow I'll post some of his pictures from the pumpkin festival that we went to last weekend...yay!
Click here for a video of Max bouncing in one of the jumpers that he is too big for now...too cute!

Me and Max on his first day in his new classroom

Enjoying his applesauce...if you didn't see the video on the last post, check it out!

He does get fussy too, but he's still cute!

He was having fun 'riding' his jumper like a mechanical bull

I got a mouse!

49 Weeks Old

Again, it is Wednesday and I haven't updated the blog from last week. There is no excuse other than the fact that life happens and there are other things that just need to be done. Max is doing great. He is using a sippy cup like a champ now. He still gets a bottle before bedtime (when do I start to break him up of that?) and I still rock him, but that is Mommy and Max time and I think I'm still holding on to it for me more than him. He is such a big boy and I love him so much. Max has discovered how to open up the wipes box and start pulling them out. He has done it a few times. Then, the other day, we were sitting on the couch and he was playing at the stereo behind the couch. I kept hearing this 'pfft' sound. 'pfft....pfft...pfft' I stood up and looked over the couch and saw that Max had gotten ahold of a box of kleenex and was having the funnest time pulling them out one at a time, sticking about every third one in his mouth and going after the box again. It was so cute and funny, but I had to take the box away from him. Since I've been a bit neglectful in the blogging, I will post a special video of Max enjoying his applesauce. We are attempting to teach him how to use a spoon and we got this cool double sided spoon with holes in. I like it because he can't shove it down his throat (like he does with other spoons) and gag himself. But, since it has the holes in it, he likes to suck on it and, well, you just have to watch the video to see how funny it is! OK...we'll be back on Friday (maybe)!

Max has enjoyed playing with his little skeleton

48 Weeks Old

So, it's Wednesday and I'm realizing that I never updated the blog last week. We had a challenging week last week. Max is still trying to cut those molars. I will be so happy when they are in and we are finished with this teething business. This is definitely the worst part. He is just chewing and drooling all over everything. I thought that his biting was under control, but we had an incident at daycare. We all agree that it is not an aggression thing with Max, it is merely just teething. I just think that he is hurting and he just doesn't know what else to do. Poor little guy...I wish I could make it go away for him. Some exciting news from school. Max is going to move up to the next room before his first birthday. They put him in the next room one afternoon and said that he didn't skip a beat. I'm excited for him. I think that he is going to have so much fun with other kids that are moving around as much as he is.
The reason why the blog didn't get updated last week was because Max and Mommy both got hit with a nasty stomach bug. I think it hit me a lot harder than it did Max, but luckily, it passed through pretty quickly. Again, not many pictures...things just seem to be so busy and we don't have any time. We are getting closer and closer to his first birthday and getting so excited! A lot to do before then, so I'm going to get to it!

Enjoying some swinging time in the park

Just chillin'

Daddy put him in a box

He looks a little annoyed with Daddy :)