9-months...can you believe it!!!

Well, our little Max is 9-months and counting now. It's kind of sad but he is SO much fun. He's still not crawling but so incredibly close we have the video camera ready at all times. His 9-month well check went pretty well although he did "get in trouble" for not gaining enough weight. He is 16.5 lbs which is only .5 lb more than he weighed at his 6-month check-up. He's never been a good eater but he had been sick for 2 weeks prior to his visit. Poor Max had a bronchial infection. He had LOTS of congestion, a pretty wicked cough, and even some difficulty breathing. On top of all that, he also had his first ear infection in his right ear. Oddly enough, he was a lucky one. Almost all the rest of the babies in his class at school had full-on RSV, one was even hospitalized. So, we consider ourselves blessed and thankful to his teachers for being proactive and encouraging us to visit the doctor just in case. Back to his stats, he is now 27 3/4 inches long which is even shorter (percentage-wise) than last time (I think he went from 40th% to 25%). Most importantly though, he sleeps well and is an extremely happy baby boy!!!

Although he can't quite crawl yet, he easily gets from one place to another by rolling and scooting. He can also go from sitting to a crawling position and then from laying, to a crawling position, back to sitting. He also loves to wave and give high-5s. He then happily claps for himself whenever we say "yea Max or good boy." :) He has an excellent pincer grasp (picking things up with his index finger and thumb) and would prefer to feed himself than get spoon-fed by Mom or Dad. For this reason we've recently given him diced cooked carrots and peas for the first time. He liked the carrots better than the peas (I don't blame him) and loves bread of any kind (again, I don't blame him). But his favorite so far came last night when he had baked beans for the first time. He shoveled those little babies in happily. He was not so happy when I had to clean him up afterwards...haha. I, obviously, am thrilled to now have a healthy meal option for him that I know he'll eat. HOORAY!!!

A small collection of photos from our recent trip to Sears Portrait Studio. I'll include some of Kaelan in a later post since this one is just about Max.

Kaelan wanted to offer his little brother a ride on his rocket ship. Guess who enjoyed it more ;)

P.S. We hope everyone had a safe and very merry Christmas and New Year. We love you all!!!

Halloween

We had a great Hallween this year! It was a very full weekend but so much fun!!! Here's some pics!

Kaelan and Daddy carving the pumpkin
Baby Captain America

2 happy boys before leaving to trick or treat

Love my 2nd little Tigger (Kaelan was Tigger when he was a baby too)

Having a GREAT time!!!! It was really chilly but he didn't care. I have to share this hilarious story. Some of the houses in our neighborhood really get into it and decorate. A couple even set up "haunted house" type stuff with strobe lighting, music, and other effects. From the time we left the first house like this, all Kaelan could say was, "Let's go to the next haunted house." He didn't even care about trick-or-treating after that. He was only interested in getting to the next haunted house. Well, we kept hearing about this particular house that was scaring EVERYONE. We just had to go and we were ALL excited; Kaelan of course to see the haunted house and Mike and I to see his reaction. Luckily, we walked up behind some people so we didn't get the full effect of the haunt. As we walked up, a guy with a chainsaw comes running out of the garage to scare the 12ish-year old boy in front of us. Well, that was enough for K. He immediately started crying and wouldn't move ANY closer. It was awesome!!! We tried to console him to say it was just pretend and the wives there were really sweet and tried to make him feel better, but was having none of it. Needless to say, the chainsaw guy was all he could talk about for the next 24 hours. We have a video but we're so busy laughing it's probably a little inappropriate. hahaha

Tigger waiting while Captain America visits a house to trick-or-treat

"Trick-or-Treat!"

He did SO awesome this year. He actually said trick-or-treat almost every time (when not distracted by other kids' costumes or decorations). My polite little guy also said thank you which made us so proud. He loved doing it and we loved watching him.

One of the houses had a ginormous inflatable Tigger so we had to get a picture with him. Unfortunately, we couldn't get one to turn out but it was cute anyways.

Captain America!!!

He LOVED/S his costume. We got it the weekend before Halloween and he has literally wore it EVERY day since. As soon as he gets home from school he takes off his clothes and puts it right on. It's so adorable!!!! Now it's a great dress-up opportunity. Boys are so fun!

the quality is bad on these last few cuz they're taken with my phone, but I had to include them

6 months...a little late

Well, it's only a month-and-a-half late, but here are the stats from Max's 6-month well visit. Of course he is an extremely happy and healthy little guy. He weighed in at 15 lbs, 11 oz and was 26 1/4 inches tall. His head measured 17 3/4 inches around. Of course, because I procrastinated SO long, I can't remember the exact percentiles he fell in for height and weight but I wanna say it was only 40th for weight and even less than that for height. I tried to look it up online, but have you ever tried to read one of those charts? GEEZ!!!! I think I'll just ask them next month when we go in for his 9-month.

Since this, Max has had congestion on and off almost since he started school back in August. However, about a month ago he developed a pretty nasty cough that was starting to affect his sleep (and mine;)). Luckily, after taking him to the Dr., we found out it was just a lingering sinus thing (a cold) and after being on his bubble gum medicine (ammoxicillin) for a couple days now, he is back to normal. The grandparents will be happy to know that both boys have received their flu vaccinations (actually all 3 boys) although Max has to go back to get another dose next week.

Such a happy guy, and so proud of himself all the time. :)

Showing off their new Colts gear. K got 2 Colts shirts and Max got his first Colts jersey.

Complete with their names on the backs...awesome!!!! Was this a present for Mommy or the boys? Correct answer...BOTH!!!!

Giving Charlie Brown a big hug at Carowinds. This kid LOVES characters!!!

There's a new sheriff in town. "Howdy pardner!"

Here's some hilarious video of Max beginning to sit up (again, this was over a month ago-he's a pro now) and getting tickled after he's fallen over. These make my cheeks hurt!!!!