Look What I Can Do!

Max has learned more new tricks in the last three weeks than I thought possible! We were with some family freinds on Saturday evening and Max pulled himself all the way up to standing a few times.

On Sunday we decided to get video proof of his new skill. He gets so excited! It is funny to watch. He crawls up the ottoman, pulls himself up and then just laughs and laughs. He is so easily entertained. A couple times he even clapped for himself while standing. I hope you all enjoy the video!

Merry Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas it has been! It is always fun to spend time with our friends and famiy and Max was a perfect addition to the festivities. His first Christmas was a busy one! Every Christmas Eve my family gets together. It is a rather large gathering, including lots of Max's Great-Great relatives. We used the opportunity to take lots and lots of pictures!

I love this picture of Max with his Great, Great Uncles - Joe, Sam, and Mel. These three amazing men are my grandmothers brothers and Christmas wouldn't be compete without them. It is fun to think that this picture represents the youngest and the oldest of my family.

Here is Max with his Great Aunt Carmelina and his

cousin Aurelio. We were all so glad that he came in from San Fransico for the holiday!

Here is Max with Nonna Carlotta and cousins Nia and Carissa. Nis is a sophmore at Missouri State and Carissia is just starting chiropractic school here in town. We are so glad to have her closer to us. Note that he is now missing his sweater vest. . .

I think this was my favorite picture of the evening. Max just loves his Nonna.

Here we are opening gifts with Max. Not only his he missing his vest, where did those socks go??

Can you tell we were enjoying the evening? Max has a couple very crazy Uncles! You can also see that at this point in the evening he was a bare diaper baby. He has no shame. . .

We hope that everyone had as wonderful a holiday was we did. Every day truly is a blessing! Merry Christmas!

9 Months Old

It is the time again, monthly update time for our little Max Man. We had his 9 month check up with Dr. Spewak last Thursday. Our little man now weighs in at 21 lb 15 oz and measures 29 3/4 inches long. He is still in the 95th percentile for height, but he has dropped down to the 50th for weight. He is becoming a long and lean little boy. I was a bit concerned about the drop in percentile on his weight. Dr. Spewak doesn't think it is really anything to worry about at this point. I think part of it is due to the fact that Momma's wells are going dry. We are now having to supplement with quite a bit of formula, not only at day care, but when I am at home with him too. I feel really sad about this. I was really hoping to make it to the year mark, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Max looked like the picture of health at his check up, that is until they checked his ears. . .They are both infected! He had an infection in one a couple weeks ago and was put antibiotics. It doesn't' seem to have cleared up like we would hope so he is now on a different medicine, so hopefully that will take care of the problem. He doesn't seem too fazed by the whole thing.

He has been a very busy boy too! Nonna Carlotta and Nonno Mason came over to visit with Max this past Sunday evening. They missed him! He was very excited to show off all of his new tricks for them. The most exciting is that he is officially crawling! No more GI Joe here! He has finally figured out how to work is arms and legs together without dragging his body behind him. He thinks his new trick is pretty fun and I am worried that he is going to start building up speed here shortly.

I am so excited to spend our first Christmas with Max. I know that it will be lots of fun and I can't wait to see all of our family over the next two days. However you celebrate I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Dull's

Santa came to visit a little early this year. Since Max's Grandpa Jack, Grandma Mindy, and Uncle Tim will all be out of town for Christmas we celebrated tonight. They came over for dinner and some fun around the tree, which sure seems to be losing needles at an alarming rate. We even got all of the Dull men to pose for a picture. It was fun to slow down and enjoy a nice evening together. Things are just so crazy this time of year.

Max had fun opening his presents, or at least we had fun watching them. He really seemed to like the bows and the box. I guess that is to be expected of a little one that isn't even quite nine months old yet. Even though Max hasn't perfected opening presents he does have a few new tricks. He is now a master army crawler - he can get where ever he wants. He seems to be able to find the remote control even when we can't. He spends quite a bit of time going from sitting to his tummy and back again. He thinks it is fun that he can do this himself. He also has discoverd that he can make noise by clapping. He doesn't do it on demand, but I do see him clap a bit every day.

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree

What a busy weekend we have had! On Friday night, Mom and Dad took me to see Santa. I wasn't that impressed with the old man. His beard was pretty yellow and he smelled like smoke. Yuck! To top it all off he didn't even smile. Check it out for yourself. Not what I was expecting from my first visit with Santa. I think Santa is depressed about his losses in the market. Maybe he will be in a better mood next year.

On Saturday, we had more fun preparing for the big day. We went to go get out Christmas tree. Mom likes the skinny trees and Dad likes the bargain trees so they decided on a Balsam. Here is a picture us in front of the tree they decided to purchase.

After my afternoon nap, we decorated the tree. Oh what fun that was for a youngster like me. I tried to taste the bright colored lights, but then Mommy got upset and yelled at me. I guess they aren't suppose to be chewed on!

Once they were all done decorating, Mom insisted on a photo of the two of us. Doesn't it look pretty good? I can't wait for Christmas to finally come...I think some of those presents under the tree are for me!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We have so much to be thankful here in the Dull household. Top on our list this year is our little man. We had a very busy day celebrating with family and friends.

We started our day out at Grandpa Jack's and Grandma Mindy's house. He had fun visiting with Uncle Tim, who is always up for some play time. It was great to see the rest of Mindy's family too. Max has grown so much since they last saw him. Max showed off his army crawl and he had fun hanging out in his high chair while we all ate. He even had sweet potatoes to celebrate - the Gerber variety of course :) We go to the pediatrician in a couple weeks for his nine month check up and I will talk to him about starting Max on some table foods. I'm sure he is just about ready, but I just can't do it yet.


Next on our list of stops was Nonna Carlotta and Nonno Mason's house. Things were a little crazy here. I think there were 30 plus people! I guess that is what you get with a big Italian family. Max was of course the center of attention. He was passed around from family member to family member and he didn't seem too bothered by any of it. He posed for a few pictured with Mario the Build A Turkey. I think the pictures were pretty cute!




Since it was Max's first Thanksgiving we wanted to get a family picture. Here we are with Mario the Turkey as an addition. I know that Max looks a little Christmasy - we are trying to get our money's worth from his outfit!

Another Craigslist Bargain

So, Daddy found a great toy on Craigslist this week. I'm so excited. It seems like when he finds these great deals I get more of them, and what little boy would complain about that! So, my new toy is...(drumroll please)....my own jumperoo. Before Daddy found this steal, I got my workouts at the babysitter's. She has a jumperoo similar to mine, and I would spend a good deal of my day hanging out in it. I just find it so much fun. Mommy decided to video tape some of my jumping, I guess she thinks it is funny how much I enjoy it. Maybe you will too...

After jumping for about 30 minutes I was exhausted. It was only 6pm, but once the parents started to cook dinner, I thought I could catch some shut-eye in my high chair. It worked for a little bit before Mommy felt the need to interupt my nap by waking me up. I guess she feared it would screw up my sleep pattern and create a baby with insomnia.

Where did my baby go?

Tomorrow my little man will be eight months old. I keep asking myself where did my baby boy go? This weekend Brian and I lowered his crib mattress. Just in time too, Max can now stand at the side of his crib all by himself! He hangs on for dear life, but he does it. He thinks it's fun to stand up. I guess he likes his new view of the world.


Now that the weather has gotten colder daddy was in charge of securing a winter coat. You can see Max modeling the three dollar purchase. It is really puffy, so he can't wear it in the car seat, but I'm sure it will come in handy at some point. For $3.00 I think it is pretty cute!


Max also has a new trick. He has discovered the army crawl. He uses one arm to pull himself forward. It takes a while for him to make much progress, but it is hilarious to watch. He wasn't too motivated to crawl by any of his toys, but the phone seemed to do the trick. I think he would probably crawl for the remote control too. He is all boy, through and through!

My Poor Baby

Max has had a very rough week! On Sunday morning he woke up with a little bit of gunk in his eye. After his afternoon nap he had a ton more stuff. Daddy did some research and we guessed that it was probably pink eye. It is super contagious, so we took him to the urgent care center. Our hope was that we could get the drops started and he would only have to miss one day of day care. We took him in and sure enough we have a conjunctivitis boy. It really didn't seem to slow him down and the drops have made a huge difference.

When we were home on Monday Max got really crabby. I couldn't get him to stop crying! I made an appointment with his pediatrician thinking that maybe there was something else wrong. The doctor said that he might just have a bit of a virus, but that there really wasn't anything else wrong. I took her word for it and Max was off to day care yesterday.

This morning he was fussy when I dropped him off and at around 2:30 I got a call that he had a 100+ fever. The sitter gave him a dose of baby Tylenol and Brian picked him up early. I feel so bad for my little man! I knew that something was up. He has not been himself lately and he has been sleeping horribly!

After a dose of baby Tylenol and some love all was right with Max's world. He even posed for a few pictures. His new favorite thing is trying to stand up. He pulls up on this toy all the time. I helped him get up tonight and he loved his new view. He was able to balance holding on all by himself for a while, although I didn't wander too far away as you can see!

He also enjoyed his bath tonight. He loves playing with his toys in the tub. He realizes that he can play with several toys at once if he holds one toy in his mouth. Tonight the duck had the honor. He loves to hold things in his mouth now. He has figured out that all of these crazy teeth can be put to use holding on to things. He plays this game with his spoon all the time. He bites down and we can't get the spoon back out until he starts to giggle.

Happy Halloween!

Max loved his first Halloween, or maybe mom and dad just loved celebrating it with him. On Thursday evening we went with Nonna Carlotta to Boo at the Zoo. It was pretty fun. The weather was beautiful and Max always loves to be outside. There were little kids all over the place in costume. I think I saw 20 spider men. There were decorations all over too. Max took time out to pose for a pic or two. As you can see he was the cutest little monster ever! He even got to ride on the carousel. We thought he would like the cheetah best:) Max was happy until it started to move, then he seemed a bit concerned. After a few seconds he was okay with it, although I don't think he loved it. To be honest, neither did mom. I think next time I will sit and take pictures while dad goes for the ride.

Last night we had friends over and we sat on the porch with Max passing out candy. We were disappointed that there weren't more kids. I can't wait until next year, or maybe the year after, when we can take Max out. He did get to go see Grandma Mindy and Grandpa Jack earlier in the day to show off his costume. Then we made a trip to Nonna's house too.

After a fun filled night, Max had another busy day today. We had music class this afternoon. There have moved on to a new theme. The past few weeks have been all about latin music. I am not sure if the change is for the better. We are now onto divas. I had to walk around the room with my little man while dancing to Man, I Feel Like a Woman. I didn't know that Shania Twain qualified as a diva. . . I guess I will have to stick it out to see what type of music is next!

Seven Months Old

and a bit more. . . I feel like I am always just trying to keep up. Max turned seven months old this past Saturday. We continues to grow by leaps and bounds. No more teeth have appeared, I am hoping we are in the clear on that front for a bit. He has decided that he doesn't like peas and that he loves applesauce. It is so funny to watch his face when he tries new foods. We fed him peas out with Nonna and Nonno and he didn't like them at all. Nonno Mason said that Max has good taste.

I did take him to the doctor this past Monday. He had developed a crazy rash on his chest. He was also being super fussy, well at least he was being fussy for Max. Being the over protective, first time mom that I am I took him in. I thought maybe he was allergic to something because the rash seemed to come out of nowhere. Ends up our little man has eczema. The doctor said it tends to flare up when the weather turns cooler. I need to put lotion on him twice a day and cover the sore spots with hydrocortizone cream. It seems to be doing the trick. The rash has cleared up and he is back to being is happy little self.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

What a weekend! Today Max had his first pumpkin patch experience. Hard to believe that it is mid October looking at these pictures! The temp was nearly 80 today. This afternoon we met our friends Terry and Emily and their two girls Lily and Vivien at Rombachs pumpkin patch. It is a family run pumpkin patch with all kinds of fun things to do. While Max was too young for the swings and maze, he had fun being pushed around in his stroller. He was very perplexed by the grass when we sat him down for a couple pictures. He wouldn't look up, he was too busy playing with the grass that was tickling his legs. Overall it was a fun day and we even walked away with a great pumpkin.

Max had another fun first yesterday. Brian and I took him to Gymboree for their music class. We have been meaning to take him to a music class since our friend Jackie told us about a class she takes her son to in Kansas City. The only place that offers classes that we can take advantage of is Gymboree - they were the only ones with weekend classes. We took Max yesterday and he had a great time, at least I think he had a great time. Brian thinks it is a bit of a gimmick. They have super friendly teachers that get the babies to smile so that the parents think it is the best thing ever. I guess I am a sucker. I think we are going to sign Max up for a month long session. They focus on all different types of music. Yesterday was the first in a string of Latin song lessons. I can't wait for our next class!

Max's New Best Freind

Max has only been sharing the house with the pets since he came home, but I think he just discovered the cat. He loves grabbing him and squeals with delight every time Chewy walks by. I guess Chewy is a little softer than the dog and he is also right on Max's level. Whenever Max sees Chewy he throws his little body at him and grabs on with all his might. When he gets overcome with excitement he tries to take a big bite, but he quickly realizes that cat fur doesn't taste too good. So far Chewy has been a trooper. He just lays there for a while and lets Max go to town. After he has had enough he makes a smooth get away for a while. Thank goodness we have such an easy going cat!

Max continues to do well eating solids he now understands that he needs to close his mouth and swallow the goodies. Speaking of his mouth, there has been a lot of action going on in there. My little man has eight, yes I said eight, teeth! Five of them are completely visible and the other three are just through. One of his top ones looks so sore. I feel bad for him because I know it can't be fun. I have new empathy when he wakes up for a middle of the night nursing session. All of these teeth have thrown an kink in things and he is getting up once every night to eat. I know at this point he can make it through the night and he just wants me for comfort, but with all these crazy teeth I am willing to give it to him. He is growing up so quickly, am not ready to give up some things yet. Although I do have to admit that sleeping for eight hours straight was nice for a while there. I am sure he will be back to that point in a little while. Even though his mouth must hurt like crazy he continues to be a happy little guy. We are so lucky and we count our blessings every day!

Trip to the Pediatric Optometrist

Well Max had to go see his first specialist today. Over the last couple of months we have noticed what we believe to be an eye turning in a little bit. Since Sarah had eye issues when she was younger we decided to take him to an optometrist today. After being examined, he was diagnosed with Pseudostrabismus. Basically, it is a false turning of the eye. I have attached two links with some more information about it, but he will basically grow out of it by the time he is two.

http://www.drgreene.com/21_1163.html
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/fh/mch/webcourse/vision/pseudostrabismus.cfm

In addition, during his visit they checked him for corrective lenses. He is far-sided at a pretty high prescription (+4.00). The doctor mentioned that the eyes will self correct some, but we have to go back in a few months and if it hasn't improved greatly, he will get some glasses. Failure to get him glasses could cause his eye to actually turn in. So it will be something that we will be watching closely.

Max's First Meal

Non-milk meal that is. . . Max had his first taste of solid food yesterday. We gave him a bit of rice cearal. He did a great job and seemed to really love it. He had the idea of opening his mouth to let the food in, but didn't quite get the whole closing the mouth part. He looked so cute in his big boy high chair. Nonna Carlotta came over to celebrate this momentous ocassion with us. Daddy video taped the whole thing. I feel like such a first time mom!

He also had his six month check up yesterday. He didn't gain very much, which has me a bit worried, but the doctor seemed to think it was okay. He now weighs 18 pounds 12 ounces. He was also 29 inches tall. He is still 95th perentile for height and close to 75th for weight. Since he is so tall he has officially graduated to his big boy car seat. He is too tall for his infant one! He looks so tiny in his big seat. I will have to get some pictures!

Happy Half Birthday to Max!

It is so hard to belive that six months ago I was just holding my little man for the first time! Time has just flown by! He has changed so much over the last six months, it is hard to belive he is the same little baby that I first saw. I get lost staring at his big blue eyes and I love how cute his little teeth are!

He has had quite the week. My poor little guy had his first fever on Sunday. Saturday night was the worst night we have had since he was a newborn. He was up from 2am until 6am! The poor guy just wouldn't sleep. I finally brought him into bed with us and he eventually dozed off. When he woke up he had a fever of 100.3. He was miserable! Nothing I could do would make him feel better. We gave him some baby tylenol and he seemed to do a little bit better. His fever was back a few hours later so he had a bit more baby tylenol. All in all it wasn't too awful for his first sickness, but I just felt so bad for him!

Since he had a fever on Sunday he couldn't go to daycare on Monday. We were very lucky that my mom was off, so she watched him all day so Brian and I could both go to work. By the time I picked Max up in the afternoon he was my happy little boy again. All smiles! He seems to be all better now. I did notice that a third tooth is working its way through his little gum, so I think that may have been the culprit.

As you can see from his picture Max is doing better at sitting up every day. He can sit unsupported for brief periods of time. He also likes to spin when he is on him belly. It is pretty funny to watch. He continues to push up on his hands when he is on his tummy and he gets his cute little tush in the air sometimes. Before I know it he will be scooting all over the place!

We have his six month check up on Saturday. I can't wait to see how much more he has grown. I think he is begninng to slow down a bit, but I do think we will find that it is time to move him to his big boy car seat! I guess we will have to put that on Daddy's to do list for this weekend!

Busy Boy

I have been awful about blogging lately. Being a working mom is no easy feat! I have a new grade level at school this year. If I get a moment free from taking care of Max I spend it working on lesson plans. I taught second grade my first year, but I forgot how small they are! I do have a really great class and I know that I will get into the swing of things soon. It is just taking more time to get a routine down this year. We will get there!



Max has had a very busy few weeks. First of all he is proud to be riding around in style now that Mom and Dad bought a new mini van. It is wonderful! We bought our '08 Honda Oddyssey almost two weeks ago. Gotta love those model year close out sales. I love how easy it is to get Max in and out, and whoever invented power sliding doors was a genius!



We put our van to the test the first weekend we had it, by making a trek out to Kansas City to visit some friends. Brian, Max, and I stayed with a friend from college and his wife and little boy. Graham is just over a year and he was walking all over the place! It was fun to see what we have in store for us down the line. Max was a trooper in the car. He didn't cry much and we only had to stop once to feed him. While we were visiting Max had a fun first, he got to go swimming in Grahams little pool. It was so cute! Graham showed Max how it was done and the two of them seemed to have fun playing in the water together. Graham was even kind enough to let Max share his pool gear - I loved the hat!



Max has also been busy on the development front. He rolls over like crazy, at least from back to front. He is also doing much better at sleeping through the night. Last night he made it from bedtime until morning five days in a row! I am in heaven! I forgot what it was like to sleep for a solid 8 hours. We are also very excited about his two new teeth. His front two bottom teeth have broken through the gum over the last week. They are sharp little suckers! I think that will be on teeth for a little while at least. Our next big adventure will be introducing solids, which will happen in just a couple weeks.

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5 Months Old

I know I say this every month, but it is so hard to believe that my little boy is growing up so fast! He is doing very well and has learned a few new tricks. He has been in day care almost two weeks now. We have done quite a few half days to try to acclimate him to his new surroundings. Little by little he is adjusting. He is getting a bit better about taking bottles, he got down about 8oz today, which is great news. He is also beginning to nap a bit better, in fact he took a two and a half hour nap there this afternoon!

As for Max's new tricks . . . He has been rolling quite a bit now. He doesn't do it all the time, but he does roll both front to back and back to front. He tends to roll back to front more often. In fact, when I went in to wake him up this morning he was sleeping on his tummy. Once I got over the shock - and made sure he was still breathing - I ran to get the camera. He just looked so cute! Too bad he had woken up and rolled back to his back by the time I returned. He is also getting pretty good at sitting up. He can sit for a long time with just a bit of support. I tried taking some five month pictures of him sitting up on the couch and he loved it. Here are a couple of the pictures. First he is so excited to be sitting up, next he is beginning to fall over but it doesn't seem to phase him, lastly he is down for the count. He was ready to do it all over again just a second later!

Back to School

Well summer is officially over, at least for me! I have my first real day of meetings for school tomorrow. I do have a couple days off between now and the first day of school which is next Thursday the 21st. Max has spent a couple days at daycare, while I work in my rooms and attend a few meetings. He seems to be pretty happy at daycare. He has been all smiles every day when I pick him up, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

We have had one major problem - Max doesn't want to take a bottle. I guess he likes his milk direct from the source :) He has taken bottles in the past, but has suddenly gone on strike. We have tried a bunch of different bottles, but I don't think that is the issue. He just needs to get over the fact that he isn't going to get his milk directly from mom during the day. I think he will adjust. Our sitter is very sweet and paient, so I know everything will work out just fine.

Toes . . . Yum!

I knew it was just a matter of time! As I mentioned before Max discovered his toes a week or so ago. Like everything else he plays with he has been trying to get them in his mouth ever since. Yesterday he was sucessful. He was so pleased with himself and he seemed to think that his toes tasted great!

I hope that my next post is that he is rolling over. He has done it a couple times and he gets so close! He ends up on his side all the time, but he just doesn't quite make it all the way over. I would think that his big ole baby belly would help in getting him all the way over, but maybe it is getting in the way!

Exersaucer Fun!

Max had his first real experience in his exersaucer today. We tried it a week or so ago and he just didn't seem ready. He just flailed his arms and seemed to be very confused. He also had a hard time sitting up in it.

I gave it another try today and he loved it! He couldn't decide what he wanted to look at first, there were just too many fun things. He has been getting so much better at controling his hands. He is now able to grab on to things fairly easily, which made the exersaucer all the more fun. I love the little spit bubbles in the second picture - he was trying really hard to

make the animals talk to him!

What a week!

Max has had a very eventful week! He is no longer being swaddled at night when he goes to sleep. He has officialy graduated to the sleep sack. It is basically a wearable blanket that keeps him all cozy at night. He has been in the sleep sack all week, and so far things are going pretty well. He only wakes up once a night, usually between 3am and 5am, then he goes back down until about 7:30ish. All in all, he is not doing too badly. I feel like I am getting enough sleep and so is he. We will need to begin putting him to sleep earlier soon so that he is up when we need to go to daycare in the morning. My first day back is August 11th, which is right around the corner!

Max has also discovered that there are neat little things attached to the end of his legs that he can control, well sort of. . . I keep telling him that they are his feet, but I don't think he is too interested in what they are called. No matte what you call them, they are his new favorite play thing. He grabs them all the time, especailly during diaper changing time. He seems to like his feet more than any of his toys right now. He hasn't quite gotten them into his mouth, but I am sure this milestone is just around the corner!

Last but not least Max and I had lunch with two of my mom's co-workers this Tuesday. Angela even had a gift for Max, an adorable little quilt that she made. It is so cute! It is covered with frogs, tutles, and all kinds of cute little things. I layed Max on it for the first time yesterday and he seemed to think it was pretty cool, but I did have to make him promise not to spit up on it. He even posed for a few pictures! Thank you so much Angela!

He Grew How Much?!

Max was such a big boy yesterday! He had quite the day. Not only did he turn four months old, but he also got to see Dr. Spewak for his four month appointment. I was relieved to see that there were no sick kids in the waiting room. I have had mixed emotions about going to this appointment - I have been dying to know what my little boys weighs but the thought of him getting more shots breaks my heart. We did the fun stuff first. Max weighed in at 17lb 3oz, which puts him at about the 75th percentile. More shocking than his weight was his height - he is 27 1/4 inches tall, or I guess maybe long since he doesn't really stand up yet. His height is in the 95th percentile. He has grown so much in the last two months! He put on over 5 pounds and grew almost 5 inches! The doctor actually said that Max is the perfect size . . . for a six month old. I now understand why I had to buy him a whole new summer wardrobe in 9 month size! It is hard to believe now that I was worried he wasn't gaining weight initially.

Dr. Spewak said that Max looks great. He is hitting all of his milestones just like he should. We think he has started teething. His hands are always in his mouth and he is drooling like crazy. He has also been a bit fussier than usual and I actually had to break out the baby Tylenol last evening. Dr. Spewak also gave us the green light to start solid foods, although I think we will wait until closer to six months to embark on that journey. Max just doesn't seem ready at all right now.

I am very proud to say that I have been doing much better about giving Max his tummy time. In fact, he doesn't really seem to mind it so much anymore. We are able to get him to do over 10 minutes before he starts to fuss and then I can usually get a few more minutes in before he really starts to melt down. I can see a huge difference in how strong he is and how long he is able to hold his head up on his tummy. I guess it really does build strength. To celebrate is four month birthday Max rolled over twice last night when he was on his tummy. He hasn't done that since he was about a month old - which was a complete accident at the time I am sure. I will have to see if he continues to roll in the next few days.

Since Max is getting so big it has been getting more and more difficult to swaddle him when he sleeps. Only one problem, when he isn't swaddled he doesn't sleep. Last week I started swaddling him with one arm out and last night I left both arms out and he actually slept from bedtime until 6am! Shocking. I guess he is just about ready to move on to the sleep sacks at night. My little boy is just growing up so fast!

Future Truman State Alum?

Last October Brian and I joined a bunch of friends for a road trip to Kirksville, home to Truman State University and where Brian and I first met. While taking taking a stroll around campus I came to the bookstore, and they had baby clothes!! This t-shirt was the first piece of baby clothing I bought, I was barley into my second trimester at the time of our trip. Brian of course, thought is was silly, but I just couldn't help myself. Now here we are nine months later and Max is almost too big for it! This isn't Max's best picture, he had just woken up from a nap, but I wanted to get picture before he is too big for his shirt. We have an appointment with the pediatrician on Friday of next week. I am very curious to see what my little one weighs.

On a sadder note, two of my co-workers were hit by a drunk driver while crossing a street in Philadelphia. They love the Cardinals and were in town to see the game. They are both in critical condition and can use any positive thoughts and prayers you can send their way.

Max's Big Day

Here are some pictures from the Max's big day - his Baptism! He is how officially a member of the Catholic church.

It felt like Max's baptism was an entire weekend event since all of Brian's siblings took the time to come into town. It is always fun to see the kids - they are all getting so big! We had family pictures taken on Saturday morning, so look for those to be posted once we get them from the photographer. It was a bit of a challange to get all the kids to cooperate, but I think there will be some nice shots to show for it.

As we sat in church waiting for mass I couldn't help but think that five years ago, Brian and I were on that alter saying our vows. It has been a great five years! We even have a little one to show for it. Max's baptism followed 11am mass on Sunday. The baptism was beautiful, Father Bommarito called all of our family and freinds to stand on the alter beside us throughout the whole ceremony. It was amazing to see all of the people that took the time to celebrate our little man. I cried, of course. It still feels so amazing to think that we are parents, we truly are blessed. Max was great throughout the entire ceremony. He didn't let out a peep and even smiled at Father B a few times.

After the ceremony we went to have lunch at Guido's. While the drinks were a bit slow to come out - sorry everyone - it was fun to spend time with all of our family and freinds. Max enjoyed lunch from his car seat where he slept almost the entire time. He did eventually wake up as a reward for the people that hung on to the bitter end.

It was a wonderful weekend and I don't think it could have gone any better!