was santa good to you?

santa was good to us! we had a nice quite christmas here at home and we couldn't have asked for anything more! max liked his presents and his big one is set to arrive sometime this week...we got him a learning tower so he can stand and watch mama in the kitchen...he loves to see what is going on.


papa got a new heavy weight gi for jiu jitsu and some new shirts.

mama got a kindle (papa has used it more than i have!) and new diamond earrings!!! woot!
we had some friends over christmas night for pizza night...T&W, W's little bro A and P. T&W went to italy about a month ago and she brought back spices and she brought them along for the pizza...yum!! we ended the evening with some white russians and the big lebowski...i think a good time was had by all!


max is officially walking...he goes all by himself...we don't have to tempt him with a remote any more and he is going pretty long distances...i think this was the best christmas present:)
max really likes to help out...he loves to help me shut doors, like the refrigerator and he loves to put his diapers in the diaper pail...its pretty awesomely cute!!

merry christmas

things have finally started to slow down in these parts...thank goodness!
max turns 13 months today. we did a small photo shoot in his chair and he cooperated surprisingly well:)

he got his second flu shot yesterday and took it like a champ...he didn't even cry. it was just a quick appt with the nurse but he did get weighed and is now tipping the scales at 25.4lbs. my arms get quite a work out through out the day:)
papa and i have had small colds over the course of the last week, either that or its just the beginning of a very long cedar season:( hard to tell at this point.
we had papa's holiday party at work...we forgot to take a picture before we left the house so we had to make due with the phone:)

this is what it is like to get mauled by a baby/toddler who thinks it is HIGHlarious that you have the hiccoughs!

we got all of our christmas decorations up a couple of weeks ago. max loves the tree because it has lights on it but he is not allowed to touch...we have walled into a corner with the couch and a chair. he can reach it if he stands at the end of the couch. he likes to bat at the ornaments.

mamamamama

max is now saying mama...boy, does that warm my heart! i don't think he knows i'm mama but i know its coming soon:) will try and get it on video and post when i do!
he is now starting to walk a bit more. he will take 3-4 steps on his own. i know one day soon i'm going to see him running down the hall.

my trip to chicago was great and papa and max did smashingly without me!! they went to the park both days and even went to a party...they are soooo popular. i stayed busy enough i didn't have too much time to miss them and i think they did the same:) here's brenna with G&G after the christening

its been really busy around here the last month and its been great but its starting to wind down this week and we are all looking forward to that. we will be spending a nice quite christmas here in ATX. we went to a super fun holiday brunch yesterday at the O's and got to meet their new little guy J...what a cutie, and oh, my the cheeks this kid has:) i should have snapped a pic!
max got a play tent for his bday (thanks Csquared's) and he loves that thing!!


max knocked his monitor off the crib a couple of times...here's the view:)

what a crazy kid!! he's such a good little guy and we just love him sooooo much!!!

awesome!

i was watering the plants in the front of the house and max was watching from the window, i looked up and saw him doing this!


i had to go in and grab the camera and see if he would do it again. he was laughing and giggling...it was sooooo awesome!
i also forgot to give his stats from his one year appt...he is 24 lbs even and 31.25 inches tall:)

stuff

i keep forgetting to mention some of the fun things max has been doing but as i sit down to type this, of course, i can't really remember too many:) here's what i got so far!
he loves to use his pointer finger...to point at things, make the iphone go, work papa's xbox controller, impale raspberries (there is no better way to eat a raspberry than off the tip of your finger!), find his belly button, etc.

he knows where his belly and bee-bo are...bee-bo is the tiny hippo way of saying belly button:)
he can climb onto and into things now (oh, lord!), he can get into his wagon and up onto the couch.


he prefers to go down the stairs head first...this is always supervised!
he can feed himself with a spoon...its pretty messy and i'm not sure how much food he gets but we did it yesterday with pumpkin custard and he did a great job! he can scoop some out of the bowl but the custard was pretty thick so he didn't get a ton on the spoon unless i helped.



he can open the dvd player and now more importantly, he closes it:)
oh, and he whistles...we haven't caught that on video yet:)
mama is getting ready for a trip to chicago this weekend for B's christening. the boys will be baching it! please think some good thoughts for good weather so all mama's traveling goes well!!
if i remember any more i'll post it in the next one!!

family photos

back on oct. 16, we met with L of life in motion photography to get some family photos. i have been admiring L's work for some time now and was so excited to book a session with her. we met her downtown, early morning so we could take advantage of the awesome lighting. it was a pleasure working with her and we hope to do so again in the future:)
here is her blog if you feel like seeing some of her other work...amazing!

http://www.lifeinmotionphotography.com/photoblog/

here is the slide show she did for us

www.lifeinmotionphotography.com/slideshows/max

and here are some of my favs

oh, my!

vintage max

goodness, where to begin?!?! it's been busy couple of weeks since i last blogged. we've had visitors, my parents and papa's papa, we got a professional haircut, we've had a first birthday, we've had thanksgiving, said visitors have left, we've gotten our family photos back (squeal), we had a one-year check-up (shots included), we had a thirty-fifth birthday and i'm sure i'm forgetting something:) i have pictures coming out of my eyeballs...it might take a couple of posts to get them all on here:)

before the haircut

hanging on for dear life!

post-haircut with dad-dad

the party was a huge success, if i do say so myself:) we had a great turn out with 25 adults and 11 children...no meltdowns, kids or adults:) max was a little over-whelmed at times but we just took him outside to cool off:) he did okay with his cupcake (mama made pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting...forgot to take a picture) but seemed to enjoy it more when no one was looking at him:) he got lots of great presents and really doesn't even know what to do with them all!! we really appreciate all our friends and family coming to celebrate with us.

banner for the party made by kim at three monkey designs
http://www.etsy.com/shop/3monkeysdesigns

we made star wars cut-out cookies for a favor

not sure about the frosting hands:)

loving the cupcake!

best one i could get...the kid won't sit still!

with mom-mom and mom-dad

i'll come back tomorrow to post some of the family pics!

dad-mom

grandma smart was here this weekend to visit the birthday boy, in between her jaunts across the country! max really enjoyed having grandma here:) we just hung out around the house...we did make it to the park one day so grandma could see how much he loves to swing. sunday was a pretty dreary day so we just stayed inside most of the day. papa and i did sneak out for brunch while grandma babysat. max cut his 8th tooth over the weekend and is fighting a cold right now. the poor guy has been pretty miserable all week:( here's hoping he's feeling better by the party and we don't have to cancel.
he's been wanting to take his stacker rings to bed with him so we let him:)

my parents and papa's dad fly in thursday to max celebrate his big day! we are all looking forward to that.
he's been loving his wagon!!

wordless wednesday

halloween

laugh it up, furball

max went all out for halloween:) really, he had no idea what was going on and was like, "get me out of these boots" most of the time! we did go to one house (the csquared's) and he got one piece of candy...he got to chew on it while it was still in the wrapper. we didn't go through all of our candy...we seem to get less and less kids every year:( papa took the left overs to work so mama wouldn't stuff her face:)

it's gotten a lot cooler here this week, which i think everyone was ready for:) max went on a bottle/formula strike on his 11 month birthday so we switched to whole milk and straw cups. he drinks out of the straw cups like a champ but most days would prefer water to whole milk...i guess he isn't exactly like his daddy:) he is still pulling up and cruising like crazy and a mad-fast crawler. he does stand on his own, 1-2 times a day, for 10 or so seconds but i don't think he is going to be walking for a little bit...which is just fine with mama! his new think is emptying things...he loves to pull open a drawer and throw everything on the ground...a maxsplosion!
here's what a maxsplosion looks like:)

11 months

max is 11 months old today. only one more month until his first birthday...oh, my how that last year has flown!!
not too much going on here which is a good thing:) max is clapping and pointing up a storm. he walks along with mama hanging onto the back of my pants...its a sight to see:) he's so curious and into everything...the house has usually suffered a max-splosion by the time papa gets home from work. speaking of that, max loves it when papa gets home...he can't wait until papa gets in the door and and he can get a hug!
the weather has been pretty nice here and its soooo much easier to get out in the afternoons now...we usually hit the park a couple of times a week so max can swing:) we usually get out for a walk or a jog everyday so we both really enjoy that.
max got a new cousin yesterday, papa's sister L had a healthy baby girl, Amelie Mariani. she was 8lb 3oz and apparently has lots of black hair like max did. max is very excited to meet her!

Pumpkins and eggplants!

we had quite an eventful weekend here in ATX! ACL was going on in zilker park but we had more important things going on...K was visiting from chicago! max loves his auntie K:) the weather was great while she was here and we go to spend some time outside. we even managed to make it to the pumpkin patch.

then max had a run-in with the coffee table. he was going to turn and fell right into the leg of the table...i scooped him up to comfort him and when i pulled him away he had a huge goose egg and bruise on his forehead. papa got some ice going and mama called the on-call pedi. max didn't really enjoy the ice but it really did help with the swelling. he was fine and had forgotten all about his bump in about 10 minutes. he has a lovely mark (K calls it his eggplant) that i'm sure will be with him for a bit:)

he had learned to push his car around walking behind it...the secret is the carpet...it goes way too fast on the hardwood! here is a video link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3dwURPqaCQ
he is getting really good at waving and saying bah-bah, which can mean anything from bottle to bye-bye! he is starting to clap and point a little more which is fun. he loves saying da-da and has said ma-ma once...i keep trying but i think he is holding it in reserve for when he really wants something:)

yipee!

well, my friends, fall has fallen on us here in central texas (at least this week!). the windows are open and the air-conditioning is off. it is so lovely! we've made a couple trips to the park in the afternoons since it's not god awful hot out:) we signed max up for a gym class at the little gym. he goes every wednesday...i think there about 11 other little ones in his class so now he'll have a bunch new little friends:) they play with balls and bubbles and get to interact with each other so it's fun for him and mama gets to meet some new mamas so fun for all!
other than that, we've been pretty stinkin' boring:) we are on the hunt for a wagon...woot...just in time for halloween! saturday night mama went out to celebrate csquared's b-day and that was really fun...a little girls night out! alas, no pictures...stupid:( mama's bff K is coming in town on thursday so everyone is looking forward to that. i'll try and get the camera going while she is here.
here is a pic i took this morning before we went on a little jog...it was 53 out...heavenly!