Max at 1 Year

1 year stats:
Weight:  23lbs, 9oz:  60th percentile
Height:   30in:           53rd percentile

Max is a happy, happy little 1 year-old.  He loves people and loves to show off.  He is in his element at church, where people laugh at his antics and encourage him.  He doesn't quite understand "church is quiet time yet." I sometimes think about leaving him in the nursery, but I really want him to learn about Mass by being present in the Mass.  I'm sure it will get better one of these years . . .

Max took his first steps May 11th and is running now. He can't be contained.  He is on the go, go, go.  From the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to sleep, he is moving.  He is going to be a person who lives life to the fullest, that's for sure! 

He loves to be outside and play in the sprinkler.  He likes the beach and, as of Sunday, enjoys wave jumping with Daddy.  Did you see the post about him being fearless?  ;)  This child is aging me prematurely.

He's very vocal and has started to imitate.  We swear we hear him say so many things, but than look at each other and wonder if he really said it. 

We are teaching him sign language and he does "more," "please" and "all done," so far.  He waves hi and bye and holds up one finger when we ask him how old he is.  Lately, Brook asks him for his tough face and he wrinkles his nose up and looks mean.  It's hilarious.

He loves almost all food, except tortillas and noodles.  He doesn't like Kr@ft mac and cheese.  What kid doesn't like that?!  Weird.  He has lost patience with bottles.  After 3 oz, he gets bored and wants nothing to do with the rest.  So, obviously, weaning won't be an issue.  ;)  The same is true with nursing.  He has slowly weaned and only nurses a couple times a day.  It's just too boring for him.  We've tried to switch him to milk, but he is so miserable after drinking it.  This is stressing me out.  He's so active, I want him to get enough healthy calories.  Milk would definitely provide those.  So, I'm trying to get creative and fill the gap.  He loves and I mean LOOOVES fruit!  So, at least he's getting good nutrition there.  I am constantly racking my brain for healthy options for him that he likes.  Ah, did I mention this stresses me out?

Even with the stress and premature aging ;-), he brings so, so much joy to our lives.  Our hearts burst with love for him.  He recently gave us a scare and we ended up in the ER.  My SIL said it best - "Love is a scary thing, isn't it?"  If that ain't the truth.  Everyday, even the mundane "get me out of this house" crabby days, are a blessing with him.  That's how I choose to look at life.  I never want to take a minute of it with him for granted.

He loves to watch Brook mow

Got Grandma's camera!

He loves his new slide from Grandma and Grandpa!

Fearless

This child absolutely has no fear. 1st time at the new splash pad and he loved it!

Sophie and Max - off they go! 

Max's 1 Year Pictures

We had Maximilian's 1 year pictures taken a few weeks ago at Grand H@ven State Park. Of course, there was lots of planning that went into this photo shoot! What was Max going to wear? What would Brook and I wear to coordinate? Well, I got it all figured out, our (my) hair done perfectly and we met the photographer at the beach at 7:30 in the morning. Annnnnnnnddddd . . .  it was windy and a bit chilly. So, the "perfect" hair? Yep, not workin' out so well. And Max was cold. So, he shivered for much of the session. Like teeth chattering shivers.  Hardly any smiles. Oh the best laid plans!!! Here are some of my favorites . . .

Confirmation

We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary at St. Andrew's C@thedral in GR. 2 of the middle school students we had in our small groups at church asked us to be their Confirmation sponsors and Confirmation just happened to fall on our anniversary. 

We agreed not to get each other anything.  As you can see, Brook lived up to his end of the deal.  He surprised me in the morning with 2 dozen roses and a peppermint mocha.  I tried to think of what I should get him, but, I figured, I birthed him a child last year; that should last me a few gifts.  ;-)  I did love my gifts, though. 

Later in the PM, Brook's parents came over to watch Max and we went to GR to grab a quick bite to eat before the ceremony.  The Confirmation Mass was beautiful.  There were probably 100 kids who were confirmed that evening and I got choked up as I watched them confirm their faith.  I absolutely adore my candidate, Samantha.  When she was in my small group, I said if I ever had a daughter, I'd want her to be just like Samantha.  She is mature beyond her years and truly has a heart for God. 

This One's for You, Hannah

Better late than never!  We celebrated Easter this year at my parents' house, with my dad's side.  We are spread all over the state and don't get to see each other too often, so it's always a treat when we get together.  We got up Sunday morning and Max found a couple eggs the Easter Bunny hid for him.  Then, we went to Mass and breakfast with my family.  Later in the afternoon, the par-tay began.  Lot's of good food and lot's of good company.  It was a little chilly that day, but that didn't stop the kids from the Easter egg hunt!  It was a great day!

First Easter egg hunt

Found one!

All ready for church!

Chris' famous bunny cake - wouldn't be Easter without it!

Excited for the Easter egg hunt!

And they're off!

Welcome Baby!

Last month, our 6th niece was born!  Wes and Jaime welcomed "Ruthella Beverly" on March 12th and she is beautiful!  She was named after my dad's sister - here they are together. 

The week after she was born, Max and I stayed with my parents to help Jaime with the kids, so she could get some rest.  We had all sorts of fun adventures! 

Made Easter baskets for the Easter basket drive at my work

Took Zack, Julia, Sophie and Connor to the park.

Talk about an adventure. 

Went to the children's museum in A!bion.

I was so impressed with how much it had to offer!



Our Little Tornado

No special milestone age for this post, just wanted to jot it down, before I forgot . . .

At 9.5 months, Max

is THE master of destruction. This is not an exaggeration. It starts from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep. He is constantly on the go and into everything.  At least 5 times a day he gets the pans out of the drawer beneath the oven. This morning at 7:30, he discovered the bread pans and the noise they make when you bang them on the hard wood floor. Days like these are days I'm sure Hannah loves living with us! ;)

Found the puffs in his diaper bag and proceeded to eat the entire container of them

Trying to get the cleaning solution out, even with the safety locks on the cabinets

(He has opened them a few times!  That gives ya a warm fuzzy feeling!)

likes to crawl with something in his hand. Usually, it's this giraffe. What is it with kids and giraffes? Of all the animals in the Noah's Ark set, this is the one he ALWAYS goes for. Must be the long neck, which is easy to hold.  We find Mr. Giraffe all over the house.

luuuuuuves music. And has from in-utero.  He "sings" at Mass. 

hates wearing socks and takes them off every chance he gets, including the grocery store. Yes, I am the mother whose child doesn't have socks at Meijer when it's 45 degrees outside. What can ya do?

is such an incredibly happy, good-natured baby. He is social, loves people and never has had stranger anxiety  Strangers, at least once a week, "ask" to hold him and he goes willingly. Last week, we were out to dinner, when an older lady said, "I can hold him for you." LOL, like I was looking for someone to hold him! I gave him to her and he laid his head on her chest; then, talked and showed off like he was around her every day. (I can't believe people ask to hold someone's baby that they don't know. It still takes me aback when they ask. It's usually older ladies who want their "baby fix.")

is such a mooch. Anytime I'm eating something, he climbs up by me and wants some. I usually give him tastes of what I'm having and he gobbles it down. Yesterday, it was guacamole. Today it was stuffed chix. He's not picky . . .

except he hates anything with textures like real oatmeal (vs baby cereal oatmeal) and those mashed-up-in-a-jar baby meals. He actually gags eating it. Poor kid. (No, we don't torture him and give it to him anymore.) . . .

and he is allergic to eggs. We had our first experience with this at church. I gave him some scrambled eggs for breakfast. 2 hours later he puked all over me in church. 6 hours later, he was fine. I thought it was the flu. A couple weeks later, I gave him some french toast. 2 hours later, we were in Kohls. More pukes. That's when I realized it was the eggs. His body can't digest them at this point. I really hope he outgrows this!

 

 

has gotten into good routine. Thank you, Lord! I am a person who likes routine. I yearned for Max to be on some sort of schedule early on. But I chose to go with the flow, as best as I could, and try to be the mom he needed. It was a big lesson in selflessness, as I have written before. And oh boy, did I had a lot of learning to do. Now, he takes 2 naps a day, sleeps 11 hours at night and eats breakfast, lunch and dinner. He still gets up once a night to nurse. I could probably "break" him of this, but it's the only time he really nurses without distraction, so I keep getting up. It's funny (funny as in, not really funny), when I went back to work when he was 3 months old, he was sleeping from 9pm-6am straight. The first thing people would ask me was, "How is he sleeping?" (It's like how a baby sleeps shows how good of a parent you are.) I was smug. I was proud. As if I had anything to do with it! Imagine my horror when just a few weeks later, he started getting up again! Sometimes, it was every hour and a half! (I blame going back to work - haha!) When we were in the middle of those 3 months, I thought they would last forever. Sometimes, he just needed to be rocked back to sleep and Brook would get up with him. I woke up some mornings, put the toothpicks in my eyelids and went off to work. Lack of sleep makes moms (and dads, too) crazy. Things had to change, but I didn't know how. Wasn't I somehow failing as a parent b/c my baby wasn't sleeping through the night at 4 months? Even the ped told us to let him CIO. Well, that just wasn't something we were comfortable with at such a young age. I was torn. I so badly wanted to do the "right"thing. I am a do-things-by-the-book kind of person. But I didn't know what the right thing for my child was.  And that's the problem with being a parent, isn't it? There's no "one size fits all" technique. It's trial and error and it drives me nuts! I remember one desperate, sleep-deprived morning, I texted a friend for advice. We were trying to break Max of the swaddle, b/c "everyone" said 5 months was too old to still be using it. Well, I didn't want to ruin him forever, so I better break him of it, I thought! She called me and pretty much said, "Girl, if the swaddle helps him sleep, USE IT!" She also said we needed to do what worked for us and ignore everyone else. That was a turning point for me. I chose to listen to what I was telling me and go with MY intuitions.  (I should say "WE," as Brook was just as much a part of this as I was.)     Ahh, I felt so much peace after that. When we knew he wasn't hungry, we'd let him cry for a few minutes and sometimes he'd go back to sleep. And then magically, one night, he slept 8 hours. Hallelujah! And he kept doing it! Now, those days are a distant memory, but I remember being in the middle of them and thinking they were never going to end.   Thank God they did.  Went off on a tangent there . . .

loves being outside and having the wind blow through his hair (what there is of it.)  He literally laughs and laughs when the wind hits his face.  It's awesome.

hates hats.  Anytime I try to try one on him at the store, he immediately tears it off.  This is going to prove interesting this summer at the beach.