first thanksgiving...

we celebrated our first thanksgiving with max! we had an amazing dinner at my mom's house with some of our family. linda, bill, heidi, mike, and lindsay were all there.



max enjoyed hanging out with uncle bill...



he actually was quite interested in everything bill had to say...



lindsay was singing him christmas songs and he really liked that too!

5 months old...

max is 5 months old today. where has the time gone?

he is getting so big. he's taking cereal in the morning like a champ. we decided to hold off on the veggies for awhile cause they seemed to be making his tummy upset. he can almost roll from back to belly...he is so close! max is very vocal, making all kinds of noises. he giggles and smiles all the time!

we started working on learning his first sign this week...milk. and he is already starting to try to move his hand like mine when i sign it. max can sit with support and has really figured out how to move in his jumparoo.

lately he has started to pay close attention to the dogs. the other day max and i were on the couch and libby came and sat next to us as she often does. well, max looked at her, gave her a big huge smile then just started to laugh.

if it wasn't for mommy...

...max would be dressed like this.

better weekend...

well, this weekend was much better than last weekend to say the least.

saturday mommy and max braved the mall and went to babies r us to order a new car seat! i can't believe that it is almost time to retire "the bucket." i'll be glad to not to have to carry it around anymore...but at the same time, he'll be that much less of a little baby.

this morning daddy fed max his cereal.
i think he was ready for another bite!
(i would recommend clicking on this photo to expand it so that you can really see max's facial expression!)

max pretty much looks at drew like this all the time...somebody loves his daddy!

we got in lots of play time.

max wanted to take a drive...but i insisted that we take my car and not his!

now to get ready for the week...at least it's a short one!

could it be...

we have a sneaking suspicion that max is teething.

he has been a bit fussier than usual (we're not sure if that has to do with the cold he's got or something else).

he's had bright red cheeks at least once a day and well, the pictures are evidence enough!

little peanut...

max is getting so big and growing so fast.
but when you step back and look at the whole picture...he's still just a little peanut!

peas are a go...

well...max tried his first vegetable on tuesday night.

he likes peas! no funny faces, no spitting it out...he chowed it down!

exer-saucer...

mommy and daddy picked this toy up at a garage sale for $3 this summer. we brought it in the house yesterday to try it out. i think it was a success.

we're taking this one over to grandma's house so that max has something fun to play in on thursdays.

wow...what's this mommy?

oh, i can put that in mouth...

i think i like this...

mommy i know you want me to play football, but i could be a ballerina...just look at my pointed toes!

libby attack!

on the upswing...

max is starting to feel better. he's not back to his happy little self yet...but we're slowly getting there.

here's our little man hanging out in his gym.

a little cheese with your halloween...

the weekend after haunted house ends, some of the adult volunteers have a halloween party. you have to come in costume. last year i cut two holes in a sheet and went as a ghost. i was told that it was the lamest costume there. i wanted to be even cheesier this year. i had to get drew on board, since he was able to come with this year.

so, what did we go as?

yes, that's right, the black eyed peas!

our weekend adventure...

we noticed that max was getting a little congested on friday. we had our fingers crossed that it would stop there...we were wrong.

i slept in max's room friday night and at 6:15am saturday morning max's coughing fit woke me up. he was as red as a tomato and was struggling to catch his breath. so we packed his diaper bag and were off to the emergency room.

they heard him, and not knowing that he was already a noisy breather, they were very concerned. they ushered us to a room, got max hooked up to an oxygen sensor and discovered that he was in the mid-80's. the doctor came in and ordered up an albuterol breathing treatment. he got that and then a chest x-ray. then they put him on humidified oxygen until they decided what they wanted to do.

they decided to send us over to children's hospital in neenah. the nurse told us if our pediatrician was on call that they would have admitted us there...but i guess with his pre-existing condition, they didn't want to deal with the possible complications.

so max and i had our first ride in an ambulance. we got all checked into room 426 at children's. they wanted to monitor him and keep an eye on his oxygen levels. they re-read his chest x-ray to determine that there was no pneumonia or issues with his lungs. they tested him for influenza which came back negative. the eventual diagnosis...bronchiolitis...or basically a cold. we ended up staying the night. he was suctioned out about 7 times in 24 hours and that really seemed to help. the doctor this morning felt comfortable sending him home...

so we're home with a fussy little guy who is just miserable. i think he's glad to be home and also think he wants so badly to feel better.

hopefully he is on the mend and that we don't have to make any more trips back to the er anytime soon!

the past few days...

lately it seems that max does something new everyday...he is growing and changing so quickly! here are some pics from the past few days.

rice cereal attempt #2...he seems to be really liking it!

bath time fun!

crazy uncombed post-bath hair!

snoozin in the swing.

grinnin in the jumparoo!

it isn't polite to stare...

max, what are you staring at?

max has really been interested in the dogs lately. he watches them run around the house and follows their every move. today he was in his jumparoo and was just mesmerized with libby as she sat on top of her kennel and looked out the window.

so much to say already...

max sure has a lot to say already.
he is really starting to explore with sounds and volume.
you can still hear his stridor (raspy, noisy breathing) but compared to the video i posted quite awhile ago it is much quieter.
we just love this little man!

rice cereal...

what did you say mom? we're trying cereal today?

okay, i'm ready.

woah...what is this stuff?

it's not too bad, but it sure is messy.

alright mommy, i think i'm done.

just a funny story. drew was a bit apprehensive about max trying rice cereal. he wanted to wait to talk to the ent to make sure it was okay, even though the pediatrician suggested it. well, after a bit of talking, i realized that when drew pictured "rice cereal," he was thinking something along the lines of baby rice krispies and wasn't sure if max would have trouble swallowing it. what a thoughtful daddy! :)

max's room...

i wanted to post finished pictures of max's room.

thanks to everyone who contributed time or items to make it so special.

our next adventure...

well, the supplies have been purchased...but i'm just not sure when this next part of our adventure will begin.

our snugglesaurus...

max is growing and changing everyday. he has gained so much strength in the past few weeks. he sits up so well in his bumbo and has great neck stability. he is using both hands to take his pacifier out of his mouth and attempt to put it back in. although tummy time is still not his favorite, he is getting so much better at it and holding his head up higher for longer. he is getting a wider range of vocal noises. he has started cooing very softly and making many different sounds while doing it. he also has a new not so pleasant noise. it's almost like he is grunting and it seems to happen when he is concentrating. he'll do it for minutes at a time and it's hilarious.

here are a few pictures. i couldn't choose a favorite, so you'll just have to look at all 5 of them!

haunted house...

youth go, the youth center that i run, has a haunted house for our largest fundraiser. we are open for 11 nights in october and also hold 2 children's day events.

it is a ton of work and is very exhausting but the youth absolutely LOVE the project. they get so much out of it...they are so creative, take leadership roles, and have so much pride in themselves for helping out an organization that helps them out!

here are a few pictures...

meredith and i looking scary

james, me and seth

a shot of the exterior and our chainsaw yielding staff member, josh

hannah and teddy even came and helped out for a bit one night!