Let it begin...

Last night, Ron, Max and I were eating dinner at the Mathena's house.  When all of the sudden, Aunt Julie said "Oh Aaron, you need to bring the jungle down for Max.  I think he would love it."  Of course as soon as Max saw this awesome jungle his eyes lit up and he started laughing. And so we were sent home with a jungle (3' long and 2' high, lights, music, balls to throw, etc).   Ron and I are so doomed.  Our house already looked like Babies R Us threw up, now Toys R Us too?  So all I can say is...Let it begin.  I know the toys Ron and I bought for Truman when he was little - noisey, balls to throw, take up a ton of space - and I am pretty sure Aunt Julie saved them ALL for us. 

Max really enjoys spending time with Truman and Will these days.  From dressing like pirates to swimming in the big pool, Max wants to do whatever they are doing.  He thinks he is such a big boy these days.  This is especially true now that he is in the "big kid/mobile" part of the baby room at school.  While he is not mobile, the administrators and I are in agreement that he really has no motivation to move when he is with the younger babies.  So he just finished his first whole week with the "big babies".  Everyday when I picked him up he was in heaven.  He was sitting in the middle of the room watching all of the other babies run, crawl, roll and play, all while he was laughing hysterically.  It was too funny to see.  I imagine Max will be on the move very soon.

In other news, Max's last ear infection returned with a vengence last weekend.  He was miserable, but once the stronger antibiotics kicked in he was much happier...for about 2 days.  Now he is getting his top teeth.  His poor gums are swollen and uncomfortable. We have been creative with giving him bottles because he is having such a hard time sucking.  We have tried straws, sippy cups, regular cups and feeding him formula with a spoon.  We will do anything short of standing on our heads to get him to take his bottles.  Luckily, he is very happy with his solid food.  Yesterday, we let him play with the little bit of sweet potato he had left over.  He had a BLAST!  Check out the pictures below. 



My cousins put a
pirate hat on me!






Check out my
sweet potato mess




 

Making a mess
is FUN!




 

Even when I am a
mess I am still cute!


 

Ok Mom, I will stop to
smile for camera, but
just for a second.



Where has the time gone!

The past month has flown by.  Here is a quick recap of the family activities. 

Our vacation was so exciting that Max decided to get sick the week after it was over.  We have been at the pediatrician's office more than we have been home.  The last weekend of July we traveled to Manhattan, KS for Ron's softball tournament.  Max and I had to come home early because he spiked a fever.  He was already on antibiotics, so needless to say, we were very concerned.  Ron stayed in Manhattan and his team won the state law enforcement softball tourney.  Meanwhile, Max, Aunt Julie and I made a trip to Children's Mercy South.  Max had another ear infection.  This was his 4th since the end of March.  He continued to run a fever and be extremely fussy through the night so we took him back in to the doctor the next morning.  His ears were causing lots of pain.  The pediatrician referred us to a pediatric ENT.  Luckily, we were able to get Max into the ENT a couple of days later.  Max is scheduled to get tubes in his ears on September 7th.  We are hoping he can stay healthy until then, and that these tubes actually help him to feel better. 

While all of this sickness was going on, Ron's good friend Matt visited us.  Bless him for staying at our house while Max wasn't feeling well.  Ron and I thought for sure he would leave early, but Matt was a trooper.  Once Max started to feel better, he really bonded with Uncle Matt. 

The past month hasn't been all bad though.  Max started to roll both ways now, and he really wants to stand.  He will pull himself up to sitting and then standing if he is holding onto our hands.  We had to move him to a big boy carseat because he is now too heavy for me to carry in the infant carrier.  He is weighing in at 23lbs.  He also started to talk...A LOT!  His first word was "dog" showing us just how much he cares for Sophie.  For about a week everything we said to him received a response of "DOG".  Then this past weekend he said "dada" once and "mama" several times.  That's my boy!! 

Here are some pictures and a video from the last month.  Enjoy!

Max and Daddy at softball
(The only game Max was able to attend)

Getting a good picture of these three boys is like herding cats!

Max and Uncle Matt

Snoozing so he can feel better.

Snoozing in his big boy carseat!