Heat Wave

You probably heard about (or lived through) Seattle’s record-setting heat wave at the end of July. It happened to fall on the week Dad and Helen were here…welcome to the beautiful Pacific Northwest, where it’s hotter than it is in Southern Ohio. What’s wrong with this picture? They were real troupers even on the day it was 104 with a heat index of 107. Thank goodness for our friends Doug and Donna, who are letting us borrow their portable AC unit since they have central air in California. We put that in Max’s room so at least it would be tolerable in their for his naps and nighttime sleeping. I am very glad to report that our weather has normalized and we are enjoying upper  70s this week, which feels fabulous. We even had rain yesterday and today after 20 something days without any. We had a great visit with Dad and Helen and Max enjoyed being taken care of by his grandparents while Mom and Dad were at work. 

Maxwell is doing well, continuing to delight us every day. He keeps things interesting for us…this weekend he took a marathon 2 hour, 45 minute nap for Jeff while I was out and about, and then today he decided he was too cool to take an afternoon nap for Grandma while I was at work. I think he just doesn’t want us to get too comfortable! Skip this next section if you don’t want to read about baby bodily functions. Okay, if you’re still with me, I must share the other Max drama…a poop strike!  A couple weeks ago he went 6 days between “productions” which we thought was a long stretch, until this past week he managed to go 9 days (yep, that’s the number NINE) without pooping. We went to the pediatrician at day 8 and he was happy as could be. She said as long as he was eating (check), not in distress (check) and his tummy wasn’t hard (nope, nice and soft) we could wait him out and he was just using every single drop of milk! 
Max’s latest trick is getting his toes in his mouth. So far only the left foot has actually made it into his mouth. Usually he’ll suck on those toes while his right leg just waves around in the air. He’ll do this almost any time he has access to his toes, diaper changing and bath time are favorite opportunities. 
Picture time!
Most of you know that I went to Calvin College in Michigan. Here’s Maxwell in his first Calvin gear:
Here he is posing with his adoring grandparents:

Another new thing we tried this week is the ExerSaucer. We prop him up a bit with blankets and so far he loves it, he stares at all the toys and grabs the ones he can reach and of course, puts them in his mouth. Thanks Marielle!

Post-bath, working on capturing a foot:

And, success!

We got a Bumbo chair from my friend Holli (thanks, Holli!). We tried it out while Dad and Helen were here. At first Max was a bit uncertain, as evidenced by this picture, but he is warming up to it now.

Now that the weather has normalized, we are enjoying lots of walks in the stroller. Here’s Max ready to go, equipped with shades and Sophie the Giraffe:

And finally, a cute one of him showing off his Mickey outfit from Aunt Donna: