Yes, I’ve been a slacker blogger lately, I’m sorry. My goal for Max’s next year is to post something once a week, even if it’s just a picture or a brief anecdote. We’ll see how that goes. Max is one year old next Friday…I don’t know how it’s possible, and I’ll no doubt write a nostalgic first year post in a week or two, but for now at least I’ll get something new up here, including Max’s 11 month pictures. We had a great visit with my dad this past weekend. After his initial “Um, who is this guy in my house?” reaction, Max warmed right up and he and Grandpa had a great time together. The time went by too fast as it always does when family is here.

Max has four teeth now and a fifth just poked through this morning. He has been refusing his afternoon nap most days, which leaves him a tired fussy mess by late afternoon. He does still take that afternoon nap at day care, so I figure we will get through the Daylight Savings adjustment (whoever came up with that idea certainly didn’t have kids) and the first birthday and then work on moving the first nap later and officially going to one nap. Maxwell definitely has opinions about what he wants and lets us know, which consists of a lot of “Unh, unh, unh” and reaching for the object of his desire. He is figuring out how the world works; tonight after his bath I brushed his hair and then handed him the hairbrush and he reached it up and moved it around on his head. Smart kid! Still no crawling here but he loves to stand and play with things. He can’t stand unsupported but does well leaning against a table or standing on the floor and holding on to the bars of his crib.

We entered Max in our local paper’s “Cutest Baby” contest. The top 15 vote-getters will advance to the final round, where a panel of judges picks the cutest. The winner gets a $100 gift card to a craft store plus of course, bragging rights. You don’t have to live locally to vote! Go to The Everett Herald Contests

and click on “Cutest Baby.” The annoying part is you will have to register but it just takes a couple of minutes. Then click on “Vote Now” and search for “Maxwell Nicholas.” The picture of Max on the heart backdrop should pop right up, then click to vote for him and then “Save Vote.” Thank you!

Taking the 11 month photos was quite the challenge. Even with Jeff there to help, there was no way we were getting a shot of Max sitting next to Chester. Here’s the best one of the bunch:

Most of them look more like this:

Here are a couple cute ones sans Chester:

Here he is showing off his standing skills:

The boys on a walk:

Max with Grandpa, showing off his “cute head tilt” move: