Our boy is one. I can’t believe it’s been a year since we welcomed him into our lives and changed our world for the better forever. Can you believe he was ever this tiny?

We were talking the other night about how tiny and squishy and wonderful he was then, and how we are loving the stage he is now so much. It is so much fun to see him learning things and figuring out how the world works. Max says “Dada” but no “Mama” yet. The other day he started signing “milk,” it was like the light went on…I had just given him a sip of milk with dinner and he looked at me, did the sign, and then looked at his fingers as if to say,”Did I just do that?” We haven’t seen any other signs yet but he does do the motions to “Patty Cake” and yesterday he started attempting to do the spider motion for “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” That one will probably take some time to master. Maxwell loves to wave…bye-bye to us, at cars driving by, at people in the store…it is so cute!

We had a birthday party for Max last weekend. It was wonderful to celebrate with friends, and Jeff’s family was able to join us as well. We’ll do another celebration with my mom’s side of the family up north soon. Max enjoyed the cake, he didn’t eat a lot of it but did have some frosting. He tried really hard to push it over the edge of his high chair tray but couldn’t quite get it. My friend Justine (she of the fabulous J. Shelton Photography) took pictures of the party for us. There’s a sneak peek of a few here:

Max has his one-year checkup on Monday, so I will report stats after that. He is officially on one nap a day now…for several weeks he has been battling the afternoon nap and would be up in his crib for an hour, rolling around and talking, and not sleeping. So I finally gave in and moved the morning nap a bit later. He still gets tired pretty early in the evening, I am hoping that we can gradually move the one nap a bit later so it’s not such a long haul until bedtime. However, you won’t hear much complaining from me because he still sleeps 12 hours just about every night. I hope I haven’t jinxed myself by posting that publicly.

Justine also took one year photos of Max and some of us as a family. She did a great job as always. Here are a few:

Max had a great time with his Oma and Opa:

Remember last month I wrote about how hard it is to take the monthly Max and Chester pictures? Well, thank goodness he is a year old, because it is just about a lost cause now. There’s no way that Maxwell will ignore his good friend Chester sitting right next to him. Oh no, Chester must be hugged,chewed on, and tossed off the couch. Here’s the best one I could get. I know you can’t even see the number 12 sticker and it’s a bit out of focus, but I love his smile and his cute crossed legs:

And here’s a cute one that shows the 12 month sticker. He likes to tuck his hands under him like this when he’s sleeping too.

Happy Birthday, little bug. Daddy and I love you so very much!

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:

Happy Valentine’s Day! We had a wonderful first Valentine’s Day with Max. My mom got him a couple Valentine books (I know, we were shocked too) and his day care had a Valentine’s Day party (Jeff and I ate the candy for him). On the actual day we enjoyed just hanging out as a family. Jeff got a “magic shaker” toy as a Valentine’s gift for Max….he really likes it but his favorite part so far is, you guessed it, the box. I got a heart-print tablecloth at Target to use as a backdrop for some pictures, so we played around with that a bit. Max now has three teeth coming in, and we think there’s a fourth one trying to break through the surface. He continues to love table foods…last night I made some spaghetti sauce with beef and beans and mixed it with orzo pasta for him, and he ate an amount that stunned both Jeff and me! He is getting very good at picking up finger foods and getting them in his mouth. Sometimes Jeff will put something in his hand and make a fist, and Max likes to pry his fingers open to find the desired food. We have tried letting him use the spoon himself (with some guidance) but so far he just wants to drop it over the side of the high chair. If we try to guide it to his mouth, he promptly lets go of the spoon. Oh well, we will get there eventually, I’m sure.

I’m working on planning Max’s first birthday party, which is just over a month away now! We’ll be doing a farm theme and it’s been fun to find things that work with that for the party favors and decorations. It will be interesting to see his reaction to cake! We’re doing one year photos and “cake smash” pictures with my friend Justine (of J. Shelton Photography) a week ahead of time, so that we can have some pictures at the party. It will also be a good way for Max to have a chance to figure out the whole cake thing before the party.

Max loves to wave these days. He waves at everything…cars driving by, people in the store, even the washer and dryer! He loves to watch them when they are running, and anytime we walk by he’ll look in the laundry room and wave, even if there’s no laundry going. His fascination is helpful when I need to laundry, as he’ll gladly sit there and watch me move a load, or watch the machines going as I fold the clean laundry.

I guess that’s all the news from us this week. Here’s a few pictures.

Max in the cart outside Costco:

A couple with Daddy at the park:

Valentine’s Pics!

I can’t believe that I took ten month pictures of Max already! Jeff pointed out that as of Monday, we can say his birthday is “next month.” Ack! I’m not sure I’m ready for a first birthday already, it seems like he was just inside me not very long ago. I was at a baby shower last week and one of the guests had her six week old baby with her. She looked SO small and I was remembering when Max was a little squishy newborn like that, with skinny little chicken legs and those tiny wrists with extra skin wrinkling around them. Now he is our tall boy with a Buddha belly and a giant head who rolls all over and eats table food. We’ll be sending him off to college next week if this keeps up.

Max was sick a couple weeks ago, he has had a couple colds but this was his first time having something more than that. Poor kiddo had a fever, threw up once, and clearly didn’t feel good. Thankfully it didn’t last too long, it is so hard when he is obviously not feeling right and we can’t fix it. Not to mention I’m sure he was wondering why Mom and Dad wouldn’t get with the program and make him feel better already.

I went to an all-day “Understanding Your Nikon DSLR Camera” class at the University of Washington last Sunday with my friend Laura. I learned a LOT about my fabulous new camera that I can’t wait to try out. I used some of what I learned while taking his ten month photos, which was quite the challenge. Long gone are the days of propping Max up on the couch, placing Chester Bear just so next to him, and snapping away. Now it’s more like set Max on the couch, get as ready as I can to take a picture, put Chester in place, and attempt to take a picture before Max throws Chester to the floor or starts to eat him. Quite a challenge. I have decided that from now on I’m taking the monthly pictures when Jeff is here to help!

Max attended his first birthday party today, it was lots of fun to help a friend celebrate and reminded me that I need to get cracking on his party! I know my days of getting to choose everything for his birthday parties are numbered, so I will enjoy complete control while I have it.

Here are a couple photos taken at the playground right by our house. On the swing, which he loves:

We always get comments on his eyes, this picture shows why:

Oma got this outfit for Maxwell for Christmas. The shirt says “Little Heart Breaker”:

Another Christmas gift we gave him is a soft fish bowl with a few little aquatic creatures. Max took a liking to the starfish and will hold it for long stretches of time. Its little arms are also perfect for chewing on.

Max has learned to raise him arms for “So big!” when we ask, “How big is Maxwell?”

A cute shot from our ten month session, sans Chester Bear:

I finally had the bright idea to try a few shots outside, where he was distracted enough to leave Chester alone long enough for me to get a picture. My background unfortunately doesn’t fill the frame, but oh well, I’ll take what I can get.

Well, I did warn you it might be a while before I did another blog entry, but I still apologize for the delay. In contrition, I offer you lots and lots of pictures. We have had a busy and wonderful past few weeks. The Moore clan was here for Christmas, and we had a great time with them. As usual, much delicious food was consumed and there was plenty of oohing and aahing over Max’s cuteness. I even got to finally try the famed chocolate-peanut butter-Ritz cracker concoctions (there’s a family legend with those).

Next, we headed off to Florida to ring in the new year with Dad and Helen. Despite waking up at 3am and only taking two half-hour naps all day, Max was a trooper on both (very full) flights there. He did well on the way home too, there was a little more crying on that trip but also more sleeping. We were blessed with very nice people in the aisle seat on all our flights, and heard several comments about how adorable and well-behaved Maxwell is. We really enjoyed our time in Florida, it wasn’t warm enough to swim but we did have a day that had good beach weather. While we were enjoying the beach, a group (pod?) of dolphins came and was swimming really close to shore, maybe 10 feet out. They went back and forth, playing and swimming all in a row, for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, swam away, then came back again a bit later. While we weren’t actually awake to ring in 2010, it was still very special to see it in in Florida with family. We also got to spend an afternoon with my friends Kevin and Amanda. We met at Calvin and I hadn’t seen them in 5 years, way too long.

Max’s first tooth made an appearance on his 9 month birthday! He is really enjoying solid foods now and is none too impressed with the baby food purees these days. He loves to wave and started clapping while we were in Florida. So cute! We had his 9 month well child check today and he weighs 20 pounds and 12 ounces, which is about the 55th percentile. He is still at the top of the charts for height and head circumference.

Many of you know that my wonderful family surprised me with my heart’s desire for Christmas, a Nikon DSLR camera! I was so surprised and excited and am loving taking photos with it. So, on to the mother lode of photos, enjoy!

Max in front of the tree:

With Oma and Opa:

Me, Denny and Elizabeth in our Christmas Eve popper crowns:

Family Christmas picture:

Max and I both received some University of Michigan gear for Christmas. Go Blue!

Max’s 9 month photo:

A couple with Daddy:

So cute!

Before you can go to the beach, you have to get your sunscreen on:

On the beach in Florida:

What is this stuff?

Beach baby:

Dining al fresco, Daddy showing how it’s done:

Out for a walk:

Dinner with Grandpa:

At the Tampa airport, waiting to fly home: