Maxwell enjoyed his first Fourth of July this weekend. We hung out at home and tried to stay cool during the day, and then went to see our friends Laura and Dave for dinner. Dave grilled some delicious salmon and asparagus for dinner, and we finished off the evening with a yummy blueberry lemon cake for an early celebration of my birthday. Max was such a good boy, just hung out while we ate, and Laura and Dave were properly impressed with his cuteness. At one point Laura said, “I know I keep saying how cute he is, but it’s just so true, there’s no better way to say it!”. We couldn’t agree more. We were a little apprehensive about how well Max would sleep with all the fireworks going off, as you can set them off in our neighborhood and it gets quite loud inside our house. So we closed his bedroom window and door and turn the fan as high as it would go. That definitely helped, you could still hear the fireworks in there but it was significantly muffled. Thankfully it didn’t seem to bother Maxwell at all, he slept through the show.

I returned to work this week. I was able to ease back into it by starting Wednesday, so I only had to work two days and then had Friday off. Jeff was able to take Wednesday and Thursday off to be with Max, which helped tremendously. It was still really hard. I missed Max a lot and was so happy to come home to my two wonderful boys. Many of you know that my job is uncertain, I still don’t know anything other than…my job is uncertain. I’m really hoping to keep this job, not only is it something I enjoy in my field, but it’s part time and close to home. It was hard enough returning to work knowing it was part time, but full time plus a commute to downtown is more than I can bear to think of. Of course the alternative of being unemployed is not good either. So let’s continue to hope I can stay where I am!

We are loving every minute with Maxwell. He has been giving really big smiles to Daddy the past couple of days. It is so much fun to see Max light up when Jeff looks at him. Sometimes his whole body wiggles with joy. Max’s that is, not Jeff’s, though it wouldn’t surprise me…we get such a high when we get a big Max grin or laugh. So, let’s see this cuteness, you say? Very well…

Sometimes at the end of a feeding the Tired overcomes the Maxwell:

Headed out for a walk with the shades and hat (disclaimer: I know my hat looks really dirty. I have washed and bleached it, and it’s just so well loved that I think it will never be white again):

Max is lucky enough to have two pairs of “Grandpa overalls” in two sizes. My Grandpa, my mom’s dad, was a farmer and wore these type of overalls every day to work on the farm. We all have fond memories of Grandpa in his striped overalls, working in the barn or taking a well-earned afternoon nap on the couch. We received Max’s striped overalls from my mom and from my cousin Jason and his wife Amy. I have been eagerly checking to see if the smaller ones fit, and now they do:

Here are some pictures from the 4th. This one shows Max sucking the “right” fingers….aka the same two that Jeff sucked when he was little:

Max and Mom with birthday cake:

And finally, one of the three of us. While I actually appear taller than Jeff in this photo, rest assured that it’s just an illusion. Hope you had a great holiday!