6 month report

can anyone believe this kiddo is six months old already?!  not me!  to add to even more shock and disbelief:  max is wearing 12 month clothes.  all the 12 month pj's with little footies pace wore (from 12-20 months because he was so little) are almost worn through the big toe from pace running around, and here's max, not sitting up yet and wearing the same footie pj's! 

weight: 18 lbs 6 oz, 68 %ile

height:  26 1/4", 30 %ile

head circumference: 15 1/2", 81 %ile

we love our little max attack.  he wakes up grinning from ear to ear and is ready to start the day with a stretch and a jump.  he started giving us 12 hours at night--going down around 6 (!), and waking up at 6.  he will on occasion wake up around 230 or 330am for a night feeding, but he's mostly a super sleeper!  we used to do a 7pm bedtime, but the whole 6 o'clock hour was one big meltdown.  mr. not flexible just couldn't adjust to daylight savings.  it was simply easier to put him down at 6 instead of trying to entertain him.  and surprise, surprise!--we have 12 hour nights!

maxwell is mostly a mellow fellow, and a very happy baby.  he'll lean over and give a huge grin if he catches your eye.  i must insert here that he does have a temper.  he gets very impatient if i'm nursing him and it's taking too long for the milk to come; if we can't get him to bed the instant he is ready; if the toy isn't doing what he wants it to do...watch out!  he loves playing in the garden play center and chewing on the plastic flowers, but the bee frustrates him to no end.  if he's rested and happy, he'll play with the little bee and try to figure out how to pull it out of the beehive and make it buzz; if it's close to nap time, he gets mad, mad, mad and we have a meltdown with huge tears and his classic mad max scrunchy face:  

he is quite the character.

he is a social bug, and wants to always be near someone.  he hasn't hit the stranger danger phase yet, and happily gets passed around relief society at church while  i am doing my secretarial duties.  well, happily most of the time.  maxwell is a schedule and routine boy, and if we step away from the known routine, he's a little unsure and gets frustrated.  he normally has a good 2 hour nap in the morning, and a good 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  he isn't a big cuddler, although he has lately started to put his head down on my shoulder before i put him in his crib to sleep.  he prefers to just lay down in his crib, tightly swaddled, and let him fall asleep on his own, thank you very much.  so, on sundays, when we are at church in the middle of the day, and we are holding him instead of laying him down in the crib, and his routine is slightly disrupted...well, there are some sundays that are harder than others.

max loves: jumping, seeing mama, daddy, and pace, playing in the garden play center, being tickled, singing with movements (i'm a little teapot, itsy bitsy spider, etc.)

max dislikes: getting off schedule, contention.  (story:  the other night i was nursing max and putting him to bed and pace was running around like a wired wild man.  i repeatedly asked him to use his inside voice and to be soft, that max was trying to go to sleep, but instead of being obedient, pace decided to throw a toy.  i very sharply reprimanded him and with a very stern voice told him to go sit in the corner--no toys, blanket, or binkie.  max looked up at me with very startled, wide eyes, and started crying when pace started crying.  i hushed him, gave him his binkie, swaddled him and laid him in the crib with a kiss.  he screamed his banshee-slash-barn-owl screech when i laid him down.  i pulled pace out of the room, calmed him down and talked about what happened, and then went back in to max and picked him up to shush and hold him.  i guess he sensed things had calmed down and i was in a quiet mood again, because he calmed down and fell asleep.)

i looked back at pace's 6 month report, and his list of dislikes was huge--mostly having to do with people other than mama and dada, and loud noises!  max is totally fine with noises--when i run the blender or the vacuum, he'll casually look over to see what's going on, and then goes back to whatever he was doing.

i did a little photo shoot with the boys the other day--i broke up the photos between a few posts because there were so many cute ones!

don't you want to kiss those cheeks?!

i can see the inquisitive kindergartener in this next photo!

butternut squash makes everything better!

meal #2:  i added roasted pureed butternut squash to his cereal, and that was a success!  yes, that's a happy face...

max's stocking

max needed a stocking this year, and i thought a snowman would be fun for him.  i whipped up this little puppy one day last week, although i am embarrassed to say i couldn't remember for the life of me how i sewed the cuff on to pace's stocking last year!  i thought that final touch would take me about 10 minutes or so, but it ended up taking two hours!  

time for prayer

rev·er·ent

 [rev-er-uh nt, rev-ruh nt]  Show IPA

adjective

feeling, exhibiting, or characterized by reverence; deeply respectful:a reverent greeting.

i think i was getting dinner ready last week and pace asked to "watch fawfet", so i pulled up the christmas devotional for him to watch while i was busy in the kitchen.  he helped conduct the opening performance, and then it was time for the opening prayer.  pace is well-trained when it comes time to be reverent for a prayer: he immediately closes his eyes and folds his arms, and sometimes joins in with the last word you say.  here's how we start out: 

pace especially loves praying over a meal, because he can multi-task!  the rules of reverence are slightly different when food is on the line...why not get a head start on filling your tummy if you can be reverent at the same time?!  as long as his eyes are closed and one arm is folded across his chest, he's still being reverent, right?  we have seen him reach out with one hand, find his cup, realize that isn't what he's looking for, search for the spoon in his bowl, scoop up a spoonful of yogurt and fruit, put the spoon back in the bowl, then go back to his cup and take a drink--all while his eyes are closed and he's being...reverent...

on this occasion pace had some shredded cheese to snack on, so reaching out an finding it whilst his eyes were closed was no big deal; there was a big pile right in front of him!     

"amem!" 

starting solids!

so when you said we were going to eat now, you didn't mean milk?... 

do i have to keep this stuff in my mouth?

can we just go back to eating how i'm used to?  you know, like the milk stuff?

please?

maybe i can wash this stuff out of my mouth with this convenient rag thing...

don't worry, max, you'll get the hang of it...pace will show you the fine art of stuffing your face, and i'm sure you'll have contests in the years to come, and i'll be there rolling my eyes and wishing you still wanted to wipe your own face with a convenient rag thing...

just don't expect pace to share his cup with you!

holiday cheer

we put up the christmas tree and finally got all the ornaments on it.  pace found the kissing moose ornaments and loved them--and promptly gave them a hug and said, "awww" (as with all things soft and cuddly).

peak

wouldn't you rather see this in the morning:

than this:

this is what greeted david last thursday morning.  his truck is in there, somewhere.  this is why david didn't leave the plant until 10am (he usually leaves at 820 to start his deliveries).  this is what we are talking about when we say "peak."  this is why david doesn't get home until 930 most peak nights.  this is why i decided to make cinnamon rolls for the drivers--because after a long, hard week, wouldn't you like to eat a yummy homemade cinnamon roll someone thought to make for you?  david stopped by on his way from the plant to the mall to show me this photo, and when i saw that, i instantly formulated my cinnamon roll plan.  i knew there were at least 75-80 drivers, and you always want to bake a little extra, just in case, right?  so i got 8 large roaster pans knowing i could fit 12 per pan...yes, that totals 96 cinnamon rolls.  i think i made them pretty efficiently--two batches at a time, two batches of dough  rising while the other two batches were formed and rising and or baking--but i was still up pretty late.  going to bed with the smell of fresh cinnamon rolls is a really great reward, though!  i frosted them friday morning before david left for work and watched the beauties roll down the driveway in the back of the jeep.

david called later that day and said i was his hero, and every utah county ups driver's hero.  that put a smile on my face!  

the big move

the plan was to have the boys share the nursery room once max was sleeping 9-10 hours at night, but he still wakes up at 230 to eat, then 430 to snack and then he's pretty much up for the day at 5 (going down for bed at 7pm).  i don't want him to wake up pace, so we finally did some rearranging to get max out of the pack and play by our bed and into his own space with the crib.  we made some extra room for him in the guest room, and he loves it!  the first night in there he woke up at his normal 230 and 430, the second night he woke up just around 4, and then took another nap from 530-7, and on the third night in there he slept a full 12 hours--from 7pm to 7am!  is it his own space?  the crib mattress being more comfortable than the pack and play?  who knows!  but whatever the case, he is sleeping much better at night and naps like a champ during the day.  

pace loves it, too--when we are getting pace ready for bed, he always wants to say goodnight to max as part of his routine.  he was accustomed to running into our room to peek at max in the pack and play, but the very first night we moved max, pace knew where to run, and he came right back to his room with the report:  "max, seeping!"  

turkey trot

it's a good thing we decided to run a turkey trot this year...

because we had some feasting to do later on!

even pace decided to join in the feasting fun and ate more than his usual 2 tablespoons of food.  must have been the gravy--you cover anything in gravy, and you want to eat more of it, right?!  max had a little nap while jogging with me that morning, and that must have worn him out because he then slept all afternoon, too!--i wasn't complaining--i actually got to sit down to a nice, warm meal.  he joined us later for dessert, and was excited to see the table of goodies. 

i couldn't decide which dessert to make, so i made all of them--an apple pie, a pumpkin cheesecake, and two kinds of pumpkin pie.  i found a recipe wednesday night that claimed to be the best ever pumpkin pie, so even though i'd already made one, i had to test the theory and make another for comparison.  honestly, i don't think it was the best ever, but it was good enough to have two pies around!

pace was also ecstatic to have papa around for an extra playmate all week!  they did lots of painting, scooping blocks, building towers, and napping.