It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Having fun dressing up Max in his various Christmas suits.

Ah, the leaves...

We have this fairly big tree in our front yard. Every year it drops all its leaves in the span of one week, this is the week. So I took Max outside to experience....










He's such a ham in front of the camera. Some how he already knows he's supposed to smile and does so on cue. I set him on the ground, held my camera up and he was already smiling for me.

Funny thing happened though, Roxy came over and wanted to see what was going on.










The next thing I knew, Max lost his balance and was on his back. Hahahaha. Don't worry, he's fine.

New Skills

Max is learning so much, so quickly right now. Just in the past 2 weeks he went from sorta sitting up folded in half (see below)










To sitting up almost completely unassisted for minutes at a time. He loves to play with his blocks.










Beto has taught him to clap to a song. He claps in time, but only with his left hand. Lefty?

He is also eating real baby foods. He loves bananas and carrots. Here he is in his high chair.









He's teething, I can feel a tooth right under the surface, it'll break through any day now. Lots of slobber and chewing. If he can grab it, it's in his mouth. One especially fussy evening, we discovered a cold Pepsi helps alleviate some pain.









He's really just the sweetest, cutest thing ever!

It's the Great Pumpkin !

We visited our 1st Pumpkin Patch this past Sunday. As you can see, Max was very excited about the whole thing. As with all things, he tried to eat the pumpkin.

I also went back to work this week. I was very anxiety ridden about the whole thing but so far....it's gone very smoothly. I am losing some precious hours of sleep, but who needs sleep anyway? I am only working part time, Mon - Thur 8am-1pm. Aunt Nancy has graciously agreed to watch Max on Mondays and Tuesdays, which went off without a hitch. Wednesdays and Thursdays are Daddy time! I miss him, but the time at work goes by fast.

Next major life event

Sorry for my absenteeism, I've been busy in babylandia. Max is 3 1/2 months and our days are getting a bit more predictable which allows me some bits of free time. For those of you that have kept up with my blog, you'll remember Beto and I got engaged last November. With all the baby prep, the wedding idea was pushed to the back burner. I still very much wanted to do it but, how was I going to plan a wedding? I can't even get 10 minutes to myself to take a shower?!
We had always had a September date in mind, initially it was Sept 16th. That was the day last year when I found out I was pregnant. But it falls on a Wednesday, so we chose September 19th, the next closest Saturday and the numbers are cool 9/19/09. Since I began looking in July, most places laughed at me and smugly told me that all of their Saturdays for the year have been booked for some time. Hmmf. OK, need to change the date.
The place I really wanted is called the Palm Event Center, it's connected to the Mitchell-Katz winery here in Livermore. We had a meeting there for work awhile back and I knew then that's the place I want to get married in. I had called them last year, when we first got engaged and even then all their Saturdays were booked. But Beto told me to just call and check, maybe a day opened up. I called and the stars must have been aligned because she told me they did have a cancellation on Friday Sept. 25th. I wasn't thrilled with a Friday, but it's the place I wanted and they agreed to work within our budget. So we booked it.
Needless to say we had some quick plans and decisions to make. Pam and I planned the wedding on the computer. I would sneak in online time while Max napped, as I'm doing now. We did everything within weeks and we're good to go! Ha- who needs a year to plan a wedding?!

Been a long time....

Our beautiful boy at 12 weeks. I knew this was a great pic the second I snapped the picture...it choked me up. How'd I get so lucky? He is so handsome. I can't help myself. And it's not just me, everyone says so. Even the cashiers at Safeway :)

Shower-free zone...

Beto had to go back to work this week. Max and I are learning to do stuff on our own. I haven't tried to leave the house yet, but I couldn't anyway because I can't seem to figure out a good time to take a shower. I can't leave the baby by himself! I'm lucky if I can make myself a sandwich, let alone worry about such trivial things as smelling shower fresh. Hy hair is a rat's nest because the last time I did manage a shower, I had no time to blow dry my hair.

I guess I could put Max down and let him fuss a bit as he is now as I am on the computer, but I choose to not make him fuss if I can at all help it. He's a good baby. The routine starts with a fresh diaper, feeding 'til slumber sets in (more about that later), burping and holding while sleeping. I know, I know...you're going to say put him down when he falls asleep. I've tried that and he wakes up and then messes up the whole routine. The only time that works is at night. Somehow he knows it's night time and allows me to put him in bassinet once he falls asleep. During the day he wants to be held and cuddled. Which I gladly oblige, but I'm glued to the couch or the rocker all day. Oh and about the feeding, he's a monster. We at first thought he had gas problems because right after eating he would cry bloody murder and could not be consoled. Turns out he was still hungry. He takes breaks while feeding and I didn't know that he was taking a break, I thought he was done and closed up shop. Beto mentioned maybe he's still hungry so I put him back and off to town he went. I have to let him feed until he quits, which usually means falling asleep. That has all but alleviated his crying. So we do this routine every 2 hours or so, at night he stretches it to every 3-4 hours. Oh how I love the 4 hour nap he gives me!!

Here's yet another precious picture...