Starting with Thursday, December 23... Ryan’s Uncle Pat came to visit us! He lives in Richfield so we don’t see him very often, but we always enjoy his company. He snapped a few pictures of Max while he was here!
Ryan and I decided that going to three or more houses in one day for the holidays is just way too much… So, starting with this past holiday season, we decided that we will only see one family for Thanksgiving every year (if other families choose to celebrate Thanksgiving on a different day with us, we are open to that). For Christmas, we will see one family on Christmas Eve. That family will be invited to our house Christmas morning if they’d like to come over. We will go to the next family’s house later on Christmas morning and then we will go to the next family’s house for the late afternoon and evening. This year, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my dad.
HaHa, Klay...
Great-Grandma and Max!
Jumpin' Max and Grandpa!
The first time ever my Uncle Hal held Maximus!
The angel atop my dad's Christmas tree and the only picture I got of Klay... HaHa!
Grandma and Jumpin' Max!
After Max went to sleep, Mommy, Daddy, and Santa all had work to do!
Max's stocking!
All the stockings are filled--even the cats'!
The presents Santa brought are wrapped in blue!
Proof that Santa Claus came! Cookies have been eaten, milk has been drank, and Santa even took Max's note!
So, on Christmas morning, my dad, Michelle, Sean, Chainda, my grandparents, and my uncle came over to see Maximus open his Christmas gifts at our house. I made “McMuffins” for breakfast for everyone, and they were super yummy! We even picked up an egg/pancake shaper a few days before so we could get the eggs to stay in a circular shape. Max was extra sleepy… He’s not used to getting up so early!
Opening gifts! He loved this thing and he wasn't even allowed to have any of the candy inside!
Max playing with his new tool set!
Ryan opening his gifts from Max and me!
After everyone went home, Ryan and I got packed up and ready to go. We headed to my mom’s house next! All of Russ’ kids were there, and my siblings. When we arrived at the house, we realized we’d left all of Max’s bottles and formula home. So, while everyone was eating breakfast, Ryan went back home to get the things we’d forgotten. We opened gifts when he got back!
Tired, hungry, and awnry... This is why Max sleeps until 10 every day instead of 6:30!
Grandma opening her Christmas gift from us!
Grandpa filming Grandma opening her Christmas present from us!
Aunt Taylor and Max! This was the first time they ever met...
Max and Grandma in their monkey hats!
Max and Uncle Quin!
Jumpin' Max and Grandma!
Uncle Quin playing with Maximus!
After we left my mom’s house, we stopped by our place to drop off our gifts from her. Then we headed to Ryan’s dad’s house! Ryan’s grandparents were there from Richfield. We all brought white elephant gifts and played a game to determine who got what. Ryan and I brought a book called “All My Friends Are Dead” and a potty light… There were some interesting gifts!
Cody modeling the underwear Cameron brought as a white elephant...
Grandpa wound up with the undies on his head... HaHa!
Nixon and Jaden playing Peek-A-Boo with Max!
Nixon attacking his Uncle Ryan with the gigantic underwear...
Sad little Jaden... He didn't want to go home!
Maximus and his cousins, Jaden and Nixon, wearing their monkey hats!
The day after Christmas, we got some pictures of Max with all of his Christmas presents… Boy, did he get a lot of stuff!
Max was a tired little guy all day--he had to catch up on sleep from the lack of it during the days before! Ryan and I wanted to do a little shopping, though. :-)
Thank you to everyone who made Maximus’ first Christmas so special! We love you all and it was nice to get to spend some time with all of you!
On Monday, December 27, we got Max's high chair from Grandma and Grandpa Mann set up. Since then, Max has been getting breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily instead of just getting "snacks" here and there.
On Tuesday, December 28, my grandpa turned 72! We went to see him in the morning because Ryan had plans for the afternoon.
I didn't realize we had no manly tissue paper or gift bags... So my grandpa ended up with pink and purple!
Ryan and Josh got a gift certificate for Christmas from their dad and mom to do something fun. They decided to go sky diving! Indoor, of course… They went to a place called iFly in Ogden. They had a lot of fun, though I know Ryan was really sore afterwards! After they were done, they went to a place called Bruges in Salt Lake for lunch. Ryan saw this place on Man vs. Food and was really excited to try it. He says the food was great, though it’s a very small place!
I would have uploaded the full video, but I wouldn’t have known how to explain which ones Ryan and Josh are. So I broke them down for you to watch!
While Ryan and Josh were at iFly, I had a couple chores to do in the kitchen so I set Max in his jumperoo. The little guy fell asleep in it! It was so cute!
On Wednesday, December 29, my sweet husband turned 25! It’s crazy to think we’re getting that old… He was only 18 when I met him! I went to Gandolfo’s to surprise Ryan with breakfast. Almost 9:00 A.M. and the roads were already slippery! We had to run to Costco that day to get some baby formula for Max. After that, we went to Zupa’s for lunch. I bought Ryan a mango crème brulee, which he saved for a bedtime snack. He shared. It was yummy! After lunch, we went home and had family over for cake and ice cream (I apologize in advance--I didn’t get pictures of everyone… I kind of stopped after I got pictures of the cake!). After that, we had planned to go to Red Robin for dinner. But, the weather was bad, so we went to Chili’s instead because it was quite a bit closer!
Max and Aunt B!
Russ and Mom!
Opening more presents!
Maximus' gift to Daddy!
One of Ryan's cakes! I originally tried to make a topsy turvy cake, but I was a failure. So I just frosted some of the pieces I didn't use and made a full new cake. None of which was touched by our guests and most of which ended up in the garbage a week later! And yeah, it is missing one candle. They only sell up to 24 packs at grocery stores!
The candles are lit! Kind of... I only got some of them lit... They were melting too fast, wax was getting everywhere, and my fingers kept getting burned...
I love these boys!
Yummy... ;-)
Here are just some pictures I snapped on the 30th!
On Friday, December 31, Sean turned 15! We went to my dad’s house to celebrate. Max was so funny when the cake was plopped in front of him--he got so excited watching the candle! He couldn’t take his eyes off of it!
Blowing out the candles!
Ooooooh... A candle... HaHa!
Max and Uncle Corbin!
Max and Grandpa!
After we got home, we didn’t really do anything exciting to celebrate the new year… I know Max and I were asleep before midnight, and I’m pretty sure Ryan was, too. I know--we’re lame! HaHa. But we like just spending a quiet night together! We did get some funny pictures of Max that evening, though!
Max has become quite the little eater. Right now, he is eating:
Avocado
Bananas (temporarily off limits)
Butternut Squash
Carrots
Green Beans
Oatmeal Cereal
Peaches
Pears
Peas
Prunes
Rice Cereal
Yams/Sweet Potatoes
Max’s favorite food is bananas, but he may be allergic to them. He also really likes apples, oatmeal, pears, peas, prunes, and sweet potatoes. He seems to dislike peaches quite a bit, though! I think they’re a little to tart for him. When I prepare his food, it tastes sweeter than the store bought stuff, so hopefully when peaches are back in season, he’ll like them better fresh!
Here are some pictures we snapped on January 1, 2011!
Max trying to eat Daddy's candy bar!
Poor Max... This is as close to chocolate as we'll let him get for a while!
On Sunday, January 2, Max stole his spoon out of my hand while I was feeding him and stuck it right in his mouth! I couldn’t believe it! He is growing up way too fast! It was super cute. He doesn’t quite have it down yet, but I’m proud of him for trying already!
Max in a hoodie that should not fit him for another six months!!
Though we didn’t see her, my step-sister, Taylor, turned 19 on Monday, January 3.
Nothing super exciting happened for the next several days… But here are some pictures we got, anyway!
Tuesday, January 4!
Poor Cookie Monster... He looks like Oscar the Grouch!
Wednesday, January 5!
Asleep in the cart at Target!
Thursday, January 6!
My messy little eater... ;-)
See the squash in his eyelashes?
Friday, January 7!
Saturday, January 8!
Melissa, Josh, Nixon, and Jaden came over to visit us that day. Our fat cat, Gavin, got quite the work out while they were at our house--they kept chasing him from the living room to the kitchen. Sad, but funny!
When Jaden grows up, he wants to be a skater dude!
Little sleepy head!
Sunday, July 9, our little guy turned 6 months old. It is amazing to me how fast time has gone--he will be grown up before I know it and before I am ready for it!!
Also on this day, Michelle’s sister, Sokha, gave birth to her daughter, Mya. Mya is a preemie--Sokha was only 6-½ months along, but labor couldn’t be stopped. Here are a couple pictures of her!
I made a teeny little monkey hat for her, but I don’t know if it fits her or if she’ll ever get to wear it, since she’s stuck in the NICU and has tubes and things all over the place! But it was cute and I liked it. As I was making the hat, I was sad that all of my hats aren’t that tiny… They are so much easier and faster to make!
Later that day, we went to visit Ryan’s family!
Messy little guy!
Silly boys!
Josh was so excited to finally have his hat!
On Monday, January 10, Maximus had his 6 month check up! Here are his stats:
Height: 28” (92.63 percentile)
Weight: 19.4 lbs (81.77 percentile)
Doc says our little guy is all muscle! He is built! HaHa! The doctor no longer seems to be concerned about Max’s head or his torticollis. The only thing he seems concerned about now is that hydrocele, which has not yet gone away and now that we’re halfway to Max being a year old, I’m becoming more concerned that is hasn’t disappeared… Max continues to have red bumps around his eyelids, so I asked the doctor if it could be a food allergy (I read somewhere that someone else’s baby was allergic to bananas and that this was the side effect they got). I told him I’d only really noticed the bumps when he ate bananas, so he told us not to give Max any bananas for a couple weeks and then to try again and see if the bumps appear. Bananas are Max’s favorite food, so this makes me sad. Though now that it’s been over a week, the bumps haven’t seemed to disappear--they may even be worse. So I’m trying a process of elimination to see if I can figure out which food (if any) he is allergic to. We have currently eliminated rice cereal…
Max got all his vaccines at his appointment and he also got the first of two flu shots (we are supposed to go in for the second sometime after February 10). The poor little guy cried as usual, but he was happy more quickly than usual afterwards. He even smiled at me in the elevator when we were leaving--it usually takes him a few hours before he’ll smile again after shots! He was fussier than usual the next day, though. And when he wasn’t fussy, he was sleeping. Typical side effects of the vaccines, though. And we still haven’t had to deal with a fever, so I’m thankful for that.
Tuesday, January 11!
Thursday, January 13!
Max and his sippy cup!
Max is getting closer and closer to being able to crawl! Here are a couple videos I got of his attempts!
And so begins the year that my mother starts lying about her age… Though she is certainly not 27, that is what the candles on her cake said this year! My mom had all of us kids over for dinner for her birthday.
Trying to escape... HaHa!
Doing Tummy Time before heading out to see Grandma!
Mom and some of the boys!
The cake!
Mom opening her gifts!
Yup, another picture!
I’ve been slowly getting all my hats for Christmas done… On Saturday, December 15, I finished my step-brother’s hat, so he came over with my mom and his dad to get it. We got a picture of them all with Max while they were at our house!
On Sunday, January 16, we discovered that our little guy had finally cut his first tooth! It’s a sharp little thing, that tooth is!
And here are some other pictures from that day!
Monday, January 17!
Tuesday, January 18!
So, Maximus got his first ever personal birthday invitation last week! Tonight was the party! Braxton, who is my friend Cozette’s baby boy, turned one year old on January 19! Ryan, Max, and I went to the party but couldn’t stay for long because Max needed to go home to eat. Before we left, though, Max got a huge kick out of seeing all the other babies and little kids that were there. Max loves other kids--unfortunately, he doesn’t see very many. He spends his days at home with me, we don’t go to church, and our neighbors avoid us for that reason. The only kids he ever sees are his cousins, but he doesn’t see them very often, either. So he loved the party! He liked talking to everyone while we were there! He was super cute! Thanks again for inviting us, Cozy and Braxton! We had fun!
I left my camera home, so we didn’t get any pictures at the party, but here are a few from the day, anyway!
I fall in love every time I look at this!
Max practicing sitting after the party... He's getting good! He still doesn't always realize that he has to balance himself, but he's catching on!
Anyway, my apologies for the incredibly long post… But I hope you enjoyed it! And I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the new year thus far!
