BIG Fourth celebration-LOADS o' pics

Max had not seen his GrandBears in person since the hospital! So, we thought that Independence Day would be timed well for him to make the LOOOONG car trip up to Dallas to stay for a couple of nights. We gave him a bath and put him in his jammies just like always for his bedtime but then stuck him in his carseat instead of his crib. We were on our way!

It didn't occur to us that it would be so bright and sunshiney at 7 pm - so he didn't actually go to sleep until about 7:30, and then he woke up about 30 minutes later and complained for 10 or 12 minutes and drifted off again to sleep for the next 2 hours or so that it took us to get there. He "woke up" when we brought him inside and the GrandBears were very excited to see him and wanted to hold him and be a bit more awake than he was ready to do- when you wake up babies in the middle they can appear wide awake and ready to go- trust me, they are not.

We set up his pack n' play in one of the upstairs guest rooms complete with his sound machine and the baby monitor and he went off to sleep with no trouble- AWESOME!

He was up again the next morning after a cumulative 12ish hours of sleep and we put him in his Dallas Cowboys onesie to present to the Heberts. They all talked about how perfect his head is and how well he sleeps and what a sweet face he has. They are impressed with his mellow temperment.



He played with his Grandpa "Yogi Bear" for a long time on the floor that morning and a fun time was had by all. We discover that Max will smile nearly every time Grandpa does his Yogi impression- much to Jack Sr.'s delight. Then after an effortless nap (yay!) we packed him up to go visit his Great Grandma Peggy. She's one hardcore lady- she has been a rock for her family and extended family through some really hard times and she is who people always turn to when they have a baby and need a little help. At one point she told us she had three young moms and their babies living with her and she would bathe them one after another in the sink and pass them along to their moms assembly-line style. She also has had one of her collarbones removed because of cancer and Max is her THIRTEENTH Great Grandchild. She's really sweet and boisterous and happy whenever there's a baby around. We got this awesome pic of her with three of her kids (she has two more sons), one of her grandkids and her newest great grandson. I really hope we can get a picture with everyone in it soon.

Yay Four Generations! Grandma Peggy declared Max "a Grammar" as soon as she laid eyes on him (her side). Everyone exclaimed over how big he is and how alert and calm he was. Peggy kept talking about how he is sure to be smart. Jack Sr. is convinced that Max is destined to play football and already has the nickname of "Ragin' Cajun" picked out for him.

After that we went to Fiesta and put Max in the moby wrap- he was a bit sleepy and just stared at everything the whole time. When we got Max back to the house he had another nap and then we headed over to Aunt Brandi and Uncle Tony's house for dinner. We had Chinese delivery - it was really good and Brandi got to play with Max a whole bunch- he stayed up way past his bedtime.
At one point Brandi "put Baby in a corner"- it was really funny.

He went down like a dream once we got him back and gave him a bath- he was real tired by the end which is why he looks so uncertain. GrandpaBear loves to play games with babies and especially loves little bathtime games with squirty animals and little boats and stuff. He was so happy to have that little time with his new grandson and I was glad too- it was pretty silly to watch this giant man be a total goofball playing with the bath toys.

The next morning we woke up to the Fourth of July!! Yippee! Max's first holiday where he actually notices things (he was really too little at Easter). HoneyBear had all kinds of festive preparations as always, and Max was equipped with appropriate sleepwear.

Max got in some good HoneyBear time and some floor-play before he went down for a nice long nap- Jack and I tried to make breakfast but it didn't work out as good as we planned- poo. There was lots of food for the rest of the day. I'm always confused because Jack's parents always make a big deal about saying how good Jack is at making steaks and that he'll be in charge of them but then it seems like his Dad always ends up making them anyway. Who knows? Anywho there were mountains of food- most of it delicious.

So, I got him up from his nap and put him in his special Fourth outfit, but it turns out that overalls, adorable as they are, are too constricting for what Max would like to do- namely roll around on the floor and grab his feet- so he didn't stay in them for too long. Then he did another wardrobe change because the GrandBears had put up a little pool in the back for him and so he got into his little baby swim diaper and had his first pool encounter. It went really well and he seemed to like it alot, I swirled his legs around in the water and he didn't complain once- this was the first time he's ever been in cold water so I was pleasantly surprised by how mellow he was. It was really hot outside though.

Max also got to play with a windchime and he liked it alot- I had to pry the pull out of his little fingers to be able to walk away- he pulled on it alot and seemed to enjoy the sound.

Brandi and Tony bought some pretty tame fireworks that were legal for Dallas suburbia and reasonably safe for baby and Great Grandma and among them was "The Climbing Panda" which turned out to be pretty exciting actually.

These three had so much fun setting off fireworks for us all to watch. They only had one little bag but really made the most of it setting up various tableaus with smoke bombs and sparklers and jumping jacks and such- with the Climbing Panda being the first of a few "Grand Finales".

Brandi made sure that Memaw and the GrandBears got sparklers and they enjoyed them in the shade- especially Memaw- she loves 'em.
Max seemed pretty focused on the fireworks- we didn't get too much reaction out of him but he stared at them whenever they were happening.

I just love colored smoke bombs- who's with me? They're awesome and lovely- Brandi felt the spirit and danced in the smoke- I was glad that they were included- I think people forget how lovely they are and that there's an unfair preference in society for noisy fireworks.

We also played Sorry- which I'd never played, but it's remarkable similar to Parcheesi or Trouble so I picked it up pretty quickly. It is a strategy game where you can send people back to the beginning- so of course Tony won- he's very much the competitor.

So, that's pretty much it- we gave Max another bath and put him to bed in his carseat- he slept all the way home. The GrandBears called him an angel and said that he was the best behaved baby they'd ever seen and that we were surely doing things right. That's always nice to hear. They always compliment Thor's behavior too so it's good to feel like my "boys" were on good behavior. It was a really nice visit and everyone had a good time and laughed alot. We probably won't be up in Dallas again until Christmas when Max will be 10 months old! Hopefully they'll come visit him at his home sometime before then. He's changing so quickly I'd hate for them to miss that big a span of time.

Happy Fourth to everyone- Yay America!