I've been busy....

WE've been pretty busy lately so I haven't been posting like I should- *sorry* :(
Quick update- this is the cliff's notes version since I am still in the process of moving while taking care of a baby.
Max loves to drink out of cups and is really strong and hard to get cups away from once he grabs hold. It's pretty adorable.
He's been sleeping a little bit better and not waking up at 5 or a little before, so that's been nice. Plus we're doing a quick reassurance IF he wakes up before he should, just going in and patting him, letting him know we're still around and then leaving. That's working pretty well too.

Max had a bunch of firsts just recently and he is SOOO close to crawling- it will be any day now. (I keep crossing my fingers that he'll wait for the carpeted new home)
He has very recently started to pull up, mostly to his knees but he can pull up to his feet and is doing it more and more. These pictures don't showcase his utter glee at this new accomplishment- but he loves to do this.

He has not figured out quite yet that it's not a good idea to suddenly let go with both hands when I'm close by but it's real sweet to have him reach for me which is sort of a new thing too. While he has been standing with assistance for months and months now he just yesterday took steps while holding Jack's hands. His first "fingerwalking" was very exciting for me. It's pretty crazy to see him growing so fast. We had suspicions that he was sitting up on his own but got proof yesterday evening on our bed. He's been good at staying sitting up when placed that way for close to a month now, but now can get there all by himself!

Also, last night and this morning he seems to be doing a new trick where if I make a smacky pop sound with my lips he'll give me a big slobbery "kiss". He's done it for Jack too- we'll see if it sticks around- it's super cute. Here's a video that shows him doing this. It's not good quality because it was shot with Jack's phone- so I promise I'm not slinging my baby around haphazardly, it just looks that way because of the speed. I don't know why it freaks out right before the end either.

All this amidst lots of packing and rain and moving boxes into the rented storage unit in our front yard. Jack is being dramatic for the picture- and that's not sweat, it's rain. Sorry for the half orange upload, I don't feel like trying again.

Only about a week to go and we're very excited! I'm really looking forward to having our house "warmed" by a bunch of people soon so they can see the house before I do a bunch of stuff so they'll know what it started out like. Yay- super thrilling times!