One Year already

Max's first birthday has come and gone- we had two parties to divide up the crowd a bit and both went well I think.

It's amazing how much has happened this year and how much Max has changed. It's so hard to imagine life without him now that he's here. All the cliches are true.

We made a "ball pit" with the aid of the Douglases inflatable pool and it is still in the office as Max

enjoys it greatly.

I could not believe how much snow fell this year! Max got more snow in a few months than I ever remember seeing in 31 years of living in Texas. His first Christmas up in Dallas was white and even though he was decked out with awesome jolly roger galoshes he was very uncertain about snow, but now that he's seen it THREE TIMES he seems to enjoy it. He smiles when it's falling and he was quick to tromp around in it in his Aunt Selah's front yard. He likes to taste it too. :)

This post is not particularly well-organized, so you'll have to bear with me. For Max's first birthday party Jack and I made 116 meatballs, balled fruit salad and a ball shaped cake along with some olives, pearl mozzarella and grape tomatoes for the spread. A cheeseball and crackers were also generously donated by the Douglases even though a pink-eye quarantine kept them from attending. The crowd was smaller than we expected but the event was good times nonetheless. It was nice to see the Wallaces with JJ, the three of them are very sweet together.

In other now-that-my-son-is-a-year-old-news, we've started him on a toothbrush. We got this Abby Cadabby one because it came with it's own toothpaste and was much cheaper. The toothpaste says it's okay to swallow and flouride free so I guess it's okay for little ones, I'm going to check with the doc on Monday just to be safe. Before I thought about it though we let him try it a few times and he LOVES that toothpaste- he will essentially brush his teeth all by himself just by chewing on the brush forever.

Here's the first cake that I made- both were pretty tasty, but had their own issues. I'm learning the quirks of dimensional cakes. This first one was the prettiest though, even though the top half was largely hollow because it ended up with a giant bubble crater in it during baking somehow. I filled it with one of the mini cupcakes I made.

My look for party was a bit slap dash as well, but everything still worked out good. Jack and I had been sick for a couple of days leading up to this party so neither one of us was as fully prepared as we had intended to be- it's probably best that the crowd was smaller than expected.

I like that Max and I have almost the same expression in this photo.

Max mostly just ate frosting. Honestly I should have probably just put frosting on one of his little beach balls and saved myself a couple of hours.

There are so many great pictures of him, and this one's a little blurry but it might be my favorite just because of his sweet little glee-face. Plus he's holding my hand and that's always wonderful.

His Grand Bears got him a Dallas Cowboys "Next Draft Pick" t-shirt and a matching do-rag. We laughed and laughed......

His second cake ended up much sturdier but I didn't bother with multiple frosting colors so it wasn't as magical looking. Max of course didn't care one bit and enjoyed the frosting just as much if not more than the first go around. This picture is totally Baby American Psycho to me. I love it.

He is learning all the time, we're working on a first word, I will be so amazed when I can start truly understanding what he wants/means. It's an exciting prospect. I'm trying to throw in a little sign language, I feel a little guilty about not having done any before now, but whatevs- moving on. He drinks through a straw like a champ now, I think I have Plum Tots to thank for that, their fruit purees in little bags with nozzles on them got him into the sucking action and then it was just the transition to a smaller tube. I should probably buy more straws, he's much more efficient with them than drinking from a cup. We're still practicing that though. Next on the horizon are St. Patty's and Easter- I'm looking forward to both and hopefully will get some posts up about what we end up doing.

Cheers.

Highlights

Okay- so I haven't posted in a long time because I've been continuously trying to load the same damn picture from Father's Day over and over again in an attempt to write a post about it. Sadly my computer is randomly cranky about uploading photos- I think it has to do with the connection- but I just got wireless so I don't know what else I can do. Anywho- in light of the picture disaster and all the stuff that's happened since I am going to just do a highlight reel type post- some of you are probably relieved. :) If some of the photos are wonky- so be it.

Father's Day- really nice wake-up in bed with 3 bears after Max and I do side by side feeding- Jack gets to play with Max in his adorable new jammies.

Jack requests pancakes, eggs and sausage for breakfast- it's really yummy. The pancakes are not from scratch- they are in a spray can like whipped cream- but they're organic and tasty and pretty convenient.

We pack up and go to my family reunion- which is really our Father's Day gift to our Dad- to have his girls with their babies in such a special place on such a special day. We also got him a yoga gift certificate.

While we're up there we get a cool pic with the other twins in our family tree (or at least the closest ones) Burt and Clay. Burt is now the proud father of three gorgeous little girls- one of which is being held here by her uncle Clay. Both of those girls are 2 months older than Max. My question is, are all boys a bit bigger or is Max individually huge?

The next day we got Thor professionally groomed- he had basically never done this before. We took him to a Grandmom and Grandpop operation in San Marcos, but she requested that Jack stay and help her with our overly large cocker spaniel and it was just not the same as an anonymous professional place without Mommy or Daddy there. It didn't go well and so for the next 6 years or so Jack and I always groomed him at home with some clippers we bought and scissors and stuff. It was quite the production and we never did a very good job because Thor was not particularily co-operative. So, you can imagine our surprise and delight to have the groomer at Petsmart declare Thor "one of the best cockers [she's] ever groomed." Yippee!!! I don't have to forcibly groom an unwilling dog anymore! We also discovered that A. Thor really likes those cow hoof chewies and B. He's fatter than we thought he was under all that hair.

Max turned 4 months old! He sleeps between 11 and 12 hours every night by himself and he has just recently started rolling over completely- he still sometimes gets stuck for awhile and frustrated but he generally works it out. He also likes to stand for a long time if you hold his hands for balance. His favorite games are peek-a-boo and when we pretend to eat him.

I amuse myself slightly at Max's expense when I discover that he'll leave this horse on his forehead for quite awhile- I have a million pictures- but this is one of the best.

I also amuse myself with his adorable little hat that Selah gave him because it goes with the outfit that is extra wide and does not fit her lean baby. While making fascinators, I stick a stray leaf on top for a little green apple effect- so cute. :)

Mine and Selah's 31st Birthday! We have in the past thrown many and huge themed get-together but with babies we take it easy and go to our Parent's house where Mum is making us dinner. I really cherish showers now that I'm a mama and I have this nice robe from my mother in law and these turbie twists for my hair and I feel so fancy like I'm in a salon in the 40's when I wear the matched set. I feel like Esther Williams.

We put Max-o in a little outfit that Grandma Cat bought him and sadly I think we waited too long as it is really difficult to get him in and out of and is a bit snug on his chubby legs.

But at least we get a few pics of it....

Before he lets us know that he would prefer nuditity for a little while. Yay Naked-Time! He gets this every day- usually in his diaper so he doesn't pee on us. Dicey likes to touch his head- it's very sweet- she seems fascinated by him- he hasn't particularily noticed her yet but if you lay them next to each other they'll sometimes hold hands like that video of the otters a while back.

This is my Dad's hand- not Jack's- Max tends to make funny faces when you squish his cheeks.

So, Father's Day=Good, Birthday=Good- I will try to do more frequent postings and ignore the occasional janky photo so I don't get so behind again.