Start Fresh

Happy Monday!

hi-d

This and That...

My little guy has been taking more steps on his own lately. In fact, I captured him in action briefly, on video Monday, but I accidentally erased it! Ugh! The next evening, Maximus and I were in the kitchen. I was sitting on the floor, and he was near the dishwasher. He started walking towards me and ended up right into my arms, with a big hug! It was the BEST thing ever...even if he may have been using me to keep himself from falling. Who knows...but, it was SO sweet!

Speaking of things getting erased...One of my biggest fears, since I haven't been keeping up on his baby book like I should, is that my blog would get lost/erased. I mean...WHAT IF? I would be crushed!!! As I was visiting blogs, I read on Katie's Keepers, about getting a blog published into a book. Katie has ordered blog books from a place called blog2print and I REALLY want to do this! It can be a little on the spendy side, but considering that I am documenting so much of Maximus' life on here, I believe it would be money well spent.

Kind of sad to see it go, but it was time. The paper shredder has now been removed and put into a closet where Maximus can't get to it. We bought him his very own garbage can with a swinging lid on it. This is a much more child friendly alternative. To prevent him from pushing it over, we put two 5 pound weights on the bottom, with a towel for padding. So, now he can put paper, toys or whatever he so desires into it.

Last night Rob was getting Maximus ready for bed & pulled his arms out of his sweatshirt and left him looking like this...

This cracks me up, but I'm not sure how funny he'll think it is when he's a teenager. Maximus really gets a kick out of his shirt like this. When we are changing him out of his clothes, he giggles when we're lifting the shirt over his face. As a tiny baby, he hated it! He would cry and scream everytime something was pulled over his face and head.

This is the look of someone doing something he isn't supposed to do. Here's that dvd/vhs player I've mentioned before. We try and block it, but he seems to find a way to get there...Determined little guy.

He almost looks too short to be climbing stairs. I love the little leg kicking out here. The sock on the stairs is his motivation.


Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
hi-d

Happy Monday

Happy day!

hi-d

Paper Shredding & Other Updates

A couple of weeks ago I caught Maximus in action on my cell phone video trying to use the paper shredder.

Things feel like they are getting back to normal, so to speak. It was a busy few weeks there getting ready for Maximus' party...then Rob was in Nashville, TN last weekend and part of this week on business. But he's now back home. Yay!

Maximus definitely missed his Papa and was very clingy to him that day he came home. I love watching the two of them together...

Aren't they cute? 

I've actually missed doing the weekly updates of Maximus, because I've found that this has been a good format for me to keep track of his growth & development.

So, here I go:

Maximus recently had his 1 year appointment and we are so blessed & happy to to have a healthy Toddler! He weighed in at 19.12 pounds & was 28.5" in length. He is small for his age, 10% (percentile) for weight & 12% for length, but is totally within his growth curve; so he is doing just fine. I think he may end up taking after Rob and will have a growth spurt when he gets into his teens.

Maximus loves standing...EVERYWHERE...on the floor, in your arms, on the furniture, in his crib, playpen and the bath tub. Speaking of the bath...his latest thing is putting his face in the water. He actually LIKES getting his face wet and I think he's also trying to get a drink of water.

Recently, he has taken a few steps on his own. He did this for Rob a few weeks ago...kind of holding onto furniture and then stepping away on his own for a bit. Yesterday I got to see it for my own eyes. And it didn't occur to me until he was on his 2nd or 3rd step that he was actually walking on his own! I don't think he realized it either until he came falling down.

His personality continues to emerge. There are times when he gets frustrated or upset and will tense up, eyes get large & he bursts out a scream. I am assuming that's normal, but I hope it doesn't become a habit. haha...But then he is a real goof ball too and likes to laugh and get us to laugh.

He is discovering all sorts of new things. What I wouldn't give to know what's going on in that brain of his. OH, speaking of that brain, he must have a good one in that head of his, because he ranked at 89% (percentile).

He continues to point more and more and likes it when we tell him the names of things that he's pointing at.

He's sleeping much better these days. His bedtime is a little later than it used to be, around 7:30 pm and he's been sleeping mostly through the night now. He usually gets up around 6:00 or 7:00 am, instead of the 4:30-5:30 am previously. And naps are typically 2 times a day. One in the morning and then another around 2:00ish. We try not to let him sleep past 4:30. That way, he sleeps better at night. And yes, this Mama still naps a lot when he's napping. I SO need my sleep!

M still likes sleeping in his sleep sack. Or, maybe it's me that likes him in it. Actually, that has got to be one of the BEST inventions. I love it because it keeps him warm. In order to transition him out of it though, he doesn't use one for naps. I was really excited to start letting him sleep with a blanket too recently. I'm sure he would have been okay to do this for a while now, but I was always nervous/cautious about it.

Well, that's about all for now. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll try and make my rounds soon.

Happy day!

hi-d

Links to Valentine's Day Crafts

If you're looking for some fun DIY Valentine's Day Crafts, look no further. This is a compilation of some things I've found online through blogs and pinterest.

 

 DIY Je t'aime' mini card sets by Amy Moss @ Eat Drink Chic

Valentine Printable @ Bonjour! Blog

Origami Heart Love Note from Amy Moss @ Eat Drink Chic

Paper Valentine's Bouquet @ Katydid & Kid

Printable Valentine's Vouchers @ Love vs. Design

XOXO Canvas Tutorial @ Craftaholics Anonymous

I hope to do at least one of these in the very near future.
What about you?


I hope you all have a sweet day!

hi-d

Happy 1st Birthday, Maximus! (Fair warning...LOTS of pictures)

 

 

Happy Birthday, Maximus! You have brought us so much joy this past year. You are sweet, content, intelligent, peaceful, tender, funny, mischievious, determined & serious at times. We love you so much!

You also share a birthday with your proud Grandpa, (Rob's Dad). Here you were last year, only 7 days old. We want to wish you a Happy Birthday as well, Dad/Bernie/Grandpa! We hope you had a fun day! Love you, from all of us!

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Saturday we had a party for Maximus. We celebrated in the afternoon with our families over at my parent's house. The weather was beautiful and it turned out to be a fun day!

The Birthday Boy

I was happy with how the cake turned out. Thanks to my best friend, Shirley for getting me hooked up with Pinterest, I found some cakes on there and incorporated some of those design elements into this cake. The bakery that made it did a fantastic job of taking what I did in photoshop and the cake photos from Pinterest, to make this yummy cake.

I bought some fleece fabric at JoAnn Fabrics, using a 50% off coupon and it served as a table cloth. Now, I'll be able to sew the edges and make it into a blanket. I love finding a duel purpose for things.

This diy birthday banner was another thing that I found off of Pinterest. Here is the link from Katydid & Kid's blog that shows you the step by step how to on this fun sign that I'll use for many birthday's to come. The ribbon connecting the circles together was ribbon I saved from baby/shower gifts.

Having fun with with his cousin, Isaac.

His other cousin Isaiah is in the background. These two are so cute together.

This was the gift that Grandpa & Grandma LaLa (Rob's parents) gave to him and it served as "the chair" that he sat in to open presents. Okay...I technically opened the gifts, but he enjoyed grabbing the boxes, bags, wrapping paper & tissue. 

Here was Maximus' own personal cake. You'll notice that the top portion looks like a bite was taken out of it. Oops...unfortunately it slipped in the box when we were transporting it into the house.

And now the fun part! Boy, oh Boy! He really didn't eat a whole lot of the cake or the whip cream frosting. He put his hands in his mouth enough times to make his lips turn blue, but when Rob gave him a bite of cake, he kind of had a funny look on his face. Just as good. I'd rather have him stick to fruits & veggies. :)

He definitely needed a good bath after all of that.

When Rob, my Mom and I were cleaning up, my Dad was holding Maximus on his lap and the two of them were rocking in the chair. It didn't take too long before he fell asleep. I just love this photo. So, sweet!

Happy day!

hi-d

52 Weeks

52 weeks old! And by the expression here, he looks very glad to see that these weekly photos are coming to an end. Oh, don't you worry though, Maximus. You aren't quite off the hook. I'm still planning on continuing this for your "monthly" photos, for the next year. :)

I've said it before, but it's so crazy how much can happen in a week. He is recognizing so many words and is pointing to a lot of things. He gets super excited when we go to the garage. He calls it, "gu" as in gum. And will start to say it even before we get to the door. He's saying other words as well, like "ball" but oftentimes just says, "bu" as in bun. Other words, such as good, boy, light, & car, he'll sound out the first letter. 

A few days ago, he was sitting on Rob's lap and we were feeding him bites of chicken. He started pointing to the chicken, basically telling us that he wanted more. It was SO exciting to me to see how he was communicating this with us! When it comes to eating, he is pretty independent at times and wants to feed himself. He's even started feeding us food. A couple days ago, he fed me banana. It was the sweetest thing. And he seemed to think it was pretty funny.

Saturday we had a birthday party for him, and it was a lot of fun. Let's just say that he was not the least bit shy about getting his hands on that cake of his. I will post some pictures this week for those of you who haven't seen them on facebook.

Tomorrow is his actual birthday. He was born at 3:19 am. It was about this time of night that I was getting an epidural. And thank goodness for that! Labor was not easy for me. 

Today I took Maximus shopping and bought him some balloons, which he was excited about. I also picked up a few things and wrapped them for him. That's one benefit of buying for him at this age. He doesn't know the difference, so I was able to get all of this done in front of them. I even decided to wrap one of the sippy cups that I bought for him today. 

Tomorrow should be pretty kick back. I'm hoping to try and get his hand print on canvas. We'll see how that goes. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy day!

hi-d