He's 6 months!

Can you believe Max is 6 months old??? Yeah. Me neither. I mean DANG, that is OLD!! We are so in love with and proud of the little bugger it's ridiculous. But that's just the life of a parent I guess. Especially when your kid is as cool as Max ... it's a little hard not to get caught up in it all. ;)

So I took Max to the doctor out in Utah yesterday, just a couple of days after his 6 month birthday, and the doctor said he is one of the busiest, most active 6 month olds she's ever seen. Yeah ... no kidding. I can't believe I am already chasing after him at this age! He is into everything, and if he wants it he will get it. He's just that determined, and he's also that strong. He's been "crawling" for a while now ... started with the army crawl and now he's got his feet into it. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth but doesn't yet take off from that position. Probably just a matter of days.

And with mobility comes injuries. Booo! Max has already had his share of head bumps, but luckily no black eyes yet. My parents have two steps that go up from the family room to the kitchen and this morning he had crawled halfway up the second step before we grabbed him to keep him from crashing down on the tile ... and then he did it several more times with supervision. Starting to climb stairs already? Are you kidding me??

(Update: about an hour after I posted this Max successfully climbed both stairs and started off across the kitchen. Oh DEAR.)

So here's where he's at:

17 lbs 2 oz (50th)
26 1/2 inches (50th)
44 cm head (50th)

People always think he seems big, but obviously he can't be that big! He's just SOLID. Here are just a couple of recent pictures ... I'll hopefully post some better 6 month shots later on.

Here's a little more about what Max has been up to:

* Started solids - oatmeal, butternut squah, sweet potato, and a little rice cereal. He did ok a first but the past few days he's been less and less interested - just leaving it on his tongue and starting to gag. Maybe we'll wait a few days and try again.

* Sitting much better - though he can still take a hard topple if he looks over his shoulder.

* Sleeping a little worse than when we left Maryland. For while he was up more than twice a night to eat, now it's back to two times. (A lot of times he does another wake up before 11 but we just let him cry for that one.) Naps are 3 times a day, but usually are just 30-60 mins.

* Still LOVES to be outside. He tries to eat the grass, leaves, and woodchips (well, anything, really).
* Loves to squawk at us and shower everything around him in spit.

* His hair is starting to really grow in ... turning him into Mohawk Max (Joe says it's almost time to start styling it).

Six month Max is just a riot and a handful. I never thought I could love him as much as I do. It's insane!!! And kind of funny to know that Joe and I are the only ones who feel quite this strongly about Max, but that other parents feel the same way about their own kids. What JOY.

Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure!!

This one is funnyyyy.

Max shows off his crawling!

Goodbye

What a month! I don't even know where to start. Let's see .... Joe finished his residency at the end of June, and 1 week later we left our beautiful home behind and made the cross-country drive to Salt Lake City, with extended stops in Memphis, Denver, and Grand Junction to visit friends and do some interviewing (in Denver). More on that later!! Since trying to catch up on everything seems a little daunting at this point, here are a few very sad pictures to get me started: Max and Reese on the day before D-day.

(Sorry I didn't get out all the red eye ... I hadn't planned on posting so many but then at the last minute decided Lori would want them.)

Gotta love the bug eyes.

Needless to say, these kids are as cute as they come. I am so sad that we had to move just as Max was starting to get more mobile and interactive ... he and Reese could have had some really good times. But, I am VERY glad that we got to live by each other for the past 3 years! After a couple of years on our own it was fun to have family around. First we got to bond as two of the very few couples we knew without kids, free as a bird to come and go as we pleased. ;) And then we got to go through the crazy/awesome experience of being pregnant and having babies! (Luckily I went second so Lori could empathize every step of the way.) Now we have these two little bugs in our lives and it's all about them now (in a good way!!!!!).

I'm so glad we got a few downtown B'more pictures before we took off. Thanks Lori.

Great picture, huh??

Oh, and it never hurts to have family around when you're moving so that there's someone to start throwing the remaining odds and ends into boxes (Joe and I are way too OCD to pack like that, which is why packing took us FOREVER) as well as someone willing to scrub your toilets and finish up the cleaning you just couldn't get to. Thank you again!!!! Can't wait to see you guys out West in a few weeks :)