1 MONTH !!!

Our little Max is already 1 month old. How crazy is that?!? Part of me really misses tiny, scrawny, adorable little newborn Max, but 4 week old Maxbug is pretty cute, too. And a lot more work! He is still a champ but we've had a few rough days with lots of crying and it just about breaks mom's heart. We sure love the weekends when Dad is around!

At his 3 week appointment Max was 9 lbs 2 oz, so I'm sure by now he's around 10. These pictures are in chronilogical order, so you can watch his cheeks getting chubbier and his hairline receding as the days go by. ;)

Not sitting up yet, but he has rolled over 3 times! (From front to back.)

He loves getting bundled and going for walks ...

Max got his first letter! Thanks to his friend Caelan for the cute card.

This is one guilty face if you ask me. Max already likes trouble and I can only imagine the fun in store for us!

Our litte Eskimo:

This is one proud mama!

I can't lie, sometimes I am very eager for the future when my little boy will sleep more (at night) and cry less. But at the same time each day brings wonderful moments and I am treasuring having this little sweetheart who will still snuggle with me and fall asleep in my arms. I know it won't last forever. He already has such a personality and I just love watching his every move (except when he's cranky). He is practicing his smile and is getting so close!

Little Max, you are growing up so fast and I have mixed feelings about it.

Look Alike

This is baby Joseph at 2 weeks old. Pretty cute, right? (Except he's a little grumpy.) For Christmas, Joe's mom gave us the outfit pictured above for little Max. I was so excited. At 2 1/2 weeks, we put Max in his Daddy's clothes and he gave us a similar grumpy little stare.

Baby Joe was cute, but Max is beyond adorable. At least we think so.

And here's baby Lindsey at 1 week old. Looks like some of my genes made an appearance after all!

So ... who do you think Max looks like the most?

Quick Question

Joe & I are interested in getting a baby swing for Mr. Max. Before we go out and buy one, I thought I'd ask whether any of our Maryland friends have a swing currently not in use that they'd be willing to let us borrow for a few months. If so let us know!

P.S. Thanks so much to the Harbertson's who have already let us borrow their bouncer. Max sleeps like a champ in that thing (usually). :)

Football Fans

With Joe being the football maniac that he is, the first time watching a game as father & son is definitely something worth documenting. When Max was 12 days old, the Saints took on the Colts in the Superbowl. It was a great game, and the Saints pulled out a win in the end. Mr. Max didn't get into the game too much, but he had a good time with Dad nonetheless.

First - Dad introduces Max to his first football (which was a gift from Nate & Lori ... just the perfect size and shape and perfect timing as well!).
Then we get him all set for the game with ball, chips, and guac.

Since Max has a lot to learn, Dad started with some of the basic calls. Touchdown!

Delay of game ...

Among others. The delay of game was called on Mommy for not having the milk ready. Then Max got charged with a false start because he was only pretending that he wanted to eat.

I am excited for these two fans to enjoy many more games together. And so it begins!

More Max!

Today Max is 11 days old. I can hardly believe we've been home from the hospital more than a week! The days just fly by. I can already tell it's going to be hard to watch him get bigger ... I just know I'll break down crying the first time he outgrows an outfit. Joe and I love, love, love having our sweet little Max to cuddle and hold. Here are some pictures of life the first week at home. Home sweet home ... the first night.

Hanging with Grosi. We are sooooo glad she's here (and thanks to the snow we get to have her for another day or two).

All clean after the first bath at home.

A few family pictures taken at five days old.

Max is a great sleeper. He has his fussy times and fights sleep sometimes but once he's out he's OUT! (Even all the fire alarms going off in our house didn't wake him. Wow.)

I'm a bug!

And a baby moose!

Napping with Dad.

And with Mom.

Max's first visit to the doctor. He was exceptionally well-behaved (except for when he peed on the doctor!).

Our first walk around the block.

10 day old Mr. Max.

We feel fortunate to have a great baby on our hands with little Maximus. I get so excited to see his cute little face every time he wakes up ... and then am just as happy to have those eyes finally close so I can get some rest. ;) Since we can't take him out and show him off just yet, we'll have to keep showing off via the blog. Enjoy!

One week ago today ....

.... we headed to Greater Baltimore Medical Center with an empty carseat in the backseat. We were full of anticipation and eagerness for our little child to come, but couldn't quite comprehend the fact that we'd be driving back home as a family of three! Here's a brief recap of some of what went on during our life-changing 2.5 day hospital stay.

Monday was a busy night at the hospital so it took a while to get us to a Labor and Delivery Suite and get the process started. At about 9:30 p.m. a foley bulb catheter was (painfully) placed which would manually dilate me to a 3. The pressure from the catheter intensified the weak contractions I'd been having all day, and in just a couple of hours it did its job. Around midnight I was started on a low dose of Pitocin and the contractions continued. They were bearable, but I was kind of bummed that Joe was fast asleep with his Benadryl and the Ambien they gave me definitely wasn't doing a thing. (If I'd have realized I'd be in labor all night instead of waiting to speed things up until morning I wouldn't have agreed to take it!) At 5:00 a.m. they checked me and I was now at a 4. (Only 1 more centimeter! I could hardly believe it.) Things were getting more painful by now, and I told Joe he was "DONE SLEEPING." To really get things going they broke my water and increased the Pitocin. Contractions quickly became faster and stronger and it it wasn't too long before I started asking about the Epidural, which turned out to be much less scary than I had expected. For a while I was in that nice place everyone talks about, not feeling much but watching on the monitor to see all the contractions I was having. After a while I got feeling back on the right side of my body, so I got another Epidural push to even things out. That worked great for a while. Eventually I started getting feeling back everywhere and was in a lot more pain than I thought was necessary, so I asked about another push. My doctor said she didn't want to check me yet because each check increases the risk of infection, and to call her back when my pain had reached a 9 out of 10 on my pain scale. Ahhh!

At this point the contractions were really frequent and painful and Joe was great at helping me breathe through them. We were glad we had taken a childbirth class! Finally I couldn't take it anymore and called the doctor back in. She checked and I was at a 10! Time to PUSH!

At this point I was so exhausted that the pushing was really challenging. Joe and my nurse each took a side and coached me through it. Joe had to get in my face and help me breathe after each contraction so that the baby's heart rate would go back up. Slowly I was making progress. I pushed for 1.5 hours, not including a couple of breaks where we let the heart rate stabilize and waited for my doctor to get back. I was so tired I really thought I might not be able to push him out after all. But somehow I did!!! At 11:36 a.m. Mr. Max was born. Joe was a great coach. I got to watch everything in the mirror and it was amazing. My doctor did a fabulous job so that I only had internal tearing, and our little man was finally here.

Max's first full body shot ... umbilical cord still connecting the two of us. Joe was the one to cut it!
My first moment holding my baby boy. I was overwhelmed with relief, excitement, and pure joy.

They took him from me to wipe him off, and Joe reached out to touch Max for the first time. Max just grabbed right on to his Daddy's finger and looked up at him. They are already the best of pals.

Max was grabbing at everything! Even the nurse's clothes. Many nurses have commented on his impressive strength, and now Joe can understand why I gasped in pain with some of his kicks to my belly!

They brought Max back to me a few minutes later and we got to breastfeed right away. He ate like a champ.

Daddy gets to hold and admire his brand new boy.

Then we moved to a postpartum room and Max was taken away for a while to get his bath, etc. I missed him SO MUCH!! I was so, so excited when he came back to us. Here are a few pictures of our little family taken that evening.

Aunt Lori, our first visitor, took the pictures. We were happy she could come share in our miraculous day.

Our time in the hospital seemed really hectic to me. There were so many checks, feedings, consultations, etc. that of course we got very little sleep. But we loved being there and having great nurses to care for me and our baby. We also loved the few quiet moments we had together just to marvel at this sweet little boy and soak in all the wonderful emotions of becoming a little family. Dad and Max got to do a lot of cuddling as well.

The next day my mom came into town and was able to come see us at the hospital and meet her first grandson! We are so grateful to have her here. I really don't know what I'd do without her.

Max did so well at the hospital. Here he is sleeping like a champ in his bassinet.

Day three, and it's time to go home already. I just love my little Max and couldn't wait to take him home with me so I could stop having nightmares about someone stealing him from the nursery!

Oh, he's just ADORABLE.

On the car ride home I sat in the back with Max. He fussed for about 3 minutes and was an angel the rest of the way.

We are happy to be home and recovery is going pretty well. Thanks for all the excitement, support, and prayers for our little family. It really is completely amazing (and challenging) being parents to Mr. Max. And that's how it all began!