Summer!

We are so glad that summer is finally here!  We've had a couple of visitors from The Lone Star State.  I didn't get pictures but Jen, Rob and Keaton stopped by at the end of May.  

 This is my old boss, and dear friend, Jennifer with her two children, Lauren and Matthew.  They were so enthralled (and cute) with Mr. Max.

Emilee and Landon got married on June 2nd.  This one is out of order but this is Caleb, Max and Ayla at the wedding.

 Hanging out in the Mary Kay box.

 9 months old.  With two teeth.  Still no interest in crawling.  But Max can stand up and pull himself along the furniture.

 We bought an annual pass to Hogle Zoo.  Max enjoyed looking at the active animals but the slower ones lost his attention.  He had a great time watching all the kids run around, though.

 Emilee and Landon got hitched!  Em was such a beautiful bride!  And it was such a loooong day with a 9-month old.  Caleb helped keep Max entertained by covering him up in  with grass.  :-)

We spent last weekend at Cherry Hill resort.  Max went swimming for the first time and loved it!

We went to the cardiologist two weeks ago.  Everything is still on schedule.  They did not increase Max's medicine dosage to adjust for his weight gain.  The goal is to let him grow out of the medication over the next 2 1/2 months and then we can stop the medication on his first birthday.  I am counting down the days.  We are so close!!!!

Max also has a little divot at the top of his head.  We were supposed to get the helmet off last month but the doctor asked us to leave it on for one more month to see if that little dip would go away.  We go back next week for another evaluation.  And if he says we have to wear it for one more month, I will tell him to go fly a kite.  We're done.  The end.

Bits & Pieces

 7 months old.

 Playing in the backyard with his dinosaur hoodie.

 Go Aggies!

Max was born with torticollis, which means he couldn't turn his neck.  As a result, he had a pretty flat head (just one more thing for this poor kid).  Here he is at the doctor's office getting scanned for his helmet.  He has to wear the helmet for four more weeks full-time and then we go to wearing it during naps and at night for one more month.

 Happy St. Patty's Day!

 The Easter Bunny found us this year!

 8 months old.

 Grammie brought Max an Easter basket full of goodies!

 Max with his nanny, Jordan.  Max absolutely adores Jordan!

 These next few pictures are from Max's six-month photo shoot (except for it was actually closer to seven months because the photographer's baby came down with RSV and they were quarantined, so we had to reschedule).

1. Max is such a happy, content baby.
2. Can roll from stomach to back and vice versa but still has absolutely no interest in crawling.  He gets mad when we try to prop him up on his hands and knees.
3. Can stand at the coffee table and bang his hands for a long time.  His legs are so strong - I expect him to take off walking any day now.
4. Likes: pears (his fav), bananas, peas, apples, squash, avocados, strawberries, blueberries and carrots.  Not a big fan of the beef and potatoes puree (is this our kid??).
5. Loves jumping in his bouncer and still enjoys playing in his baby gym.
6. Loves being outside.  Smiles whenever the sunshine or wind hits his face.
7. Is just as happy playing with the Target ad (smashing and crunching it) as he is playing with any of his toys.
8. Fav book is "Mr. Brown Can Moo!  Can you?" by Dr. Seuss.
9. Loves to spit.  We've had to take him out of Sunday School a few times because he gets a little out of control.
10. Everyone tells us that he has a great smile.  They say his whole face lights up when he smiles.
11. Still no teeth.  And it seems like he's been working on getting his top teeth for about six weeks now.  He doesn't seem to mind too much so I guess we'll just keeping waiting...
12. Doesn't mind being woken up at 5:00 a.m. every day to take his medicine.  He has a much better attitude about it than I do.  Maybe because he gets to go back to sleep after he's done…  The good news is we haven't had another episode of SVT.  We're getting closer to the one-year mark when we can take him off the meds.  Everyone says, "Enjoy every moment.  It will go by so fast.  You'll miss these days when he's older."  Trust me…there's not much I'm going to miss about this first year.  It's dragging on, and on, and on…  We are so excited for Max's one-year birthday to get here!!!

Green Beans!

Max is six months old! He weighs 14 lbs 15 oz (9th percentile) and is 25 inches (7th percentile). His head is in the 29th percentile! :-) He might be a shrimp but he's a smart one! Max decided to roll over (from stomach to back) one day before his six month birthday. We've also started feeding him solid foods. So far he has had green beans and sweet potatoes. Not really a fan of either one. He still loves playing in his baby gym but he's quickly becoming a big fan of his jumper (now that he's figured out how to jump in it). Max is so good natured. He can easily play by himself for at least an hour. We can't wait until the weather is nice enough to start going outside.

Save me, Aunt Karen!

We needed Aunt Karen today! Max's hair was long and scraggly on top and patchy in back so I decided to cut it. We might need a little more practice...

His face says it all. Really, Mom?? He didn't mind the clippers until the very end. I'm pretty sure we missed a few spots because I was trying to hurry.

Max had an appointment with his cardiologist on Thursday. Everything looks good. Dr. Pilcher upped the medicine dose just a little bit and told us that he didn't want to see us again until Max is 10 months old (or earlier if he has another episode of SVT). We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can make it to 10 months!!

5 Months!

Max is five months old today! Some fun facts about our little monkey:

• Weighed 12 lbs 9 oz and was 24 inches long on December 29th.
• Sleeps like a champ at night! He will wake up occasionally during naps but since we started giving him some rice cereal, that doesn't happen so much anymore.
• Hasn't had another episode of SVT since Thanksgiving weekend (and we didn't have to go to the hospital for that one).
• Loves playing in his baby gym. Tries to put everything in his mouth and gets mad if he can't get something in there just right.
• Has tough little legs. Prefers to stand up all the time.
• Is close to sitting on his own.
• Hates being on his stomach. Used to cry the minute we put him on his stomach. Now he tolerates it for a while and then just gives up and puts his head down until we move him. Not sure how he's ever going to learn how to crawl.
• Loves spending time with his nanny, Jordan. I can hear Max talking to Jordan all day long while I am working. They have some pretty serious conversations!
• Can't wait to rough-house with Daddy when he gets home from work.
• Has the sweetest smile. His whole face lights up!

We celebrated Cory's birthday a few weeks ago.
Dressed up in his Santa p.j.'s on Christmas Eve.
Max and his cousin, Gracie.
Spoiled rotten!

This is Max's 4-month picture. I bought Max the Osh Kosh overalls so that he could be like his Great-Grandpa Porter.
I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was younger. Grandpa Porter wore his overalls every day while he was working on the farm. Grandpa took me everywhere with him: milking cows, baling hay, moving pipe, etc. He used to catch the baby chickens and bring them to me so that I could pet / hold them. I was always amazed that he dared to walk through all of those pecking hens to get to the baby chicks. He ate bread and milk and watched Mash every night after he was finished milking cows. Grandpa could play a mean game of baseball, too. I hope Max has a little bit of his Great-Grandpa in him!

Halloween, Blessing Day, Thanksgiving and Santa Claus!

Wow! Times flies when you're having fun. I went back to work on November 14th and Max went into SVT that evening. Cue the guilt. So off we went to Primary Children's ER. They got him hooked up to all of the monitors and the IV team came in to insert a line so they could push the medicine to convert Max out of SVT. Those folks amaze me. The fact that they can find such a tiny vein is truly amazing. Anyway, in the middle of inserting the IV, Max started crying so hard that he converted himself out of SVT. Hooray! The doctor monitored him for an hour and then they let us go home. That was our shortest visit yet.

Three months old on November 21st.
Oops! This picture got out of order. Since we didn't go anywhere for Halloween, this was Max's "costume". He chilled with Cory while I handed out candy.
We blessed Max on November 6th. So many of our friends and family came to spend the day with us. We are truly grateful for their time and sacrifice. The blessing circle was so big - I think we had about 15 people up there. The outpouring of love for our little guy, from people that we care about, brought me to tears. And Cory gave Max a sweet blessing.





Thanksgiving with Aunt Emilee. A big thanks to my friend Linda for giving Max such a cute Thanksgiving onesie. In case you can't see, it says "Mommy's Little Turkey".
We had the Johnson Christmas party at Downata. Max didn't get to swim this year but he'll be out there next year for sure! He didn't seem to mind sitting on Santa's lap.
We also got to see Santa at the Hollingsworth Christmas party. I'm pretty sure Santa told Max he could have whatever he wants this year!

And Great-Grammie got to spend some time cuddling with Max.
Max loves his nanny, Jordan. We are all starting to settle into a routine. Did I mention that Jordan is my cousin? After all that time I spent interviewing nannies, I put a free post on Facebook and found out that Jordan was looking for a job. I could kick myself for all of that wasted time that I could have been napping with Max! It is truly a blessing to have someone that I trust caring for Max. There's no way I could ever take him to a day care. His eating and sleeping schedule is super strict because his medicine schedule is super strict. I don't know how a day care could manage that and keep tabs on his heart rate throughout the day.

Max loves to stand up. His little legs are so strong. He hates to be on his tummy, though. I'm not sure how he's ever going to get the hang of crawling. Max is also starting to reach for toys (with actual coordination) and has a pretty firm grip. He has such a sweet smile. We are still waiting for him to laugh. He's pretty hard to impress. He loves hanging out in his bouncy seat and kicking up a storm. Max usually goes to bed around 10:00 and will sleep until we have to wake him up at 5:00 to take his medicine. Too bad we can't just let him sleep until he wants to. Aunt Karen gave Max his first hair cut on Saturday. He just needed his ears lowered a little bit.

We have an appointment with the cardiologist next week. I hope we can make it until then without another trip to the ER. We woke up on Sunday morning and Max had gone back into SVT. Thank goodness we were back from Idaho - it always makes me nervous to be too far away from Primary Children's. I woke Cory up so we could start to load the car for the ride, and possible stay, at Primary's. I checked Max's heart one more time and he had come out of SVT on his own. He's been super fussy today so it wouldn't surprise me if he's going in and out of SVT. They will weigh him next week and see if they need to increase his medicine dose because of how much he has grown. And speaking of growing, we are finally moving into some of his 3-6 month clothes. At the last pediatrician appointment, Max was only in the 4th percentile for his age. His genes will prevent him from ever being tall but hopefully we can get him a little further from the bottom for his next appointment at the end of the month. :-)