Happy Easter

Max enjoyed his first Easter at Mom-mom Mom-mom's (since my mom is mom-mom, that's what we decided my mom-mom is for Max:)). He was a little sick, we're not sure if he caught my little cold or if he had a small reaction to his shots; in any case he couldn't put on his full Maxwell show for everyone, but we headed over on Saturday so I could clean for my grandmother for her 85th birthday. After 85 years I figured she deserved someone else cleaning her house once. Sunday we got all decked out and headed to church. The clip on tie didn't make it on, someone was throwing a minor fit while dressing so it wasn't worth it, but I think it still turned out pretty good.

We didn't get to see what the Easter bunny brought till tonight since we got back so late last night and Dad had to go in to work today (though we think his home work computer is finally fixed this evening) but we got a few fun new toys, a bunny from mom-mom, some books and cd's from Uncle Kris and Aunt Wendy and some cute outfits from other family members.

He Lives, He Lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives...He lives within my heart.

6 months

We figured 6 months was a formal affair (thanks to our tux onsie from Uncle Kris and Aunt Wendy's visit to the House of Blues).

We had our 6 month check up yesterday and he's doing great. He weighs 17.6lbs (49%) and is 26 1/4 inches long (45%). He does everything developmentally the Dr. was expecting (sitting up, strong legs for "standing", rolling over, etc...) He's been loving his food. I had questioned the Dr. because he's drinking almost half as much as he used to but the Dr. thinks its a good thing. They want the babies to get nutrients from food because when they're done with breast milk (or formula) and move to cow's milk, the cow's milk has no nutrients so babies who were used to filling up on milk instead of food have a harder time adjusting and may not get all the nutrients they need. (You learn something new every day). He's had peas, sweet potatoes and carrots and still eats his oatmeal every day (mixed with an increasing amount of prunes). We still haven't gotten that nap schedule down, but he sleeps so well at night I really can't complain! He likes to sit up and play now which is nice. He LOVES to be outside. We've had a few warm days but can't wait for more. He'll watch cars outside and follow them until they're out of sight.

Here he is in his new ride...

On a random note, I just want to apologize to anyone I've ignored this week, its been so crazy. Over the weekend a pipe burst in our office and there was some flooding. Not too much was ruined but we ended up having to move and lets just say all didn't go so well, basically just total chaos. I think by Monday we'll be ok but, although I really do like my job and the people I work with, it just didn't bring out the best in everyone and I really only need to deal with one baby at a time! Randomly Nate's work computer hasn't been working so well either but its made for a pretty easy day today and hopefully will be back up soon so he won't have to go into the office.

Happy Easter everyone!

Mom-Mobile

Well...its official. Its time for the soccer sticker on the back window and elastic waist (non maternity!) pants!!

My poor accord was on its last breath and we knew by summer (one of its problems is overheating) we'd need something new so we started looking and ended up getting something quicker than we thought. This week we bought a 2002 Mazda MPV ('mom's personal van' as Nate calls it). We really like it. We didn't really want another car so we figured we might as well go with a 3rd row of seats and I'm not such a big fan of bigger SUV's for a number of reasons so the mini-van seemed to be the best option (I draw the line at station wagons). Its smaller than most so I really like that, but has a lot of room inside. The middle seats are separate and the one on the passenger side slides back and forth which is nice. And of course the back row folds down and there is also a deep "trunk" behind the 3rd row so it has a lot of storage. It also has a DVD player which Nate is thrilled about. They did a good job cleaning it all up and we got a decent deal (more than I was prepared to spend but have to get something reliable).

Oddly enough, this past Saturday I was driving over to my mom's and had to take the Accord cause Nate was out in the CRV, and I was thinking to myself about how much I just loved this car. Little did I know 4 days later I would be giving her up:( We'd been through a lot. I bought it myself a few months after I moved to DC/VA. And before I even made one payment on her she was stolen:( But, since we were meant to be, she came back to me and kept me company on MANY DC to Philly road trips for 4 years. But... as Nate reminds me, when we got married I made him give up his Accura (not that I had anything against the car itself but it was souped up to be WAY too loud for city living, plus it was stick which I couldn't drive) so this time it was my turn. She is 14 years old so thats what, 95 in people years?!?

A moment of silence please...

But check out the cool Max Mobile!

Oh and our eating machine has grown another 3 feet since last week. He started peas today (he'd just been eating oatmeal so far) and he liked it. He didn't like the texture so much, I had to add a little water but he's such a piggy I think he'll eat anything.

He's also sitting up so well now:

Is summer here yet??

I guess there is nothing we can do about it so I should quit complaining but I really just hate February, March and April. Supposedly we had the first day of spring but not only did I forget to get my free Rita's but its still kind of cool and there are still WAY too many germs floating around!

We don't have too much new to report. Max is growing like a weed again, out of even some 6 month stuff already. He's doing great with his cereal. We switched to all Oatmeal for his stomach and he's eating it 3 times a day. We'll stick with this for another week or so before we switch over to veggies....I'm kind of scared of the mess veggies will make.... out of both ends...

We haven't yet found a bubble to keep Max in, though we've been trying to keep him away from germs, even kept him home from church on Sunday just to be safe and of course I end up with the flu anyway... which I find ironic since I got the flu vaccine for the first time this year even though I haven't had the flu in 20 years. Luckily the boys seem to be ok and I'm sure I'll recover. I'm NOT a good bed rest person, I get so bored so I'm hoping it passes quickly.

Max is a bunch of laughs lately. He goes absolutely nuts in his jumper, but I guess its good exercise for him. He still has a bit of a whine we'd like to get rid of but if that's our only complaint than I'll keep quiet. He's been sitting up pretty well lately and has been rolling over some too. I'm not too anxious for him to be mobile but its fun watching him learn new things.

Other than that we're just waiting for warm weather. We have a trip planned for a little Swanson family reunion at the lake in MN in July we're looking forward to. And of course Uncle Kris and Aunt Wendy will be coming in May so we can't wait for them to meet the Maxwell. We've been spending a lot of time with Great Grandma Nancy and we're sad to see her go this weekend but so glad we got such good time to spend together!

Our jobs are going well. I am pretty close (probably am since I've been sick) to loosing my Maxwell weight. I put the 6 in 6 rule as opposed to the 9 in 9 so I only have a little time left to go. I'd like to loose a few more then before summer but it is what it is. I have a million excuses why I haven't made it on the treadmill like I'd like but again.... just waiting for warmer weather so Max and I can take walks.

So here are a few pictures. My mom got a frame and she needed a picture. We realized since she sees him so much we really didn't have a good one of the two of them together lately so we snapped a great shot:

And of course we have so many clothes we received that never even got worn because they were for the wrong seasons.... this Curious George T-shirt was so small but he looked so cute, I had to snap a picture before it made its way into the attack.

March photo shoot

I take NO credit for these! Aunt Ellie is getting VERY good at this and we really appreciate having these "memories". And I started to think of all the money we'll save from having to go to studios:) I still don't have my hands on all of them but these are some I stole from her blog that she fixed up really nicely...

Great Grandma Nancy and Max with his cousins.

We loving having her in town!

Cousins Luke and Emma playing at the lake, I just think its the cutest picture!

5 months

Its 5 months already....we're working on a theme with our sports onesies, Eagles will be next month! Its hard to show off our cute onsies in the winter time.

Its been a crazy month. Its a short month for one and then he was so sick for 2 weeks but he's a trooper. He's getting the hang of the cereal thing, sometimes he eats more than others but he's getting it. At only 5 months there is no hurry.

He's still sleeping well (though I hate to write this, knock on wood!). It varies but the last two nights he's slept from about 8:30pm till after 6:30am. My body is starting to adjust to all that sleep too. At first I was just waking up by 5pm because I wasn't used to getting more than 5-6 or so hours at a time but its really nice! It helps being dark in the morning now too! We often cut down on a feeding if he sleeps late and try to work the times back in which usually happens by the afternoon. We're still trying to get into some kind of nap routine. Generally speaking he takes a half hour to hour nap in the morning (I call it lappy nappy cause he usually gets snuggled on someones lap for that one), one mid day maybe, and then a longer nap, 2-3 hours, in the afternoon, which seems to happen in his swing because he's just not into his crib during the day. He's starting to be able to sit up a little bit, we practice on the bed because he thinks its fun when he falls (and of course its just on our soft down comforter). It will be nice when he can do more on his own and we don't have to switch between 7 different play places for him all day long.

It was so nice last weekend, we finally got some real outdoor time in. Aunt Ellie and the kids came up and we walked down to the pond to see the ducks and fish.

Daddy just practicing for his many fishing trips with baby boy.


Sweater and hat Grandma Diana made, too cute!

Big Changes

Our little boy is growing up so fast. We had two big changes this weekend. First, he slept through the night.... well from 8:45pm-5:45am so I consider that a whole night. And he's been consistent now 3 nights sleeping until 5:30-6am so I think this is his new schedule. He's been doing so well too, not waking up at all (knock on wood). And then after he nurses, he has been going back down to sleep until about 8am.

And since his schedule was changing and he's skipping a whole feeding, we obviously decided to start cereal this weekend. Its been pretty funny. He was pretty scared of it at first but he was eating it, he just cried some in between. By the 3rd day now he's getting it down pretty well and eating a full 1/2 tablespoon bowl (mixed with breast milk of course) and liking it a lot better. Lucky for me cereal is just sloppy and white, I'm not looking forward to orange and purple mess all over the place! So he eats his cereal when he wakes up about 8am and then some more after he nurses in the evening. We've also upped his bottles to 8oz which he sucks down, during the day at least. Other than that he's pretty much back on the same eating schedule with his mid-morning, mid-afternoon, evening and nighttime nursing/bottle. We still haven't been able to work out a napping schedule and he's not too fond of his crib during the day, which makes it harder but all in all we're pretty lucky to have such an easy baby. Every once in a while we're still having those nursing problems but I just let him cry and he eats eventually and its nothing like the 45 mins it took me the other week. He's a fast learner:)

So that's our update of the week, its fun watching him change so much. My mom can get him to do "So Big", at least one handed, and he's really reaching for stuff and for people so its cute. He's just a lot of smiles and fun these days!

(HA! This blog jinxes me! I posted this Tuesday night and of course this morning, Wednesday, he woke up at 4:30am to eat again.... I guess its a work in progress....)