I Can't Decide

I don't think I'm going to find out what I'm having this time around. I've heard it's fun to not know; I'm not having any baby showers; all my stuff works for a boy or a girl; and (hopefully) I can get boys and girls clothes from relatives or craigslist if it comes down to it. Any opinions on this? Any good reasons why I should or should not find out?

Day at the Park (Basically a dog post)

Murphy and Thatch are learning to play frisbee. They are getting pretty good and finally getting some coordination. Sometimes I forget how young they still are; Thatch is only 1 1/2 and Murphy is 2 years. They remind me of gangly teenages sometimes, especially Thatch.

This is how Max hangs out.
Thatch is pretty patient.

This is me at almost 16 weeks. I posted the one above because it seems like I look different in it and I don't know if it's the angle or what.

I know you show a lot sooner with subsequent pregnancies and I was fine with that. I'm just not sure how many more pictures I'll be taking. I just don't feel as big as I look in this picture so I'm thinking it really is the angle....

Oops

I was feeding Max one day when a spider or moth or something started crawling across the carpet right towards me. I can't stand to squish things so I quickly covered it.
By the time I looked up (seriously not 20 seconds later) I found this:

I forget that I don't have a four month old anymore that is much more interested in me and what I'm doing than what is on his tray. Instead my one year old cares only for the food. At least it didn't get on him or the carpet.

He tried to feed himself but I didn't let that last very long. Maybe another time I'll let Max make yogurt a finger food but only after I cover him and everything around him in plastic.

On a side note, about two weeks before he turned one he decided baby food was not for him anymore and wanted only what I was eating. It's nice sometimes and a total pain other times.

Bath time

Max loves his bath. He loves to play in the water and splash around. These are from his first birthday.

This last picture is to prove he has hair. It's still pretty non-existent when not wet but you can see it is beginning to grow. Chris says he has the horseshoe ring.

Max's 1st Birthday

Max had his first birthday last Thursday. Chris was busy with church stuff so we had cupcakes Friday night with some friends. Max did not know what to think of us singing to him.
He figured out what to do with the cupcake pretty quick though.

He kept looking at his hands and then figured out to lick/eat off of them.

I hate carpet in a dining area and can't wait to have an eat-in area and bathrooms that aren't carpeted. A family picture from that day. Max is just about to open his present from Chris' parents. We still haven't gotten him anything yet. We'll probably wait until we move to the new house - one less thing to move. I'll post about the house later too.

A few facts about Max:
He finally started crawling a week and a half before his birthday.
He heads for the dogs' water every time if I don't put it away.
He LOVES to laugh.
He doesn't love the car but does okay. He likes facing forward a lot better though. It's always a gamble of how much he's going to yell that trip. I get a lot of headaches :)
He still sleeps about 16 hours a day (give or take) and I still love it.
He loves the dogs and they tolerate him (for the most part).
He has four teeth on top and four on bottom. Some of his molars have come into the gums but haven't broken through yet.
He won't touch baby food anymore and only wants what you're eating.
"You are your baby's favorite toy" is very true with him.
He loves to play with balls and tries to roll them back to you.
He loves to be outside.
He has no idea how his life is going to change come October 27.

Happy Mother's Day!

I had the most wonderful Mother's Day. Last year Max was only a week old and Chris fixed me and my mom a wonderful pork roast. It was delicious but I really didn't feel like a mother yet. This year was different. I understood more how interesting (hard, exhausting, frustrating) it is to be a mother sometimes and appreciated a day dedicated to me (and my mom). Chris asked what the budget was and with everything we have going on in our lives right now I told him a single flower of his choosing and making me dinner.
The day started fairly early with Max waking up and Chris got up with him despite us going to bed at 1am last night. We are in bed by 10:30 almost every night but got caught up in Crimson Tide on TV (good movie!) and went to bed late! Chris let me sleep in and made me breakfast when I got up. Bacon and french toast. Then put together everything for a pot roast which made the house smell good all day. I should have taken a picture of the food. It's so nice not to fix yourself food, especially when you're pregnant. He also gave me three beautiful roses

and a Reese's king size candy bar from Max. He knows I don't believe in spending $3-4 on a card I will not know what to do with so I'm glad he bought the bacon instead! It was just so nice to be taken care of all day. Chris took Max during church and I actually got to listen to the lesson in my class. We went to a park later in the day and I loved being outside sitting on grass with the dogs and my family.
I can't wait for this little one to come. As hard a motherhood is, it is a beautiful thing and my hat goes off to my mom and my mother-in-law who both worked so hard at being good moms.

Max Pictures

Chris' best friend from high school (still a best friend) came to visit with his wife last weekend. We went hiking in Zion and Chris carried Max around on his back. Max LOVED it. He loves to be up high and look around.
Max is so bald still that he needed a hat. We hadn't bought one yet so I came up with this idea. Yes, those are skulls and cross-bones on the handkerchief.

He doesn't seem to mind it a bit! I love this smile below. If you blow it up, you'll be able to see his great underbite.

Unfortunately it does sometimes fall in his eyes.

Sun-BEAM!

There is a song we used to sing in church as little kids. It's called Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam. Max was very tired one night (that means he was cranky). I started singing this song to him while I was getting his pj's on and he started cracking up. He was laughing so hard he bent in half. I came out and tried to get it on video. I am pretty quiet in the video because I happen to be tone deaf and am aware of this, but I'm including both videos because I think Max is laughing harder in mine. And you can see my belly beginning to grow :)

Erin singing to Max:

Chris singing to Max:

Max is the funniest kid when it comes to laughing. He LOVES to giggle and laugh. He's had a belly laugh since he was 2 or 3 months old. Just laughing at him will still make him laugh. Every few days we find a different word that he laughs at, like "Beam", and it will be funny for a few days and then he doesn't laugh at it anymore.