I should have grabbed the camera...

Max is so funny lately. The other day he was pulling water bottles out of the package and trying to stack them on top of a narrow box. When one of them tipped over and made the other ones fall, he yelled in frustration.

Then today he was trying to stuff a big stuffed animal into the seat of his little play car and once again yelled in frustration when the lid wouldn't shut. He gets so angry when things don't work the way he thinks they should. I gave him a smaller stuffed animal and he figured out that it fit and was much happier.

I probably shouldn't, but I get a good laugh out of his frustration.

Max Update

I bought Max a little suit at a yard sale today. It came with pants and the coat. It's a 2T so too big right now but we had to try on the coat. He really thought he looked good.
He loves to make a mess when eating. Below he had just finished an oreo.

I know I'm supposed to be letting him learn to eat with utensils but it's kind of hard to get up the motivation to clean up this mess every time! He's getting a little better but the most he has ever eaten is half a yogurt before digging in with fingers. This time was especially bad.

If I'm working on something on the computer, Max will come over and I will let him watch Elmo on YouTube while I finish what I'm doing. He's fascinated and you can't pull him away from it. At least they sing the ABC's or count in some of the videos.

Below is our new foster dog Cassie. She's looking for a home if someone is interested. Max loves her and thankfully, she's really good with him.
Thatch is getting a little jealous though and tries to get extra attention any way he can. (They are not usually allowed on the couch by the way.)

No Explanation Necessary

What do you do on your birthday?

I bake, especially when it's on Sunday and we don't go out anyway. We had plans to go out Saturday night but something came up and we didn't make it. We'll try to go out before this baby comes but I really hate paying a babysitter and would rather just take Max with us.
We had some friends over and I tried some recipes I've been eyeing for awhile. I made a lemon meringue pie and a raspberry pie and a "chocolate velvet dessert". The lemon meringue didn't have time to set up and I accidentally added one more egg yolk so it wasn't very good. It was very pretty though! The chocolate velvet dessert had every sugar I had in the pantry in it and a pint of heavy whipping cream. It was rich. I didn't like it but other people seemed to and Chris did. The raspberry pie was deluxe though. Even if two of them didn't turn into favorite desserts, they definitely looked delicious.

Teeth

Max has started grinding his teeth. Any suggestions? (It's like nails on a chalkboard!)

The no-pacifier is going well. He still cries when you put him down but usually not for more than 60 seconds. He cried for a few minutes (up to 10 or 15 minutes) the first few days we took it away. Day 4 was harder than any other day. I've tried to give it to him during the day when he's just being loud and he throws it back at me so I think we're done with it. I'm glad we did it now when he wasn't very attached. He had one nightmare since taking it away and it took me 20 minutes to get him back down instead of the usual 5 seconds to give him the binky, but that was okay too.

Pictures of Max

Chris's sister Erin took some pictures of Max for me last weekend while we were in town. They turned out so CUTE!!!

Max and Lyla had fun playing on the piano afterwards.

Max was even willing to try to give Lyla a kiss!

And these below are my absolute favorites.

Max is usually so smiley that you can hardly get a shot without a big, cheesy, wrinkled-nose grin. I had woken him up to do this shoot though and he was pretty mellow and wouldn't smile as much as usual. You wouldn't know it from these pictures though. Erin still got some GREAT shots and I think my kid is even more absolutely adorable.

Family Reunion Weekend

We went to Utah County this last weekend. Chris took work off on Friday so that he could go car shopping all day. He didn't have any luck though so we're still a one-car family. Oh well - hopefully soon. It was also nice to have the extra time to visit and make the trip extend a little longer. My sister-in-law took pictures of Max Friday morning (which are on Facebook and I will post some on here soon), we got to see my sisters on Friday night, Chris went horseback riding Saturday morning, we went to the family reunion Saturday night, and went to a double baby blessing Sunday night. It was a very full (but FUN!) weekend and I'm still tired.
My sister is due about 3 weeks after me. Chris took Max around on Magic. Max seemed to like it and smiled and giggled a few times. He wouldn't look at the camera for a picture though as he was too fascinated by the animal beneath him.

I got on and rode twice around the arena. I was surprised at how little I felt the weight of the pregnancy at first. The horses are Tennessee Walkers and have a very smooth gait. However, I started to feel it by the end of twice around the arena and was glad I hadn't gone on the ride. I remember trying with Max and it hurting too much to go far.

By the way - it would be cool if the horse was trained to raise its foot like that but it is actually stomping it in nervousness to go and Chris just happened to catch the foot raised in the shot above.

We pet Dancer afterwards. He was one of the horses we had with us in St. George for awhile and I really love that horse.

We took the dogs to the family reunion and the kids had a blast playing with them. They wore the dogs out too which was GREAT. My niece, Madeline, seemed to like Thatch especially.

Every kid had to have a turn walking the dogs too. Murphy will go with any child anywhere but Thatch had to be dragged away from Chris and me. He's kind of attached...

It was a beautiful park with a pond. Max loved feeding the ducks but we didn't get any pictures. Here I am below 30 weeks pregnant :) 75% of the way there!

Madeline and Max playing with Thatch and the dirt.

Max doesn't really like grass so he stayed mostly in the mulch and got very dirty. It was surprisingly chilly but Emily brought this sweater for Max and I think it's so CUTE. I now have one pair of pants for him and one sweater. It's hard for me to go shopping for long sleeves and pants when it's still 100 degrees outside! and will be for awhile.

During the second baby blessing Max launched himself at his cousin Tanner who was sitting next to him on the grass. Max isn't very shy and LOVED playing with his cousins. He especially liked his 21-year-old cousin Cody. He laughed at anything Cody did, played with him, sat on his lap, and "talked" to him. I wish I had gotten a picture.

Max also loved his cousins that were born just months before him. He's finally old enough to sit with them and was fascinated by these little people his age. I really need to find him some playmates down here. I wish Max could see his cousins more often. It's so neat to have so many cousins close to his age.