Dear Maxwell.

Dear MaxJack,

There really is no way to prepare someone for just how much they will love their child.  Especially if it's their first.  I wasn't ready for how much of an impact you were going to have on me physically, and emotionally.  I think about you nearly every minute that I am gone.  When you were sick for the first time ever this past week, I wanted to carry your sickness for you.

This weekend actually felt refreshing.  With all the nice weather we've been having, we got to spend a lot of time outside, and took you on a walk to Lake Phalen with the dogs. You crashed ladies' night and tagged along as Papa and explored Stillwater for a couple hours.  You nursed by the St. Croix, and had your first tiny taste of a chocolate banana malt.  I got a bonus day with you yesterday while Grandmama was home sick, and it was lovely to stay connected with you. We took the morning to snuggle and play.  I figured out how to take a shower with you playing in the tub.  We snacked on whole wheat toast and guacamole.  In the afternoon, we took a drive downtown and met Papa for lunch, and then you and I went shopping in the downtown Target (the lobby smelled like vomit, by the way...).

Having you as a part of my life has renewed my outlook on the world (in both good and bad ways), and has helped me really realize what is important.  Here are the things that I find especially endearing at the moment:

• The way you give us open-mouthed kisses
• How you love to share your food with us
• Your two little front teeth poking out when you smile
• The big belly laughs when we tickle your tummy
• Walking into your room to see you standing at the end of the crib, nearest the door, watching for one of us to come in and pick you up
• When you crawl to us when you want to be comforted
• How fast you can crawl when you're on a mission- seriously, you put your head down and charge to where ever you have determined you need to be

• You light up whenever you see the dogs
• Listening to you sing in the car
• Watching you eat big-people food
• Your ability to walk using the push walker
• How strong you've become!

• Playing hide and go seek- Mama or Papa walk quickly out of the room, and call your name.  We hear the pitterpat of your hands and feet coming down the hall that signal to us that you understand that it's time to come find us
• Your fascination with everything in the world.
• Watching your hair flowing in the wind
• The way you talk all the time

• You've been mastering the art of blowing raspberries
• Your soft chunky rolls.  Weighing in at 20lbs 4oz, you are roughly in the 50th percentile for weight.  It's hard to believe you were every such a skinny little guy for the first 6 months of your life.
• How you wave now!  
• Seeing the expression on your face as you experience things for the first time (and second, and third!)

Maxwell Jacob,  I love you with an unceasing enormity that you will never quite understand until you are raising your first child.

I will love you forever.

Mama

Video Dump :)

Ready for some cute videos??  It's been awhile since I've embedded any videos we've taken of Max, so enjoy!

8 Months

Milestones/Accomplishments: This month, we became an expert at crawling and at pulling up.  We are firmly in the 6th Leap according to Wonder Weeks.  He has learned that Mama and Papa can walk away, and he doesn't like that. I'm not going to lie, it is one of the most adorable things to turn around and hear him whining plus the pit pat of his hands and knees hitting the floor as he crawls to find us when we leave the room for a moment.  He crawls up to us, and pulls up using our legs to stay close.  While I wish he would recognize that we always come back, I love that he has put it upon himself to find us, and that it shows how much he loves/relies on us.

Eating:  Max has picked up the habit of grunting/groaning/yelling pretty intensely when he wants what's on our plate, so eating our own food has become increasingly more difficult when he demands what we have.  He still loves pouches (especially the Greek yogurt ones), but loves getting bits of what we're having even more.  At Easter, he enjoyed broccoli/cheese egg bake, and ham.  Almost everything winds up in his mouth, and he seems to be able to sense when something in our hand might be edible.  On Saturday, we had dinner with the Lorenz/Lewis family after Ade's baptism, and I had a brownie in my hand, and Max on my hip.  Without me realizing it at first, Max managed to grab a couple pinches of brownie and shovel them into his mouth before I could anything.  Surprise- my kid loves brownies.  When I took it away from him, he made it very known that he wanted more.  The watermelon that followed those extra sugary bites was tart in comparison to the brownie, so we got to see him make the funny sour baby face.

Sleeping: Sleeping on his own is overrated.  Sleeping on people (especially Mama) is where it's at.  Max will still sleep no longer than a 3-4 hour stretch on his own in the crib.  Once his head hits the sheets, his eyes will fly open, and then starts over the routine of rocking, singing, shushing.  Since Max still nurses, it's been easier to just let him join us in bed part way through the night.  We have also learned that when his napping schedule sucks, his overnight sleeping sucks as well.  The last two days have caused him to not nap at his regular time, which then leads to a fitful sleep for everyone.  I'm really hoping that my mom has managed to get him to nap well today so that we get better sleep tonight.

Discoveries: Max has discovered that he can make even more noises and sounds.  These include the grunts when hulking out over food and the high pitch sounds that he makes when he's excited.  "Dada" is one of his favorite things to say, and he says it over and over and over. "Mmm" with pursed lips is another common sound he makes.  This is often times made when he's upset, but it seems to be directed toward me.  He's also started singing in the car!  At first we thought that he was just getting upset, but then we realized that he would do the long "aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" when music was playing.

One of my favorite stories from this week happened at Ade's baptism.  Lily's Lewis cousins were all there, and Max was playing on the floor of the church while we were waiting for the baptism to start.  The kids were all running around, and a couple of the Lewis cousins got close to Max.  Lily saw this happen, and then ran over to Max, put her body between Max and the Lewis cousin, and refused to let them play with him!  At one point, she even turned to one of the cousins and told her, "Max says Bye!"  It's fun to see how protective she is of Baby Mahksh.  I hope that they stay close as they grow up.  My sisters and I used to be really close with our cousins growing up, so it was like have instant best friends.  I'm excited for the day that there are more Kleinberg cousins as well, but my sisters are allowed to take their time on having babies :)