5 months

It's hard- I don't really know what to write tonight.  I'm struggling being back at work, and after my two week break from school, I learned that I would definitely rather be home with Max, experiencing everything he does and being there to take care of him, than deal with my students lately.  I really wish were able to afford for me to stay home for the year, and I find myself extremely jealous of those who took off more time than I did.  Oh, well.  There really isn't anything that I can do about that, but whine for a moment.

Over the last two weeks, Max has celebrated his first Christmas Eve with the Lorenz side of the family, Christmas Day with my family, and he has experienced his first New Year, as we celebrated the end of 2014, and the start to a fresh 2015. We also watched our little chunk turn 5 months old on January 4.  How is my baby nearly 1/2 year old already?

He tried his first solid foods (his doctor said we could try tastes of things if he seemed really interested), and so far he has hated avocado and sweet potato, but he LOVES bananas.  We might try applesauce next, but there really isn't any hurry, because we are going to start feeding him substantial amounts for another couple of months.  Eventually, we'll have him taste avocado and sweet potato again.  Along with trying out solids, he has been enjoying sitting in his high chair and throwing his toys off the tray.  He can sit up unassisted, and will scoot around the room by rolling or sliding his body to the side to get to where he wants to be.  The dogs are still his favorite thing in the whole world.

I don't have easy access to my photos at the moment, but if you are interested in checking out where I dump a good portion of my phone pictures, you can go to the following site:
https://maxwelljacoblorenz.shutterfly.com/
password: max

One other thing that I wanted to make sure to mention tonight is that Luke and I found out that his oldest friend, Aly, is pregnant!  She has had quite the journey and out of all the people in the world, she is the one I've been rooting for and thinking of the most.  They had been trying since 2012, and after numerous doctors appointments, unexplained infertility diagnosis, rounds of clomid and IUI, they are finally going to be blessed with the child they want so badly.  They were told that their only shot at having a child was going to be IVF, so they took a break from all the fertility drugs, and miraculously got pregnant!  We are so excited for them, and they deserve every bit of happiness that this baby will bring into their lives.  Luke and I might have to plan Max's first trip to Texas for next summer to visit Baby G after his/her arrival!

My apologies for this scattered post- you'd think I'd be better at doing these things on the fly, but I am tired, and also ecstatic that I get to stay home from work tomorrow (school was canceled due to extreme windchill)...

Updated: Here are the outtakes from our 5 month photo session!  Getting a squirmy baby to sit or lay still for a photo is definitely getting more difficult :)