Last week of being an infant.....

AHHHHHHHH where has the time gone!!!??!!!  Our sweet Max will be a year old(and considered a toddler) in only 1 week(and 1 day)!  I was reading over some of my blog posts from last year in July and realized that exactly a year ago I went on bed rest.  This time one year ago we were so nervous and excited to meet Max any day.  Now I am filled with joy as I watch him grown and learn new things!  Max's 5th tooth(top right side..his 3rd on the top) finally popped through the gums yesterday and number 6 is very close behind.  He is also doing better about walking behind a toy that he can also ride on....he usually gives up and sits down then pushes it as he scoots because he moves faster.  Max has also started rolling around on the floor.  Very random but he will lay down on his stomach, then roll to his back and vice versa.  It cracks him up!  Uh-Oh is officially his first word.  He will drop stuff(most of the time on purpose) and say uh-oh.  We were playing with his football the other day and when he went to throw it he dropped it behind him, he looked at me and said "uh-oh".  It is super cute!  He still won't say mama.  I say it to him everyday and he just looks at me.  Max is also completely off baby food.  He refuses to eat it, so we have been trying to come up with meal ideas for him.  I feel like he just eats the same few things so we are trying to branch out a little bit.

cheese quesadilla, peas, and blueberries

Cheese Ravioli and corn

The next several blog posts will all be birthday related so stay tuned(we are going a tad overboard....oh well, lol).

Shelton Family Reunion

Max and I packed up and headed off to Cumberland Furnace, TN(just outside of Clarksville) for my family reunion.  Yes I am a yankee, but my family is from TN and all(except for my mom's side) live in TN.  Scott spent the day in his classroom working on his never ending list of stuff to get done before school starts.  We had the reunion at the family cemetery(in an air conditioned building).  Most of my dad's side of the family is buried there including my grandparents.  It may seem odd but every time we are there we take a picture in front of the grave.  I could go through photo books and find some older pics to scan and put up here as well,....but I'm not doing that. 

Max had a good time.  He played under the table with a bucket and some plastic fish that I found there, and as always ate everything in sight.

Us and Uncle Donnie

4th of July

Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July!!

11 months old!

Holy cow!  Our sweet little baby Max is now becoming a soon to be toddler!!  I got a little teary eyed the other day as I was watching him pull up on the couch.  I was just thinking about how much he has changed and all the new things he is doing.  He is so smart!  Max loves to make noises, I guess that is a boy thing.  He will growl, making a kissing noise, blow in your face.  If you make the noise he will mimic you.  He even makes noises that sound like words.  I told him the other day that that he is not allowed to play with the big glass candles and he made a noise that both Scott and I though was "yes I can". I can really tell he understands what we tell him.  If I say lets go change your diaper, he starts crawling towards his room.  He babbles all day long but still has not said mama. Also if the TV is on and there is clapping on the TV he will stop what he is doing and start clapping.  He has recently started to get a little risky when pulling up and is starting to walk along the furniture. 

Now that Max isn't nursing he has really become a fan of real food.  He will still eat his babyfood(I make it thick and chunky now) but wants what is on our plates.  So we are starting to let him eat more and more real food and less babyfood.  This is stressing me a little b/c I am not sure what to feed him.  We are the weird parents who want him to eat healthy, so no hotdogs, french fries, mashed potatos....  Breakfast and dinner are fine, but finding something for him for lunch is hard.  Expecially because he will be going back to daycare soon and we will ahve to send his lunch with him...... I am sure he will eat anything we give him because this boy LOVES to eat!!  He eats and eats and eats.  We thought he did eat a lot of food but when we are around others and they make the comment wow he eats a lot we know it is true.  For example for lunch eats equavalint to a jar of baby food, a thing of apple sauce, a little bowl of gold fish, and either a handfull of noodles or about a 1/4 a block of cheese.  Dinner is about the same amt of food but he also he eats off our plates.  Uncle Paul weighed Max at the produce stand the other day and said he weighed 19lbs 8oz.  I think he is definatly pushing 20lbs now.

Beach Bums

We spent the last week of June in HOT Panama City Beach, FL.  This was Max's 2nd trip to the beach(his first one was when he was 2mo old).  This time however Max actually knew what was going on. 

We had asked Aunt Jackie to come with us but due to someone at work having surgery she wasn't going to be able to come......until the night before we left she found out she would be able to come!  So we loaded up(packed to the gills) and left Friday evening.  We stopped halfway in Alabama and spent the night at a hotel(thanks Moo Moo for the hotel room).  Max is a good car rider but wanted to break up his trip a little.  Sat morning we were up and beach bound.  We stayed at Calypso, the same place we stayed in Oct.  We loved the location; right next to pier park. After grocery shopping and unpacking Scott's sister Ashley(she lives in Freeport, FL and works at Watercolor Resort in Rosemary beach) came over and we headed out to dinner. The first night we walked over to pier park and had dinner at the Back Poarch.  I had a yummy crab cake sandwich.

Sunday Morning was our first day on the actual beach.  We plopped Max down in the sand and after a minute...he LOVED it!  Then we went to the ocean and let him sit on the edge as waves came up and got him.  Once again he loved it!  Max wouldn't fall asleep on the beach(he wanted to play) so one of us would bring him up to the room for his naps.  Ashley is off on Sundays and Mondays so she also spent the day with us on the beach, she bought Max a little blow up pool; which of course he loved!  I think by now you get the point that Max loved the beach and everything about it! Oh and apparently licking salt water off of toys is the best!

The rest of the week we spent on the beach.  A couple mornings we went to the pool 1st so we wouldn't have to give Max a bath before his morning nap.  Max spent the days sitting in his pool and digging in the sand.  He also got his first taste of grapes(he likes the red ones).  Ice cold grapes are a perfect beach snack and Max couldn't agree more!  We cooked in a couple nights but did go out and enjoy some great seafood at Salty Sues, Hammerhead Freds, Dirty Dicks Crab house, and The Crab Trap in Destin.

Speaking of Destin Scott, Max, and I spent Monday there.  It is about a 40min drive from PCB.  Our friend Melissa's son Brant was having his 6th birthday party while they were also at the beach.  So not only did we get to celebrate with him, but we also got to go to the Janie and Jack outlet store!  I love Janie and Jack cloths for Max but they are expensive so we actually got a few great deals at the outlet store.  Plus I can Ebay these items after Max is done with them and make some of the money back.  Melissa outdid her self again with another fabulous birthday party!  I loved his cake.  She bought the cake at Publix and then dressed it up with "sand", cookies, and beach decor.  Happy Birthday Brant!

A HUGE milestone was reached while we were at the beach.  Max is officially no longer nursing.  He had been down to morning and night and I was no longer pumping during the day.  The week before the beach he had not been nursing well at all and the 2 days before we left he had only nursed once. He did nurse well the 1st 2 days at the beach but then he just stopped.  Every time I would offer it to him he would shake his head no and push me away.  So we are done.  I am torn.  This means he is a big boy now and  growing up.  It also mean I am free!!  So far as I type this it has been a week since he stopped nursing and I have had some discomfort and a little leaking, but no engorgement.  I know I still have milk in there but it should dry up soon.  On a related note we couldn't find a way to transport my frozen breast milk to the beach without it thawing, so Max got whole milk while we were there.  He did fine with the change.  Now that we are home we are back on breast milk until we run out of frozen milk.

The drive home went ok.  It really helped that Aunt Jackie was there and kept Max entertained.