Turning Eight Months

Our Maxi-Max turned 8 months old today! He is such a cutie bears and I seriously just can't get enough of him. He currently has three teeth: two bottom middle incisors and two top incisors (not the big middle ones, but the ones on either side of them. Funny.). Teeth cutting don't seem to bother him anymore. Only the first one affected his attitude and sleep. He's getting more vocal and has such a high pitched adorable voice. He still doesn't babble though and doesn't use consonants. Hopefully it's nothing to worry about now. He's very independent, yet very attached to me. He'll have so much fun playing by himself or with Bryan, forgetting I'm around, then when he hears me say something he starts to freak out and comes dashing to find me. He's still a great eater and is able to feed himself dry finger foods. Sometimes I worry he likes food so much that he doesn't know when to stop eating! He still crawls like a pro and his cute behind waddles when he crawls. He loves being chased too.

 Max more than loves this swing. I spent at least 15 minutes pushing him in it and he didn't stop smiling and laughing once. He was laughing so much that he couldn't be bothered to swallow and his drool would catch the wind

 I had such a wonderful first Mother's Day! Bryan and Max made sure to make it special for me with frozen yogurt on Saturday and on Sunday Bryan made me crepes for dinner with Nutella and bananas. Sooo yummy! :)

 Max still won't go out onto the grass, even when I stood out there out of his reach. He just crawled to the edge and cautiously touched the grass. He at least has stopped screaming when I sit him on it to put the blanket down.

 He is officially out of the bath tub chair. I don't know what took me so long to get rid of it.

 Can you tell he loves it?? *(My favorite picture ever of the two of them)

-Below: laid out only a couple of blankets for him to crawl out on the deck, but he managed to get a huge splinter despite barely any of the wood showing, so now we'll lay out 4-5 blankets so he can crawl in and out without splintering. It makes him happy, which makes us happy.

 Our future concert pianist.

 - Below: Grandpa and Abuela bought this musical table for Max. I think he likes it.

 Spokane has this awesome carousel downtown that's only two bucks to ride and free for babies. I picked a stationary animal just in case Max didn't like it, but he had so much fun that I think we'll ride a horse next time.

Grandpa and Abuela are visiting. Max was wary at first, but he's gotten used to them pretty quickly.. You can't get Max's attention for anything when we go out. He loves being outside more than anything.

Ramblings 3: What Being a Mother Can Do To You

Don't worry. This isn't just another movie post.
Has anyone seen this movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? It is a very smart movie and you really have to think your way through it. I really liked it. However, as a mother, I absolutely hated, beyond words, the opening scene. If you haven't seen the movie and would like to, I don't believe I will be spoiling anything for you as I describe it. There is a scene in the beginning where a couple of men are meeting at an outside cafe in a narrow street in Hungary. Eventually someone pulls out a gun and starts shooting. Well, in this scene is a woman sitting at a table, peacefully breastfeeding her little baby, causing no harm to anyone. Be as it may, she is soon caught in the crossfire and takes a bullet to her head. Her poor poor little baby, maybe 2 months old, is still breastfeeding on her dead mother, completely unaware of what just happened. Who knows how long it will be before the baby is done and finds her mother unable to do more than just sit there, luckily still holding on so the baby doesn't fall to the floor. The cops soon come and take the baby away. This brought me to tears! I am not joking in the least. I instantly started crying as soon as the mother had been shot. Not just silent tears either. It was the kind of crying where it becomes hard to breathe and speak. I felt such sorrow for the poor little unknowing baby. I felt sorrow for the mother who would only be able to see her child growing from afar. I was heartbroken, devastated even. How could they do such a thing? What sick person thought of putting such an emotional, tragic event as this in a movie? This part of the scene didn't take center stage and others may not have noticed it. It wasn't relevant to the movie. It wasn't necessary to the scene. It wasn't detrimental to the storyline. Why did they do it?? I breastfeed my baby and couldn't help thinking what if that was me? What if that was Max lying there, never knowing, never understanding that his mother just died; still breastfeeding on her after her death. Ugh! Just thinking about it drives me nuts! Being a mother has caused me to be sensitive to things that others may not even notice. It has brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. As hard as it is to get out of bed so early every morning, there could be no other reason that makes me so happy to do so as seeing my little baby and cuddling him while I feed him. I am so grateful for this little boy that brings such added joy to my life. He means the world to me and I know I mean the word to him and I couldn't ask for anything more than that.

Ramblings 2: Summer Blockbusters

It's finally one of my favorite times of the year! Summer? Not exactly. I'm not such a fan of the heat. Summer blockbuster season? YES!!! Don't get me wrong, I love Oscar season at the end of the year, but I love blockbuster season far more! May through July always brings out the best and biggest movie hits of the year. Here are the ones we are most looking forward too:

I am excited and nervous for The Avengers. I'm not totally convnced you can have all these big name actors in one movie and still do the movie and each character justice. Many movies past have attempted this and just about every single one of them come out the same: crappy. Luckily each of these characters have already been established in previous movies, so we can skip the introductions (except for Black Widow and Hawkeye).  I found this on failblog.org the other day that I just loved:

It's true. I don't like Scarlett Johansson. I never have and I don't that's going to change any time soon. I just don't see the draw in her. I don't find her very pretty and think she's a terrible actress, but that's a different argument for a different day. Iron Man and Thor have been my favorite Marvel movies thus far with Thor definitely leading the way. Thor just has such beautiful long blonde locks and piercing blue eyes... The Avengers came out May 4th.

I am very intrigued by this version of Snow White (none of that Mirror Mirror crap. What a joke). This movie brings out the fighter in Snow like I have never seen before. The TV show Once Upon a Time has been attempting their hand at this, but they just can't get it done, whether the actress is to blame, the writer, the director, or all the above. I do love Kristen Stewart and think it's about time she gets a roll she can really act in. Plus Chris Hemsworth plays the Huntsman, showing off his long blonde hair again, but much more rugged here rather than glorious as in The Avengers. Snow White and the Huntsman comes out June 1st.

This one's mostly for Bryan. Prometheus is directed by Ridley Scott who is the creator of he Alien series. Hollywood's "it" man, Michael Fassbender, got his big break in X-Men: First Class and though I didn't care much for him then, he's beginning to grow on me. I'm sure not too many of you know about this movie so here is a brief description: a crew from Earth is going to investigate the remains of an alien race that has been discovered. They are in search of a source of communication with this race, but naturally what they find is an unfriendly race bent on human destruction. Prometheus comes out June 8th.

Alas, the one we have all been waiting for. You really can't go wrong with Christopher Nolan, who directed Inception. The Dark Knight Rises picks up 8 years after The Dark Knight leaves off. I'm most concerned about Cat Woman being in this movie. I have never been a fan and from what I have learned since rumors of the this movie came out, noobody is a fan of Cat Woman. Even Nolan said she would not be in this movie. I also have a hard time seeing huge actors in a roll where they need to be very convincing as the character. If you recognize the actor too well, e.g. Anne Hathaway, they have to be seriously good at playing their part to make me forget who they are as a person and only see the character they are playing. This movie gives me the chills every time I see a trailer. The Dark Knight Rises comes out July 20th.

*Honorable mentions: Dark Shadows, Men in Black III, Abraham Lincoln: Vampre Hunter, Brave, The Amazing Spider-Man.

Max - 7 Months

My mom mentioned to me how Max looks more like a 12-month-old than a 7-month-old. Well, that would probably be because he is officially wearing all 9-12 month size clothing. Max is not fat or chubby by any means (except maybe in his thighs), but is rather a well-proportioned little guy. He weighed 19lbs 4oz two and a half weeks ago so surely he is weighing upwards of 20lbs now. He has got a lot of muscle behind that body though! Max is a crawling fiend and will just crawl and crawl and go, go, go all day long and well into the night until bedtime. He used to love diaper changes (and still does), but he's become way more interested in what is going on around him to stay put long enough for a diaper or clothing change. He also loves to stand using anything he can get a bearing on. He's also crawled on top of his favorite standing box a few times.
(The pictures are just in chronological order)

Along with crawling, I think Max could eat all day long if he had the choice. He loves every single food out there no matter how gross. He was only a little iffy on apples and didn't like avocados for the first day or two, but eventually just decided he liked eating too much to reject any kind of food. He's eating purees still, but is becoming a pro at downing finger foods. We only had one scary moment when he was still learning to chew that made me cry and feel like the worst mother. I think he's over it now.

 Max's experience with Avocados. He pushed through to the end like a trooper though!

 I was trying to get a picture of his tooth and this is what he gave me :)

 This happens often because his pants are always to long for him so he ends up stepping on them and they fall down. I love it.

 How I find him every morning and after every nap. I don't know why he insists on crying when he wakes up every time.

His prune (for those constipated days) goatee. Hahaha! It makes me laugh.

My day is not complete without making Max laugh at least once. It's the best when Bryan or I can just get him going and going! He has a super cute guttural laugh that comes from the depths of his belly.
I have videos to post here, but they never ever seem to want to post. Maybe I'll put them on Facebook. Here are some more pictures in lieu of the videos.

 Bryan is VERY distracting during feeding time. He doesn't even do anything, but his presence is enough to get Max to pause during any kind of feeding. Here, Max kept looking back at Bryan between every bite.

 Max randomly likes to cuddle things like this box, his toys, the floor. He'll just gently lay his head down for a few moments like this.

 He is still quite weary of touching the grass and makes a disgusted/confused face every time he does. He has yet to venture off the blanket.

I think the videos loaded!!! Check them out below (and please excuse my mug ruining the shot).