pics with captions

i used the wrong focus on this picture, but if you look carefully you can see a smile on max's face. he LOVES the animals. melvin is his favorite, but brutus is a close second.


picture #1 of me attempting to get max to practice crawling. at the start he was decently content. (note the ever present drool dripping off his chin.)


picture #2. blowing raspberries and beginning to get bored with the activity.


picture #3. a good, solid minute into the tummy time, he's done.


i rediscovered a toy that one of the grandmas got max for Christmas. he was totally in awe of the flashing nose on the bear.


seriously. he hasn't seen anything this cool since the jumbotran at the iowa state game.


brian and i are calling max "the hillbilly baby" right now. in this picture you can sort of see his one upper tooth poking through.






going along with the whole teething thing, max slobbers a lot right now. see it dripping off of his chin?




just a cute one.




and more of the same.

yay for spring!

i've been itching for spring weather for many, many reasons, but one of them is just simply so that i can get max outside. he and i went for walks last fall, but the little guy was only weeks old and slept through pretty much everything. now that he's older, he can enjoy his surroundings a lot more. i've only taken him for a few walks since the weather got warm(er), but he seems to really like them. (and kathy and brian, who have also taken him on a few walks, confirm this.) he swings his legs, babbles and blows raspberries, and bangs his pacifer (or anything else handy) on his stroller. it's all, as usual, very adorable.

the many (adorable) faces of max:

p.s. these pictures make me realize how badly this boy needs a haircut!

polka dotted baby

max appears to have a never ending desire to visit his pediatrician. his ginormous and disgusting pinkie toe blister has healed and he's done with strep throat, so this weekend he decided to break out in weird bumps all over his body. one urgent care visit and one pediatrician visit later we know that max is allergic to penicillin. now we'll just wait and see what next week brings...

1/2 a blog with captions only!

in the prime of his sickness last week:


grandma kathy could've filled an easter basket the size of a small house :) :


our adorable, little family:


the guys' room at Easter dinner:


grandpa tom and a hungry max:

four is(n't) the magic number.

just some random pictures.

the first is of max's foot which his doctor thinks has a second degree burn. we have absolutely no clue what happened to it. i'm a little concerned that he's not even mobile and already getting into weird accidents without me knowing, but i suppose that just comes with being genetically linked to me (aka the most accident-prone person in central iowa).

the second is of brian, max, and melving. max loves all of our pets, but melvin has been his favorite for quite awhile now. (which is pretty hilarious if you know our pets. melvin is probably the most anti-social, although ever since max was born i think he's realized that attention paid to him is directly linked to how friendly he is to anyone around him.) right now if i'm not near max, but i hear him laughing, i usually assume (and am usually correct) that he's either looking at melvin or brutus. it's very, very cute.

the last two pictures are an update on the plastic animals. max's mouth has finally reached them!! he wins!!!! and p.s., apparently elephants taste better than lions.

kansas city trip

not that you can really tell from the pictures (i swear i took the camera to the games....i just didn't think to actually use it), but we just got back from a trip to kansas city for the big 12 basketball tournament. ISU lost (both men and women) the first games that we saw, but thankfully we weren't expecting much, so we weren't overly disappointed. plus we were happy to just sleep in and lounge around the hotel room. and my mom and dad joined us friday and saturday, so it was fun to get to spend time with them.

max's bandaid covered foot. he had an icky, icky (icky) blister.


brian feeding max. between the three of us, i think someone was always eating. :)


it's been ages since i got a picture of max AND me. we're cute, yeah? :)


and of course, one of the boys in the their ISU gear.


max with max.


it just makes you want to squeeze him (a gentle, baby-appropriate amount), doesn't it?


yeah, he's totally smiling at himself.


king max


my mom gave max a bath, and he suddenly became very interested in chewing on this. who needs those fancy, schmancy toys when you've got a hotel coffee cup?