Happy Father's Day

©Catherine Just Seiner 2009
taken a few moments ago..

Happy Father's Day!!!

Today I decided to shower my husband with all things that have to do with rest and relaxation.

First stop - he has an 11am massage appointment
and then - he is mandated to sleeping the rest of the day
and I'll make him his breakfast - lunch and dinner ( which doesn't take much since we are both on Jenny Craig right now )
I'm going to head to the Starbucks drivethru in a few hours to pick him up a freshly brewed cup of coffee to have with his breakfast. I'd make it here - but then I wouldn't have the pleasure of getting my darling Max out into the world and into the car which almost always means a nice long nap for him.

Max and I went shopping for his Father's Day gifts this week and found a few things to add to the day
1. Max picked out a book that is all about how much he loves his papa.
2. I bought him a book on walking tours of LA ( we are suckers for a good walking tour and I thought it would be fun to bring Max around and see the sights on " Seiner Sundays".
3. Found a card with tomato's on the cover and I put a pen in Max's hand and he drew his first drawing for his Papa inside the card.

I'm glad he doesn't have to work today - he worked all day yesterday and it was looking like it might move into today. Lucky for him he will get to really enjoy catching up on his much needed sleep.

I may take Max out for a few hours to keep the house quiet.

Max has been pretty vocal this morning - and I was up with him for a few hours last night while he practiced using his vocal chords ( they work )

Dear Jerry,
Short note because Max is over being in his bouncy chair,
I LOVE YOU.
You are a GREAT Papa to Max and I'm so glad we make such a great team.
I appreciate all you do to help raise our boy.
doing the dishes, making bottles every night, taking feedings when you are home, diapering, playing, hugging, kissing, talking, singing, rocking him to sleep, sitting in the back with him when we go out in the car, etc etc - the list goes on and on.

You're the BEST
love
c



Here is the photo I ended up picking for the headshot.
Gail over at DSALA told me that all of them would work because he is looking into the camera.

The Many faces of Max

©Catherine Just Seiner
CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO MAKE IT LARGER!
I took these photos today on the changing table.
Making a Headshot so we can submit it to an agency that works only with Kids that have Down Syndrome.
Some of his friends have been on tv shows and print ads and I figured it might be a nice way to document him and his life on film by other people besides the two of us. Plus the money he makes will go in his own account and we figure it is a nice way for him to start growing his financial portfolio.

not sure which photo we will pick. Do you have a favorite???

Max turns 4 months old

Max turned 4 months old on June 4th. Today he got dressed up in a suit to help celebrate Aunt MaryJo and Uncle Dave's 50th wedding anniversary down at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel.
before we went in we found a Starbucks so we could sit and feed him. Jerry did the feeding and I was able to get one of the cutest moments ever. And these moments happen ALL THE TIME these days but I rarely can catch them on camera.



Are you melting yet?

How about this photo??



um.......is that the cutest little outfit on the cutest little guy ever??

Dear Max,

You are 4 months old and you are the sweetest thing ever. You love to gaze into my eyes for a long time. I just love it when you do that. You love holding onto our fingers when you are feeding, and you also love holding the rattle, your wubba nub, your washcloth, and anything else close to you. Dad loves making you "fly" and you look at him like " what are you doing!? "
Your head strength is amazing - getting stronger by the day and you love being held and rocked to sleep.
Every night now we have a ritual with you of papa doing the last feeding of the night, then I bathe you and you seem to really enjoy the warm water and the little rubber ducky, then we wrap you up in your miracle blanket and I rock you in the rocking chair and play soft lullabies ( from the music Auntie Amy sent to you), your dad and I read to you and then you are rocked to sleep. You sleep with us in the bed in your own little co-sleeper in the middle. You are a sound sleeper unless you are trying to turn over and you make a little sound and I turn you and you go back to sleep. I love putting my hand over your heart when you sleep. Last night I put you on my chest and you slept more quietly then you do in the co-sleeper. I LOVE holding you and letting you sleep on me. You love to smile and laugh and when you wake up we are both there softly talking to you and you look at us and then crack the largest smile I have ever seen. You love it when we sing to you and you laugh and laugh. Maybe it's because we are so off tune and making up the lyrics as we go?? Sorry about that! It's so fun to sing and watch you fall asleep in my arms. I like to sing "you are my sunshine", "the itsy bitsy Spider", and "go to sleep", and songs that are totally made up. You smile and laugh out loud in your sleep. I've been taking you to the Rose bowl every morning to take a walk with me. I feed you and then we head out. You fall asleep in the stroller and I watch you as I listen to the birds and look at the trees. It's a great daily activity that I hope we continue to do together. your Papa joins us on the weekends and that's fun too.
We've been going to Club 21 playgroup on Friday mornings regularly and you are getting more and more alert and watching the other kids and mom's there. The 3 year olds Grace and Isa just love you and want to hold your hand and help feed you. I've started to pass you around and let the other mom's hold you. They love watching you change and grow each week. I consider them family and look forward to having your grow up with their kids. I could go on and on about how much your papa and I love you. You are so beautiful, sparkly, bright and sunny, happy loving, and perfect. I hope you feel how much love we have for you.

I'm a proud mama

"Max is a superhero! He has an extra chromosome that gives him SuperPowers!!"

Here is a video of Max and Papa waking up and sharing some time together in the morning.


Here is a video of Max learning about his Rubber Ducky while taking a bath




Max went on a road trip to San Diego with us yesterday. It was about 2 hours each way. Max was great! He loves to sleep in the car. He only had one moment of crying and I just pulled over - and held him and he calmed down right away. We stayed like that for a while so he could feel more secure and then a little burp came out - so he must have been uncomfortable with the air bubble in there. After that he went back to sleep the rest of the way home.

During our trip we went to our family dentist. We were in the waiting room and Jerry was holding Max and started to say
" Max is a superhero! He has an extra chromosome that gives him superpowers! "

That just cracked me up.

And how TRUE it is~!

We went to my dad's office to introduce Max to everyone there and at one point Jerry said.
"Max has an extra chromosome and that puts him in the 100th percentile for cuteness "

I'm thinking JERRY is in the 100th percentile for cuteness!
he had me laughing all day as usual.



A few fun facts:

Last week Max went to a feeding therapy session and he is doing great. We only have to go once a month which I think says a lot about his ability to suck. He has slightly low muscle tone in his mouth so it takes him an hour to eat what a "typical" baby could do in 10 -15 minutes.

He had his weight checked and he is up to 13.1 lbs!!
And yes I can feel that every time I go to burp him.
He is feeling more and more like a tank.

This Thursday is his 4 month birthday!
YAY
On Friday we go to a new Doctor that we had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago to see if he felt right to us.
The place is called Paracelsus
here is a LINK

I love that they combine the best of modern medicine with the best of traditional therapies.
The doctor we picked went to the same school my aunt Christine went up at Bastyre in Seattle