Ok Jerry wanted us to be Ketchup and Mustard for the halloween party. He made us both hats - mine was yellow - his - is here for all to see. We ran out of time to deal with the rest of the costume! But Jerry LOVES HIS HAT - if he could he would be wearing it right now!
Max went to his first halloween party hosted by my friend Jen and the Mom's Club that I've been a member of since my last month of pregnancy. Got to see all the little ones all dressed up! I had a ton of photos but not a ton of time so here are a few.
Zach is Zorro. Of course!
The cutest devil I have ever seen. He stole the club from another baby in a caveman outfit...just like a devil should!
Agnes - watch out - Max seems to be in Love with Juliet too! They had a few sweet moments at the party today.
Here are a few of us that all gather on Mondays for our playdates. nice to see them as I don't get to go very often.
Margaret the cutest monkey I've ever seen.
ok - earlier today we went to see Miguel Ruiz and his son Jose give a lecture at the LA convention Center. I hadn't seen Miguel in 7 years. It was really nice to re-connect with him and hear him again. Jerry got to meet him for the first time - and so did Max.
I loved having Jerry and Max both meet Miguel. It was such a wonderful reunion for me. For those of you that don't know - Miguel was my teacher and I worked at his office helping run his events when I lived in San Diego. It was a magical - enlightening - amazing 5 years in my life that I am very grateful for. Max seemed very comfortable with Miguel and Jose and I loved that Miguel spent some time with him. Touching.
The lecture was really good. And I learned some things I needed to hear. I reconnected with some folks I haven't seen in a long time and it felt like no time had passed.
Here's a peek at what Max is doing lately. I'm so glad I caught him sitting up on video on our 2 year wedding anniversary. Watching Max sit up is the best gift ever! and yes his onsie says " My mama is a Hottie " And NO I didn't write that. One of the gals at the baby shower made that for him. She's one smart lady!
This morning I asked Jerry what he remembers most about our wedding day and he said the rain and the massage. I had the same favorite memory. All morning it rained and we went to get a couples massage that morning to start our day. our wedding was at the La Costa Resort and Spa down in San Diego and we had our massages at the Spa there. After we headed back to our room the skies parted and the sun came out about an hour before the wedding! How perfect is that. It was the first day of rain that year. I can't wait to get back down there for another weekend sometime. I love it there. The wedding was amazing. And Jerry and I were so blessed with a gorgeous day, wonderful friends and family and a smooth wedding....
Today in Los Angeles it's the first day of rain. What a coincidence. I love days like this. So romantic. What do we have planned you ask?? NADA.
We've all been sick this week. bad colds. Max had to go to Urgent Care on Sunday morning for what we think is an ear infection. He was crying for over an hour and he is very easily soothed normally. So we knew something was wrong. he wouldn't even take his bottle. So that was just a freakish thing for us. He ALWAYS loves to eat!
He has very small ear passageways so they can't see inside really but his symptoms all point to infection so he is currently on antibiotics. He hasn't had that crying jag since. Knock on wood. I went to whole foods today and purchased some Baby-dolphilus which is positive flora that we will give him after his antibiotics. Since we all know antibiotics kill the bad and the good bacteria in the body so this will introduce the "friendly " bacteria back in to his system. Thank you Claire for the tip on this!
I don't think I've ever had so much decaf herbal teas in my life! 2 liters or more per day. And this I know for sure because I'm still playing the Game on Diet and we have to drink 2 liters of water a day. This is the 3rd round I've played and I LOVE IT! By the way - our RED TEAM is going to WIN!
ok - must go hold Max - mainly because there's nothing more rewarding than holding him and watching him look up at me and smile the biggest smile I've ever seen. This computer doesn't smile at me that way - otherwise I'd stay here and chat more with you all. Ciao!
Yesterday Max had an appointment with his Cardiologist. It was a re-check on the hole in his heart that they found just after his birth. The hole was smallish and they wanted to make sure it closed on it's own which is what happens with most babies. ( all babies are born with a small hole in the heart - however a LOT of babies with Ds are born with larger holes - or multiple holes that requires heart surgery pretty early on in their life.
So Max got hooked up to all of these wires - and he didn't mind at all - in fact he was talking away with the Nurse - and then staring at his foot. He barely noticed. I was laughing in happiness that he was doing well through it and just hanging out.
then we went to another room with the dr. and he did an ultrasound on his chest which Max drank from his bottle. We could watch on the screen and see his heart and the tiny hole that was still there - but much smaller.
The dr. said that it's nothing they would ever do anything about. And the hole will not get bigger. He also said that if we moved away from all medical facilities - he would be fine for the next 315 years! We laughed at that comment and I was SO relieved.
I had seen so many photos and heard stories of my friends children who needed heart surgery - and while Max would probably be fine if not great - I would have been a complete wreck. I can't imagine it - and I feel grateful that he is doing well.
Phew......deep sigh,,,,,,,,long deep breath........ ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Marty - Jerry's mom was here this weekend. She got a chance to see Max crawling, eat baby food from a spoon, babble, laugh out loud, and start his journey toward sitting up. yesterday we went to the Zoo for an all day adventure. Then to the Americana for lunch at Frida and crumbs bakery for a cupcake.
We ran into Kevin, Brooke, Tom, And their kids which was so fun - and of course I had to try my hand at a group photo
Here's Kevin and Coco
Brooke's new baby Blake who is one week old!
Hanging out at home with the family
I think I would call this Bliss!
Happy Birthday Max! We are so happy you are with us - doing well, enjoying your life, learning, growing, teaching us about love and being in the moment and taking time to just "be". Right now you are doing Physical Therapy 1 time per week with Joe from Dynamic Therapies and you do well with him until you feel like it's nap time. He told us last time he was here that he sees improvement every time he sees you and he predicts you will be sitting by Thanksgiving! You also do infant Stimulation 1 day per week with Talar from Pasadena Child Development. We haven't seen her in a while. She usually watches as you and I play. And she tells us how amazing you are doing and we laugh as we watch you do amazing things. You also see an OT feeding Specialist once a month named Julie. She came to the house and watched me feed you sweet potato baby food. It was so fun. She says you are doing great as well. Who doesn't love having 3 specialists say positive things about you?!! Of course we already know all of this - but we love positive reinforcement. Your favorite toys right now are the LeapFrog Piano which you crawl over to and play and stare at your image in the mirror and have the most amazing facial expressions while you are playing and looking. It kills me. You also love the racoon puppet we got you at the zoo yesterday and we notice that you love to sleep next to it holding onto it or sleeping on it like a pillow. You also love the gigantic Pluto the disney character dog pillow that your cousins Stephen, Tim and Sean gave you when they came to visit a few months ago. We have it near you when it's time for bed and you hold onto the ears and tail and you feel the soft fabric with your hands as you start to fall asleep. You love the knitted donuts that Gretchen and sean halley gave you, and you love the glow starfish that plays music for you in your crib. You still prefer to be on your tummy, and you love being with mom and dad at night rather than alone in your crib. You LOVE to snuggle and you make the cutest little "mmmmmmm" noise when you are starting to get sleepy. You love grabbing my nose and pulling with your very strong hand and your little nails sometimes dig into my skin. You love to put your hands in our mouth - it makes you laugh, and you want to pull off papa's glasses. You also love to get your hands on my hair and pull - which is why my hair has been in a ponytail for the past 8 months. You still love the Ergo carrier and you don't mind the carseat at all. You are easily calmed down if you get upset or sad with just a hug and a smile... you seem to remember that all is well in the world. Your adorable high top socks are hardly fitting you anymore - and the 6 month clothing is a little big and the 3 month clothing is too tight. You've been going to 3 meetings a week with me during the afternoons, and those women ADORE you. You are getting more and more used to the noises in those rooms, the clapping and laughing. At first it made you cry and now you sleep right though it. I'm always proud to have you with me. You love the end when we all stand in a circle and hold hands and say a prayer as a group outloud- you look up at me from the Ergo and smile so big it makes me smile back which makes all the other women smile too. We still go around the rose bowl together almost every day. Usually near sunset and you sleep while I try to burn calories. It's getting colder and darker sooner so I am not sure how much longer we will do that this year but we will get back as soon as the weather permits. You are sleeping from about 11pm until we wake you up at 7am and let me tell you - you do not feel like getting up. You raise your head up and look at me - staring blankly at me for a minute while I smile as you and sing the good morning song ( to the tune of the happy birthday song ) good morning to you good morning to you good morning dear Maaaax good morning to you. Your papa and I sing that to you while you figure out where you are and then you Smile so big it makes us both laugh with happiness. What else can I tell you about yourself at 8 months old?? Shall we talk about poop? Do those folks out there REALLY want to know? noooooo. I'll keep that to myself. Well I guess if I'm going to keep that to myself - than I will end this letter to you by telling you that you are the brightest light I have ever known - seen or felt. Thank you for bringing your brightness into my world. Into our world. I love you so so so so so much and every day is a joy with you in it. I cannot wait for the next time I get to hold you, see you smile up at me, snuggle, read to you, laugh with you , play with you, talk with you, learn with you, grow with you. Thank you Max and Happy Birthday!
