Max is 10 months old today!

Here he is this morning. Crawling toward his ball on his hands and knees. That is the development from "combat crawling" to this type of crawling. He does both right now.
The hands and knees crawling is getting more and more frequent, although because we have hardwood floors we were told that it takes longer. We may be getting a rug to help with traction.

And yes - we just ordered the baby gates because he is all of a sudden crawling EVERYWHERE!

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX!!!

We love you so much and are having such a wonderful time with you!
You are standing and shouting out with glee, crawling on hands and knees, making your way off the foam matt and onto the floor heading toward the front door, dining room and hallway. Your interested in yarn, especially yarn I'm knitting with.. and you talk to it. Any string or yarn or ribbon you have very long drawn out chats with.
You stand up in your crib and look out over the top. Sometimes facing us and sometimes you're at the other side facing the wall, staring at the animal decals of dragonflies, monkeys and squirrels we put on the wall when you were a tiny newborn.
You seem to love being read to. Your favorite books are "brown bear brown bear what do you see?", and "the Very Hungry Caterpillar" book.
You love to say " da da da da da da da da da " and when you are upset you YELL " DA DA DA DA DA DA DA "!!!
you say a lot of other things as well but this is your favorite right now.
Right now you are eating 4 8 oz bottles of soy formula. We switched to Soy because of an upset tummy you've had for the past 2 weeks. It's better but still not back to 100% yet. We feed you banana baby food and rice cereal to try to help your tummy.

You noticed the tv this past month and I think you watched part of Top Chef!
Time to turn the tv off!

Your favorite blanket is the one that Aunt Lois gave you with the super soft material and the monkey and giraffe on it and your name sewn on it. If we know you are sleepy and having a hard time we put that blanket on you and you settle right now. You love to hold it in one hand while you suck your thumb and you love the blanket on your face.

We still put you in the Ergo but not as much these days. You're about 17 pounds now and it's getting to be a little much!

Today your Grandma Marty is coming to visit and I think we are going to put up your first Christmas tree. Next week we'll be heading to Temple for your first service near Hanukkah and we will light the candles and sing the songs. Your 10th month is all about the holidays. Soon we will teach you all about Festivus. ( it's for the rest of us )

No matter what holiday we celebrate - you are the best gift ever.

you teach us about simple abundance as we watch you joyfully play with a piece of string.

You remind me that it's not about how big our house is, or how many pairs of shoes I own. It really is about love and being present to share that with you. And that's IT.

And yes - I am grateful for the house we live in and the coolest pair of boots I own that remind me of Minneapolis. But without you these things don't mean as much.

Last night jerry and I met a friend at a 12 step meeting. It started at 7:30pm and took me an hour to get there. I had to wake you up from a nap, put you in the car seat and take you on the freeway with a bunch of angry holiday shoppers trying to get somewhere quickly. At the meeting you got hungry so I put you in the Ergo and fed you. Had to take you out of the room to burp you and to make sure you didn't disrupt the speaker who was sharing his story. We giggled outside together. I LOVED THAT.
We decided to leave the meeting early to get you home because you still aren't feeling 100%. On the drive home I was remembering how easy it used to be to just go to a meeting at night. Now it's a big production, IF it's even possible at all.
All of my night time meetings have had to change to day time ones and if you are napping we don't get to those either. My friend Andrew told me ( long before I had you ) that once you have kids you do miss the old days but you wouldn't want to go back.
Last night I remembered him saying that and thought about my life now compared to 2 years ago before I was pregnant. I was remembering how easy it was to get around to whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. But I would not want that if it meant you weren't in my life. My life - when I look back on it, was fine then - but now it's a rich, delicious, vibrant explosion of laughter, joy and deep happiness. I'll take the schedule issues and the spit up and dirty diaper explosions ( like we had this morning ) if it means having YOU in my life. Everything else will work itself out. I'd prefer to sit on the chair on the front porch with you and watch the poppy's stand at attention towards the sun and watch the leaves fall off the tree as the wind blows and listen to the birds and wonder what it is you are seeing. What it is you are experiencing and hold you close. I'm having fun with all of these moments and learning to be more and more present for them.


i. love. you.