Happy New Year!!!!

New Year's Eve is always a day of reflection for me; the most bittersweet of all holidays. After 16 years of struggling with MS, my mother passed away on New Year's Eve when I was living in Arizona. Obviously, that is the "bitter". Since I always battled with my sadness and guilt on this holiday, Ted made the wonderful decision to ask me to be his wife a minute before midnight on New Year's Eve. Thus, the much needed "sweet". So, today I remember my mother and feel the sting of her absence while celebrating my marriage.

This year, I feel sad that my mom didn't get the opportunity to meet Max or enjoy being a grandmother. I know she would have loved him. But, it is hard to be sad with Max here showering me with smiles and laughter. He's been especially cuddly this afternoon with me; he must know that I need it.

The Great Foot Discovery

Max discovered his feet today, and now he can't stop himself from jamming them into his mouth. Of course, I had to take photos of him during this newest "phase".....

Mommy's Letter to Baby

I have started a new tradition on Christmas Eve. I decided that, since Max will not have any memories of these early Christmases, I will write him a letter every Christmas Eve for him to read when he gets older. It will give him a nice little insight into his world as a baby. Here's this year's letter:


Christmas Eve, 2008


Dear Max,


Daddy and I just put you to bed a few hours ago, and you seem to be sleeping well in your crib. I have been tempted to go check on you quite a few times, but every now and again I hear you “coo” or sigh, which gives me the reassurance that I need that you are ok and don’t require the interruption of me creeping into your room and placing my hand on your chest to feel it move up and down with your breath.

This has been the most amazing year, filled with inconceivable joys for Daddy and I. Last year at this time I was newly pregnant with you and was still wrapping my thoughts around the fact that there was a precious life growing inside my belly. This year, I am counting my blessings that you are healthy, happy, and such a good little boy. Daddy and I say to each other nearly every day how very lucky we are to have you. You were the most wonderful surprise we could imagine.

You aren’t aware of what Christmas or any holiday is yet, but soon enough you will be. This holiday, more then any other in my opinion, celebrates family and has some very important (and fun!) traditions that you will become familiar with as you grow up. More important then the presents, stockings, visits from Santa, and great food and sweets, are the laughs shared, hugs exchanged and the warmth from the love of family and friends that will encompass you. You are already so loved by so many wonderful people; you are a fortunate little boy.

Today I picked you up at daycare at noon and the joy of the holiday was apparent. The two women who take care of you every day, Miss Melanie and Miss Ann loved your reindeer sweater and your dress pants, and Miss Ann gave you some beautiful gifts that I will keep with this letter in your “Keepsake Box” that I have started for you. They both love you very much, and I expressed to them today how much Daddy and I appreciate them and the affection they shower you with daily. We are all lucky to have them.

When we came home, we napped until Daddy came home, and then he and I put you in some Christmas pajamas. You are so adorable in everything, but due to my love of pj’s, I think you are particularly cute in your bedtime clothes. We spent some time playing with you, and I am just amazed at how much and quickly you are learning. You are just starting to pick up small items by yourself, and it seems as though you will be able to sit up on your own in a matter of days. Every achievement is huge here; Daddy and I clap and yell “Yeah for the baby!” over and over day in and day out. You just seem so smart and you’re funny, too; you never run out of smiles and laughter. Daddy has a knack for making you giggle like no one else; I love watching the two of you together.

Before your birth this past July, Daddy and I had the tradition of spending Christmas Eve alone together; just the two of us. We would relax and have a huge dinner and talk about our life together. Tonight, it was just the three of us, and the tradition continued: we had a huge dinner while you slept soundly on the couch and we talked about our life together….with you. Our beautiful boy.

Tomorrow will be a wonderful day. We will go over to Pa and Nana’s house, and Aunt Cheryl, Uncle Mike and your cousins Julia, Olivia and Jack will be there. After an early dinner there, we will travel to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Eric and Aunt Laurin and your cousins Nick, David, Sean and Adam will also be there. It will be a busy day, but you will be squeezed and held and loved SO much that none of us will mind being tired.

I hope you enjoy your first Christmas, Max. I love you and Daddy more then anything in the world and can't imagine my life without both of you in it. None of us will ever know what you are dreaming about right now in your crib, but I hope you are having visions of sugarplums. I just heard you “coo” so I know you are safe and well, although I might creep up and check on you anyway…..

Love,
Mommy

Ready for Santa's Arrival

According to Norad (http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html) Santa is in Grytviken, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands right now, and Max is eagerly awaiting his arrival. Below is a photo of Max's first note to the Big Guy in Red.

Looking Forward to Max's First Christmas

I am really excited about this Christmas. As usual, Ted and I are staying home and having a huge dinner and opening our gifts to eachother, which is always wonderful. This year we have the added joy of putting milk and cookies out for Santa, giving Max a bath so he is nice and clean for Christmas Day, and looking towards the next day with our baby boy. I'm sure he will have a blast on his first Christmas. Merry Christmas, everyone.

A Night Out For Mom And Dad

It's been a long couple of weeks. Max has been sick and therefore has been back and forth to the doctor's, Ted has recently been diagnosed with the early stages of pneumonia and I am recovering from my own sinus infection (with a short-lived case of laryngitis). As my best friend Karen said so eloquently, it's like General Hospital around here. Add in the fact that we are in the process of moving my office which causes me to run back and forth from old to new spaces, pickout carpeting and wall paint, meet with contractors, electricians and phone installers, and I've been pretty busy. Ted has no coverage in his office right now, either, so he's been busy at his job and has been coming home a little later then usual and has no flexibility to go into work late. So, I've had to take Max to doctor's appointments which has taken quite a chunk of time out of my days recently. Don't get me wrong, he's worth it, but I've been exhausted.



So, I mentioned to Ted that I needed a night out, and he said that he would ask his parents if they could watch Max for a little while so that we could go to dinner at Le Jardin du Roi, the restaurant in Chappaqua, NY where Ted's brother Cristiaan works. It's a little out of the way, but we knew that if we went there we would get an outstanding meal, and that is definately what we were craving.



Ted's parents were, as usual, more then happy to watch the boy, and so we dropped him off and headed off to dinner. Cris treated us like royalty, and our meal was fantastic. I was SO stuffed by the time we walked out of there that I couldn't breathe. On the way back to pick up Max, I sat back and realized how good I felt. Just when my night felt complete, I looked up to the clear sky and I saw a shooting star. It was a wonderful evening.....

My Little Turkey

I think I've mentioned before what a big hit Max is with the ladies at daycare, but today was a really special example of that. The director called me with a question about his meds for the nebulizer, and she said that Max was having a good day. She mentioned that Miss Melanie, who takes care of him in the morning, had made him a turkey hat and that I would just love it.



When I picked him up at 5pm, Miss Ann told me that Max had an especially good day, which was wonderful to hear since we had a bit of a tough morning together with him spitting up numerous times causing me to have to change him a bunch of times. Anyway, I talked to Miss Ann for a little while and then asked to see this already famous turkey hat. She put it on his head and we howled with laughter. I instantly knew that I had to have a photo shoot when we got home, and here's the best of the bunch.....Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

Sweet Potatos and Peas and Bananas....OH MY!

We've started to give Max a little bit of baby food in addition to his rice cereal and formula. So far he's tried and enjoyed prunes, bananas, carrots, sweet potatos and peas. This photo is proof that peas can be an effective fashion accessory....

He Has Bronchitis. Wait, no he doesn't......

Max has his first illness. He has been coughing for a while but since he didn't have a fever and he was his usual happy self, when I've called the doctors office they have dismissed me, clearly thinking that I am simply being a worrysome mother of a brand-spanking new infant. Call it mother's intuition, call it basic common knowledge, call it whatever you want, but I knew something was up.

On Sunday, November 2nd Max woke me at 3am howling and coughing. I ran into his room and he was in his crib kicking and punching the air and he was clearly unhappy. In the midst of having his diaper changed, he had a violent coughing fit. Noticing that he was turning a horrible shade of red which was quickly turning to a blueish scarlet, I scooped him up and ran downstairs to where we had the aspirator.

(This is a handy little tool for getting the snot out of an infants nose, and for clearing excess drool or mucous from their mouth. I don't know what I would do without it.)

Max was trying desperately to clear his throat and the coughing was heart wrenching. I sucked some of the mucous out for him, which seemed to help for a second, and then he started coughing violently again. Talk about scary!!! I woke Ted up and we both decided that this was getting to be too much to ignore. So, at 8 in the morning I called the doctors office to see what I should do. Luckily, the doctor who was on call from the practice had Sunday office hours, so they said they could see him a little later in the day.

Immediately upon walking into the room where Max and I were waiting, the doctor said, "Oh, yeah. He's got bronchitis. I can hear him wheezing from here!" So, he called in a prescription for ammoxicillin and a liquid form of albuterol and off we went.

About a week passed, and Max was still coughing up a storm and wheezing. A lot. So, I called the doctors office again and we were seen that same day. This time the doctor said that Max probably had either bronchiolitis or asthma, and they gave me a nebulizer to give him treatments at home. True to my little boy's wonderful nature, he takes it all in stride, but I have to admit that it is hard to see him with that little mask on his face....

He seems to be doing better now. Ted and I have been giving him treatments and his cough seems to be getting a little less "deep". Oh, and by the way, he is already close to 18 pounds....

Max's First Halloween

Max celebrated his first Halloween as a pea pod. The cutest darn pea pod ever!!!!

I brought him into school in his costume, and everyone there was just freaking out. I went to work, and we all tried to contain our excitement until I could go pick Max up, Theresa's mom came by with her sons, and Sabrina showed up with Emma. Theresa worked really hard to get the office looking festive, and Robyn made some great contributions including dressing up as a witch.

Everyone gathered at 4pm, and Max and Ethan were asleep by 4:15. Crazy party animals!!!

We had cupcakes, punch, 7 layer bars, popcorn balls with candy corn in them, mexican dip, sugar cookies and tons of candy. Theresa brought play-doh and construction paper and crayons to entertain the kids, and everyone seemed to have a ball. Around 5:30 we were all in our cars headed home and I'm sure everyone was as tired as I was!