11 Months

Yet another month has flown by and yet again, I can't believe it! The next time I post a month update, we will be celebrating Max's first birthday. I haven't posted a lot of pictures lately, so I thought I would post a few from this past month that make me smile.

I also want to write a few things he's doing these days so I won't forget. He loves to open and shut doors, but cries when he shuts it because he has either shut himself in a room and can't see me, or has shut the door and wants it back open. He loves to point. Not necessarily at anything specific, just points around. He can pick up food now and put it in his mouth (hallelujah) but prefers things with a cracker-like texture. Yesterday, for the first time, he picked up cooked carrots and ate the mess out of them. He also loves opening & shutting cabinets and drawers. This can entertain for several minutes. He is crawling really well and crawls more than scoots. I'll update this list (for my sake) as I think of things.


If you look close in this picture, you can see his teeth. He has 2 on the top and bottom that are all the way in, 2 more coming in on the bottom, and 2 more coming in on the top. It's funny and strange how they're coming in on the top. He has one in the middle and one on the side that are all the way in. I thought it was strange that the 2 middle ones didn't come in first.

This was taken when I was trying desperately to get Max to realize that he could use his hands to get food to his mouth. To all you moms out there, it is NOT, I repeat NOT a good idea to do this using blueberry applesauce (a suggestion from one of his therapist. Yes, I will blame her for my stupidity. She used chocolate pudding, it was my bright idea to try blueberry applesauce.). His face in this picture absolutely cracks me up and I love how his sweet feet are crossed.

Sweet baby. He likes to look out the window and watch his daddy work in the yard in the evenings. He'll sit there and say, "da da da."

This was taken on our 5th anniversary after we had been out to eat. What can I say, the boy loves his daddy and the daddy loves his boy.

This weekend at the reunion there were beautiful places outside that would have been great picture spots. Max turned 11 months on Sunday and as we pulled into the place where we were staying, I told John that we had to do his 11 mon. pics at some of these pretty places. Well, we tried. Max was not having it. I think in this picture he is thinking, "get that camera out of my face, lady." (no, this is not one of the pretty spots, this was just an attempt to get a pic for his 11 mon. bday)


So, we got home from our trip, and because Max was tired, I was tired, and I am completely out of creative ideas for taking pictures around our house, I put him in the same spot he was in for his 10 month picture. And it's not even a good picture.

John doing Max's therapy.

Not much new going on

Well, I thought I'd do a little update, but sat down to write and realized there wasn't much new to write about! We've got a reunion with John's side of the family coming up this weekend that we're really looking forward to. John has a rather large family, so it's always fun to get together with them all. We usually only see most of them one time a year. This year there are 5 new babies (I think I'm remembering everyone) that weren't there last year, and 1 baby and 1 marriage on the way, so the family continues to grow. Max has met some of the family, but hasn't spent lots of time with any of them, so this weekend will be a good time for him to get to play with all his cousins and aunts and uncles. We're looking forward to it and will try to remember to post pictures.

Ethan

Ethan urgently needs prayers. I am copying and pasting a small excerpt from his website. To see more, click on his link to the right.

Ethan is being sustained by a series of tubes and wires and for the most part will be unconscious for an undetermined amount of days and below is the visual proof. I know that 99% of the people that read this daily realize the intensity of this situation, but for the 1% that are still skeptical, look at the photo below. He is sedated to the point of being all but lifeless. The most we should hope for over the next few days is that he will wiggle some fingers or toes. But other than that, below is what he will look like all the time. The positive side to this is that they believe that my cells are taking over (engrafting), and that these are just some side effects. The prayer request list is way too long to list, so I will keep it simple. Pray for Ethan to be cured. Please pray for every organ, vein, and drop of blood in his body. PRAY THAT GOD WILL BREATHE A NEW HEALTHY LIFE INTO HIM!

A Few Updates

Max and his girlfriend, Marissa...

...and her competition, his other girlfriend, Zoe.

While Max and I were in TN last weekend I had a few requests for an update, so I figured it was about time I did that. Things have been slower around here lately as far as me having time to get on the computer. I've gone back to work and because of that the computer is the very last thing on my mind. I still get on from time to time and check email and the blogs of the other children, but I don't take the time for much else.

As far as going back to work is concerned, I am very blessed to only have to work part time. I am also VERY blessed to get to stay at my school. Right now I am teaching summer school for a half day every day then I'll teach part time when the school year starts. It has, however, been harder for me than I imagined it would be. Max, oh, Max is fine. I don't think he even realizes or cares that I'm not there. He's happy as a lark. He gets to play with his Pa Pa every day. Me, on the other hand, well, I have become quite the control freak where Max is concerned, really since the day he was born. I do not have a "controlling" type personality in any other area of my life, so I have been surprised that I feel this way about him. I've had many mothers tell me this is normal, but I feel that I am anything but normal. After doing this job of mothering him for 10 months, it has been tough for me mentally to relinquish some of the responsibility of taking care of him. I don't know why, because I am completely confident that he is in GREAT hands with someone who loves him dearly. I don't think I could handle leaving him with someone other than family at this point and I'm blessed that Terry is willing and able to keep him and he comes to our home every day (nearly an hour drive), which is another blessing. All that to say, it's harder on me than Max. Enough about that.

Max is doing something new daily! He has just recently begun to do a little sign language. He knows the signs for "more" (like when he wants more food) and "all done." We've been working on these (plus a few more) since he was about 4 months old when we first started feeding him solids, so it's exciting to see him finally get a few of them. He waves, sounds like he says "by" and "hi" or something like that, points at things, holds his play cell phone or our phones to his ear like he's talking on it, can feed himself, can cruise a little, pulls up on EVERYTHING, says ma ma quite a bit, makes a few hilarious faces that I've got to get pictures of, nearly has 6 teeth, gives great hugs and still lots of kisses, he loves to be around babies and kids, he loves to explore the house, he is crawling really well and crawls more than scoots unless he is on the tile floor. He really is the greatest blessing in the world.


I hope all of you reading this have a very blessed week. Please take the time to check Amy's blog (the link is on the right). She has leukemia and could really use prayers. She usually tells what specific prayer needs she has. She's a little younger than me, 26, I think, and has a son that is 1.