Monkey Love

Meet Alex the Monkey. A gift from Auntie Bex, Dan's sister. Max loves, loves, loves this monkey and I do mean love. He started kissing up on the monkey before he was even out of the box. Things started to heat up a little later in the evening.

It started with one kiss.



One thing led to another and Max had tackled poor Alex and then wrestled around kissing him all the while.


When it was through Max's hair was a mess and Alex was covered in drool but Max was happy as a clam.

Happy Birthday Max!

Our little pumpkin turned one today. Hard to believe we all three made it! I still can't believe they let us take him home from the hospital. Special thanks to all our friends and family who sent greetings, well wishes and/or stopped by the festivities. He is a popular little dude.


Here he is as we finished our preparations for his party and at the end of the day just having fun! Details to follow...



We love you Max!

Daddy's Home!

We're going backwards a bit but I wanted to share some sweet photos of Max and Dan when Dan returned from his most recent trip. Max was so happy to see him even though he was tired and sickly.
Dan had occasion to facilitate the challenge of feeding Max. He's still not real interested in table food and seems almost resistant to baby food now. It's a crap shoot as to whether you'll get food in him or just on him. The process involves a lot of laughing, smiling and picking up and dropping of spoons and toys. I love this photo of my two fellas.


Feeling a bit better just getting outside and going for a walk. Max *loves* the outdoors.

Last Sunday we visited with Kristi, Samantha and Chloe. We had a lot of fun. There was popcorn, ball rolling and lots of crawling around. Max had so much fun with the girls. Doesn't he look so adorable in his 80s jersey?

A Cat and His Boy

Max was home sick Tuesday and he had a lot of fun with Lyle a.k.a. Chubber Cat. Chubber, for his part, was quite amiable to Max. I think his desire to look out the window eclipsed his instinct to "run like h*ll". Even so, he was remarkably tolerant as Max tugged, yanked, patted and sat on him.


"Oh, oh, oh - the kitty!"


"This looks interesting."


"I got it."


"No. Please don't go."


Enjoying the view.

My First Fat Lip

We had a family photo shoot with Max and myself two Sundays ago. Dan was out of town and Ainsley, the photographer is due on 10/31 so we didn't really have a chance to reschedule. Max was on the move the whole time. No sitting still and posing for our little guy. As such, we tried to work with him and get some cute shots on the go. We were successful; however, Max suffered a little fall in the tunnel and bonked his lip on a block. Thus, he was officially photographed on the day he got his first fat lip. Here he is in the bath. You can see it pretty well if you enlarge the photo. Still cute as can be. Shades of a hockey player to come?

My First Jack O' Lantern

Despite a lot of shots and trips to the doctor, Max and I had a lot of fun this past weekend. On Saturday we helped out at a book sale hosted by the community service group I belong to. (Max is an unoffical member.) We raised nearly $300 for local food banks. Not too shabby. As a reminder, it's a great time to donate to food banks. They are always in need of both food and cash donations in the "off season", meaning the dry spells before and after the holiday season. Folks go hungry year 'round and demand is up with our current economy. I know I feel so blessed to be able to provide for ourselves and not worry about putting food on the table.


Max looking for books.

The sale was at Carol's house and she is ALWAYS up to date and decorated for every holiday. It is quite amazing. Not surprisingly she had her pumpkins already carved and on the porch. Max thought they were so cool.




Who needs apple cider donuts when you can eat leaves!

Ouch! Too many shots!

Poor Max! He had quite a weekend. I had to pick him up from childcare at 4 on Friday because he had a high temp. By the time we got to the doctor at 6 pm it was 102.5. He was not happy nor was he doing particularly well. It's this darn ear infection which he still had despite having 3 sets of antibiotics over the past month and a half. They gave him ibuprofen to help the fever and it helped but he was not happy taking it. Then he got Rocephin injections for the ear infection. I don't know if you've ever had to do this but it's two shots given simultaneously in the thighs and it's a dose a day for three days.

Friday was the first day and he got his last shot Sunday. Poor guy! He did not LIKE the shot at all. He cried so pitifully it made me sad. By the time we got to the shot portion of our visit on Sunday, he was totally in the know. As soon as he saw two ladies in the room with us and they got out the cotton balls it was a sad, sad wail from Max. It is so awful to have to hold them down. I sure hope this clears up his ear infection. I thought it had gotten rid of the fever but he was still over 100 yesterday at his check-up. Hopefully, it will have totally kicked in with the last shot. His digestive system is kinda shot and I can't imagine how it will be if he gets ANOTHER round of antibiotics. We have a check-up on Tuesday and we'll see where to go from there. If it isn't cleared up by then, we have to head to the ENT and then the possibility of tubes in the ears is on our horizon. Ugh!

Think good thoughts for our little guy. Here he is after his shots on Saturday. The most amazing thing is that he's still such a good sport even with all the poking and jabbing. He must get that from Dan...



Notice the sweater. It's finally cooling down. Yeehaw! I love fall.

5 Words and an Em Dash

I'm getting a cold - again.

The Lion That Wouldn't Be

I saw this costume in a consignment store and for so many reasons I had to buy it against all better judgement. The primary reason being that Max would look so cute in it and, well, who am I to stop that from happening? Still, I tried to talk myself out of it. We already had an adorable costume from our friends - a turtle. Surely Max would look so cute as a turtle. I even managed to walk away but I came wandering back. Even when the size said, "3 - 6 months" I thought, "It looks big." I held it up to the boy and it did look like it would fit. Cha-ching. Sold.

I brought it home and later that night I tried to put it on. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. In fact, I pretty much had to wedge him in there. Poor Max. I may not listen to reason but I will listen to a lion roar.



About Halloween...I thought Max would look so cute as a turtle.

Little Rascal

I was minding my own business taking a shower on Saturday when I started to hear all this gleeful giggling. Max had found the toilet paper and realized what fabulous fun it can be. This may not bode well for our future neighbors.



Max pulls up all the time now and is getting quite good at cruising. I don't know how long it will be before he walks but I think another 6 weeks or so and that's just fine with me. It's so hard to keep up with him and that's even more true since it's often just me with Max and the mini-zoo with Dan on the road so much.

Max loves this little drum my mom found at a garage sale. I love it too because it sounds way better than a metal pan clanging. =)

Just in case you're all wondering how the critters are - here is a shot of each. Havers is going a little batty because she's not getting out for walks that much. She did get a walk this weekend when a friend and I headed down to the downtown park. Havers was so wild for the ducks, geese and squirrels. She only got in the water twice so it was an improvement on the last walk in the park. A phrase that is redefined when it means taking Havers on a walk in the park. Chubber is still an ace napper.



That's all for now as both Max and I are still sick or shall I say sicker again and I'm getting so tired it's unbelievable! It's been a month and a half. This is getting old and I would like for us to have a healthy little home. Please think good thoughts for our health!

Wiggle Worm

I love this series of photos of Max. I think he was practicing for the vice-presidential debate in the first one. The photos were taken over the course of 2 minutes and shows what a mover and a shaker he is not to mention how very charming. It amazes me how difficult it can be to hold onto him when he gets it in his mind to move. To think he's only 20 pounds. I can't imagine what it will be like when he's bigger!

Double G - We love you!

In typical fashion, Grandma Della blew in and out in a whirlwind visit with us on her way to a Garden Club Convention in Providence, RI. We are so GLAD she came! Her arrival was eagerly anticipated by Dan and myself. We have missed her so much since moving from Alaska and we love the newish hair do.

Dan was supposed to be out of town for work but in a true spot of luck, his trip was cut short and he was able to come home for the first half of Della's 36 hour visit. What crazy lives we lead now traveling hither and yon. Dan was able to meet the train from Boston in DC's Union Station and the pair rode the Metro home. We were all so excited for Della to meet Max - the most recent great-grandchild. Here they are not too long after meeting. He is loving his gift - a stuffed duck from the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.



We packed a lot into our short visit: Take-out Thai that was so hot it almost blew our socks off. Delicious but WOW. Of course, the visit was scattered with political discussion - a Barry tradition. Breakfast at IHOP with a waiter who just couldn't stop flirting with my Grandma. Naps and other feeble attempts for me to get better and kick my maybe-cold-maybe-sinus-infection-maybe-black-death. A little cooking together which included some tomatoes from the house at Walla Walla and a spectacular Della creation to adorn the table for my Beta Sigma Phi meeting which we hosted together. Grandma, I couldn't have done it without you.

We had a longer visit 2 years ago and it's hard to believe how much has changed since then. During our last visit, Della attended Havers' obedience school graduation and joined us on a fiesty dog playdate. Her comment on Havers this go 'round was that she'd mellowed considerable. (She was here for the days when Havers would drag the table around the dining room.) Also, Owen was still with us and, of course, there was no Max.


Dan and Della



Great Grandma and Great Grandson. What a beautiful site!

These pictures were taken just minutes before we headed off to the Metro and our goodbyes. Amazingly enough I didn't get lost this time. You'd think I'd have it figured out after 3 years but I've gotten lost the last couple times I've driven to the Metro. Geesh! As ever, it's sad to say goodbye but so wonderful to have had the chance to say hello in person.