Leave it to Brent to come up with a reference to a Zombie movie for our 1 month update on Max, but given our state of sleep deprivation it is actually oddly fitting! We're all settling in just fine, and are starting to figure things out, from understanding Max’s various squeaks, grunts, and faces to adjusting to the fact that even simple tasks take much longer than they used to!
Max has already developed quite a personality, starting to make eye contact with us, and smiling a lot (and we swear it’s not gas!!!). He has a great series of “post-milk” faces that he makes, including his “oooooh” expression, smiles, and a great elvis-like lip curl that accompanies gas. Adorable, really.
We are trying to get Max to be as comfortable on his play mat as his cousin Freya seems to be, and he is starting to warm to it slowly. Max’s mat is a rain forest theme, with lots of crinkle leaves, a mirror, a monkey with a curly tail, and a giraffe (we're not letting on that most giraffes we know are not hanging out in the rain forest). He uses the mat to log some tummy time, which is gaining him some wicked neck strength - he uses this to head-butt his mom and dad when we're not paying enough attention to him. :)
Max is also getting good with the eye contact. He locks-in on stares with whomever is holding him, and even will get excited by the pictures in the books we read to him at night (who cares that we have to hold the books a foot from his face!) We are also astounded by the strength of his little legs - his kicks are so fierce we have to hold him in a certain way to let him work it out before a feeding or bed time.
It seems like there is something new every day with Max - new sounds, new skills, new habits, and new smells, and we love it all - even the stinky stuff. This week, Max got his first bottle from Dear Old Dad, and he grabbed on to that bottle like it was going out of style. What an eater he is! He is growing fast - this week he logged in at 9 lbs 10 ounces, and we've begun contemplating how his big-time eating habits now might translate into monster grocery bills in about 14 years. He has even outgrown a few of his newborn outfits this week - a fact which makes Jen a little teary-eyed about how fast her little boy is growing!
All in all we are loving our new addition to our family, and are excited about what the next 4 weeks will bring!
