Max's First Thanksgiving!

I LOVE hosting Thanksgiving at my house, and this year was all the more special with our little guy. I tried to buckle him into his high chair for the first time, but he still is a bit too small:

And that concludes the pictures I took of his first Thanksgiving. Seriously. Bad Mom.

You may notice the teething toy and "cloth" I soaked in cold water... yes, my poor little not-even-four-month-old is teething. While I am proud he's such a little over-achiever, this is one thing I hate seeing him go through... so much pain, he just cries out and looks at me like, "Mom! PLEASE make it stop!" It breaks my heart into a million tiny pieces. Hopefully this first one will come through quickly and we'll have a break before more start.

Christmas is in full swing at our house, and Max is dressing accordingly:

He also had his first meeting with the Big Guy... he wasn't in a smiley mood so I didn't buy the pictures, but I snapped this sweet one to remember the event :)

We are going to attempt to take both Max AND the dogs for their picture with Santa tomorrow night at Springhill Mall... Crazy? Yes... but totally worth it :) Pictures to come FOR SURE.

Because I Can...

Max is starting to really find his little laugh, and he is SO funny imitating me or Ben when we laugh at him:

Shutterfly for All

Don't pass up this great deal: Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: http://bit.ly/sfly201


I just started using Shutterfly when Max was born and have been so impressed with their service- great prints, fast turn-around, I'm always getting great deals/sales via email, and their customer service is amazing!


Here are a few of my favorite items:


I made a bunch of photo books for family of Max, and also made books commemorating my pregnancy too! Photo Gifts


I haven't decided which one we'll use this year, but we for sure will use them for our Christmas Card: Christmas Photo Cards 


Here is a link to the card we used for Max's Birth Announcement: Max's Birth Announcement

You should take advantage of there great offer, if nothing else, just to try it out! New members also get 50 free prints too!

GROUPON!!!

I love a good deal as much as the next person, but Groupon is seriously the best deal site EVER.

They have an App (for iPhone, BB, and Droid I think), or you can go online. Each day they have a different "sale"... for example, today's sale is $25 for a $50 gift certificate to Nordstrom Rack. You can keep it on your phone or print out your Groupon via e-mail and redeem in store. We've gotten Groupons for Gap, Build-a-Bear, Yoga (!)... it's seriously amazing.

Check it out via the link below:
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu3733631

Happy Shopping!!!

Sink Baths!

Cutest new thing is taking a bath in my parent's kitchen sink...

Well, not me, Max.

The kid loves bath-time:

Little tongue loves the water

Laughing at Grampa :)

Max's CYT Debut!

While I reallyreallyreally hope that Max wants to do shows with me one day, I am TOTALLY ok with him doing WHATEVER he wants- sports, dance, theatre, music... whatever.

However... since he is too little to express his desires, I am happy to put him in whatever shows ask for him :)

This weekend he was Baby Thomas, son of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in CYT Aurora's The Legend of Pocahontas. It was SO stinkin' cute... everyone said so.

My little Papoose... the Hitler mustache was his fault, he rubbed his face paint on his nose.

With his Pocahontas Mama

With Deanna, Jessica and Kayla

Getting ready to go onstage!

Beautiful Nicosia Girls (Pocahontas and Lead Dancer)

Nicosia Family (+Rachel, who is most definitely a Nicosia:)

With the boy who played Young Thomas... love his face:)

He was such a little champ, he did so good and was so interested in everything going on! He just looked up at the stage lights and looked out at the audience. He got to take a bow with Kayla (Pocahontas)... his first lead bow! It really was so cute and I was just so proud!

3 months!?!?

I did it!!! I'm writing you a post on your actual "month" birthday!!! Go Mommy!!! I think it's a testament to how our life is going... I think we are getting the hang of this Mama/Baby/Family thing!

So October was quite the month for us- lots of time outside, lots of time with family and of course, your first Halloween! 

I lamented over what to dress you as because I really wanted to include the dogs. I know I'm a weirdo.When I finally settled on the Three Little Pigs, I couldn't find a baby pig costume. God bless the local Party Werks store.... found you a piggy bunting for about $15, and then I got Titan and Athena's pig costumes for $3.75 a piece! When we got to Gigi and Papa's, we found a little stick-on mustache and well, yeah.

This month has been a lot about expanding on some of your new discoveries- you are now a master roller from tummy to back and have started to wiggle side to side when you are on your back, like you are getting ready to roll back over. You ADORE your hands... they are most scrumptious!

The weather has been amazing this month- 70's all month! You enjoyed lots of time outside, especially with Mimi by the waterfall. 

You have so much fun with both sets of Grandparents. They all love to babysit and spend time with you, and I'm not going to lie, I love the little break once in awhile. You started being able to sit up in your Bumbo seat and LOVE looking in the mirror. I can't tell if you are self-aware, but it sure is cute when you recognize my face and smile back. 

Your doggies are your most loyal companions, always sitting/sleeping/lying near you. It's so precious. And you are certainly aware of them and love watching them run around and play. I can't wait until you can play back, and I know they will LOVE the day they can chase you around!

 You still adore your baths... I took this little picture of you after a bath:

 and then remembered I had taken this one of you after your first bath:

Same baby for sure, but look how much you've grown!!!! Gah!!!

Of course October brings our favorite sports: football and hockey. Though we are a little discouraged by our teams performances, we are still Chicago fans through and through.

 Touchdown!!!

Goal!!!

We went on your first road trip, too- Ben and the band (Aaron, Nathan, Izzy and Becky) played one weekend at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI and we got to go with! You were AMAZING. You slept most of the time we were in the car and just went with the flow as we toted you around. 

The end of the month was a little hard as your Mama got sick :( I mean REALLY sick. I had a double ear and sinus infection, tonsillitis, pink eye in BOTH eyes and horrible body aches with a fever. It was probably my hardest week as a Mommy because I just sucked at life. And though you are not full on sick, you had your first fever (100.4) and seem to be just a little off. But we are snuggling tons and hopefully we will both be back to our normal selves soon!

Oh Maxers, we just love you so much. This has been such a fun month and the bigger you get, the bigger your personality becomes. Can't wait to see what this month brings, especially since it's the Holiday Season!!! Yipee!!!

Max's First Halloween!

We have really enjoyed October with Max and our families, and though I have been super sick for over a week now, we had a relaxing Halloween with our Three Little Pigs!

The Littlest Piggy

The Medium Piggy

The Big Piggy :)

 Happy Little Pig!!!

Pumpkins from Family Carving Night....

(any other month of the year, that would be a really morbid event...)

 I was really tempted to paint a little mustache on Max and say that he was a formal Pig, but then Ben's Mom had this sticky one at their house. Win.

I've never been a huge Halloween person, but having a little one to dress up has brought a whole new fun factor to the day. But what Halloween reeeeeallllyyyy means is that, when it's over, it's officially THE HOLIDAY SEASON!!! Break out the Christmas travel mug and get the garland ready!!!!!