11 Months and MOVIN'

Max turned 11 months yesterday. Today he celebrated by taking his first two steps. I can't believe that he actually went to sleep tonight...he is SO excited about his new skill!

Things will definitely not be slowing down around our household any time soon.

Park City

We had a great trip to Park City with Max's friends Mimi and Oren. The four days were a blast and All Things Baby were front and center. Besides playing with his friends, Max got to spend some quality time in the pool. It was awesome for Jeremy and I to catch up with Kate, Brian, Adair and Barry. Here are some pics. There were three major things missing....our friend Oscar and his parents Shannon and Matt. Can't wait for the next quad-fecta get together.

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day morning, first one ever...Woke up on our own, no clocks - just me and Max and Lee and lounged around the house. Max gave me a picture book of our family, very very cool and Lee surprised me with a rocket box for the top of the Subaru (she knows how much I love to be organized!)
More than any of that, being home with the 2 loves of my life was the best way to start my new favorite holiday :)
We later drove up and saw my folks in Olympia. Jeff and Tracy and Ruby there too. We had a great day and a great meal in the new pizza oven.
They say when you have a kid you're life will never be the same. Well, that's kinda obvious I guess, but I could never have imagined how different and special and wonderful each day is with Lee and Max, and being a father and partner with them. I absolute love it and love them, Happy Father's Day!

June 2010

Early June in Portland, spring is kinda here, racing is well into season, Max is 8 months and has his first best buddy and girlfriend. It's been kinda crazy, kinda busy, and super fun over the last few weeks with a trip to San Francisco, a hop into the bay for Escape from Alcatraz, and a visit from friends to Portland. A few pics to document the fun and chart the growth of this amazing kid!
Max and Oscar hanging together in San Francisco

Escape from Alcatraz. Great race, great day, great team!

Max and Mimi spending quality time together in Portland...The wine is not theirs. Promise.

Blue Lake Sprint Tri 2010. Jeremy 13th overall out of 588 and my favorite cheering section of all time!
This kiddo does something new and amazing every single day. He's crawling, pulling himself to standing, exploring everything, and can climb stairs, seriously. To the top!

May

Max is busy growing, learning to crawl and visiting friends and traveling to San Francisco and Sun River. Here, he's helping get ready for Albertina Kerr's gala and masquerade ball. This morning, he was busy practicing standing on his knees as we unpacked from a weekend of fun and training with the team in Sun River.

Coming soon: photo highlights of all the fun our family has been having!

Spring Fun

The past two months have flown by for us as we've settled into life with Max and both of our jobs in full swing. (Read: What were we thinking when we created this blog thought we would have time to update it regularly?)

We couldn't be having more fun! Max changes every week -- he's on the verge of crawling, cut his first tooth last weekend and is trying all kinds of new foods.

Next week we head to San Francisco where Jeremy has his first and last big race of the season, Escape from Alcatraz. Max and I can't wait to cheer him on and FINALLY meet cousin Oscar, see Aunt Shannon, Uncle Matt, Aunt Tash, and the McKinney family.

Just to show proof that we haven't simply been neglecting our blog, below is a video link to some highlights of Race for the Roses -- one of my main events for Kerr and Jeremy's volunteer gig. A pic from Race weekend is above.

http://blog.shieldsfilms.com/post/541639928/race-for-the-roses

A couple more pics: Easter egg hunt in Aunt Joan's barn and yuummmmm sweet potatos!

Aunt Kourtney Comes to Town

Aunt Kourtney paid a visit over President's day weekend. The whole gang spent time hanging out and catching up. Kourt and I grew up next door to each other and have been friends for 32 years. Even though she lives in Chicago, she is a huge part of my life and charmed the pants off the Madman. Needless to say, I think we will be seeing more of each other sooner rather than later.

Happy Birthday Nana

Max got to help his Nana celebrate her birthday earlier this month. He joined the family for dinner making his high chair debut.

He can't figure out why the chocolate cake came out AFTER he went to bed though.

First Day of School

Max started daycare on February 1. He seems to be adjusting well and really liking his teachers and friends. Here's his first, "first day of school" picture. Jeremy and I are adjusting about half as quickly as Max...

Let the Good Times Roll

It has been quite the month in the life of the mad man. Take a look at the photo link below to see all of his milestones. His biggest came just in time for his four month birthday on 1/30: the big Roll Over from back to stomach. Here's a pic of him just after his proud accomplishment. Since last Thursday morning, he as been rolling over any chance he gets when placed on his back.

Other his other highlights include: exesaucer, johnny jump up, bumbo chair, rice cereal and finally holding a sippy cup.

He starts daycare tomorrow morning. No doubt it will be much harder on me than him. But we're all looking forward to getting into a new rhythm as a family.

Copy and paste the link below for photo highlights:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=LeeACarson&target=ALBUM&id=5433116360988361809&authkey=Gv1sRgCNTX1LW2k4THTA&feat=email

Maxamania

Is anyone else as amazed by this photo as I am? Max is growing up more each day....smiling, giggling, laughing, sitting in his exesaucer, and starting to eat rice cereal. Rice cereal you ask? Yes, well normally that comes at 5 or 6 months, but Max has forgotten that he learned to eat out of a bottle at 3 weeks. And he seems to have the iron will of one (or both) of his parents. So this week we decided there must be more than one way to skin this cat.

After his RSV episode, we decided it would be best to give him plenty of time to heal his lungs before starting daycare. He'll begin 2/1. In the mean time, he's getting to spend lots of extra time with his Nana and Papa (thank you!) while I am back at work. I'm so grateful to have a flexible schedule and the ability to work remotely.

Here are some highlights of Max's 3rd month. I can't believe he we'll be celebrating his four month birthday before long.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=LeeACarson&target=ALBUM&id=5426849480374271281&authkey=Gv1sRgCK2DqdzPhZSlRA&feat=email

Max's First Christmas and the last two weeks...

We spent the Christmas holiday at the coast with the Prose gang. It was a fun trip and Christmas day was 55 and sunny! We got an amazing walk on the beach in and otherwise relaxed with the fam. Below are a couple of family shots. One from Christmas morning, one later in the beautiful afternoon and one of Max opening his first official Christmas gift before we left home on the 24th (thanks Donna and Dunkin).

After a foiled attempt on New Year's day, we finally celebrated Christmas with the Carsons last Friday. Max got his first cold, which actually turned out to be RSV (a respiratory virus in infants). After spending New Year's day night in the ER at Doernbecher and week of healing, he is finally back to himself.

As I write this tonight, my thoughts are with Max's Great Grandma Marie in Iowa. She loves reading his blog and looking at pictures of Max; her visit in November was a real treat. She's had some complications with heart surgery and needs all of our strength right now.


Check out more pics of our Christmas at the coast here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=LeeACarson&target=ALBUM&id=5419765937563033201&authkey=Gv1sRgCOvkrZv01OmxLA&feat=email