Some of my Favorite Memories of the Month

This month Maddox has come to love him Mommy and Daddy a lot. He has gotten especially clingy and by the end of the day he follows me around everywhere I go, tugging on my legs. It honestly lights up my day that he loves me so much and wants me to hold him. He is actually pulling at his right ear in this picture. This has come to mean, "I am tired. I don't want to go to sleep, but I am tired." I usually win and he goes to sleep, although sometimes it takes awhile. Maddox is still not a very easy baby to get to sleep. Sometimes I will put him in his crib and he will play with his stuffed lion, chatter to himself and kick the wall for nearly an hour.

Also notice the blinds in the background. These are his new favorite toy. He likes to tug on them and throw them and pull on them. I had a theory that if I let him play with them then he would become less interested in them and eventually leave them alone. Not true. I underestimated the strength of Maddox's arm strength. A couple days ago he ripped one off. Wups!

Maddox LOVES his daddy and his daddy loves him. Don't you just love that double chin and those long chunky legs! I think Maddox has Jeff's legs, which means he may be doomed to sweat pants until junior high.
A favorite past time for Jeff and Maddox is Maddox balancing on Jeff's hand or in Jeff's arms, like Maddox is now. Maddox thinks it is hilarious.
Playing with the blinds. Guilty. Gotta love those rolls!
And this is Maddox's new discovery as of a yesterday, when he broke it. He thought the lamp was cool to try to use to stand up and then he realized it rocked back and forth too. Before I knew it, the lamp toppled over onto the floor and broke. Oh well. Now I know why people say kids are so expensive!

The Circus!

Jeff and I were talking one day and I found out he (and Maddox) had never been to the circus before and wouldn't you know it, then came to town shortly after our conversation, so we bought tickets. At $12.00 at ticket, plus another $10.00 in fees and $8.00 in parking, we made an expensive family memory. Seriously, though, cotton candy was $12.00!!! I wanted to buy a cool light up sword for Maddox and it was $20.00! I remember going to the circus as a child and riding on an elephant for like $5.00...Okay, so it may have been more than that, but not much.

Regardless, we had a good time and were thankful Maddox is not at the age where he wants anything. He was happy looking at all the lights and noises, as you can tell from the following picture. We couldn't get him to pay any attention to us at all. The elephants. You can't see them too well, but they were all holding each other's tails and walking around. They are probably my favorite part of the circus. Jeff's is the human pyramids and cool tricks. He also liked the horse and tigers when their trainers made them stand up on their hind legs.
All that watching wore him out! It was three hours past his nap time when he finally fell asleep. Fifteen minutes later he was up and back to watching the circus. We didn't stay the whole time, but it was fun while we were there. I think I prefer the small town circus, not only because I lost my cell phone today and couldn't find it because the music was too loud to hear it ring, but also because a small town circus is more intimate and real, instead of practiced and predictable.

First Hair Cut

Maddox got his first haircut this weekend. We figured that since we recently had someone ask the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" that it was about time. Jeff and I both loved his curls over his ears and in the back, but realize we have a little boy, not a girl. Here is the before pic!A back of the head shot.

The cutting! He did very well. He just sat there the whole time and played with other parts of the clippers.
Daddy's handiwork! He looks so grown up now and like such a big boy! I don't care for it and Jeff didn't either, but said it is now growing on him. Maddox got many compliments on his new hairdo, although I am not sure if he likes it yet. He used to pull his hair when he was nursing and now he doesn't have anything to pull and doesn't quite know what to do with his hands now.

A short video of the haircutting experience. Isn't he such a good boy!?

Ear Infection

This past week Maddox had his first ear infection. He screamed and cried all day one day and didn't eat hardly anything for two days. We finally took him to the doctor and got a prescription, although I ended up not giving it to him. The doctor said it was my choice, that it didn't look that bad and since he never had a fever with it, I decided to just do Tylenol instead. It worked great and wasn't hard on his tummy. His ear infection cleared up in just a couple days by itself. I am of the opinion that antibiotics are great when they are really needed, but most of the time they are over-used. These pics are of Maddox being really clingy to me during his sick days. Anywhere I go, he would crawl to me and try to get me to pick him up. It has been so cute, although I am sure it could get old, but right now it makes me feel special and loved.

Teeth Brushing

So we are really bad parents. This is Maddox's first time having his teeth brushed! As you can see from the date on the picture being September 5, 2008, we are a few months behind schedule. I give you all permission to give us a hard time, but especially Jeff. Mr. Future Dentist doesn't brush his kid's teeth! I secretly think he is helping Maddox get cavities so that he will have a patient to practice on. I have deemed Jeff the official tooth brusher for Maddox. He needs the practice, plus he is REALLY good at it! If you are ever over at our house and you happen to have your toothbrush, I volunteer Jeff to give complementary tooth brushings. One time he showed me the correct way to brush my teeth and it was amazing! It was like a gum massage.

Maddox loves to get his teeth brushed. He likes the feel of the tooth brush in his mouth and likes to bite on it. Plus I think the toothpaste tastes good and that helps!

I Have Teef!

Jeff and I were so happy to see that Maddox has teeth...four of them to be exact! Two on the top and two on the bottom. We were especially excited about his bottom teeth because I never had those teeth come in. Now we are just crossing our fingers for the teeth next to his two front teeth and two bottom teeth to join the others.

Jeff would be really upset with me for not knowing the exact names of these teeth. How bad is it that a dentist's wife doesn't know the scientific name of teeth? I am going out on a limb here and trying to recall the lecture Jeff gave me last week about teeth names. I am guessing they are called the lateral teeth. Now as to anything else other than that classification, I am remembering a bunch of words, like medial and distal but can't remember what they mean. Maddox was being so serious and concentrating really hard while playing with my blush brush. He kept making motions like he was painting the carpet.There's a smile! And then he went right back to playing and "painting" with my blush brush. It was really cute. I am excited for him to be able to paint for real. Remember those painting books where all you do is paint with water and the colors are on the pages? I loved those!
And here he is eating dinner. Maddox is funny about dinner and "real" food. He really only likes to eat when Jeff feeds him. I can usually get a few bites in him but that is it. I tell you, feeding this kid has been the biggest trial of motherhood for me! Once in MT he went ALL DAY without eating a single bite of food, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.! I worried horribly all day. Hopefully he never acts on his anorexic tendencies when he gets older!

Correction

I have to make a change to my list of favorite foods. I was kindly reminded of my actual favorite pizza..."Pretty Aunt Roz's" Homemade Cheese Pizza w/Homemade Whole Wheat Crust. Pizza Hut is second in my list of favorite pizzas. Honestly, though, Roz you do make the best pizza in the whole wide world. I will never forget the first time I tried it right after Jeff and I were married and we were babysitting your children. They each ate maybe one piece and I think I devoured the rest of the WHOLE PIZZA! I was a little sick afterwards, but it was soooo good. Pizza Hut could never make me overeat like I did that night!