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My posts somehow got mixed up in order - if you already saw the "fist in mouth", there is a new one below it of Max laughing....:)

Party Trick

"Hey everybody, watch this - I can get my whole fist in my mouth...and I can still talk while doing it!"...He was pretty tired after a long bout of tummy time with head lifting and body pushing-up, he sort of gave in for a good "fist suck"...Sometimes I wish I could just give up, lay on my tummy, and suck on my hand too.



"Now wait a minute, if I just pull one of these here fingers out its....yup, it's a thumb and its super yummy!"

Laughing Laughing All the Time

I hate to harp on the laughing thing, but I just got video of Max in action and I had to share...I think it's pretty good.

As always, please ignore my voice - especially on this one when I sound like Louis from Revenge of the Nerds. It's really what gets Max going, though.

And the shaky footage of course is the only way to do the filming and "entertaining" simultaenously...

The Twilight Zone...

Sorry it's been a while...I started work (more on that in a later blog) and have finally realized what people talk about when they wonder, "how do working mothers do it all??". Needless to say I'm a bit exhausted. I still think staying home with Max is a harder job...

Anyways, I have to pay tribute to my college girls Farrell and Welby who came for a fun-filled weekend last week (yes, we call each other by our last names...they live in Jersey, so I have to act tough around them...hahaha).

When they first arrived on Friday, we proceeded to lunch where I had to breasfeed Max in the middle of the restaurant (it's a bar, really), then on to dinner with three couples, three new babies, and two married women starting to consider having kids. I think its safe to say we may have delayed that plan! The moment we walked in, Max started wailing - he had gotten a shot that day and was uber-cranky. He doesn't cry much these days and he almost ALWAYS stops after a minute or two but this went on...Meanwhile, baby Zachary was playing on the floor and Luca came in with a case of the cranks too. Poor girls - Welby says she felt like she had landed on planet Mars. In fact, when she slowly waved a toy in front of Max's face (which finally made him stop crying), I don't know who was more pacified - he or the girls. NOTE TO PEOPLE THINKING OF HAVING KIDS: Don't spend an extended period of time around a newborn...ignorance is bliss!! (everything is different when its YOUR baby, I promise).

Soon enough, though, they were in the swing of things and POURING their love all over Max...he is such a lucky boy to have so much love, especially from two of my favorite peeps in the world! They also took me for my second "girls night out" (Charlie babysat). This time I had THREE mojitos and stayed out till 1 a.m. (my latest so far). The next day I was the one with a case of the cranks...but it was awesome.

Their last night was my perfect night-before-first-day-of-work dinner. Good food, good friends, good family (Eli too), I couldn't have asked for more. You girls promised this will be an annual trip, I'm gonna hold you to that!!

Sir Laughs A lot

I remember watching an old Ray Romano comedy show and he told the story of how he practices all of his jokes on his kids...he had a new gig that his baby daughter really loved, so he wanted to try it out on the audience. He took out his keys, jangled them around and said "oooooohh aaaaahhh". I certainly laughed...

I think of that gig all the time as I'm doing anything and everything to make Max laugh. Luckily, it's beginning to work, and there is nothing more amazing than watching a baby laugh for the first time. It's like it comes out of his mouth and he isn't sure why, which makes him laugh even harder. I have a feeling my window of comedy is going to be pretty short, and soon enough he'll be rolling his eyes at me (a la Phoebe) and saying, "MOM - NOT FUNNY!" So, I need to milk it for all it's worth now, and at the moment I have to say he is my # 1 fan! The laughing process, goes something like this:

#1: Get his attention away from whatever he is doing by saying his name in a seductive manner (using a French accent helps)

#2: Make loud funny noises and faces so he is Stunned into paying attention...sometimes I think he is thinking, "whoa, Ma, are you really this nuts?!?"

#3: Use hissing, different funny faces, winking, or even tickling to get the smile started

#4: Move to whatever godly measures are necessary to get that laugh out....hysterically laughing yourself often does the trick (even though you sound like an idiot before it starts working).

Good Day Sunshine

I've noticed that the backdrops for my photos are starting to look a bit redundant -Max on playmat, Max in bouncy chair, Max in swing, Max in crib....rinse and repeat. The reason for the monotony is that the weather has been SO miserably hot here, we don't get to bring Max outside all that much. He and I go for a coffee walk every morning (Max can't start the day without a cortadito, he is such a Miami kid), but each day I have to make that walk earlier and shorter because he gets so hot and upset. (He's just like his dad - after 60 seconds in the heat, he is sweaty and pissed off).

Nonetheless, each weekend we do an early family walk around 7 a.m. when it's just cool enough not to bother the boys....and its probably my favorite time of the week. Me and Max sit in the shade chatting, Charlie and Bobo play ball, then Bobo sprints over to the stroller in full "attack mode" if another dog dares to approach...good times!

Some pics from last weekend's outing including our very first full family photo (with Lincoln)...

Happy 4th!

4th of July...Independence Day...quite fitting for a 3 month old who thinks it's A-ok to play all day long and nap a TOTAL of 20 minutes!

Max is just such a party guy (can't wait till he is a teen...OY), he wants to be up and part of the action all the time. Lately he cries while he is falling asleep because he is upset to be missing out...it's a bit of a challenge but also so funny to see his personality coming out, and he has personality in spades (what do you expect, he's my kid...come on haha).

We had a crazzzzy 4th of July - drinking, dancing to Kanye West, watching fireworks, up at 3 a.m. - it was wild. Just because the drinking was Ginger Ale because I had a tummy ache, the dancing was bopping Max around to get him to sleep, the fireworks were at 9 p.m. and we passed out shortly thereafter ,and the 3 a.m. wake-up was to feed Max doesn't mean we don't still know how to party!

I think I got some good fireworks shots...or maybe they're just generic fireworks shots. I also included a pic of Max, Myself and Lincoln because I was awake as they both slept on me and spent 25 minutes trying to get a shot of the three of us. I got this one using the self timer on the chair behind me at a 80 degree angle (should anyone want the info for a gallery) :)

Me and my Passy

Max is not a pacifier "addict", as it were - he doesn't suck on it all day and I don't think we'll have to "break" him of the habit, but it does help him go to sleep/calm his crying (in other words, it pacifies). Sometimes, the pacifier gets air in it and his sucking makes that 'slurpy/wheezy' sound just like Maggie Simpson...that always gives us a laugh.

While Max may not rely on his pacifier that much, he does have a clear favorite, and it happens to be pink. I don't understand the big deal - he has some toys with pink on them, his hospital blankets had pink on them, and he looks very much like a boy, so what's the problem? It's not like I can help it, NUK only sells the pacifiers in twosomes and they all include pink or purple!

I guess I'm the only one who finds it normal though, because when I take him out and he has his pink passy in, people always ask if he is a boy and start to laugh. Charlie says he has a really cute picture of Max but he doesn't want to hang it at the office because he is sucking his pink passy!

Some pictures of Max and his favorite passy below - I started with a before and after so you can see how well it works. You be the judge. (ok maybe he looks a little girly)...I threw in an extra photo of him playing with his new toy the inchworm, I think he likes it.