9 Month Max Stats

Weight: 17 lbs, 10 oz (10%)
Length: 28.25" (55%)
Head: 17.75" (45%)
Likes: Crawling, screaming as loud as he can, watching and crawling after Addie, eating, giving hugs, smiling, pulling toys out of his toy box.
Dislikes: Baby gates, getting dressed, zhu zhu pets, and slinkies. 

Even though to us Max is getting so big, his stats show that he is just a little peanut!  He has no teeth but is eating like a champ!  We are now beginning to transition him to table foods which he is loving.  He is a busy little guy who rarely sits still.  He is pulling himself up onto the chairs, end tables, and couches and seems to find a way to reach or crawl to everything that catches his eye.  It's hard to believe that we are 3/4 of the way through his first year.  The big 1.0 will be here before we know it!    

Merry Christmas!

 

We had a busy week of Christmas celebrations this year.  Our first Christmas was with the Humenansky family the week before.  It has become a tradition on this side of the family for the adults to play “The Dice Game” rather than exchange gifts.  But as the kids have become older, they want more and more to play with us.  So this year Brian’s aunt Debbie planned a dice game for the kids to play too… and it was so cute!  They started playing by picking wrapped presents until they each had one and then they opened them.  At that point all the boys traded to get the cars and all the girls traded to get the animals or games. 

Addie, Maddie, Brayden, Riley, Avery, and Noah with their dice game loot!

Our second celebration was on Christmas Eve with the Corbett’s.  We had our traditional meal of prime rib with twice baked potatoes, and opened presents, and watched the cousins play. 

Grandma Dayna and Papa with all of their grandkids: Max, Mikko, Addie and Riley

It was then time to go home and leave out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

All ready for Santa!

Christmas morning was the best yet, watching Addie’s excitement and Max’s uncertainty to this whole Christmas “thing”.  We opened presents, ate breakfast, drank coffee, and just enjoyed watching the two of them play and make a complete mess of our living room.

Max's First Christmas

As you can see, Max had fun ripping the paper and then trying to chew on it while ignoring whatever gift was inside.  Addie carefully checked all the presents under the tree to see who they were for and who they were from.  I think the funniest part was how thrown Addie was that Santa didn't just bring her pajamas that match her and her baby and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas book.  She was confused by the extra presents in her stocking and at first was a little disappointed that the things she asked for weren't in there!

After our little family Christmas we were then off!  Off to church, my mom’s for our Engstrom Christmas, then to the KC Hall for the Rodgers’ Christmas.  Max received so many cuddles and kisses through the day and Addie enjoyed running around with Carson and Cooper.

Engstrom Family: Brian, Nancy, Eric, John, Max, Angie, Brian, and Addie

This year was by far our best Christmas to date, and I expect that as the kids get older, each year will keep getting better and better!

Max and Addie's first Christmas as brother and sister!

Christmas Traditions

Each family has their own Christmas traditions – baking cookies, cutting down their tree, touring holiday lights, among others.  I have participated in each of these, but not every year.  The tradition that I have had my entire life is going downtown to see the display on Dayton’s (or Marshall Fields or Macy’s) eighth floor.  Even though I think it is the fourth year in a row seeing A Day in the Life of an Elf, it is still one of my favorite holiday traditions and I love being able to share it with Addie and Max.  The bonus this year was that they did update a couple parts, which made Addie happy because she still remembered that, “the banging doors are a little bit scary for me.”  

The new display of the reindeer stables... much less scary than the banging doors!

 

Addie writing her letter to Santa

 After walking through the display we got some dinner and then watched the Holidazzle parade.  Addie was mesmerized by all of the lights and loved shouting out to us who was coming up next! 

"Mom I'm trying to watch the parade!"

The last tradition leading up to Christmas that we have started as a family is to make a Christmas craft.  I got the idea for it this year from Pinterest (one obsession that came out of a 5 month maternity leave!).  So one Saturday afternoon we painted thumbs and started pressing them onto little ornaments and the result was really cute!

Holiday Dance Recital

Addie had her first dance recital last night!  She has been taking dance through St. Anthony Community Education since September, and this was their annual Holiday Show.  She has been talking excitedly about her recital even before her classes started, so now that the day had finally arrived she was ecstatic!  Each group did three dances (tap, jazz, ballet) and then they performed a finale together - and did a great job!  She smiled, followed along through all the steps, and even was singing along to some of the songs.  All of her grandparents were there to watch and even Tina and Avery were able to make it!  After the recital we all went out for dinner and a milkshake... all per Addie's request!

Addie doing her "pizza feet plie"

All lined up and ready to go!

The whole group

The chocolate milkshake!

Baby Food

I love food and eating good food.  I am also an avid runner, and when people ask why I run, part of my answer is so that I can eat.  My friends and I have even started a cooking club where we get together about once a month and try cooking new things and sharing recipes and tips.  So when it came time to start feeding my kids (yes, this post is 3 years in the making) I knew that I wanted to be very intentional about it.  I had already worked so hard breastfeeding for the past 6 months, that I had a hard time thinking of now feeding my kids processed food from a jar.  So 3 years and two kids later, I am still making all their food... and enjoying it! 

I started using recipes from Petit Appetit cookbook, and now consider that a "must-have" for anyone who wants to make their own baby food.  There are even a number of great recipes for the whole family (my personal favorite is the No Yolking Around Pancakes).  The other items I consider a "must-have" are Fresh Baby Food Trays.  They are the perfect size for storing most recipes and are portioned at 1 oz. so it is easy to keep track of how much your baby is eating.

Many consider making your own baby food to be time consuming, but I have found it really doesn't add much time to any meal preparation.  I typically make one or two things every Sunday night, and that is more than enough to make it through the week.  I have been having fun recently with a cookbook that my friend, Laura, gave me called, Baby Love.  There are a lot of fun two or three ingredient recipes, and they are all very easy. 

Peach Apricot Oatmeal, from Baby Love... and this is just 1/2 the recipe!

Some more benefits we have seen in making our own baby food is cost savings, reducing waste (we are not throwing away or even recycling baby jars each day), and a 3.5 year old who will eat almost anything.  I hope that by taking the time to share our experience with making baby food it will encourage someone else out there to try it!

Breakfast and lunch for Max this week: Peach Apricot Oatmeal and Pea, Edamame, Apple

Max's First Snow!

Even though we did get a light coating last weekend, this weekend we brought Max out to play in the snow for the first time! Since the snow started falling on Saturday and continued overnight, we were able to get out and play in the snow a few times over the weekend.  Addie was especially excited to walk down to the park for some sledding (she has been talking about how much she wants to play in the snow since June)!  We pulled Max to the park in his sled as well, and he seemed to love sledding down the small hills - giggling and clapping the whole way down! 

Tree Day 2011

We went to Bernin’s Tree Farm in Hugo to get our tree this year.  It was the perfect place for us – only about 35 minutes from home, and no frills.  It is family owned (their home is even on the property) and right on Oneka Lake.  They let the un-chosen trees continue to grow so it is very pretty and feels fairly remote. 

We had fun walking around and looking at all the trees and eventually found the perfect one. 

After taking a few shots with our treasure, we hauled it home to decorate!  Addie was very excited to decorate the tree, and again, we could hardly keep up with her!  

Santa 2011

Addie decided that she wanted to go see Santa on Friday… so that’s what we did!  We went out to dinner before, and she was so excited that she hardly touched her food.  She had been talking all week about what she was going to ask Santa for.  When we finally got to Santa, she ran right up to him shouting, “It’s my turn!” and hopped up on his lap, letting him know “I can sit on one leg and Max can sit on the other”.  She was quick to tell him what a good big sister she has been and then asked him for, “pajamas that match me and my baby and the book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.  She continued on to say, “and my brother, Max, wants some trucks to play with”.  Santa told her how impressed he was with how well prepared she was, and she beamed with pride.  Max also did great with his first visit to Santa.  He just stared at his face and kept playing with his beard.  We were even lucky enough to catch a little grin from him in one picture!