8 months!

Maddox turned 8 months today! It's gone by way too fast. I can't believe we are just four short months away from a year. Each month that passes I think that he has changed the most that month and that was my favorite month so far. Yet again I feel like his seventh month was full of change and tons of fun and plenty of firsts. This month I got back into the habit of using my camera more than I have been and I am so glad! Now I have tons of pictures to share. 

Right after turning 7 months Maddox got to meet a large amount of family that he hasn't met before for Tyler's wedding...which just so happened to be at the same time he started to develop stranger anxiety. He wasn't too thrilled with people smiling at him or wanting to even look at him but he got better as the days went on. He got to go to his first wedding which he wasn't too excited about but he's super excited to officially have a new aunt.

Maddox meeting Nana and Papa for the first time!

I've been trying to take Maddox swimming for what seems like forever and each time something comes up whether is be a sudden rainstorm or him getting sick. Well he finally took his first plunge at our family picnic after Tyler's wedding in Lee Ann and Jeff's pool. He wasn't too sure what the think about it but did very well. We have since taken him to our community pool and he pretty much remains expressionless the whole time but doesn't seem to mind the water.

There may have been something special in the water because just a few days later Maddox crawled for the first time! He's been scooting here and there and doing a "semi-crawl" where he'll move an arm and then a leg and then return to scooting, but we finally got a real crawl and he hasn't stopped since. The boy is into everything! As I'm typing this I'm realizing it has only been about 2 1/2 weeks since he started crawling and it seems like he has done it forever! Our house sure looks like he has!

The very next day after he started crawling I went in his room to get him from his nap and he had pushed his bumpers down and was starting at be through the holes in the crib. He looked so funny I went to grab my phone to take a picture, then walked out of the room to get Garrett, when we came back in Maddox was standing up in his crib and he was so proud of himself! He is constantly pulling up on everything he can reach. He is still uncertain about getting himself down so he will either grunt until someone comes to get him or he just falls which usually is followed by a cry. With all of the moving around we bought him a walker but he doesn't walk in it yet, he just stands there and plays with the toys. I know it won't be too soon before I'm writing about his first steps.

We took Maddox to the church nursery for the first time also. As much as we love keeping him with us he has gotten to be so active that it is getting harder to focus and he's getting much more difficult to keep still and quiet. Well he didn't last too long he wasn't in the nursery long before they called us to come get him. The poor guy wouldn't stop crying. As soon as I walked around the corner to get him and he saw me, he stopped. The worker looked at me and said I just didn't know what to do he was acting like he was in pain. I don't know who I felt sorrier for, him or Maddox. It didn't help that there were about 10 babies in the nursery and all but two were wailing--and Maddox doesn't do well with other people crying. The other two were looking at the criers like, "what the heck is your problem?"

Maddox has gotten to go on a few adventures also this past month. He went to a play center at a local church and to the Dallas Arboretum. He did great at both places!

I've had a few friends that haven't gotten to see Maddox's room that have been asking for pictures for a few months now so I finally took some pictures! His room is my favorite room in the house.

I go back to work the week after next. As much as I am not looking forward to it I am so thankful to have spent the past few months at home with Maddox. I'm so grateful that I have a job that allows me to do this. I am whiter than I have been any other summer and I have spent most of my time in work out clothes (not from working out) with no make up and my hair in a pony tail...and I wouldn't have traded a day of it. I wouldn't have chosen to spend my summer any other way than with my favorite little man.

6 months

6 months...it's hard to believe that it was half a year ago Garrett was rushing me to the hospital in the middle of an ice storm. Now it's 100+ degrees and oh ya we have a baby. :)

We started off Maddox's 5th month with a Mother's Day celebration. We went up to Sherman to visit with Grandma and help celebrate her birthday. Then for Mother's Day we met Nonni in Frisco for lunch. I'm so honored that I get to be this little guy's mommy.

Maddox went from rolling from his back to his sides to being able to roll all the way over in both directions in just a matter of days. Now he is constantly rolling all over the place. He gets really excited when he sees his Wubanub on the floor next to him and rolls over to get it. He's started to try to get himself up on all fours. The poor little guy gets so frustrated when he doesn't move. We're definitely going to have to practice patience later on. :) He loves bath time, being outside, and playing with paper towels. He has learned how to make the /t/ and /d/ sound. Sometimes it sounds like he is saying da-da, which Garrett just eats up. We've transitioned from rice cereal to baby food and man the boy loves to eat. He is trying to sit up on his own and can do it with a little extra help. Right before turning 6 months I spotted his first tooth coming in. He slobbers al the time and is constantly getting a rash on his lower lip from his mouth always being wet. Each night Maddox picks out a book and we sing a song and then rock him to sleep. Maybe my most favorite part of this month is Maddox has started to reach for me. Talk about melting your heart. I love to see how his sweet little fat arms stretch out for me. It's precious. I have a feeling we have a little of big things coming this next month.

I also finished school just a few days ago so I have more time to spend with Maddox. The lady that watches Maddox requires the children to go 3 days a week. This really bothered me because this is my time with my little boy. I'd mentioned to her before that we could pay her and just keep him at home with us. She said no. After many people covered me in prayer I got the courage to ask her to watch him two days a week. I figured I could tolerate 2 days and could even get some things done in these two days, but three days was just too much. Long story short she said yes so I get one extra day to spend with Maddox. Praise God!

5 months

5 months! I can't believe it! Maddox has changed so much this past month. He's getting to be very interactive and a ton of fun. One of his new favorite things to do is chew on his feet! It's adorable!

Maddox has started eating rice cereal. At first he just wore most of it but now he's an expert and opens his little mouth when he sees the spoon coming toward him.

For Easter we just decided to keep it simple because our weekends have been so jam packed. We just had an easy lunch at Chili's then Maddox was spoiled with three Easter baskets.  

Maddox got baptized this month. Our church here doesn't do baby baptisms so he was baptized at our church in Sherman by the same pastor that married Garrett and I. Maddox did great for the baptism then he was done. We went back to mom and dad's house for a lunch to celebrate with family and friends. Maddox missed his morning nap so he was really fussy and ended up sleeping through the whole lunch. (Which explains the reason for him being missing on pretty much all of the pictures.) We are so grateful to have such wonderful family and friends to help celebrate this special event.

Maddox gave us quite the scare this month. He'd had a runny nose for a few days then one night he woke up crying about every two hours which wasn't normal for him. I took his temperature that morning and he had a fever of 102.1. So I called in to work and made him a doctors appointment, the poor thing was miserable all day. When we went to the doctor she checked him out, ran test for the flu and RSV, and said everything looked okay so we didn't need to worry unless his fever got above 102.5. About an hour after I got home I took his temperature again and his temperature had gone from 99 when we got home to 102.9. Naturally I began to freak out. I called the doctor and let them know and they told me to bring him in immediately, which of course freaked me out more. The doctor explained that with a 4 month old their temperatures don't typically go that high and if they do it's reason for concern so they wanted to run more tests. So they stuck Maddox with a needle to draw his blood, gave him a catheter for a urine sample, and two shots of antibiotics. Talk about an upset mama. I think I cried more than Maddox did. The rest of the night was pretty miserable. We heard from the doctor about 10 that night saying the initial bloodwork came back fine but they were sending it to another lab to run more tests. We had to go back the next 2 days for another round of shots. Maddox did so good. We stayed at home with him all weekend and I slept sitting up holding him upright because he would freak out when laying down because of all of his congestion. Thankfully we had a ton of people praying for our sweet boys healing. Over the next few days we went round and round with no test results. Mom came up on Monday to watch Maddox because I had already taken off 2 days and was being docked full pay because I already used all of my leave when he was born. Then that same morning Garrett got sick and his doctor told him to stay away from Maddox for 24 hours which ended up being 2 days. Another long two days. Praise God I didn't get sick also, I don't think this house could've handled one more sick person. Finally we got the test results back and fortunately everything came back negative which was good but didn't really give us an answer as to why his fever was so high. The doctor said it could have just been a really bad virus. Whatever it was I'm glad it's gone and my healthy happy baby boy is back.

 

Maddox taking a ride on Mattie

Celebrating Daddy's Birthday