Smile for the Day

According to Tony, this is Max going: 'Sup? (that's Wassup or What's Up for those of you slang-challenged viewers).

And here's a big smile.

Max in the Labyrinth

Here's our boy this morning doing his impression of Toby from Labyrinth (okay, the outfit is the wrong color, but it still reminds me of the movie).
And, apparently, little Toby Froud grew up pretty handsome.
And, bonus picture...here's Daddy playing with Max.

The little guy is doing well and starting to become more regular in his sleeping habits, at least at night. He's still pretty random during the day.

In sibling news, Gracie has fully accepted him as a part of her family. :-) It was really cute, actually. We had him on the floor (well-cushioned, of course) getting ready to take his bath and Gracie happened to be in the bathroom with us (she's nosy). She goes over to him and starts rubbing her head on his hand, trying to get him to pet her. It was really cute. She doesn't do that with just anyone, not like that. Harley still gets really concerned when he cries, running over to us going "Do something! For heaven's sake, do something!"

Mommy and Max

You know, Pam is right...I don't have many pictures of me and Max together. I guess it's because I'm usually the one with the camera...Tony says it's the Asian side of me...but I'll have to get on him to get more pictures of the two of us...or use the timer for the three of us. We have barely any with all three of us. Anyway, by request, here are two pictures from this month of me and Max.

The little man...

He's getting bigger every day and keeping us busy, busy, busy. He really likes the activity gym.
And he just inherited a bunch of clothes from our neighbors, including some cute hats.
And doesn't he look like a little dapper dan man in this sweater? Though perhaps his cheeks are a bit too chubby for that. :-)

Daddy, you might have noticed, seems to be wearing the same white t-shirt in every picture. It's actually a different t-shirt every day, I promise. He's just started taking preventative spit-up measures...so he takes off his work shirt and just leaves on the t-shirt once he comes home. Daddy-know-how.

Little man, big head

So, one of the other things they measure each time is the circumfrence of Max's little head. And guess what? He's in the 95th percentile there! The rest of him is slowly catching up. :-) Daddy says it is his big brain.

Of course, as you can see in this picture, Daddy is very partial to his little boy and his little boy is very partial to him.

Max has also started kicking around a lot -- so I posted to the PsyCHO email list and asked if anyone had a baby gym they wanted to get rid of. One lady did (sans toys) and dropped it by for free. Isn't this a great neighborhood? I added some hang-y toys we had and I have to say, Max really loves it. Gurgles and coos and kicks all over. I'll have to get some more toys for it.
Of course, not all was well yesterday. The poor little guy was upset after the four shots he got and really wanted to be held all night long. He was super-sleepy but also quite upset. That's lasted a bit into today (Mommy is very, very sleepy right now), so we'll both be happy when Daddy gets home today...as you can see from this picture last night, Max takes a lot of comfort from Daddy's warm chest.
Not to mention his big furry brother Harley, who braved the diaper end to lay his head and purr on Max's "injured" leg. Harley actually takes pretty well to Max and will even give us really dirty looks if he's crying and he doesn't think we're moving fast enough to comfort the little guy. He takes his big brother duties seriously. Gracie is a good big sister too -- she guards the door whenever Mommy is nursing Max.

Max's 2 Month Check Up

Can you believe it has been 2 months already? Actually, 2 months and a few days. Max had his checkup today and was very unhappy about it -- he had to get 4 shots + some drops. But everything is checking out okay...he's now up to a bouncing 10 lbs. and 8 ounces (up from 7 lbs. 15 oz. at his last checkup) and 23 inches. He's gone from under the 5th percentile in weight to the 25th, so that's good. And he's at the 50th percentile for height. He's growing by leaps and bounds!

Walking with Daddy

Max likes to practice walking and standing with Daddy. Here we are on Mother's Day with the cutie-pie.
It was pretty cold out and Tony was kind enough (read: he sucked it up and went) to take me to the antique market at the Fairgrounds. So we bundled Max up. He's outgrown his little dinosaur jacket and he's not quite big enough for this cool motorcycle jacket. But it kept him warm and that's the important thing...that, and he was stylin'.

The many faces of Max...

Maybe our boy will grow up to be a famous actor one day...this morning I told him I needed him to make some faces so I could take a picture or two for Daddy.

Divino (gelato in Grayslake!)

Divino
821 E. Center Street, Grayslake, IL 60030, 847.223.2500

We tried Divino last night for dinner, as we'd been hearing some buzz about it (and we needed to make a diaper run). It's located in the strip mall next to Piggly Wiggly, but don't hold that against it. ;-)

We'll have to try the pizza sometime, as we've heard it is really good. What we did try was a calzone (me) and a rigatoni pasta dish (Tony) and some gelato (again, pretty much me, but Tony did have a taste...and hey, I only got the piccolo size.). The gelato was great and perfectly authentic (ahhh, I miss Italy!). I had the zuppa inglese. I'll actually have to try and make a concentrated effort to not go too often for the gelato.

The dinners were good, though nothing stunning (they didn't knock our socks off, but they were good). The calzone, however, was huge and stuffed full of stuffings. As we've heard the pizza is the thing, we'll definitely try them again.

Oh, and the people were friendly. That's always a bonus.

Max & the Great Outdoors

This past Sunday was so nice that we wound up spending a lot of time outdoors and taking a long walk (Ilias came to visit too, so it was a nice walk with him). Max, however, slept through almost all of his outdoor time.
He sat in his swing while we ate lunch...

In a fun floppy hat from Persephone.
And look how big the boy is getting! He's starting to fill up the bassinet. He likes to kick when I put the alligator rattle on his ankle.

Update on the Shops at Station Square, Prairie Crossing

Since the weather has turned nice (it might get up to 80 today! Ack!), Max and I have been taking some walks to the shops at Station Square here in Prairie Crossing. Some new shops have opened up and there have been some changes in some of the old ones, so here's a quick overview of what's old & new...

Under the Sycamore Tree, the cool bookshop, is still going strong and is as awesome as ever. I'll hopefully be doing a book signing with them once my book is out. They do also carry a small selection of books for adults...Max and I recently bought Daddy a copy of In Defense of Food, which he really likes.

Little Skye has re-focused a bit and is now caring more maternity / nursing mom stuff, including some really nice nursing tops; I've gotten two...I especially like the "boob wear" (I swear, that's what it is really called). As always, they've got really cool stuff for babies and kids. Once Max gets a bit older, we'll have to check out their alternative diaper stuff (cloth, the G diapers, etc.)

The Prairie Croissant Cafe has made some changes for the better and just one for the worse. They've added new menu items (though, man, they only do the crepes on weekends...I'm bummed...I was so going to get one today), some little artsy stuff for sale, organic creamery products (good yogurt), re-organized so that the kid stuff is one one side, and seem much better organized (like getting the food and drinks out faster). All that's great. And I've lately seen at least one person working on a laptop whenever I'm there, as it has also quieted down a bit (or I'm going at non-mom-group times). The only bad change is that they've cut their hours quite a bit and I've gone by a bunch of times and they've been closed. Hopefully that was just a winter issue and now that Spring has sprung they'll expand their hours again.

The Affinity Boutique is also just as cool as ever. Every time I go in I want to get a ton of stuff. I need to be somewhat cautious with clothes still though...I've lost the baby-weight (so I can't blame Max anymore), but I've still got some pounds to go before I'm happy (like that post-cruise weight). So anything I get now needs to work later when I (hopefully) lose more weight. I did find a really cool dress today that I'll have to give Tony a hint about for Mother's Day...

Ten Thousand Villages is also the same, with a nice selection of crafts from all over the world and friendly staff. They are always getting new things in.

Prairie Arts & Fibers (960 Harris RoadGrayslake, IL 60030, 847-543-5255 ) is brand new and owned by Linda Keating, who lives in the neighborhood. I could easily get into lots of trouble at this shop, since she carries bunches of great yarn, as well as the work of local artists (the photos from the storm chaser lady are really cool) and even some really nice handmade furniture. I'm also going to be making some soap for her to carry. Oh, and they do open knitting sessions and knitting classes too.

Prairie Sunshine Yoga Studio (960 Harris Rd. Grayslake, IL, (847) 223-0601) is also new. I haven't actually been in there yet, though I hope to make use of their services soon (they just added a masseuse and are having a May special on massages). They also have Mommy & Baby classes that I'd like to try, though I might need to wait until Max is just a wee bit older.

That's about it, though the annual Earthwild Gardens plant sale will be this coming weekend. They don't have a permanent store, just a tent that they set up for special events. Nice plants and nice people.

And now, for a zen binky moment...

This one needs a thought bubble going "Hey!" or, maybe a Keanu-moment: "Whoa..." Or more likely..."Bright light! Bright light!"

Here's Max having a zen binky moment. Notice the intense concentration. Om mani padme hum...

Random Updates

• Grace has actually gotten down to 16 lbs. 4 oz. Which is a heckuva lot better than the 22 lbs. she used to be (fat kitty!). Of course, this may be partly due to the fact that she's been throwing up (sometimes in our bed) just about every day lately.
• We've been transitioning Max to his crib vs. the bassinet and it seems to be working just fine. Read: he's oblivious to the difference so long as I feed him quickly enough.
• I think his growth spurt may finally be slowing down. He still seems to want to eat as often as he did before, but now he's often not eating for as long. And when he's done -- he's done. I guess he's like his daddy -- he knows what he wants, when he wants it, and that's that.
• My book got nominated for the YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers List (very cool!) -- though I won't find out if I actually make the list until later in the year (sometime after the ALA convention, I think, which I'm going to (I'll be doing a signing and even reading on stage ---oooooh!)
• There is no such thing as too many spit rags.
• Seriously, there's not.
• The weather seems to have turned the corner again (after it actually snowed in Deerfield this past week -- geez). It's nice to see the sun.

More soon -- and a picture, I promise.