Back to Work/Day Care

It's been a month since our last post. Since then, Kelsey has gone back to work and Max has started day care. 

Max is going to a day care in McFarland, which is a nice rural community just outside of Madison. Most days Gus drops him off and Kelsey picks him up. It has been tough for us, but Max has been a champ with it all. He hasn't fussed once on a drop off, and he's usually asleep or all smiles on pickup. It's hard when we think about how many hours a week he spends away from home and family, but we feel very comfortable with the ladies at the day care. They text pictures to us throughout the day, and always have sweet comments about Max. They say that he loves watching the older kids play. Since Max started going, we've noticed he's been a lot more vocal at home. 

With both of us back to work now, it makes us look so forward to the weekend when we can relax and enjoy our sweet boy. Last Saturday we had a nice break in the heat and headed downtown to the Edgewater Hotel for drinks and live music at sunset. It was a beautiful night, and it was fun to watch Max take in the lively atmosphere. 

Max, we can almost see you growing by the second. You develop more personality everyday. You are the happiest baby. It's never hard to coax a smile on your face, which is great because it's the sweetest sight to see.  You've branched out from mainly staring at the ceiling fan and have found some other interest. You love being read to and your Mom loves to read you books. Your starting to grab and use your hands more. You're starting to notice and smile at your furry brother Oscar, and he seems to be warming up to you as well. You guys are going to have a blast as you grow up together.

And now pictures, pictures, and more pictures. 

Max loves his Max chair

Heaven on Earth.

Gus's cousin, Austin (holding Max), is in a great rock band out of Nashville called the Future Theives. They recently had a tour stop where they played in Madison. The guys crashed at our house and Julianne babysat Max so we could go to the concert and watch the guys rock out. When they hit it big, it'll be cool for Max to show his buddies this picture of him partying with a world famous rock band. 

First picture sent to us from the day care ladies. We breathed a sigh of relief when we got this. Seeing that smile was a very comforting sight on a difficult day.

Max yucking it up with his classmate.

Max was awestruck in the fan section of Menards. He's a fan fan.

4th of July @ The Steele's

On the Sunday we left Evansville, we headed up to the Steele's (Aunt Sasse, Uncle Darren, and cousins Maddie & Eli) house in Brownsburgh, IN to celebrate the 4th. Aunt Ellie and her boyfriend, Tyler, made the trip up from Nashville, and aunt Hattie lives Indy making it the rare occasion that all of the Small siblings are together at once.

The Steele's are so accommodating and have such a beautiful home. Aunt Sasse did a marvelous job planning out the weekend, making sure everyone was well fed, comfortable, and happy. Everyone got some good time in with Max and were amazed by how big he's gotten since they last saw him. It rained most the time we were there but we made the best of it. Sunday night we had a Low Boil for dinner where Shrimp, Sausage, Corn, and Potatoes were cooked and served by being poured over newspaper on top of the dining room table. It was delicious and hopefully becomes a staple at Small get-togethers. After dinner Darren put on great firework show while everybody sat on a tarp by the pool and sang Proud To Be An American.

On Monday, the 4th, it was still raining so we played games and hung out around the basement bar. The family slowly filtered out throughout the day. That night the rain cleared and made for a beautiful and cool night. We sat out by the pool with Sass and Darren and watched the fireworks go off throughout the neighborhood. They were huge, constant, and from all directions. It was really cool and Max surprisingly slept through it all. We took off early on Tuesday morning to head home to home to Wisconsin. Max was once again a great traveler and slept the entire trip.

American Boy.

Cousin Eli wanted to hold Max this visit. We are so excited for Max to have Eli to look up to as his older boy cousin. It's a lot to put on a four year old, but we think Eli will set a great example for Max. He's one of the sweetest and most considerate kids, and he's crazy about playing sports. 

Aunt Ellie got her wish when Max fell asleep on her chest. 

Uncle Baby Sammy feeding Max at a gas station stop on the way from Evansville to Brownsburgh. Pretty sure that as this picture is being taken, Max is soaking himself, Sam's shirt, and the pillow with pee. 

The Low Boil.

Trip to Evansville

We took advantage of the 3-day weekend and decided to chance taking Max on the 7 hour car ride to Gus's hometown of Evansville, IN. We are so glad we did because Max couldn't have been a better traveler, and he got to see and meet a lot of the Evansville fam.

We got an early start on Friday and only had to stop twice on the way down to Indiana. Mimi and Pops were very excited to have their grandson at home for the next couple of days. They recently updated their kitchen, and Friday night we hung around the kitchen island eating chicken potpie and snacking on delicious Misses Mrs Cookies. The Hentons (Aunt Amy, Uncle Keith, and cousins Andie, Carlie, & Lucie) came by Friday night to hang out and meet Max. It was cool for Gus to see his cousins holding Max. He can remember when each of them was born and holding them when they were Max's age.

Max's moccasins were a hit. 

On Saturday we brought Max over to meet his great grandparents, Mama Jan & Paw Paw. They got to meet & hold him for the first time. It was a great moment seeing Mama Jan feed him his bottle and being able to get a 4 generations picture with Paw Paw. 

Mama Jan feeding Max his bottle.

4 Generations of Small men.

After we got back from Mama Jan & Paw Paw's, we had a string of visitors. Uncle Ubbie, Uncle Freddy, Uncle Joe, Uncle Keith, Aunt Suzanne, Aunt Martha, and cousins Frances, Annie, and Dannie B stopped in throughout the day. Max was pretty sleepy from the trip so he mainly napped in everyone's arms.

Max & Uncle Jobey

Max & Cousin Frances

It was a great experience, seeing family members that we love and mean so much to us, finally get to meet and hold Max. We wish we could see everyone more, and look forward to all the good times getting together in the future.

Catching Up

It's been almost 4 weeks since the last post, and we are amazed by how much Max is growing. Max has started to stay awake for longer periods of time, and he's been smiling quite a bit when awake. When those big blues look at us in the eyes and smile it's the best feeling. He's into typical 10 week old stuff  such as eating, being walked around, being outside in the fresh air, staring at the fan, car rides, baths, and eating. He is starting to enjoy laying on his playmat, and this past weekend he grasped and held onto one of the rings that hang off of the mat, which was really cool. We can tell he's focusing and reacting to specific items more. Max has even started to pay a little bit of attention to Oscar! We love you Max, you've changed our whole world and we couldn't be happier.

 

Max got to meet Kelsey's cousin, Lindsay's, kids Ruby, Lola, & Carson.

Friday Night Fish Tacos with Max on the Monona Terrace, on of our favorite spots in Madison during the summer.

Daytime walks with Oscar & Max