He's Home!

Monday Matthew came home. He was gone basically a month. This was the first time he has left us since Maxim was born. I know it was hard on both of us but we got through it. I knew Max had grown and changed and had more skills since Matthew left but you forget everything. Simple things Matthew would notice.
Before he left Max could roll over and everything but now he'll roll to his stomach and stay awhile without crying and scoot around and then roll to his back and so on. Matthew was very impressed. Also Max can be left on his play mat and entertain himself. I had forgotten that before Matthew left Max was happy if you were actively playing with him or holding him. I think the biggest thing is Max is now on a routine. It used to be that even if Max had completely fallen asleep in your arms as soon as he was put down he would wake up. Now we have the routine of he wakes, feeds, diaper change then plays for about 90 minutes gets swaddled falls asleep for at least 30 minutes and then it all starts again. The biggest improvement is even if his eyes pop open in your arms while you are transfering to the crib or once you lay him down he goes back to sleeping without a whimper. Sadly, he still hasn't slept 7-8hrs since July but when it now only takes 15 minutes to get back to bed when he wakes in the middle of the night it's not bad. Maybe in a few weeks we will try to get him to sleep 7-8hrs again or maybe he'll start doing it soon. Right now the longest stretch is about 5hrs at night.
I am so glad for Matthew to be back it is a huge help. I had missed him so much.
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Maxim's Trip to California

We arrived in California on Wednesday morning. Flew first class. We thought all of the first class fliers would complain about the baby. But most of them didn't even know he was there. He slept the entire time, just fed during takeoff and landing.

We used the roadrunner shuttle service to get from and to the airport in California. After arriving at Great Grandpa Tony's and Lyla's they played with Max for a little bit and then we all took a nap. We had lunch at the IHop and then we had dinner at the famous Alamo. I had some delicious Enchiladas!





We left California the next day to fly to Minnesota. It was wonderful meeting Great Grandpa Tony and Lyla. We all hope to see them again some day!

Cloth Diapering

So Max is over a week old now, and we have been cloth diapering him from the start. I think we made the right choice, not only does it save us money, but he just looks so much cuter in the cloth diapers vice disposable. Also no diaper rash, and no soggy diaper smell. If anyone has questions about cloth diapering feel free to comment below this post.

As of right now we don't quite have enough to get through 2 days, so we wash them every evening. It isn't difficult at all, we have noticed a little bit of staining on a couple of the diapers so we are just going to leave them to dry in the sun and that does a good job of bleaching out the stain.

Isn't he cute?

Baking Brownies!

I found a Guinness Stout brownie recipe, so of course I had to put on my apron and bake!
They turned out to be delicious! Very fudgy, so good the neighbors went out the following day to pick up the ingredients and make their own batch.
I could write more, but I think the above picture speaks for itself, yep I am awesome!

Finally Home

We've been home with little Maxim for 5 days now. We have gone on some adventures to the grocery store and various places on base to get him all set up on healthcare. The first adventure took awhile to get ready, but we are getting better and better at it. The hardest part is actually remembering to take care of ourselves, brushing teeth more often than just at night, putting on deodorant, etc. All we want to do is take care of this little one. Alexandra is amazed that I actually put him down on the floor, swing, and bouncer. I said its because unlike the neighbors kids who I hold constantly when we are visiting, here I actually have other responsibilities to take care of, otherwise I wouldn't put him down...except when it is time to sleep.

Yesterday we thought he was about to have an instantaneous cryig fit, but it turned out to be a big giggle and smile in his sleep. He is so cute! We love him so much!
And I think he is RAD!

In The Hospital

After the delivery we were moved to the recovery room. We were required to stay a minimum of 36 hours in the hospital because this was our first child. We got to the recovery room around 4:30 AM Friday and settled in. Maxim ate and then he and momma both went to sleep. I made my chair bed and was going to goto sleep...I laid down but then Maxim made a sound so I got up to check. He was fine of course just making his cute little baby noises. Then I laid back down but thought I should check on him again...I started to goto sleep and woke up to a him making a tiny lil sound, not crying just a quiet little sound. I was super paranoid...maybe he's chilly, I should wrap his swaddling better. I fell asleep again and 5 min later someone came in collecting the trash, then the nurse came in to check vitals. Never ending. So I finally got a couple hour nap around 10 AM and then again stayed awake until 4AM because the poor little guy had the hiccups.

We also dressed him in some of his own clothes to make him more comfy while in the hospital.





When we were discharged from the hospital we went home and went straight to sleeping!

Water Broke!

Alexandra's water broke on Thursday evening, we got to the hospital around 5:30 PM. So her water broke but it was a slow "leak" and she still had no pain. So when we got to the hospital the nurses were kind of like...nahh your water didn't break. Asked about pain and she would say no, as she continues to leak amniotic fluid. The nurse had to use a paper test to confirm it was amniotic fluid. She was then admitted to Labor and Delivery. Still no pain, so we decided might as well play a game while we wait for lil Maxim.

So then Alexandra was placed on Pitosin to helo bring the contractions on harder and closer together. By 11:30 PM she was ready to deliver, they had us wait another hour to allow Maxim's head to get into position. So around 12:40 AM she started pushing and at 1:25 AM we welcomed Maxim Antonio into the world! Weighing in at 7lbs 5.7oz. He is adorable and we love him with all our hearts! And he knows it!!!