Baby's First Christmas

Whew! What a Christmas season we had! Max, Maggie, Jeff and I celebrated Christmas in Nashville, Zanesville and Cincinnati. It was really fun celebrating with Max and our families. After a week in Ohio we are all home now and recuperating. Our house looks like a war zone with piles of laundry and brightly colored toys everywhere. But, instead of dealing with the mess, I'm going through our pictures and sharing them here. This is much more fun! Our little family celebrated Christmas together on Saturday, December 20. Max obviously had no idea what was going on, but Jeff and I had fun telling him that Santa came to our house. He got a few things in his stocking, some clothes and a Bumbo seat. He looks so cute sitting in his little seat. It will come in handy when he starts eating solid foods, too. Looking at his stocking with Daddy.

Opening a gift from Santa.

The Bumbo seat!

After celebrating Christmas in Nashville on Saturday, we packed up the circus (as Jeff refers to us when we are traveling) and headed to Cincinnati on Sunday. We celebrated my birthday and Drema's birthday on Sunday night. On Monday, Jeff and I got to go out for my birthday while Grammy and Grampy gladly babysat Max. After three nights with Jeff's parents we drove to Zanesville on Christmas Eve.

Nana and Max on Christmas Eve.

Max is very proud of his standing abilities.

Maggie is very protective of her candy cane bone! After celebrating Christmas in Zanesville, we drove back to Cincinnati on Saturday to celebrate with Jeff's family. Cousin Chloe takes good care of Max! Max ended up getting lots of cute clothes and many fun toys (that make lots of noise!) for Christmas. It is hard to be away from our families and making these trips can be exhausting, but it so wonderful when we get to spend quality time together. Both sets of grandparents cannot get enough of Max and he is so happy when he is with them. In general, Max is very happy and laid back, which makes long trips relatively easy for him. It's hard to believe that Max's first Christmas is over, but we have many great memories. P.S.- I am having major issues with the layout of this blog- sorry for the weird spacing!

Lil' Bearcat

Last night Max got to watch his first UC basketball game. It was a big game- the Crosstown Shootout against Xavier. Unfortunately the Bearcats aren't quite as good in basketball as they are in football and they lost to the Musketeers. You can tell by the wet spots all over his shirt that he is drooling like crazy! He puts everything in his mouth now and loves to chew on his fingers and hands. Sometimes he tries to stick both of his fists in his mouth at the same time. I can't see any teeth coming in yet, but I have a feeling one will be here sooner than later.

Doing the U-C cheer

O Christmas Tree

One of Jeff's requests this Christmas season was that we go to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree. After some research I quickly found out that Christmas tree farms do not exist in Nashville. So we ended up at Lowe's! It was a really cold evening and Jeff and I were both exhausted. We looked at exactly three trees, picked one and headed home. It certainly wasn't the idyllic scene that Jeff had hoped for, but we have a great tree!

Back to Ohio

We were lucky to spend a lot of time in Ohio the last few weeks of November. We were in town for a Messer function, my friend, Carmie's wedding, and Thanksgiving. Max and I got to spend a whole week with my parents during the week of Thanksgiving. Jeff had work to do in Cincinnati, but he joined us in Zanesville for Thanksgiving day. Both of my brothers and Michael's wife, Rana, were able to come to Zanesville for Thanksgiving. This was the first time in several years that my entire family has been together at my parent's house. It was so nice to have everyone together! We also got see the extended Banta family in Indianapolis at Jeff's cousin's home for a post-Thanksgiving gathering. Max met Great-Grandma Banta for the first time. He is so lucky to have two great-grandmas! Unfortunately, Great-Grandma Banta had a bad cold, so she didn't get to hold Max, but Max enjoyed meeting her. It was wonderful to be back and spend quality time with all of our family.

Yesterday Max went to the doctor for his four month check up. He is finally on the growth chart! He now weighs 11lbs. 12oz. and is 23.5 in long. He is in the 3rd percentile for weight and 5th for height. I was hoping he would weigh more, but we are making progress. He is in the 20th percentile for head circumference- the Drake genes are shining through!

Here are some pictures from our time in Ohio.

Chatting with Grammy

With second cousin Anne Marie

With Great Aunt Judy

With Michael and Rana

Napping with Aunt Rana

Napping with Papa

Playing with Great Grandma Mary

Rollin'

Max finally rolled over yesterday! He has been trying for a few weeks now, and I think that both sets of grandparents were hoping that he'd do it for them when we were in Ohio. However, Max likes to do things on his own schedule- he did it about two hours after we got home. Sorry, Grammy and Nana! We had a wonderful trip to Ohio and I'll post pics from our visit soon.