life is {great}

who knew life with a baby could be so absolutely wonderful????

i didn't. but the past month {can you believe he's already been with us for an entire month?} has been incredible.

we've:

• learned so much
• gotten little sleep
• had our testimonies grow immensely
• enjoyed {almost} every minute of it
• grown to love max more and more every day

though the first couple weeks we lived off few hours of sleep, max has been doing SO much better at nights. we put him down around ten...and he sleeps clear until six. it is amazing. i am a firm believer in bedtime routines. {i highly recommend reading "the baby whisperer" by tracy hogg. she seems to know her stuff.} we do the same thing every night: feed, bath, lotion rub-down, jammie time, read goodnight moon {thanks to the magelby's!}, sing a song, and say prayers. by the time we are through, max usually goes down without a peep. we are lucky parents.



.max loves bottle time with dad. he also loves waving to people...even in his sleep.

max is such a joy to have in our lives. he has been more alert lately {though he still sleeps most of the time...} it is pretty much the best thing ever when he looks at you and smiles.

my heart melts every time.

**side note: the slide show has been updated**

Max loves his grandpas

Maximus seems to love spending time with grandpa frank and grandpa jim lately. whenever he comes home from hanging out with g-jim he says he wants to be a golfer. whenever he comes home from hanging out with g-frank he says he wants to be a pilot. apparently g-jim promised max golf lessons with tiger woods for christmas. and apparently g-frank promised him a ride in the co-pilot seat of a boeing 787 (which hasn't even come out yet!) for christmas. no need to compete grandpas, he loves you both equally.



we love our dads! and max loves his grandpas! (don't worry grandmas, your blog will come)

{wild} thing

i just can't get enough of max.

after reading him "where the wild things are" the other night, we realized we have our own little wild thing. a very cute little wild thing at that.



and since i can't seem to get enough of our little guy, here are a few more pictures for you to enjoy:



{max LOVES daddy time. and daddy LOVES max time. it's a win-win situation every time.}



if it looks like he's eating his hand...he is. it's one of his very favorite things to do.



bath time is still a little bit traumatic. but one day he is going to love it, i'm sure.



he is one easy-going, kick-back, chill dude.
{and he finally decided he can tolerate the binkie without gagging himself.}



here he is...eating his hand again. i promise i feed him. he just doesn't act like it sometimes.



getting ready for bed. we're still working on the whole bedtime routine thing, but we'll get the hang of it...soon!



he is also a pro at making a perfectly round "o" with his lips. he looks like an owl every time.



more quality dad/max time. they are both champs at sleeping.



my point exactly.

to put it mildly, we LOVE max. we're not quite sure how we got so lucky...but we don't mind one bit.

the falls

last saturday we decided to venture up the canyon and take a walk on the trail up to bridal veil falls. little did we know it was going to be FREEZING...so we cut the walk a little shorter than expected. it was worth it though. the leaves changing, the waterfalls, the beautiful autumn weather, the gorgeous utah mountains.

it doesn't get much better than that.

catchin {up}

i've been meaning to up-date this blog of ours for awhile...but a certain someone has been occupying much of our time. he's been nappin' away though so i got a few long over-due posts...scroll down and check em out.

you are {loved}

max is one loved little boy. we've tried to get a picture with everyone who has held him...so if you aren't in this slideshow...you should come visit!

{we've updated the slideshow!!}

baby shower

meet jenny pate:

on september 19 {exactly one week before max joined our family} she threw me a baby shower. she sure knows how to throw a party...as well as how to make some mighty delicious food. she can even carve out watermelons and fill them with fruit. talk about talent. she really needs to consider starting up a catering business:



so many of my wonderful friends were able to come {thanks again to all who made it!} and we chatted about all things baby.







after filling up our bellies, she passed around cute cards which everyone filled out for little max:



then we opened gifts and oohed and ahhed over all the adorable baby things:





not only did she throw one amazing shower, but she's making max a quilt. yeah, she's pretty much the best:

byu football

the friday after max was born, our friends emily and elliott gave us their byu football tickets. my parents brought us dinner, and watched max for us while danny and i snuck away for the third quarter. it was freezing, and it was rather weird leaving our little boy, but we had a great time cheering on the cougars.

two weeks

our little man is already TWO weeks old! we can't believe it. life has changed totally and completely, but we love it.

things we've learned since his birth: 1. it is TRICKY changing his diaper. we've had multiple disasters...which have resulted in max getting covered in pee. {along with the wall, changing pad, us...}
2. our schedules now revolve around him.
3. we'll probably never catch up on sleep again.
4. being parents is extremely hard...but so rewarding.



things we love about max: 1. his big, BRIGHT eyes. they seriously light up the whole room. they aren't open much, but when they are, it's the best thing ever.
2. he is a champ at stretching. every time he wakes up he launches into a full three minute stretching routine. it's the cutest thing.
3. his hair. it's soo soft, and everyone who sees him can't get enough of it.
4. he has one adorable little smile. and the cutest dimple on his chin.
5. he LOVES having his hands up by his face at all times. {see below}



we love our little guy.

i {LOVE} him

it's crazy how someone so tiny can demand such attention and require so much time. from feeding little max 8-12 times in 24 hours, there isn't much time for anything else. but what's even crazier is that i {love} him so SO much. he is practically perfect in every way and is SUCH a good baby! he cries when: 1) he's starving 2) he's cold 3) when i pinch his little leg in his car seat strap...{yes, that happened today, and i felt like a horrible mommy. luckily he loves car rides and his memory isn't the greatest!} but that's basically it. the rest of the time he is either sleeping, eating, or mesmerized by something. he is one good baby.

not only do i have a sweet little baby boy, but my husband is pretty darn incredible. he is the best daddy to max and he has been such a huge help to me as i've been recovering from the stresses of post-labor. {lest any of you think having a baby was a complete breeze for me...just know that the days following labor were not as pleasant. once the meds all wore off i definitely felt lots of the pain! and let me tell you, it did not feel good.} he is super busy with teaching at timpview, working at the mtc, going to school, {his last semester! yay!} and most recently, being called as the first counselor in the young men's presidency in our ward. i don't know how he does it, but he manages to spend lots of quality time with his family as well. i {love} him!



he seems to always have some sort of surprise up his sleeve, and today's surprise definitely did not disappoint. this is what happened:

around 1:30 i decided to whip up some banana bread while max was taking one of his many naps. while i was in the middle of that someone knocked on the door. ever since becoming a mom i have turned into a humongous worry-wart and since i was home alone and we don't have a little peep hole i decided to wait, and if they really wanted to they would knock again. they didn't, so i opened the door and found this on the doorstep:



a RECORD cover of janice kapp perry's, "in the hollow of thy hand." who in the world uses records anymore?? to say the least, i was super confused, and slightly freaked out. it was addressed to danny so i set it on the counter and waited to ask him about it when he got home.

he acted just as surprised as i was to see it. {key word: ACTED} he pulled off the shrink wrap {while he made sure to make comments about anthrax and other creepy things...} and he pulled out these:



these three adorable custom made prints from fall down tree! i couldn't believe it. i saw this print at the women's expo a few weeks ago a fell in love with it:



but i wanted it done in three separate prints for max's room. i told danny about it and he didn't seem too enthused about it...but apparently he was and ordered it all without me knowing! the guy who does the paintings was in on the secret too--which is why he disguised it with a record album. wow. aren't my boys the BEST??

i {love} them.

a {baby} story

{disclaimer: this post is extreeeeeeemely long. don't feel obligated to read it all, but as a mom, i want to be able to get every detail down so i won't forget...because most likely i will. enjoy!}

many of you may be wondering how exactly maxwell scott made his grand appearance. one day my blog reads: "i'm trying to stay positive about that because who knows, maybe i'll prove him wrong. maybe i'll go into labor tonight. maybe my water will suddenly break and i'll have to rush into the hospital." and then two days later...he's here! all i have to say about that is God answers prayers! i was just about to the end of my {pregnancy} rope when my body finally decided to let this baby join our family.

...but i'll start from the beginning...

since dr. judd had told us that max would most likely be late, we were expecting a conference baby. we tried to mentally prepare ourselves for another week and a half of pregnany. so when the weekend rolled around, we planned to live it up and do a bunch of things {like sleep in} that we wouldn't be able to do once he arrived. but friday night {the 25th} came and i was feeling extremely uncomfortable and exhausted. we decided to take it easy, rent a red box, and indulge in the goodness of yoasis. we went to bed around 12, expecting to get a full eight hours+ of sleep

...little did we know...

around 3:45 am i woke up with contractions, but they weren't super intense so i just got up and walked around trying to get comfy. they weren't stopping, so around 4:15 i woke danny up {it took me a good ten minutes for him to actually wake up enough to understand what i was saying} and told him what was going on. he sweetly suggested that i roll over and he'd scratch my back. i didn't think that would do the trick...but i did, and within two seconds of him scratching my back, he was asleep again. i kept trying to get comfortable but nothing was working. this went on for two more hours, until finally i decided that enough was enough. i really didn't want to get sent home from the hospital but at this point, i didn't care. if anything, we would be able to get pre-registered. i finally got danny out of bed and we threw a few essential items into the diaper bag and around 7 am we were on our way to the orem community hospital.

as soon as we arrived, my contractions basically stopped {go figure!} but we went in anyway and checked in. the nurse asked for my name, and i told her {while smiling}. i'm sure she thought "she thinks she's in labor...but she's not..." they admitted me to the back, had me change into a gorgeous hospital gown, and minutes later sent a nurse into check me out.

within seconds of checking me, she said, "yup! i feel a head! you are dilated to a four so let's get you admitted and start your i.v. you are going to have a baby before you know it." we couldn't believe it. danny and i were in shock because they weren't going to send us home!

the next few hours were a complete blur. ann {my nurse} escorted us back to the room where we would stay/deliver the baby and then she started my i.v. and called the anesthesiologist to get my epidural started. by the time he got there {around 9:30} i still wasn't in a lot of pain but the second i got my epidural...i was in heaven. people tell you epidurals are amazing, but i guess you can't fully appreciate them until you are the one receiving it. after 9:30 am, i didn't feel any pain. at all. it was amazing.

around 11 dr. judd came in {he could NOT believe that i was in labor...apparently he had scheduled me to be induced on october SIXTH! yes, that's TOMORROW! because he was so sure that i wouldn't have had him by now} and broke my water for me to speed up the process a little bit. he estimated the baby would be born around 4 pm {i was still only at a five} so he left, and danny and i just hung out. still in shock. {i think it was finally starting to sink in that we were about to become parents}

at 12:30 ann checked me again and i was at an eight. she said, "looks like this baby is coming sooner than we thought!" and she went off to call dr. judd. i decided then was a good time to call my mom and have her head over to the hospital and by the time she got there at one, my room was filled with nurses and doctors getting ready to deliver a baby.

at about 1:05 they told me to start pushing...and at 1:13 maxwell scott entered this world. it was the MOST spectacular thing that i have ever witnessed or been a part of. the spirit was SO strong, and seeing my little boy for the first time was miraculous. i couldn't stop crying. dr. judd made fun of me, telling me i was crying more than the baby. but seriously, it was wonderful. i couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. danny and i couldn't stop looking at our little guy {we still find it hard to look away from his adorable face} and still can't quite comprehend that we created him with the help of the Lord.

the next few days in the hospital were spent visiting with wonderful family and friends, and adoring/getting to know our little one. babies are precious, and the hospital stay was wonderful.

and that, is how it all happened.
bringing new life into this world is one amazing experience, and we couldn't be happier!