Back in the USA

We made it to the States! Max flew 18 hours with very little complaint in very little planes. And come to find out, he had a slight ear infection to boot! So we were proud of our little soldier.

After a few days of recovering from jet lag and doctor visits, we were able to celebrate Max's birthday over in the US with grandma and grandpa. He even got the streamers and the silly hats alongside lots of gifts, including a huge stuffed tiger and a talking rocking horse.

Grandpa installed a swing in the backyard which has just been the cat's pajamas ever since we got here. Here's Max enjoying it immensely.
The final shots are of Max at the Botanical Gardens here in Tucson. Me and he took a little trip out and there were big pumpkins, miniature trains, face paintings, butterflies, horses...oh, goodness. Lots to see and do. And most importantly, LOTS of lovely desert sunshine.

Birthday in Copenhagen

Max and his whole family took a trip for his birthday to Copenhagen to see Aunt Ruth. She made a lovely turkey dinner and a beautiful layer cake for the birthday boy. Here you can see him chewing on the bones of the turkey and then using them as, well, as drumsticks!
Max also got all sorts of presents: a toy truck, books, noisy toys and an awesome riding car from farmor and farfar.

Fall in Denmark: 10-11 months

Well, here's little Max from around 10 to 11 months. He's getting into all sorts of adventures these days.
The first shot is of Max at the Apple Festival in Ebeltoft on the island of Mols in Denmark. Anni, Jens, Max and I took a day trip over and enjoyed all the sights and smells of apples baked and seasoned in every way. And Max got his very own.
The next picture was taken the same day there on the harbor. There is Max with farmor and farfar.
The next picture is of Max's new go-vogn. He started standing at about 9 months and so the next step was the little push wagon. It tilted when he stood up, so we loaded it with dictionaries and now he walks like a little champ with it.
The next picture was taken the day mommy thought that if Max could handle a pencil a little, then he would most surely love finger paints. He did. For about 2 minutes until he thought they were food and proceeded to rub them in his eyes, hair, nose and mouth. He's still a bit young for that one. But it made a good picture anyway. I decided not to photograph the actual clean-up process...
And finally, there's our little explorer in the kitchen. This is actually a milder shot where he has only opened the baby food and coffee filters. All the times when he has pulled out flour, sugar, cornmeal and rice, we didn't have a camera handy. Go figure... too busy sweeping to find it, I guess. But look at that face. How could anyone ever get mad at that angel. He's just exploring!

9 months - Standing Tall

Here at 9 months old, as you can see, Max has mastered the art of standing. He pulls himself up on everything and everyone and loves to cruise around the house holding on to furniture to get from A to B.
Most every night we awake to the sound of crying, only to find a very much asleep baby standing up in his crib just wanting to get back down again. So we stuff the pacifier back in his mouth and lay him back down, trying not to wake him up with our giggling.

He's also gotten two teeth! So they need to be brushed. And that is much fun IF, and only IF, he gets to do it himself. If mommy wants to do the job right, it's a bit of a fight. But afterwards, he gets to chew on the brush and "brush" his own teeth, much to his satisfaction.
He points at his toothpaste and toothbrush every time he enters the bathroom. So we aren't sure if his first words will be "sut" (pacifier in Danish) or "tooth". We'll keep you posted.

The picture with Morten is just a funny story we wanted to share with you all.
We had gone out to enjoy a day on the town and managed to bring everything: toys, pacifier, diapers, blankets, bread to chew on..you name it, we had it. Except for: His bottle.
So here we had a very thirsty baby on a Sunday afternoon, where everything is closed, about 20 miles outside of town and nothing to drink. We found a little cafe and stopped and got some coffee for ourselves, but they had no milk to sell. But they did have cream for the coffee...
I'm assuming you can guess the rest of the story. Needless to say, the cream was a hit. Sort of like melted ice cream.
Max sort of waited around for us to open up another after having drunk 5 of the cream packets, but we decided to try and keep his cholesterol levels at least moderate until age 3 just poured water into the little cups. He drank a couple of them, but soon, he was on to us and turned his away.
But we had a good laugh.

And the final picture is just as evidence that, though we describe him as the best, sweetest, happiest, funnest and most lovable child ever to be born, we realize that we are a bit biased. So here it is: proof that the child does cry....
Usually, because he isn't getting his way. Now, where on earth do you think he got that from???

8 months - Getting into Trouble

Here's Max as he is entering the world of trouble making.
Luckily, mom has had 7 months of learning to just breathe deep, relax and say, "oh, who cares" as practice. So all the opening-closing, opening-closing, opening-closing of doors, the opening of cabinets and pulling out of all the dish towels and the playing in the dirty laundry is simply priceless.

Max has also become quite interested in daddy's bike. It's only fitting: he's his father's son. He also loves riding on the back of my bike in his own chair and I often can turn around and find him with his head down watching the wheels turning or the shadow of the bike on the road. He's quite observant that way.

And the final shot is Max's first real serious bonk. We aren't actually sure what happened... He was playing with his duck (yes, the one he carries in his mouth everywhere) and then all of a sudden he was on his back, crying, with this big, goose egg on his head. We think he swung that duck around and knocked himself out. He didn't cry very long, though. And the knot disappeared as quickly as it had come. But daddy was very proud of his brave son, and grabbed the camera.

Summer Fun

Yep, there's our little buddy enjoying all the lovely things of a Danish summer - football, ice-cream, lots of sun (well, some sun anyway...) and fun at the playground.
All in all, it's been a fun first summer for Maximus!

Max's Action Shots

The order these pictures was taken was:
1: Glasses on. Everyone's happy.
2: Glasses get knocked off. Dad's concerned. Max is thrilled.
3: Glasses on the ground. Dad in pain. Max feeling the thrill of victory.

These were just too priceless not to share. That's our little trouble maker(s)! 100% boy.

Pirates and Treasures

Here are a few more shots of our time up in Skagen. Threw one in of me and Morten since we had an evening to ourselves to see the sunset one night while Farmor and Farfar watched Bubba.

There are a couple of shots here of the Sand Dunes out on Skagen that are quite famous there. They travel approximately 10 meters a year, so they are quite far inland now.

There is one of Max and Morten on "The SandWorm" - the tractor that pulled us out onto the tip of Skagen.

And the other is one of Max in his little pirate towel we got him. The top has a skull and crossbones on it. We all got a chance to take the kiddos swimming together in the pool that was connected to our summer house. Lots of fun and Max got dunked for the first time. Came up with a smile on his face!

The tip-top of Denmark

Here's Bubba just being basically adorable. We had great weather up at the beach that day, so we played in the ocean, got shoulder rides and ate dirt together (well, mostly Max did those things). In the back of the photo of us all three, you can see how the the two seas,North Sea and Skagerak, collide at the tip of Denmark.

Up in Skagen Day 1

Here we are at the top of Denmark, Skagen. It was here that European artists came to paint in the 1800's because of the light. And once you visit, you'll understand why. Skagen is one of those places you want to come every year.
But enough of landscape!
Here's Max, getting bigger and bigger. The one on the beach is there at the very very tip of Denmark where the two oceans collide. There is also one of Max in the tractor that drove us out to the tip over the sand (that was a blast!). And the third is with Farmor (Father's Mother) who also bought him the cute hat. They were standing together in front of one of the many lighthouses that "keep the beaches shipwreck free..." on Skagen.

What We Do Everyday

Here's Max doing all of the lovely, charming, wild and silly things he does everyday (well, thankfully for some things...not EVERYDAY). Here's the newest fun for while Max hangs out with mom in the kitchen: Banging on the Pots and Pans.
And here's the mirror in his crib that has given Max loads of laughs (and mom 2 free hands for a few minutes!).
Here's Baby's First Catastrophe as well. Don't ask us how he managed to pull down a 15lb fern from the top of our bookshelf, but he sure did. We had a good laugh about it after mommy stopped hyperventilating at the thought that it possibly hit her sweetie(s) on the way down (it didn't). And then we took a picture.
And finally, here's old blue eyes singing and dancing at the dinner table. Max has started to dance whenever he hears what he considers a good song. And that warrants just about anything - including mommy and daddy singing. He bobs his head and opens up his mouth to sing along and just generally rocks out. So as you can imagine, we do alot of singing these days just to watch the free show.

Pentacost Weekend at Farmor/Farfar's

Here's Bob the Builder!

We stayed the weekend with the in-laws for the Pentacost weekend and had a really great time. Morten and I had a date on Friday and then the whole weekend there was food prepared for us, coffee at just the right time and someone else who was just dying to hold our 20 pound bandit.

Here, Grandma has given him a colorful bowl full of clothes pins to play with. When those were all sucessfully chucked on the floor, the bowl made a great hat, we decided.

The other photo is of Maximus jamming on the organ. Anything that can be banged, rattled, shoved, slapped or otherwise make some sort of noise when hit (including mommy and daddy) is always a perfect plaything.