Idle Hands...

While Max was doing this...

Hunter was doing this...

...I guess what I keep wondering is; where the heck was I?!

1.23.11 Max's First Bath

Max was not so sure about his first bath.  I remember Hunter LOVED it but Max is a little more timid. He has come to enjoy them but I cannot put him in the bath if the water is running. It freaks him out.  I guess I can understand that. Relatively speaking the bath faucet could be intimidating to someone so small.

Seriously. Look at that face. 

:)

All my little boys....

 Max is about a week old in these pictures.

 Mikey loved to help me take pictures and would offer to take one of Max and I together about every other picture. :)

 Hunter loves to help with Max too.  But sometimes he wants to be the baby again too...(see below)....

Max Emerson Thomas 1.1.11

On 1.1.11 Max Emerson was born!  I already shared by birth story, but I left out the pictures! That is my favorite part! So here they are:

Right after Max was born he peed on the nurse and I'm glad to say we caught it on video! He was a big boy!

 I am all sorts of pretty in this picture...

Here we are about 30 minutes post birth so I felt about as good as I looked.

 Hunter is such a cheese.  Poor guy was in the room for about 15 minutes while I was laboring and we were waiting for Mike's Mom to get there and take him.  He was very concerned about me and wasn't quite sure what was going on.  I feel so bad for him.

 He's a great big brother!

 I love this picture of the two of them sleeping.  By day two, Hunter was really out of sorts so we let him stay with us for the whole day.

 I can't tell who looks the most tired in this picture...

Going home outie...

 Getting ready to go home! Max all snuggled in his car seat for the first time. 

We had a TON of visitors and I thank every single person that came for taking the time to see us! It was so great to feel the love and support.

 Down for the count

 When Mikey got to meet his little brother for the first time we surprised him with a big brother gift.  We got both of the big brothers watches.  Mikey was so excited and we purposely got him an analog watch to help him learn to tell time. He loves feeling like a big kid.

 Hunter's watch was a "buzz yiteyear" watch.  He loved to wear it when he saw Mikey with his but that was it.  Otherwise it bugged him.

 Our first picture with my three boys.

 Hunter was being so goofy the day after we brought Max home.  He put on his rain boots and wore his frisbee as a hat.  In this picture he is saluting me and saying "yes sir!" What a ham!

 Here's our boy 4 days old. He has always been such an alert baby.

Max has been such a blessing in our life.  Today he is 3 1/2 months old and just laughed for the first time yesterday.  It melted my heart.  He has such a sweet spirit and loves to have conversations with anyone who will listen.  He coos at his monkeys in his bedroom and flirts with strangers like it's going out of style.  His hair has started to look more strawberry and I really hope he is a red head!  We love him so much.

Hunter Family Christmas

One of the traditions on the Hunter side is to do the Nativity scene complete with costumes. Last year, adults participated but this year we had enough grandkids to do the whole thing. 

Maia was HILARIOUS as Mary.  

 Joseph had a little shepherd envy. The staff was a big hit.

 This costume couldn't have been more ironic.  We love you Jacks!

 Mary and Joseph, checking out their gifts from the wisemen while the angel prepares to karate chop anything unacceptable.

 Then, we moved to opening the classic Christmas Eve PJ's.  I love how much time and effort goes into the coordination of it all.  My mom rocks.

 Hunter is giving Mike 'nice' where he pets your face.  Where that came from, I'll never know.  

 You can tell this picture was taken at the end of the night. The boys are spent!

Getting all the kids to sit for a picture is quite a task.  It was so fun though! 

Sweet little Lainey Joyce! Mikey, however, was not so thrilled. 

We went upstairs and found guest towels on the bed complete with a mint.  5 stars if you ask me! :) 

Jacob and Hunter couldn't go to bed without a little snack, so here they are with their cereal looking as cute as can be! 

Christmas morning: the big reveal 

 All of the kids loved Jake's buzz lightyear wings.  I think they only caused two injuries throughout the day, pretty good considering their fame.

 Hunter got to the end of his stocking and found the orange that is also a Hunter tradition.  He pulled it out and said "A BALL!". I'll never live that one down.

Maia posing for the paparazzi 

We had Jeff and Julia this year and we got them a day of paintball.  The gift certificates were pretty lame looking so I dressed them up and made a puzzle out of it.  Jeff is always doing random things like that so I thought I would give him a taste of his own medicine.  Maybe it will make up for the silly string he got my mom for her birthday.  (If you don't know my mom, you may not find that funny but if you do, you would know that she is a clean FREAK and the kids running wild with silly string is her worst nightmare) 

 Hunter was being hilarious and he wanted something Jeff had so he was totally laying it on thick.

Christmas was so fun and I love getting together with everyone.  We missed Jordan of course!