more max

I've been thinking a lot again about the talk given by Elder Oaks in Conference Oct 2007 titled Good, Better, Best. Briefly, he talks about being conscious of choosing the BEST things for us and our families out of the myriad of good options out there. Whether or not you are 'churchy,' this is still good advice.

Somewhat ironically, I was thinking about this alot right after I had just posted about my new-found infatuation with a video game. Saturday afternoon while Katie and Alex were napping, I just relaxed with Max while he napped. I wrote a little, thought/day dreamed about stained glass projects I'd like to work on but won't for a while, read a little, and thought a lot. David may not believe this, but I didn't even tune into another new-found friend, the "Retro-Active' alternative music channel on the digital cable. And man is that a great music channel!

This is how Max and I spend Saturday afternoon. You can't get the full effect from that picture, but boy does that Max smell delicious. He hadn't even had a bath yet. It's too bad 'smell-o-vision' hasn't been perfected yet, because then you too would want to just gobble that boy up!

Believe me, I totally recognize the need for 'me time' in order to maintain what limited sanity I've got. And stained glass - and a variety of other projects - are part of how I do that - but I have really adjusted the amount of time necessary to stay 'being me' way down. I have been/and will be me for a very long time. These young versions of my kids will not last as long. Alex already looks like he should be driving a car. Katie talks like she's ready to start dictating her first novel. Max is already 30% bigger than when we brought him home. (Thank goodness I don't gain 30% of my weight in a month!)

I'm so grateful that I have the chance to stay home with them, and that I have a partner in molding them that thinks this is important too, and so he makes decisions/WE make decisions together so that that can happen. I'm grateful that Rog is always trying to find ways to spend more time together as a family; that he plays so much with the kids; that he feels a strong need and desire to hug his kids and tell them as well as show them how he feels about them. I love that he takes the time to include Alex and Katie in the 'man-tivities' already - knowing myself how much 'help' they provide sometimes.

That being said, I did have the parents bring up Guitar Hero Sunday night. I do still need to stand a fighting chance against Mark come Christmas! (By the way, Dad/Opa scored 25% and got booed off the stage on that same Poison song. But he did indeed try it!)

This photo is not a very good indicator of the magnificence of this boy's smile - the photographer really needs to work on her lighting choices and 'click' times - but the Max-ster has officially started smiling on purpose. Opa claims he got some real smiles Sunday night, but it wasn't official until he did it for me. He's been smiling in his sleep for weeks, but that's not nearly as gratifying as having him look at your face and flash one at you!

And by the way -thanks to Julie for reminding me - I updated the album to include more pictures. The newest ones are at the end.