Lots of new things happening this week with Max! Saturday, we both had an appointment with Dr. Jim Bob and the office happened to be having some classes and a garage sale, and that meant we got to see Dr. Cindy and Harper, too! I was so excited to be able to see them again, she's been so busy with births we haven't had a chance to get together since May. Harper and Max were excited to see each other, and there was much grabbing and growling that went on between them. Harper would grab Max's shirt and babble to him and Max would growl back. These boys and their growling! Max had his first little temper tantrum that I've seen: Harper was sitting in the floor playing with a little plastic basket and so I set Max in the floor so they could play together, since now Max is old enough to notice other babies and be interested in playing. Max tried to take the basket, so Vicki, the LFWC receptionist, gave him a couple of plastic bowling pins to play with. Harper took his bowling pin, so Max took the basket. Then Harper took the basket back from Max, and he screamed and started crying! I thought he had somehow been pinched or hurt, because that's what it sounded like to me, but Cindy was laughing and saying "welcome to the temper tantrum stage". Oh no! I thought my sweet boy would always be gentle and loving, but it turns out he can get mad just like anyone else. I was not expecting that at all!

Yesterday I took Max to the State Fair with Lauren and her new boyfriend, David, and Max had been napping on the way to her house. He had just woken up when David got in the back seat next to him, and so Max was just staring at him in that groggy just-woke-up way for about 10 minutes as we drove to Dallas. All of a sudden I heard him start crying pathetically...his first bout with stranger anxiety! I guess he couldn't see me and so he was just freaking out a little. We stopped, I nursed him (it was worse I'm sure, because he was hungry too), and Lauren got in the back seat with him and he was fine after that. Again, not expected...in fact the other day I was just telling someone that Max had never met a stranger. I guess he has now! Poor baby!

It was really hot out there, they said it would be about 94 or so but it was easily 100. I'm glad I took the stroller, because I don't think either Max or I would have been comfortable in the Moby or Dr. Cindy's mei tai she let me borrow. The food was good, as usual, I had roasted corn, a jalapeno cheese corny dog, Green Goblins, aguas frescas, and a deep fried peanut butter cup macaroon that was to die for! I did not touch the deep fried butter though...I can't believe they actually had that this year. Yuck!

Max is also just so close to crawling, not going backwards so much and scooting forward a little bit. I guess he's wanting to practice as much as possible because the last couple of nights he's been a hard sell on sleep, wanting instead to roll and play and practice crawling, and finding new positions to nurse. Night before last I didn't get him down until 10, and tonight not until 9:15. His new game is to get on his hands and knees and launch himself at my breasts with his mouth wide open. It's all I can do not to laugh! If he's not doing that he's grabbing my nipple and trying to use that to pull himself to them. He also will lie on his stomach and nurse that way. On the other hand, once he's asleep he's sleeping much more soundly, and I don't have to be as careful getting out of bed. That's a relief, and he's also able to fall back asleep by himself more often if he wakes up a little. He'll wake up a little and cough or sneeze, often roll onto his stomach and go back to sleep instead of fussing to nurse more.

Speaking of coughing, he had a bit of a snotty nose and cough last week, and ever since then he's doing this fake cough that he thinks is hilarious!

In other news, John went for his sleep study last night. I'd been telling him for the longest time that he's got sleep apnea. For the last several years, some nights I'd wake up and he'd be snoring and stop breathing for a few seconds. So after he's been so fatigued lately he was ready to get some help, and especially after a couple of weeks ago with a hypertension scare. He came home this morning and said the lady told him he slept fine! Ugh. He had used some Afrin last night before he left and so now he's thinking it's probably just a result of allergies/sinus problems. I hope it's that easy, but dang! That test wasn't cheap! The doctor will look at the reports and let him know something soon. We'll see. I just want him to get better rest and be able to breathe well; I don't care what is causing it, as long as we can fix it.

Last but not least, I am going to start a 21-day purification program through Jim Bob's office. Dr. Cindy has been blogging about it here, and she's got me motivated to do it and get healthy for me and Max, too! I'll try to blog about it as I go along. But for now, I'm going to relax before bed. Good night!