Latest pics of Max

Here's a couple of pictures of Max enjoying his day at the Rome zoo.

He seemed more interested in grabbing his toys than checking out the animals.

Another thumb sucker?

From day one, Max seemed to be searching for his thumb. In fact, he was born with his right hand smashed right up against his cheek (yeah, ouch for mom).

In the picture below (just hours after he was born), the pediatrician is trying to pull Max's fist out of his mouth...

... four days later (below), Max is still determined to find that thumb...

...and finally, after the trauma of his first bath, success! thumb in mouth all by himself. (Actually, he seemed to really enjoy the bath...it was being wet and cold afterwards that was traumatic!)
Now, Max still has to hunt a bit for his thumb, but once he finds it he can put himself to sleep. I guess we can toss out those pacifiers! (Incidentally, Zoe stopped sucking her thumb abruptly when she had a horribly painful case of oral herpes the week after Max was born. Her mouth was too painful to suck her thumb, then when the illness cleared up she just never went back.)

May - first smiles!

At six weeks, Max smiled for us for the first time! Now he's smiling all the time, except when I bring out the camera, of course...He also had his first visit to the pediatrician. All is fine and he's gaining weight like a champ -- he's now about 5.5 kilos (12 pounds), which means he's almost doubled his birth weight in only 7 weeks!

Second Month

Max is filling out and getting much more animated. He just loves to be held.

Below is a picture of Max with Sharma, our wonderful nanny who helps us every morning and makes sure Zoe gets time to run around at the park for a few hours every day. Both Max and Zoe just love Sharma (and we do, too!)

Max is also happy to be shlepped around in the baby pouch with Amy, even while she's pushing Zoe in the stroller at the same time!

April - Marcy and Barbara's Visit

Just a month after Max was born, Dan had to go to a conference in Denver for a week. To keep Amy from losing her mind, Marcy and Barbara flew in to Rome to the rescue...

Zoe trying on Max's hat

Mugging for his passport photo...