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...

Zoe getting to know Max

Abuela Loreto's visit

Luckily, Abuela Loreto was here when Max was born to help out. She took Zoe to the park and when they came back, Zoe had a baby brother!

Video of Max

First month

Max is a calm and relaxed baby boy (so far), with blue eyes and just a bit of dark brown straight hair. He looks a lot like Zoe when she was first born...which is to say he looks a lot like Dan (just like Zoe did)...

Max is born!!

We are happy to announce that Max Giovanni Emmett Schiappacasse was born on March 15th, exactly his due date, at 9:57 am (Rome time) at home after a very quick delivery. He weighs 3.1 kg (7 lbs) and is 53 cm (21 inches) long and is doing very well. Amy is recovering very nicely, and so far Zoe seems thrilled with her baby brother.

Zoe is keeping Mama company while Amy uses her yoga poses to help her with the early contractions (two hours before birth). Zoe then went to the park with her Abuela when labor got underway.

The pediatrician came to the house to do the initial exam. Everything was fine.

Max sleeping soundly.