Grandparents Meet Max

You had so many people who wanted to meet you after you were born. Unfortunately because we live so far away from all of your family, nobody could be at the hospital when you were born, as nobody knew exactly when you would be born. But your grandparents and cousins made the trip as soon as they possibly could.

The first people to arrive were Grammy and Grandpa, Aunt Shay, and all of your cousins. They arrived at the beginning of a LONG heat wave, and so it made more sense to hunker down in their hotel room in Lexington MA than our un-air conditioned apartment in Boston. Aunt Shay has been waiting a pretty long time for your dad and I to have a baby, and she couldn't wait to get her hands on you.

And your little cousins adored you. They loved to talk to you in a high pitched sing-songy voice and they all called you Baby Max. They were curious about everything about you, from your eyelashes, to your belly button, to your soft spot. Even though it was so cute to watch them love you so much at this age, I found myself really looking forward to when you are big enough to actually play with them.

Your Grammy loved you from the minute she saw you. I will never know why, but she loved to watch as we changed your diaper. On her last night with us she made sure to whisper a secret to you that none of us could hear. I'm sure she'll tell you lots of secrets over the course of your life when she says goodbye.

Grandpa Scott got to meet you too. He told your dad that even though babies are super cute when they are newborns, that they become really fun for dads once they are old enough to be tossed around a bit. I'm sure that's true, but I already grieve the fact that you're not a teeny tiny newborn anymore.

During their trip we mostly spent time in the hotel room. You managed to poop all over Grandpa, but none of us know how exactly that happened as the pooping seemed to occur while you were in your car seat. Some how you managed to break the laws of physics before you were even two weeks old. Among some of your adventures was a trip to Plymouth Rock, McDonalds, and a diaper change on a gas station bathroom floor. Everyone was very impressed with the amount and frequency to which you eat.

The day after Grammy and Grandpa Scott left was the day that your Nana and Grandpa Paul finally got to meet you. When they first walked into our apartment they both pretty much forgot to say 'hi' to me and went immediatley after you. They were positively enamoured with you from the minute they held you. Both of them remarked how different you looked in real life than you do in pictures, and how tiny you were. When they first arrived you were pretty wide awake alert, and were perfectly content to let them shower you with kisses and squeezes for about an hour before it all became too much and you fell asleep. Grandpa spent a lot of time taking pictures of you, which I will post on here shortly.

Nana LOVED getting to hold you, and struggled a bit to share you. All week long she was perfectly happy to sit in our living room and just hold you for hours. She was so excited to see you each morning and sad to say goodbye each night. Speaking of goodbye...watching Nana and Grandpa (but especially Nana) say goodbye to you the morning they flew back to Idaho was basically the worst thing I've ever seen. Nana cried and cried and didn't want to let you go. Even though she knows she'll see you a lot, she knew that she would never get to see the 3 week old that she had gotten to know so well ever again. That's the thing about babies and living far away from family...every time you see them again they are like whole other people.

We were able to leave the apartment occassionally while they were here, but seriously the heat was brutal and so it was best to just huddle around inside. Of course the day they left the heat wave broke and the weather was amazing.

Fortunately you will get to see Nana and Grandpa over Labor Day when I take you back to Idaho (and hopefully you and I will survive the trip to tell about it). Then Grammy is coming back out again in September for a short weekend so she can see you. Then Nana and Grandpa are coming back again in October...so you're getting plenty of grandparent time in.

Even though it's heart breaking to watch all the goodbyes, it makes my heart swell to know that there are so many people in your little life who love you enough to be so sad. Hopefully one day we can all live a little closer so that these hard goodbyes don't have to happen so often.