Lots more on Maxito!

So, I am just completely head-over-heels in love with this dreamy little guy. Max is, for the most part, just a cuddly and happy baby. He literally wakes up in the morning and after naps with an ear-to-ear grin on his face. You can tell he is the only baby in a house full of adoring adults...he loves to be held and expects to be held a lot. A couple of times during the trip, I saw his timid side, but, overall, he seems fairly social. And, he's definitely mobile now, crawling all over the place, pulling up on everything he could get his hands on, and bumping his head on every surface in our hotel room!

Like I told you earlier, when the foster mom and her son arrived at the hotel with Max, he was sleeping (and looking just like his beautiful sister). When he woke up and realized that the foster family was leaving, he was amazing. No tears, he just checked me out cautiously for a little while, and then went off exploring around the hotel room. Here are some pictures of our first few hours together.

As you can see, his hair is getting curlier. And, just look at that sweet face!



Within minutes, he had me on my toes, following him around as he coasted along the furniture:



He certainly enjoys his cartoons...Barney, Backyardigans, Wow Wow Wubzy, Dragon Tales. I took a couple of pictures to show Cati and Gus that he watches the same ones that they do. For those of you raising an eyebrow about a 10-month-old watching lots of cartoons, save it. The amount of television he watches is the least of my worries. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.



Look, Cici, he’s watching Backyardigans:



Getting ready for bed. Gussy has these same jammies and I keep envisioning photos of them in their shared bedroom at home wearing their matching jammies. Oh, I pray that photo will happen soon.



So, the little guy starts his mornings around 7 a.m. with a smile on his face (as long as you provide him with food and beverage posthaste!). He has a healthy appetite, for sure. Here he is at the sight of breakfast:



I love this picture. What’s he doing? What else? Watching more cartoons. Not much to do besides walk around the lobby, eat, sleep, watch cartoons, then walk, eat, sleep, watch, all over again.



Oh, one more bit of amusement…the full-length mirror in our room. It was quite a hit.



There was a crib in our hotel room, but he slept in the bed with me instead. I only put him in the crib for entertainment during the day. He enjoyed looking out the window at the trees and the Guatemalan flag waving in the wind.



On Sunday morning, I finally remembered to ask someone to take a photo of us together. Most of the time I was focused only on him...getting as many photos as possible, smelling and breathing him in with every moment, and memorizing every inch of him to take those memories home with me.



Here he is trying to decide whether he’d like to attempt a walk. He would get so frustrated when he fell and always wanted to be held for a little while after that. I could tell that the foster family spoil him with tons of love and attention. Praise God!



Here we are lounging together before naptime. The weather was so nice, I thought he might fall asleep right there on the lounge chair.



After supper, more endless amusement in front of that mirror:



I just can’t get enough of that first big smile of the day. He’s just so sweet. I can't even explain how sweet he is.



Here we are at breakfast on Monday. I was already miserably sad at this point, knowing that I’d be leaving him in less than an hour. But, who could stay sad while looking at this face?



In case you hadn’t noticed the resemblance before, you'll see it now:









Okay, it's emotionally exhausting just looking at these photos and thinking so much about him all at once. I do have one more story to tell about my trip. There was one point when I was sitting on the bed, Max was sitting in front of me, being quiet and mellow, facing me with his back up to my knees. I was praying for him and getting really emotional. Then, I kind of lost my train of thought (from praying to pitying myself) and I promise you, right at that second, Max started smiling and laughing and grabbing my hands and raising our hands up and down in the air together. It might not sound like much to y'all, but to me it was just a perfect little reminder from God to stay joyful and to praise him even when difficulties are facing us. It was a beautiful, beautiful moment that I will never forget and that I will tell Max about over and over in his lifetime. God reminded me, through this little baby, that He is still sovereign over this adoption and that He is still working in all of our lives. And, in the end, that is what we pray for Max...His will be done.