I’m a big music fan. And I think Max was as well. When he was still in utero, I had purchased these things called bellybuds that would allow him to jam to some tunes inside the womb. The first song I ever played him was “Float On” by Modest Mouse, and when he heard the first few bangs of the drum, he responded with an epic kick. Instant fan. Amazing.

We didn’t get to use the belly buds as long as we had planned since Max decided to make his appearance early, but I made sure he got plenty of music.

One day I showed up at the hospital with the belly buds, and connected them to his incubator glass.

I had prepared a special MAX playlist just for the occasion, comprised of some of my favorite all-time songs, and stuff I thought he might like. The playlist looked something like this:

I think he got through the majority of the playlist, except for those last few songs, which I only added to the MAX playlist for the slideshow and stuff, so he didn’t hear those til the funeral.

Another nurse said he probably couldn’t hear through the sound of the CPAP and the incubator itself, but I don’t buy it. I like to think he listened and loved it. That’s my boy. And I, for one, will always feel these songs in a different way now.

More on music… during Kangaroo Care, when Max was on Keri’s chest, I tried to keep them entertained. I ran out of stories to read, so one day I just went about singing TV theme songs, whose lyrics I would look at online. So I KNOW Max was lucky enough to hear my renditions of such hits as the theme songs to Cheers, Who’s The Boss, Growing Pains, Greatest American Hero, Perfect Strangers, Full House, and more.

Needless to say, during his short stay with us on Earth, Max really dug the music.