First Christmas

Monk had a GREAT first Christmas. First he went to the cabin to visit Grandpa and Grandma and then on Christmas Eve he came to Nana and Papa's house. We took over 100 Christmas pictures this year so it was really hard to choose only a few to put on the blog, but here are some for you to enjoy.

Gearing up for Christmas Eve dinner. Mmmmmmmmm
The littlest person got the biggest gift???
A Thomas train set for when he gets a bit older.

The pop and ride was a big hit at Grandpa and Grandma's. Both grandkids wanted to ride it.

The big red car

Opening stockings!

First Hair Cut

Last night we took Monk to get his first hair cut. He was starting to look a little like whisky tango so it was time and what better time than right before the holidays? A mullet was slowly taking up residence in his back side and his bangs were down to his eye brows. I wanted to keep it little boy yet so Nancy trimmed just a smidge off. He looks like a new man.

This picture is staged. He wasn't too thrilled about sitting in the chair like a big boy. Minutes after the picture was taken, the bottom lip came out.
Since he didn't want to sit in the chair, I had to hold him. He did pretty good and he looks like such a handsome little guy now. No more mullet.

Christmas Jammies and Patty Cake

Photo Shoot!

And then there were four

Monk's other tooth on the top finally came through. You just have to laugh when looking at his toothy smile. That gap, oh my word!

Ten Months Old 12/8/06 - Monk

Monk you are getting so big boy. We have come along way in the last month. You have gotten lots of teeth along with that have had very red cheeks and been a little cranky here and there. You are still loving to explore the world around you and constantly want to be put down although on occasion you sure do enjoy a good book. Reading books has not been your favorite

all along though. I used to never be able to have you sit by me long enough to page through a book, but in the last month you have really grown to love them. You love playing in the dishwasher. Just the other day I found you like this (picture on the right). You made your way right into there. Good thing that you didn't fall in the mean time. You don't really care much for baby food anymore. Every time that I try giving it to you lately you slap my hand, making the food splatter all over, and shreek. When I place little tidbits of food that you can grab yourself you dig in. You still don't really care to be in your car seat. I have gotten real good at tuning you out most of the time. I have sort of given up on trying to keep socks on your feet. I am sure that other mothers think highly of me when I have my child in the shopping cart in the dead of winter with no socks on. If only they knew. (I do put them on you when we go outside, but in more than one instance I have been retracing my steps through a store just to find one of your socks so now I just take them off and put them in the cart). You love to play peek-a-boo. When we play peek-a-boo together I am amazed at the little personality that is emerging. You go hide around the corner and then come back laughing hysterically. It is one of my favorite things. The three things that you are not allowed to get into in the house, you are constantly getting into. It is like the toilet bowl and the dog water bowl are calling you to come and touch them.

Every week or every couple of weeks for the last little while you have a new thing that you do for a day or so. At the begining of the month you would blow out of the side of your mouth (pictured down below) Then you started making this funny noise with your tongue for awhile. The latest has been a really high pitch scream when you are having a good time. As annoying as it may be to some others, I have really grown to like it because it signifies a happy little boy.

Monk every morning that I walk into your room between 6:30 and 7 and I see that little boy standing in his crib with his sleeper on, I think about how lucky I am that I get to wake up to you. Yes it is early and sometimes I don't really want to get out of my nice warm bed, but seeing your little sleepy face and once I scoop you up you snuggle into my shoulder, it is all worth it and I would do it a million times over again. Your dad and I love nothing more than to see you smile. Your first ear infection broke our heart because we don't want you to have to hurt. We both love you more than life itself. - Dad and Mom

My poor little bean!

Last night I ended up bringing Monk to prime care because he has been sick for two weeks and just wasn't acting like himself still. It ended up that he has a double ear infection. My heart aches for my little bean. In the picture you can see the look of sadness in his eyes. We found out that he is a tough little guy though because he has still been sleeping through the night and not been too cranky. The only reason that I could tell something was wrong was because he was really fussy after his nap and he would pull at his ears. He is on some antibiotic so hopefully he will fell better soon.

Monk's first Christmas Tree

Last week Saturday we went to Muskegon and cut down this wonderful Christmas tree from one of Fisherman's customer's tree farm. It was a fun little adventure. It was a bit hard to decorate the tree since both of us had to be putting the lights on and Monk wanted attention. As you can see in the picture he can't keep his hands off of it. We couldn't even get a nice picture because he kept cranking his body around to touch the oranments. Curious babies are so much fun. Seeing the excitement in thier eyes when they see new things is AWESOME!

Uni-tooth

Isn't this ridiculous! Every time that I look at it, I have to laugh. I never knew babies could have such big teeth. Hopefully when the second one comes in it won't look so humongous. P.S. Please excuse the drool and the snot. He has a little cold right now.

Happy Thanksgiving

Monk's first Thanksgiving was a big success. He had turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, roll, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. He loved all the foods that he was able to eat, so much that I am not sure if he will go back to that nasty baby food. We hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Nine Month Pictures

Yesterday we took Monk to get his nine month pictures taken. It is a good thing that

fisherman was able to come along with me otherwise we may not have gotten a smile out of him. He was a good little bean the whole time the lady was taking his picture. Look at those pearly whites man!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is my dad's birthday. It also happens to be (for those of you who may not know) the opening day of gun season for deer hunting so I am not able to spend his birthday with him, but I am able to post this little message and birthday wish. Thanks for being the best dad that a boy could ask for. You make me laugh on a daily basis and I love your kisses and hugs. I hope that you have a great day out in the woods and think about me and mom lots :) Happy Birthday! Love, Monk

Ouch!

Monk gets hurt all the time since he has been pulling himself up unto everything, but this is the first big one. You can see the cut on the right side of his forhead. It was all bruised and everything. Poor little guy! If you look closely at the picture you will even be able to make out a tear. Too bad the next day we were supposed to get nine month pictures taken.

Nine Months Old 11/08/06 - Monk

Today our little Monk is nine months old. It is so hard to believe how fast the time is going by. Every day things get more and more fun. Every day I can see his little personality emerging. I see little personality traits of Fisherman in him and some traits of me. One thing that has really emerged in the past month is stranger anxiety.

Just yesterday we went to go and get his pictures taken. He cried at the lady taking his picture. I probably would have cried at the sight of her too, but my little happy boy has turned into a scared little guy. Another big thing that happened this month is that after all the grueling fussy times, Monk FINALLY got some teeth. His first one appeared on the top as you can see from this picture. On it's own it looks humongous. He has gotten two more on the bottom and is working on the other top one. I didn't think that I would like to see his gummy smile go,but I must say that teeth are cute too. This month Monk has enjoyed eating some new things like yogurt, avocado, cheese, and grapes. He has been pulling himself up on EVERYTHING and getting into anything that he can (including the toilet). He is getting the hang of playing patty cake. We are still working on "so big," but he can't quit grasp that whole concept yet. He loves being chased after and comes when you call him. He lifts his hands up for you to grab him and is extra cuddly in the morning. We are so lucky to have a happy healthy baby like Monk. He is doing everything that he should and fills our hearts with joy every single day that passes by. We love you Monk, to pieces. -Dad and Mom

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

We learned that pumpkins are one of Monk's favorite things.
Check out what is inside this thing.

Play with the guts from the inside

Watch daddy carve it

And finally the finished product. He has one tooth just like Monk.

Cradle Cap

Monk had a little case of cradle cap so I read this article and have been told by some other people to put oil on it and let it sit there for a little while and then wash it out. I was really excited about the whole thing and I was willing to do anything to get rid of the dry skin on his head. So I proceeded to what I thought would be an easy process. It all went wrong when I put too much on his head. You can see the massive amount that I put on there from this picture. The moment after I put too much on his head Fisherman said, "this is your deal." Meaning that I had to take care of the whole thing. I never realized how many things actually hit Monk's hair. I thought that he could play while he had it on his head, but he kept grazing things along his hair. I finally made it to bath time and realized that I should have taken off his clothes before I put the oil in his hair, CRAP!

The next day Monk wakes up with crusties in his eye. I immediately thought that it was pink eye because it was all red. Later I figured out that it was just from getting oil in his eye the night before. What an awful mom I am! I feel so bad. You can tell on this picture that his eye on the right is all irritated. I don't think that I will ever be doing that again.

Crawling

Monk has been crawling for awhile, but this is for those of you who have not seen him do it yet. There has not been much going on at our house so I have resorted to this video with my hidious voice on it. HA! This has made me decide to talk to Monk in a "normal" voice from now on. Anyway back to the video, I love when Monk goes from crawling to a sitting position it is just WAY too cute and also notice the one sock. That child is constantly taking off his socks.

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Secret Video

This little video is really bad quality because for some reason our camera does not take very good movies, but it made me laugh so hard. This is a short clip of Fisherman and Monk playing. Fisherman has no idea that I am taping this. First they are playing with lambchop the puppet and then there is a little break for a hug, which is oh so cute. Lastly Fisherman ends up hitting Monk on the head with one of his toys. The funny thing about this part of the movie is that Fisherman also taps his own head while making some very comical sound effects. Notice how they change with the person that is being hit. I always wonder what Fisherman does with Monk alone and now I know.

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My Little Punkin Seed

Eight Months Old 10/8/06 - Monk

Yesterday Monk turned 8 months old. He is getting to be so much more interactive every day. Everyday he is doing something new and exciting it seems. All of these little things that he is learning and accomplishing make parenting one of the best things in the world.
He is in love with his blankie lately. When he has it he fiddles with it between his fingers and it just melts my heart. He has a little waffle blankie with the satin edges. I had one just like it when I was a kid. I tried and tried to get him to like a pacifier, but he never took to it. So I was surprised that he took to his blankie.
One of my favorite things that has happened in the last month is that he has become more attached to me. The smile on his face when I pick him up is irreplaceable. When we play in his room together he will be busy with his toys and then all of a sudden he will crawl over to me to get what I call a "mommy break." He snuggles his head in my chest for a couple of minutes and then he is right back to playing. He does the same thing periodically with his blankie.
One more thing that he has learned this past month is to wave bye-bye. I have yet to catch it on camera, but it is the sweetest thing that you could ever witness. He gets all excited about it and his arm just goes buck wild.
Some of his favorite things to do lately include taking off his socks, which you may have read about in one of my previous blogs, crawling all over the place, and dropping stuff just to see mom or dad pick it up.
Monk there have been so many times in the past month that if there were a way that I could have made time stand still I would have. There are moments that you will lay your head on my shoulder and cuddle and moments where you, your dad, and I will be laughing all together as one and I just want to hold unto moments like that for just a little while longer. Your dad and I are the luckiest people in the world to be able to experience you and to watch you grow. Being able to watch you as you grow is like having front row tickets to the best concert in the world. We love you with al our hearts.
-Dad and Mom

Blowing Raspberries

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One of Monk's favorite things to do lately is to blow raspberries. He has been doing this for a really long time, but lately it has been really intense and aggressive. Oh yeah and the thing that he is beating on underneath him is Angler. Poor dog! It is a little distorted and sideways, but it is still funny.

Our New Occupation

You may have thought that I am a receptionist and that Fisherman sells cleaning supplies, but you were wrong. We have been hired as Monk's professional sock putter oners. The first picture that you see to the left is the picture taken right before we went for a car ride. Here he is distraught because the socks are still on his feet. The bottom picture was taken after we arrived at our destination. Socks are off and he is happy as a clam. Crazy kid!