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.