No Words

I had my back to him, putting the sheet back on his bed. I thought he was "nicely" looking at books. HA! Yes, that is formula. Next thing I know, he is licking his fingers. Talk about a sticky mess! What a kid.

Whoda Thunk It?!

March 22nd and we were at the beach! Craziness!

Our Little Fishy

We decided to enroll Max in a swim class at the local high school a few months ago. He looooves bathtime; so, we know he likes water. Also, we live so close to the lake, we wanted him to know how to swim at an early age. The class was 8 weeks long and ended 2 weeks ago. We have a little dare devil on our hands! He went under the water the very first class and wasn't a fan. By the last class, he was "jumping" into the water on his own. He loves it! (By jumping in, I mean sitting on the ledge and falling in. Brook is there to catch him.) He now tries to go under in the bath tub. The kid cracks me up. It's amazing to see how fast he progressed in just 8 weeks. We decided to take the next class, which starts tonight. We figure, by the time this one is over, it will be "almost" warm enough to go to the lake. Yayyyyy!

Silly baby!

Max made a new friend - Deiken

"Hey, let me grab your ear!"

Time Flies

Where have the last 2 months gone? It seems like we were just ringing in the new year! I don't have anything terribly exciting to write about, just normal day-to-day life around here. I don't mind normal. :-) Here are some of the things that have been keeping us busy the last few months . . .

2 of Brook's cousins play basketball for Hillsdale College;

so, we went to watch them play Grand Valley @ GVSU

Sophie celebrated her 3rd birthday

4 generations

Cousins

Anna's gymnastics meet

Connor's (AKA Robin) 4th bday party . . .

and Julia's (AKA Smurfette) 3rd

Wow - 8 Months!

It's hard to believe he's 8 months old. It feels like I was just congratulating Brook that we had kept Max alive for 1 week! Chassidy put it perfectly - he is the light of our lives. He's such a happy baby and the biggest show off! He keeps us entertained, to say the least.

- At 7.5 months (Feb 15, to be exact), he started crawling and is into everything! He had been doing to whole army crawl for a few weeks and getting up on all 4s. Then, one day, he was off!

- Feb 28th, his first tooth came through. He wasn't really crabby, either, which was nice.

- His sleeping habits have greatly (and I mean GREATLY) improved. Shortly after writing his 6 month post, I started putting him on the couch for naps. We had to stay in the room the entire time, but at least we weren't holding him anymore. At night, he goes into his crib awake (most nights) and puts himself to sleep. When I found he could do this, I started putting him in his crib for naps. He'll play for awhile, then go to sleep for a couple hours. All of this happened with almost no crying. It was amazing to watch him mature in this way. He is also sleeping 8-10 hrs straight at night now. He gets up to eat and for a diaper change at around 4am and is back to sleep until around 7am. He wakes up in the AM "talking" and full of smiles.

- He's a good eater. There's not much he'll turn down at this point. I don't really know if he has a favorite, b/c he gobbles everything down!

- He loves to play with everything besides his toys. This includes pulling the blinds down (and trying to chew on them), the dowel rod in the sliding glass door, the dog's dish, shoes, water bottles, remotes, cell phones, lap tops, treadmill, laundry basket, wall flower plug ins . . . you get the picture! Nothing is safe! Yep, it's time to baby-proof! I just give him my cell phone now. It's not that fancy, who cares if there's a little baby slobber on it. ;-) We have an old remote for the TV that we let him have. Of course, he somehow knows it's not the real thing and has little interest in it. How are they so smart?!

- He loves to stare people down at the store. When they look at him, he starts laughing and talking to them extremely loud. He is quite the people person. Church is still a challenge. When it's quiet time (for personal prayer or reflection), Max thinks it's his time to yell. Of course, it

doesn't help that there are so many people around that he's trying to impress. We are in the cry room at least once per Mass.

On a side note, having Max continues to give me insight on the love of God. It was really hard to imagine a parent's love until I had a child of my own. A few weeks ago, Max was sleeping on the couch. I was sitting on the floor next to him, doing some work on the computer. I turned to watch him sleep for a bit. I thought, 'I just love to be with him.' Then, it struck me that this must be how God feels about me. He just loves to be with me, his daughter. I must make Him sad b/c I am "so busy" that I don't spend nearly enough time with Him. It really gave me something to ponder.

All ready for church!

"Hey mom, give me that camera!"

"What? Just over here tryin' to find the remote I lost in my toy bin."

"Oohhh, I loooooove the dowel rod!"

NYE in the D

Well, kind-of. Brook, Wes and Brandon decided their Christmas present to each other this year would be to go to a sporting event. So, they got tickets to the NYE Red Wings' game. The rest of us decided it would be fun to stay somewhere in the area and ring in the New Year together. So, we got a hotel in Farmington Hills, which was super-close to 12 Oaks Mall. We did a little shopping before we checked in. After we checked in, we enjoyed a few cocktails, as the kids played. When the guys left for the game, the women and children left for the much anticipated Chuck E Cheese. My how my NYEs have changed! We later let the kids swim, then took over the breakfast room of the hotel. The kids were pretty much destroying the place (OK, not really, but there were quite a few spills to clean up), while the adults were chatting, snacking and enjoying a beverage or 2! My sisters (Jaime included) are 3 of the women who know me best. I love to get together with them, b/c we share the same values and can freely talk and not feel judged. It's an open and easy environment.

Around 9, it was time for them to go to bed. By "them," I might mean "me," but to save face I'll let you believe the kids. ;) If I were going to do this again, I'd get 1 big suite; b/c when the kids go to bed, we're now stuck in our rooms! (If Veronica was to do this again, she'd say "no kids!" Haha!) The guys got home around 10 and I was in bed by 11! I'm lucky I made it that long. Mama needs her sleep! Max didn't sleep well and Brook had a cold, so I didn't sleep well, either. (Thank goodness there was time for a nap on the long car ride home.) After Mass the next day, we did a lot more shopping (I wasn't too tired for that, of course); then, headed home. It was a great trip!

"Is it time to go to Chuck E Cheese yet?!!"

Oh Zack, our little ham!

And they're off!

Bisonet Christmas

Our Christmas day consists of going to Mass in the AM and then over to Brook's parent's in the PM for dinner and gift-giving. It is always a cozy and special time at their place with lots of good food and many laughs!

Chillin' w/ Uncle Trent

Havin' fun w/ Grandpa!

Excited to open some presents with Uncle Carey and Aunt Meghan!


Say "Cheese!"

Anna's so good with her cousin!