Day 55: Sweet potatoes!

While I was trying to eat dinner, Mikey was fussing to be held, so I was holding in my lap. I noticed as I was trying to eat, Mikey was opening his mouth when the food would come toward him. I decided to see if he would eat food from a jar, since I've already been trying the rice cereal and oatmeal. He'll eat the rice and oatmeal, but he doesn't seem to really care for it. It was so different with the sweet potatoes! He kept opening his mouth for more and was smiling and just seemed to be loving it!! It was really fun and messy!

Day 54: May 22, 2011

Picture courtesy of Chris Friedman! :) Mikey looks soooo adorable!

Day 53: Lots of snuggles!

I was snuggling my sleepy boy earlier today and just loving it! He is so snuggly sometimes! :)

Day 52: Baby legs!

Mikey kept crossing his feet today while he played in his swing. I'm not sure if this is a new thing, or just something he was doing today, but it was so cute! My project today: the baby legs he's wearing! I made them from a pair of socks, and while they're not perfect, I'm pretty proud of them!

Day 51: Family fun

Today some of our family from Fort Wayne came to visit! We had so much fun and got some great pictures together. Jacob loves Mikey sooo much and wanted to be around him the entire day. It will be so much fun when Mikey gets older and they can play together!

Day 50: May 18, 2011

Mikey loves touching (and grabbing!) our faces now, especially on the lips!

Day 49: May 17, 2011

He finally found the toy he can chew on his "command center." He's such a cutie!

Day 48: Aunt Katie again!

Today we went to Katie's house to hang out with her, and then went out to eat for dinner and stopped over at Wal-Mart to look at some stuff. We, of course, had lots of fun, but I think Mikey was definitely ready to be home by the end of the day! He was crying almost the whole way home, and I even had to pull over to feed him halfway (it's a long drive!). Poor baby!

Day 47: Drool all over!

Mikey has been drooling soooo much lately and chewing everything he can! If you look closely at the picture, you can see the drool coming out of his mouth. He was chewing on his arm and decided to look at me while I took the picture. He looks like this pretty often now!

Day 46: Mikey's 1st air show

We went to a company cookout at Chris' work today to watch the air show. It was amazing! Mikey did very well with the noise. He even slept a little! I'm constantly amazed at our little boy and how easy and laid back he is! Chris was playing with him while we were waiting for the planes to start flying, and was getting him to laugh. I love his laugh soooo much!

Day 45: May 13, 2011: A Good Friday the 13th

Our Lifegroup from our church had a cookout, and we were able to spend time with all of our dear friends! We didn't get back until really late, which is why I'm just now posting the picture. I talked to a really good friend, Leslie, for awhile, and then had her hold Mikey for a picture! I don't know if she even knows how much I've been able to learn from her on being a mother. I have read many things she has written on her blog and on facebook, and the way she just shows her heart in such an open and honest way has taught me some really valuable lessons on motherhood.

Day 44: May 12, 2011

The blog site was down this day, so I was unable to post the picture. The picture is of my sleepy boy snuggling with Momma in his favorite pj's...Colts!

Day 43: Hangin' with Aunt Katie again!

Today we spent the day with Katie, and then went to dinner at the mexican restaurant that we went to the night before Mikey was born! It was the first time we have been back since Mikey was born, and it's amazing to think about how the last time I was there, I was carrying Mikey in my tummy rather than in his carseat! As always, we had a ton of fun today with Katie!

Day 42: Enjoying the warm weather while we can!

Mikey and I went on a short walk today before any storms could come. It was pretty hot out! I think Mikey was a little annoyed with the bright sunlight. Every time I tried to take a picture of him I had to practically force him to even look at me. He mainly looked at the sides of his stroller. Hopefully once we have some grass in our backyard he'll like playing outside a little more!

Day 41: Eating at the table!

I tried feeding some rice cereal to Mikey last week after his pediatrician appointment because she told us we could try it out. He would open his mouth for the spoon, but he would spit most of the cereal out of his mouth right after I put it in there. It was such a mess! Today, he was actually eating it! I was so excited to see him actually seem to "get it." The only problem today was that while he was eating the cereal, he was also trying to eat his hand. Haha. Wow, what a mess babies can make!

Day 40: Lil Mama on Mother's Day

Today we went out for lunch with some of our very good friends from church. One of the little girls, Naomi, is very interested in babies, and was so sweet to Mikey today! I loved watching her "take care" of Mikey, putting his paci in his mouth for him, fixing his blanket, and rocking his car seat. She is going to make a great mommy someday (a loooong time from now)! :)

Day 39: Super baby!

First of all, I would like to say that I did not take this picture today. Chris took it on his cell phone, and I was too busy to take a better one...so that's why the quality isn't that great. Anyways, today we went walking around outside for awhile and got this Superman shirt at Old Navy for Mikey. Chris picked it out, and obviously was very excited about it. He put it on Mikey as soon as we got home and took this picture of him wearing it. So cute! Mikey seems to like it too!

Day 38: Showing lots of interest in new things!

I gave Mikey a rattle today to play with and as soon as I got it in his little hand, he couldn't take his eyes off of it...well, except for the 30 seconds he had it in his mouth! He was so interested in watching it as he moved it around and made it make noise. He is becoming more and more interested in touching things that he sees. We went out to dinner with some old friends of Chris's from Fort Wayne, and as I was eating, Mikey kept trying to reach for my food and my plate as though he just HAD to touch it! I have to be much more careful of not leaving things within his reach that I don't want him grabbing onto–especially my hair!

Day 37: 4 month appointment

Mikey had his four month appointment at the pediatrician's office today. He is doing so well! He is 15 lbs. 1 1/2 oz., and 25 1/2 in. long, which the pediatrician said makes him about 55th percentile in weight and 75th in height! He is also doing things that she said she wouldn't expect until about 5-6 months, such as playing with his feet and rolling over in both directions. She also said we are ready to try rice cereal whenever I feel ready to start! He had to get 2 shots today, one in each leg, so that was no fun. He started crying while she was giving him the shots, but luckily it didn't last long. I've been giving him some baby tylenol, and that seems to be helping him. Overall, it was a very good appointment!

Day 36: A visit from Aunt Katie!

Today my best friend, Katie came over to visit. We had some fun taking pictures of Mikey and watching him roll all over the floor. He moves around so much now!

On another note: Mikey turned 4 months old today! Time is flying by!

Day 35: Out and about

Today Mikey and I went to meet Chris for lunch and then went to the grocery store. He wore his new jacket from his Grandma and Grandpa McLain! He is really good when we go out, and just hangs out in his carseat, either just looking around at what is going on or sleeping. I'm kind of surprised that he's so quiet while we're out because he puts up a good fight while I'm putting him into the carseat!

Day 34: Mommy love

Today I spent some time just snuggling and playing with Mikey. He ended up taking a fairly long nap in the morning while I lay next to him, and then after he woke up and ate, I put him on the floor and played with him. He rolled over many times (and of course I had to cheer for him every time he did it!), and he smiled and laughed a lot. I also put him in his Bounce-a-Bout for awhile, and he loved that! I'm so thankful I have the ability to stay home with my baby boy and spend time with him like this! It's exhausting sometimes, and I know as he gets older it's just going to get more tiring, but it is so rewarding at the same time!

Day 33: Great Grandpa Al's Birthday Party

We went to Fort Wayne last night so we could celebrate Chris's Grandpa Al's birthday today! This was the first time Grandpa Al got to meet Mikey, as well as some of Chris's aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a lot of fun and ate tons (WAY too much) of really delicious food!! I hope we will be able to see everyone a lot more often then we have been so that Mikey will be able to know his family.

Day 32: Baby shoes

Ok, I know they're completely pointless on a baby this young–but I LOVE baby shoes! I think they are so cute on babies. Mikey tolerates them, but they usually end up falling off soon after I've put them on him. He has a few pair (all size 2), and he's just recently grown into them. I was so excited to be able to put them on him!

Day 31: Dinner with baby

We've started putting Mikey in his high chair during dinner time. He doesn't eat with us yet, but he loves his toys on the tray! He still leans over a little sometimes, so I have to sit him up straight again, but I love having him at the table with us. Dinnertime will be a little harder (or at least slower) once he's actually eating with us, but for now it's fun to watch him play while we eat!

Day 30: Cute lil baby feet

Mikey's new obsession today was his feet. Many times today while he was playing on the floor (or watching TV, like he is in the picture) and while he sat on my lap, he was grabbing his feet. A couple times while he was sitting, he even leaned forward as though he wanted to put his little toes in his mouth...where everything else seems to go! :) 

Day 29: My poor sick baby

Mikey has been sick for a few weeks now. He got a cold a few weeks ago, and just when he was finally over it, he got another one. Poor baby! I took him to the pediatrician for her to check him out and make sure he was ok since he's now been sick for so long. She said he was doing well, so that's really good news! He even gave her some smiles and giggles, so he must not have been feeling as bad as he sounded! He was really stuffy last night, and today he was still pretty stuffy and coughing. He slept quite a bit. Hopefully he'll continue getting his rest so he will be better soon!

Day 28: getting even stronger!

Today I decided to let Mikey have his tummy time on a blanket surrounded by some toys. My original plan was to get him to roll over again, but he didn't seem too interested in doing that. Instead he began reaching for his toys and trying to get to them, which is improvement from what he usually does during tummy time (just laying there sucking on his fist). I'm excited to see him developing even more and becoming so much more active with his toys. He is more and more fun every day!

Day 27: Couch Potatoes

Mikey is already a typical boy–fascinated by the TV! He seems to especially like baseball, which Chris likes, but for me is sooooo boring. It's nice right now to be able to distract him when he's getting fussy, though. I got a picture of my boys being boys today after Chris got off of work, watching TV together. I can't wait til it gets warmer outside so we can have a little more fun!

Day 26: Mikey's 1st Easter

Today was Mikey's first Easter! His Grandma and Grandpa Geerken came over today to spend his first Easter with him. We went to church in the morning, then went back to our house for our Easter dinner. We had a lot of fun today!

Day 25: Yum Yum!

Mikey has been putting absolutely EVERYTHING in his mouth that he can! It's funny, but I've definitely been trying to be more careful of what's around him, since he can now reach and grab things. Today Mikey rolled over from his tummy to his back, which he did a few weeks ago, but only once. So he is now rolling over both ways! He's getting to be such a big boy!

Here he is gnawing on a toy from his Grandma McLain!

Day 24: Good Friday

We went to a Good Friday service at church tonight. It was one of the few firsts for Mikey where I actually got to experience a first for myself as well. I have never been to a Good Friday service before, and I really enjoyed it! This is the first year that I have truly appreciated what Jesus did for us, and I feel that having my own son can make me appreciate it even more. To know that God loves us so much that He sent us His son to die for us just amazes me. I am so thankful for the sacrifice that allowed us to be forgiven and have a relationship with our Father!

This was Mikey dressed for church tonight for his first Good Friday service ever! I thought he looked pretty cute! :)

Day 23: Bath today!

I gave Mikey a bath today, and I was thinking back on how he used to absolutely hate his baths. It's so different now! He doesn't necessarily love bathtime now, but he isn't screaming the whole time either. He just sits there quietly and lets me clean him, and kicks his legs a lot. I tried to get him interested in his rubber ducky today, but he just stared at it while it sat on his chest. I'm hoping once he can sit on his own, he can have a little more fun in the bath, and actually play with his toys!

This is his first bath:

So different now:

No more crying! :)

Day 22: My strong lil boy!

Mikey has really been strengthening his muscles lately! He constantly wants to "stand" and loves his Bounce-a-Bout toy that allows him to do that. We spent quite a while today playing with that! He has wanted to play a lot today. I would let him play a little on his own, but there were many times that he fussed until I came over to talk to him or hold him. Earlier, he was in his swing playing with his giraffe toy and I saw him trying to lean forward. I'm not sure if he just wanted to sit up more, or if he was trying to get the giraffe in his mouth, since he was leaning forward to where the giraffe was (and he's been putting absolutely everything in his mouth!). It's neat to see how strong he is becoming!

Day 21: Rolling over!

Mikey rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time yesterday! Now it seems like that's all he wants to do when he's on the floor, even though he doesn't really like being on his tummy for very long. It's as though he learned this new trick and just wants to keep doing it over and over! He gets stuck on his side sometimes, but I think he's figuring it out a little better today. He rolled over from his tummy to his back a few weeks ago, but he has yet to do it again. It's interesting to me that he's never tried it again, but he keeps rolling from his back to his tummy. Here are some pics I took today while he was doing it!

Days 19-20: New toy!

Yesterday was sooo busy, so I wasn't able to get a picture up for that day. We went to church in the morning, then visited with some great friends of ours from church, and finally went to a basketball game that night, where Chris plays in a league.

We got a new toy for Mikey, called a Bounce-a-Bout. Mikey is still a little small to fit in it very well, but I just stay by him while he's in it and place a pillow under his feet so he can reach to push off of the bottom. His new favorite thing is to "stand," so this toy will allow him to do it with toys all around him! He seems to really like it, but I think some of the toys scared him at first! This morning while he was playing in it, he started smiling at the frog toy in front of him. I didn't catch it on camera, but it was really cute and funny!

Day 18: Sleeping on a rainy day

Today was the first Pacers playoff game that Mikey ever got to watch. Luckily, he's too young to care, because the end of the game was pretty frustrating. Mikey has been sleeping so much today! Maybe it's the rain making him so sleepy...it definitely makes me tired. Or it could be his body still recovering from his cold, which he had the past couple of days. Fortunately he seems to be doing much better! He has really started to get sensitive to the light, and gets frustrated with it when he's trying to fall asleep. He finally just covered his eyes for himself to take a nap. I think it's about time to get some dark curtains up in his room for naptime!

Day 17: Pacers Baby!

Mikey was sporting his blue and gold today for the Indiana Pacers! They are finally in the playoffs for the first time in 5 years. Their first playoff game is tomorrow and Mikey will be helping us cheer them on! He has already been to 2 Pacers games in his first 3 months of life and someday I hope we will be able to take him to a Pacers playoff game. For now, however, we'll be watching it on TV! Go Pacers!

Day 16: Reach!

Mikey is now reaching for his toys on his swing...and often, he is grabbing the caterpillar toy and pulling it down! He is also starting to grab for the toys above him in his bouncer. I feel like I really need to be careful now what I put around him!

Day 15: Mommy & Mikey

I realized that I don't really have a lot of pictures of me with Mikey, so I wanted to get one today! I just realized how big he is getting! It's amazing how fast he is growing, and I know a few months from now, I'll look back on the pictures from today and think how small he was. It's such an amazing experience to watch a baby grow and develop, and I'm so happy that God gave me this baby boy to experience this.

Day 14: Super Mikey!

We play this game with Mikey that I call "Super Mikey." I'm sure every parent plays their own version of this with their baby...you hold him above your head and have him look down at you, all the while giving him goofy grins and saying silly things like "Super Mikey!" and "you're flying!!" Haha. Mikey LOVES this game! He smiles really big and sometimes we can even get some laughs out of him!

Day 13: The boys

Today was the last day that Jacob would be here to visit. We had a lot of fun today, and he had so much fun pretending to be a baby. He decided he wanted to have a paci like Mikey and is he always wants to be around the baby. Chris loves to hang out with Jacob, and I know when Mikey gets older, the three of them will have so much fun together! Mikey is so loved by his cousin!

Day 12: A quiet moment with Aunt Jessie

My sister and nephew are staying with us for a couple days, and we are having so much fun together! Tonight Aunt Jessie put Mikey to bed. They looked so sweet and Jessie had the opportunity to bond a little closer with Mikey. She is such a great aunt to him!

Day 11: Cousin Love!

Today Mikey and I went to Fort Wayne to visit with the family. While we were there, we took some pictures with Mikey's cousin, Jacob. Jacob loves Mikey sooo much! He is so sweet to Mikey and loves to give him kisses!

Day 10: Hush Little Baby

I love the way Mikey sleeps. He has never liked to have his arms down by his sides. When he was first born, and I tried to swaddle him, he somehow always managed to get his arms out. I quickly gave up on putting his arms in the swaddle, so I would just swaddle his lower half. Now he uses a sleep sack, and still puts his arms up by his head... and sleeps so well at night! I am so blessed to have such an easy baby!

Tonight while I was getting him ready for bed, he kept laughing at me; REALLY laughing, not just the "trying it out" laugh. It is the most adorable sound! I'm hoping to get it on video soon!! It was so nice to have that little moment before I put him down for the night.

Day 9: 3 month old cutie!

Mikey turned 3 months old on March 4, so I decided to take some photos today of him so I could capture his cuteness at his age. Time is flying by, and I'm enjoying every minute of mommyhood. I know I'll miss how little he is once he is bigger, but I can't help but feel excited about him getting bigger and reaching new milestones! This is one my favorites from today:

Day 8: Daddy's boy

Today Mikey was being kind of fussy after we played for awhile, so I figured he was just getting tired. I tried to bounce him a little and he was staying calm while I did that. I had to eat so I gave Mikey to Chris to hold...as soon as Chris got him, Mikey smiled soooo big for him! I had thought he might end up being a momma's boy, but apparently not! He loves his daddy so much!

Day 7: Easywater boys

I made Mikey an Easywater shirt to represent his daddy's company that he works for. He looks so cute in it! We met with Chris today to eat lunch with him during his lunch break, so he wore it for his daddy then. I can't wait til it gets a little warmer so we can do more things outside of the house!