Busy Summer

We've had a busy, fun-filled summer and I can hardly believe it is already Labor Day! We've spent lots of time outside this summer! We've taken bike rides and trips to the park. We've spent time at Hess Lake, Silver Lake, and Lake Michigan. We've had play dates, pool time, and even went Downtown Holland for the Street Performers. In the middle of all of this, Blake turned 1, has started taking steps, and has begun to build his vocabulary (truck, ball, uh-oh, wee, boat, clock, pretty (pretty = flowers)). Below are some highlights from the summer...

Swimming at the pool at Silver Lake

At Grandpa & Grandma M's trailer at Silver Lake

Happy to be outside

Reading books and playing trucks with Breanna

Playing in Grandpa & Grandma L's pool

Trying out the Cozy Coupe

11 Months - July 2 Playing with the hose on the drivewaySplashing around in Hess Lake
Hess Lake for the 4th of July
Playing in the pool
Out for ice cream for the first time...he wasn't too sure about that cold stuff at first!

Swimming at Grandpa & Grandma M's pool at Silver Lake

Playing on the tube at Hess Lake

Blake's Birthday Party - with cousins Breanna & Allison

Mid clothes change...

In the animal barns at the Hudsonville Fair

At the Hudsonville Fair

Watching the street performers Downtown Holland

Who needs a pool when you can have a hose? Playing at the beach with cousin Breanna
Headed out to Lake Michigan on the boat

In one of the slides at the park (it's small, so Blake can do it himself!)

In the dunes at Silver Lake

Headed into the dunes in Grandpa's Jeep

Blake's 1 Year Pictures

After having to reschedule Blake's 1 year pictures (he fell and hit his head on the spindles for the stairs), we were able to get them done last night. He had a little bit of stranger anxiety at first and then decided he'd rather play than get his pictures taken...thankfully she was able to get a few good ones!

Happy Birthday Blake

I can't believe my baby boy is already 1! This past year has flown by so quickly...too quickly, but we've enjoyed every minute with our little man! He has the sweetest personality and is always so happy! His smile is enough to melt our hearts!

He is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on everything, and getting into anything that he possibly can :) He loves to be outside and will play out there for hours if we let him! He will point to the door leading outside and whine until we bring him out or will pull himself up on the door and bang on it until we open it!

Happy Birthday Blake! We love you so much!!!

9 Month Pictures

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday didn't quite start out the way we thought it would...instead of going to church, we went to Urgent Care at Zeeland Hospital with Blake. He woke up 5-6 times during the night crying and was constantly grabbing his left ear so we thought it was pretty obvious that he had an ear infection. We were only at the hospital for a couple hours (I didn't think that was too bad!) and then headed to Meijer to fill his prescriptions and then to my parents' house for lunch!

Blake was such a happy boy at my mom and dad's...you never would have guessed he had an ear infection! He was just happy being around everyone and as always, loved watching his cousins! I think my mom is carrying on my Grandma Lamer's tradition...she got bunny cakes from Zeeland Bakery for all three kids! Eric and I were excited Blake got one this year :) At night we went to Eric's Grandma K's house. Blake got to participate in his first Easter Egg hunt! He loved the colorful eggs and being outside!

8 Months

Blake turned 8 months old yesterday! I was lucky enough to have the day off from work, so we were able to spend lots of time together outside! Blake LOVES being outside and going for stroller rides so we were very excited to get to be outside so much this past week!

Blake is continuing to develop his little personality. He's really discovered his voice and screams and babbles tons. He loves to move around in his walker and jump in his jumperoo, but he doesn't show much interest in crawling/scooting (which is just fine with me!). Just recently he's shown he is able to move around a little bit when he's on his tummy. He is able to roate himself around in a circle when he's on his tummy and has figure out how to move a few inches backwards when he gets really mad. He definitely does not like to be restrained, so he gets mad when we block him from rolling over when he's on tummy time!

He loves to play with his toys and is able to reach for and grab the ones he wants. He loves books (especially his Peek-a-Boo ones) and loes to turn the pages! He is such a happy little boy who is full of smiles! He's so much fun to be around!

Blake, Kelsey and I went downtown Holland yesterday. I've been wanting to go to Tiptoes for quite some time, but this was the first I actually got to head over there! Blake loved looking around and received lots of attention everywhere we went! It was also fun to spend some time with Kelsey since she came home from Trinity Thursday night for the weekend! She got to see Blake laughing hysterically for the first time :)

Eric's knee is slowly getting better. He's going to physical therapy twice a week right now. The PT is hard on him and he's usually quite sore and has some swelling when he gets home. He was able to go back to work for a few hours this past week and is hoping to be able to increase the amount of time he's able to work quickly! I'm glad he's able to help out more at home too!

Here are some recent pics of Blake:

He loves reading books and turning the pages (notice the look of concentration on his face!)

I really thought he'd outgrow his play mat by now, but he still loves it!

He thought he was pretty cool sitting at the computer...he went straight for the keyboard!

We pulled out his Fridge Farm...he loves it! He figured out what to push to make it play music right away!

We finally got his high chair out...he loves sitting in it while playing with his toys!

All smiles while playing with toys

Our sweet little boy

We love spending time out on the porch!

Blake loves bath time!

Eric's Surgery

Eric had knee surgery on Wednesday. They went in and removed two loose bodies - one of them was over an inch long and the other was just a speck. The big one has been floating around in his knee for years and we found out it was actually a piece of his kneecap! The recovery time for this is only 2-3 weeks and he is already able to put some weight on his right let!

We were slightly disappointed they weren't able to do more for him. They were possibly going to drill holes in his femur in an attempt to get scar tissue to grow in place of lost cartilage. They decided this procedure wouldn't work with where the pressure in Eric's knee is because his femur is turned.

Eric is doing well. Wednesday afternoon and night were rough because his pain meds (Vicodin and 800 mg of Motrin) weren't working at all. He couldn't keep it elevated because it was too painful, even though the elevation is supposed to make it feel better and prevent blood clots. He didn't get to sleep until around 4 am on Thursday morning.

Currently, the Vicodin is helping, but makes him pretty nauseous at times. At least he's able to sleep and elevate his leg! We go back to the doctor next week Wednesday for his staples to be removed and then go back 2 weeks after that for the specialist to see how everything is healing up! We're hoping for a speedy recovery for him!