Lindsey and Liam's visit

Lindsey got to come visit with Liam this week from Miami! It was so much fun to see her and to see how much Liam has grown. It was just fun to have someone around! There's not a lot to do in Midland, but we still managed to have a great time. Lindsey has better pictures on her blog, but I'll share what I've got.


We were trying to get a picture of the four of us, they all turned out blurry, Liam is crying and Jack is trying to grab him. (we spent a lot of time keeping Jack from grabbing Liam's hair by the fistful)
An attempt to get a good picture of the boys together. This was the best I have. Liam isn't looking at the camera, but at least Jack isn't trying to get to his hair.
He is so sweet!
We wish they didn't have to go home so soon, but I think Tom probably wants his family back. (Thanks for sharing!!)

Something just tickled Jack's funny bone today...he just kept looking at me and laughing...maybe I'm just funny looking, I don't know.

Swimming Lessons

Am I blogging fool this week or what?! As anyone who has talked to me in the last couple weeks knows, we started infant swim lessons today! I was pretty excited and they turned out to live up to my expectations. It's a lot of walking around the pool with them but it was nice to have someone to tell me how to approach things like putting his face inthe water. Jack was a superstar swimmer--the teachers said he was suprisingly comfortable. I'm sure he's the next Michael Phelps ;-). He would dunk his head (by himself), come up sputtering, and then flash everyone a grin--quite the little charmer. There were only two babies in the class and two teachers. The other baby's dad was there too and offered to take pictures for me. (How nice!!)

This is the baby version of diving.

As class goes on they have mom get a little farther away.
They also practice "climbing out".
He got to chase a little floaty toy around to practice kicking his legs and moving his arms and as motivation to climb out.
This was the end of lesson shot, but I can't get the picture order to switch. (and I'm not willing to put a lot of effort into solving that little problem)

Chasing the little toy.

Crawling!

Jack is scooting around like a champ. It's hard to capture on camera because he gets distracted, but he gets around really well. He is especially fast when motivated--as in he can see tags and/or cords (the cord with the tag on it is pretty much irresistible--I'm still working on the babyproofing details.)

Mackinaw City/Mackinac Island

Matt finished his horrible month of working nights last Friday and we decided to celebrate by taking a long weekend to up to Mackinaw on the northern tip of Michigan's lower peninsula. This is the bridge that goes from the lower to the upper peninsula (the "U.P." as the local Michiganders call it--yes, Michiganders.) It's the longest bridge in the western hemisphere, the 3rd longest in the world--about 5 miles.Our hotel had an indoor water park with the cutest kiddie pool which Jack LOVED! I'm so glad this kid likes the water. It makes me much more excited for swim lessons next week!
Mackinac Island is a small island in the Straits of Mackinac. They don't allow motorized vehicles so all transportation is done by bike or horse (except in the winter they allow snowmobiles). If you've seen the movie Somewhere in Time (with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour)--this is where it was filmed. --the Grand Hotel is still there. (we didn't get to it and so no pictures, but did see it from the ferry). We rented bikes and a trailer for Jack and rode the 8 mile trail around the island (the only highway in the country where cars aren't allowed M132). Jack loved riding in his little trailer and "talked" to Matt quite a bit as we rode.
Jack's first encounter with a horse. The horse came right up to him and stuck his nose through the fence when we first walked up, but we of course didn't have the camera ready for that.
We took a little nap at the park in front of the old British fort. We napped a little too long because when we went to see about going into the fort they had stopped letting people in 15 minutes earlier. Oh well, at least we heard the cannon and rifle demos.

Jack has started eating cereal. It's a big mess, but he seems to like it. (I don't know if he likes eating it or squishing it in his hands the best)
He is also liking books better. He mostly wants to chew them, but does get excited when you turn the page and he pats the new picture.
Jack and I got to go to Florida to meet his new cousin Liam (my sister Lindsey's first). Lindsey hadn't met Jack yet, so it was pretty fun. She kept saying how huge Jack was and I couldn't believe how tiny Liam was!
Jack and I got some pool time in. I'm so excited to start infant swim lessons next month!!
You can't tell they're related but they are pretty cute!!

Blueberries!!

Yesterday one of the families in the ward (the Savages) invited us to go blueberry picking. (The dad, Sasha, also happens to be one of Matt's attendings--so he went berry picking with his boss) We came home with more than 5lbs of berries. I'm not sure what we'll do with them all--it's a lot of blueberries for two people to eat. The Savages left with 35lbs. Last week they took home 45lbs and ate enough that they needed more yesterday. (They do have six kids, but I'm watching for them to turn blue like Violet in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. ) Here's Jack holding our bucket of berries. Don't ask why he's buckled into a seatbelt, it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Jack really liked to try to grab the bushes--he didn't last long in the moby wrap (baby carrier) and spent most of the time on a blanket under the bushes.

We also took a drive up to Lake Wixom. Matt got to go boating with the other interns on a "team building day" and this is where they went. It's only about 20 minutes from us. One of Matt's classmates has a boat and he promised he'd take us skiing soon--the water sure looked glassy just before dusk!
Jack's latest trick is to sit up by himself. He can't get there on his own, but his balance is getting pretty good. His other new trick is screaming at people in public when they aren't looking at him and telling him that he's cute. (This personality trait could be trouble in a few years maybe;-)