Alexander, Declan, and Brendan: Alexander

Hello Alex,

You are 6 months old now! Time flies when you are having fun, and we have definitely been having fun! We continued the holiday season with your first Christmas. It was wonderful! We started the celebrating on Friday at your Grandma Gerry and Grandpa Rick's house. Although the idea of gifts is still lost on you, you really enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper.

The next day, Christmas Eve, we went over to your Gram and Poppy's house. You had fun with your cousins Will and Harrison. We also went to mass that night with everyone. You continue to just love it at mass. St. Peter's had a baptismal font and you enjoyed splashing your hand in the holy water. You also loved all the Christmas lights and the songs.

On Christmas Day we continued the celebration. We started the day off at Gram and Poppy's house for our annual Christmas breakfast. Then later on that day we went to your Great Aunt Patty's house to celebrate with all of my cousins. You really enjoyed yourself there since there were so many people. You are a very social baby and you always seem to love being passed around to new people. Brooke was especially into you this Christmas. You really like her too!

Mommy, Brooke, and Poppy with you

You with a Christmas Bow

Mommy with a bunch of her cousins

Brady, Brooke, Grace and You (the next generation of cousins)

The "Outlaws" AKA now, the "Survivors

"Sharing" a beer with Poppy

Another Christmas Bow

So your first Christmas was a success! You have definitely made my Christmas brighter! Can't wait for the Christmases to come.

We also of course celebrated your first New Year. I suppose there's not much you can do for the New Year at your age, but daddy and I did dress you up in his hat and gave you a noise maker. You were not a fan of daddy blowing on that noise maker! I'm sure you will love them in the years to come though:

Your physical development has been great! You are on track and even a little ahead in some things. You had your last Physical Therapy session this month. Patrice, your therapist, said that you are doing fantastic and that you have officially graduated from PT. Pretty exciting stuff! Here is a picture of you right after your last session in your baby Under Armour:

You have also started sitting up on your own this month. This has made you so happy to be able to do. You can play with Tyler a lot easier now. Not much longer and you will be crawling . . . you are so close!

Dad and I have been taking you out and about with us still. We recently found out that Dooley's has reopened. This made mommy so very happy! So we went there. I cannot wait till you can eat these burgers with me! After Dooley's, we decided to take a trip to Ted Drewes before they close for a few weeks. After the whole rice cereal incident last month, you have been very hesitant to eat anything except your bottles. But when I put some of the frozen custard on your lips, you latched onto my finger like it was your job! Don't worry, we will get lots of Ted Drewes for you growing up.

We celebrated your daddy's 31st birthday this month too. We went to Cunettos. Frankie, Erin and Tim were so glad to see you. We have thoroughly exhausted you this month with all we have been doing!

We also took you to Llywelyn's to watch a Marquette Basketball Game. There were a lot of people there and they were all so happy to see you in your cool Marquette Sweatshirt that Aunt E gave you.

Sadly, your Great Grandpa Herm passed away this month. We are so very grateful for the time we got with him. We were not even sure if he was going to make it to meet you so we feel so fortunate that you two were at least able to spend the first 6 months of your life together. He was a great man and he will be missed. You got to see him one more time a couple days before he died. You held his hand and he kissed you. It was beautiful. Rest in Peace Grandpa Herm: