more grandpa time...

max got an extra day with his grandpa.

we went to home depot and out to lunch.

it was so great to have that time to spend with him

thanks grandpa mark!

new discovery...

max discovered the light and mobile at the top of his swing today...he was mesmerized.

look at me! i can hold my rattle and put it in my mouth at the same time!

it's so amazing to watch him learn and grow everyday!

max's baptism...

today we had max's baptism.

we were able to have father mike, the same priest that married drew and i over 3 years ago, be the one to baptize max.

max wore a christening gown that my mom had made from her wedding dress.

so many of our family and friends joined us for this very special day.

max is lucky to now have nate and lindsay for his godparents.

here are a few pictures!

our little man is 3 months old...

here is how max celebrated turning 3 months old...

hanging out on his boppy on the couch while mommy drank her coffee (and being surprised by the flash on the camera!).

playing in his gym.

relaxing with daddy after a nap and finishing a bottle.

having tummy time.

sitting in his bouncy seat looking out the window.

wow, what a day! :)

3 months...

well, today max is 3 months old!
i can't believe that 3 months ago today our lives were forever changed.

we've got a busy week ahead of us.
tomorrow is octoberfest, sunday is max's baptism, tuesday is the dress rehearsal for youth go's haunted house, wednesday early morning i'll most likely be live on channel 5 for the haunted house, wednesday afternoon are max's 3 month pictures, and next weekend the haunted house opens....whew!

daddy took the camera to work with him, so we'll get some pictures up later!

new talent...

max is getting pretty good at blowing bubbles.

here's some of his best work.

he's also discovered how to spray his spit.

i went to check on him yesterday afternoon during his nap and his face was covered in little bubbly droplets of spit. it was gross and hilarious all at the same time!

too cute...

c'mon...just look at our little guy in those jeans...too cute!!

what a difference...

here's our little guy on july 23rd...

here he is today...

he's growing like a champ. he get sweeter everyday...sharing more smiles, more giggles, and more love.

our girls...

our girls have been a bit neglected lately...both at home and on the blog.

here's our maggie....

sleeping while sitting up.

posing in her kennel.

and libby too...

waiting for maggie to play with her.

looking sweet and innocent (yeah, right!)

go pack go...

we were all decked out in our packer gear today.

obviously all of our efforts didn't help the team pull off a victory.

better luck next week i guess!

(his facial expression in this one cracks me up!)

wet whistle wine fest...

we headed up to algoma for our 3rd wet whistle wine fest. drew's band, the groove hogs, were playing there again this year.

everyone wanted to hold max...

here's max with pam

with nate

and with abby

we celebrated leah's birthday a day early.

here's a picture of the birthday girl and her sister

drew wanted to be the birthday princess too!

we found another use for the stroller cupholders!

here are a few photos of the crew.

kelly and becky

mom and lindsay

aunt amie...

mommy had to go on a retreat for a class she is taking and daddy is in the middle of his student teaching, so aunt amie came up for a few days to spend some time with max.

i wasn't there to take pictures so i don't have any to share. they had a great time...talking and cuddling and hanging out. thanks for coming amie. max had so much fun with you!

a bit of a delay...

my dad and grandparents visited back in august and i forgot to put up these few pictures.
now my dad can get off my back! :)

movin on up...

things have been going well around here at the hicks household. max is growing and changing every day. i had to pack away some of his 0-3 month clothes this week. he's getting so big. yesterday at his doctor appointment he weighed in at 14 pounds, 9 ounces...holy moly!!!

his appointment was in madison with our pediatric cardiologist. they did an echo and things looked good. we don't have to see her again until february. they are just monitoring to make sure that his aorta continues to grow as he gets bigger and that it's growth isn't affected by the surgery.

max is such a happy boy. he smiles all the time, is very talkative, and loves when we sing him silly songs!

seafood fest...

last night we went to seafood fest with aunt heidi. we enjoyed some yummy seafood, great company, and good music. i got to show off max to many of my rotary friends. there were so many people who had been waiting to meet him.

mommy and daddy

classy, really classy (isn't this what the stroller cup holders are for?)

new windows...

my dad and uncle rich came over michigan for a few days to put new windows in our house. for those of you who haven't seen our house, it's old and so were the windows! i am excited to see what a difference this makes in our heating bills this winter. (next project...new siding!)

we got to celebrate my dad's birthday on thursday! (this picture cracks me up because this is a pose i would have made!)

here is my dad working on the window in the bathroom

a shot of one of the new windows

maggie was enjoying the sunshine from the dining room window

max was taking a snooze after enjoying the view

new toy...

max received a new play mat from a friend of my dad's. well, let me tell you...he absolutely loves it. he wiggles and smiles, flails his arms and kicks his legs. i walked out of the room and came back in and he had grabbed onto one of the rings and was just holding on. The look on his face was, "hey, look what i did. i'm not sure exactly what it is or what i'm doing, but i know it's something." so i got the camera and as soon as i turned it on, he let go.

thanks xuan. here are some pictures of max having fun!

breaking up fights and discovering ringworm...

drew is in his last semester of school and is student teaching right now. currently he's in a 4th grade classroom in neenah and is really enjoying it. he comes home with hilarious stories of the antics of a group of 20 9 and 10 year olds. he breaks up fights on the playground, has discovered a case of ringworm, and more...

here are daddy and max the other morning before he headed off to school.

photo shoot...

i had borrowed aunt heidi's really nice camera to take senior pictures for a few of my youth. max and i decided to have a photo shoot and got some really great shots.

here are a few of my favorites.

libby got in on the fun too!