The days really seem to be flying by! I don't know what happened to January. It's been busy around the Flate house. I'm teaching, coordinating the microbiology labs, and trying to get as much done of my own data collection as possible. Max really wants attention all of the time nowadays. He used to be content to sit in his bouncy chair for some period of time...not any more! We practice rolling, we read, we play with toys, we dance to music, we look out the windows....it's exhausting! Ha! As you can see in the photo above, he likes to stand/sit in his exersaucer and play.

Max has been "talking" a lot throughout the last week. He has no idea that it refers to Jon, but he often says "dadadada." He had his 6 month check-up this morning. Our little guy is now 17.5 lbs and 26.5 inches long! As usual, Max did not enjoy his shots...but he still managed to smile at the nurse right after she gave him the shots...through his little teary eyes. He's such a good boy.

Lila's here!

Yesterday morning, Lila May arrived! She was about 5 lbs, 1 oz and measured 18 inches long. We went to visit the new family at the hospital in Youngstown yesterday afternoon. Everyone is doing well!

Here is Lila with her daddy, my cousin Al.

Lila with her Aunt Mary.

Lila and her mommy!

The Life of the Party

Becky threw a baby shower for our cousin's wife, Lori, on Sunday. Becky and Lori have been good friends since high school. Lori is due to have a little girl, Lila, on February 2nd. We are all excited to add a little girl to the mix. Also, it's fun to think of Jake and Max and Lila playing together in the coming years! Well, Max really enjoyed getting fawned over by a bunch of ladies. He smiled and laughed and really soaked up all of the attention.

Max and Mom

Max with my aunt Susan (soon to be Lila's grandmother)

Mom-to-be Lori

Becky with aunt-to-be Mary

Max and his aunt Becky

Look at this big boy! He's getting tall!

Still a little goofball that loves to laugh!

Here's Max in one of the outfits that Aunt Laura sent him!

Oh no! Not that flashing camera again, Mom!

Here's a rare photo of Max looking serious! His eyes are still blue but I think they may be getting darker and darker. He has added a new trick to his repertoire...he now rolls from his tummy to his back. He generally still hates being on his tummy. When I go to set him down on his belly, he starts to roll over before I even get him all of the way down. I don't know how he's going to learn to crawl without being on his belly! Maybe he'll skip crawling and go straight to walking!

Happy New Year!

We took the boys to the Cleveland Zoo yesterday for a little celebration that they have for kids called "Happy Noon Year." The animal exhibits are open and at 12 pm they have a countdown and a ball drops and it's a nice little early version of the new year's celebration that the kids will probably sleep through at midnight.

We saw tigers, bears, lions, sea lions, giraffes, etc. Max's favorite was the camel because it was standing right up next to the fence and we could get really close to him. Jake liked watching the sea lions swim. Although crowded, it was a good time and a beautiful day weather-wise. As of today, most of our snow is melted and now everything is very muddy.

Last night, Max stayed at Grandma's house and we went to a friend's house for a party. There was a friendly ten dollar buy-in poker game. I am proud to say that I took down the 80 dollar prize pool. Jon was proud of me.

Max is asleep in his room so I am going to try to get some work done on the computer. I have lots of data to analyze!