six months (tomorrow)

we are one day away from having a 6 month old! of course, time is flying and we are having so much fun watching this little monkey grow.

as many know, we have been taking gerrit's picture every month in the same chair--a great idea from a friend. today was photo shoot day as we will be at pake and beppe's tomorrow (his actual six month birthday) for the thanksgiving weekend. some of the highlights from the photo shoot included the lovely and mostly constant drooling (the doctor said yesterday to expect teeth in the next few months...gee, thanks for narrowing that down for us) and the very exciting jump, head first, from the chair. mom was so skilled she caught the take off and was there to catch the little flying monkey too. see the take off photo on the right and click here for the rest of the watch me grow photos.

typically there doesn't seem to be a huge difference in these photos from one month to the next, but of course there is a huge difference from his first month to his sixth. in the first month we had to keep propping him up straight in that big chair and now we are having to hold him down to keep him in the chair! i have included a slide show with a picture from his first six months below.

monkey on the move

there is no stopping him now...gerrit is on the move. he is not quite crawling yet, but more of a creep as grandma vander wall would have called it. it definitely does the job and gets him to all those fun things of mom and dad's. he was playing in the office this morning as hugh and i were working on our computers and all the sudden he had this excited cry, his breath shortened and he was making a bee line for hugh's phone and charger cable. check out gerrit heading for some safe toys below.



typically the creep gets gerrit where he wants, but every once in a while gerrit needs a little help from us when he gets into a tight spot. check out gerrit's interesting maneuver in the picture. this is when the creep only took him backwards and he backed in under the bookcase, right between dad's shoes.

i wanna be a monkey

gerrit was begging to be a monkey for halloween this year, so a couple yards of fleece, one broken sewing machine, and a 'few' hours of labor, gerrit had his monkey costume. and what a cute little monkey he was.

he had a great time seeing all his friends dressed up at the pumpkin party at church and showing off his costume to beppe and pake who came for a visit on halloween.

getting caught up

ok, time to get caught up. there is so much to report, but we have been so busy that there seems to be no time to sit down to write about it. fortunately, life seems to have slowed down for a few seconds, so i will use this opportunity to get everyone caught up. i will start where i last left off, september.

september usually means back to school--typically that doesn't effect us, but this year that meant addie faber would join us two mornings a week as cassie takes on the job of athletic director at contra costa christian. i am not sure who loves it more, gerrit or addie. this will be good training for addie with the expected addition to their family coming next spring!

september also included gerrit's first plane ride with a trip to colorado. gerrit had a great time playing with grandpa and oma and getting to know cousins--lexi and evan better. highlights of the trip included a weekend in breckenridge, a ride up pike's peak on the cog railway, another train ride through the royal gorge, hikes, bike rides, and fun just relaxing with family.

one other first in september was camping. uncle joel and auntie reen were willing to venture out with us on our first camping trip with gerrit to calaveras big trees. some of the highlights included rain--and although it was expected, it always makes camping a bit more an adventure especially with a baby, a nice hike through the 'big trees', joreen's beloved baton twirling, mmm...carne asada, a successful 3 am car ride to get the newest camper to sleep, and chili--lots of chili.

with october comes pumpkins, so we were off to john and brooke bos' (along with brian and lisa van groningen) pumpkin patch. dutch hollow or 'd-low'--as it is so fondly referred to, is much more than pumpkins including animals, bounce house, hayrides, and much, much more. there was so much going on that gerrit was asleep on pake's shoulder by the end, but before that he enjoyed a visit with the goats, petting a bunny, and sitting on/licking a tractor with dad.

of course, during all of this gerrit is growing (and growing and growing) and learning all kinds of new things. first it was learning how to eat solid foods, if you call very watered down oatmeal cereal solid. i would now say we are up to 80% is making it to his mouth. then he finally remembered how to roll from his stomach to his back. he began rolling all over the place, you never know where you will find him next. then in mid-october he made the big push to his hands and knees--we never know what new feat the day will bring.

and lastly, we welcome a new addition to our 'extended family' with the birth of zane angelo gerbo born to ian and sally (one of 'the twins') on october 25, weighing in at 9lb 4 oz and 21 in (so we like our boys and we like them big!). i think we are all looking forward to the day all these boys can run out and play together.