A lazy Sunday afternoon

I love a lazy Sunday afternoon just spent together as a family. We ate leftovers for lunch, all took naps, played with games, puzzles, and Play-doh, ate pancakes for dinner and watched a movie. Nice, relaxing, and fun time spent together.

Andrew in his cute outfit he wore to church.

Just when I think he can't get any cuter . . . the hat makes his bright eyes and chubby cheeks stand out even more!

His expressions are priceless!

Hangin' with Daddy

Harrison is getting so good at puzzles. He can do them all by himself!

Admiring his work.

Life doesn't get any better than this!

A smile & a laugh

In the last week Andrew has started crawling just a little bit, learned to push himself into a sitting position from crawling, and pull himself up on the furniture. He loves to play with Harrison on the floor and is growing up so fast.

He loves Harrison & Harrison loves him. Every morning Harrison goes into his room when he hears him wake up and climbs into his crib to see him.

He is such a happy baby and his smile & laugh brighten my day!

Valentine's Party

This year for Valentine's Day I thought I would do a little party with some of Harrison's friends. There are several kids his age at church and most of their moms are Stay-at-Home moms too. We often meet them at McDonald's or other places for play dates. I decided we would do our party Monday before Valentine's Day and invites those friends over for some crafts, activities, games, food & fun. 10 little boys and girls were able to come. Here are some of the fun things we enjoyed . . . although I was too busy during the party to remember to take any pictures.

Our lunch: PB&J sandwiches with strawberry jelly cut into heart shapes, pretzels (because they are hearts as well), strawberry Kool-Aide, and cupcakes.

We played Valentine Bingo. The kids are all around 3 years old, though some are a little younger, and don't know all their numbers, so I designed these bingo sheets with cartoon characters from favorite TV shows and movies they would know. We used conversation hearts as bingo markers.

Our Valentine craft: foam puppy & kitty kits I found at JoAnn's. The pieces had peel & stick on the back so the kids just assembled them.

We colored Valentine's pictures and activity pages.

These were Harrison's Valentines, but unfortunately I did not get them done in time for the party. He had Spiderman ones we bought at the store that he gave his friends with lollipops. We made a few of these later to give some family since I had taken the time to take the picture and they were just too darn cute!

Andrew's first Valentine. One of Harrison's friends fell in love with these tiny rubber ducks and so her mom came up with these cute valentines. The blue M&Ms as bubbles and the ducks were in a little bag with a tag the read "Valentine, you make me just Ducky!"

I gave the boys new outfits for Valentine's Day. These are as much Valentine's day as t-shirts get for boys. I gave them their outfits a day early so they could wear them at the party. Harrison loved his guitar shirt!

Andrew had a little guitar on the front of his onesie and a big one on the butt of his pants.

My little Valentines . . . they have stolen my heart!

Sleeping standing up

Yesterday after church I took my usual Sunday nap up on our bed. Andrew was also napping while Daddy & Harrison played and watched cartoons in the living room.

When Harrison got tired he walked over to the couch and laid his head down . . . and fell asleep! He was out! Ryan tried to wake him and he didn't budge, so he picked him up and laid him on the couch. A half hour later he carried him up to me and we snuggled. I couldn't wake him either!

We were thinking that he was outgrowing his afternoon nap because we were having trouble getting him to go to bed at night. We used to just read him a book, say his prayers, and he would go to sleep.

Lately he keeps climbing out of bed - over & over. He doesn't end up going to sleep until 10! So we cut out the nap thinking he would be more tired for bed. I think he still needs the nap, we just need to get more serious about the bedtime.

How cute is this?! What do you think?
. . . I think this boy still needs his nap!

Today we had a Valentine's party at our house for Harrison and some of his friends. Afterward the boys & I ate lunch at McDonald's. I loaded the boys back in the car and a few blocks down the road he was out! After we got home I let him watch a movie on my bed and take a nap. In the words of Harrison, "Mommy, I'm tired, I sleep!"

9 Months Old

Our little Andrew turned 9 months old last Wednesday. It is hard to believe in 3 short months he will be a year old!

For some reason he seemed to grow up faster than Harrison. It might be partly because he is such a big boy. At his check-up he was 29 inches long and 19 lbs. 14 oz. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes.

He loves to eat and isn't picky about veggies. He is always happy and content. He is very affectionate, always giving hugs and kisses, and his smile will melt your heart. We are so blessed to have our two special boys!

Future Rockstars

Grandma & Grandpa gave Harrison a drum set for Christmas. He loves to play it, but I have to admit that we put the drum sticks away sometimes. #1 for Mommy's sanity #2 So when we get them out it is a treat He is actually pretty good at playing them. He can keep a good beat and plays them nicely. He doesn't just bang on them like you would expect most 3-year-olds to do.

Andrew gave it a try. Sitting on the stool like a big boy.

He hit the drums a little.

Harrison's turn to jam

He always tries to do fancy stick movements. Not sure where he got that idea from!

Another day I grabbed the video camera and recorded Harrison jammin' to some rock n' roll. He likes to play them alone, but LOVES to play along with the radio.

Sitting up like a big boy

Andrew is now sitting up on his own which makes it so he can play with his new activity walker Santa brought him for Christmas. He loves to sit up. Even in his highchair he sits straight up so his back doesn't touch the seat back.

He just has to watch out for Harrison now. He loves to give Andrew great big hugs, but when he lets go it often causes Andrew to topple over. This does not make Andrew happy, of course! No one would like to topple over on our hard wood living room floor, even if there is an area rug!

"Mommy, I was playing! Make Harrison leave me alone!"

A day at Nana & Boppa

It is hard to visit Nana's and catch Boppa. He works 12 hour shifts and is either sleeping because he just worked night shift or is at work. Well, we made a trip to Nana's and Boppa was there! The boys were excited to see him. They enjoy wrestling around with him, being ticked by him, and snuggling with him in his big chair.

Just had to include this cute picture from our visit. Harrison with one of his many build-a-bears in a play carseat. Using his rubbie as a blanket. This bear is dressed as Batman in the picture.

The boys sure did miss their Daddy!

Ryan had to travel for work, more than usual, in the month of January. We all missed him a bunch, but Harrison spent some of the time he was gone visiting Grandma & Grandpa Barnett. The boys were so excited to see him when he got home. They played hard all evening until bedtime.

They miss him during the day when he is gone for work too . . . and I know Ryan misses them as well. Harrison has been asking for Daddy all day today. It breaks Ryan's heart to hear that they miss him. They love him so! He loves to play with them every chance he gets when he is home.

Weird Winter

We have had a weird winter this year. It has only snowed a few times, only a couple of which stuck to the ground, and only one that warranted the use of the snow blower. Even still that snow melted a day or two later. We have had more rain this winter than snow. Cold rain . . . if it had been a few degrees colder we would have been buried in snow.

A couple days last week it even seemed like spring . . . in January! The thermometer read 54 degrees and the sun was shining bright. We put on our sweatshirts and enjoyed a day in our backyard. The following day we even packed a KFC picnic to the park. It was nice to get out of the house, get some fresh air & sunshine, and let Harrison run off some pent up energy!

Since Harrison is getting older, he has really missed playing outside this year. I have tried to come up with new, fun, indoor activities for us, but he would really like to go outside. If you asked him what he missed the most about outside he would say his bike. Luckily, those two warm days gave him a chance to ride it.

Look at the joy on my little boy's face!

We even got the bubbles out!

Harrison and his Story Reader

Harrison got a Story Reader from Ronda as a gift last Christmas and he liked it a lot, but we had to take it away from him for a while because the pages are spiral bound and he got to tearing them.

Well, we brought it back out and bought him a few more books to go with it and he is hooked! He loves to look at books, have us read to him, and now he can "read" along all by himself.

Bedtime Buddies

Andrew had his first bath in the tub with Harrison the other night (I will spare you the naked baby pictures and just tell you about it). They both had lots of fun, even though I had to hold onto Andrew the whole time because he is still a bit unstable and gets super slippery when wet.

After their bath we dried them off, put them in their jammies and let them watch a show on our bed before bedtime. Harrison's current show of choice is Curious George. He even knows how to turn on the TV in our room, power on the Wii, and use the Wii remote to start up Curious George.

Harrison lounged back on the pillows, as usual, but Andrew had sit straight up and take it all in. Look at those two cute, clean kids!

"I match Andrew!"

Harrison loves to match Andrew. The other day, when they were wearing their matching fleece pull-overs, Harrison decided that he needed to drink milk like Andrew. (Andrew's was formula, of course, while Harrison's was chocolate milk, but in his eyes they were both milk.)

I am enjoying Harrison's desire to match because I know one of these days he won't think it is cool anymore. For Valentine's day I bought them matching red shirts with guitars on them. Harrison is gonna be so excited!

The Joy of Teething

Our poor, little Andrew has been teething now for over 2 months and still no teeth. There are several swollen and ready to go, but so far none have popped through. Lately they have been bothering him quite a bit.

He has been fussy, drooling, chewing on everything, and they have even been waking him up at night. I have a feeling when they decided to make their appearance he will have a mouthful all at once.

This is not an Andrew smile. He is fussing as if to say "Mommy, make it stop, please!"

The best shot I could get of those stubborn teeth. If you could see the top, they look just as bad. I don't blame him for being upset. Tooth pain is the worst!

My little puppy dog, chewing away on his toys. This teether and the French horn toy in the first picture are his favorites to chew on, but he will take whatever you give him!