Fall = Mums

I love fall. The crisp cool air... the rustling leaves... the beautiful leaves changing colors.

We had some friends over for dinner and I couldn't resist these mums at the grocery store.

These beautiful ones are on my front porch. Last year I waited too long and didn't get the vibrant colors that I wanted. I learned my lesson.

I made my candy corn wreath with a friend earlier this month. Really cute, really tedious with all the candy and hot glue, but totally worth it.
Happy fall!

Two Little Penguins

There once were two little boys.

They put on black shirts and matching hats.

Then they were penguins.

Except the older one refused to cooperate and wear his hat.

But we bribed him. So we could get a few pictures.

"Graham, please just wear the hat so we can take some pictures" (followed by G just saying "cheese" as hard as he could...)

Momma and her penguins.

Penguin love.

Something obviously way cooler over there.

But not cool enough to get off the tractor.

See, we were in Kirkwood for their downtown trick or treating. The tractors were at the Farmer's Market. We then walked over to our friends' church Harvest Party.

There was a train for the kids (and parents) to ride.

While G and Matt were on the train....

Cue the series of adorable baby J.

It was a fun (and super chilly) evening. Because picky little G refused to wear his hat, and I forgot to bring his jacket...we called it a night early.

I'm hoping the penguins will join us as the trick or treaters come through our neighborhood Sunday afternoon. They're so cute.

Firetruck Birthday

Graham turned two! We celebrated our little guy along with his little buddy in a joint birthday party. Graham and Will are only 2 weeks apart and we share many friends. We hoped that the party wouldn't be complete mayhem....and it wasn't. Two year olds are so much fun! They all played really well together (and obviously not everyone was two...but they were all bigger than last year.)

The theme was firetrucks. Big hit. Firetrucks are awesome.

Taking pictures of toddlers is quite a challenge. They barely stay still long enough to take a breath. So trying to get Graham to look at the camera and smile was a long shot. So I asked him to show me his teeth. It worked. Bonus, he looks super funny.

Oh man, when did he get so big?

Birthday boy hug...

...turned wrestle.

G is a little confused as to which direction a fire hat goes.

We had put a hay bale into a wagon and hid some army men in there for the kids to find.

Throwing and rolling in the hay was way more entertaining.

We have some more pictures (like eating cake...) on another camera.

I guess I'll have to do another birthday post.

We had so much fun watching the little kiddies running around. Seeing them become friends and truly enjoy each other is so sweet!

Happy Birthday Graham and William!

Double Doctor Visit

Someone recently turned 2.

Someone else recently turned 2 months.

Isn't he adorable?

We did the big two year and two month visits back to back. Mistake. I'll just leave it at that. Next time they both need to go....we make two separate appointments. Having to undress both to weigh and such...then both do shots...then both get re-dressed (while screaming mind you, they just got a shot)....too hard to do by myself.

Anyway, I'll start with Graham. He is 24 lbs. 8 oz and 32.5 in. tall. That puts our big two year old in the 10th percentile. Now when I say big I'm most definitely aware that he is actually quite small. But what he may lack in size, he make up for with intensity. I had been prepping him for what the doctor's visit would be like. She'd be looking in his ears, nose, mouth and feel his belly. I was so incredibly proud of how he acted! The same Graham that usually freaks out when I go to the doctor or when anyone touches him or picks him up that he doesn't know...was a rockstar. He of course wanted me to hold his hand, but he did everything she asked without pushing her hands away and even laid down on the table for her to listen to his heart and feel his belly. Not one tear....until the shot. I rewarded him with cookies of course.

It is as if turning two opened a new world for him. He is talking all the time and using words we didn't even know he knew the meaning of. And he is making new two word pairings several times a day. He is still obsessed with sorting and setting things in rows. What I think is so funny is that even though it makes absolutely no sense to us, there is meaning to why he sets things up the way he does. He'll even tell me all about it. Today the horse was on top of the stable. And when I moved it (just to see his reaction), he said "no, no, no" and put it back. I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me what the horse (pronounced forsey) was doing up there. Mostly grunts and hand gestures of course. He loves to read, loves to build block houses for his playmobil people, loves to help me cook, and loves to say hi! to Jackson. We have been going to bible study every Tuesday for a month now and even though he tears up in the parking lot and says no, no, no all the way to the nursery door...oh, and screams hysterically when I leave, he is adjusting. He has taken to one of the workers and lets her hold him. And when I go back and check on him, he is of course with his favorite teacher, but he is participating and happy. Yay! We still don't do the nursery at church, mainly because the workers change every week... but also because he is quite good in the service. We bring his special bag of toys and a bunch of snacks and he just wallows around our seats (we have carpet where we sit). Maybe we'll just skip the nursery and start at Children's Church? We love the stage of fun and playing that he is in right now....he is such a ham!

Ok, now on to sweet little Jackson. We went in on the 11th, so he was technically only 7 weeks old...we'll just let that one go. He weighed in at 11 lb. 4 oz. and was 22.5 in. long. Little Jackson is in the 50th percentile! I was equally proud of how Jackson behaved during the visit. I mean, he didn't know what to expect...so of course he cried when she was shoving things in his ears and nose. One major difference between him and G was that G would nurse whenever I offered. It didn't matter if he had eaten 30 minutes before...if I offered, he'd eat. So I liked to nurse Graham when he was getting his shots to distract and comfort him. He rarely even cried because he was eating and the nurses were gentle. Jackson, not so much. It doesn't matter if it's been 3 hours since he last ate, if he isn't crying to eat when I offer, he screams in rejection. So I thought he'd nurse during his shot (since it had been hours since he'd last eaten), boy was I wrong. He was screaming in rejection, refusing to latch, I had a let-down, then there was the shot. Pure chaos. I tried again yesterday when I went back for another shot (we break them up, one at a time) just to see if it was a fluke. Nope, same screaming episode. So I won't be attempting that method of comforting next time. Poor little guy.

Jackson is quite the sweetheart. Unless he's hungry or not and I offer, he rarely really screams. He coos, smiles, has started that pre-laugh shriek, and loves to be held up so that he can look around. Oh, and loves him some bath time. He hates for me to suck out his nose, but who wouldn't. He loves for us to talk to him and rub his belly. He loooooves his swing. I'm not sure he'd ever sleep during the day without it - due to Graham's incredible volume. Seriously, he's so freaking loud all. the. time.

I love snuggling with him in the bed and watching him sleep. I love looking into those precious blue eyes. And I love love love hearing him call us with a loud coo from across the room. You know, the ones that so clearly take all their energy because it comes with a deep breath? Adorable.

We love you sweet Jackson!

Two Years

This is the day our lives changed forever. In a good way.

Our little Graham was born!

Peaceful sleeping....

We count ourselves so blessed to have this little guy in our lives. We do some serious laughing at his awesome personality. I mean...what this picture can't show you is the "crunching sound" that he's making imitating cookie monster. He is one funny guy.

Some new things going on in G's life as a two year old are: jumping (he jumps constantly), talking (he is trying new words seriously every day), phrases (he said "Bryan's truck" the other night, first time to string together two words), cuddling, going to sleep all by himself, staying asleep most nights, we're working on the nursery, loving his daddy-time and having one major opinion.

Some words I'd use to describe him these days are: silly, entertainer, cuddles, persistent, creative, sweet, protective, and opinionated.

Praise the Lord for another year with our little baby. These first two have truly flown by. Before I know it he's going to be begging me for a cell phone and telling me that I don't understand him. Oh my we have so much to look forward to!

Happy birthday little Graham, we love you so much!

Has is been 6 weeks already?

Is Jackson really 6 weeks old already? I'm shocked. It seems like only yesterday he was born.

We are enjoying this sweet little boy so much. Everyday I tear up a little at how precious he is and how much I love both my boys. And then someone cries and I'm pulled back to reality.

Seriously though, it's wonderful.

In these first 6 weeks.... Jackson has smiled, coo-ed, learned to lift his head (seems like we have another strong one), and smile some more. He has already grown out of the clothes that Graham wore for many months.

He is still nursing wonderfully and sleeping like a dream. I mean, he is still a newborn... but he sleeps so much better than Graham did even at 6 months. (I loved you all 37 times you woke up in the night Graham!)

We're still loving his big blue eyes.

(sorry for the poor picture quality. blanket choice fail)

Caught a little smile!

Some things that make Jackson unique to us:

He likes to be swaddled, but with his left arm out... and he's not quite as addicted to it as Graham. He makes tons of grunts and noises when he sleeps. He has an adorable raspy voice. He already loves his little lovey. And I recently figured out that he will calm down if I hum. I think it is because we went through a (long) phase of laying down with Graham and humming to help him fall asleep. I guess listening to me hum a couple of hours each day really grew soothing to him! He doesn't always do this, but if he's awake while in the car, sometimes we'll look back to see him just staring out the window. I know he can't see much, but G always screamed in the seat.... so seeing him just sitting there is precious to us.

We love you sweet little J!

I heard him say "cheese"

And I found him in the living room. With the camera around his neck, the lens cover off and a big smile on his face.

This is Graham's first picture.

Imagination

Someone gave Graham some blocks recently.

He loves for Matt to build him houses with the big blocks in his room....

I had no idea he was capable of doing this all on his own.

I know it doesn't look like much. But he had his little playmobil men "climbing" up the pieces and even had them "eating" at a table (two of them sitting on opposite sides of a block.)

It is truly astounding to literally watch his mind grow and learn something new practically every day. I am so thankful for the privilege of being part of this little guy's life.

Picking Apples

Fall is here, which means fall weather is here. So we are back to enjoying outdoor activities. Fall in St. Louis is just gorgeous. Blue skies, leaves changing... it's one of my favorite times of year.

So Matt ended up cutting his trip short a day due to weather. I can't lie. I wasn't too heartbroken. It meant that he had a full day off to spend with us. Yay! He usually works most Saturdays, so this was a treat.

We packed ourselves up and headed to go apple picking.

And we made it practically there before the meltdowns started.

The orchard that we went to also had lots of outdoor activities for kids. Graham was beyond thrilled that there were animals to look at and real tractors for him to climb on.

Someone was a little scared of the huge camel faces.

But he loved this little baby.

He would use the same voice as when he talks to Jackson.

And then run when one of the big ones came over...

Then he rode a pony.

We were shocked that he didn't freak out.

But he loved it!

As soon as the tractor dropped us off at the apple trees Graham went running.

He knew exactly what to do.

Thank you Sesame Street (one of his favorite episodes is about crunchy apples...)

Yes, Jackson and I were there. He slept the whole time.

Isn't that a beautiful view?

It was truly a fun trip. I didn't know until we got there that Matt had never been apple picking in his life. What a crime! He most definitely enjoyed the apple pie I made the next day...