My smiley boy!

"Brushing" his teeth

Sean is growing up WAY too fast. We've even graduated to using real toothpaste (well, the training kind without fluoride). He even knows to "spit" the stuff out of your mouth. Here's a quick video of Sean showing off his brushing skills. Cracks me up EVERY time!!!

Meeting Grandma Becky

This weekend, Jamie's Mom came for a visit to meet the little man! Even though she was only here a couple of days, the boys were glad to see/meet her! Friday was her birthday, so Sean and Nathan took her to Houilhan's to celebrate... here are a few pictures of Grandma with her boys:

My first swim!

Here is Nathan getting ready for his first "swim" in Grandma and Grandpa's pool. He only lasted about five minutes, but it's a start! Sean on the other hand, wants to swim every day! Aunt Laine even has him jumping in off the side!!!!! Swim lessons will definitely be in order next year!

Nathan (and Sean) being cute!

YAWN! Apparently Mommy bores the baby!



Check out these cheeks! Gee, and people say Nathan looks more like Mommy than Daddy... hmmmmmm.....



Sean still loves holding/kissing "his" baby

Handsome boy!

I just love the way Nathan looks after a bath. His hair remains flat for about 20 minutes, but then it gets all fluffy! Here is is before the fluff sets in! :-)



Here he is working on that smile... almost!

What is that smell???

A couple of weeks ago, this mysterious smell was in my car. It came the day after a gallon of milk burst in my trunk, but fortunately, it did not get on any carpet - only the plastic. Jamie and I both got on our hands and knees and sniffed every square inch of the car in an effort to try to find the smell.

After taking it to get detailed, the smell was gone for about 24 hours, but alas, it returned. We took it back to the detail shop to have what I call a "stink bomb" done. They also did an air purifying treatment and blew 300 degree steam through my vents. That also helped... for about 24 hours. We checked for dead animals in the engine, under the car, etc. We found nothing.

Many tears and nasty words towards my car later, Jamie took action. Long story short, he found that my air conditioner condensation was leaking back into my car and the foam underneath the carpets in the front was completely soaked (there was also about a two foot puddle of water under my center console). This soaked foam was covered with mold and mildew... hence the funky, horrid smell.

My handy man of a husband pulled out EVERYTHING from the front of my car, fixed the problem and put it all back together (10 hours later). Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have him???? Here are some pictures of the car when he had it all apart. Man, he's the best!!

Long time no post!

It's been awhile since I've posted to the blog, so forgive the mass amount of cuteness you are about to see! The boys are doing GREAT! Sean's speech is continuing to improve daily (he has quite the vocab now!) and Nathan is growing like a weed!!! Hard to believe he'll be two months on Wednesday!!! Here's a quick recap of all we've been up to:

Sean
Last Monday we made the trip to St. Louis for Sean's check up with the endocrinologist. Once we got there, they told us that the doctor didn't work there on Monday's (she was at the hospital). This Mommy was about ready to go CRAZY on the lady (she of course was oh-so-pleasant), but she did call to see if they could see us there at the actual hospital. Thankfully they could, but it was another 30 minutes to get there. Sean was an absolute angel all day (thankfully)!

Once we got there, they did some measurements and checked his height and weight. He's grown 1.5 centimeters since his appointment in March, so that was good progress. A normal child his age grows about five centimeters in a year, so he would be on track at this rate. HOWEVER, what they said is that he's still not catching up. So we, along with the doctor, decided to wait until February of next year to do the testing. Rather than poke and prod at Sean now, we decided to wait one year since having his tonsils and adenoids removed to see what that does and then we'll go from there. Kind of disappointing to hear that we still have to "wait and see", but I'm getting better at it! They weighed him in at 23.1 pounds, so he's gained a little, but not a lot. Time will tell!

He is continuing to amaze us with his vocabulary every day! His phrasing and sentences are really coming along nicely. We have decided (along with the therapist) to hold off on speech for now and have him re-evaluated at the end of the summer to see where we are at. He is extremely animated and completely in love with his cousins, grandma and grandpa, Mickey Mouse, "Choo-choo trains" and Cars (the movie). I'll tell ya, he is one funny kiddo and we just love him to pieces!

Nathan
My baby. This Wednesday I return to work part time and then full time on the 13th. I thought I was ready for this, and although it is a little easier the second time around, I have found my self a little more emotional this week! What is it about babies that makes you able to just stare at them for hours and hours? He is such a snuggler and is starting to smile more and more every day! Melts Mommy's heart - that's for sure! He's a really good baby and is starting to become a really good sleeper (such a change from Sean!) Just hoping he's sleeping really well by the week of August 16th when Jamie heads to Colorado for one week! YIKES!

Well, that's enough for this post. Now for the pictures!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Jay!

This week, we had a lovely visit with Grandpa Jay and Mindy. Grandpa had a birthday on Monday and he brought US dinner! Something is wrong with that picture! :-) We so enjoyed their visit as they hadn't seen Nathan (or Sean) since we were at the hospital. Grandpa Jay mentioned he needed to get down to Champaign to see them since from looking at the pictures on the blog, he could tell Nathan was changing!

Here are some pictures of Grandpa Jay and Nathan "talking"!

Bye-bye pregnancy pillow

If you've never had a baby, let me give you a little bit of advice. Invest in a pregnancy pillow. I know, I know, you can use a "body pillow", but let me tell you - it's just NOT the same! This is the greatest invention - you don't have to shove three thousand pillows in every nook of your body to get comfortable! Okay, so there may not be much room left in bed for the hubby, but comfort has no price!!!

It was very hard to say goodbye to it - it's still SO nice to have even after being pregnant (it was great after a c-section too!) But before we said goodbye to the godsend, Jamie had a little fun with it!

Nathan's one month check

Today Nathan had his one month check up and I'm happy to report he is a healthy boy!!! The doctor did mention that she could still hear his heart murmur, but that she was not concerned. She will continue to monitor it over the next few months.

My chunky monkey weighed in at 10 pounds, 5 ounces (50th percentile) and measured 21 5/8 inches (61st percentile). That means since birth, he's gained almost three pounds and grown about and inch and a half!

Everyone says that every child is different, and I am finding that out more and more every day. To put it in perspective, here are Sean's stats at one month: 9 pounds, 1 ounce (35th percentile) and 20.625 inches (25th percentile). I'm telling you, Nathan is going to eat us out of house and home!!!

Other than some acid reflux (which is controllable, although he'll have it forever), he is a growing, healthy boy. PRAISE GOD!!!

My baby is ONE MONTH old!

Hard to believe that Nathan is already one month old today! It is getting easier each day, although he is a really good baby! Here are some pictures I took this morning so you can see how much he's already changed. We are so blessed to have him... how did we get so lucky to have two healthy (and darn cute) boys??? Enjoy!!!

Birth announcement

My sister is the best photographer. She has taken Sean's picture for our Christmas cards (and his birth announcement) for the past three years. There were SO many good ones from Nathan's birth announcement "photo shoot" that I had to share a few that didn't make the final cut, but were still SO cute!

Kyle is SEVEN!!!

Where do the years go? Saturday, my baby nephew turned SEVEN years old!!! Man how the time flies! Although he's not my kiddo, I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. Most of you know Kyle, but for those of you who don't know him well, you will never meet a more humble, kindhearted little boy. He makes his Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jamie SO very proud!!! And there is one two and a half year old that couldn't adore Ky-gul (his way of saying Kyle) anymore!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!

Here are some pictures from our family celebration last night at Jupiters:

Nick and Sean "bowling"












Kyle opening presents:




Uncle Rick and Sean "wrestling":




All the partying wore Nathan out!