Begining of July...

Like I had mentioned in my last post, we lost our power last week.  A big storm - a derecho - hit our area Friday evening just before 11:00.  It woke both Mark & I up, but Jim & Ben slept through it all...And ended up loosing power that night.  (Brought back memories of my freshman year of college, when a derecho hit Syracuse Labor Day weekend...)  We never did get power back on until Tuesday afternoon around 3:00 - so it made for a couple long hot days.  And it was hot, up in the high 90's everday.  Not much fun with no AC, or no fans.  To help keep the boys cool, we spent the days just in diapers...played in the pool...naps were downstairs where it was much cooler...We were very happy to have the power back on!!!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures of Jim & Ben.  Just trying to get caught up.  I've been a slacker.  It's been a crazy couple of weeks.  The other week Jim came down with croup.  He had a 'sealy' type cough - and his breathing was very weezy.  No fun.  And then this past week we lost power for 4 days.  Again, no fun considering it was in the high 90's pretty much everyday.  But we made it through it, and are back to normal!

After Jim is done eating we tell him not to touch anything, and to put his hands up in the air, he's a goof!

Love Jim's face in this picture -

We put Ben in his bouncer for the first time - he loves it.  He doesn't seem to enjoy laying down as much...and always wants to be standing when we are holding him, so we figured we would try it out. 

Ben is one happy boy!!!

And so is Jim -

See what I mean about Ben loving the jumper -

Nanny, Papa, and Aunt Casey Visit!!

This past weekend Nanny, Papa, and Aunt Casey came down to visit us.  We had a great time with them!!!  They got in Friday evening, and we got to enjoy each other's company as well as some burgers and beer out on our patio.  Mark did such a great job with the patio - I love it!

The weather was perfect all weekend long - so everyone got to enjoy some time outside.  I know Jim had a great time running around out back with everyone!

After lunch we went to their hotel to take Jim swimming.  It took him awhile to get into the water (it was pretty chilly!) but once he got in, he had a blast!  (I'll have to try to remember to add some pictures from them swimming - they are on my other camera.)  He did get a little chilly, so we figured it was time to head back home.  The swimming did wear him out, I don't think we were in the car for 5 minutes and he was sound asleep!

That afternoon we bought a dozen of crabs and we all enjoyed eating those.  Again, another reason why the patio was awesome - there were no flies flying around the crabs.

Sunday was Father's Day - There was more playing out back.  We then went to brunch at a restaurant right on the parkway - and ate outside.  Had a very nice view of the Potomac!  And then we just spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company out on the patio. 

Monday morning we said good-bye to Nanny, Papa, and Aunt Casey.  We had a great weekend with them, and am so glad they came down to visit us!!!

Catching up...

We just had a wonderful weekend celebrating Father's Day and having Nanny, Papa, and Aunt Casey in town for the weekend!  But before I get to all those pictures, I figured I'd do an update from the past couple of weeks first. 

I love Jim's smile :)

Ben has been getting much better at rolling onto his side.  It won't be much longer, and he'll be rolling onto his tummy!

Jim loves stickers!  Especially his new truck sticker book!!!

Brother's having a little morning conversation over Jingle -

Not sure what it is about the Baby Einstein videos - but both Jim & now Ben seem to LOVE them.  Here is Ben just hanging out on his tummy.  I added the second picture of Ben on his tummy to show how he wiggles around.  He started off looking at my phone, and ended up turning himself around a bit.

Just 2 cute pictures of Ben -

Jim & Ben doing tummy time together -

And I'll leave you with one big smile :)

Stay tuned for our weekend pictures :)

3 Months!!!

Can you believe it?!  Ben is 3 months now!  What a great 3 months it has been!!!

What Ben is up to at 3 Months:

- He rolls from his belly to his back.

- When on his back, he's started to roll onto his side.  Next up will be rolling onto his belly.

- Is in size 2 diapers.  He must have had a big growth spurt, because the next package of diapers I buy will be size 3.  (He was only in size 2 for a month!)

- I put away all his 3 month clothes :(  Is now wearing 3-6 / 6 month clothes. 

- Is a great sleeper for us!  He goes down at 9:00, and wakes up anywhere between 5:30 and 7:00. 

- Still eating 6 times a day - about every 3 hours.

- Does great when we go places.  He loves being in the carrier, and always takes a nap in there!  I'm glad he likes that, it makes taking Jim out to fun activities easy.

- He is a very happy baby!  I get lots of smiles and giggles throughout the day.  He really only gets upset if he's hungry, or sleepy. 

- No doctor's appointment this month - but according to our scale at home he's about 14 pounds!

- Is quite the talker.  He loves talking to us...or talking to himself.  It's great!

- Has gotten better control of his hands.  He's still reaching and grabbing at things.  And he can even put his toys into his mouth!

- Has been drooling quite a bit!  Loves to chew on his fingers. 

And now for his 3 month pictures.

I'm not really sure why this picture is sideways.  And I cannot figure out how to rotate it...

Brotherly Love!!!

I put Jim & Ben in matching shirts today, and of course had to get some pictures.  And of course, I can't only take one picture.  I told Jim I wanted to take a picture of the two of them together, and asked where we should do it, and he decided the stairs would be a good spot.  Not really the best spot for Ben since he really isn't sitting by himself, but I did manage to get a couple of pictures there...

And then he thought it would be a good idea to get a picture on the rocking chair.  Again, not the best spot for Ben, but we made it work.  Ben looks huge in these pictures!!!

Finally, we decided to try one more spot - the couch!!!  We are getting closer at getting a picture of them both looking at the camera and smiling together!  Almost there...I love these two little guys!!!!

Ben Rolls Over!!!

Ben rolled over yesterday for the first time.  (Okay, he did do it a couple of times when he was a couple weeks old...) But I would consider yesterday his first time rolling over.  He was on his belly, and rolled to his back.  He did it three other times yesterday.  And then this morning when he was on his tummy, he rolled over again.  So I think it's safe to say we have a rolller!!! 

Memorial Day Brother's

Jim & Ben wore their red, white, and blue for Memorial Day yesterday.  Of course I had to take pictures of the two of them together -

It started off with them laying on the ground together...

It took some convincing, but I finally got Jim to sit down on the couch with Ben...

And then with even some more convincing, I got Jim to hold, er, drop Ben...(Jim's face is saying, it's more fun to hold him this way...)

And then finally, after even more convincing, Jim held Ben long enough for me to take a couple of pictures!!!

I love these two little guys!!!!!