A Perfect Day with Two Perfect Boys!

We have been meaning to take a trip to the zoo for a while now, so once warmer weather arrived we decided to go! (I unfortunately had food poisoning the week before, so once I felt better we were all eager to get out of the house...maybe zoo food was not the best thing for my stomach though!)

We had a great time, and Grady and Landon were perfect angels! So, aside from a LOT of walking and having to nurse standing up in a bathroom stall because there was nowhere else to go (the zoo is not exactly accomodating for nursing mothers), it was a great day! (As you can see Brandon ended up with Grady on his shoulders for a large portion of the day!)

Signs of Spring!

Landon turned 4 months old on March 11 and now weighs 16 lbs, 1 oz and is 27 inches long! We knew he was really tall since lately he isn't fitting into his 6 month pajamas because they aren't long enough. (We found out that he is in the 96th percentile for height!)! He is smiling more and more everyday and laughing really hard, which is a lot of fun! He has really turned over a new leaf the last couple of weeks in terms of his disposition... He is a lot more content and happy. We spent the first three months carrying him around all the time because he never wanted to be put down! That, mixed with the fact that we battled a lot of sickness this winter, made us feel like we've been in a fog ever since Landon was born. But we are finally starting to come out of it, and it feels really good!! It has been in the 60's and 70's here for the past couple of weeks, which has been great! I don't think we've ever been so happy to see warm weather arrive!

Grady loves playing with Landon and loves when he laughs, so he will often play little games with him. Landon seems so intrigued by Grady...they really are a cute little pair. We know this won't last forever (and pretty soon they'll be trying to kill each other), so we're savoring every moment!

This is what happens to the poor second child.... :)

Here are a couple of vidoes of Grady doing some squirrel watching! :) (At the end of the first video he spots our cat, Dirkins (or Dirks as Grady calls her), outside....). At the end of the second video you will see what it's like living with little boys! (Yes, he randomly said "butt" just because he thought it was funny!)





Squirrel watching is hard work!

Grady Reading!

Lately Grady loves reading books back to us after we've read them to him. He's really good at comprehending and remembering what was read after just hearing it one time, which of course makes us so proud (especially the teacher in me)! Here is Grady reading the book "David."

The end of winter...hopefully!

We are long overdue for a blog update, so this one will have lots of pictures! Landon will be 4 months old on March 11 and has really started to smile A LOT in the last month or so (and even started laughing out loud recently)! He fluctuates between being really happy (and smiling non-stop) and being really unhappy (and curling his little lip under, which is actually quite cute)....there isn't much in between. He is VERY strong and always seems like he wants to jump out of his swing (or someone's lap) and run! He has started playing with little toys, which Grady thinks is a lot of fun! In fact, Grady often tells us that he thinks Landon needs a toy, and before we know it, he has piled up about about a hundred toys all around him. Grady continues to be a great big brother and loves helping out with Landon. (Oh- and it seems official that Landon has blue eyes! This is kind of funny since Brandon and I both have brown eyes. Brandon's dad (aka Gramps) has blue eyes, and my grandfather (aka Pa) had blue eyes as well, so it's neat to see them in Landon!

Here are some pictures of Grady and Landon together! This first picture is of Grady, Landon and Keaton (or "Keakon" as Grady calls her) playing the fish game (one of Grady's favorites). Anyone who knows our cat knows that she loves to be right in the middle of everything!

Grady and Charlie waiting for Brandon to come home....

We recently took a weekend trip to Boone to visit Granny and Gramps, as well as a trip to Pinehurst to visit Mimi, Popeye and Ma. It was great to visit with everyone, and we're so appreciative of getting so much help from our family! And of course the boys love it too! (This first picture below is actually from when Granny came to our house to help out!)

This is the view in Boone from Granny and Gramps' deck! Beautiful!

Brandon and Grady look like twins in this picture!

Here are some pictures from our time in Pinehurst! Grady was very excited to push Landon around in this little car... Of course it seems Grady got in it more than Landon did, but that's okay! :)

Landon seems a little unsure of Grady's driving skills....

We got to go to the park, which was a lot of fun!

Here is a picture of Grady and Popeye, both in Popeye shirts! (Grady made up the name Popeye for my dad, and he has no idea that there really is a Popeye!)

My mom gave Grady the perfect job helping with dinner! He was great at it!

Grady continues to say really funny things... When we were in Pinehurst last weekend, we left church on Sunday and got to the car. As we were putting Grady in his carseat, he very seriously said, "Woops! I forgot to pray in there!" It was quite funny! We told him that God would be happy for him to pray anytime, not just in church, so that was okay. :)