Enjoying Spring!

We've stayed pretty busy in April and have just been enjoying the beautiful weather! Landon turned 5 months old on April 11 and continues to be a happy little guy! He laughs and smiles all the time, which is so much fun! We started him on rice cereal over Easter (since the doctor suggested we start him early since he's a big guy), but he just never seemed interested. In fact, he would laugh and smile with his mouth closed on purpose so we couldn't put food in. We even tried bananas, and then carrots, to see if it was just the cereal he didn't like, but he wasn't too interested in those either, so we ultimately decided to stop for a little while and try again soon. (We actually tried rice cereal again today, and he seems much more into it, so maybe he just needed a little more time!) Other than starting to eat solids, Landon is very active! He rolls everywhere and can even make it clear across the floor (by rolling, squirming, etc.). We're pretty sure crawling isn't far off... He also "talks" a lot now and grabs absolutely everything (which of course immediately goes right into his mouth).

Landon also loves his exersaucer now.... Actually, we think Grady enjoys it more than Landon! Everytime Landon is in it, Grady turns the music on and dances for Landon, which is quite funny. He really does provide a lot of entertainment for Landon!

Here are a few pictures from Landon's first experience with carrots! We didn't manage to get very much in his mouth, but somehow it was all over him. We learned with Grady that the best way to feed a baby is to strip him down to his diaper - carrots don't exactly come out of clothes easily! (He pretty much spent the entire time eating his bib, grabbing the spoon, kicking the bowl, arching his back to get out of the bumbo seat, etc....We started wondering if they make straight jackets for infants! he he...only kidding!)

Just for fun, I went and dug up a picture of Grady when he first started solids. This is a picture of Grady right around the same age as Landon when he had carrots for the first time!

Here is another picture of Grady when he was Landon's age (about 5 1/2 months).... I think they look a lot alike! :)

My cousin Michelle came over for a visit last week... She is graduating from UNC next weekend (Pharmacy School) and was in town for a night. Grady was of course super excited and loved spending time with her! She was nice enough to read several bedtime stories with him! :)

My roommates from college (UNC) - Jean, Deborah and Jerri - and I were able to get together one weekend in April, which was so much fun! It is rare that we are all together these days, so it was great to have some time to catch up and hang out in Chapel Hill. We actually graduated 10 years ago this May (aaahhh!)., and we realized our conversations had shifted a bit. We found ourselves talking about kids, cleaning and wrinkle cream (and I'm not kidding!)! he he...

The boys loved hanging out with them!

Easter!

We had a great Easter in Pinehurst, and Grady and Landon were able to spend lots of time with their grandparents, great grandmother, great uncles and aunts, aunts and uncles and cousins! Kelly, Louis and Hannah made the trip up from Florida, so we were also able to spend a lot of time with our little niece, which is always fun! Grady even got to go on an Easter egg hunt and meet the Easter Bunny!

Grady was excited to get back home and open up all his eggs!

Kevin took on the task of dying Easter eggs, which is always fun! It has now become a tradition with Uncle Kevin.

One tradition in our family is that we used to leave our Easter baskets out for the Easter Bunny the night before, and when we woke up in the morning they were hidden all over the house. It was always fun to go searching for our baskets! Now we get to watch Grady (and next year Landon and Hannah) do the same thing, which is really neat! He was happy to find one of his baskets hidden inside the dryer! :)

Hanging out with Aunt Carleen and Aunt Kelly!


Enjoying a chocolate ice cream cone with Popeye! (As you can see, Popeye is pretty brave to have Grady on his lap while he eats chocolate ice cream!)


While we were in Pinehurst, Landon and Hannah had rice cereal together for the first time! Normally, we would have waited until Landon was 6 months old, but our pediatrician suggested starting him a little early because he's such a big guy (and still isn't sleeping through the night). Grady of course wanted to help! Landon didn't seem to impressed with it, but Hannah did great!

Landon and Hannah loved playing together! They really do seem to have a special bond already! We would often times just put them down on a blanket together with toys, and they were perfectly content for a long time rolling on top of each other and laughing. :)