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. :)

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. :)