Merry Christmas!

We put posts of the happenings on E's blog for Christmas day and did Christmas eve here on JT's. However, here are a few embarrassing pics of Jason to show him when he is 16 or to his future wife later on. You have to have the obligatory 1st Christmas outfit and many thanks to Aunt Jean for the long johns!

Christmas eve

Uncle Mikey hosted us for Christmas eve and we had an antipasto tray and many different types of fish for dinner. We had a nice time and were going to go to mass at 8 but JT got very ill and we went right home. He is off his food and getting a bit dehydrated so we are giving him pediatric electrolytes and wanted to get him home. Here are some pics from our dinner:





Snuggling by the fire:



Notice my happening reindeer bib.


Wrapped up in 2 pairs of jammies and ready for Santa:

Maw-maw and Paw-paw visit

Jason is getting so big...sitting up so long by himself now, eating cereal and fruit and veggies. Can we please please go back to sleeping through the night though? This teething thing is slaying us. That and being sick and not wanting to suck has kept him to around 3 ounces a feeding and wanting a feeding every 3 hours. Around the clock. UGH! But this weekend we had help and we spent some quality time totally bonding with the grandparents. We had a lovely visit and I managed to get the camera out and take some cute ones.







Sitting up with a "spotter"




Climbing up Aunt Susan in our pjs:




Resting after a long day:



This is one of my favorite shirts for JT. "I ate Santa's cookies". I mean really...he is over 20 pounds at 6.5 months. He ate more than that!!!

My first visit with Santa

We had the most incredibly perfect Saturday. We woke to Ethan's usual clamoring for us to come get him and then his "Good morning Christmas tree" as we brought him down. We then all climbed into our bed for some snuggling and tickling. Then, Jeff made us French toast and Ethan ate 3 pieces. Jason ate an entire bowl of oatmeal cereal and didn't end up wearing much. We then headed out to take the boys to see Santa.

We got out pretty early this morning (or as early as you can with 2 kids) and the line wasn't too bad. Ethan got to also ride the Carousel and was thrilled. We waited in line with Kevin, Kalani and Josh and the kids were all very patient. Ethan never blinked and kept asking if it was his turn. He also kept yelling "hi Santa" across the area as we waited. Jason and him both sat together on his lap and Ethan told Santa he wanted "presents" and especially a black tape measure like Grandpa's. He also asked for cereal for Jason since "that's all he eats".



We also went perusing through the Xmas decorations at Sears and the boys loved the dancing penguins and the Santa train. We had lunch at the mall and then headed home where we played on our new swings (it was 65 today!!), visited with Grandpa and Grandma and watched Daddy hang more Christmas lights. The house looks incredible and the kids just can't get enough of watching the tree, the lights, the skating pond, the train etc. Ethan has to turn everything on at least once a day and I have visions of dancing penguins, dogs singing jingle bells, and bears....lot of snowman and polar bears.

Tonight we all ate pizza and watched the Grinch and when I put the boys to bed, we read Twas the Night before Christmas for the 15th time so far this year. When we get to the reindeer part, Ethan always asks "What that name" and points to each one. Jason is just enthralled with every picture and talks and talks to the pages.

6 months going on a year

We had our 6 month appointment today and yet we are wearing 9 to 12 month sized clothes at a minimum. We are in the 95 percentile for size (oh ya...and head size too) and doing well developmentally. After being sick all week and unable to eat, our weight still was a very healthy 21.0 pounds. We have certainly seen the pediatrician a lot in the past few days...our very first illness. Ethan and Jason both had a viral infection in their throat and JT couldn't suck or swallow easily and was just miserable. He slept a lot and just wanted to be held. His nights were spent coughing or propped up on pillows with Jeff and I taking turns sleeping next to him and watching over. Ethan's turned into a sinus infection but the good part of that was a few days on antibiotics turned him right around. And he got a few extra days of vacation so was thrilled. After missing school for the Thanksgiving week, the transition back to work and school was hard on all of us.

We have had a momentary lack of rolling but have taken to standing and trying to actually take little steps and walk if you hold his hands. And with Jason's sheer size and grip, he can actually pull chairs to him. Not a lot of impetus to waste energy and roll or crawl! :-) We are sitting up more now on our own and using the tri-pod approach as opposed to the weeble impersonation. No teeth yet but they seem to be right beneath the surface. E had his first one just shy of 5 months but there couldn't be two children more different. E is so independent, JT is a big mush and very sensitive. E can play on his own and entertain himself a bit...Jason wants you to entertain him and you had better not leave his sight. E has been in the 10th - 50th percentile so far so even their size is totally different. My largest awakening was when I realized that E is only 8 pounds heavier than JT. Wow.

Thanksgiving in Seattle

After you read this one, you can send the medal of valor to Jeff. He was a trooper and let me plan our holiday. We decided to spend Thanksgiving out in the Seattle area. So we packed up 2 kids, 2 diaper bags, 2 carseats, strollers, suitcases, and our sanity and flew out for a week to go visit Aunt Jean and meet Uncle Russ for the first time. We rented a great corporate apartment in downtown Bellvue and Christopher met us out there as well so we could have a total family vacation. We managed to drag my parents and grandfather with us as well and without them, I am not sure how we would have carried everything. We will be going by tractor trailer next time.

It was great to be together with all the kids and Jean, Mom, and I cooked a traditional Becker feast with all the trimmings. Jean really went all out and we had such an awesome meal. We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans almondine, sauteed spinach, stuffed mushrooms, a cheese, fruit and nut tray, little piggies in blankets and 10 kinds of pie. Okay, maybe not 10 but it sure felt like it.

After cooking for 2 days and cleaning for one, we did a bit of shopping, caught a parade and basically just spent LOTS of time enjoying the kids and each other. Here are a few of my favorite pics for the week. Check out E's blog for all the happenings from his view point.

Morning at the apartment in Bellvue:





Kisses from Aunt Jean:



Bowling with the boyz in the hood:




Prepping the day before:




Napping on Aunt Jean's bed:


The boys "hanging" after nap time.


The big day - Thanksgiving at the Phillips residence:




Some of the sharp dressed men in my life:






What? This isn't turkey? I get plastic toys and bananas?



I just have the BEST time:



Here is our Thanksgiving bib and Aunt Jean. The day is done and JT is clean and jammiefied.

Halloween

I updated E's blog with tonight's happenings but wanted to also add some recent Jason photos here. Below is one with Jason in his costume and one with Aunt Marie kissing on him after he put on his jammies.

Maw Maw and Paw Paw come visit

Jason and Ethan adore Maw Maw and Paw Paw and we had been looking forward to visiting with them for some time. Aunt Susan came as well to complete our weekend and we all enjoyed a relaxing day outdoors with some holiday festivities mixed in. Ethan has been begging for cupcakes so I made some and we all indulged and we had a nice cookout. Jason spent the majority of time cuddling with either grandparent and eating it all up. He can't have icing and cupcakes but I think he loved that even more.









I am sure I have mentioned a time or two how totally and completely inept I am at anything to do with art, creativity etc. When they passed out that talent gene, I was busy getting double in the "horse crazy girl" line. So Halloween is rough from the perspective of carving anything that goes beyond a few triangles. Luckily, I have a talented husband and incredibly artistic in-laws. We had the best time with the boys picking the pictures for the pumpkins, cleaning them out, baking pumpkin seeds and watching the progression for these incredible creations (compliments of the Antley men with support by the incredibly organized Antley women). In case you missed it, that would be me and Susan. Here are the pics of our group activity. The group sorta wanes there at the end of the process but Daddy and Pawa Paw were troopers:







And the finished products showing how it truly was worth the wait:

Alphabet jammies, giggles and shots

Jason has two modes...laughing and playful or hungry. Some days all he does is eat and the whole introducing solids thing didn't go so well. My happy baby turned into a nightmare for a few days and then we stopped the cereal and he is back to himself. I am not sure if he is not ready or if the rice cereal didn't agree with him. Next week we may try some oatmeal or other single grain cereal. For now, I want some laughter again. Know what makes him laugh the most? Scaring him and saying boo. Ethan loves that too.



Here is a pic of the boys in their matching jammies. Ethan picked them out when we went shopping one day and insisted on getting Jason a pair too. He amazes me some days. No matter how much of a terrible two he is being, he insists on holding Jason's hand when driving in the car and reporting every time Jason burps, spits up etc. Ethan also feels he is personally responsible for handing Jason all his toys and promptly inserting the pacifier at every juncture (many times upside down). And through it all, Jason just stares at E with adoring eyes. I couldn't imagine either lives without each other and I hope they are as close as Jean and I are today....even across the miles I know we always have each other.



Jason also had his 4 month appt last week. 90% for head size and weight and 60% for height. Yep...a little porker. But developmentally, everything was good and we had the fastest nurse in the west for shots. It was all a blur but the band aids were on before JT even started crying. Tears lasted only a short second and we were off with Grandma for lunch. A little Tylenol at night and the worst was behind us. The doc was very happy with his progress.

And one and two

....and exersaucer time. Yep, 4 months old and we are moving on to new things. Sitting up some with help, grabbing toys and objects, standing up more and more when on our laps, and now some independent play. This kid has got to be almost 20 pounds so I would bet a new car seat is coming very soon. I can barely lift the infant carrier with him in it. He has baby rolls on top of rolls which came in handy this week with the family being sick.

Seems everyone had the flu or some variation and it was a really tough week for all of us. Ethan had it the worst but when he can't sleep, neither can the rest of us. And poor Jason was fussy and really off his food although didn't really catch some of the other symptoms thanks to whatever immune system he managed to get from me. I was sick for 2 days but mostly just totally overwhelmed and tired beyond belief. It is so heart wrenching when they are sick and you are so helpless to do anything. But this past weekend they were feeling better and we took the kids to Pullen Park in Raleigh. See Ethan's blog for some pics of the day.

The little one said...

Roll over! And we caught it on video. He usually just sorta falls over from tummy to back but now he has been really doing it on purpose and is working on throwing his legs over to go back the other way. He either turns his head or throws his leg but hasn't quite mastered doing both. Jason just loves to play on his mat and grab for toys. He also loves laughing at himself in the mirror and just giggles and makes funny faces. He is so cute how he frowns and gets all concerned over things one minute and then cracks up the next. He is still an incredibly happy baby and I am still incredibly lucky. Ethan dotes on him and just loves helping with anything that has to do with baby Jason and being a big brother. Plus, now that Jason is upstairs in his crib in his room next door to him, E really feels important.

I also think he is starting to teeth since the drool has been coming for the last 2 weeks and I can feel something just beneath the gum line. We shall see. E was 5 1/2 months beofre he got his first one. Mom says that whoever spots the first one has to buy the first pair of shoes. Where do they get this stuff??? :_)

So here are a few of my favorite pics from this month.....in our cool hat, prison stripe jammies and cap, and standing up. He took a lot longer than E to stand and push up but he talks so much more and his smiling and giggling came much sooner. Who can tell?

Growing right along

Some days I look over at JT and just can't believe how big he is. Where did all the time go? He can hold his head up 90 degrees now, can stand up on my lap with help, follows objects all around and laughs and smiles constantly. Where is the little boy that barely measured as long as Jeff's forearm?

I love the way he smells and the late night feeding when we are alone and I snuggle with him and try to imprint each second to memory. Soon he won't need us at night. He sleeps for 5-6 hours at a stretch now and is down to only one feeding between 10 pm and 7 am. Jeff reminds me of all the late night feedings every 2.5 hours but I still wish they would stay small just a little while longer.

Ethan is so incredible with Jason. He loves his little brother as much as he loves his big brother. He brings him his stuffed dog, kisses him constantly and rocks him in his chair. E even tries to put Jason's pacifier into JT's mouth. Mostly unsuccessfully but Jason is a good sport about it.