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.