Our nephew is here!

Little Brian Alexander

Sleeping so soundly

Perfect mommy and baby moment

Jackie & Henry

JD & Benjamin - buddies for life

Our nephew, Brian Alexander, arrived on March 22nd. He is my brother and sister in law's first little bundle of joy, and he is absolutely breathtaking. He has a full head of dark hair and brown eyes. He was a whopping 8lb 14oz! Everyone is doing well, except for me since I won't see him for several months! They live in Virginia, and our plans to see each other in May have been foiled. We hope to see them at the end of the summer when we fly out there for a long weekend. It's horrible to have to wait that long, but I guess we have skype in the mean time. My plan is to be his favorite auntie. I vow to love him, spoil him, and love him some more.

We had JD & Jackie over for dinner this week, and you can see how much Ben adores JD. He & Jackie are getting married in June, and we can't wait for their wedding. I jokingly say that it will be the event of the year, but I'm actually serious. I love weddings!

Day at the pond.

Window markers!

Mmmm...berries!

Just for fun.

The b9ys are getting so big - in age anyway. One of the moms from music class invited me over to give me some of her sons clothes that he doesn't fit into. He is two days younger than Ben, but his hand me downs from last summer fit Ben now. I also have some new outfits for Henry. That's my kind of shopping!

Henry has now tried carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, apple, banana, avocado and yellow squash. I have pears, prunes and cauliflower waiting in the wings. Yeah buddy.

Off to a running start.

We finally got him to feed the goats. Then he kept asking for money all day.

After his first sampling of sweet potatoes.

Chad is not allowed to finger paint with Ben after today.

Watching the gorillas at the zoo.

With beautiful weather today, we took a nice trip to the zoo. Ben wore his Elmo backpack, and Henry slept comfortably in his stroller. Ben ran full speed the entire time, and crashed as soon as we got in the car. He was so wonderful today.

I started making Henry's food today. We started with sweet potatoes, peas, and blue berries. Peas seem to be his favorite and he keeps opening his mouth like a little birdie. We suspect he might be teething as well. Typically a very quiet and calm baby, he had a few crying moments today and Chad sees some redness on his gums. This comes the night after we finally moved him to his own room. Yes, at five months. It never seemed like a good time to move him, or rather I wasn't ready to let him go. We both did great though.

Finally, we played in the sandbox this afternoon. There is nothing quite like playing with wet sand. It made me long for the beach terribly. Ben could play out there for hours if we let him. What a great day. Now, if I could just get to that vacation laundry.

More of the Disney World magic

My husband (on the right).

Epcot (Germany)

Garden fairy.

Coolest attraction at Epcot - they grow their own produce. Those are giant pumpkins!

My idea, but didn't quite pan out.

Jungle cruise.

Daytime parade.

I wanted to post a few more pictures, because the other ones didn't quite do it justice. When can we go back?! I really loved The Land exhibit at Epcot. They grow a lot of produce for the restaurants there, and have their own irrigation systems to make giant fruit and vegetables. They even grow mass amounts of herbs, and potatoes hang from the ceilings. It's kind of funny that this and the Hall of Presidents were our favorite attractions. I remember when I just wanted roller coasters and rides that spun around way too fast. While we enjoyed a few of those, it was more fun to learn! Nerds.

A bit about the boys...Henry now completely rolls over from his back to belly. I put him to sleep last night and heard him cooing. I went in and he was playing on his belly. I purchased a food processor to start making him food this weekend. His appetite has increased and he seems to be ready for a hearty meal. I start with trusty sweet potatoes and peas. Ben loved those too. It's time to find my cooking with baby book. What fun! Ben will probably help make the ice cubes. I'm sure we will lose half the food on the floor.

Ben's personality is so amazing to me. Today in the car he said "I love you so much mama", followed by "Bump it, Henry!". He can carry on full conversations, and tell us everything he at for lunch. He is also in training pants and doing quite well on the potty, thanks to Jackie. He stays dry most of the day, we just need to work with him more at home. I wasn't quite ready for it, but I guess he is. It helps that two little girls are potty training with him at daycare. It helps him feel more like a big boy when he gets on the potty first.

Tomorrow, off to music class again. We have a few weeks left and then we are going to sign him back up for swimming lessons just in time for summer. He really enjoys his weekend activity, and it keeps up nice and busy too. We have been playing outside after work, and it's been so nice to play in the sand. Can't wait to have our backyard landscaped so it looks better back there. Then I think we will never leave our yard!

Disney is magical!

Another quick post, but I wanted to mention what a wonderful time we had in Disney World! It was sunny skies and 75 everyday. We went to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Although we missed the babies, we enjoyed a nice get-a-way together with good food and lots of palm trees. Chad's favorite attraction was the Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom - go figure :). I'm not sure I can pick just one favorite! We were able to fast pass the major attractions which saved us a ton of time in line. HGTV had a special event going on at Epcot where there were Disney characters all over the park made of flowers. They were huge too!

Thanks to Mamaw for watching the boys. Ben misses his mamaw already, but I think he is happy with all the presents we bought him. He even has a Mickey hat which will probably fit him when we take him in 3 years!

I have 200 more pictures of our trip, but it will take me a while to go through them. I hope these will do. I love Disney!

LOVE our new camera!

I'm far too exhausted tonight to write anything, but I just had to get these posted. We treated ourselves to a tax return gift of a new camera for the boys. It's very complicated to use, but so far I have the auto setting under control! This is going to be a great spring and summer for pictures.

I'll write more when we return from Disney next week, but everyone is doing much better as far as winter illness goes. Henry is over the RSV, Ben is stuffy but otherwise in good health, and Chad's sinus infection is on the way out. I guess now we gear up for allergy season! Best wishes for a great week!

Ok Sarah, you win. I'm blogging! We have been dealing with some under the weather babies lately. Henry has RSV, a respiratory infection in his lungs. I guess it's common for babes under 2 and I think Ben had it when he was about 4 months, although he was never diagnosed. We have been giving him a breathing treatment and antibiotics. Poor babe is having trouble sleeping, which leads to sleepy parents too. It's kinda sad when you are on a first name basis with the nurse.

Ben on the other hand, while healthy, is still suffering from nightmares. He wakes up screaming most nights. Wow, life sure is interesting right now! It's all good though - just the joy of parenting I suppose.

Chad & I are taking off to Disney World later this month and are very excited! Kiddos are not going, as the main reason is for a work trip with a few extra days thrown in for a vacation with my hubs. Chad said he isn't overly excited yet because he still thinks it's a place for kids only. Boy will he be surprised! I can't wait to take pictures with him and Disney characters. We purchased a new camera too. We needed/wanted a professional one for pictures of the kids. Now I just have to learn to use it.

Henry is wearing 6-9 month clothes. No joke. He is a huge baby and will probably be wearing the same size as Ben in a few months. Oh big news! He rolled over last week too. It was on the 24th of February. He did it at daycare first, but when I was home with him on Friday he did it again! Yay Henry.

In other news, my Brandi has found another job and will no longer be working with me in a couple of weeks. It's been 3 1/2 super duper years, and I'll miss seeing her face everyday. I guess this just means BBQ's and girls nights! Very sad for me, but VERY happy for her new opportunity. The next person I hire had better like to talk about what we ate last night, love looking at pictures of my babies, and have mad Excel skills :).