The Boys' New Playground

Connor loves to climb the rock wall and go "Wee!" down the slide and Preston loves to go down the slide too. I am really looking forward to watching the boys play together next summer when they are both walking and climbing and just being fun playmates.

Preston's Standing!

Preston has discovered the joy of crawling across the room, getting to a piece or furniture and pulling himself up on it. He now loves to be a "big boy" standing next to his brother. And I have a feeling he will be walking soon enough since he is already trying to. I am just now getting used to having two mobile kids around the house and remembering to close all the babygates and now Preston is trying to walk! I feel like I am always two steps behind him.

Here are some cute pictures I took of him standing in his crib. And as much as I know he loves to watch him mobile at night, it came down shortly after I took these pictures since it is now a safety hazard.

How Cute are They?

Here is Dave and Connor mowing the backyard together while Preston watches from his swing. Can this be any cuter??




Dave doing "Double Daddy Duty" with Preston and Connor.


Preston in his swing

9 Months with Preston Joseph

Preston went in for his nine month check up and is doing great! He is 21 lb 6 oz (64th percentile) and 29 in long (74th percentile). The doctor said he is really starting to lean out but is still very proportional. So that is great! He is crawling everywhere (and quickly!), loves to sit and play with his toys, he is standing next to anything he can pull himself up to, and now he is trying to master going up the stairs. He really is a mobile little man and is making our lives that much more interesting. He has hit all of his milestones and is doing great in the verbal and mental areas of development. I could not ask for a sweeter, happier, and just plain cuter little boy.

One note though, our little boy is still not sleeping through the night. We are nine months in and we are exhausted but we are working with the doctor to try and get him sleeping through the night. He is only getting up once a night and some nights (rarely) he will put himself back to sleep. But most nights he gets hysterical and eventually has to be calmed back down to sleep by Mom or Dad with a bottle. We are hoping he will sleep through the night consistently soon because Mom and Dad really need him to.

Traveling Home

On both plane rides this weekend the boys were great. I really could not have asked for better behaved children while flying the friendly skies. I honestly think taking Connor's carseat on the plane was one of the smartest decisions we made for this trip. He is so used to being in it for long car rides that he did not even care that he was in it for the plane ride. He loved just eating snacks and drinking juice while watching his DVD player or reading books. No screaming, no kicking, no fighting. It was heaven. And Preston.....well he was a little harder. Mom spent alot of time standing and walking in the aisle to keep him quiet but he was not a screaming or crying baby which made the other passengers happy. He also slept for a good portion of each flight too, so that was very helpful.

Here are some cute pictures I took of the boys during our travels home on Sunday. As you can see they are the cutest two little traveling boys.

Connor and Dad walking through the airport. Connor would not let go of his blanket so he carried it everywhere while we were in the airport.

Mom and Preston during Preston's nap on the ride home.

Connor being cute as always.

The one way to shut Connor up and keep him happy.....give him juice!

Preston and Anderson

My sister, Melissa, lives with her friends Michelle and Neil and their two sons. Their youngest son, Anderson, was born 6 days after Preston so it was really neat to introduce them when we took Melissa home on Sunday. The boys are so cute and we had a great time watching them "play" together for a few minutes. Here are some pictures Melissa took of the boys.

Saying Goodbye to Aunt Mel

Preston and Aunt Mel saying "Good-Bye and See you soon!"

Bedtime while on Vacation

Any parent knows that having a good bedtime routine is golden when dealing with small children. It does not matter what the routine is, as long as it works. For our children it is pretty nice to have a bedtime routine but not always needed at home. Which is nice when we are not able to get them into bed with the normal rountine. Our kids have been in their own rooms and in their own bed since they came home from the hospital. So when we travel and they have to be in a different bed in a different room with other people sharing that room, they are not good sleepers. And it gets even worse when they realize they are missing the action that is occuring in the other room!

Tonight the boys were especially not wanting to go to bed. They were wanting to be a part of the "party" happening in the living room. I put party in quotation marks because I do not consider four tired adults talking in the living room a party, but clearly Connor and Preston do. So after listening to the boys "talk/cry" for a while, we let them come out into the living room and join the group. Once they joined the group they were the center of attention and well.....the center of all the picture taking too!

Connor teaching Aunt Mel how to make Rocket Blastoff!


Preston showing off his great standing skills.

Dear Connor and Dad : You can only be so cool when you are sucking your thumb and holding on to your green blanket.

Pictures with "Papa's Vroom Vroom"

Since the boys loved their Papa's Vroom Vroom so much we let them sit on it for a while and well I had to take pictures of it!


One of the cutest pictures ever taken of Preston.

Preston and Connor loved playing with Grandpa's helmet.

Playing Golf with Dad and Grandpa Terry

Since the house we stayed in was connected to the putting green, Dave and my Dad took the boys there a few times to play with the golf balls. Connor loved playing there. He thought it was great to throw the balls into the hole and then get them back out using the little flags. He was in heaven. And Preston thought it was great to get to go and "walk" around with Daddy on the grass. All-in-all good wholesome family fun.


You have to be flexible to play golf with Connor



Connor really is too smart for his own good sometimes. But I do love how mechanically inclinded he is.

Preston showing off his standing skills.

Walking Around the Pond

To burn energy off of Connor and Preston, we took a long walk around the large pond located next to the clubhouse. As you can see from the pictures, the scenery was idealic and Connor had a great time playing with Dad and Aunt Mel.

The Family Photo

I just love how cute they look together

Melissa took this picture of me and Preston. I just love it.

Connor loved the water so much that it was hard to keep him out of it!

Connor is showing off his "big stick" that he found

Aunt Mel and Connor

My goodness he looks so grown up in this picture.

Andrea and Martin's Wedding

Dave and I took the kids to Texas this weekend so that we could attend my friend Andrea's wedding on Friday night. She married her college sweetheart, Martin, who is one of the greatest guys I know. I honestly could not be happier for them! The wedding was so beautiful and special and she really could not have done a better job planning it. And even though I some how managed to get NO pictures of her in her wedding dress, I can assure you she looked AMAZING in it. (I will update with pictures from the wedding when I am able to get some). Here are a couple of the pictures I was able to get though while at the wedding.

The gorgeous wedding ceremony site

After the wedding ceremony. Doesn't Dave look incredibly handsome in his suit?

My sister took this picture of us at the end of the night. Not too bad considering we were up WAY past our bedtime!

Also, a big note of "Thanks!". My sister and Dad came to see us this weekend so they could spend time with the boys. And they were nice enough to watch our boys while we were attended the wedding and the reception so Dave and I could actually have an adult night out and enjoy ourselves. It was fantastic. THANKS Grandpa Terry and Aunt Mel!!!

Connor and Grandpa Terry

Connor playing dressup while Mom and Dad were at the wedding.

Connor's Pre-School Portraits

Here are the adorable proofs from Connor's pre-school pictures. The pictures were taken on April 27, 2010 and if you can't tell....it was a windy day! But I still think they got some amazingly cute pictures of Connor.

This is the one we purchased. Yes, he has windblown hair in it but he is just too plain cute. Traci said that he insisted on having his hands in his pockets for the photos and I just think it makes it that much cuter.

Connor without windblown hair.

The entire Toddler Program. I can imagine it was alot like herding cats to get all of these little kids to sit and look at the camera all at the same time.

The M-W-F Toddler Class. (This was taken on the Reshoot Day)