Birthday Party!

On Monday (Labor Day) we went over to Greg & Megan's for Jillian's 6th birthday party!

Jack had spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's for the first time the night before so he had quite a busy two days!

Jayden slept for most of the party, but Jack had fun running around with all the kids, eating a yummy lunch, and trying to hit a pinata for the first time!

Here's Uncle Greg showing Jack what to do...

...he got the hang of it pretty fast!

Birthday girl Jillian taking a whack at it!

Jayden is 8 weeks old!

(Official 8 week picture from Monday morning)

Jayden is 8 weeks old today! (Ok, actually he is tomorrow morning - but I got a cute picture of him smiling and wearing a new outfit this morning, so that's what's posted here)

Jayden is getting very strong! He can hold his head up really well for a pretty long time when he's being held upright over my shoulder. He can turn his head from side and side while laying on his belly. He smiles and coos and waves his arms and legs when he's happy! And he doesn't really cry all that much. Jayden loves to be sung to and read to - his favorite books are Sandra Boynton (of course!). We try to read some every morning and every evening along with Jack.

Jayden has a pretty good daily routine down... he wakes between 6:30 -7am in the morning, has breakfast, read and plays, then has a snack and goes down for a nap between 8:15-8:45am. He usually sleeps about 2 hours. Then he has another snack, plays some more. Then he "helps" me put Jack down for a nap (by help, I mean he screams.....) Then we play for a little, he has lunch and goes down for another nap around 12:30-12:45. He usually sleeps for another 2 hours! Then he has another snack, plays some more, sometimes take a short snooze around 5pm. Then we all play, read books and watch movies until bedtimes. Jayden usually gets his PJs on around 7:45, has a snack and is in bed around 8:15pm. Overnight - he gets up twice, around midnight and again at 3:30 or so. We had a few nights were he went a 6 hour stretch, but that didn't seem to last :( But he's still doing really well!

And that's Jayden at 8 weeks!

New Ceiling Fans!

A week or two ago Jeff and I were talking about projects we wanted to do on the house in the near and distant future.

One thing we decided to tackle right away was new ceiling fans in the three bedrooms. The ones there were older and had bright gold brass.... not really the look we are going for in the house.

We bought new ones last week at Menards and on Sunday morning Jeff's dad came to help install them. Jack had a blast helping!!!

And they look fantastic!

Old Fans

Jack and daddy removing the first old fan

Jack and Grandpa installing the first new fan!

Jack helping carry parts of the old fans out to the garbage pile on the driveway.

New fan #1 in Jeff's computer room!

Jayden's New Diapers!

I've been waiting to get Jayden into cloth diapers because I didn't have plastic covers small enough for his little butt :) And it's hard to get all the way out to babies r us for more....

But a week or two ago as I was driving through town I noticed a Maternity/Birth Center place right here on Main Street and a sign on the window said they had cloth diaper supplies. I figured what they had would probably be more expensive and elaborate than the plastics I get at babies r us... but yesterday afternoon while out doing some errands I stopped in to check it out!

They had lots of stuff for cloth diapers - and it was all more expensive than what I had been using. But I decided to get one small cover to try out, and I got a "Snappi" which holds the diaper together instead of using pins!

When I got home and tried it all out on Jayden, it seems to work really well! The cover was a little pricey, but not too bad. I may get a few more over the coming weeks. And so far the "snappi" is great!

I won't be buying Jack any new, fancy diaper set-up though.... he'll have to make do with plastic and pins until he's potty trained (hopefully not too too much longer!!!)

Disposable diaper

Cloth diaper with "snappi" fastener!
(he's not crying from the diaper - he had just woken up and wanted to eat - not have his diaper messed around with!!!)

New diaper cover

("mommy, just feed me, please...")

All changed, and fed, and happy (with Marvin - the bug!)

Back to School!

Daddy went back to school this past Monday and the boys and I have been home... we've laughed, we've cried, we've had good times, and time-outs........

But we are adjusting. So far we have a pretty nice routine started - it gives Jack lots of time alone with mommy, which he needs. And luckily the boys' afternoon naps have overlapped for at least an hour every day - so I haven't completely lost my mind by Friday afternoon!!!

And the week started like summer and is ending like fall, quite a change in the weather!

Here are a few pics.

Jack and I spent one of Jayden's morning naps earlier this week making a big train track in the basement. Jack LOVES to play trains!!! (He just needs to learn how to put it all away when he's done....)

By Friday the weather had really cooled off. I think it was the coolest day since Jayden was born - I had to find him something long sleeved to wear. Usually he's in shorts, shortsleeve or tanktops!! And he looks so cute in his fall sleeper :)
And we've had some more trucks on our road this week, not as many as last week, but at least it was something. This morning we saw our garbage man, he's so friendly to Jack! And we saw a dump truck drive by and this big digger came by after lunch to fill in dirt next to the new sidewalk pieces! Jack loves seeing big trucks and diggers on his street :)

Now it's on to Labor Day weekend... and as of Tuesday I am officially on maternity leave from work until Thanksgiving !!!

Picnic at the Pond!

Yesterday we went down to Jeff's parents house for a picnic with B's. It was a beautiful day to be by the water!

Jayden and Mommy

Watching the swimmers

Grandpa & Grandma B with Jayden in the lodge.

Jayden enjoying the beautiful breeze!

Watching the boaters & swimmers with cameras ready!

Jack helping Grandpa Steve row the boat & giving Jillian a ride.

Grandma Michele's first tractor ride with Jack. (His second of the day - he just can't get enough of Grandpa Gene's tractor!)

Playing football - me, Jeff and Dad against Megan, Greg & Chase.... I'm not sure who won....

Jillian and Jack spent the time during the "football" game collecting pinecones from the yard - they ended up with quite a large collection!

End of summer fun around the house!

This past week was pretty quiet. Jeff was busy with school and the boys and I didn't really go anywhere.

Luckily we were having sidewalk repairs done on our street the past two days - so that kept Jack VERY entertained! And the weather was nice - not too hot, not too many bugs, and lots of sun :)

Here are a few pics from this week....

The boys playing on their blankies!

Jayden is getting so good at holding his head up!


Jack loves to help daddy with the cars!

It's hard to tell here - but this is Jack eating lunch inside the front door so that he can watch the diggers and cement trucks out on the street!

While playing outside yesterday afternoon I put Jayden in the grass for the first time - he seemed to really enjoy it laying there in the shade. We played for a quite a while like that and he never cried!

Jack playing with his diggers in the sandbox. (Too bad we can't have a sandbox in the house.... it would sure keep him occupied and well-behaved!)

Enjoying a beautiful summer afternoon in the backyard with my boys!

Last weekday trip to the pond of the summer

Today we went down to the pond - our last trip before school starts (we are going down this weekend - but that's more of a family picnic/get-together since B's will be there too!)

It was a nice day, not too hot or humid. Jack had fun in the water with daddy and Chase and Jillian. Jayden slept most of the day!

Jayden playing with Grandma.

Jack swimming with Chase.

Jayden sleeping........

Jack-o-lanterns (in August)!

Jack and daddy harvested some big pumpkins from the garden this weekend!

They are now in the cool, dark basement - where they will hopefully last until halloween.

Jayden is 6 weeks old!

Where did the time go!


Here are two pictures from this morning.


And one from last week of Jayden holding his head up. He is getting very strong. He can lift his head and turn it from side to side while on his belly, and when upright he can lift his head and push up with his feet!