Over the river and through the woods....

While Nathan and I were traveling for work the past few weeks, Nathan's parents watched the boys. They had a great two weeks together, did lots of things around town and at home.  Ned enjoyed the company too, and from what we heard he was pretty worn out by the end of their visit.

No visit with Grandpa and Grandma is complete without a trip to Rural King. Caleb enjoyed walking around and seeing the baby bunnies and chicks.

He also got his second haircut...doesn't he look so handsome?

After a bath, it is time for popcorn and a movie :).

Don't mind Ben's surprised expression, he is just watching his big brother:).

Grandpa got lots of cuddle time and Ned was a good sport about sharing his lap.

This is Nathan's old rocker when he was a little boy. I love that Caleb and the other boys can enjoy it too.

Even though the temperatures were cold, there was plenty of outdoor play. 

Love from the neighbor girls

And birthday party fun!

Someone is ready for his first tricycle...

But for now he will settle for flying airplanes.

Going to church wore Caleb out.

We are so thankful that Nathan's parents were able to watch the boys while we were away. We really appreciate their love for our family and willingness to always help. We know it was a very special time for them to spend with the boys, and we are so grateful for their time together.

Little boys hold a special place in their grandparents heart. We love you, Caleb and Benjamin

A quiet home...

The boys are going to spend the next couple of weeks with Nathan's parents, while Nathan and I are traveling for work. We are sad to be away from them for this long, but at the same time very thankful for the time they will get to spend with their grandparents. My good friend Heidi drove with us to Ohio to meet Nathan's parents. She is great with the boys, and Caleb had fun playing with her during the trip.

When we arrived that evening, the boys warmed up to Grandpa and Grandma right away. We ate pizza, talked, and Caleb has fun exploring the hotel lobby. He partied hard till 10:30 last night, slept in both my and Heidi's bed, and he slept in until 8:30am. We spent a little time together and left mid-morning

I was sad to say goodbye knowing it would be a couple of weeks before we see the boys, but we know that they are in excellent hands and they have a fun couple of weeks planned!

Heidi and I had a good trip home. We enjoyed the rolling hills and beautiful farmland of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and lots of good conversation. We stopped in downtown Morgantown, WV for lunch. It was a gorgeous spring day, 50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The town was lively and many people were out and about. We had Thai food for lunch, took a trip to a local coffee shop, and hit the road again. I believe that girlfriends are a gift, and Heidi is a great one to me.

Aside from Twix meowing at me when I opened the door, our home was very quiet. No husband to hug and kiss hello, no little boy greeting me at the gate with a big smile as I walk up the stairs, no sweet baby smiling at me in the swing. It is lonely and feels odd to be here by myself, but I will take advantage of the quiet couple of days before I head out of town.

Thank you so much Heidi for taking the roadtrip with us, and to Grandpa and Grandma P. for watching the boys and for all that you do for our family! We love you all.

Blog hiatus for a couple of weeks...

Ben is 5 months old

Ben is 5 months old! It hardly seems like it has been another month already. This sweet boy's smile can light up a room. He is growing like a weed, is getting more interactive, and he is starting to show some signs of stubbornness at times.

Ben laughs a lot, especially at Caleb when he makes a funny face or blows on his belly, he loves to be tickled, likes playing with small toys, he can put his entire hand in his mouth, and he enjoys being on his belly. He has flipped from his belly to his back a few times, but he is mostly content just hanging out. He is a drooling monster, we wonder when he will get his first tooth.

Most recently, Ben started playing in the exercauser. He likes the new view of the world to watch his brother. He sits up supported pretty well and this past week he started bearing weight on his legs.

Ben is wearing 6-9 month clothes, and wears size 3 diapers. He usually sleeps about 7 hour stretches at night, nurses every 4 hours, and sometimes once a night. It has been nice to get almost a full night's sleep this past month!

And here is Caleb at 5 months old

We are incredibly thankful for our sweet Benjamin!

Mommy daycare and a no snow day:)

The boys and I are having a fun week while daddy is out of town. On Sunday we went to a big park near our house to play. Caleb had fun running through the field, going down slides, playing on the swings, and he zipped up the chain ladder from last week like and old pro.

Ben watched his brother play, and I always wonder what he is thinking when he looks at Caleb. "I can't wait to run around with you...I want to be just like you...stop poking my eyes and please get out of my face...I'm going to get you real soon, you better watch out!" Probably all of the above :). Ben found a new toy of his own this week and he loves it!

We have had mostly good nights so far, aside from one night when both boys played musical wake-ups. I'm not sure what the problem was, but it got better the next night. People say their kids get used to each other crying at night, ours haven't figured that out yet. 

Today I had off from work because of the big snowstorm that was headed our way. The weather channel was said we were going to get up to 15''. I was thinking, well this is going to be interesting because Nathan is out of town and we do not have covered parking, but we do have nice neighbors that I'm sure would have helped. Well, guess how much snow we got......maybe one inch, and it melted within a couple of hours!

It was great to have the day off to hang out with the boys, and we had fun indoors playing, reading, coloring, and doing art projects. We are trying to teach Caleb his colors, so I thought tearing construction paper and glueing them to paper would be fun. He had so more fun moving the paper from tupperware to tupperware that we skipped the glue all together. It kept him busy for a while. He also played outside with trucks on the deck. He does not mind the cold or rain, he is all boy and had fun stomping around in the little ice puddles.

I was glad someone thought we would get a lot of snow today, so I could spend the day at home with the boys.

 

Daddy daycare

The boys had a great week with Nathan while I was out of town.  Everyone slept well at night and thankfully stayed healthy.  I missed these 3 so much, and got to Skype with them most days. They played inside and outside a lot, and here are some pictures and videos from their week.

Caleb learned a new climbing skill at the park. The first video he is learning.

And in the second he is a master:).

 This boy is a climbing machine! He can now climb on shelves, tables, bar stools, pretty much on anything he puts his mind to, so we need to keep an extra good eye on him. This is one of his newest favorite climbing spots. We don't usually let him stay, but thought one picture wouldn't hurt, right?

He takes a fall here and there too. And sometimes takes a hit from Twix. But a sponge bob bandaid can make any boo boo better!

The boys had a nice welcome reception for me, and were all dressed up for my homecoming:) Nathan is the best! Ben looked like he got bigger in just one week, and Caleb seems to learn something new everyday. It was so good to see all 3 of their smiling faces when I got home. Daddy daycare was a big success, thank you Nathan for being an amazing husband and father!

Nathan is now out of town for work, so it will be mommy daycare this week. More travels ahead for us, more to come...Happy Sunday!

Pre Bachelor Pad

Here are some pictures of our week. I will be out of town next week, so it will be daddy daycare and and a bachelor pad around here!

Caleb likes to feed himself. He is getting very good with a fork, and he does an especially great job with the spoon. Yogurt is one of his favorites:).

Caleb loves being read to and pointing out pictures in books, and he is getting interested in letters. We were in the kitchen, and came out to this sight. He was acting like it was Nathan's kindle, and was trying to get the screen to change:).

This sweet guy is all love. He is very alert and awake a lot of the day. Best part is, he is sleeping through the night from about 8pm - 6ish! He wakes up sometimes, but easily goes back to bed most nights with a pacifier.

I will be missing the boys a lot this week, but I know they will have a great week and are in the perfect hands of their father.

Happy Friday!