Still working...

on the elusive picture of my two boys...

2 months old!!!

Justin is 2 months old today! We won't find out how big he is until his doctor's appointment next week. I couldn't decide among the 54 pictures I took - so I narrowed it down to my favorite four. What a great month it has been. Justin has "woke up." He now spends at least some chunks of the day awake. He smiles at us and just has begun laughing. During the last week he has gotten rid of his midnight feeding (Whoo Hoo!!!) and can do a 5-7 hour stretch of sleep at the beginning of the night. We love him more everyday - and are so glad he is a part of our family! Today, Seth was watching television. I had just finished feeding Justin and ran to the bathroom, leaving the boys alone on the couch. I hear Seth move next to Justin and say "Justin Martin you are so cute!" We are very lucky!!!

Downstairs Neighbor

If you are at all like me - you love seeing inside other peoples homes. Well here is your chance to see our downstairs neighbor's home. She is an interior decorator and her home was being professionally photographed. How neat!

First Magic Show

Since Jerald did not have off from work today - but Seth did not have school I was trying to find something fun for us to do. I took the boys to their first magic show. It was a really great show held at the Jewish Community Center. I was pretty nervous having both boys by myself at an event like this - but they were both great! I am constantly amazed by Seth's attention span. We had to wait 20 minutes before the show started. Seth happily ate snacks, talked about what was going to happen, and drew on his magnetic board toy. He then sat captivated for the hour long show. It was great! That night, we were telling Jerald all about the show. Seth kept reminding me about all these parts that I forgot. It is crazy how much he absorbs. He keeps telling me what a great time he had at the show!

Toy Story 2!!!

Almost a year ago, Seth watched his first movie at home, Toy Story. We finally decided to check the second one out during another snow storm. Seth loved it. We talked a lot about it later. He did have some trouble going to sleep that night because he thought his toys were going to come alive. How sad!

Justin didn't seem to interested...

but still cute!!!

We have had a lot of requests for a picture with just the two boys. I just wanted to show you all that we have been working on it...very hard! No success yet...

Just Silly!!!

Wednesdays with Nana

We now have this elaborate plan of carpools and switching boys... but in the end Nana gets to spend the morning with Justin (while Seth is in school I am alone!) and then Nana gets the afternoon with Seth. It has been working out great - and I am so thankful to get some alone time with the boys and some alone time with myself! Thanks Nana!!!

Teenager in training?

At Grandma & Pa's

While we were at Chris & Laura's wedding, Seth had a fantastic time with Grandma & Pa. Grandma had planned tons of activities - I don't even think they got to all of them. The one difficulty we had was sleeping. It was the first time Seth slept over not in the crib. It became a battle of wills - which resulted in Grandma sleeping in the same room as Seth every night. In the end Pa was declared the victor - and got Seth on a better sleeping schedule. The first night we were there - I was trying to put Seth to sleep and he asked to "snuggle." How could I refuse? I laid down next to him - and it was some of the sweetest time I have spent with Seth. He just stared into my eyes and whispered "Mommy, you know what? I love you!" So cute!

Grandma even got some time with Justin -not a lot because Seth thinks of Grandma as his own personal playmate!

Seth had a great time baking brownies - and eating the batter!

Thanks for everything Mom and Dad! We love you!!!

In the hotel

It was really nice for Jerald and I to be able to spend some alone time with Justin. He seems to be enjoying it too!

Chris & Laura's Wedding

We had a wonderful time celebrating Chris & Laura's wedding. Chris and Jerald were roommates in college. Jerald was honored to be one of Chris' groomsmen. The wedding was beautiful. Rehearsal dinner thursday night (the boys and I were at my parents - Jerald had the best night sleep!), ceremony and small reception friday night (we agreed that it was one of the top three meals we have ever had), and a bigger reception on saturday. Justin came with us and was an angel.

How cute are Jerald and Justin in matching red outfits!!!

We got to catch up with so many good friends, Maria, Sarah (sorry no picture of Judd)...

Dave...

Maria & Sitso

Justin had his first date with Sitso and Maria's newest daughter Angie, she is 9 days older. It was so great celebrating with Laura and Chris and getting to spend time with old friends.

Debbie!!!

We were in Westchester for a wedding, which is really close to where one of my oldest and best friends, Debbie, lives. She was nice enough to come and visit us at our hotel with her adorable son Dylan who is 7 months old. It was too short of a visit - but it was so great to see both of them and to catch up in person. And Debbie got to meet Justin. Seth was being well taken care of on Long Island with Grandma and Pa - and having a blast!

End of vacation...

Today we get back to the "real world." Jerald had off for the past week and a half. We had a blast hanging out as a family. We stayed around the house more often than not. But it was really fun. We got to figure out how to be this new four person family. We each got to spend alone time with our boys and maybe a little alone time together. We worked on our never-ending "to do" list - and had fun even doing that. We are all sad to see the end of Daddy's vacation, but all good things must come to an end. Today, I try to remember how to maneuver our two little boys on my own and Jerald tries to remember how to be at work without us. As Jerald was saying goodbye this morning Seth got all teary eyed. I told him it was ok to be sad and that he could say, "Daddy I am sad you are going back to work. I will miss you." And that is just what he said to Jerald as he left. Don't be too sad, a half an hour later, while watching Curious George, Seth said, "I was sad before, but now I am happy!"

More pinstripes...

Uncle Jono

Uncle Jono came over to play and to eat dinner tonight. Uncle Jono has fast become very popular with Seth. They have a blast playing together. It is so cute to watch!

Pinstripes?

No - not those pinstripes!!! Just generic baseball clothes.

Smile!

We finally caught Justin's smile on camera. His first awake smile was on 12/21 - smiling at his lovely Aunt Sara!

Happy New Year!!!

Because of our 10 inches of snow, our 6 week old baby, our 2 and 1/2 year old, and two parents who don't enjoy the "bar scene" we had a wonderful new years in the house. We spent the morning decorating hats and then decorating some of the house. After naps, we settled in for our big movie. We had popcorn and smoothies while we enjoyed "Ratatouille."

We then had a very nutritious dinner of chocolate fondue with all the fixings - YUMMY!!!

We picked some random time (I think it was around 7:15) to countdown to New Years. We all hugged and kissed and took some silly pictures with our silly hats on. Seth was asleep by 8:15 - Jerald and I enjoyed some wine and were asleep by 9:30. Don't make fun of us - if you were to be woken up every 1-3 hours through the night you wouldn't stay up until midnight either! All in all - it was a wonderful way to say goodbye to 2008. Happy New Year!!!