He finally did it!

Connor finally rolled over today and I SAW IT!!! He has rolled in his sleep 3 times since I've been in KY, but he hasn't done it for me to see yet. We were all sitting on the floor in the family room balancing the checkbook and HE ROLLED! It took me a minute to realize what he did, but once I did we all had a little party for him! I proceeded to video him for about 10 minutes trying to get him to do it again, but no luck. I'm on a mission now to get it on video...first I have to get more batteries for the camera. YAY FOR CONNOR!!!!

Uh oh..this means crawling is right around the corner...time to baby proof!

Sweet Kisses

Connor was seriously kissing his toy this morning so I ran to get the camera as fast as I could. Brandon was getting jealous, so he started smacking his rattle against the camera...I was laughing too hard to keep going. I love my boys.

Poor Brandon

Poor Brandon...that's all I have to say about this video

Our trip to Illinois

Well, we finally completed our last trip while in Kentucky. Ann, Noah, the boys and I headed to Illinois on Friday to see my Dad's side of the family. I'm so glad Ann and Noah were able to come with us because I think that trip would have been a little rough by myself. The boys did well and we made it home safely on Monday night at about 10pm. Picture this...Ann...5 months pregnant, Noah who is almost 4, the boys and I all standing in a mall parking lot in Indiana stranded because my car battery was dead. NOT FUN! SHOUT OUT to the mall security who came to our rescue and got us back on the road. At least I didn't take an hour and a half "detour" through Ohio to get home this time.

We arrived at my Aunt Pat and Uncle Lee's house on Friday about 4 or so. This is what the boys did...




This is my Grandpa feeding Connor...
and Grandma feeding Brandon
Here's my Aunt Joyce talking to the boys
Connor LOVES tummy time now....if I could just get him to roll over we'd all be mobile. He has rolled over 3 times in his sleep, but I haven't seen him do it yet.
I took this picture to show everyone how BIG Brandon has gotten. Look how long his legs are!
Even though my cousins are 17 and 21, Aunt Joyce hasn't lost her touch!
Uncle Danny took Noah to the back yard to do some fishing.
Here's one of Noah's "catches" If I remember correctly, he caught Blue Gill and Bass
SUPER TALL Danny lets Noah piggy his way back to the house
3 generations!
We stopped by grandma and grandpa's house on our way back on Monday
This is their backyard...and it look exactly the same for as long as I can remember. Swing, big trees, bird bath, and the railroad tracks. The next time we make it out to Illinois, I'm SURE the boys will love trains and will love to watch one pass. We used to count the cars...those were the days.
A happy Connor in Grandma's lap
A happy Brandon in Annie's lap with baby Hannan

Grandpa feeding Brandon one last time before we left.


Thank you so much to everyone for all of their hospitality and help with the boys. I had a really nice time and very relaxing weekend. I managed to get out of the house and few times and even to take a nice long run around a path by Lee and Pat's house. We can't wait to see you all again. I'll be back through Kentucky again in the Spring after the arrival of Baby Hannan and Baby Bender!

Dad and I are heading back to North Carolina this Saturday. We'll be in NC for a week and then we're heading to Maryland to see Aunt Bridget and Uncle Jason. The boys are going to be a specimen in the class Bri is teaching this semester!

Thanks Unka Karl

My Uncle Karl is very saavy when it comes to technological things. He took a few pictures and made this collage of me and my babies. I look a little possessed, but I love it nonetheless. Thanks Unka Karl!

Minnesota Trip

We finally made it home from our week long trip to Minnesota. Of those 7 days, 4 were spent in the car and the boys were CHAMPIONS. I'm glad to be home though. I didn't get any pictures of my cousin Kelli in her wedding dress because I was dealing with the boys, but I'll try to post some soon. I have her and Jason's blog linked to mine so feel free to check theirs out.



Here's the proud Great Grandpa with Connor. Yibby saw the boys in March, but Connor was still in the NICU, so it was nice for him to be able to hold him without being attached to all the monitors
Here he is again with Brandon. He was a little bitty 5 pounds back in March and he's almost 15 pounds now. BIG DIFFERENCE
My Aunt Jayne from Colorado...lovin' on my B-buddy and my cousin Brianna has C-man in the background
Here's my cousin Zach with Brandon. Zach is a freshman in high school this year and is well over 6 feet tall already. I remember going to Colorado right after he was born...damn I'm old.
My other Aunt from Colorado...Aunt JWAAAAAAN (aka Joann) One of these days, we're going to make it out to her farm when the boys will be able to play. Maybe another year or 2. Their farm is a little boy's dream. Chickens, dogs, cats and a majority of other farm like creatures. I'm pretty sure they have a go-cart track too...hand made of course.

Thanks to all of the hospitality of the Brainerd Folk...see you all at the next wedding. Who's turn is it now???

More videos

Ok, here are a few more videos JUST FOR ERIC!!!!

The first one is Brandon tickling Connor and Connor squealing.



The second one is of the boys laying on the floor in my parent's bedroom just talking away...Brandon ends the video with his newest trick...spitting.



And finally...I GOT THIS JUST FOR YOU ERIC!!! Brandon rolling from his back to his belly to his back. YAY BRANDON!

A few more pics from Indy

Here are just a few more pictures from our trip to Indy

Connor fell asleep SO hard and fast the other night while I sang them their bedtime story. This was a really cute book! The words could be sung to the tune of a children's song our mom used to sing to us when we were little. Brandon especially loves for me to sing to him or even just read him a book. He always relaxes when I read to him.
Here's a picture of Connor's first band aid. He flinched when I was clipping his nails and I snip his skin pretty badly. It took a couple seconds for him to cry after I did it, so I know it shocked him. Sorry Connor!

Once again, Connor passed out! This time, he passed out on Auntie Annie and Baby Hannan was kicking him.
Connor rolled over! I don't know when he did it, but I woke up this morning to Connor laying on his back and I know I put him down on his tummy. Brandon is snuggled up against him...HOW CUTE! Brothers love each other very much

Uh oh...rash!

Ann helped me with bath time on Thursday night. The boys normally love bath time. She laid Connor in the water and he started screaming like I've never heard him scream before. We lifted him up, and found this awful rash all the way up his back and partly on his bum. I still don't know what it was, but after a few nights of "lubing" him up with Aquaphor, it's starting to get better. I stayed away from baths the next night because warm water just makes it worse. The first picture is of Connor's back and the second picture is of Brandon's back. Brandon's wasn't as bad, but this morning, he woke up with what looks like a heat rash on his chest and cheeks. I know it's common to get a rash when they start teething, but the whatever they have on their backs is much more serious than just a teething rash. I called the nurse's line for my pediatrician's office and she said I already did everything they would suggest. I'm going to continue to keep and eye on it and keep them inside and out of the heat. I haven't taken them outside in almost a week because of the nasty heat. Poor little fellas!

Our trip to Indy

Well, the boys and I made it back to Florence safely after our weekend trip to Indy to see Ann, Gabe, Noah, and Baby Hannan. I had yet another blond moment, and took the wrong interstate home. I ended up in Dayton OH and added another hour onto my drive home...what a ditz I am! Thankfully, the boys slept the entire time home because I was not prepared to stop at all. A big THANK YOU to the Hannans for their hospitality. Noah is going to be an awesome big brother. He would give the boys their pacies if they were fussy...so sweet. Baby Hannan is due to arrive on Dec 4th...as long as he doesn't come early!


Noah wanted to "help" Ann carry Brandon to see Gabe. He wanted Mommy to carry his head and Noah to carry his feet.



Noah also helped to feed Brandon with Ann's help

Ann's mother and father-in-law made dinner for all of us on Thursday, so we tried to put Connor in a booster seat again. He is definitely getting stronger everyday. He can't quite sit up on his own, but he's getting there.

SO cute

I've been looking for a used Baby Bumbo seat for a few weeks now, and finally found one at the Once Upon a Child store in Indy where my sister Ann lives. Connor loves it! I really wanted one for the boys, but refused to pay 40 bucks for a pile of foam. Here's a really cute video of Connor in his bumbo seat while I was at Ann's house this past weekend. I have more pictures to post, but won't be able to get to it until maybe Monday. Enjoy!

Tuesday of our trip

Well, since Florence was having record "highs" in regards to the weather today, the boys and I had jammie day. It was even way too hot to take them for a walk tonight...not worth risking them getting exhausted.

Brandon has been rolling over for about a month now, but he's finally mastered rolling from his tummy to his back from the right and from the left. He's working on going from his back to his tummy...like you can see in the picture below. He laid like that for a while and actually fell asleep like that tonight in his bed. So cute. He was extremely fussy all day long...I think he's in the middle of a growth spurt or something.

There are a few luxuries of being at my parent's house. They include...someone to talk to at night and even in the mornings, someone to help out with the boys at night during bath time, no dog hair or any pet hair for that matter, someone to help clean up after the boys, and just being with my parents is very nice. Mom helped me with bath time tonight so we could bathe them at the same time for the first time. The picture below is just them in the tub.

This last picture shows the amount of waves Brandon was producing! He really had the water splashing all around...including on his face and Connor's face. We had to take them out because both of their faces were covered in water and their little eyes were getting red. They L-O-V-E their baths!

Trip to Kentucky

Dad, the boys and I made it to Kentucky safe and sound on Saturday at about 530. We left Fayetteville at 315 am, and only made 4 stops...3 to feed the boys and 1 last one to give them time out of their car seats. I thought it would take a lot longer than 14 hours, but the boys really surprised me. The last 2 hours were a little rough because one of them was fussing the whole time. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and unloading all of their crap from my car. Today, we took them to church for the first time since their baptism and they did really well. Mom and I ran a few errands to pick up some things for the boys while Dad was on 100% Grandpa duty! There was a little fussing going on from time to time, but they were both still tired from the long trip. We all took naps from about 230 to 5, fed the boys, I took them on a run, then we ate dinner. While we ate, we decided to put Connor in the high chair my mom has. This particular high chair was from when my grandfather, my mom's dad, was a baby. So it's been around for at least 80 something years. We had to stuff pillows on either side of Connor to help him sit up a little, but he really enjoyed it. The chair also collapses down into a rocker...it's really cool! We'll put Brandon in it one of these days, but he's not as strong with sitting up as Connor is.

We don't have too many plans for the rest of the week. We'll be heading to Indy to see Ann, Gabe, & Noah on Thursday during their afternoon nap, but other than that...we're just going to chill. I'm still exhausted from the drive yesterday and the two days that it took me to pack. I hope to get caught up on my sleep tomorrow. We might try to go meet Grandma Karen at the office for lunch.

SOOOOOOO Thankful

I was cleaning up all the pictures on the computer and putting them in their respective folders, when I came across all the pictures we took of the boys while they were in the NICU. It's hard to believe they were ever that small and even harder to believe how "sickly" they looked compared to how healthy and happy they look now. I just wanted to give one more big THANK YOU to all of the nurses and staff...I know they check the blog from time to time! The boys wouldn't be where they are today if it weren't for them. Also, and big thanks to all of our friends and family who were there for us for those very rough few months. That's what family is for. You know, you never think you'll say...I can't believe how big they are and how much I miss when they were littler...until you become a mom!

Brandon...to small to wear clothes...
at his worst...
now look at him!!!
Connor at his maddest and smallest...
now look at him!

Connor's new voice

Connor has learned how to screech at the top of his little lungs. It's ear popping, that's for sure. This isn't the best video, but I ran to get the camera to get as much as I could. Enjoy!

More videos

Nap time...is such a sweet time

The house sitting service came by today to meet me and the pups, and luckily, I was able to get the boys down for a nap right before they came over. I put the boys on their tummies normally, but they were fussy today. I put them down on their backs and let them fuss for a few minutes and they both passed out. 2 hours later, this is what they looked like. They are both crib hogs! As I type this, Connor is waking up, so I gotta go! I love my boys!

More brotherly love

Poor Connor is trying SO hard to roll over now, but can't quite get his baby booty to move! Maybe he'll be rolling over by the time we come back from KY! In the mean time, Brandon continues to show Connor up and roll over all the time.

The boys

The boys had their 6 month check up and all is good! Connor is 17 and a half pounds and in the 50th percentile and Brandon is in the 3rd percentile at 14 pounds. These percentiles are based on their actual age and not adjusted age. They got their shots and didn't even cry! Thanks to Audra for going with me to keep the insanity to a minimum.