Family Visit

We had family come out from Texas back in March ... kind of when I stopped blogging ... hey I got busy and was taking tons of pictures and well ... I got bogged down, don't hate.

We hadn't had the whole family toether in almost 5 years (last time was at our wedding) so this was such a fun visit! No one had ever met John-Paul of course, but they had also never met Bennett either! Bennett took to his cousin's right away which was good because virtually the first thing we did when they got here was go and take family pictures at the mall! It was an "adventure" but the end result was FANTASTIC!

After pictures we had dinner at the mall and just played around in a few stores having a great time! 

Once home that night, there was a serious Nerf War! Perfect for family bonding!

After a full day at Disneyland (that our little part of the family did not participate in) Adam was able to get a couple days off work and we had a great time spending the day in San Diego!

No trip to downtown is complete without a trip to Sea Port Village and the UpStart Crow for a latte!

(Brother and sister love!) 

Next we headed to the World Famous San Diego Zoo and went straight for the bus tour where we used our "mobile command center" (aka Bob Duallie) as a mobile sandwich station ... it was actually totally rad and worked perfectly! 

John-Paul's first bus ride! 

After the bus we just spent the rest of the afternoon wondering aimlessly and having a great time laughing and enjoying each other ... as well as enjoying giant ice cream cones! 

Everything is always better with ice cream! :) 

We went to the always fabulous El Indio for dinner and Bennett fell sound asleep ... right on Adam's taco eating arm - Ha ha!

Once home for the evening, there had to be a Dr. Mario tournament ...
(a family tradition I really enjoy now that I have had some time/years to practice)

 ...  but there was also lots of baby playing, which was soon followed by, yet again...

 ... another Nerf War! (I think Uncle Adam was a bit of an instigator!)

The last day they were in town we took the fam to Richie's Diner for a late breakfast/ early lunch and continued to have a great time!

And just before they had to leave Bennett (and lets be honest ... everyone else too) was have a great time eating taffy! Always good to load up on sugar before a long trip! ha ha! 

So even though it took me about 3 months to get around to blogging about it - we really did have the best time and are soooooo soooooo glad we were able to spend an excellent 4 days together! Hopefully next time we will be able to make it out to Texas!
(and then probably Arkansas ... but I don't want to talk about that right now)

Epic Battle

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these pictures!
It makes my heart happy that my boys have such fun people to play with and make memories with!

And the little brother wins! 
I'm sure that made Brian a little extra happy as he grew up with older (and totally awesome) siblings too!

3, 4, 5 ....

and just like that, I suddenly have a 5 month old who's sitting and talking up a storm and just the happiest little thing that can be!

But first we re-cap month 3 and 4 that got skipped due to having a 3 or 4 month old!

3 Months: 

 This was the month that he started liking his toys and crying when he dropped one!

This was also the month that we figured out how to help him not cry from 6 pm to 11 pm every night! Mommy stopped eating eggs and he stopped crying! It was pretty much a miracle!

 He slept from 10 pm to 6am twice this month ... it didn't stick of course!

 He started rolling onto his side from his back to reach for toys

Not into tummy time at all ... can you see the stress in his face here? 

Month 4: 

 This boy's personality can alive this month! He's totally a people person! Always wants some one to talk to!

 Still haven't rolled over completely but the dr. said that's normal for big babies because they have a whole lot more weight to get moving!

 He's 20 pounds and 27 inches this month!

 Really enjoys sitting up on mommy's lap and is much, much happier when on his tummy!

 He started sucking his thumb this month - it's adorable! He wraps his fingers around his nose and goes to town sucking on his thumb!

5 Months:

 This month his personality has continued to blossom and he has actually become quite the ladies man! (He now has a number of little girls who love to kiss him and could care less about Bennett!)

 Mr. Big Stuff still hasn't rolled over - well he did once, but it was an accident and he scared himself to death and hasn't done it again in the last two weeks!

John-Paul is however, all about putting his toes in his mouth and sitting up and "inch-worming" his way around his bed and the floor. He is also wearing 9 and 12 month clothes (depending on clothing brands and if he has a cloth or paper diaper on).

Despite what you may think from these pictures, he is actually the happiest when naked, and makes no attempt to hide his laughter durring diaper changes and showers!

 Due to his extreme "girth" John-Paul is no longer in his infant bucket carseat. He officially moved up into Bennett's old carseat on the 5th of May when we got our "new-to-us" Honda Odyssey!

 This last week he starting making the "Da-da-da" sound! It's very cute and he's very proud of himself and of course Daddy is loving it!!

 Lastly, I'm pretty sure teething is in full swing ... as is brotherly bonding and mimicking!

We love you John-Paul, Mr. Squishy-Tushy! 

If you missed month 1 or month 2 be sure to check out the cuteness!