Progress

 Marcus crossed the 5 month mark during hurricane Sandy.  While we were hunkered down at home waiting for the power to go off, Marcus started rolling from his back to his belly.  He has also been showing increased tolerance for sitting up.  Definitely not independent yet, and still mostly folded in half....but making progress.  While he may be making strides in his gross motor development, he is not with feeding.  I have been trying to get him to take a bottle so that I can go out without kids Friday night...so far he is less then impressed.

Party Hats

Did you know that if you get
enough party hats, you can create
a stegosaurus???  Apparently all
it takes is a little imagination
and really good elastic straps!
I love that I can't take any
credit for these creative ideas.

Fire Guys

Last week we took our first 'fieldtrip' to the fire station. We got a personal tour of all the trucks and one of the men put on all the equipment for the boys in the hopes that they would not be as scared if we ever needed them in our house.  The boys were super excited to go but they were very hesitant once we were there.  Zach kept asking if the alarm was going to go off and so he was unable to pay attention.  At the end of the tour, the 'fireguys' brought out some dress up firemen jackets and hats....then the boys decided it was a fun place after all.  

My Boys

4 months and.... normal!

Marcus is now 4 months old.  

He is able to roll from prone to supine, laugh and he smiles all of the time!   According to his recent doctor's visit, he is average for height, weight AND head circumference.  He's our first normal one. :)

Football

These are some recent pictures of my boys playing football in our yard.  Zach and Eli wear their football jerseys every Sunday afternoon, so don't be fooled that all these pictures happened on the same day.  Some are from two weekends ago with the Caslers and others are from last weekend when Uncle Dan and Aunt Jennifer came to visit.  There always seems to be a lot of huddling.

 

I like this picture because it becomes clear who is really having the fun.

This eye wound wasn't from football but a spill off his bike.
A classic Eli, because I didn't even know it had happened.

"No, I'll be 6!"

Throughout this past summer, whenever we mentioned that Eli was turning 3 in September, he would jump in and correct us that he was turning 6.  He has stuck with it most fiercely until just recently when he allowed that he would turn 3 then 5 THEN 6.

Well, last week he did, in fact, turn 3 (or 5 or 6 depending on who you ask).  I was even able to plan and execute a mostly-cool cake!!  (I think I finally struck a nice balance and hit a skill level that was 'just right'-which means I used props to make my cake look good.)   Steve was on call to pick up a back-up-cake if mine failed.  Amazingly it wasn't needed and Eli loved his train cake!

He had a fun birthday and enjoyed opening many train items, plus an excavator, small piano, tambourine and books.
Happy (shhhh) 3rd Birthday, Eli!

Let's take a moment and be amazed at my skills! :)