Hams...

Today we got professional pictures taken of us and the boys at Portrait Innovations. We knew keeping Roo entertained could be a challenge since he's 2 but we didn't anticipate him being such a ham for the camera. We did the family picture first to get things going and then some of the boys together and then we let them each ham it up on their own. Here are a few of the pics from the photo session....as you can see, Roo had a blast! They had to touch up the photo of the two of them, once I get it touched up I'll post that one as well.

Happy Holidays!

The boys have had fun celebrating Hanukah and Christmas this year. Roo got one big gift for both; a John Deere yard tractor just like his dada has. He loves it! He also got lots of great gifts from the rest of the family and had a blast playing with everyone on Christmas day. He's getting pretty good at saying Grandma and Grandpa and was even better at being cute to get what he wanted. If one was by the sweets he'd ask for a cookie and then when the next grandparent came by he'd do the same....he's a little ham!

Roo got the hang of driving the tractor pretty quick and enjoys picking up sticks in the yard.

We finally captured one of Love Bug's big smiles on camera. He's growing like a weed! (sorry it's sideways)

Roo also really liked the 'cheese' he got. Get it...say cheese. Grammy and pop pop got him a kid tough camera he can bring in the water with him. We'll post some of his pictures on a future update, but as you can see from how he holds the camera, they're pretty entertaining! (sorry again for the sideways picture but you get the idea!)

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and getting to spend time with family and friends.

Growing, Growing, Growing....

The house has been exciting lately. The Roo's vocabulary is blossoming and we're beginning to have very entertaining conversations with him. Here's one of my recent favorites:

Mama: Roo
Roo: What
Mama: I love you
Roo: Alright

Isn't that sweet! 'What' has become a lot like how Roo uses 'no' and it's just funny to hear. He's a riot though. He loves holding 'the baby' and calling baby by his name:

Dada: Roo, what's the baby's name?
Roo: Baby Of course, why would his name be anything else! In addition to talking a lot more, he's also singing a lot. ABC's, Elmo's World among other tunes. This is a very exciting age and we're having a lot of fun watching the new things Roo says and does on a daily basis.

Love Bug is 5 weeks old now. It's amazing how much he has grown. After a very long night earlier this week, he rewarded mommy with his first big smile. He's now around 12 lbs, in fact, his height and weight are pretty much tracking with Roo's around the same age. We think Love Bug will be taller. Oh, and lets all cross our fingers he keeps his beautiful blue eyes!

Welcome!

Baxter and The Roo would like to welcome their new little brother to the world! Our new little guy arrived on 4 November 2008 at 757 am. He weighed 9lbs 1oz and was 21inches long. He is 2 weeks old today and is a very happy snuggly baby. Love Bug as we often call him is eating well, learning the difference between day and night, and getting along well with Baxter and The Roo. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. We'll also begin to think about what to rename the blog....but we'll wait until Love Bug has a lasting nickname. Enjoy!

Roo meeting his baby brother for the first time.

Love Bug taking a little nap.

Together on the floor for tummy time.
Love Bug taking a nap on his two week birthday.

Overdue

No, not me, not yet, but close. Here are some overdue pictures of our fall fun. A couple of weeks ago we went to Westomoreland Berry Farm to go pumpkin picking. Roo had fun and picked out a great big pumpkin. He really enjoyed riding on the wagon pulled by the tractor. And of course, he had fun in the playground.

We've also spent a little bit of time each weekend getting the house ready. The addition was completed on time which gave us plenty of time to get the rest of the house put together. Other than a little bit of touch up paint and figuring out a color for the playroom, we're done. The new space is wonderful and Roo has a great time playing in the playroom before bed each night. The baby's room is all put together as well. So, now all that's left to do is to have a baby. Stay tuned, that's the plan for this Tuesday!

Party Time

This weekend has been full of sugar filled fun. Roo didn't want to wear a Halloween costume this year...you know, he's two so if he doesn't want to so something he lets you know. So he helped Uncle Nate, Daddy and Mommy pass out candy to all the trick or treaters. This was fun for Roo because he was able to enjoy a few tootsie rolls. Since we decided to start daylight savings time a day early, we didn't mind him staying up a bit later Friday night. Needless to say, all the sugar made it hard for him to fall asleep.

Today we went to Connor's 4th birthday party at the bowling alley. Roo took an unusally long nap so we got to the party an hour late. That was actually a good thing since he didn't bowl. He did a great job sitting with all the big kids eating his dinner. But, what were mommy and daddy thinking letting him have punch. It didn't occur to us until he was running around like a maniac after the party that maybe we let him have too much sugar; and yes, that's Roo eating a piece of green candy on top of his punch! At least he didn't eat his cake!

So now, Roo is laying up in his bed singing and trying his hardest to beat the sugar and fall asleep. Poor little guy, it just didn't occur to us how much we really regulate his sugar intake. So a cup of punch, whoa, that's a ton of sugar running through his veins. Oh well, he did have a blast at the party and was such a good boy, and all the little girls loved him ;) We'll see in the morning how this impact the success of Operation Fall Back.

Roo's New Room

Friday night we moved Roo into his new bedroom. We made a really big deal of it and had him help us put up decorations and played in the room for a while before bed. He's been sleeping great and loves playing upstairs in his new room and playroom, so the addition seems to be a success. Here are a few pics of his new room.

You Can't Take My Doggie Away

As we've been getting the house together for our new arrival, we thought it would also be good to take Baxter to the vet and get him groomed. Yesterday morning, The Roo and I left to go to town to drop Baxter off at the vet; Daddy would use the time we're away to paint the nursery. Roo and I went in to drop Baxter off for the day. Roo, the dog lover himself, did not like the vet at all and didn't leave my side the entire time. When we left without Baxter, he burst into tears. Fast forward to much later in the afternoon. We all went back into town to pick Baxter up from the vet. Daddy stayed in the car with Roo while mommy got Baxter. Roo was very excited that Baxter was back......but we still had to take him to get groomed. We drove across town to our favorite grooming place, Barks n Bubbles and I dropped him off. As soon as I left the car with Baxter, I heard Roo break down into tears all over again. Poor little guy, was sobbing, "no, I want my doggie," "I love B."

Baxter's got a great grooming and is nice and clean now. And Roo is happy his doggie is back.

Almost Done....With The House That Is......

I promised to keep everyone updated during the addition but stuff has been going pretty smoothly so there wasn't too much to say. The tear down of the roof was a bit delayed because of the hurricanes expected 6 weeks ago, so they did most of the siding instead. Then, once the weather passed, off went the roof. And now, 6 weeks later, The Wall has come down and we're almost done with the last small details. We painted the family room a pretty seafoam green and it's really relaxing and looks so much better than it did before. We were worried we'd missed the old half valulted ceiling, but we don't at all. Roo's new room is painted a pretty blue that looks like the sky; we're just waiting for the final inspection before we move all his stuff in. The playroom will probably remain a work in progress, but the big dormer window is awesome. I'll post pictures soon of the new spaces.

As soon as we move Roo into his new room, we'll paint the baby's room and get all his stuff in there; don't worry, we got a no VOC paint and will of course let it air out before we would ever put the baby in. So, it mostly got done before we are scheduled to have the baby. But, the questions remain, when will this new little guy arrive and how much will he weigh? I'm putting my money on Tuesday (14 October) because it's a full moon (and I'm hopeful because I'm uncomfortable). And if that is the day, I say he'll be 8lbs 6oz. What's your vote?

A special thanks to Nathan for all his help this past week with the painting, electrical and trim and to Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Matt for their help today cleaning the house and help getting a lot odds and ends together and of course for keeping Baxter and The Roo entertained!

And of course, we can all have a good laugh 4 weeks from now when I'm still sitting here preggo ;)