Up North with Grandma and Grandpa

Will was a luck boy this week - he got to go up to Aunt Mara and Uncle Ken's cottage with Grandma and Grandpa! They left Tuesday after lunch (when I got home from work) and came back Wednesday around dinner time. 

Will took a quick nap on the way and was ready to go once they got there. He ran around the cottage to check everything out and then went down to the lake with Grandpa. To get to the lake, you have to walk down a path, find the stairs, and then take the boardwalk to the dock. After one time down he knew the way and was the guide for the rest of the trip. They tried to go to Bud's for dinner but a huge (50+) group of students from Interlochen beat them there so they ended up at Chili's. But they were able to go to Moomer's for dessert. Will really liked the name... he still giggles about it.

He slept well and woke up early enough to see the sunrise. He said to my mom, "Look at how beautiful the sky looks." After breakfast, they went down to the lake to explore a bit and saw two deer. Then they put on their swimsuits and life jackets to play in the water. Will was a little scared at first but then realized how fun it was and they couldn't get him out. They left for home a little after 3pm. Will fell asleep instantly and slept the whole way home... we had to wake him up in the driveway.

While Will was gone, Alex and I enjoyed some one on one time. We did a lot of playing, read a lot of books, and took a couple walks (when it wasn't too hot). We stopped at the playground for a bit to do some swinging.

Wading with Grandpa

Splashing at the Lake

Checking out Duck Lake

Boardwalk to the Lake

Oatmeal with Grandpa

It wouldn't be a trip to the cottage without a stop at Moomers!

Refilling the bird feeders

Sleepovers and Berry Picking

This weekend was full of lots of fun activities. On Friday night, we ordered in pizza and had a pizza party in the basement while watching the movie "Cars" with Will. Then, he and Phil had a campout in the basement. He got to try out the sleeping bag he got for his birthday. He thought it was pretty cool and fell asleep right away. Unfortunately, he did wake up around 1:30am with wet clothes and then decided to get in bed instead of going back downstairs to the sleeping bag.

On Saturday, we woke up and went to the Farmer's Market.  After Alex's 10am feeding, we drove out to Rockford to go berry picking.  Will did a great job.  He carried the bucket for us and was actually pretty into the whole process.  I was afraid he would either lose interest or only want to eat the berries but he was pretty excited to fill the bucket.  We took a break halfway through to have a picnic lunch in the back of the van (we love that car!) and then went back for more picking.  We ended up filling more than half of the bucket with blueberries and also picked a pint of black raspberries.  We stayed in Saturday night to grill.

On Sunday, we walked up to town and Will rode his bike on the ramp by the fountain.  He is usually a speed demon but for some reason was more cautious yesterday. After lunch, we took Will bowling.  He has been asking to go back for a while and it was pretty hot and muggy so it was a good indoor activity.  I don't know which he enjoyed more - the actual bowling or dancing in between balls.  Then Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kids while Phil and I went to see Andrew Bird perform at the botanical gardens with some friends.  It was a great night for an outdoor concert!

Berry Picking

Lunch Break - Utilizing the Tailgate Seat in the Van

Good Little Picker

Watching "Cars" in his Sleeping Bag

Sound Asleep

Nice Moves!

Our Little Peanut

We had Alex's 6 month check-up yesterday. The doctor said he is strong and healthy!  Note: I didn't say big and strong and healthy.  Alex is still a little peanut:

Weight: 15lbs 4 oz (10%)
Height: 26.5" (37%)
Head: 16.5" (3%)

The doctor was very pleased at his ability to sit up and push himself up with straight arms.  She said he should be cut back to 4 feedings/bottles per day and that he should have baby food at breakfast, lunch and dinner.  He can even start with some finger foods: puffs, Cheerios, and soft pasta.  Right now, it is really more for him to practice picking it up - he likely won't get the concept and actually eat finger foods for a while. 

Despite being so tiny, he is doing a lot of big boy things.  He can actually play at the playground now - he loves the swings and the teeter totter.  He started playing with some of Will's cars and trucks.  And you can see the wheels turning when you put an object just out of reach - yesterday he tried so hard to crawl towards a diet pepsi can (he clearly is one of us!).  He can get his knees under him and will push himself up and rock towards an object.  When he tries to crawl he ends up scooting backwards... I remember Will did the same things.  But he knows he can roll to get where he needs to go. 

Will loves playing with Alex.  He dances and does silly things to make him laugh.  He helped with feeding him yesterday.  And he will give Alex toys when they fall and will push the buttons on his musical toys when they stop.  But yesterday, he took away a little bumpy ball Alex was playing with.  I don't think he did it to be mean - he just didn't realize it would be an issue.  Well, Alex looked like his heart was broken.  He got the biggest frown/pout on his face and his eyes filled up with tears and he just cried and cried.  Will felt pretty bad and gave it back to him right away but it took a while for him to calm down.      

Swinging at the Playground

Free Slurpee Day!

Such a helpful big brother... he fed him all his bananas

Big Boy Toys (I like at the end how he puts his head down in defeat when it gets too far away from him)

Grann!

We had such a fun weekend because Grann came to visit! She got into town before dinner time on Friday. We drove up to town (too hot to walk) for dinner at Ramona's Table. 

On Saturday morning, we went on our weekly trip to the Farmers Market. Then we spent some time playing outside/working on the shed before it got too hot. Grann took Will to the mall to run around for a bit before lunch. Then she took him on a special dinner date - just the two of them. Will had such a good time. Then Grann stayed home with the boys so Phil and I could go out for a nice dinner. We went to Bistro Bella Vita and then walked around downtown for a while. The temperature finally started to cool off and it was a pleasant evening. 

On Sunday morning, we took advantage of the nice weather and walked up to Gaslight (Will rode his bike) to get some Starbucks. After some chocolate milk, Will was full of energy and rode his bike up and down the ramp at the fountain. Then we went to the football field and Will rode his bike up and down the ramp on the bleachers and ran around the football field. After Grann left, the boys played in the back yard while we moved everything into the new shed. It is so nice to have a clean garage!  We went to visit Oma for a while in the afternoon and spent a lot of time outside.

Grann and her boys

Playing on the football field

Throwing pennies in the fountain

Starbucks!

Alex cried and cried when we tried to take this away from him

Fun treat

Comparison

I thought it would be interesting to compare the photos of William and Alex that we took each month during their first year. As you can see, William was quite a bit bigger than his little brother! At Alex's four month check-up he weighed less than Will did at his 2 month appointment. 

I do think if you compare Will's 4 month photos with Alex's 6 month photos there is quite a bit of resemblance. They weigh about the same in that comparison.

Alex - 6 Months

William - 4 Months

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! We had a fun (but very hot) day. Our festivities started on the 3rd when William and I (Alex supervised) made a carrot cake for Phil's birthday. Will helped make the cake and then did all the decorating himself. He was very excited to show Daddy.

On the 4th, we woke up and did gifts with Phil. We were going to go for a quick walk into town before it got too hot, but it was too hot at 9am! So we stayed home and played a bit in the shade in the backyard. Then we packed a picnic lunch and walked up to the parade. We met up with some friends and their 2 kids (ages 4 and 6months). Will got quite a haul of candy... it helps to be close to the front of the parade route! Alex slept in his stroller (he was sitting on ice packs wrapped in towels) until the parade started. Then he sat in my lap and seemed to enjoy it - he didn't cry at the sirens so that was good. While the kids napped in the afternoon, we worked on putting together our new shed. We should be able to wrap up assembly this weekend. It will give us some much needed outdoor storage.

We grilled out for dinner (sweet Italian sausages from the Farmer's Market) and then we put Alex to bed. Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch Alex while we took Will up to the EGR fireworks. We walked up and found a spot in Colin's Park. We listened to the live music and threw rocks in the water while we waited. Several of the families that live on the lake launched their own fireworks before the real show started which helped pass the time. Will really enjoyed the fireworks and went right to bed when we got home. He was a bit groggy this morning but not too bad considering he had about 3 hours less sleep than usual.

Working on Daddy's Birthday Cake

The finished product

So excited for the parade!

Not quite as excited for the parade

Check out that bag of candy!

Ridiculous

Will was on a bit of a sugar high after the parade. We missed the first part of his dance but I was able to capture the very end.

6 Months Old!

Alex is 6 months old today! Here are some milestones from the past month:

- He took his first road trip to Cincinnati
- He is starting to sit up on his own
- He can roll front to back and back to front and now rolls across a room
- He is eating cereal, fruit (peaches and bananas so far) and veggies (peas, green beans, and carrots)
- He can ride in a "big boy" stroller without the carrier insert
- He went for his first ride on a swing
- He sat in a "big boy" high chair at a restaurant

Now, if we could only get him to sleep through the night...