Big Brother is a Big Helper!

Jack is lucky to have Andrew as a big brother! He's been getting hugs, kisses, and all sorts of attention from him! Andy loves pushing Jack in the swing. And although Jack may not look like he is enjoying himself in the picture below, Jack really likes swinging fast in his baby swing. Andy gives extra pushes to make him go even faster - and also makes sure there is music or nature sounds playing in the background. Andy was showing Jack all of the different types of construction vehicles and sharing them with him so that they could play with them together. We'll see what Andy thinks of it when Jack starts grabbing at toys, and see if he is so eager to share then :)

Jack's favorite place to sleep is in someone's lap...
Grandma Reinsel came up to visit for a couple of days! Andy really enjoyed all of the attention and so did Jack. We played a lot both inside and outside, took a fun trip to the mall, and just hung out! Here's Andy reading a book with Grandma.

Jack has been working on his tummy time exercises. His head is now fully lifted off of the ground for short periods of time.

Jack looks pretty tall when he's all stretched out. This 0-3 month onesie is almost too short for him already. And some other pics from today....

We're headed to Door County tomorrow for some time up in Egg Harbor. I'm looking forward to the trip, but really don't want to pack up the minivan. We've got to bring so much STUFF! I'll post some pictures of the trip at the end of next week. Hopefully it won't rain too much when we are there - the forecast isn't great....

These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

The weather has not been great during the past couple of days but we have found plenty to do to entertain us. Andy is adjusting to having Jack around - he is always sweet to him, but today I heard a couple of times "Mommy, put Jack in his crib, come play with me." But, I'm sure he'll get more and more used to having Jack at home as time goes on! And, soon enough Jack will be a great playmate for him. We've also heard some really cute phrases from Andy lately, like "Did you have a nice nap, Jack?", "Maybe he needs his pacifier" when Jack is crying, "You can't believe it!" when Andy does something funny, and "Too Dangerous" when he doesn't want to climb down the stairs by himself.

Here is Andy playing with his train set. He can put the track together for the most part, although he needs a little help with the hill section!
Here's one of Jack napping. I know I have posted a lot of pics of him sleeping, but he does do quite a bit of that throughout the day. This is one of him in his carseat, but today we brought out the baby swing and he also liked that.

Andy loves pushing his dump truck around. Here he is with it, using it as his "lawn mower."

Andy also loves reading the Richard Scarry "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go" book. He has fun looking for the tiny little Goldbug on each page, and also figuring out what each of the cars and trucks are called.

I think Andy has more fun under this play gym right now than Jack does. But he likes to lay down next to Jack and show him the pictures on the mat and the things hanging up.

Here is Jack looking at Andy...

Another sleepy carseat shot - this time he was hanging out on the deck with us.

Andy also loves playing with his Sand and Water table. Originally, the sand was on one side and the water was on the other - but they have combined into one big mess now thanks to Andy!

And here's Andy on the swing in the basement...

We have a blow-up mattress in the basement (for when we have overnight guests here)- but it's become our make-shift trampoline. Andy loves playing on it with Chris, because Chris throws him into the middle of it on top of all of the blankets! Andy's face is a little chocolate-y here. My friend Stacey came to visit quickly for lunch today to meet Jack and brought chocolate chip cookies. Yum - she knows how to make friends with Andy!

Monday at Home

Well, Chris headed off to work today and I had my first completely full day at home alone with 2 kids. It honestly went well, better than I had anticipated - not too much drama or chaos! In the morning we played inside for a couple of hours, ate breakfast, and watched an episode of Go, Diego, Go.

Jack lounged on his blanket and watched Andy playing around him.

Then we went to the "Dunebuggy" park - as Andy has named it. It is actually Riverside Park in Neenah, but it has this big bouncy car that Andy loves to ride. We were there for about an hour and also saw the boats out on the water and had a picnic. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera for that trip. I can only remember so much, and the stroller, diaper bag, snacks, cell phone, sunglasses, hat, blanket, and pacifier were higher up on the priority list!

But once we got home, we played outside some more. Andy tackled the big task of mowing the lawn - both the front and back.

Then he watered some of my flowers for me with his sprayer and bucket. What a big helper! It got up to around 75 today I think, so the water didn't feel too cold to him.

As Andy was doing his "work" in the backyard, Jack supervised out on the deck.

He did try a little bit of tummy time, but that big head gets pretty heavy, so it turned into nap time quickly.

Bailey was happy to have us home and to be outside with us. He doesn't mind too much when Andy sprays him with the water!

A Quiet Weekend at Home

Here are a couple of pictures of Jack from last week that I hadn't posted yet. He was taking a short snooze while I was putting away clothes in our room. In these two pictures he is about 2 weeks old.

We had a quiet weekend at home with just Andy, Jack, Chris and myself (and Bailey too of course). It was nice to be able to spend some time outside as a family, watch a couple of movies, and also get some stuff done around the house.

Here's a picture of Andy at one of our nearby parks, eating his snacks. I think he spent more time at this picnic table than he did playing on the equipment!

This picture is of Jack at 3 weeks old! He's holding his head a lot steadier now and opening his eyes more.

Chris went up to get Andy from his nap on Saturday, and Andy wasn't ready to get out of bed yet (Andy's naps are usually 2-3 hours, and we have to wake him up!). Chris layed down next to him and rested for a bit. So I brought Jack up a little while later and got a picture of all 3 of them...

Andy was having fun with Jack because Jack was touching Andy's nose and arms.

Speaking of long naps, Andy started his nap at 2:00 today, and we went upstairs to wake him at 5:00! It was like trying to wake up a teenager on Saturday morning!!! He just kept saying "more night, night" and nothing I tried to bribe him with would wake him up ( park, bubbles, Jack, supper). Finally, he reluctantly woke up when I said that Bailey was going to eat his burrito for dinner. I think all of the fresh summer air is tiring him out!

We walked to our closest park this evening and played there for awhile. Andy continues to like the bouncy equipment and stairs - no swings or big slides!

Jack did well in his first Baby Bjorn outing. He fell asleep within 5 minutes of walking, and was pretty content.

So, all in all, a quiet weekend! Nothing too exciting to post, but it was nice to spend some time at home. We got caught up on laundry, picked up pizza for dinner on Saturday (Andy biked with me to get it!), and Chris mowed the lawn. Hope everyone enjoyed the nice weather, if they had it!