Park Time!

It hasn't exactly warmed up yet, but the past couple days have been much more bearable.  Most of the snow melted and we have ventured out to the neighborhood playground twice already!  On this trip, we got Ike out to enjoy the park for the first time.






Our big boy now rides his scooter over to the park.

















Ike is either questioning the swing or my choice of an IU sweatshirt after their loss in the tournament. 

Turns out he loves the swing and still loves the Hoosiers...there's always next year.

Dave still insists on riding in the little swings.

Little daredevil.  

I even got to swing with Ike.










Isaac seemed to have a good time, and I'm sure he was happy to get out of the stroller for once! 

Entertaining a Toddler and a Baby

I think everyone who has had a toddler and a baby to keep occupied knows how difficult it can be.  Especially when you couple it with winter!  Thankfully Ike is a super easy-going baby, which makes things much more manageable.  Dave, on the other hand, requires quite a bit of interaction to keep him from getting antsy.

Here is how many of our days go...

Ike is content to be rolling around on the floor perfecting his "crawl".  Here's a video of him in action.









A little bit of music time with Dave.  Thank goodness Josh has musical talent or the kid would be lost!

I think he was on some kind of mystery with the flashlight.  Probably looking for Ike's pacifier that he hid yet again.

Time for puzzles.  We do lots and lots of puzzles.  

Playing with the masking tape road system that we created on the kitchen floor.  I highly recommend this activity.













Building houses for our masking tape village.

Ike's other favorite hangout. 









He has perfected jumping in it and makes all kinds of noise, which happens to entertain Dave.  Win-win.   And here's another video of Isaac in his exersaucer. 

Of course, we try to mix it up a little every day with a play date or just getting out of the house.  I can say for sure that this has felt like the longest winter on record for me!  Can't wait for the warm weather to get here, hoping the weather forecast is true and it gets a little warmer this weekend.

The Baby Boy is Growing Up!

I realized after looking through my pictures from the last week that most of the them were of Ike.  This is due in large part to Dave not sitting still for more than one second lately.  Thankfully Ike is especially patient for pictures!  However, I do not think this will last much longer-everyday he becomes more and more mobile.  As exciting as it is, I am really not looking forward to him being able to move around so soon!

Looking so cute in his cubbies shirt.












Up on all fours.  He does this rocking motion for about a minute and then falls down.

Dave loves trying to hold Ike.  A test of strength for him-Ike weighs about 20 pounds and Dave weighs 29.  

Dave's flute makes an excellent chew toy.

Getting frustrated that he can't move around as well as he'd like.

Love that smile!

A Week of DIY

This past week we have been working on some projects around the new house.  We wanted to paint (shhh, don't tell!) and do a little updating to make it more to our taste.

But first up was fixing our van door, which was refusing to open up more than half-way.  I took it to the dealership and they quoted me $280!! to fix it.  Junky.  So Josh looked it up online and figured out how to fix it at home.  And $11 later he did! 

No big deal, just saving us all kinds of money.

 Dave helping paint our kitchen.  He did a great job!

My mom came up to help with the kids, which is how the kitchen paint job got finished.

We still have a couple things left to do, but it's coming along nicely.  We operate at a much slower pace with the kids! 

Where is Spring?!

Just when I thought we may be done with the winter weather...here comes more snow!  Last week we got a pretty decent amount, maybe 5 or 6 inches.  As much as I disliked to see it, I did enjoy playing outside in it with Dave!  Here is what we've been up to this past week of being cooped up in the house.

View from our back door.  We have an awesome backyard now!

Josh and Dave playing a game where Dave runs around and Josh throws cards at him.

Digging in the snow.
















We made a snowman!

And what kid doesn't love fishing in the snow?


















Brothers hanging out.  Here's a video of Dave making Ike laugh.















 Ike makes an excellent pillow.






 






Happy baby!  










Check out Isaac's new skill...





 Starting to rock back on his knees! 

About to launch forward.  









Video of Ike starting the crawling process.  The movie also shows how Dave is constantly in Ike's face.

And here's what happens when Isaac is finally fed up with Dave...

he goes beastmode and gets Dave in a sweet wrestling move.

Ike is 5 Months Old!

 Big boy sitting up for his picture!









 I will say it again, can't believe how fast Ike is growing up!  It's so much fun, but so sad.  Every day he does something new and I am so pumped that he's interacting and developing a personality.  He's becoming more exciting for Dave to hang out with too, which is cool to watch.

As for new developments...the biggest ones are eating and sitting up on his own.  He can sit up for long periods of time, but still tends to fall over after a while. 





From his photoshoot-caught him mid-fall.

I usually stick him with the boppy for that reason.









 And for eating-he has tried three foods so far.  He had his first food while we were in Florida, where he just tried baby oatmeal.  He seemed to like it okay.





Contemplating this new way of eating.









Next, he tried avocado when we got home (Josh's grandma Mary picked some off of a tree for us to take home!). 





Hmm...















Suspense is over, he loved it!  Here's a video of him laughing about the avocado.














Finally, we tried carrots.  Another big hit.

 

Before we went to Florida, we had Ike's 4 month check up, but it was really more like 5 months since we were behind.  He measured in at a whopping 19 lbs (for comparison, Dave was at 14.5 at this age), and 26.5 inches.  Sturdy boy!  He's still rolling around, and can now spin himself around in place to see things in the opposite direction.  He especially likes to turn around to watch IU play some basketball-future Hoosier!


 



 Hanging out in Florida.

I think he's going to be a hat guy.

Florida Recap

 We are back in Indiana...not quite as sunny as Florida (or warm!), but we're glad to be home.  The trip went fantastic, especially considering we drove about 18 hours with a 3 year old and 5 month old!






 We ran into some fog in the Smokies on the way down.








 We got up on Sunday and went to church where Ike wooed all the ladies, then came back to hang out in Josh's grandparents' backyard.  Dave was pumped to try out his crab pool, which I bought on clearance at Goodwill last fall.  Best buy ever!

Crab pool time.

I think he was taking a shower in it.

Ike doing his favorite activity while enjoying the warm Florida breeze.







While we were down there, Ike tried oatmeal for the first time (his first food ever!). 

Dave had to help in the feeding.

Grandma Mary and Isaac.

Had to fit in a trip to the grove!

Dave hanging out at the beach.

Popping bubbles in the backyard.

Catching some rays.

Ladderman Ike.

We went on lots of walks and Ike got to try out his cubbies hat.












On Thursday (our last day), Josh and Grandpa Dave took little Dave on a golf outing.  They ended up playing 18 holes!  Dave mostly putted and played in the sand, but had a blast.  They even cut down a club for Dave to play with (since he swings left handed for now).

 Working on his swing.  Here's a video of him golfing.

The boys with great-grandma and great-grandpa.

At the hotel on the way home.










Whew, what a trip!  Special thanks to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dave for putting up with us for a week!  We definitely know how to be loud and rambunctious.