Happy Birthday Brian!

Today is Brian's birthday, one more year til the big 3-0! Agh, we are getting old way to fast! Ok, maybe just Brian is. :) We are heading up to the Blue Beaver Lodge (Eric and Kate's place) to celebrate with his family this weekend and celebrating with mine next weekend so he gets a whole week of celebrating! Our nieces called this morning to tell me they were making his birthday cake...that's all they have been talking about. Can't wait to see it!

Thanks Brian for being such a WONDERFUL husband and father and we hope you have a wonderful birthday! Carter (aka Blu) and I love you so much!

Best Buds

This week we got to spend some time with Kathy and Jackson. And since Carter won't walk behind things yet and Jackson loves to we thought why not have Jackson push Carter around!? The boys loved it and it was so funny.

I think the boys stood and played by this toy for a good 20 minutes. It was so cute. They are starting to interact a little bit more (Jackson likes to crawl over Carter) and its pretty entertaining. :)

I forgot to mention that our baby boy turned 10 months this week...I can't believe how FAST time goes. I wish I could pause life sometimes. We went into the doctor on Monday b/c I thought he still had an ear infection but his ears were clear and he was just fussy b/c he is FINALLY getting teeth. One broke through although you can't quite see it you can definitely feel it.

And I know I forgot to post Carter's 9 month pics...it was kind of busy with Florida and everything. But if you want to check them out you can click HERE and click on View Album by Carter's pics and the password is Carter. Liam's are on there too...I am sure you can figure out the password. :)

Home Sweet Home

Well there ain't nothing sweet about it! Even though Florida wasn't super warm it was a lot warmer than being here! I think the babies were ready to get home though...they were pretty sick of the same toys.

Here is a pic of us at an Italian restaurant we tried out one night. It was awesome!

On the last afternoon we went for a walk to Stump Pass State Park. It was a littly chilly but a nice walk. Thankfully on the days that it was cold the sun was still out.

Carter did pretty well on the airplane rides yesterday. The one from Atlanta to GR he was pretty sick of it and just wanted to get off. It didn't help that we were in the back corner of the plane with a crabby old man next to us. All our other flights everyone loved the little boys.

From Tampa to Atlanta the plane wasn't full so we each had our own row...it was great. Carter LOVED to stand by the window and look out.

I did learn you can't be a germ freak on a airplane when your kid touches EVERYTHING. You just have to let it go. Jace even got to play with the barf bag. :)

Doesn't he look full of it in this picture? Yes, his hair was a little wild yesterday! :)

All in all it was a great trip...we kept busy or I should say the babies kept us busy and thanks to mom and dad Meeuwsen for letting us stay in their condo! Brian is already planning the trip for next year! And yes, the guys made it home safe and sound at about 5 am this morning.

Fun in the sun

Well we can say we have enjoyed some fun in the sun. The past two days have been beautiful. Here are some sunset pics from the other night. It was a little windy so don't mind my hair.

We have been having fun trying a different restaurant each night. Here is a pic from the Fishery Restaurant in Placida.

Yesterday Stac and I packed lunches for the beach and as we were enjoying our sandwiches at the beach a seagull came and stole Stacey's sandwich straight out of her hand...it was hilarious! It was like a cat fight hearing them all fight over it. Here are the dudes hanging out in Carter's Sun Stop'r tent yesterday. It's so funny to see them fight over toys at such a young age. Little stinkers!

Here are the boys ready for lunch! They love to hang out in their clip on chairs.

The boys have gone fishing every morning. It works out nice...they fish for two hours in the morning while we tend to the boys and we get two hours in the afternoon to ourselves in the sun...its a nice trade! Pete wanted to redeem himself from the last post. Here is a bigger one he caught. These fish were caught in the canal in front of the condo.

Pete's skills are wearing off on Brian. He caught this pretty sweet flounder fish.

This morning we hung out in the lawn at the condo for a while. The boys had fun playing outside.

Then it was lunch and off to the beach. Carter did what he does best and took a nap in his tent. For those who are wondering he does still have his ear infection as far as I know b/c he tugs at his ear but he eats and sleeps great so it doesn't seem to bug him too bad.

Brian and Pete went shark teeth hunting at the beach today and came back with quite a collection.

Another funny story...last night at dinner one of the waitresses was trying to get Carter to stick his tongue out and he was just staring at her and then he started bawling when only a little while later another waitress came up to him to talk to him and he did the same thing! He was fine until everyone started talking to him...we had quite the laughs!

The boys get plenty of attention everywhere we go! I think we have given several grandparents their grandkid fix for the week. :)

Tonight we went to Siesta Key for some shopping and dinner. We ate at the Daiquiri Dock...it was delicious! We had good luck shopping too.

The next few days are supposed to be pretty cold but today it was supposed to rain and be cloudy and it was blue skies and sunny so we hope the forecast is wrong!

Hi from Florida!

Well I thought we better update on everyone on our Florida trip. The guys made it here on Tuesday afternoon and Stac and I and the boys flew in on Wed. night. The boys did very well on the flights despite our two hour delay in Atlanta. They were quite entertained by everyone and charmers as always. Here they are waiting for their first flight.

Carter and I waiting for take off on flight #2.

Jace doing what he does best. :)

Unfortunately the cold front that is happening at home is hitting Florida too. Thankfully we took the Wii and it is keeping us entertained. (And yes, Jen, this is a game where you are supposed to use your hands, not your feet). :)

This morning the guys went fishing. Check out that fish that Pete caught!

Stac and I and the boys went to go pick up the guys so we thought we better snap a family pic.

Thankfully the sun shone today and Stac and I were able to lay out in our tank tops. It was probably only about 60 but it was warm when you were in the sun. Looks like the next couple of days its supposed to get warmer. We hope so!

Tonight we went to eat at the White Elephant. It's nice b/c there are several places we can walk to for shopping and eating.

After we got back from dinner Pete and Stac ran some errands for us so Brian and I were on bath duty. Here is skinny minny Carter and Michelin baby Jace. Carter is about exactly 4 months older. Hard to tell though! :)

Here's the dudes checking themselves out after baths. Thanks for the towels Grandma Sue!

Oh here we go!

Can I just say I am so ready for a sunny vacation? Instead of taking my time packing yesterday the guys decided to leave last night instead of tonight so I was a little stressed but managed to get all the laundry done and packed and Pete and Brian were on the road around 8 pm. They should arrive at the condo this afternoon. They managed to beat most of the bad weather and just hit a little snow in Indiana. So I am sure they will have everything unpacked and put away for Stac and I. Ha,ha!

This morning I think I turned the whole house upside down trying to find Carter's birth certificate. You would think I would have put it in the fireproof safe. Well it wasn't there. Thankfully Stacey called and she helped me remember where I had put it! And she also helped me decide whether or not to take Carter into the doctor. He has been playing with his left ear and today his nose was nasty so I took him in and the Dr. was pretty certain he wouldn't have one b/c he has been fine otherwise but low and behold he has one! I am already nervous for flying with him tomorrow and now we have to fly with an ear infection! Argh!! Thankfully he has been pretty happy and its mild so I am praying we will be okay!

Alrighty, ta, ta for now and off to sunny Florida we go!

9 months in, 9 months out

Today we had Carter's 9 month appt. He weighed 19 lbs exactly which puts him in the 25% percentile for weight and he was 28.75 inches long so between the 50th and 75th percentile for height. He has been in the same percentiles since birth so he grows at a steady pace! :) He isn't crawling or pulling himself up on things so we need to work on that but how do you push such a content baby? The Dr. said it may be a blessing in disguise that he doesn't crawl for our trip next week...I was thinking the same thing. No teeth yet but they say the later the better! I hope they all come in at once! He still is such a happy baby--sleeps from 8-8 and takes two great naps. He loves other little kids and laughs at about every kid he sees. He was laughing so hard at our Christmas party this past weekend he had tears coming out...it was hilarious. He isn't scared to go to anyone which is so nice and smiles at anyone that walks by. He will eat anything you give him (that is if he gets to feed himself) and he 'talks' like crazy. He truly is our pride and joy and we couldn't have asked for a more healthy and perfect little guy. Now if only someone would say he's so good because of his wonderful parents! :)

Now we just need prayers that he is his happy self on the plane ride next week!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with our annual party at Tim and Jen's house. Amazing food, great friends and a good time! We played the traditional rounds of Catch Phrase. The girls had a rough time this year....we blame it on the wine. :) Then like most of the world we broke out the Wii and played Rock Band along with some other games. Unfortunately the only pics I took were of the babies! Stacey bought New Years shirts for the boys...so cute!

Here are the 3 best buds...Jace, Carter and Liam. Aren't they cute!? Jace was full of smiles, Carter was like, 'get these babies off me' and Liam was thinking, 'mom, now what?'

I can't wait til they grow up and we show them everything we have done to them as babies! :)