Stowe Vermont

My brother Matt and his family made a trip from Indiana to Stowe Vermont for a week of frigid vacation time. Personally if I am going on vacation it is tropical not below freezing. He drove up to spend about 36 hours visiting with them and it was really a great time. I didn't take too many pictures but should be able to post more when my SIL sends them to me.

Jonathan got some special time with Mamaw. She is always willing to play memory with the boys.

Cousin Jack loved the matchbox car tracks we brought with us. I think Matt was talking of getting him the set once they got home.

We got to meet my new nephew Gus. It is hard to tell that Jacob is 2 months younger. They are basically the same size.



Thanks Matt and Robin for letting us crash your vacation for a day.

Jacob is 6 Months Old!

It is hard to believe that Jacob is already 6 months old. Of course he is the size of the average 12 month old.
Weight 19lbs 14 oz 85%
Length 27in
He has slowed down but is still huge and I have started to put him into 12 month clothes. He has also moved out of the infant car seat and has a brand new regular car seat.

He is eating just ok. Most days he is lucky to get more then 1 solid meal in him. Of course, this isn't all my fault...he just won't eat. He has been sleeping much better. He will sleep from about 7:30 pm to 5am and then for 2 more hours after a nursing. I would love it if he would just go all the way through but he is wide awake and ready to eat. Hopefully soon.



Jacob is an extremely smiley baby. And obviously his brothers love him. It feels as though he has always been a part of our family.

First Solids

For the past couple of weeks we have been giving Jacob little bites of solid foods here and there. He loved the yams or squash we dabbed on his tongue. But this afternoon we actually got a bowl of rice prepared for him and feed him in his highchair. He loved it.

Of course, by the time I got around to writing this blog Jacob has decided he hates rice cereal. We have struggled with finding foods he will eat but are slowly introducing new things to him. Right now his favorites include: pears, yogurt, strawberries, sweet potato and of course, pizza crust.

Visit To Santa Cruz

To finish up our trip to California we took the boys to Santa Cruz. This place happens to be one of our favorite places on Earth. (the #1 place being enclosed in an interior room of a cruise ship sound asleep in the middle of the day)

And you can see why...

This beach is called Natural Bridges and it is the most amazing beach. My dad used to come and jump off the bridges when he was a teenager. We enjoyed every part of it.

We hung out with Adams great friend Mark just about all day. Eating at our favorite restaurants and even making a trip up to UCSC to visit my old co-workers. Made me miss them a lot more. The boys had a great time and Adam and I felt like we were in college together again. I think if we had the chance we would move back there in an instant.

While our California trip had its ups and down it was really the best trip we have had out there in...forever. It was really relaxing and comfortable at Janice's and we thank her profusely for all that she gave us. We are very happy to be back in our apartment but can't wait to go back "home".

Christmas 2010

Right before we flew out to California to visit with Adam's family for the holidays Jonathan had his final day at New England Montessori. We decided that the obscene about of money and driving that going to so this wonderful school required was not going to fit into the 5 person family lifestyle. We found another good school not even a half a mile away from our house that will be just fine but not quite as wonderful. Here is Jonathan saying goodbye to Miss Melissa and Miss Karissa.

On Dec 16th we and 7 suitcases were dropped of at Logan Airport to begin our trek to CA. We were very pleasantly surprised to not run into a single travel problem on the two flights across country. We made it home with all our luggage and luckily all of our kids.

Very soon after arriving the boys attached themselves to Grandma Jan-Jan and followed her everywhere whenever we were at her house.

Jonathan's favorite activity was to help with cooking.

She also took them outside to help out in her garden. Unfortunately, it rained nearly every day the first week that we were there. But it was way warmer then MA so it didn't bother the boys in the least.

Grandma had all sorts of activities planned, including gingerbread decorating.

He was so proud of his designs.

On Christmas eve, (well actually we had x-mas 2 days early since we traveled on x-mas eve) we had a rock and roll party with Janice and Darrin.

We got everything ready for Santa.

Christmas morning started out with stocking, which were stuffed to the gills.

Followed by under the tree. This really was such an amazing day for us. We opened presents, ate yummy food and played all day.

Jacob gave us another gift of sitting up for the first time unassisted. 5 months old and he is so big already.

On Dec 24th, we drove up to Galt to see Janice's sisters and mom and their families. We had a bit of a late start due to car trouble. In the end, Adam and I ended up renting the smallest little compact car (all that was left). With help from Uncle Darrin we were able to get up to Galt without being to stuffed.

Adams Grandmother got to meet both Jonathan and Jacob for the first time. The last time she saw Alex he was Jacob's age.

We got a rare photo of the whole family.

The following day we drove to Jackson where Adams Aunt Carole and her husband lives. They have a ranch so we got to see all sorts of amazing things. The boys ran around the goat barn chasing the babies around. Even grabbing a few of them. Alex got really good at it; Jonathan need a bit of assistance.

Uncle Dan then let the boys drive his scoop. They actually got to raise and lower the scoop. It was like Bob the Builder day and they loved it.

The house is actually built into the hill. It was very beautiful and of course, the boys loved running around on the roof.

After leaving Jackson we headed over to Angel's Camp where we stayed with Grandpa Allen and Carol at a condo resort. It rained most of the time but one day we were able to go up to sled. Jacob stayed in the car while we took turns take the bigger guys down the hill. I was able to get a great shot of him and Grandpa.

Uncle Darrin joined us and had a great time too. I must say that if it weren't for him this trip would have been even more difficult then it already was. He basically made it so we had 3 people helping to take care of and entertain the boys, rather then just 2.

On the rainy day we played a lot of Wii. I mean, ALL DAY. For someone who doesn't like video games it was interesting.

We returned to Sunnyvale to spend the rest of our vacation with Janice. More on that in the next post.

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we were completely blessed to have my parents and brothers visit for Thanksgiving. On Thursday, my parents drove 6 hours and my brothers drive 18 hours to get here. We woke up bright and early Friday to hang out and eat all day.

There were games.

Cuddles and Grandma lap naps.

Crafts...Thanks Uncle Mike.

Lazy chats.

Jacob got to meet his uncle DJ (Dwight Jacob: where we got the Jacob from)

There was talk of a walk but we just ended up at the clubhouse.

We played some pool and hung out by the fire.

Jonathan got lots of time with his fav: Uncle Andy.

Lots of Jacob cuddles.

This was the best Thanksgiving in a long time. I think the guys were here for only 36 hours but it was great. We really appreciate all the driving everyone did. Also, the willingness to sleep on blowup mattresses squeezed next to a wiggling boy. However, whoever taught Alex and Jonathan to hit all the buttons on the elevator and then run will be getting a nice little chat with monster mommy.