the latest...

I haven't had a chance to blog much lately. We've been a house of sickies, again. In the past 4 days I've taken both boys to the doctor and am now giving both of them antibiotics. Andrew has had a cold/cough for about a month on and off and so the doctor did a sinus x-ray and said he thinks Andrew has a sinus infection or walking pneumonia. We are currently treating it as a sinus infection, and he is getting much better. Poor kid. He has his mommy's sinus troubles.

Jonathan has been congested for the past week and a half or so and yesterday started coughing and then choking and generally freaking out his parents. So, today we went to the doctor and did a chest x-ray on him. His one lung is a little cloudy and so he is being treated for pneumonia. The doctor said he wasn't sure if it was a viral infection or pneumonia, but because is so little, he's treating him. I like my doctor!

And did I mention that I also have a bad cold. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the number of noses I've wiped or how many times I've been coughed on...So, good times are to be had at the Ayotte house.

Obviously we haven't left the house much due to all the sickness, so we are a little stir crazy. But our friends the Glashagels from Minnesota came to visit us yesterday and I'll post some pictures from their visit later when I don't have assistance from Andrew who is sitting on my lap while I type. So if some of this doesn't make sense, you'll know it's because I typed an answer to some random question instead of answering out loud.

Let's see. What else happened last week. Andrew only napped a couple of days and on those days, he chose to strip naked and pee on the chair in his room. Thank goodness for carpet/upholstery cleaner! He also threw up the one day that he stripped. I asked why he was naked that day and he told me, "Oh, my shirt is reawwy sick." What? I asked foolishly. I looked at his shirt and he had puked a little. So, I asked him what made him sick and he said, "I put my finger in my mouth." At least he's honest, for now. So I had two messes to clean up in his room that day. Ahh, motherhood!

Then on Saturday, Andrew was helping Keith organize the garage and then we were going to make a family trip to get his hair cut. Safety in numbers was our theory. But alas, no hair cut. Andrew pinched his thumb in the car door and was WAY too traumatized for a haircut! He walked around all day with his thumb in the Fonzy pose saying, "Wook at my booboo." He was very brave conidering how much it must have hurt! He has an interesting red mark on his thumb that he says looks like a rainbow. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff!

Andrew has also become obsessed with the computer. I made the mistake of showing him he could play games on playhousedisney.com. Foolish me. Now he is obsessed with the "compu-er." Oh, and he loves to look at blogs, especially pictures of Sydney, Brenna, and Auntie Jill, and Aunt Sondra and Uncle Chad. Unfortunately, Sondra doesn't update very often (hint, hint) so he gets a little bored. :) In fact as I type, I'm being pestered with, "I want to wook at pictures now." over and over and over.

Well, I promised him we would dye Easter eggs after his nap and so I must go do that. Yes, I know Easter is past, but he doesn't and we never had a chance, so here we go...Wish us luck. I'll try to post pictures if it works.

Here's my little blogger hard at work...

Eye-Eye

Andrew loves all of Jonathan's baby stuff. We've had several fights trying to keep him out of the "machines" as I like to call them. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of Andrew playing with Jonathan in the bouncy seat. He would go up under the activity bar, nose-to-nose with Jonathan and say "eye-eye." So sweet to see the brotherly love at this stage, even if it scares Jonathan a little!

Happy Easter

Here are a couple pictures from Easter. I found matching shirts for the boys - thanks Aunt Sondra. She got the cute polo for Jonathan and I found a matching one for Andrew. I don't think they will always dress the same, but I couldn't resist this opportunity!

First Smiles

First real smile to grandma - this is the end of the smile. Too slow with the camera...

Jonathan has started smiling at us. It's so wonderful when they finally start to return your love with a simple smile. He gave his first smile to grandma at about 5 weeks and then became pretty serious and now at almost 7 weeks he's giving his smiles out a little more freely.

Riding the Range(r)

On Sunday afternoon, after a blessed nap, Andrew and Grandpa went outside. Andrew went in the shop and immediately hopped on the Ranger. Well, of course, Grandpa couldn't say no to that and we all got to take some rides around the farm. And yes, Andrew is driving. A little scary, but he seemed to get the idea of which way to turn the wheel to keep us from driving into trees.

The ZOO!

The Penguin Cove

Turtles and fish in a giant aquariam. Where do I get one for my house?

The amphibian house was a big hit! They could get nose to nose with all sorts of reptiles.

Andrew and Brenna and Jill's mom, Jan, checking out some amphibians.

Here's the gang: Jill and her girls, Sydney (2 1/2) and Brenna (13 months)
me and my boys, Andrew (2/12) and Jonathan (6 weeks)
Lisa and her kiddos, Isabella (3), Kate (18 months) and Mark (8 weeks)

And here we are 2 years and 4 kids ago enjoying a girls weekend in Kansas City. Sydney and Andrew were almost 3 months old and Isabella was 9 months. Ahh, how time has changed our life and our ability to have conversation!

Andrew and Jonathan and a big grizzly bear on the rock behind them.

Isabella, Sydney and Andrew wishing they could climb in with the giraffes.

Andrew and his Auntie Jill checking out the hippos. Andrew asks for her constantly since they were here. "Where my auntie Jill? I go find her."

Andrew and Sydney holding hands - a very rare moment, but oh so cute!

We put the 5 oldest kids on a big rock for a photo op
Andrew, Sydney, Kate, Isabella and Brenna

Brenna

Kate and Isabella

Andrew and Sydney sharing a moment. This picture almost made me cry when I first saw it!

This was how Jonathan spent most of his trip to zoo. Thank goodness!

Sydney and Jill

Somewhere along the way, I think when he tried to escape from his stroller, Andrew ripped his pants. It didn't seem to bother him even though there was a chilly wind all day.

My good friends Lisa and Jill came to town for Easter with their kiddos. We decided to take all of our children (7 - age 3 and under) to the zoo. The kids did great and we had so much fun. Andrew is still talking about all the animals he saw and will pretend to be snakes and frogs at any given moment.

baby angels

On the other hand, I've gotten many great comments about Jonathan. For example, I had a new Schwan's woman come to the house this week. (We love their ice cream and many other treats, and I especially love that they deliver to my front door!) Before I even opened the door, I could see she was smitten at the sight of Jonathan. I opened the door and she said, "God Bless You. He's given you an angel to borrow."

I thought she was very sweet, but later I got to thinking how right she was. Jonathan is a gift from God and I really need to remember that when he wakes me after a mere 3 hours of sleep or when he needs my immediate attention at the exact some moment Andrew does. I've found juggling two babies is a lot more work than I had foolishly anticipated. So, I needed the reminder that Andrew and Jonathan are gifts - angels given to me for a time to enjoy.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Weird comments

Yesterday I was in Hutchinson with my mom at Alco. We were in the checkout line and these women behind me were admiring Jonathan. This I am used to. He's pretty stinkin' cute if I say so myself. Then the one woman asked me if I was a foster mother. I was vainly hoping she said that because I didn't look like I had just had a baby. I assured her he was all mine. She clarified her comment by saying that she thought that because he was so dark skinned. WHAT?! So much for my vanity - kicked in the stomach. Anyway, I realize that Jonathan does look a little tan compared to Andrew and I. I told her that he was a little jaundice when he was first born and spent a lot of time in the sun. I like to pretend he has a little tan, but really I think that he just has Keith's skin tone instead of my albino coloring. So the lesson I learned is, don't be vain, and people say weird things to strangers.

Here's a picture of my "dark-skinned" baby.

Some new pictures and random thoughts

Here are couple of pictures of Jonathan at 4 weeks. I hate to admit, but we haven't taken as many pictures lately. I'm trying to get better...

OK, bear with me. I haven't been able to post in awhile and so therefore I have many random thoughts that come to me while I sit feeding Jonathan. If only I could post telepathically, I wouldn't get so far behind...So here goes:

Things I've learned I can do one handed since having Jonathan:

1. Fill sippy cups

2. Go to the bathroom

3. Wipe Andrew's nose, a hundred times a day

4. Make coffee

5. Eat - Jonathan seems to think he needs to eat everytime we eat.

6. Drive - Jonathan's not a huge fan of his car seat until he is asleep, therefore I drive with one arm behind me trying to find the pacifier and jam it in his mouth.

7. Check email - not so much on the sending, yet.

8. Write thank you notes

I'm sure there are other things, but right now my brain is too tired to remember the rest of my mental list. Stay tuned. I'm sure there will be updates to this list...

Andrew holding Jonathan

Here's a little video that Sondra took while she was here of Andrew holding Jonathan.

Tummy time and other fun pics

Andrew helped Jonathan with his tummy time exercises the other night. I think he enjoyed it more than Jonathan!

This is my new favorite picture of my boys!

Jonathan and his Great Grandma getting acquainted.

Cooking with mommy

Andrew loves to help me cook. Keith caught us making banana cake the other day. Andrew was helping stir and eating bacon, a pre-dinner snack and part of our Bacon Corn Chowder soup. We were a little afraid that we would find little bonus pieces of bacon in our cake, but we were lucky this time...

Sondra's visit

Here are a couple of pictures of our fun time with Sondra. Andrew loves his "AunSonra." Sadly, he now thinks she is permanetly on an airplane with "UncaChad." This is partly my fault. I tried to explain to him when we took her to the airport that she had to go to her home to Uncle Chad. In his two-year-old world, they live on a big airplane. He'll ask where Aunt Sondra is and then answer his own question, "She on a big aiwpwane wit UncaChad." Thanks for coming to visit us Sondra! Hope you get caught up on your sleep soon! We miss you! Move back. Oh wait, did I type that?! Come visit again soon!