Daycare photos

Here are some pictures from the first day of daycare for the boys

Mommy getting us ready for our big day.  Thanks Mom.

We are ready to go with our backpacks and everything.  We are really grown up now.

 

My first day and woo hoo, I get to play with an activity bar.  AWESOME!

 

Check me out Mark.  I get an activity bar and am in a bouncy seat too.  EXCELLENT!

Daddy is watching us before he leaves.  I bet he wishes he could stay in here all day.

Home for the weekend - not by choice

We aren't sure what started it.  Whether it was part of the rotavirus vaccine that the boys received on Friday, some sort of stomach bug the boys got at the doctor while they were getting their six month checkup, or something else, but starting Saturday night through Tuesday night, our entire family, and in addition Granna and Grandpa, have been through the ringer with some sort of stomach bug. 

Saturday, both Jack and Mark got sick, although it wasn't too bad for them.  During the night on Saturday, both Craig and Granna got sick.  So, because Craig couldn't help Heather with the night time feedings, we called the grandparents to see if they could help.  Granna said she would be right over.  But when she got up to get ready to come over, she felt light headed and sick.  So Grandpa came over.  By sunrise, we had 4 sick people.  By lunchtime it was five as Heather was not feeling good.   Sunday was a rough day for us.

Grandpa held out until Monday morning before he succombed to the sickness and has just started turning the corner. 

In summary, over 3 days, all 6 of us in the family who live in the Braeloch subdivision had been affected by the stomach bug.  

6 month checkup

On Friday, we took the boys to the doctor today for their six month checkup.  It is hard to believe but we have now been parents for half a year.  Wow.  The boys had a very good report from the doctor.  First off, here are the measurements for the boys:

Jack:

Height 26 inches 48th percentile
Weight 16 lbs 13 oz 50th percentile
Head Circumference 97th percentile

Mark

Height 24 inches less than 3rd percentile
Weight 14 lbs 12 oz 10th percentile
Head Circumference 75th percentile

Overall, both boys were very healthy and developing on schedule.  The doctor was very impressed with the boys.  Mark still has some exczema that we need to keep putting lotion on to keep it under control, but otherwise, the boys are doing fantastic.

While we were there, the boys were scheduled to get their 6 month shots (2 injections and one oral).  In addition, they received their first dose of the H1N1 flu vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine.  We are glad that they got their first dose of the flu shots, especially the H1N1 shot.

Daycare

Last Monday was a big day for everyone in the house:

1.  Jack started daycare
2.  Mark started daycare
3.  Heather returned to work from her maternity leave.
4.  Craig is the transportation for the boys to and from daycare

And it has gone better than any of us could have anticipated.  The boys have really enjoyed their daycare class and have transitioned fast.  And boy have they been stimulated.  There are 6 kids in the class and Jack and Mark are the only two that aren't crawling yet.  So, for the rest of the kids, they are really intrigued by Jack and Mark.  They keep coming over to check them out.  I guess they look at the boys and think that those are two good looking boys. 

For the boys, they have come home tired and have gone to bed earlier in the past two weeks than anytime in their lives.  We have moved feedings and baths up so they can get into bed earlier.  They take longer naps at daycare than they have here at the house.  Both of them have taken over 2 hour naps in the first couple of weeks.  We rarely have a kid take a hour nap before they started at daycare. 

Heather has really done outstanding in regards to getting back to work as well as being away from her children.  Her busy season is starting the next day or two so that will be another adjustment.  But she is doing fantastic so far.

And Craig has done well too.  He has seen the boys in their daycare class every day last week and more than half the time this week.

They aren't going tomorrow to daycare as tomrorrow is their half birthday, aka their 6 month birthday.  They go to the doctor tomorrow for a checkup as well as many shots, including the first half of the H1N1 vaccine.

New Year's Day Celebration

Jack and Mark want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and a Happy New Decade.  They can't believe they are living in their second decade already although they are only 5 1/2 months old.

Hey, our Happy New Year's hats are cool.  I bet no one else our age has them.

Although a little later, it wasn't as festive for Jack as he was in the line of fire from an air biscuit from Mark.  Look how big Jack's eyes are as he smells it.  PHEW!

Rice Cereal

On Tuesday, we started the boys with some rice cereal.  It was an exciting time for the boys.  Mommy and Daddy were excited as well as a little sad as our boys are growing up.  Hard to believe to they are already 5 1/2 months old.  We took a couple of videos of their first eating experiences:



Mark really did a good job eating here.



Jack did well too as he didn't want to be shown up by his brother.

Christmas in Kingsport

With all of the excitement from Christmas in Raleigh to the trip to Kingsport to the dedication at church, the boys had been through a lot in the past couple of days. They were very tired and had been overstimulated for the past few days.  Therefore, when the rest of the family opened presents on Christmas, the boys slept through the entire thing.  Kate opened up about 75% of the presents under the Christmas tree.  She opened all of hers, then tore threw Jack and Mark's, then proceeded to rip up most everyone else's gifts.  It was hysterical.  She didn't take time to really even see what the gift was.  Her mission was to open all the gifts as fast as possible.

After the boys woke up, we took a couple of pictures of the grandkids:

Jack is one of our two great presents this year!

Mark is our other great gift!

Kate is taking a break from opening gifts to paint her nails with the princess nail polish she got in her stocking.

Christmas Eve dedication

On Christmas Eve, the church Craig grew up in has a Christmas Eve service, as a lot of churches do.  One special part of this service is a parent child dedication.  Kids who grew up in the church but have move away from Kingsport can come back with their spouse and new kid(s) and have them dedicated.  It is always a favorite part of the service.  This year, the boys were dedicated at the church.  A long time family friend and fellow member of the Clinchfield Mafia with Poppy, Paul Hopkins, introduced the boys to the church.  Here are a couple of pictures from this and some pictures of the family afterwards. 

Special thanks to our 4 year old niece Kate who took the pictures at the church.  Janet took some as well with Poppy's camera but something happened and the memory card became corrupted and the pictures were lost.  We lost a good one that had the pastor, Marvin Cameron, holding both kids at the same time. 
Thanks Kate for taking such good pictures!

Here we are being introduced.  Our cousin Kate can take a good picture, especially for being 4.

Action shot of us getting ready to go down the steps after being introduced to Mimi and Poppy's church.

Mark, Heather, Jack, Craig, Poppy, and Mimi

Our family after the Christmas Eve service

All of Mimi and Poppy's kids and grandchildren (with one more on the way).

Cool!  We got rid of Mommy and Daddy and now are having fun with Mimi and Poppy!

Jack still is trying to smile for another picture but we both are like come on.  Enough with the pictures.

Trip to Tennessee

On December 23, we traveled from Raleigh to Tennessee.  It was pretty uneventful, well except for a 20 mile backup on I-77 in Virginia that took us 90 minutes to get through.  Until then, the boys had slept the entire trip.  However, they woke up during this parking lot of an interstate and decided to serenade us with cries and whines for a long time.  The funny thing about this (and this is basically the only fun thing about that 90 minutes) was that they were rarely both crying at the same time.  One would cry for a minute and then relax.  When he would stop it, the other one would start up.   This alternated for a while.  It was pretty interesting although we have noticed that if one is crying, the other one tends to be quiet and will let us deal with the crying kid.  Once we got through the traffic jam, Jack calmed down and went back to sleep.  However, Mark had more trouble so Heather went and sat down in the middle of the back seat and comforted Mark until he fell back asleep.

We got to Mimi and Poppy's house finally.  We survived the first full force crying episode in a car.  On to Christmas.

Christmas in Raleigh

The Monday before Christmas we celebrated with Granna and Grandpa (Heather's parents) as we were going to go to Tennessee for the boys dedication at First Baptist Church on Christmas Eve.  The boys had completely different reactions to the opening of gifts.  Mark really enjoyed it and tried to eat the wrapping paper.  Jack didn't like the loud sounds that accompanied the opening of the presents that had wrapping paper on them.  However, they enjoyed looking at the gifts they received, from everyone in the room and from Santa.  Here are some pictures.

Christmas night in Raleigh.  What a happy family!

Yeah, we are now with Granna and Grandpa!

Hey!  We just joined the Junior Wolfpack Club!  Yeah!  I sure hope the Wolfpack is competitive when we get to college.  You think Lee Fowler will still be AD then?  Daddy sure hopes not.

Mark is tired of breastmilk and formula.  Forget big people food.  Give him some wrapping paper.

GG gave us these rocking chairs.  We love them.  Thanks GG (Great - Grandmother.  Granny B (Heather's maternal grandmother))!

Can we stay in our rocking chairs all night waiting on Santa?  If not, can we at least eat the cookies and milk?

Wow, Santa left us each a bag of goodies!  We must have been really good this year.

Mommy didn't let us stay up nor eat the cookies.  But it looks like Santa ate the cookies and finished off the milk.

Look at all of our cool stuff from Santa!

Getting started early for Jack

Before Christmas, Jack started making this interesting sound with his lips.  It is a sound that can only be made when no teeth have come in yet.  Here ya go.