Brotherly love

Every once in a while, I'll capture sweet moments from the boys. The other day, I snuck in the playroom and saw they were reading together. Pics are a little blurry because I had to zoom in so much (I was trying to be sneaky!).

 Sharing some of dad's yummy chocolate milkshakes.

 B loves to sit with Ryan when he is "reading"

 A favorite of theirs is to push each other around the house on the Thomas push toy. Added bonus, going shirtless with the fireman's hat on.

B likes to sneak into Charlie's bathtub. He likes to be as close as possible to him at all times. No joke.

The morning of Valentine's day, I snapped a few pics of the boys together. B was not having the pics at first. I tried to take away his lovey and he was having none of it, as seen below.

And then, Charlie woke up and I threw him into the mix. All of a sudden, no more tears! For whatever reason, the boys love taking pics with Charlie.

 And are obsessed with kissing on him.

 Love these little munchkins

Apparently, I must take too many pics of the boys because Bradley always knows if they are all together or are being cute, he'll say "cheeee," prompting me to take a pic of them. So I did.....

 These boys are WILD! but I  love them dearly, most of the time ;)

Sports updates

Oh the life of a boy mom. We only have one in sports at the moment, and between games and birthday parties, our Saturdays have become quite busy! I can only imagine what the next 18 years will hold. Ryan finished out his soccer season in November with the YMCA 8-0. Although they don't keep score, I think it was pretty apparent that all eight teams may have scored 5-6 goals on the team during the entire season. They were crazy good. Ryan only played for the trophy, so when the last game came, he was pumped.

 Here they are, the undefeated Toronto.

They were all pretty excited about their trophies. Although Ryan said he doesn't want to play soccer again, he really has honed his skills over the past few months. When they play around with the soccer ball outside, he is really good. He just didn't care much for the aggressive aspect of the game. So I think we may try again in the Fall.

Right after the new year, he started basketball with the Y, and Wes is coaching! They are having so much fun and are currently 6-0. They have a good little team and Ryan is really improving.

Here he is below, number 8, scoring his first goal during the first game! He has really good fundamentals, and takes his shooting very seriously.

 He's scored quite a few goals this season, and with each one, he gains even more self confidence.

Now, they are really working on dribbling and getting rebounds. They aren't required to dribble too much at this age, but Ryan thinks it is very important. His new goal is to get "redowns" as he calls them.

This shot was from his last game. Luckily, CoCo, Poppy, GiGi, and Christina were all there to see him make two great shots. He was so excited!!

We've got a basketball goal in our backyard now and he is really starting to enjoy playing, I think!! They have two more games left of the season, and then he'll start t-ball with the YMCA also.

B's version of sports includes his weekly gymnastics class. He has recently mastered "the hang." It's only taken 4 months, but he finally figured out and now only wants to hang on the bars during class.

 He thinks he is hot stuff.

This past weekend, we introduced the boys to TopGolf. The Correas were in town, and we wanted to do something fun for the kids. So, the 5 of us and the 4 of them, all headed up Sunday morning for some fun. Surprisingly, it went really well. The babies slept most of the time, and the kids LOVED swinging the little kiddie clubs. We had a bottom bay and it worked out perfectly.

 Ryan had a pretty decent swing!

B was OBSESSED, to say the least. He figured out how to trigger the machine for more balls and didn't want to give up his turn!

 The little tots, heading out. I think it is safe to say, this may become a frequent activity for us.

7 months - CJM

This chubby little guy is now 7 months old. He's had a very busy month, learning lots of new things. He finally rolled over (Feb. 1) from back to tummy and has done it a handful of times since. He still does not prefer to be on his tummy. Nor is he concerned with trying to sit-up, He's a little on the lazy side!

He does, however, love to eat! Most everything he has tried, he seems to like, and his portions seem to be increasing by the day. He loves sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, pears, and cereal. He'll tolerate squash and zucchini at the moment. He starts smacking his lips when he see one of the boys eating.

Bradley insists on feeding Charlie. It has now extended from bottles to food. He pulls up his step-stool to the highchair and practically pries the spoon from my hands.

This kid loves his jumperoo. He could quite possibly bounce for hours if we'd let him. Usually in his waking hours, he is either in this or his walker roaming the house.

This is the only way he will sit these days, and it usually only lasts for a few minutes before he is bored (as seen below).

He really doesn't like being on his tummy anymore. This was a rare moment that he was actually happy.

Love this dapper little dude. He's gotten a little more attached to the lovey, but isn't as taken with them yet as his brothers were. He also is definitely not into the pacifier, so I am giving up on it. We may finally have a kid whose habit we don't have to break.

This about sums up how these boys act on a daily basis. Charlie was sitting with me while he ate, B climbs on up and starts pretending to bite him, and of course, Ryan can't miss out on the action, so he piles up on top of them. He truly adores his brothers. When they walk into the room or if B plays peek-a-boo with him, his whole face lights up. It's really neat to watch. He could just stare at them forever.

Charlie is down to 3 naps a day now. I never know which one will be a long one, but normally, the morning is shorter, the afternoon is 1.5-2 hours, and then a short early evening nap as well. He still gets a little cranky before bathtime, so we let him have some time in his crib with some toys for 20-30 minutes. He was so tuckered out he other night, he fell asleep playing.

We have {hopefully} reached a sleep milestone. January 23rd marked the first night of officially sleeping through the night. He didn't make a peep until 7 am. There's been 1 or 2 nights in between there that he woke up around 1 or 2 am. We decided to turn down the monitor and let him figure it out. I set an alarm both nights to check on him, and although he was not crying after 30 minutes, he was still wide awake for an hour both nights. He eventually fell asleep without having to be fed. Since then, he has been sleeping until 6:30-7 am every morning. I hope the trend continues. His first tooth also popped through on the bottom this past weekend. You can't see it, but can definitely feel it!

blowing bubbles

His bed time currently is around 8:15-8:30 pm and after his morning feeding he usually goes back to sleep until 7:30-8 am. He is still in size 3 diapers and will probably switch to his 12 months clothes this weekend. He gives the best open mouth, slobbery kisses on demand, on our cheeks. It's so sweet :) He also loves to laugh and to be tickled. He seems like a little daredevil as well - loving to be turned upside down, or swung around in circles.

Does this sticker make me look chubby?!

He loves, loves, loves to clap as well as scream as loud as he can, and stick his tongue out whenever he can. He is very easily distracted, especially when he can hear one of his brothers or Wes talking while I am feeding him. He also loves to throw his head back while I am feeding him in his room, so that he can stare at the pictures on the wall. Needless to say those early morning feedings can take a LONG time. Charlie is generally an extremely happy baby, and other than when he is tired, he doesn't fuss too much. Like any baby, he loves to be held, but isn't too demanding.

this is his preferred way to lay on the ground

that tongue!

He's such a happy guy, and I love going to get him in the morning, because he is all smiles. It's the perfect way to start the day :) Happy 7 months, buddy!