Clubhouse!

Today a special present arrived from Nana and Grandpa. I large clubhouse/climber/slide that the boys will spend many hours on to come! Seth quickly assembled and the boys were excited to give it a shot.

Ben kept referring to it as his 'train fort' and was proud to be conductor for the day.

Even AJ took pleasure in exploring.

After a long period of playing the boys sat at the 'bar' to enjoy a water break.

Ben was on the lookout for anyone who may be intruding on his space...

Which included his brother.

AJ stood his ground and got a few jabs at his big brother as well...

The boys are excited to have their friends over soon to come play on their new play set!! Come visit real soon!

Freecycle: My Garage

I swear we aren't hoarders. However, in the matter of weeks our new garage looks a little something like this:

With the mad dash to get everything out of our old house we've made quite a mess of our new one. There have been about... oh... 30+ trips between homes to lug all our crap. We bought a bigger house, yet I'm still not sure why all of this junk hasn't found a home in the new place yet. For those of you who know Seth and me, you can understand the deep pain this is causing us to bear on a daily basis.

Hmmm, did I just notice an entire box of bobby pins on the floor? NOT COOL.

If there is anything in here that you see that is yours, claim it now before I put it on the curb with a large "TAKE ME AWAY" sign. I doubt my Brookes Brother's suit will be worn any time soon... if ever again!

Therapy? We're all gonna need it!

Pardon the long posting, but I feel as though I should provide some updates on our family as we've been a little MIA recently. I'll know there will be the day that I'll be thinking "hey, I want another kid" and then I'll reflect back on this post and think "really? who are you kidding!?" I should be using this time to be more productive, such as put a listing in MLS, call the insurance company of the driver that hit my car over the weekend, or respond to the 28 e-mails I have received thus far today, but right now I need a mental break.

Most of you may already know, but AJ is now joins Ben once a week for occupational therapy to address his sensory integration and tactile dysfunction. This makes 2 weekly doses of therapy for AJ (this is in addition to his speech & feeding therapy) along with weekly outings to JW Tumbles to help with his issues. While he is showing signs of improvement, both the OT and Speech Therapist's have labeled AJ as the 'worst case' they have seen. Um, what?! They MUST be new to the field. Right?! All of AJ's doctors and specialists believe he will outgrow this and be a perfectly happy, healthy little boy in no time... until then we must curb any activities that involve AJ being anywhere new unless there is full coverage to support his curiosity and outbreaks.

Slowly but surely we're getting unpacked - Seth has been working round the clock for his company, and any spare time he does have has been spent at the old house cleaning, spackling , and prepping for the new tenants we have moving in this weekend. While it pains me to stare at miss-matching curtain rods and a garage full of boxes I know we will get there, eventually. It's no wonder the boys are as the way they are. Seth and I are not ones to 'go with the flow' as you already know.

I lone for days where I can shower and take the kids out of the house without getting nasty looks from passer-bys as they throw items from the cart and kick their shoes off on the floor. I hope one day I can eat a balanced meal, or take a bathroom break without hearing tantrums or whining. Yes, things are a little crazy for us right now, but we know with the grace of God we'll make it through! Thanks for your patience and support while we take our time getting situated with everything.

Welcome Two New Ladies

I'm a little late on the draw here, but we'd like to welcome the following two new beautiful ladies into our friendship circle!

Kerrigan Aileen: Born 3/8/10 at 6 lbs 7 oz

Grace Kathryn: Born 4/13/10 at 7 lbs 5 oz

Welcome to the world little beauties!!

Big Boy Bed

We decided to make Ben's transition to the new house a little more fun - we talked up his 'big boy bed' and Sunday was his first night going to bed in anything other than a crib or pack-n-play. I was nervous that it may be disastrous. He seemed pretty excited about his Thomas the Train bedsheets which was a little encouraging.

Thankfully, after a promise to earn a few coins in his piggy bank for every slumber without getting up from his bed, Ben awoke after a full nights sleep and waited for us the next morning. So far so good! Thanks to Kim & Melissa for the tips!

Moving Day

Sunday we made the move to our new home in Leesburg. It was quite the challenge to keep the boys occupied while our belongings were loaded on the Uhaul. AJ was having one of his finer moments when I jolted into Giant for a few of the essentials... he couldn't resist not leaving the remote at home. Or his right shoe.

Thank you to Amanda & Jude, and Uncle Jon & Cori for your help making our move complete.

Pack Rats!

While we have been packing for weeks, today marks the last day to 'get-er-done'. Tomorrow is the big move! Thank you to all the family and friends who have made this transition successful.

The Heat is On!

This weekend we are finally moving the family to our new house! The past week Grandmom and Pop-pop have been generous enough to donate their time, help, and of course their love while we pack and prepare the new home for our arrival. Thank you Grandmom and Pop-pop and we look forward to seeing you in our new home soon!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter has been full of candy, family, and did I mention candy? Oh boy!! We started our weekend out with an Easter Egg hunt at the new house on Saturday.

We actually had to wake Ben up for once on Easter morning to share with him all the excitement. We were nervous AJ would get into all the candy before Ben got down stairs.

Ben received a soccer goal and Thomas Lego Train which he proudly displayed (read: he held it up high so that AJ couldn't touch it)

I think Ben's favorite part was finding all of the Easter Eggs filled with M&Ms. He didn't miss a beat and finished them all before breakfast.

The Easter bunny was good to the boys and Ben was excited for all his candy. So much in fact he offered his abundant stash to Mommy... and quickly regretted his decision.

Dinner Time!

For the past 2 weeks AJ has been experimenting with table foods. The 'miracle' first occurred at McDonalds when he mouthed a french fry. Unfortunately this was the typical reaction from him on most of those occasions.

Tonight, however, he was in a better mindset. While he didn't really swallow anything he had no choking issues!!

YAY AJ!! We are so happy you are finally acclimating into society as a normal baby.

And Ben was jealous of all the photos of his brother so he pleaded for his own photo shoot - again, his best 'cheese' face!