Self - Timer

So, after almost 2 years, I have finally decided to learn a little more about how to use my camera.  Believe it or not, I can make pictures black and white or sepia and I also have a self timer! HAHA!
First a few pictures of black and white...

The self - timer is still a work in progress.  So far, I have only figured out how to set it so it has a 10 second delay. Obviously I need to work on getting it to focus also :) Anyway, they still turned out cute!

And I'm adding a few pictures of the kiddos just because....


Zoe: "Give me a bite of that sugar. I want to eat you!"
Jack: "Get this crazy person away from me!"

 



Silly Faces!




Zoe wanted to be "bigger than Jack"!



Already!

Well, the little man is 2 months old already! I thought time went by quickly with Zoe, but now that we have 2 children, time is really flying!  Jack is such a good little boy.  He is pretty laid back and just goes with the flow.  He is a completely different baby than Zoe was.  He wants to be held and snuggled quite often.  He is still nursing every 2 hours (which the doctor said was "ridiculous" haha!).  He usually takes a pretty good nap for about 3 hours around noon and also sleeps from around 11:00-4:00 at night - other than that, he spends quite a bit of time awake.  He has learned to sleep through the chaos of our house (or of his big sister I should say).  He has really started to make good eye contact when we talk to him and smile when he looks at us.  Ryan seems to think he is more needy than Zoe was....I think he whines to be held to be protected from unexpected Zoe attacks.
He had his 2 month check-up yesterday.  Everyone kept asking how much he weighed.  I honestly didn't weigh him at all because I wanted to wait until we took him to the doctor. Well, here are all the official numbers. 
When he was born, he weighed 8lbs 12oz and was 23 inches long (we think the lenght measurement was wrong because at 1 week he was only 21 inches)
Yesterday, he weighed 14lbs 2oz and was 24 1/2 inches.  His weight was in the 94th percentile, height in the 90th percentile, and head circumference in the 93rd percentile.  He's a big boy :)
He did great with his shots and didn't really cry much at all.  He was pretty needs for the rest of the day and evening, but who wouldn't be after getting 3 shots!
Here are a few pictures of the big man (he wore this outfit for his pictures). Super cute! :)



 

And of course we need one with his big sister!

Pumpkin Carving

One of my absolute favorite things to do is carve pumpkins.  It was a tradition we had growing up....I can remember going to different places and picking the perfect pumpkins. We had to make sure they sat just right and were the perfect shape.  We each had to clean out our own "guts" and then drew on our faces.  They would get cut out by an adult and then it was always a surprise to what they looked like.  We had to hide our eyes while our parents would light the candles and arrange them just perfect....
When Ryan and I started dating, he would tell me that he had never carved a pumpkin.  I remember the first one we carved together....it had a very simple face, but was a lot of fun to do.  Anyone who knows Ryan, knows he isn't really known for getting his hands dirty ;-)  It has taken him a few years, but he is getting a little more used to it. 
We have continued the carving tradition since having Zoe.  We went close to Zoe's first birthday, right when she was just starting to stand, and I took tons of pictures of her standing in the pumpkins.  We, of course, chose what face to carve.  Last year, she helped clean it out, and somewhat had an input on what her face would be.  This year, she was all about helping pick out each of our pumpkins, clean out the pumpkins, and what our faces should look like.

Getting ready to carve the pumpkins!

 



Happy Face



Scary Face



 

 

I was messing with the settings on my camera and got some really cool pictures!

Mine is on top. Zoe's is on the left. Ryan's on the bottom. Jack's on the left. Zoe thought we should all have scary faces except for Jack.

Candids of Zoe

It's had to get Zoe to let me take a picture of her lately. Since Jack has been born, she only wants her picture taken while smothering him. I have been able to catch some candid shots of her lately, so I thought I would share :)

She was singing and dancing and told me to take her picture when she said to. These are what she came up with...

 She then, of course, wanted to have her picture taken holding Jack (or smothering him, however you want to look at it).

On one of the chillier days, I told Zoe she needed to wear jeans or sweats.  She went upstairs to pick out her clothes, with Ryan's help (she can't reach her shirts in her closet).  They came downstairs, Ryan looked at her, then to me, and said "are her pants supposed to look like that?" REALLY?!?!?! HAHA!

 I caught her picking her nose while sitting on Ryan's lap.  Too funny!

LOVE

I absolutely LOVE being a mommy! I truly think it's my calling from God to be a stay ay home mommy who is barefoot and pregnant with 15 kids.....but my husband and the cost of insurance won't allow it ;-)
If there is one thing I love more than just being a mommy, it's watching Ryan play with the kids. I love the little hide and seek game he plays with Zoe every time he walks in the door. I love to see his face light up every time he looks at Jack and secretly says "that's my boy"! I love to watch him interact with both of them as they are both developing their personalities. I love the way he acts like the big macho man and then turns into a bis softie as soon as Zoe gives him her puppy dog eyes or when Jack snuggles right in as soon as he pickshim up. I love watching him just watch the kids when he doesn't know I'm looking.
But most of all, I LOVE watching him play girly games with Zoe ;-)