Celebrating Kurt and Ashley!

Jay's girlfriend for the night, KJ....they were inseparable...and adorable!

The boys had matching suits and Jay thought he was so grown up dressed like his Daddy!

Love this one

Mom and Gary, I love this pic.

Check out Jay's dance moves...

He was so proud to be dressed like all the "men"

The kids were right under Ash and Kurt the whole time they cut the cake

Jay got tired of waiting...

Ready to party!

Sweet Eli didn't know what all the fuss was about

the party animal at the end of the night...he never slowed down!

precious! 

This was before it even started...they danced non-stop

Hilarious!

Ash and Kurt were so sweet to let the kids butt in on their first dance

Jay would not let Kurt out of his sight

More hugs... :)

Up to trouble

And of course they joined in again with Mimi

Two peas in a pod!

The lighting is very bright here so my poor boys are hard to see with their pale faces! 

Kurt is holding Eli but all you see are a pair of eyes! haha

Eli still isn't quite sure about all of this.

Family picture...I wonder where the kids got their pale faces??? ;)

 We had a great time at the reception for Kurt and Ashley. It was wonderful to celebrate with more family and, of course, all my boys. Jay is such a party animal...we could take him anywhere and he'd be the wildest one around. KJ was so precious and they hit it off instantly. I don't think I saw them apart for more than a minute the whole night.
Eli was his usual sweet self, until it was bedtime...thankfully Mama Ross and Papa were there to keep him calm and finally take him home once he just couldn't take it any more. That boy is total opposite of his brother! 
The pictures are from Mama Ross, my mom, and KJ's mom who was also a bridesmaid.

6 months with our boy!

Papa and his boys

Gary, Jay, Carrie, & Mom: meeting for a visit on the way back to Columbia

Eli loving on Mama Ross

Aunt Carrie

Playing with Papa

Bonking heads...Who knows why Jay thinks this is fun...

Who needs to work out with these two around?

Jay and Brooks playing in Jake's cage...by choice.

Pictures before church

Ross men: three generations

I'd say Wes has another "mini-me"

What a little cutie!

What a life this child lives

And this one....passed out after church

Cuddles in the morning

we wondered why there was chocolate milk all over the floor until we looked at jay's face

These are mostly pictures taken by Mama Ross during the trips in May. She can catch some precious expressions with Eli!

This week we had VBS at church so we've had a good time with all the festivities. Jay has missed going to preschool since it ended for the summer so is loving this week with his friends. Eli has been in nursery since I'm a volunteer so his picky little self wonders where the quiet morning routine went but is adjusting ok. He is my little homebody, for sure.

His 6 month well-check went well yesterday. He weighs 17lbs (about 40% percentile) & 26.5inches long (50% percentile). So he definitely had a growth spurt in the last month.

He rolls both ways but gives up very quickly when trying to get off his tummy and I usually end up helping him roll back over, very annoying at 2am!

He sits without support for only a few seconds until he tumbles over, which is just hilarious to Jay.

He grabs at everything, all the time, which has made my job considerably more difficult lately...why I can't remember to keep all drinks and breakables away from him is beyond me.

He squeals (crazy loud!), says several sounds (ba, ma, oh, ah, aw) over and over until he gets someones attention. When he's hungry he almost always goes with "ma ma ma" which is just precious to me since Jay said the "da" sounds way before "ma." I have a theory that Eli will say "mama" before "daddy" since he hears it all day long with Jay around. Hopefully I will be correct! When he's tired he "sings" himself to sleep ("baaa baaa baaa baaa...") and it is the sweetest thing ever!

He laughs, smiles, and watches us all day long. He is very observant and turns immediately when he hears something to check it out. If we leave the room he knows it instantly and screams until we get back...he can't stand to be left out!

He laughs so hard at Jay, especially in the last week. I've caught the two of them cracking up several times, which is just so adorable. Jay loves it too, now that Eli is big enough to "play" with. There have been several times I started to fuss at Jay for being too loud or rambunctious only to realize Eli is laughing hysterically at his crazy brother. As far as Eli is concerned, the crazier Jay acts, the funnier...typical boys, right!?

 He eats food two to three times a day. I have to push the rice cereal but he would eat bananas and pears all day if I let him. He also will eat applesauce and oatmeal but with less enthusiasm. He takes two long naps a day (1 1/2 to 2 hrs) and a small one in the early evenings.

He has dropped the late night feeding and now sleeps from about 7p to 7a without waking.....so wonderful!  He still is great at going to sleep by himself, will just nuzzle up to his lovey and drift off within minutes. As grateful as I am for this, I do miss cuddling like I did with Jay when he was a baby. Sometimes I will just try to cuddle Eli for a few minutes at night and he frets the whole time until I lay him down and let him stretch out in his own space.

Overall, he is still such a content, calm baby and we are so incredibly thankful for these past 6 months with our boy.

Lastly, this weekend is both Father's Day and Wes' 32nd birthday (I know, I'm married to an old man). Wes and I don't "gush" about each other...we would rather just make fun of each other. But I have been thanking God for him a lot lately (now that I'm sleeping again, have a baby instead of a newborn, and am not too exhausted to think straight!) and I am just in awe at how wonderful he is to us. I complain about my difficult days and how hard it is for me when he works so much but, honestly, my life is so easy compared to his. He works  (non-stop, high stress, and exhausted) all day, sometimes all night, and comes home to a wild bunch of crazies who then give him endless orders...and he takes care of every one without blinking an eye. I cannot even begin to describe what he means to me and how much I love what we have, both in our marriage and in our kids. Jay completely idolizes him and loves doing anything daddy is doing. Wes doesn't see it, but Jay is a different type of happy when he's home...a more complete and confident happiness that results from knowing your Daddy will always take care of you. And even little Eli at 6 months literally lights up when Wes walks through the door. He smiles and talks to him more than he does with anyone else. He is the ultimate example of love, devotion, and provider.

Happy Birthday, Happy Father's Day, We love you more than than words.

Crazy boys

Memorial Day Weekend in Tifton. Jay was going up in the "clubhouse" papa put in the new room they just built.

This is how Jay pees when he's here...

Jay is so proud of this. He tells all of his friends up here that "my papa built me a clubhouse!"

The boys will have so much fun in here for years to come, I'm sure!

Swimming to escape the south Georgia heat

Jay is still not willing to go under water...this will be our goal for the summer

Timeless game of pool jumping!

Jay was out in the woods and had to come back to the porch to go potty...

At home this week. Jay picked this outfit out all by himself.

Swinging his "sword"

Truman was over the other night at bedtime so I put the boys in bed and told them to go nite-nite. They talked non-stop for 30min until Baron and Hannah picked him up. It was so precious...the first "BFF pillow talk"....we are seriously depressed about the Mullis' leaving next month.

I tried to teach Jay how the slip-n-slide works but he was scared to dive into it.

So he would run down the entire thing and then fall over at the end.

Of all things to be scared about, this is what he chooses?

He had a ball anyway

Watching the fun...sweet boy

Wes and I promised Jay he could ride his bike when we got home from running errands. He remembered right after his bath. So instead of a bedtime story he got a bike ride in his pj's.

At mom's playing Kurt's guitar

The boys watching me unpack after our trips

Jay's first eye exam!

By none other than Daddy :)

Wes was surprised at how cooperative Jay was. His attending actually did the full exam after the 'practice round' with daddy.

Jay's "police glasses" as he named them

Eli's first ride in the Publix car!

Eli is 6 months old today!  He changes every day and is more and more fun. We have his well-check Wednesday so I'll have an update up after that.

As for Jay...

He is three going on thirteen...thanks to his emotional outbursts, hot temper, and rebellious behavior. He is sweet and loving one minute and crazy mean the next. I have noticed some jealousy toward Eli also. I think the newness of a baby brother has worn off and since he's still not big enough to be a playmate, Jay has decided he doesn't want him around like he used to. He will tell me "mama, don't feed Eli, come play with me" or "mama, go lay Eli down for a nap so we can play." A few nights he has even said he didn't want to thank God for Eli. It peaked about 3 weeks ago and is better now but it was a struggle to get Jay to understand that I have to take care of Eli, even when I'd rather play with him. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old why the baby doesn't get in trouble for screaming but he does. Or why I don't fuss at Eli when he splashes water out of the tub but tell Jay not to do that again. And Jay is starting to realize that almost everything he gets in trouble for is related to Eli (don't be so rough with the baby, stop yelling while the baby's trying to sleep, that noise is scaring the baby) and I can't blame him for being frustrated. I really sympathize with since I'm an older sibling as well. But we are working through it and I think it is getting better finally.

He had a great time with his Papa and Mama Ross while I was in Mexico for the wedding and Wes was here working. He has cracked me up all week with little sayings I know he is copying from Papa. He has called me "scamp" all week (a nickname Papa calls him all the time) and refuses to wear shorts because papa always wears pants. He tells us random things that he and Mama Ross did and you can tell by his tone how proud he is of whatever he is talking about. It is so cute to see how much he loves them!  And Mimi, don't worry, he always comes up with things to say about you also. Tonight I was helping him say his prayers so I said the usual, "thank you for Daddy and Eli and Jake and Kitty and Mimi..." and Jay interrupted me and said, "no mama, Mimi is first, you have to say thank you for Mimi first." 

Otherwise he is up to his same wild agenda every day. Talks incessantly (as Wes describes it), is always moving, and makes me laugh all day with his little ideas and responses. This is such a fun stage but can be very trying also....as I play with Eli and Jay, I realize both ages have their good and bad parts. Eli doesn't talk back, is smiles and laughes at the slightest bit of attention, and is mostly containable. Jay is my little buddy, I am able to actually converse with him, and is so active that when we play together I really feel like a kid again. As frustrating as my days can be with these boys, it is a million times more fun and entertaining. I have really been trying to work on enjoying every day with them instead of letting trivial annoyances distract me. Having a clean house and perfectly behaved children is not what I will look back on one day as I reminisce on my sweet baby years. I want to remember the never-ending chaos that comes from the wild imagination and freedom of two perfectly crazy boys.

By the way, the wedding week was wonderful! We all had so much fun together and Ashley was just gorgeous!  We are so excited about the reception coming up. Jay has a sharp suit to wear and he can't wait to go to Uncle Kurt and Aunt Ash's "wedding party!"