Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...

Monday marked my first day back to work in about 8 months!  I accepted a job as a Product Information Specialist at Lowe's in their corporate office.  I am very excited about this opportunity but it's also bittersweet.  I am thrilled to be able to bring home an income and have access to more affordable income but I will miss spending my days playing with Jaxson and Foster.  Josh, however, has taken on the role of stay-at-home dad with ease!  He's super dad for sure...cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the boys!  Thankfully I don't have to worry about the day-to-day operations at home.  I joke with Josh to make sure and tell the boys I miss them, love them, and not to forget about mommy!  I am so fortunate and thankful that I was able to spend 6 1/2 months with them, more than most!

The boys are growing and changing like crazy!  Foster is now rolling over from back to belly (finally) and getting up on his knees and rocking.  He's also started to "army" crawl a little!  I think he can do everything that Jaxson can but just chooses not too.  He's perfectly content just laying around but every now and then he'll rock and roll!

Jaxson's bottom teeth are coming in so he's been chewing on everything!  He continues to rock on his knees but can crawl forward a little.  He's sitting up more and able to go from a crawl stance to sitting with ease.  He can also say "Dada" but doesn't realize exactly what he's saying.

I can't believe how fast they are growing!  I really wish I could pause time every now and then and live in those moments.

Go banana, go-go banana...banana spit!

Tonight provided us a little entertainment at dinner.  Jaxson has started to blow raspberries while eating...gross!  I managed to catch some of it on video...check it out below!

Besides the blowing of the bananas Jaxson sat up unassisted today!  He went from a crawling stance to sitting all by himself!  Foster has started getting up on his knees and rocking...also very exciting!

Check out some pics snapped today and video!

 Foster.  I don't even know what to say about this face!

 Jaxson.

 Jaxson sitting up!

Foster doing a little stretching!  

Rub-a-dub-dub two babes in a tub!

Here are a few more pics from our 6 month photo shoot!  

Happy Half Birthday!

The boys are 6 months old...hard to believe!  They are growing so fast and getting so big and strong.

We have introduced quite a menu of "solid" foods into their diets and they are LOVING IT!  So far we've tried peas, sweet potatoes, mangoes, carrots, squash, pears, applesauce (of course), and bananas.  Jaxson really loves to eat...if you don't feed him fast enough he lets out a deafening squeal until you shovel more food into his mouth.  Foster, on the other hand, patiently waits for his next bite and doesn't leave a drop.


I'm so amazed at their development and how they are adjusting to each new stage.  Jaxson is so close to crawling, he has the army crawl down and can move backwards just fine...it's that forward movement he keeps having trouble with!  Foster has discovered his toes and loves to put them in his mouth!  Foster also has two teeth coming through on the bottom...I made the mistake of letting him chew on my thumb the other day, lesson learned!

We go in for their 6 month check up this week...I'm anxious to hear how much they weigh and how long/tall they are!

Check out some of the pics from our 6 month photo shoot!

Hit the road Jack...

Things have finally settled down in the Ayers household...at least a little!  I am finally able to blog about our first road trip to Louisville over Christmas.  

Christmas morning we loaded up half of our house (at least so it seemed), opened what Santa Claus had left, and then hit the road for our first 8 hour long road trip.  Unfortunately I didn't receive the reaction I was hoping for from the boys when the "discovered" their wagon under the tree.  Instead of looks of wonderment and surprise I was greeted with screams of hunger!  So we quickly video tapped the event and proceeded immediately to the nursery for bottles.  Christmas was over in less than 5 minutes...hoping for a better reaction next year.

So, once the boys were fed and clothed we loaded up and hit the road.  We met Nana and Grandpa in Hickory and began our journey.  The boys did great!  We stopped briefly for diaper changes and feedings but they slept most of the way.  We couldn't have asked for better travelers.  We did stop just north of Knoxville at an IHOP for lunch.  This was the ONLY place open on Christmas day and I had already mapped out this location prior to our adventure.  We had to wait in line for a table and it took nearly two hours to eat and get back on the road.  There wasn't an empty seat in the place plus a huge line out the door.  IHOP was hoppin'. 

We arrived in Louisville that evening and introduced the boys to their great aunt, uncle, grandfather, and cousin. However, our blissful travel experience was about to come to an end.  Foster had a MELTDOWN.  He cried himself into exhaustion.  We tried everything to calm him down...rocking, bottles, pacis...nothing helped.  We assumed that his reflux was acting up again and that we would give him his tummy relief drops and presto!  Except that I forgot to pack his Gas Relief Drops and EVERYTHING was closed.  I literally packed almost everything in our house except for those damn drops.  Way to go mom.  Foster finally calmed down and fell asleep.  Meanwhile, Jaxson was upstairs with his relatives hamming it up loving every minute!  In the midst of this mini crisis and meltdown I managed to get zero photos.  I am so disappointed.  

The rest of the trip was fairly mild.  No more meltdowns.  All in all we had a great trip I'm just sad that my grandfather didn't get to spend much time with the boys, well Foster anyway.  

Santa's delivery!

'Twas the night before Christmas!

When I was growing up the only Christmas tradition we had was the reading of "The Night Before Christmas".  My Dad and I would curl up on the couch and he would read it to me and my mother would snap a picture.  Well, I have kept the book (in storage) in the hopes in reading it to my children one day.  So the time has come for to pass along this tradition but the book was MISSING!  Josh and I literally tore our house apart looking for the book and it was nowhere to be found.  I called my parents and had them look through their boxes of stuff and still no luck.  I was heartbroken.  Then, Josh suggested looking in one more place...he had created a small storage nook in the rafters of the garage.  Josh got out his ladder and climbed up!  Digging through mostly junk he came across one box stuck in the corner and inside was...THE BOOK!  Josh saved Christmas.  My Dad and Darla (AKA: Grandpa and Nana) visited us on Christmas Eve eve and read "The Book" to the boys and of course we snapped some pics.  Then Christmas Eve I read "The Book" and carried on a sweet tradition onto another generation.  

Check out some of the night before Christmas pics below!

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

Yummy, yummy I got food in my tummy!

We have crossed over into the food world with the boys and they are loving it!  We first introduced the standard rice cereal with lackluster excitement.  Foster seemed to enjoy his more but he was hungry so we could have feed him cardboard without much resistance!  The more we fed them cereal the more they resisted...I suppose than can only endure so much blandness in one week!  So, today we added sweet potatoes and wow!  The boys couldn't get enough...I had to open a second jar!  Jaxson reached and leaned towards each bite and screamed if I didn't feed him fast enough!  Foster seemed to savor each bite but was a bit unsure of the texture at first!  We'll continue with the sweet potatoes for the remainder of the week and move onto peas.  Let's pray they love the peas as much as the sweet potatoes!

Check out the video below of the boys enjoying their first bites of cereal!

In addition to the menu expansion the boys are moving right along...literally!  Jaxson will be crawling any day. He will get up on his knees and rock back and forth and scooting backwards, he's really ahead of the game!  Foster is working on rolling onto his belly and beginning to attempt to push up on his knees.  Both boys are doing amazing...jabbering and scooting like crazy!

We also survived our first cold.  Ugh.  Jaxson came down with a runny nose and it quickly spread through our household.  Luckily we all made it through just fine and I did not call the doctor...which for those who know me is quite a feat!  Thank Heaven for humidifiers!