New neighbors, new friends, and new toys!

This summer marks 5 years that we've lived in our house on Riggs Rd.  We love our neighborhood!  I always say it's the best of both worlds because we have a nice big yard to play in, we live on a nice, quiet dirt road that doesn't get a lot of traffic, and there are all sorts of animals to visit just a short stroller ride away, but the grocery store, restaurants, and the "city" are just a 10 minute drive away! :)  Our neighborhood is very old and we have lots of "older" folks that live around us.  They are great neighbors who we've enjoyed getting to know, but we've always hoped someday for another "younger" family to move in close by so our kids could have some friends to play with.  Well, just the other day we walked across the street and down one house to meet some new neighbors that just moved in.  And wouldn't you know it, it's a family with two little boys (Jake - 4, and Jackson - 10 months), HA!  Awesome!  Jake and Drew hit it off from the start and the next day Drew was asking to go see Jake and ask him to come play.  This was one of the cutest things...to see him wanting to go invite his friend to play at his house!  Yikes, he sure is growing up!  So, Jake and Jackson came over with their mom and had a great time playing in the backyard!  I didn't take any pictures so as not to freak out our new neighbors just yet, hahaha!  Someday, I'll get some of them playing, I'm sure!


In other news, on Thursday, Brandon played in the exersaucer for the first time (and I did get pictures of that)!  He had fun for about 10 minutes or so...

And of course, Drew was right there to show him how everything worked!

Lots of fun times ahead with this, I'm sure. :)

Not Ashamed

I tend to consider Drew a shy child.  At least at first, it takes him some time to warm up to people and places he is not familiar with.  I can't count the number of times I've heard someone look at my pictures of him doing something silly or crazy and say "Is that really the same Drew?"  He can be a really outgoing little character once he's comfortable!

Well, apparantly, he is very comfortable in our neighborhood Target.  We were shopping there this evening and as we are walking the aisles, he randomly broke into song...
Now, this is not really all that surprising to me as he has always been a "singer" (evidenced by these older photos),

but this is the first time I have ever heard him sing so nice and LOUD in a place other than home or in the car.

I mean, here we are just walking through Target with all of our fellow Target shoppers in the greater Belleville/Canton area and Drew breaks into a rousing rendition of  "Climb, Climb Up Sunshine Mountain" (complete with hand motions)! :)  And he didn't just sing it once, or even twice...I actually don't know how many times he sang it, he just kept on reapeating it.  I tried to quiet his volume a bit and then thought, 'Oh, why not?  Let him sing loudly'...at least it's a good song, probably better than whatever they had playing on the radio in the store in fact. ;)

A nice, older woman approached me and asked how old he was and when I told her, she said that hearing him sing that song brought back great memories of when her daughter (who is now 40 she informed me) learned that very same song at the age of 3!

Glad to know that he made someone else's day too!!  Gotta love him... :)

Brotherly Love

I know these two will definitely have their moments when they fight or disagree, but for now I will relish in the love they have for each other! 

You never really know how your first child will respond to having a new baby in the mix...

I couldn't have asked for a better reaction!! 

Sometimes I catch myself wondering if Drew remembers what life was like before Brandon....

I don't think he does.  :)

Drew's favorite things to do with Brandon currently:
*Play "little fingers, little toes"
*Play "pat-a-cake"
*Play "where's the baby?" (in the same way that it's done on the movie Ice Age)
*Have Brandon "tackle" him
*Laugh with Brandon
*Hold Brandon's hand
*Shake a rattle or entertain Brandon with some sort of toy (and proudly proclaim "I'm playing with him!" while doing it) :)
*Get into the crib with Brandon when he wakes up
*Do "tummy time" with Brandon
*Tell us what he thinks Brandon needs when he cries..."He must be tired." "He needs to eat." "He wants to see Mama."
*Sing "Jesus Loves Me" to him when I am putting him to sleep.

Drew's current nicknames for Brandon:
*Little Buddy
*Little B (we all call him this)
*Little eyes boy (he came up with this one all on his own...lol)

***I am so blessed!***