Laptop troubles

I had to drive to Raleigh today to drop off my laptop and I won't get it back for a week! Boo! Apparently, the graphics card is malfunctioning, so it needs to be replaced. Which is too bad because I have some great new pictures and video, including some of Ben eating his first solid food. As soon as I get my computer back next weekend, we'll be back in business!

Trading Places

Even though Dan has a big-boy bed and does all his sleeping in it, he still likes to climb in the crib every now and then for old times' sake.  And to roll his Little People cars and trucks around, of course.  The other day, I caught him in there, so I put Ben in the toddler bed.  Pretty adorable!

Where have we been? (continued)

A few pictures from the other day (when I couldn't get them to load):

And two videos of brothers playing on the bed.  I think we are going to have some fans of wrestling and roughhousing!

Where have we been?

Well, nowhere exciting, that's for sure.  Just holed up in our house, trying to stay warm and dry.  Dan is especially trying to stay dry because we potty-trained a couple of weekends ago.  I did a version of the 3-day method and it seems to be working pretty well.  He's in underwear all the time (except for naps and nighttime) and so far he hasn't had any accidents when we're out and about.  Around the house, he gets so busy with playing or reading that he occasionally forgets that he has to go until it's too late.  But I feel really great about his progress and I'm thrilled that he was ready to be trained at the same time we were ready to train!

The weather has been pretty cold and dreary here--about six inches of snow a couple of weeks ago, which shut down coastal Carolina for a few days.  I think our county has maybe one snowplow, so we just had to wait for our street to melt.  Thanks to Granny Rash, Dan can play in the snow in boots now, instead of wearing trash bags over his shoes!

Ben is five months old today and on the verge of rolling over.  Personally, I think he can do it and is just lazy.  He's also working on sitting up, but I think we're a couple of weeks away from that one.  He's a lot more interactive and he loves to watch his big brother.  I cleaned up and assembled Dan's old Exersaucer so I have another place to plop Ben when I can't hold him.  But he definitely prefers to be held, that spoiled buddy!

For some reason, I can only upload this one picture from today!  Dan put the pacifier on Ben's head and it actually stayed there long enough for me to snap a picture.  I'll keep trying with the other pictures from today, but Blogger isn't being cooperative at the moment.

New Year's Eve!

Happy 2011!  Yes, two weeks late, but better than never!  Layne was kind enough to volunteer to watch the boys so Zach and I went out to a sushi placed called YoSake and then over to a friend's house in Wilmington.  I made it until about 10:30 before I came home, but Zach stayed until midnight.  I just can't stay out that late and have a good time, knowing that the kids will not let me rest the next day.  But I think I was up at midnight anyway, feeding Ben, so I guess I did ring in the new year with one of my favorite guys.

Hair and makeup courtesy of Layne

Layne snapped a few good pictures of Dan sharing his cars and trucks with Ben:

Aunts are fun!

Aunt Wauren and Aunt Wayne took Dan to the playground on the 30th while Ben and I hung out at the house.  It was a little too chilly for us, but Dan had a great time, as you can see from the pictures.  He loves the swings and the curvy slide and just looking out at the water.  The climbing wall, however, is still a little tricky for him.  I don't think he'll be able to make it up the wall perpendicularly, unless he has some hidden talents and is actually Spiderman, but he sure is trying.

Odds and Ends

Nothing too exciting happening in these pictures, just a few random ones from December 29th.  Only a few more posts to go and I'm all caught up with the holidays.  Then I'll actually have to get out my camera again to start documenting the boys in 2011!

Dolphins before sunrise

Sunrise at Surf City

Dan spelled that all by himself.* (*No, he didn't.)

Fat boy in the bath.