AJ's teams

AJ is on team Germany for soccer (they do the World Cup teams). AJ has had like 7 or 8 different NFL football teams he has played for since he started football. He has been wanting to be on the Kansas City Chief's team ever since we first started because he knows Al is a fan. This is the first time he got his wish.

Declan pics

Declan loves Goldie as much as AJ always has. It turns out that Dog is Declan's first word too.

AJ's first day of kindergarten

Long over due posting pics of AJ's first day of school.

new AJ

In one week, AJ lost his first tooth and decided to cut his own hair, so I had to cut it down as short as his hair has ever been. At least he still has more hair than Declan!

random pics of our boys

AJ is playing both soccer and football now and loving it. Declan is such a good, happy baby. He goes with the flow and has fun playing in the grass when AJ is playing half the day on Saturday.

Kitchen under construction

Kitchen at our new house pre and during demolition. I'll have to get pics of the new kitchen up soon.

Declan

Declan isn't crawling yet, but he is up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. We keep thinking any moment he will be crawling. He can get from a sitting position into a crawling position and then back again with ease. He surprised me recently by showing us how he can pull himself to a standing position. He seems to be doing everything in the opposite order than AJ did. The best part of the whole trip though was how much fun AJ had playing with all his cousins. I wish we could all get together more often.

4th of July family fun

We had a fantastic time over the 4th of July weekend. We went to Dave's grandmother's house that sits on Eagle Rock Lake. What fun! Dave's sister brought her boat, Dave's aunt and uncle brought their boat and jet skis. Oh my! AJ had a blast! He loved, loved the jet skis. He wanted Dave to take him faster and faster. He was the same way on the the tube pulled behind the boat. He kept getting braver and braver. He wanted to stand, throw himself off to the size to be dragged in the water, and the whole time he kept saying he wanted to go faster and hit the bumps and fly in the air. He is way more brave than his mommy. It was awesome to see AJ so happy.

Declan's first trip to the zoo

I loved the Polar Bear exhibit. AJ loved the petting zoo area, and Declan loved the aquarium. A lady offered to take a picture of me and the boys in front of the aquarium with all the colorful fish, but Declan would not look at her. He was craning his neck to see the fish. We stayed in there 30 minutes because he was so interested in the fish swimming back and forth in front of him.

Similarities and Differences

There are a lot of similarities between my two boys. When AJ was a baby, he was just the happiest little guy in the mornings. He would wake up smiling. I loved it, and am glad to report that Declan is just like him in that respect. Dave and I also make the cutest bald babies ever. And just like AJ, Declan has the worst reflux disorder. :( It's terrible. It feels like only half of what goes in stays in. The rest is erupting all over him, me, Dave, the floor, etc. Yuck. One major difference, however, is the size of my boys. From the time AJ was two months old, he was in the 90th percentile in both height and weight. He only just dropped to the 83rd percentile this year. Declan, however, has been on the other end of the spectrum. He is gaining weight by little increments and the doctor swears he is a healthy baby, but he is a little guy in comparison. Each doctor's appointment, Declan has dropped in his percentiles. He is now down to 26th percentile for height and only 19th percentile for his weight. When AJ was 5 months old, he was wearing 6 to 9 month clothing. Declan is 6 1/2 months old and still wearing 3 to 6 months clothing.