I have a whole bunch of pictures for you today.

Alex used the jumpy jump for the first time this week and loves it. After he was in it the first time, he went right to sleep for a nice long nap. I think I love that thing. :)


Alex also used the exersaucer this week. His brother was showing him how the toys worked. We had to stuff some blankets in around him so he wouldn't fall to one side. But he can reach the toys by himself already:


Glenn drew a picture of a person for the first time (that I've seen) at the park this week on the sidewalk with chalk. So, I had him draw on paper when we got home. this person has two overlapping eyes, no nose, a mouth, hair, and no body. Usually they have a nose and no eyes. He also practiced drawing lines. He says across or down when he's drawing them (depending on if he is drawing horizontal or vertical):



Today, we carved our pumpkin. I drew the face, and Bob and Glenn did the rest. Bob made Glenn take out all the pumpkin guts:



Then we cooked the pumpkin seeds. Glenn couldn't get enough of them.

I'm Certified!

I just received notice that I passed the certification exam in public health. You may remember I took the exam in August(a few weeks after Alex was born). Having this certification will help me when I go back into the work field because it means I know about the core competencies of public health. In the meantime, I'll have to complete continuing education credits to make sure I stay up to date with what's going on in public health. It also means that when I publish papers, I'll get to put CPH along with MPH after my name (I have a paper or two still pending publishing from when I worked at UConn). In 10 years, if I want to remain certified, I'll have to take the test again.

Glenn played in the dirt all afternoon (see picture below). He looks as though it's cold outside, but it wasn't. It was in the 70's today, and beautiful. I had put his sweatshirt on him this morning when we woke up since we left the windows open last night and it was cold. And he put it back on after we got home from church. If there's a hood, he has to wear it on his head.


Here are more videos from a couple of weeks ago.
Glenn's Wheels:


Alex making the sound he greets us with:

My Big Project

I worked on Glenn's room all weekend. I painted the walls blue on Saturday, and the brown stripes on Sunday. I ran out of paint Saturday with about a quarter of the room left to paint. I was annoyed that I had to buy a whole gallon more just for that small part of the room. I used the new no VOC paint (Fresh something)from Home Depot, which only comes in gallons. Although there was a slight paint smell, it wasn't strong at all.

Anyway, back to Glenn's room; I am going to buy a stuffed animal hammock, which will go in the corner above his bed. We also need to buy a new light cover (Bob broke the old one several months ago). My next painting project will probably be the play room. It has a sponge painting treatment, which is cool, but I have never really grown to like the color- red. I think a lighter color would make the room brighten up and look bigger. I'll probably wait until after Christmas to paint it.

Here are pictures of Glenn's new room. He says it's cool!

I read to Glenn's class yesterday. It was a lot of fun. I came into their classroom just before they came back from breakfast. Glenn saw me and said, "Mommy, what are you doing. You're silly." He didn't think I belonged in his classroom. I got to see their circle time- singing songs, doing the calendar, and then I read the book: "How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight?" Then I got to see them play while the teacher had them come to her one at a time and do some color and letter matching, then paint a little pumpkin. Alex was with me and actually fell asleep in my arms while they were playing, even with all the noise.

This morning was very foggy. We walked to school and when we got to the soccer fields, we couldn't even see to the other side. Glenn was very scared of the fog. I tried to explain to him that it was just clouds down on the ground, but he was still scared. I can see how it would be scary.

I edited a couple of videos. The first is of Alex doing tummy time. And the second is Glenn trying to do somersaults.

Glenn started Sunday School yesterday. He had so much fun. When we went into his classroom, one of the girls gave him a donut (which the teacher later told me was all over his hands- green frosting). I was in Bible study in the main room outside of his classroom, and we heard them playing musical instruments and the teacher say "blow your trumpets." I thought they must be reinacting the battle of Jerico, and sure enough, they were. And he got stickers to play with during the church service, which of course ended up all over his shirt. :) Hey, it least it wasn't my shirt (although tonight my shirt was decorated with Nick Jr stickers). I'm so happy for him that he had a good time, and has a teacher that has the perfect way to teach Bible stories to kids his age.

I have been taking some video of the boys. So when I get a chance to upload it to the computer (hopefully tomorrow), I'll post some clips. In the meantime, here are a few pictures:

Alex with his bear- he was hugging it today and likes to play with the ribbon:


Alex looked so sweet sleeping in my arms:


My boys:

Glenn got caught last night. I had washed some bottle nipples and some pacifiers, leaving them on the counter to dry. After dinner, I caught Glenn with one of the nipples in his hand. I asked him what he was doing, and walked over to see what he had touched. Luckily he hadn't washed his hands yet, so I could see which he had touched. He had touched two of the nipples. I asked if he put them in his his mouth, and he said, "No, Mommy. That's silly." And I noticed food on one of the pacifiers, so I asked if he put that in his mouth. He sheepishly nodded yes. I couldn't get mad at him. It took him almost 3 months to try out a pacifier. He doesn't remember that he used one because he was 7 months old when we took it away. So, I couldn't blame him for wanting to try it out. :)

Alex is beginning to find that he has body parts. He grabs at and plays with his left ear (hasn't found his right ear, yet). Yesterday, he clasped his hands together. Now he plays with his hands, and seems so proud of himself. If I put my face real close to his, he likes to grab my nose or lips and puts his hands on my cheeks. I love that!

Glenn is really growing up. The other day, when we said it was time to come to the table for dinner, he said, "I'm on the phone." He was holding a play phone. He's so cute. He's saying grown up things all the time.

Alex and I got out to do some shopping this morning, and I finally found a jacket for Glenn. You'd think that there would be jackets in all the stores for kids since the cooler weather is coming, but I found it very difficult to find one. I found one at Kohl's, and it's even lined with a little fleece to keep him warm (he's a true Floridian, saying it's cold when it's below 75 degrees). I really wanted a jacket with a hood for when it rains, since he's outgrown all of his other jackets. He modeled it for me. By the way, he's showing his muscles, that's why his arms are up.
We should be able to get a couple of years out of it: