April 14, 2009

• Easter weekend

  Sorry I didn’t get these posted yesterday – I had a busy day and by the time it wasn’t busy I was having computer issues and had to work on finding a bug.  Still not sure it’s gone but it seems to be behaving better. 

  Anyway, we had a lovely weekend.  Joe and Amy called Friday night to say they’d be up the following day, so I was buzzing with excitement, and so was Grandpa Faron.  He went out the next day shopping for food and presents for our wee guys.  Not that Jared had any interest at all, but one must be fair! 

  They arrived about noon and stayed all afternoon.  We managed a few photographs:

  

  Derek discovered Grandma Cin’s scooter.  We declined to show him that it actually moves, upon the advice of his parents, who said we’d never get him off of it. 

  

  I divided my time between enjoying the feel of a tiny baby in my arms and enjoying the antics of a 21 month old who knows he’s the center of the universe, at least for the four adults involved in that day’s activities!  Jared’s a beautiful baby, but quite a hefty armful, especially compared to his brother.  At 1 month old, Jared’s already more than 9 lbs.  At 21 months old, Derek’s about 21 or 22 lbs.  Derek is getting taller, and he’s changing his looks.  Jared is pure Amy, although his coloring is Joe’s. 

  

  

  Little Jared is very strong, holding his head up for long periods.

  

  He makes full eye contact and even tracks things moving in front of his face. He grunts and snorts and farts like an old man.  Derek giggles at all the various noises that come out of this strange intrusion in his life.  He (Derek, that is) is adjusting fairly well, although he still doesn’t care for Joe to hold Jared.  Daddy’s working long hours these days, going to school nights and of course, Guard duty takes time away too.  Derek’s used to being the sole focus of his father’s attention when Joe’s home, so when Joe pays attention to this new kid, Derek’s ticked off!  On the other hand, he is quite concerned when the baby cries, following Amy to where ever she goes to tend to Jared’s needs, watching every move she makes.  All in all, he’s doing pretty well. The only evidences of a “Terrible Twos” type temper tantrum are when Joe holds Jared, and they don’t give him any attention at all while he does it.  We didn’t see a single evidence of it.  Of course, I held Jared as much as possible…

  Faron  had a few projects going on and Joe took Derek outside to see what Grandpa Faron was up to.  Derek was most interested, Joe said, checking it all out. 

  

  Of course, the pile of stones that Grandpa was working with were interesting too. 

  As was the garden hose.

  

  My poor husband is getting quite frantic at the lack fo grass growing, despite his avid attentions, repeated sowing of seeds, etc.  If you have any ideas, please let us know!

  The most interesting thing Derek discovered outside:

  

  We had a great day.  Jason and Tiana had gone up to the Glory Barn with a large part of the Meyer Clan, where they were spending Easter Weekend.  They came back early because of tiredness.  Jason hadn’t had a lot of sleep in the previous days. 

  Joe and Amy and the children left around 4 to go to Joe’s cousin’s house for dinner.  Joe’s grandmother died Saturday morning after a very long illness.  Their family, like most families does at such times, had need of gathering together.  Because Joe’s mom would be involved with funeral arrangements, we invited them to eat with us at noontime on Easter Sunday, and they accepted.

  We had another good visit, and Jared spent most of his time safe in Grandma’s arms, although I got plenty of time to play with Derek, too.  Amy did have to feed Jared, after all. 

  Tiana brought the giant hoola-hoops we’d made last weekend in to show Joe and Amy, and of courses, that led to all of them going outside to try them out, despite Joe’s and my warnings to Amy to recall that she’s recovering from major surgery.  She wasn’t much impressed.

  

  No matter  that she’s 4 weeks out of a c-section, Amy did just fine.

  

  Joe did ok, but didn’t go as long as Amy. 

  Or Tiana.

  

  

  Derek got a turn too, but with his own interpretation.  Amy keeps going…

   

  I think they proved that theyll be a great success at the reception!

  

  Derek demonstrates his own take on art.  The most exciting part appeared to be dumping out the crayons.

  Pardon the cange of direction of this video – it’s still worth watching, as Jared is engrossed in the DVD he’s watching and follows along with their dances and action.  So cute!

  Without considering what it would do to the video, I rotated the camera to get Derek marching.  Sorry!  As I said though, it’s still precious.

  We’re looking forward to seeing Joe and his sweet family in just two more weeks as we will spend the night there on our way out of town going to Las Vegas.  We’re flying out of Baltimore. 

  I’ve been tired these past two days but otherwise fine.  Wedding prep is going well.  Faron needs a new jacket and new sneakers before we  go, but he seems to think he has plenty of time to get them!  Driving me nuts. 

  

  me<><

  • 3:24 pm
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