Life at the South House

Griffin is loving Luke more each day. I can't even count how many times a day I hear, "Baby Nuke, kiss." Griffin doesn't understand that he can kiss him on his cheek or his head with his lips. Instead he thinks that a kiss is touching his cheek to Luke's cheek or his head to Luke's head. I love it!

Here Griffin is getting a little aggressive with his brotherly love.

We took Griffin to the splash pad. We thought that he would love it... but not so much.

Marc was trying to warm him up to it.

He did much better when he had something to play with in the water. So we emptied out some snacks from the diaper bag and started to have fun.

He got even more brave when we gave him a car to play with.



And then another kid running by and kicking water splashed him, and he was done. We'll try again before the summer is over.

Anytime, we go anywhere in the car Griffin wants to see horses. Living in Lehi that's not too hard to accomplish. The other night we pulled over to get an even closer look.

Griffin was still a little scared at first but he warmed up really fast. And, as you can see from the pictures below, these horses were stretching through the fence and loved the attention that we were giving them!

We have been trying to enjoy the firepit, but considering that as soon as it cools off it becomes a freaking mosquito infested wasteland, it makes it a little less enjoyable. Marc said it's death by firing squad. So, we hurry and roast up some marshmallows, snarf down some smores and that's about all we can handle.
Baby "Nuke" is now almost 6 weeks old. Earlier this week he weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz. and he's wearing clothes that Griffin wore when he was 3 months old! I am watching him grow right before my eyes and time is flying by faster than ever before!

Marc got a little extra workout while mowing the lawn this week. Griffin was in heaven (I love that he has a fire truck in his hand).

Griffin is learning how to feed himself... this is how that is going.

Hike to Timp Cave
My sister Megan and her family are visiting from Washington and some of our family got together for a hike up to the cave.

We loaded up our boys and were on our way! Good thing Marc got some training in with Griff on his back while mowing the lawn!













Griffin did pretty well in the cave as long as Marc had a steady stream of jelly beans going into his mouth. We had a blast!

Weekends

Our last few weekends have been really fun. We have been enjoying the summer and love getting out of the house! Most nights when Marc gets home from work we go on a little walk around the block. This is how Luke rolls.

And this is how Griffin rolls. He loves to push his tractor and dump truck!

It takes quite a while to get all the way around the block with Griffin. He likes to stop and pick up every rock and throw it. He also has a fascination with ants... so anytime we see one... like I said, it takes a while.

Since Griffin LOVES firetrucks we thought that it would be fun to take him to the Steel Days Parade so he could experience them in real life, not just on YouTube. So glad I have this video!

It's a love/hate relationship.

Here he is still recovering from the HONK!

And little Lukie just chills through it all.

Our next outing was the Zoo. We thought that Griffin would LOVE this. However, he was more interested in the water, than the animals. He pointed out the water in all the animals cages. It was so stinking hot that day, so a lot of the animals were sleeping, so that was kind of a bummer. I had not been to the zoo for probably 7 years. HOLY HILLS! That place is crazy with hills and (and I'm really out of shape) and it was so hot that we only lasted a couple hours.

We couldn't get him to stand where he was supposed to for the photo op, but you get the idea.

And once we were in the nice, air conditioned car he crashed. That means he had fun, right? Or he had heat stroke? Not sure.

Our most recent outing was to the duck pond at Highland Glen Park. Is anyone else bothered that it's not called Adventure and Learning Park anymore? I remember coming here with my preschool and many times since then. It will always be Adventure and Learning Park to me!

Griffin loved throwing bread to/at the ducks! Anytime he gets to throw something he's happy!

Luke in his little cocoon! He is a little angel who sleeps through most everything when we are out and about. Sleeping at night, now that's another story.

And on to the playground

It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt!

July Fourth

Our day was filled with family, food, fireworks and fun!

My dad got to come home from the rehab center for the day! He was rockin' those superman pants!

And here we are, the family of four!

Luke at Home

Things got off to a rough start at home for Luke. His Bilirubin level was high so he had to be under the lights. We started out with just the Bili blanket for one day but his level still went up so they moved us on the suitcase. After 3 days on the lights and 4 days of heel pokes he was finally able to get out. I hated having his little naked body in there. It made me so sad that I had to just watch him lay there when I should be holding and bonding with him. It was heart breaking. I am grateful for the technology that we have that keeps our babies healthy and safe though.

Griffin came to visit us at the hospital but wasn't interested in his brother at all. I said, "Griffin, do you want to come see the baby?" and he said, " NO, bye baby."

When we brought Luke home, Griffin decided to take a little more interest. At first Griffin would imitate every little squeak or grunt that Luke would make. It was pretty funny. When we let Griffin hold him he started out by poking his eyes...

then his nose...

then his lips...

and then his head.

Finally, he decided to give him a hug. I love my boys! Luke is gonna be tough. Griffin pulls Luke's blankets off and throws toys or pretty much anything that he can find over the side of the bassinet. Brotherly love, right? He makes up for being naughty by saying, "Cute Baby Luke."

My dad recently had his knee replaced and is recovering at a care center in Orem. Grandpa was excited to meet his new grandson. He called me to check on Luke everyday until he got to meet him.

It is so nice to be home and have everybody under the same roof. Marc has been back to work and I have been able to handle being a mother of two pretty well. We even made a quick trip to Walmart and made it back home in one piece. I was worried!