6 months and flying...

On Valentine's Day, our amazingly beautiful little man Charles Alan turned 6 months old. "It can't be true," and, "It can't be possible," are the things I keep saying to myself. 6 MONTHS. It has FLOWN by, like I blinked and missed my newborn coming home from the hospital and now all of a sudden his is eating his feet and rolling over.


Ohhhh, here come the tears. If any of you know me, you know that I love nothing more then babies, well maybe wedding dresses but they run neck and neck. I would have a million babies. But after I had Sam I realized that they grow up. This is something that I am still struggling with. I HATE that Sam is growing up for so many reasons. But on the other hand it is truly miraculous to watch. Sam and Charlie learn new things EVERYDAY. When is the last time you really LEARNED something new? I love my little men. I love to snuggle. I love the kisses. I love the giggles and even the cries...Charlie's newborn cry is pretty much gone. But aside from that we get new things to love. His smile is infectious and his dimples are ridiculous.
For now his baby smell is sticking around! You know what smell I'm talking about.

Daddy and Son Pancakes

Greg has taken on a new challenge--cooking. As you can see below he has taken on a very special assistant as well. Sam loves his stoouul (stool). Greg also have very special recipes. For instance, below you are seeing Sam and Daddy make the ultimate pancakes. Greg's recipe for ultimate pancakes come from the bisquick box. But it isn't the standard recipe for pancakes...it is the upgraded version on the side of the box! Ahhh, what would Gordon Ramsey say?

Here is a very enthusiastic high five for not totally destroying the pancake mix. Sam has become quite the assistant in the kitchen. Minus the day he totally walked off the stool. He loves measuring, dumping and stirring. We are working on cracking the eggs :)

Charles on the other hand is working on putting rice cereal in as many hidden (and also many visible) places. He thoroughly LOVES eating, which is awesome. It is like having a whole different baby...oh yeah, they are different babies!

Maryland, My Maryland

Damn Terps. Thank God we didn't go to THAT game on Saturday. We got our asses handed to us and Greivis Vasquez played his last game at Cameron.

Mountain Man Returns with Son

I am writing a pilot for a new show called, "My Two Lumberjacks".

In an attempt to reclaim his youth or test his manhood, Greg grew a full beard. I think he was starting to get nervous because of the grays in his hair that he felt the need to grow a full, dark beard. So be it. He didn't get any love for 33 days. Exactly how long it took him to shave it off.

Brothers

This is Sam pretending to share his cars with Charlie. Really Charlie was just the backdrop for his new Cars Town. And then Sam began to shriek because Charlie was touching them :)

This is lunch hour at our house. Sam is very well versed in trying to give Mommy a heart attack by standing in his high chair. We have since worked on asking him to say, "Can I be excused please?" at least before standing or trying to jump down. Charlie on the other hand has learned how to sit directly up in his bouncer which then propels him forward...hence another heart attack! Boys, through and through.

Sam's BFF Monroe

These were taken at Christmas. Sam put in his order for a dog a little too late. But Monroe was a great stand in! What cuties!

Ravens

Some mornings look like this in the Kastendike household. Mommy knows that she shouldn't be sticking both her 2 1/2 yr old and a 5 month old in front of TV but technically this is a DVD player and not TV at all....right? She NEEDS her COFFEE OK?!?!?!?!?!? And it was Sunday--the day of RELAXATION and overindulgence in good food.


OK--so the Ravens had my hopes all up about making the playoffs and they seemed to be improving towards the end of the season. Lots of the games that they lost were only by a few points and were due to some JACKASS fumbling or missing a field goal or throwing an interception (I love you Flacco, don't get me wrong).

Don't MESS with Ray-Ray!

He is the happiest little boy around I swear. I'm not sure what we did to deserve both of these amazingly happy little boys but we sure are lucky! Oh, and they are cute too! And see--they do like each other!

And...

Oh yeah, when we returned from Christmas we were ALL sick. Sam and Greg actually left early from my mom's because Sam was so sick. Then Wendy drove us, Charlie and I, home the next day. Charlie started not feeling well, then of course I got it :( THANK goodness Wendy was here. I got to rest a little. Then Greg of course got it. The picture below is of snot--Sam learned to wipe his nose on his sleeve!


And THEN, Sam decided to give himself a black eye. He has started helping us in the kitchen. We have a wooden stool that he can climb on. Well, I was peeling carrots and chopping veggies and he was doing a great job helping. All of a sudden he turned and walked right off the stool. He caught himself but I think his hand landed, then hit him right below his eyebrow. It was a little swollen that night but looked ok. The next morning we woke up to this....Here is Katie--the baby whisperer. She is magic with babies. Charlie just sat and watched her and then nodded off to sleep. She has a special touch...if anyone is looking for a full time nanny...let me know--I'll pass along the info!


Here is another shot of the shiner a few days later. Sam and I made quite a pair. I couldn't leave the house with him for a few days until his eye cleared up. I was afraid that with my cast and his black eye that someone would call CPS!
And see...I told you that they like each other. Charlie is becoming enamored with Sam and Sam is starting to interact with Charlie just a little bit more each day! It is so sweet. I truly hope that they are the best of friends!


Really what this should say is, "Charlie, don't even think about touching my trucks, cars or trains." Love, Sam.