4th of July at Kim's

This year for the 4th of July Andy, AJ and I went to my sister Kim's house. Kim just had a baby boy, Grayson Thomas, on July 1st, so he had quite the homecoming with a little party the day after he left the hospital! He's a wonderful baby, sleeping much of the time, and when he was awake, he would just look around! I'm not sure I remember AJ ever doing that...is that what newborns are usually like?!? Anyway, here is Andy, the proud Uncle, with Grayson. Grayson's sisters, Karly, 5, and Kyra, 2, think it's cool to have a brother and I'm sure Brandon (my bro-in-law) is thrilled to have a son. Karly, of course, can say his name, but Kyra is so far calling him "bro" which is totally cute!

AJ was decked out in his most "patriotic" outfit, and was excited to run around the party. Just like at home, he thinks going outside, then back in, then out again, over and over, is really fun. I see the draw, but I also dislike flies in the house, so we try to keep this game short and then pick one side of the door for a while...outside won at Kim's house, and AJ thought her garden was very pretty, especially the american flag pinwheels.

After a while, AJ had to take a breather. He climbed up in this chair and hung out for a minute, just long enough for me to take his picture sitting still. That's getting harder and harder to do these days! An increasing number of my pictures of him are of the back of his head while he's running here or there. I had forgotten what he was holding, so I blew this picture up and remembered it was a big piece of sidewalk chalk. He doesn't really get how to use it yet, but hey, at least he wasn't eating it!

After dinner at Kim's and a lot of running around, AJ was tired. His normal bedtime these days is around 7:30. On this night, however, we let him stay up later. At around 8:15, Andy and I decided that we'd try to see if AJ would sleep in the Pack N Play in the girls' room. He screamed for a couple min, but quieted down quickly and passed out! We were able to stay and watch the Roselle fireworks display from Kim's driveway (she has a perfect view, being very close to the HS where they are set off) and even the huge bangs didn't wake him up! After the show ended, we scooped him up like a sack of potatoes, put him in the car, and we were off. The transitions were easier than expected, so maybe we will be successful again next time! (for any of you who know about my trials and tribulations with AJ not sleeping at other people's places, you'll know this was a BIG deal!)