Some Zoo pictures from John's camera.

These pictures are from James's brother John's camera. John took some of them and James took some as well, so I am not sure who took which ones, but I think John took all of them except the last one in the post. Obviously James couldn't take the ones he is in!

Jake's first carousel ride.

As you can see and read about in the post below we ran into someone we know at the zoo!

Jake and Conner together again!

While at the zoo we ran into Connor and his parents Joe and Elizabeth. Joe, Elizabeth and I were in the Mississippi Teacher Corps together and Elizabeth and I were at the same school and had the boys three months apart. Last year they were in Japan teaching English and even though they have been back since this past fall we have not managed to meet up with them again until this accidental encounter (If you remember fall I was VERY pregnant with Mari and we are just now trying our luck with traveling). Hopefully we can find some time this summer to get together again!

Jake was very interested in everything Connor did. He was very tired when we ran into them (no nap on Saturday) but he asked about him after he left. I think he was just in shock that Connor exists in real life as we look at pictures of him on his blog all the time.

Above Jake and Connor look at some Pink Flamingos. Below is the last time we were together at the Mississippi Teacher Corps graduation, middle of May 2006. Joe is holding Connor who is almost 9 months in the picture and James was holding an almost 6 month old Jake. Connor is three months older than Jake to the day (both born on the 25th).

Our long day at the Memphis Zoo

Last Saturday we went to Southaven to visit James's sister, Cheri, and brother, John and John's girlfriend Angela. While there we went to the zoo with John and Cheri (Angela flew in later that evening). We had a great time but when we got home we were all worn out and spent Sunday recovering! This is the longest trip we have taken with Mari. The camera setting got nudged in the camera bag and we didn't realize it was on black and white for quite some time. We still got some cute pictures though!

Mari was grabbing at James' face and giggling.

Jake was very proud of his hat and was holding it on at the slightest hint of a breeze.

As you can see we ended up carrying both kids and pushing the stroller.

The first and last time Jake went to the zoo he was 10 months old and his two favorite things were this exit sign and the elephants. As you can see Mari did not particularly care for the exit sign.

Halfway through the trip Mari finally decided she would ride in the stroller. She took a few catnaps and played with her toys.

Above is Jake on James's shoulders, John and Cheri and Mari in the stroller (although you can't see her). They are standing in front of the Panda but you can't see it either.

Jake's first ride on a carousel. He looked nervous the entire time!

After his carousel ride he was so excited he just had to wake up Mari and tell her about it!

While Jake and Cheri look at the Polar bear swimming, Mari checks out her lightening bug toy.

While looking at some monkeys, Jake kept yelling "Hey Monkey!, Hi!"

It was a lot of fun and we plan on going back this fall/winter when Mari can enjoy it better. No one got sunburned this time either so that was a plus. All in all we were there for around 5 hours.

Grandmother Carr

On most Thursday afternoons, my Mother-in-law, Ann comes to visit.

I like to eat apples and bananas...

We decided to introduce Mari to food at 5 months instead of 6 because she kept grabbing things off my plate and we are hoping solid food will help her sleep better (we don't do cereal in the bottle). So far she likes apples, but as you can see below-is not so sure about bananas!

Jake loves both! He eats vegetable soup almost every day for lunch on request. I am so glad that he is such a good eater now that his reflux is resolved. I hope Mari continues to take to food well!

Jake and the gate!

Jake is a night owl. James and I were, in our former non parent lives, but when you have to wake up several times a night with Mari (me) and normally need 10 hours asleep (the large James mammal) you don't want to party till the sun comes up anymore. Jake does! So to keep his lifestyle from hampering ours and vise versa, we put a gate on his bedroom door (just between the hours of 8:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.) We were expecting screaming and wailing. Instead we got "Mamma, Daddy play," yelled down the hall for a few hours and then he decided he could burn the mid-night oil all by himself. I have heard him talking to himself and his toys as late as 11:30 but for two weeks now the gate has worked wonders. Previous to this Jame was laying down in Jake's room with him until he fell asleep (or rather they both fell asleep) and then I would go wake up James to get him to come to sleep in our room. It was rarely before eleven that Jake would actually fall asleep (despite the hours of laying in bed) and so it was hard on both of us. The gate has been a lifesaver. Thank you Julie Gibens for the wonderful idea! I took a few pictures of Jake just to demonstrate what goes on. The second night we did this I still heard him talking at around midnight so I went down to his room and the pictures above and immediately below are what I found. The bottom picture was 8 am the next day! I don't normally let him sleep so late but I knew he had to be tired. Now he is sleeping from about 10:30 pm 7:30 am!

Mari rolling around

Mari has been rolling over on the bed now for some time, but she has finally mastered the art of rolling over on a hard surface like the floor. I took these pictures in the days when she was still trying so hard to fully roll over on the floor. Now that she can do it she get on all fours and tries to scoot around! She is growing up way too fast!