Christmas 2012 and Some Random Pictures

This was an interesting Christmas for us this year so we don't have a ton of pictures to share.  About a week before Christmas, Carter started to get what seemed like a cold.  As the week progressed his symptoms got worse and by the Friday before Christmas he was admitted to a local children's hospital with RSV.  He wound up spending 6 days, including his first Christmas, in the hospital.  Jen spent all six days with Carter in the hospital.  Thanks to technology, we Jake and I were able to Skype with Jen on Christmas Day so that she could watch Jake open some of his gifts.  Thankfully Carter is doing MUCH better.

About a week before Christmas Jen found a video of a fireplace on Netflix.  Since we don't have a fireplace right now in the town house, we have had this running on the TV almost every day.  As you can see, we even hung our stockings by the fireplace as well.  Jen even claims that when this is on the TV it makes the room feel warner!

This is Spidey (aka Jake) helping out by opening Carter's presents a few days after Christmas.

Is it possible that we have two Batman fans in the house now?

 About a week ago we had enough snow so Jake and I went out to have some fun.  He went for a ride on a sled and even built a snowman.  Unfortunately, Jake had more fun knocking down the snowman that building it, but it was fun while it lasted.

After a hard day of playing in the snow, nothing is better than a cup of hot chocolate.  This was Jake's first cup of hot chocolate, and I think we have a fan for life. 

The First Month

This Thursday it will officially be one month since Carter joined the family.  So basically it has bee a month since Jen, Bailey and I have slept through the night.  Thankfully Jake is able to sleep through most of Carter's crying during the night.  At his last weigh in, Carter weighed 9.4 pounds.  And due to the fact that he seems to eat every hour, he has to be quickly approaching 11 pounds!  So here are a few of my favorite photo over the past few weeks.

It has been a while since we posted any pictures of Bailey, so here she is.

There is no way that Jake can be as old as he looks in this picture!  

These two are going to cause us some trouble as Carter gets older.

Since Halloween I am pretty sure that Jake has worn his costume almost every weekend and even some nights when he comes home from day care.  That thing is going to disintegrate around him one of these days.  He was so happy to put up the tree and more importantly the star.  Since we put up the tree he asks to be picked up to touch it almost as often as he wears his Spidey costume.

Every time I see this picture I think of those glamor school picture poses of the 80's and early 90's.  All we need is a fake bookcase or some other backdrop and we would be set.  

Introducing Carter Reid Widman (Updated)

Jen, Jake and I welcomed Carter to our family at 12:26pm today 11/6/12. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. and measured 20.25 inches. Jen and Carter are both doing great!

Here are a few pictures from the hospital. Jake was very excited to meet "my baby".

OK, don't really have a lot of time, but I wanted to add a few more pictures.

 Grandmother came to visit and she was a HUGE help.  I think she probably needed a vacation from the few days she was here, but it was appreciated.

This was the first time that Jake held Carter.  Now it is all he wants to do! Carter did eventually stop crying and the two of them are getting along great.

Carter and Jen are both still doing well, and we are all settling into our new routines.  Be sure to check back as I hope to update this pretty regularly.

Fall Fest and Pumpkin Carving

This past weekend we went to the local Fall Fest put on by the town.  Jake had a great time.  He got to meet Buzz Lightyear, eat cotton candy, pick out a pumpkin and a bunch of other fun stuff.  

I am surprised Jake didn't want to go home and get his Buzz wings so he could be Buzz as well.

The Kansas City Kite Enthusiasts had quite a display of kites on a very windy day. I couldn't get a very good picture of the kites, but the huge cat in the background is just a weight to hold down the main kite which was over 100 feet in the air.

Jake had a chance to try and run with a parachute behind him.  He did a really good job for a while but got tired pretty quickly.  I think Jen and I need to invest in one of these so he can burn some extra energy on a regular basis.  Come to think of it, that would be good for Bailey as well!!!

Captain Jake.  There were balloon artists there who were making really cool things for the kids.  Once he got his balloons Jake kept saying, "Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirates life for me" and "AAARRRRR matey."  It really was quite funny.

I think he looks a little like Ponce de Leon here don't you?

When we got back from Fall Fest Jake wanted to carve the pumpkin we got.  For the most part he was very helpful scooping out all the seeds, but he didn't want to touch anything with his hands because it is "yucky."

The finished product.  A proud Jake smiling with his Jack-O-Lanern.  Jake was responsible for the entire design of the Jack-o-Lantern.

Bierox and Trunk or Treat

Jen's family has an amazing recipe for Bierox.  For those of you who don't know, Bierox is dough stuffed with sauteed beef, onions, cheese and cabbage then baked in the oven.  They sort of look like  a calzone when finished.  Anyway a few weekends ago we decided to make them and Jake wanted to help.  As it tuned out, he was much better at playing with the flour than rolling the dough.  Although, until he discovered it was more fun to throw the flour around he did do a great job of rolling the dough.

This is Jake getting very Emeril Lagasse (BAM) with the flour.

By this time Jake was just playing in the flour.  Just take a look at his shirt, face and arms!

This picture has nothing to do with Bierox, but just look at the joy on his face as he bits into a brownie.  

This past Friday, Jake's day care had their annual Trunk or Treat/Chili cook off event.  Parents had to sign up and decorate the trunk of their cars.  Once it was dark the kids would come by and trick or treat at the cars. It was a ton of fun and the three of us all had a great time.  This is what our trunk looked like.

This is an early preview of what Jake will wear for Halloween.  The only problem with letting him wear his costume early is that we are having a really hard time keeping him out of it until Halloween next week.

As you can see, we all got into the spirit of the evening.  Jake made me dress up as Batman because Batman and Spidey are friends.  We wanted to get a catwoman outfit for Jen but we couldn't find one.  Instead, she settled on being a nice witch.

These are Jake's teachers at his day care.  They have been with him since his first day at the school.

Grandma and Pop Pop's Visit

In September Grandma and Pop Pop came to visit from NY.  We all had a great week, from which Pop Pop is probably still recovering!  Her are some of our favorite pictures.

Grandma and Grandpa took Jake to the local farmstead.  They had a busy day fishing, playing on the playground, eating ice cream and of course pretzels!

 In addition to feeding the goats food, Jake also fed this one his shirt.  I guess they really do eat anything.

Jake isn't setting any records with this catch, but it is a fish none the less.  How do you catch a fish that is smaller than the hook anyway?

Buzz and Spidey.  What a pair.

Jake decided that after seeing Pop Pop shave he wanted to give it a shot too.  Thankfully Grandmother had given Jake a shaving kit a while ago just for this purpose.

While I was at school Jen, Jake, Mom and Dad went to a local orchard for Ciderfest.  Jake climbed up this slide all by himself and then as you can see had a great time coming down.

We all had a great visit and look forward to seeing Grandma and Pop Pop in January.  See you then guys!