ROAD TRIP!!!

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. There has been a good reason. We headed up to Greensboro last week to see my family. John took a work/vacation trip to Las Vegas where he risked his life rock climbing for the first 2 days and then attended the National Realtors' Convention for the remainder of the time. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures to share from his climbing experience, but he'll be willing to tell you about it if you're interested.

While in G'boro, Jack, Finn and I made the rounds to see a lot of our family members which was great. Jack knew everyone by name before we left. The best pronounciations have to be "Teem and Kaptee" for Tim and Kathy. "Melissa" is hardly recognizable, but funny to hear his attempt.

Here's a look at what we were up to:


Here's Anna and Owen, my first cousins, hanging out with their 2nd cousins. Anna did an incredible job feeding Finley and then reluctantly passed him off to her brother, Owen. Jack had so much fun playing with their toys and being around them. I'm sure he'd love to be with them more often! Jack also was able to see his other cousin, Adam, who was so good playing with Jack! I did get a picture, but it was only the top of his head that you could see. I'm the worst picture taker.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Melissa (and doggy cousin, Fergie in the background) took care of Jack while I attended a baby shower for one of my college roomies (Erin) in Chapel Hill. Jack had a blast as I'm sure they did. It was fun to see my girlfriends from Chapel Hill! I also got a picture of that, but I didn't want to post any pregnant pictures without permission (although the picture is adorable and is very blog worthy).

Although we missed the familiarity of our own beds and toys, we did take advantage of what all Greensboro has to offer for children. Here is Jack at the Natural Science Center petting zoo. He loved the goats probably more than anything...even more than the tigers. Don't worry, they're not part of the petting part. He called the goats doggies for a while. He even laid his head on one of the goats like he does his own dog, Scout.

Great picture of Jack and John walking through the petting zoo. Look at the leaves!!!! Jack loved the trees and all of the leaves on the ground. One day we were riding in the car and Jack says, "Mommy! Trees are orange!"

Apparently the slides in Greensboro carry as much static electricity in them as the slides in Bluffton. This was taken at Country Park, where I got my first and only bee sting as a child.

Mommy and Finn in the swing at Country Park.

Jack loved the Children's Museum as well. I guess he missed home a little, too, when he decided to play in the sand over all of the other toys and displays that were offered! He enjoyed the transportation set up the best: an airplane with a slide that came out of the cockpit, a real police car, race car, fire engine, and toy train set. He's into that kind of stuff.

Hopefully he wouldn't approach a real train in this fashion.
Of all the kiddy things we did, I think this was Jack's favorite: BounceU! It's an indoor playground with bounce houses everywhere. He was one of the smaller children there that day, but he managed to hang with the big kids. He loved climbing up this incline and sliding down the other side. John was very proud to see his boy climbing!

And here's the Finn man. This was at Jump n' Fun, another variation of an indoor playground. Jack again enjoyed it. Finley and I sat on the floor playing and trying to eavesdrop on a nearby collection of playgroup mothers who were not too friendly.
They all had their daytimers out planning the next playgroup, which was titled "Christmas Craft and Play". Funny.

So, thank you, Mimi and Poppy for hosting us last week! And thanks to Gammy, Pa, Mema, and Deda for entertaining us at your homes! We had a great time and look forward to coming back soon! We love you!!!

Hope all the readers out there are doing well.

Boxers and Elefinns

We've had fun enjoying the Fall this year in Bluffton. Despite the unusually warm temperatures, we've made it out to a festival or two, and last night, we had fun Trick-or-Treating! There are a lot of pictures to post, so on with it....


Jack enjoyed riding on his Daddy's shoulders during the May River Arts and Seafood Festival. This was last Saturday in downtown Bluffton. They blocked the streets off and, as the name would show, had art and seafood for sale! John pointed out that he was surprised I got so excited about a festival that featured two things I care little about. I told him it was just getting out of the house that excited me. It was a lot of fun! Jack enjoyed the bounce house that a church had set up and he enjoyed eating ribs, which he called chicken.

Around 1pm, which is Jack's naptime, we found him doing this. We were standing talking to some couples in our small group, looked down, and there he was. Either he was tired or our conversation wasn't very entertaining.

Jack got to touch a baby alligator at the street fair. There was a lowcountry wildlife exhibit that he enjoyed. They featured little alligators like this one and several types of turtles. One turtle was called a chicken turtle. He must have liked that one because every once in a while when he's doing his jibber jabber talk, I'll hear 'cheeken tuhtul" come out in the mix.

And everyone knows what this is....AIRPLANE! You know..when someone flies another person in the air resting their feet on the other person's stomach? Jack and I play this a lot during the day. If done correctly, it can be a good ab workout. I need that these days. And Jack always needs something to laugh at and cause potential injuries.

Finn chillin' in his Jack-o-lantern hand-me-down outfit.


Here was Finn on Halloween morning before Community Bible Study. Someone commented while we were there that he was dressed as a cowboy, but she was wrong. It's just Finn in his usual state of awesomeness. Looking like a baby stud. Or cowbaby.

Here's proof that he's reaching for his toys now.


AND NOW......Halloween!!!!

Jack went as a boxer this year, ab muscles and all. This was the best picture I could take because as soon as the costume was on, he was in motion. I think he was practicing his boxing shuffle. He looks like he's about to swing at any moment.

In proper 2nd child fashion, Finn was dressed in Jack's old elephant costume. He looked so cute! Finley didn't mind the elephant ears as much as I remember Jack hating them. This gave me hope that he's going to be our calm one. Goodness knows if Jack's the calm one, we're in for it!!!

Our sons: Finn the Elephant and Mr. Jack Balboa

Seriously though, Jack's costume made me think of Rocky, which has caused me to hum/sing the Rocky theme song, which has in turn made me feel awesome all day long. Try it sometime. Follow it with Eye of the Tiger and you might just burst from all of the power.


Finn was content most of the time. He was mistaken for a girl by almost everyone. Probably all the satiny pink that confused them, right?

We went trick-or-treating in Spanish Wells with Gigi. This was my view from the rear of the pack. Jack looked more like a wizard than a boxer with his robe on. He didn't want anything to do with his bucket until he realized its purpose was for candy holding. Then he wouldn't let his "punkie buckie" out of his sight.

This is the house that went all out for Halloween. They had creepy skeletons dressed as pirates in their yard. The folks that lived there were dressed in pirate outfits, and they even had a lifesize skeleton pirate whose eyes lit up. It also spoke. Jack didn't get a good look at it because John wisely blocked his view. Instead Jack did stare at this huge inflatable pumpkin with ghosts shooting up out of it.


When Jack finally snapped out of the pirate skeleton trance, he came out like this. He looks like he's about to go ape on everyone, doesn' he?

The pirate house gave out the best stuff! They gave Jack this light up pumpkin wand that he's holding. It has lights on it that swirl around. Good thing, too, because I forgot our flashlight at home. He also was given a bag of other toys and huge candy bars. It was insane that these folks got so into this holiday. Kinda creepy if you ask me.

Our family of four!

Here is Jack double fisting it with his Blow Pop and Snickers bar. Don't worry. He didn't eat it. He only had a DumDum lollipop and a few Smarties. (However, he also had a haircut that afternoon. Two cookies and three DumDums later, he emerged with shorter hair and a sheen of sticky over his entire body, so yes, he had enough sugar to last a while.)

Here's Finn and his Gigi. She can always get him to smile! (See picture below)

This close up of Finn shows the huge formula spill on his left shoulder. I love babies and actually enjoy the baby stage, but one negative is the smell of semi-dry formula on clothes. It's awful. It rivals the smell of a forgotten sippy cup that once held milk but now has a yogurty-cheese-ish mixture in it.



This elephant costume has come full circle....Jack's on the Left. Finn's on the Right.


Hope you enjoyed our photos. I'm sure there will be more fun soon!

Big Shoes to Fill

Today is another rainy day in Bluffton. And with that comes another viewing of Finding Nemo. I finally caved after we'd climbed through Jack's tunnel over and over again, built towers with his blocks, read books, eaten lunch, eaten 2 more bananas, and watched every changing of Finley's diaper. Finding Nemo is Jack's current favorite movie. This puts it at #4 in the order of his favorites. First it was anything Elmo, then Cars, then Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and now Nemo. It's almost exciting when we sense a new favorite coming on. We know it's not the end of going around singing silly songs all day. It's just the beginning of a new play list. Here are some pictures from this week:

Here's Jack wearing his Daddy's shoes. We all know that Jack has about the biggest feet around for a child his age (recently purchased size 9's are barely fitting!), but he's still got some room to spare in these. Jack will walk around the house wearing these saying "Daddy work!" He loves his Dad.

Finley enjoys playing with this toy. It's been posted before. There's a little crossbar that has toys hanging from it. He's getting pretty good at reaching for and hitting them. Finn is settling nicely into a little routine these days. He rises at 7am, give or take 30 min. He eats then and follows an eat-wake-sleep cycle every 3 hours. Sometimes the wake is shorter than the sleep and vice versa, but he's a great baby. His "witching hour/s" are after his 7pm feeding, which is okay with me. He's generally awake the entire time until his 10pm feeding, which is his last feeding before bedtime.

The bib he's wearing there says "A Special Delivery by Dr. Blusewicz." It was a gift from my OB's office. They got most of my deductible. We got a bib?...And a baby. It evens out.:)

Jack is now calling the crib, "Finn's bed." I think for a while he remembered it as his and even though he didn't want to sleep in it any longer, he didn't want to verbalize the change that had occured. But he's found that if he looks cute and asks nicely, he'll get to join his brother in the crib for some hang out time. John was running all over the place in the nursery trying to get him to smile. It worked.

Crib Sharin'

Another picture of Finley's smile. He smiles all the time now. For some reason, though, this picture doesn't even look like him to me. But it was a pretty shot of his happy face.

Hope it's raining where you are....especially if you're in California. Pray for the fire victims and firefighters!!!

Enjoy this video of Jack talking about his 'boo boo', which is basically a scab he scratched off of a mosquito bite. Not enough to warrant a 911 call, but plenty enough for a Light'ning McQueen bandaid. He has mastered the art of 'milking it' without anyone having to teach him. No matter how happy he is (in the video he was watching Finding Nemo, which is the state of ultimate happiness) when you ask him about his boo boo, this is his response. Funny child!

Boys, Girls, and Pumpkins

Jack, Finley, Jen, Gracen and I headed to a pumpkin patch in Beaufort this morning. Both of our husbands are working today so we decided to enjoy the crisp (as in burnt to a crisp) October morning outdoors. The pumpkin patch was great. There were goats to feed, pigs to smell, pumpkins to run around and bales of hay to climb on. They also had a little country store where you could buy any pickled item of your choice or buy a normal lunch like PB and J. Jack and Gracen had a great time. Isn't the picture above a great action shot? I took a lot of pictures today and all of them looked like this...Jack mid-run. His constant state is motion!

I wish I could say this was Jack finding the perfect pumpkin, but it's really just one of a hundred that he attempted to pick up and drop on his feet. We did end up leaving with a smaller pumpkin that we plan on painting. I thought we'd paint until he learns that pumpkins can be carved. Way too messy.


Here's Jack and Gracen. Gracen calls Jack "Jack Boy" because one of her dogs is named Jack. He's "Jack Dog" now. Jack and Gracen met at StrollerFit and are now in CBS and MOPS together. They're great friends.

And here is the difference between boys and girls. Jack threw dirt at the goats, which he called cows, and would also throw dirt into the air and let it fall on him. He also nearly fell into a pit of sewage. This was the best picture I could get of him. And then there's Gracen. Look at the little angel holding her pumpkin next to her clean, little face. The poor girl started crying in the parking lot because dirt got in her shoe. By the end of the trip, Jack ended up going home wearing nothing but his diaper and some new bruises. With two boys, I'm gonna have to learn to embrace the filth!


Here is the little hay maze that the kids could run through or climb on or try to destroy by unstacking the bales of hay.

And here's what Finn did at the pumpkin patch! He stayed in his stroller most of the time. To all of you public schoolers, don't the red straps holding his carseat onto the stroller remind you of safety patrol belts? They were actually neon orange and made of plastic, but at first glimpse of this photo, that's what came to mind. I was a safety patroller at Rankin Elementary. I also lost the student council presidential election the following year. Somehow, I think the two went hand in hand.

This was Finntastic last night watching me make his bottles for the next day. Hands folded, paci in place. He's such a good baby! He slept from 10:30 until 4:30 last night! That's great for a 5 week old!

Some of you have asked me to post a picture of myself with the boys. I didn't get them in the photo, but here ya go:)

Baby Einstein

Here's Finley on the left and Jack on the right. I think they look alike, don't you? The picture of Finn was taken this afternoon (his 5 week birthday), and the picture of Jack was taken when he was 2 and a half months old. I couldn't find a great picture of Jack at 5 weeks. There were only 200 to choose from.

Check out Finn's hair though! It's insane! I bathed him this afternoon and used some Neutrogena T Gel, a dandruff shampoo, because Finn's entire body is peeling and the T Gel came highly recommended. Since Jack was mainly a Q Ball at this age, it was easy to pick out the normal newborn peely skin, but with all this hair...we're having some trouble. Apparently the T Gel added a little bit of body to his hair as well because this is how it dried. Finn looks like a little baby Einstein or baby Beethoven or baby version of someone else really smart with terrible hair. Speaking of that... wonder why there seems to be that connection with brains and bad hair. Is it that they're too consumed with knowledge and learning that they don't have time to style? Is it because they feel intellect overpowers ugliness? If there is no reason, and it just seems that they go hand in hand just so people will blog about it's meaninglessness, then I must say, based on hair alone, that my smartest years were spent between the ages of 9-11, also known as the 'bad perm' era. But has there ever, in the history of perms all over the world, been a good one? I've never heard anyone say, "Remember at that Wham concert when I was rocking that awesome perm and everyone was hitting on me?" I'm just saying.

Aside: Revisiting the hair/brains argument...John's smartest years were his Jr. and Sr. years of high school. Think mushroom. Sorry babe.

Anyway, here are our precious boys getting ready for Jack's naptime. He's into asking the family to join him in bed. No matter who puts him down for nap or nighttime, Jack asks them to get in bed with him. "Daddy, bed. Mommy bed. Finn bed." His favorite person to ask is his Daddy I do believe. Then when it comes around to naptime and I'm thinking it's my chance for a bedtime invitation, he says "Finn bed. Mommy go." Talk about rejection.


Jack was looking too cute not to photograph with his ducks in tow today. To the left is 'Big Duckie' (pronounded 'Boon Duckie' for some reason) and on the right we have his all time favorite duck that goes everywhere with him. He's not allowed to take it out of the house unless we're going to Gigi and Papa's, mainly because of their awesome front loader that washes Duckie's filth away! But a day later, Duckie already is dirty and smelling like a mix of spit and syrup. It's gross.

Finn Smiles!!!

Finley smiled this morning. Three times! And it seemed to be deliberate, which is the best:) Here is the 3rd smile. He was just bathed and had eaten. Optimal smiling opportunity! Isn't he adorable????? ISN'T HE!?!?!?! jk



Did I also mention that Finley is in a baby gang? Here he is throwing us some secret gang signs.


And best of all...Jackie has been in town this weekend for Fall Break. We all couldn't be happier to have her back for a few days, but Jack was beside himself. He kept talking about Jackie whenever he wasn't around her. We spent today on the island at the Usserys house. It was a beautiful day! We celebrated the awesome weather by watching football and taking naps, ironically! We applauded the Heels on their valiant effort against the South Carolina and Jack wore his 'football shirt' (UNC jersey) again. He loves that thing. It was a great day!!! Here's a picture of Jack, Gigi, Papa, John and Jackie at Hampton Lake on Thursday night. Jack was in heaven: boats AND Aunt Jackie. Could it get any better?

Last and obviously least, here is the actual bug that crawled into John's ear. EW!

It Gets Worse....

Yesterday morning I woke up to my husband writhing in bed and swatting at himself. It was because one of these bugs pictured above (a Galeritula beetle) had crawled into his right ear while he was sleeping. I would be writhing too.

So...there we are. Asleep. And with a 1 month old, we sleep deeply. I awake to the bed shaking. Look over and there's John moving all over the place. And John's quick, but not at 6am. He bolts to the bathroom and goes straight to the sink. My thought? He's gonna vomit. In the sink. Which makes for one heck of a mess. I scream, "Go to the toilet!!!" (what compassion, right?) But then John yells, "THERE'S A BUG IN MY EAR!!!!!....to which I reply "Can I help?" "Of course you can help....There's a bug in my ear! Get a Q Tip!" Not wanting him to cram that sucker in there any further I don't want to hand him the Q Tip, but I do, because I don't want his current fury to be redirected at me. Then...John starts screaming, "It's biting me! It's biting me!!!" After several attempts to blow the bug out of his ear by holding his nose and applying pressure to his inner ears, he realizes that, indeed, he is not a dragon and no built up steam is going to shoot the bug out of the ear. So he tries hitting the left side of his head, thinking that the bug would feel the jolt and fall out of the other side. And he's yelling, "It's gonna go to my brain!!!!" Finally, several freak outs and bites later, John announces that he thinks the bug is trying to get out. Then I panic. Because I now play the role of the Swatter. Fortunately the bug does come out and I have an easy flick opportunity. The bug falls out and we wash it down the sink. He finally gets to use the Q Tips to get the blood out. Yes, there was blood.

It gets worse.....

John goes to work that day and is having a normal day. A day with an achy ear, but normal nonetheless. After attempting yet another dragon move to 'clear his ears' (You know that thing you can go with your ears when you feel them popping on an airplane or driving through the mountains? That.), John feels the appropriate and expected 'pop' in his left ear, but feels air coming through his right ear.

To the doctor he goes. He learns that the Galeritula beetle not only contributed to one heck of a wake up call that morning, but that he/she also perforated his ear drum. It will heal itself, but as a preventative measure, he's on antibiotic ear drops.

(All during the day I'm googling "insect identification" but was unable to find anything that looked like our friend.)

It gets worse.....

Tonight I come home from the store. John's bathing Jack. Finn's sleeping in his swing. I go to pick up some dirty laundry in our closet and notice as I walk by John's sink this black speck sitting there. He's back!!!!! Which is obviously not cool on so many levels, but good that we were able to trap him. Jack came in there as I was taking pictures and he says "Ewww...bug." Which reminds us again of those nights ago when Jack would say after waking up: bugs in bed. We thought it was a dream, but now? Not so sure. John asked to have some alone time with the bug and specifically said that Jack was not supposed to hear what he had to say to the bug. We gave him his space. It was well deserved.

So this concludes (hopefully) another eventful evening for the Ussery, Jrs.

*The above picture was taken from a website, not from our bathroom sink:)

Birth Control

The following blog is written by my husband, the best daddy around. I do regret to inform you, however, that there are no pictures to serve as evidence for the following events.



It’s come to my attention that Erin’s witty banter and cute photography of our boys may have an unintended result – baby envy. If “the truth will set you free” then I feel compelled to free you up from any misconceptions that we may have created via this blog.

Just beneath the surface of those cute little smiles and big blue eyes is a crazy world of diapers, formula vomits, unexplained freak-outs, and frequent obsessions with stuffed ducks. It’s true. Our case study for “the truth about kids” could be tonight (or any other evening on a given week, or weekend). After a routine dinner of food tossing and multi-tasking for mom and dad, we determined to divide and conquer: dad takes the crazy blonde one, mom grabs little crazy-in-training. The following events are real and unimbellished. For those of you considering parenthood, consider this a warning shot across the bow.

Raw butt syndrome may not be on WebMD but dad discovered that when your little boy has “the syndrome” you can’t use baby wipes. Nope, that logic doesn’t hold. Baby wipes apparently sting and your kid just may freak out and wind up with poop (I’m sorry, couldn’t come up with an acceptible or alternative word that did the situation justice) on his hands.

Once panic sets in… you find yourself in the bathroom w/a screaming 2 year old and a general paranoia that maybe you have poop on yourself too. Just then Jack announces “pee pee” and takes a leak on the floor. Mom to the rescue… “Grab a wet hand towel and wipe him down before you put him in the tub.” All good advice, until little crazy-in-training (Finn) keeps mom humble with a shot of his own and mom gets peed on. I’m 100% convinced that they plan this stuff.

It’s a bit like Dancing with the Stars, only you’re not dancing and your partner is insanity. That’s not to say that insanity is necessarily bad. It has its perks. You’ll fall madly in love with kids that pee on you… and the floor. They’ll captivate your heart and you’ll never be the same, in a crazy fantastic sort of way. Right now, we’re just hoping we get 4 hours of uninterupted sleep tonight. (and by “we” I mean Erin)