The Elferys

Check this out! It's a jump start to get you in the Christmas Spirit!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1112459415

(You'll have to copy and paste this into web address bar:)

8 hours

Finley wins the Finntastic award because he has slept through the night for the past 3 nights...and because his name fits well into the made up word. Just thought the celebration was blog-worthy. Here's to night numero quatro (fingers crossed)!!!!!

Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving Day here in the Ussery household. We spent the day hanging around the house watching football and the Macy's parade. I thought Jack would get more into it, but he kept begging to watch "choo choo train" which means the Polar Express to him. My parents came in town for the holiday, which was great. We all ate lunch/dinner (linner or dunch, perhaps?) with John's parents, Jackie, Jeff and Grandma Catherine. The food was great...company was even better. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!


Jack, circa 2005, in "My Little Turkey" outfit propped up against Fall colored pillow.

Finn, circa 2 days ago, in "My Little Turkey" outfit propped up against Fall colored pillow.

Jack thought it would be helpful to stir the pecan pie ingredients. He would run into the kitchen saying "Mimi and Mommy cook!" Since watching Ratatouille, he's been saying cook and kitchen. And Ratatouille, which he says very clearly. It's funny.

Despite being the recipient of his brother's cold, Finley has been all smiles this past weekend. He continues to be such a happy little guy. He smiles all the time!!! Right now he'll smile and then start coughing up a lung, which makes me want to cry. But he's okay.

Besides smiling, Finn is into standing these days. He's so strong. 13lb 5 oz and 24 inches long last week at the doctor's office! He's huge. I thought Jack was big, but Finn is almost 2 pounds heavier and almost and inch longer than Jack was at 2 months of age. Maybe Finn will be our little linebacker.

If tantrums could kill, we would have been dead yesterday afternoon. This is how Jack woke up from his nap...in his usual fit of rage. I just don't get it. We put him down a happy little boy, duckie in tow, and he wakes up a sweaty ball of fury, hair disheveled, clammy skin and a mouthful of screams.

But after a few moments with Dad, he's all cute and cuddly again.

Apparently Jack didn't want Mimi and Poppy to leave today. Or either he wanted to go with him. John tried coaxing him out at first but eventually had to pull him out of their trunk!

Here's Mimi giving Finn a goodbye kiss.

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:)