Baby Kerbs

Yay!

2011-06-28T21:42:00.001-04:00

James went pee pee on the potty for the first time today! We have been putting him on it before every bath. He never goes on the potty but pees immediately upon entering the bathtub. Today he actually went in the potty. I think I just about scared the socks off of him by screaming and clapping for him! Now to increase the frequency of potty usage...

2

2011-03-19T16:01:00.001-04:00

TWO!

2011-03-19T15:58:00.003-04:00

James is two years old. Wow. What an amazing journey we have been on these past two years! James has taught me so much and I look forward to many more years with my precious little angel. :)

Here are some things I want to remember about him at this age:

* He is such a polite little boy (most of the time!). He is good about saying "thank you" and "excuse me". The thing he struggles with is saying "please" because he is always in a hurry to get whatever he is asking for. LOL!

* He makes us laugh ALL the time. We have no idea where he got it but he has this little inside joke with himself where he bends sideways and says "akaw". He laughs at himself which makes us laugh, too. Someday we hope to figure out the meaning behind the joke.

* James is very self-confident. He constantly says things like, "good job, James!" or "wow, look at you". He even comforts himself by saying "what's wrong James? what's the matter?" whenever he is sad or hurt.

* He does not like large crowds of people or being in places that are noisy. He says "bye bye in his car" and whines until we leave. Hopefully he will outgrow this stage soon!

* James just got his 4th cousin this week...another boy! He cannot wait to meet baby Carter.

* Some of his favorite activities are: playing outside (he loves parks), reading books, playing on his train table, and watching TV (Elmo and trains are the current favorites).

* One of the best parts of my day is sitting with James at night and talking about the day. He doesn't speak in full sentences all the time (although he does use full sentences occasionally) but he is still able to get complex concepts across to me. At night he tells me all the things he did during the day and I find it so fascinating to hear his perspective on what the highlights of the day were.

* He is very social and always wants his favorite people in the same place at the same time. This past month he has become really attached to Tyce. It is so funny to watch them wrestle and play with each other. They are both such special little boys!

We are so blessed to have such an engaging and sweet son.

23 months old

2011-02-19T15:35:00.003-05:00

James is such a fun little boy. He brings lots of laughter and energy into our home!

Here are some things I want to remember about James right now:

* I would have to say my favorite part of this stage is watching James learn new words. He has a distinct way of speaking and I love listening to him talk.

* Some of my favorite words of his are: greem (green), squayer (sprayer - what he calls the shower), aaahkay (ok), have a day (have a good day).

* He really misses Rod during the week. Every evening when Rod walks in the door, James wants to wrestle with him. His favorites are: "chase you", "rockets" (Rod holds him upside down and makes rocket noises), "sky" (Rod throws him in the air), "some plunks" (Rod tosses him on the couch and says "plunk").

* One characteristic of James' that can be either really funny or really aggrevating is his decisiveness. He knows exactly what he wants and rarely does he change his mind. Often he will get strange ideas in his head and he is not satisfied until he reaches his goal. The other night we were getting ready for bed and he started saying he wanted to vacuum. He would NOT stop asking about it so finally we gave in and vacuumed the floor at 10PM. As soon as we were done he happily went to bed.

* He is a night owl just like his Daddy! James' ideal schedule is to wake up at 8:30, take a nap from 2:30-5:00PM and then go to sleep for the night at 11. I like to be asleep by 10 so this schedule is not my preference but we're working on a compromise. LOL!

* James is super smart and has a great photographic memory. The kid can recognize 22 letters and all of his numbers up to 10. He can also count up to 14. He is starting to get his colors figured out but we still have some work to do in that area.

* We are learning more and more how much he dislikes crowds. I don't think it is the crowd of people he dislikes but the noise that comes along with large groups of people. He tends to get overwhelmed with the chaos and then he zones out.

* We took the crib tent off his crib this week because it broke. He has finally mastered the skill of sleeping even when it is not pitch black in his room. Now to get him to fall asleep on his own...

Cards I ordered for Valentines Day

2011-01-29T17:37:00.001-05:00

Candy Hearts Valentine's Day 5x7 folded card

Modern greeting cards and party invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

22 months old...time to start planning a birthday party!

2011-01-18T15:44:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of my little sweetheart. I took it this morning as we were playing in the snow. He was not interested in playing in the snow, but was happy to swing while watching Daddy shovel snow.

These are a few of the things I want to remember about James at this age:

* He is super smart! In fact, he knows about 80% of his letters by sight. He is learning new words and concepts everyday and I love every minute of it!

* Videos continue to be a huge source of entertainment for James. I think he likes to have his brain busy all the time and watching TV is a way to do this. We try to limit his TV time but he REALLY loves to watch Elmo, Barney, and train movies.

* Speaking of trains, they are still the highlight of his life! He got 3 sets of trains plus a train table for Christmas. He plays with all of them every single day for at least 30-45 minutes.

* He has a train book that says "trains trains trains, I love trains" and he repeats that phrase multiple times a day. It's cute because it is SO him.

* Size-wise he is now wearing size 5 diapers and most of his clothes are now 24 months.

* Thanks to Rod, Chipotle is one of his favorite places in the world. He likes to eat their beans, rice, cheese, chips, and guacamole. He can even say "guacamole" and "Chipotle"!

* I think we have a little night owl on our hands. He keeps getting on this schedule of going to bed at 10:30 and sleeping until 8:30 in the morning. I keep trying to get him to bed earlier but he seems to like this late schedule.

* His second Christmas went slightly better than his first. He was more engaged and actually played with his toys but he didn't really like opening the presents.

* He despises messes of any kind. If he is tired or cranky he will easily cry at the sight of a mess. He is now to the point where he will pick little pieces of fuzz or dirt up off the floor and throw them in the trash. It's funny because Rod and I don't make a big deal out of messes but he acts like the world is ending if he spills something. LOL!

We love our little man so much!!!!

21 months old

2010-12-18T15:57:00.003-05:00

This boy is cut out to be an entertainer. He is so funny, he loves to sing and dance on command and he especially thrives on the attention of a group of people. Want to see what I mean? Look at this face!

The picture above was taken just after his haircut a few days ago. He did scream and cry but wasn't hysterical like the last time we took him to the salon. But, even though he was mad at the lady for cutting his hair, he politely said "thank you" and then proceeded to give her all kinds of cute looks to make her laugh.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* I think I start off every month's list talking about his vocabulary. This month is no different. The child can say just about anything we ask him to. He says a lot of words that he doesn't understand. Just the other day he said, "disguised" when we were reading a book.

* He is still in love with Elmo and will hand me the remote control when he wants to watch. Now he says, "Elmo, Abby, Bert, Ernie, Sesame Street" to try to communicate exactly what he wants to watch. He is also liking Thomas the Tank Engine and Barney DVDs.

* It has been fun watching him take in the joy of the Christmas season this year. He really likes our Christmas tree and frequently talks about how pretty it is. Rod set up one of his trains to go around the base of the tree and he was delighted with that idea! We can't wait to watch him open his presents next week!

* James' imagination has really sparked over the past month. He is starting to chatter while playing with his trains. It sounds like he is telling a story but we can't quite decipher the words. He really enjoys landing his helicopter in the Christmas tree and then talking about the "crash" when it falls out. Another example of his imagination is when he takes his trains and makes them pretend to eat.

* He has always been vocal about his likes/dislikes when it comes to food. He has started asking for certain foods even when they are out of sight. Some days he will ask to have "bread" (french toast sticks) for breakfast and other days he will ask for cereal or "tatoes" (tater tots). He is also very clear about what he does not want. This morning I was eating a banana with peanut butter and offered him a bite. He said, "no, it's gross". LOL!

* He can count to 10 and also knows good portions of the alphabet. He can even identify a few letters: T, G, W and O. We are working on colors. He can say the names of lots of colors but he cannot identify them yet.

* James is a sweet little boy who brings us more joy than we ever could have imagined. He makes us laugh constantly. I honestly think I have laughed more this year than any other year of my life.

The big 2-0 (months)

2010-11-19T18:05:00.004-05:00

The lighting isn't great, but the above picture is one of my favorite recent family shots. It gives a good glimpse into how much joy James brings us.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* His vocabular continues to amaze us. He says "exciting" a lot now...especially when talking about trains. There are many other words that he picked up over the past month. Pretty much every day brings a new word for him.

* His enthusiasm is unmatched. Driving in the car, I often hear "Tree. Oh wow! It's pretty." That's his approach to everything.

* James has very clear ideas of what he wants. He typically starts off asking very politely for the things he wants. However, if his wish is not granted he progresses to stage 2 which is "please? OK!" accompanied by an full-body nod. It is VERY hard to resist this cuteness bu if that still doesn't get what he wants he resorts to whining and crying.

* One of his favorite activities is to throw blocks down the stairs. He also LOVES to watch DVDs. Arthur, Thomas the Tank Engine and "Fishies" are his current faves.

* James is all about people. He greets everyone by name and frequently says "hi Mama" as he walks past me in the house. He wants to know that all of his favorite people are around him at all times. When they aren't around he asks to see pictures on the computer.

* A few weeks ago James and I had our first night away from each other. He stayed with Daddy while I went to NYC with some of my friends. James and Daddy had a wonderful time hanging out together. This is the start of many more Mommy-vacations!

* Just today a colleague was asking me about James. At first he said, "how old is your baby now?" I replied that James is 20 months old. Then he surprised me with the next question, "do you like him?". I didn't know how to answer. Saying "yes, I like him a lot" seemed like such a gross understatement. I think I said, "he is about 1000 times more fun than I ever could have imagined". Even that is an understatement! I don't just like him and love him, I truly think he is one of the most fantastic people I have EVER met. This morning on my way to work I got all teary just from seeing a glimpse of his precious little face in my rear view mirror. He is the epitome of joy. :)

5 reasons James made me smile this week

2010-10-29T03:16:00.002-04:00

5) He learned how to nod his head. He is very proud of this new skill even though he isn't very good at it yet.

4) On Tuesday James was on my bed throwing pillows onto the floor. I said, "James why are you making a mess?". He replied, "mess funny!".

3) James has developed a new laugh. It is very loud and very fake.

2) He likes to line all his trains up into one big train. It fascinates me to watch how he organizes them and reorganizes them. I also appreciate that this new game can entertain him for up to 30 minutes at a time!

1) As I was changing his diaper earlier this week James grabbed his boy parts, giggled, and said "it's a toe!".

OK, one more bonus story for you just because I love to brag about my little boy. :) I was sitting on the floor next to James as he was playing with cars. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him how much I loved him. He then turned to me with an adorable little smile and said, "it's a smooch!". His favorite book of all time is The Pout Pout Fish. At the end of the book the main character (The Pout Pout Fish) goes around kissing everyone. It says "smooch, smooch, smooch" as he kisses each character. I guess James figured out that my kiss on his cheek was also called a smooch. Little smartypants!

19 months

2010-10-19T08:15:00.002-04:00

James is now 19 months old and just as feisty (yet lovable) as ever!

* He says so many words. I can't even begin to count them. He is a little parrot and will try to copy most things we say.

*James has always been really social but I think he gets more friendly every day. He says, "hi Mama, how're you?" several times each day. He is on a first name basis with my Mom (calls her "Jo"). He also makes nicknames for people. Tim is Timmy, Tom and Thomas the Train are both Tommy to him.

* For some reason he has decided that he dislikes clothes. A few weeks ago he would not sleep until we took his pajamas off.

* He does not like to have a dirty diaper. Usually he will immediately come to us and say, "poo poo change". I think that's a good step towards potty training but we aren't quite ready yet.

*James still loves to be active. He thinks it is his right to visit a park at least once a day. He says "park. swing swing. slide." and that's our clue that he wants to go to the park.

* While driving around town he recognizes many of the roads and landmarks. He knows we are almost home when we are 3-4 blocks away. He also recognizes when we are getting close to his cousin's houses, the park, the grocery store and this one particular fruit market that he calls the apple store.

* James knows the names of almost all of his family members and can usually tell you who goes with who (so when he's talking about his cousin, he will usually mention his aunt and uncle too).

* He really likes animals and doesn't seem to be afraid of them no matter how big they are! We have gone to the fair and a couple of petting zoos recently and James marches right in with no fear.

* He has mastered all of his toys so he gets bored pretty quickly at home. Within 15 minutes of getting in the door he starts asking for some of his favorite movies, "fishies" or a Thomas movie.

All these quirks add up to make our precious little boy. :)

12 on the 12th - October

2010-10-13T19:01:00.005-04:00

I try to do this every month but only remember once every 6-7 months. The idea is that you take 12 pictures of your "everyday life" on the 12th of each month. In October, the 12th happened to fall on a Tuesday. Since I was off work, it was a little easier for me to take 12 pictures. So, here you go...this is my average Tuesday with James.

Right after he woke up, James was pretty whiny. I was still tired and longed for a little more sleep. I brought him into bed with me and he watched a whole episode of Curious George while I rested.

After we got dressed and ate breakfast, we headed out to run some errands. Before we left, I took this picture of my pathetic pumpkin that's taken over the front of our house.

The first place we stopped was Dunkin Donuts. I got their delicious pumpkin coffee. Yum!

James read his new train book (thanks Dad and Linda - he loves it!) while waiting for me to get my coffee.

Next stop - the park! We are so lucky to have 10+ parks within 10 miles. James really needs to go somewhere to get his energy out everyday so most Tuesdays include a trip to the park. This was the first time in 5-6 months that we've been to this particular park, so he was really excited to explore it.

I took this one of myself to show off how pretty the view is from this park. Isn't that farm fabulous?

After he got all of his energy out, we went to the grocery store. I didn't take any pictures in the store but you can imagine a whiny, crying, screaming toddler trying desperately to climb out of the cart all the way through the store. LOL! He knows there is a mechanical train outside the store and he thinks that the quickest way to get to the train is to scream the whole way through the store. Next time I might let him go to the train before we go into the store and see how that works.

He ate lunch while I put the groceries away. James is a picky eater but when he finds something he likes he gets very focused. In typical fashion, he eats with one hand while holding a dirty fork against his head with the other hand.

After lunch, James took his nap. I cleaned the bathroom, did some laundry and made some phone calls. Nothing worth taking pictures of there! I did make this cottage cheese loaf, though. It was delicious, too! (Thankfully this picture doesn't showcase the eggshells that fell in the casserole.)

Rod left for work at 6:20AM and arrived home at 8:20PM. He had to pack for his trip (a school trip to Williamsburg) so we barely saw him at all. Beasley tried to sneak into Rod's bag.

Thanks for looking!

Waiter...I'll have some normalcy, please.

2010-10-04T07:00:00.003-04:00

The past few weeks have been busy around here. James is adjusting pretty well with the exception of his sleep schedule. Several nights this week he woke up at 3:30 and was up until 5:30 or 6 then went back to bed until 9. This morning he was up for the day at 5:30. Hopefully he is easing back into his typical schedule of sleeping from 9PM-7:30AM.

The first odd thing that happened about 3 weeks ago was our cat got sick. He spent 3 days at the vet's office then came home with a bunch of pills. At first we were able to trick him into taking the pills but then he figured out what was happening so we had to force the pills into him. James would go into hysterical crying fits every time he saw us wrap the cat in a towel and give him the pills (even though the cat didn't make any noise or even struggle much). So, every morning and evening we would have to hide from James and give the cat pills for almost two weeks.

Two weeks ago our house got broken into. It was crazy for one day while we made police reports, had detectives doing fingerprints, etc. But, everything turned out just fine.

The weekend before last we stayed in a cabin for the weekend. It was fun and relaxing but that is when James got his sleep schedule all mixed up.

Then last week I got sick with Pleurisy. I was off work Tuesday-Friday and home with James. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to lift him or spend much quality time with him for the first few days. Although James was well taken care of, I think it threw him off a bit to be so off schedule.

I'm really hoping that things will start to get back to normal this week!

In the midst of all the craziness, James went to the doctor and he was 35 1/2" tall (97th percentile) and 26.14 lbs (62nd percentile). He also got the flu shot and MMR.

James has also picked up a lot of new words this week: chair, work, today, home, giraffe (he doesn't call it a tractor anymore!).

He has also introduced some phrases like, "Hi train! How are you, train?". Pretty complex for an 18 month old, I think! He also asks what people are doing by saying, "wa doooing?". Grandma Jo taught him the Hokey Pokey recently and he loves to show off this new skill.

Well, it's time to finish getting ready for work. I just wanted to take the few extra minutes I had this morning (thanks to my early riser) to remember some of the craziness of the past few weeks.

I have an 18 month old? How did that happen?

2010-09-18T13:38:00.003-04:00

I can't believe James is 18 months already! The past year and a half have been exhausting but so much fun. James is such a social little creature. He constantly talks about his family members and when any of us are in the room he says, "hi _____" every few minutes, just to make sure you're still there and paying attention to him.

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* His speech continues to amaze me. The past few weeks he has started getting more brave and tries to say just about anything you ask him to say. Some new words he started saying this month are: "train, bean, raisin, come, you're welcome". He also added a "y" to some words he already knows. So, now "stuck" is "stucky" and "rocket" is "rocky". I don't know why he saw the need to change those words but it's funny.

* Although he is still fairly picky, we have been successful in getting James to eat a wider variety of foods over the past few weeks. He even ate some raw broccoli yesterday!

* We have to remember that he is always listening and learning even when it appears that he is focused on something else. The other day I was singing the alphabet song and he joined in with me at certain points of the song. I had no idea he knew that song! I was also counting and after I got to eight he said, "nine ten". I was shocked that he knew his numbers that high!

* His favorite playtime toys continue to be trains and anything having to do with Elmo. He is getting addicted to watching TV in various forms. He likes DVDs like Elmo and "songs" which is a nursery rhyme DVD. He also likes to watch videos of himself on the iPhones. On the laptop, he enjoys watching youtube videos of "Choo Choo Soul", Elmo and trains.

* Because James is so active, we try to get him outside at least once a day. He knows where all the parks are around our house and every time we drive by one he yells, "swing swing!".

James at 17 months

2010-08-18T17:43:00.003-04:00

What a fun little boy we have! He is a constant blur of motion but that's ok because he keeps us young. Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* He is ALL about trains right now. About 20 times a day you will hear him say, "bye bye choo choo". The funniest thing is that he says this even when he can't see or hear a train.

* James loves watching Sid the Science Kid on TV, his favorite movie is a children's nursery rhyme DVD that I got for $2.99 at Ross, and he also loves watching Elmo or trains on Youtube.

* He learned how to walk backwards and spin around in circles this month.

* James is really interested in music. He likes it when we sing to him and now he is starting to sing along with us. He knows a couple of phrases from 15 different songs. It's so cute to hear him singing to himself in his crib or carseat.

* His vocabulary is about 8 times more advanced than most children his age. I read today that most 17 month olds can say 10 words. James can say EIGHTY words! Some of the most obscure include: starfish, Bert (from Sesame Street), penguin, glasses and stick. He also knows many names of his loved ones.

* In addition to the words he knows, James has mastered the sounds of over 30 animals and vehicles. He makes a really cute ambulance noise "weee-uuuu".

Here is a picture of my sweetheart with his most beloved possession...his blanket.

"Gotchu"

2010-07-26T21:52:00.002-04:00

James crying in his bed. Mama enters the room, picks him up and proceeds to the rocking chair.
James: "Mama?"
Mama: "Yes?"
James: "Gotchu?"
Mama: "Yes baby, Mama's got you"
James: contented sigh.

16 months

2010-07-18T14:54:00.002-04:00

Mr. James Edward Kerbs is 16 months old today. Since I'm about 15 months behind in my scrapbooking, I like to keep track of his milestones here so I can go back and look at my notes when I finally catch up in his memory book. LOL!

Here are my notes on James' past month:

* His biggest advances continue to be in his vocabulary. Just this past week he learned the words: "pizza, poop and airplane".

*For his entire 15th month, James spent the weekdays with his daddy. Every day when I get home, I am greeted by a very happy little boy and a proud daddy. It's so much fun watching them together!

* Last week James took his first visit to the ocean. He was a little overwhelmed by the sand, sounds, wind, water, etc. but he did well and had fun when he was distracted. His favorite things were to wave at airplanes, people, birds and dogs he saw along the shore.

* Prior to last week, James has only been on one roadtrip in his life. It was when he was only 4 months old and he was in the car for about 8 hours in one day. This past week he took two 11-hour car rides and he did wonderfully. Rod was so proud of him that he promised to buy James a custom Powerwheels with leather interior. Ha!

* Some of James' favorite books are: The Big Hungry Bear (can't remember the exact title), Pout Pout Fish and anything with pictures of animals. His favorite toys are: tractors and trains as well as things that he can make noise with. His favorite things to watch on TV are: Sid the Science Kid on PBS and Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs.

* James is really interested in music. He likes to listen to daddy play the guitar. Some songs he knows a few lines from include: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Happy Happy Home, The Trees are Gently Swaying and Pattycake.

Commence heart-melting

2010-07-05T21:24:00.001-04:00

My sweet little boy said, "I love you" for the first time today without being prompted. He was saying goodnight to Daddy and out of nowhere blew him a kiss and said "laa luu" (his version of "I love you"). How precious!!!

James at 15 months...

2010-06-19T06:58:00.005-04:00

Every day brings at least one new word or skill for James. It is amazing to see how quickly he is grasping the English language.

He says a LOT of words now. Some that I think are unusual for a 15 month-old: gentle, glasses, bear, starfish and Elmo. My favorite words he says are: shoe (Mom says he sounds like a French baby), thank you (he does the "dee dou" thing a lot of babies do), I love you (what Mommy's heart doesn't melt when she hears those words?) and Jeremy (he says "meremy"). It's also pretty neat that he says "diaper" when he wants to be changed. This could make potty training a little easier!

Physically, he is much more stable on his feet and starting to climb things (yikes!). He also finally learned how to stand up without pulling up on something this month. He used to fall down in the back yard and stay in one place grunting and whining until someone would help him up.

James loves music and he knows one phrase from 5 different songs. I ask him to sing at least 10 times a day because it is so cute!

He also knows quite a few animal sounds. The unusual ones are: lizard, donkey and owl.

This summer he is staying home with daddy. Some of his favorite activities include throwing things down the basement stairs, going on bike rides, reading books, watching "baby" videos, going to the park, watching Sid the Science Kid, torturing the cats, playing in the backyard (pool or sprinkler) and stealing Daddy's glasses off his face!

I will leave you with a cellphone picture since Rod is rebuilding our other computer that has the real camera pics on it. Rod always sits on this step to put his shoes on. Whenever James wants to go outside he grabs his shoes and sits on this step.

James at 14 months

2010-05-19T21:13:00.003-04:00

This adorable little face is starting to develop quite a personality! He is so much fun and has such a great sense of humor.

Some things I want to remember about him at this age:

* Just moved into size 4 diapers. I'm hopeful that he will potty train before he reaches size 5. :)

* His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Some new words are: "maamaw" (grandma), "soosh" (shoes), "asai" (outside).

* He still loves to be outside any chance he gets. His favorite things to do are talk to the neighbor kids, talk to the neighbor dogs, swing and go for walks in his stroller.

* While inside he enjoys watching videos on my iPhone. He tells us this is what he wants by yelling "baby" at the top of his lungs. He has also discovered how much fun it is to run on the couch. Yesterday he fell off and landed on his head pretty hard, but the minute he was done crying he got right back up there.

* James has started dancing at just about anything that resembles a song! His jerky dance makes me laugh every time.

* He notices noises that I don't even hear and he often tries to mimic them. Motorcycles, airplanes and school buses are some of his favorites.

* In the past few weeks, James has discovered temper tantrums. He turns bright red, clenches his fists, throws himself backwards and screams. It's pretty funny and so hard not to laugh at him. The good thing is that he is still really distractable so he can be in the middle of a tantrum and suddenly stop and smile if you know the right thing to say.

* James is just starting to sing a little bit. Sometimes he makes up his own songs. At his cousin Traiden's birthday last week, he started singing Happy Birthday To You. It's more like, "haaa you".

* He is so affectionate. He always greets me with a hug and "awww...mama". In fact, even when I'm home with him he will often stop and give me random hugs during the day. He started blowing kisses to people when they leave which is super cute, too.

Blogging from my phone!

2010-05-07T22:03:00.002-04:00

This is a test. A goofy little boy with an orange piece of plastic over his face should be appearing on your screen. :)

Update: the blogwriter app says I need to login to picasa in order to upload photos but it doesn't give me the option to do that. Do you know if I need to pay for a picasa app? If anyone has a good blogging app, please let me know!

random updates

2010-05-04T20:19:00.009-04:00

It's been a while since I blogged so I drew up this new post for all my faithful fans!

James' vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. The average person off the street could not decipher most of his words, but those of us who see him daily can recognize that he is trying to say lots of new things. As soon as we approach the driveway he starts saying, "Buuuuck" (the neighbor's dog or "swing swing" indicating that he wants to go adventuring in the back yard. He is in the "no" phase. When asked a question he always responds with "no" but you can tell how he really feels by whether he waves his hands or flails his arms. It's pretty comical to watch how passionate he gets about certain things. Other things he started saying recently are: "fish, shoes, glasses, bath". He calls the cats "dog" except Beasley whom he calls "Beebee".

He is all about independence when it comes to eating. We discovered that he really enjoys some fruits when he can take bites himself versus us giving him little pieces.

James' daddy turned the big 3-0 last week. James enjoyed all the celebrations!

I finally lost my "baby house"! That's the term my little cousin uses for the weight a person gains when carrying a baby. :) I gained a total of 50 lbs with James. The first 20 lbs came off in about 6 weeks. After that I tried to exercise and eat right, but the weight just stuck around. I started a new diet on March 22 and as of today I have lost 32 pounds! (This picture doesn't show off the weight loss as well as it could because of the way my shirt was hanging).

Baby's first stomach virus :(

2010-04-22T12:38:00.002-04:00

Poor James was so pitiful last evening. He had a fever which made him want to do nothing but

lay on my (or Rod's) lap. He vomited all over himself, me, the chair, his clothes, his special blanket, the floor and his night stand as I was putting him to bed. It was such a mess to clean up but my wonderful husband came to the rescue (even though he was very tired and still hadn't eaten dinner at 9:00 at night). Thankfully James' fever was gone when he woke up but he was still pretty lethargic. He and I sat in the recliner together for almost 2 hours reading books, watching TV and looking at videos on my iPhone. The picture was taken this morning when he was watching Clifford. I don't like to see my baby sick but it makes me so grateful that he is a typically healthy child!

James at 13 months

2010-04-19T12:37:00.003-04:00

Wow...it's been a long time since I have submitted a new post. Sorry to keep all my faithful fans waiting. :)

James is so mobile and busy these days that it is hard to leave him alone for the length of time it takes to write a blog entry. Rod has been away a lot due to work which means I am the only one responsible for making sure this little toddler doesn't tear our house to shreds! Anyway, I will try to write more often.

At 13 months James:

* is walking really well. He still can't get up without holding onto something, but he is pretty steady once he gets up.

* is becoming opinionated about everything. He whines, pulls on your clothes, hits things out of your hands, etc. to try to communicate his requests. We are all looking forward to the time when he can use words!

*is learning more words every day. Some of his new ones include: dog, nod (from a song) and bath.

* is able to respond occasionally when asked a question. For instance, if I say "are you hungry?" he will either ignore me (meaning no) or say "mmmmmm" (meaning yes). It is really neat watching him learn.

* has 3 favorite things: dogs, books and the outdoors. He LIVES to be outside where he runs around in the back yard, pets the neighbor dogs through the fence, swings and plays with bubbles.

* typically sleeps from 8PM-7AM. I am loving the full nights of sleep!

* spends at least 20 minutes/day watching videos of himself on my iPhone. His favorite videos are those that show him playing with Daddy, Grandma Jo or Tyce.

* is a wonderful little boy who is showered with love every day!

What I want to remember about James at 12 months...

2010-03-19T20:20:00.002-04:00

* He can walk (when he wants to!). In most cases, he will start off walking then when he falls down he finishes out the journey by crawling. He can crawl much faster than he can walk.

* James absolutely loves being outside. He can be super tired and whiny inside and then turn into the happiest little guy as soon as you step outdoors.

* He can say quite a few words now. I'll see if I can remember all of them: mama, dada, byebye (buhbuh), baby, up, down, Beasley (Bee), bottle (baba), no no (nah nah), uh oh. Rod and I just went through his animal sounds tonight and these are the ones he knows without prompting: elephant, cow, sheep, bird, dog, cat, duck, snake (just learned this one today!), monkey, lion.

* When we start to sing "I have hands that clap clap clap" he claps his hands. If we sing "with James in the family" he says "hah" (his version of "happy happy home").

* One of his favorite activities is watching videos of himself on my iPhone. He probably spends at least 15-20 minutes every day watching his videos.

* He is still in love with books. The Pout Pout Fish remains at the top of his list. His attention span has extended and he will usually sit through about 4-5 books at one time. We usually save "Blub Blub" (as he calls The Pout Pout Fish) for last.

James makes us laugh constantly with his goofy faces and noises. He brings lots of joy (and entertainment) into our family.

Happy Birthday to my little sweetheart!

2010-03-18T21:07:00.003-04:00

James turned 1 year old today. We are the luckiest parents in the world! This sweet little boy has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. :)

I love my silly little boy!

2010-03-09T15:00:00.002-05:00

This week I noticed that James has started to take an interest in cars. Previously, we had thought he was going to be a tech geek like his parents, but now I see that he also has a mind for mechanics. :) He has taken to pushing cars all around the house. He crawls with one hand and two knees while the other hand is pushing the car out in front of him. Of course, he is not picky about what kind of car he uses. In fact, he has been seen pushing a remote control, book and cooking pot.

One of his favorite new games is sitting on my lap and then bending backwards so he can see the world upside down. He clearly says "up" and "down" to tell you which direction he wants to go!

He is really enjoying the warm weather lately. Every time we walk by the door he says "buh bye" and tries to grab the door. As soon as you walk outside he gets a huge smile on his face!

Right now he is very sleepy, so I must end this and put him down for a nap. I wish I could post a video of how he is telling me he is ready for a nap. He is rubbing his face as hard as he can on my face. One of us is going to get a black eye!

Walking! (almost)

2010-02-28T21:06:00.002-05:00

James at 11 months old

2010-02-19T21:12:00.002-05:00

Wow, I can't believe how fast he is growing. A year ago we hadn't even met the little boy who is now the center of our world. These have been the best 11 months of my life so far!

Some things I want to remember about James at this age:

* He has become a very picky eater. If he is bored (or over stimulated) he won't eat. If the food is too slimy (or dry) he won't eat it. If the food is too hot (or cold) he won't eat it. You get the idea!

* He chatters and talks constantly. The words he says regularly are: mama, dada (occasionally), bye-bye (occasionally), uh-oh, ball and blub blub blub. He can also tell you what some animals say: dog, sheep, cow (he says "boo) and monkey.

*In addition to speaking words, there are many more that he clearly understands. As soon as we put our coats or his coat on he gets really excited. He also gets excited about "bath" or "baba" (bottle).

*Physically he is growing really fast. I don't know exactly how much he weighs but he has outgrown most of his 12-month clothes in length although they still fit him width-wise.

* He is starting to play more interactive games like peekaboo and chase. He laughs like crazy if you chase him while he crawls.

* James has taken a couple of steps between us or between the chair and the couch but he still relies on crawling as his main mode of transportation. He is a very fast crawler.

* I think we have a little monkey on our hands. He tries to climb EVERYTHING. He will hold onto the bottom of a windowsill and use his little monkey feet to climb the wall (thankfully he hasn't been successful in that yet). Our oven door locks closed and he uses the handle as a chin-up bar. He also climbs the dresser if any of the drawers are left open for him to use as footholds.

* James is totally in love with books. When you get to the last page he does a fake cry and flails around at the book until you go back to the beginning and read it again. His favorite is called "The Pout-Pout Fish". Here is a video of him saying, "blub blub blub" while reading the book with Daddy.

13 on the 13th

2010-02-14T17:13:00.009-05:00

I always try to do this challenge that some of my other friends do called "12 on the 12th" where you take 12 pictures throughout the day on the 12th day of each month. I forgot AGAIN this month, but decided to do my own version called "13 on the 13th". (I have to apologize for the spacing of the pictures and words in this post. I keep messing with it, but Blogger is playing mind games with me!)

Yesterday James and I spent most of the time at home which gave me lots of opportunities to take pictures. Many of them looked like this because he wanted to grab the camera instead of pose for the picture.

For breakfast, James had yogurt bites (freeze-dried yogurt for babies), 1/2 a nectarine, and some Life cereal.

Every time he is in the high chair (or carseat), he must pull one of his socks off. I'm not sure why, but he insists on it!

While he ate, I enjoyed a bowl of cereal. At our house, this is the view you get when you eat cereal. For some reason all 3 cats think that they will get to drink the remainder of the milk. This never happens, but they still hover as you eat.

After breakfast James wanted to do some reading. This has become his absolute favorite book. I tried to count the number of times we read it yesterday but I lost count. It was at least 7 or 8. At one point in the book, the fish says "blub, Blub, BLUB". He loves that part and tries to say "blub". It's pretty cute!

When Rod got home from church, he gave us a taste of the music he performed during the service. James wanted to help him strum the guitar.

I'm not sure why it has taken him this long to discover the air filter in our bedroom, but it has become a new favorite toy. He likes to stand above it and let the wind blow on his face. He spent 20 minutes playing with the air filter yesterday which gave me a chance to read a magazine...something I NEVER do anymore.

I snapped this one during his nap. He always has his precious little blanket up next to his face no matter where he scoots in his crib.

I woke him up from his nap so we could do some shopping at Borders. He was so cute and cuddly that I had to get a self-portrait.

This was James' first trip to Borders. He loved the huge pile of stuffed animals.

Poor Big Bird!

He is so active that we get worn out chasing him around the store. So, Rod put him up on his shoulders. James thought it was a great way to shop!

After Borders we went to Panera Bread for dinner. I didn't take my camera in, but I wish I had. He was a complete nut! He was throwing bread all over the place, trying to climb out of the high chair, laughing at other people in the restaurant, etc. Rod gave him a pickle to keep him busy and he thought that was pretty funny. He sucked on it a bit then threw it over the edge of his high chair and kept saying, "uh-oh". After eating, we decided it was time to head home. When we got home we watched some of the Olympics then read his new books.

What a nice day spent with my two favorite boys! :)

Chatterbox

2010-02-05T16:02:00.003-05:00

James loves noises of all kinds. He jabbers and screeches constantly but he is starting to make more sounds that can be translated into words. Animal sounds are a big favorite currently. He can tell you what a monkey, dog, and cow say. Sometimes he will do the lion, also.

Lately James has found a new fascination with cabinets. (Don't you love that cheesy grin?)

On Wednesday we put him down in the snow to crawl around while we shoveled. He had fun cruising all over the snow-covered front yard.

James is a VERY energetic little boy. Thankfully, he sleeps pretty well because he has to re-energize. Here is a picture of my sleeping little angel.

Because he sleeps so soundly and has a full head of hair, he often wakes up with crazy new hairstyles such as this one. :)

10 months of pure joy!

2010-01-18T01:41:00.003-05:00

Happy 10-month birthday to my sweet little James! Our lives have been made so much richer by the addition of James to our family.

I think the last month has been full of more "firsts" than any other month in his life so far. James is learning new things every day and we are having so much fun watching him grow into his own little person.

* He experienced his first Christmas and New Years holidays this month.

* He learned how to clap and point.

* James has begun copying sounds. When we say "uh-oh" he says "uh". He also growls and makes other various noises when prompted.

* Can you believe that he now knows how to whistle? I've never met a 10-month old who could do that!

* He loves to open and close doors...everything from real full-sized doors to little doors on his toys or even flaps in books.

* Sadly, James had his first experience with antibiotics this month because he had an ear infection. We found out that he is just like Rod and I were when we were little...terrified of taking medicine. Thankfully he will take it by eating bread soaked in Amoxicillin. At night I add the medicine to his bottle and he doesn't seem to mind.

* When it comes to eating, he is all about the independence. He likes things that he can pick up and eat by himself. He refuses to eat off a spoon. Right now James' favorite food is string cheese.

* I still can't get him to drink out of a sippy cup. He likes taking sips out of regular cups but he makes a huge mess.

* Although he doesn't often smile for strangers he loves to be out in public. We make an effort to get him out of the house at least once per day.

* It is amazing how he recognizes the people who care for him daily. He can definitely pick them out of a crowd! Right now he stays with my Mom on Mondays, me on Tuesdays, Rae (my sister-in-law) on Wednesdays, and Rose (my mother-in-law) on Thursdays and Fridays. We are so thankful that he gets to stay with people who love him!

* James still thinks that the world revolves around Rod. Every evening when he sees his Daddy walking up the sidewalk he gets the biggest smile. When Rod enters the house, James wants to be held by him for no less than 15 minutes. He looks at Rod and smiles then looks at me and smiles. He sticks his finger in Rod's mouth and makes this "shhhh" sound that means he is happy. It's pretty cute!

* Our cats bring James lots of joy and entertainment. One time this month he got Beesley cornered and ended up getting scratched on his face. This has not deterred him from chasing the cats every chance he gets.

* I really need to get a good video to show you how he can "shake his booty". He loves music and shakes his head back and forth as his way of dancing. Even when music is not playing, I can say, "shake your booty" and he will shake his head.

* Size-wise he finally reached the 20 lb mark and continues to be in the 95th percentile for height. He wears size 12 month clothes.

The remainder of 2009

2010-01-01T21:03:00.003-05:00

Let's see if I can remember how we spent the last couple of weeks in 2009.

On December 17 our friend Lenny's mom died. He stayed with us for a few days which absolutely thrilled James. He enjoyed having the attention of another adult! We also got snowed in with Lenny during the huge snowstorm on December 19. That was James' first real experience with snow!

On December 23 James went to the doctor's for a checkup. They said he is growing well. His stats were: 30 1/4" 19lb 15oz and his head circumference was 18". He remains at the top of his class for height...I think he was in the 95th percentile.

Of course December 25 was Christmas! We had numerous Christmas celebrations to attend. James enjoyed the people, but got overwhelmed with all the gift-opening chaos. He whined and cried some of the time but we tried to keep him happy and quiet by rocking him or letting him have his pacifier. Considering the circumstances (no nap and lots of people) he did pretty well.

During the last two weeks James has had the privilege of staying home with his daddy during Christmas break. He absolutely loves to spend time with Rod. It doesn't matter if they are apart for two minutes, the second James catches Rod in his sight a smile immediately overcomes his face.

So, that's what has been going on around here. Thanks for following our blog and we hope that you have a Happy New Year!!!

9 months old

2009-12-20T17:53:00.002-05:00

I know that I'm getting bad about blogging but I am really trying to keep up with it despite my crazy schedule. Can you believe that our sweet baby James is already 9 months old? He is just as cute as ever! Over the past month he has met several milestones:
* He now has EIGHT teeth!
* He is cruising along the furniture as fast as his little legs can go.
* In addition to mama he now says byebye and dada (more like "blabla").
* Our long-legged boy is wearing 12 month pants but he can still fit into some of his 6 month shirts.
* James has become a daddy's boy over the past couple of weeks. He is happiest when he is playing with Rod.
* He shakes his head a lot. I'm not sure exactly what it means because he does it while eating, whenever music plays, and sometimes when he wants to get our attention. Whatever the case, it gets a laugh almost every time!

3 milestones this week

2009-12-06T19:45:00.001-05:00

James started 3 new things this week and I have to blog about them so I don't forget to inclcude these milestones in his baby book.

First, he started waving last weekend.
On Wednesday he got two new teeth for a total of 6 little chompers!
Yesterday he waved to Rod and said byebye. It was actually more like "buhbuh".

New camera = new pictures to blog!

2009-12-03T14:08:00.003-05:00

James loves to watch his Daddy play instruments. He likes to touch them, listen to the different noises they make, and try to play them himself.

"Is this how you do it, Dad?"

Cuddling with Daddy after an instrument lesson. :)

Always a happy boy!

Chillin' with Dad on Thanksgiving. Don't they look cute in their festive hats?

EIGHT months old!

2009-11-18T18:54:00.004-05:00

James has reached many milestones this last month. We are so proud of our sweet little boy!

* He now has 4 teeth.

* He finally learned how to sit up this month.

* As you saw in my last post, James began crawling last Thursday.

* He is starting to pull himself to a standing position.

* James still needs a lot of sleep. He typically takes 2 2-hr naps and 1 1-hr nap every day.

* He usually gets up in the middle of the night for a bottle. I think we could probably wean him off this habit, but I like it because when he drinks a bottle at 2 he sleeps at least until 6:30. If not, he will wake up between 5 and 5:30.

* He says "mama" a lot, but I'm not convinced that he knows what it means.

* Learning is clearly something that he absolutely loves. It is so much fun watching him explore his world!

He is on the move!

2009-11-17T19:59:00.006-05:00

Boy is he ever!

James started crawling last Thursday and has not stopped exploring every corner of the house since that time. He is learning about how doors open and close, what kinds of carpet fuzz taste best, how to corner the cats, and much much more! I can tell that this new skill of his is going to lead to many grey hairs for me. Already this morning I caught him attempting to crawl down the basement stairs (yes, I learned a very valuable lesson about ALWAYS double checking to make sure the basement door is closed!). All in all he is soooo much happier now that he can explore the world on his own.

Here are some pictures I took this morning. My camera batteries were almost dead so the flash refused to work. I thought they were clear enough but now that I see them on the big screen I know they are fuzzy. Although they are not as crisp as I expected, I still wanted to share them with you because I think he is such a cute little crawler!

2 Peas in a Pod

2009-11-11T16:41:00.002-05:00

James and his cousin Tyce have started to really enjoy each other's company. We have gotten the opportunity to spend lots of time with Tyce (and his parents) over the past week or so. I can barely resist the urge to take constant pictures of ONE cute baby. When there are TWO cute babies in one spot I just can't help myself! So, I am going to share my pictures with you. :)

Tuesday, November 3 was a gorgeous day for a walk. Lindsey and I put the babies in their strollers and took a walk around Fairgrounds park. Tyce sat quietly in his stroller watching the world go by. James squealed, wiggled, tried to climb out of the stroller, and yelled at the passers-by.

Tyce was sick on Halloween so we decided to dress the babies in their outfits for a photo shoot last Saturday night. Unfortunately, the little ones did not like this plan.

Sunday evening we went to Dad and Linda's for a birthday celebration. I snapped this one of Linda, James, Lindsey, Dad, and Tyce.

Last night Tyce came over for a little playdate. The boys had so much fun "sharing" toys and trying to pluck each other's eyeballs out.

When they got tired of playing, I gave them both a bottle. They were so fascinated by watching the other one that they couldn't focus on eating.

Baby's First Halloween and MORE!

2009-10-30T20:36:00.005-04:00

I finally got around to uploading a whole bunch of pictures from this past week. It is SO hard to edit pictures of James because I think I need to keep every single one! He is such a little sweetie pie and I want to hold on to every moment with him.

Last Tuesday Lindsey and I went shopping for baby clothes. I found this little hat on the clearance rack at Children's Place. James was in his stroller looking at himself in a mirror. When I put this hat on his head he gave himself a huge smile so I HAD to buy it!

Every time we go into Target's toy department, James has his eye on this set of drums. They were charging $17 which I thought was a lot for a baby toy. This week I found them on Craigslist for $5 so I bought them for him. They would have been worth every penny of the $17 because he loves them!

After 7 1/2 months James is finally sitting up by himself! He has had the strength to do it for several weeks now, but he didn't want to try because he would much prefer to stand up or lay flat on the floor. I think he is finally starting to see the value in sitting...he can reach his toys much better!

I was doing laundry yesterday and plopped James down in the basket of clothes while I moved a batch from the washer into the dryer. He loves any new experience and this was no different. He laughed and watched my every move.

For James' first Halloween he dressed up as a lion. He does the cutest little growl that we say sounds like a lion cub...so it was a perfect match! He was somewhat overwhelmed by all the lights and noises so he didn't seem to even notice the costume.

This little boy is so lucky to have a bunch of grandparents who love him dearly. Here he is with Grandma Jo.

He had just finished giving Grandma Rose lots of kisses when this picture was taken.

Riding on (and sliming) Daddy's head is one of his favorite past-times. :)

Because we had to feed him, change him into his outfit, eat our dinner, hand out candy to the cousins, and take pictures, we ran out of time (and energy) to go Trick-or-treating. He got a little whiny by the end of the party.

This evening the kids in our neighborhood went TOTing. We sat on our front porch and gave out candy. James was really tired but he had fun looking at all the costumes and trying to get into the candy bowl. Here he is cheesin' with Daddy.

He had been trying to lick the pumpkin we have on our porch. Goofy little boy!

Cheesin' with Mama. It was quite windy...that's why his hair was going every different direction.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

My little pumpkin

2009-10-24T10:48:00.002-04:00

The Target Dollar Spot had all kinds of cute little baby Halloween items last week. I bought the hat, bib, and socks for James. He wasn't too thrilled about being dressed up like a little doll, but he humored me. :)

7 months old

2009-10-19T10:16:00.002-04:00

Here are some things I want to remember about James at this age.

*He loves noises. It seems like each day he discovers a new noise. Last week he started making this deep growl that Rod and I can't even do. He also likes to do a spitty "shhhh" sound. The squealing hasn't completely stopped but at least he mixes that in with other noises! He is fascinated when I make different noises at him and it is fun watching him try to copy me.

* James still loves to be outside even though the weather is getting cooler. He enjoys walks in the stroller, sitting on the porch watching the cars go by, and watching the trees go by as we ride in the car.

* He is definitely starting to recognize that Mommy is the best for cuddling with and Daddy is the most fun playmate in the whole world. Every time either of us walks in the room he gives us a huge smile.

* Crawling is definitely the next thing on his agenda. He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. Sometimes he scoots backwards but usually it ends in him pushing forward and smashing his face on the ground.

* He has the strength and balance to sit if we trick him into it, but he will not willingly sit because he would much rather be standing up.

* He hasn't met a baby food that he doesn't like. The mesh feeder continues to be a great source of nutrition and entertainment for James. He also loves teether biscuits but he doesn't get them unless I have the energy to clean him from head to toe in addition to the floor, high chair, and wall. He makes a huge meses with them.

*Cause and effect are starting to make sense to him. Every time we walk by a lightswitch he reaches out and tries to turn the light off. He also makes a little "huh" noise if he wants your attention, then he laughs when you turn and look at him.

* Every day is a new adventure for our little guy and we can already see his love for learning.

Camping and Lemons

2009-10-16T20:02:00.005-04:00

James went on his first camping adventure last weekend. We went with our friends Amy, Tony, and Lucas. It is an annual tradition of ours that has lasted over 10 years! A 6 month-old baby wasn't a good enough excuse to miss the trip (believe me...I tried!). It was a LOT of work but I'm glad we did it. James had been fussy the whole week prior and the weekend was no different. I spent most of the time holding him because he cried whenever I set him down. Thankfully we didn't have a lot of plans other than sitting around the fire so that allowed me plenty of time to cuddle my little whiner.

The hillbilly high chair (a booster seat on a campchair).

Getting ready to go on a walk with Daddy. We were really glad we brought this carrier because he seemed to be content if he was strapped to one of us.

He slept great in the pack 'n' play inside the tent.

The 2nd night was pretty chilly (in the lower 40s). In the morning I dressed James in this little fleece outfit. He liked it!

James and I accompanied Lindsey, Tyce, and Mom to Johns Hopkins earlier this week. Lindsey treated us all to the Cheesecake Factory on the way home! I gave James a little taste of a lemon and he loved it. One time when I wasn't looking he grabbed my hand and stuck the lemon in his mouth. I was amazed that he didn't even make a funny face when he first tried it.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-14T20:56:00.004-04:00

I finally got around to uploading our pumpkin patch pictures from two weeks ago!

I LOVE fall and have dreamt about taking my little boy or girl on their first visit to the pumpkin patch for many many years. Our adventure was even more fun than I anticipated! James enjoyed every facet of our trip: riding on the hayride, picking out a pumpkin, and looking at the animals.

Here he is riding on the hayride with his Mommy.
"Let me taste this one and see if it meets my specifications."

What could be better than taking a walk on Daddy's shoulders on a beautiful fall day?

"Yum. This one tastes even better than the last one I tried!"

Rod did pretty good with this family self-portrait...he even got the pumpkin in there!

6-month Doctor's visit

2009-10-02T17:12:00.002-04:00

James was 17.5 lbs and 28.75" long. This puts him in the 96th percentile for height and 37th percentile for weight. He got 4 shots during which he cried his little heart out. After I got him settled down and dressed again we walked out into the hallway. He smiled at most of the people out there but started screaming again as soon as he saw the nurse who had administered his shots...such a smart little cookie he is.

Pictures of my favorite little 6 month-old!

2009-09-26T16:29:00.006-04:00

I guess 6 months was the magic age James needed to reach before sleeping through the night. All week he has gone to bed around 9 and gotten up around 6:30. His Mommy is really enjoying the uninterrupted sleep!

Here are some pictures from the past week. We will start with Mom's big 50th birthday bash last Saturday.

This is the cake Lindsey made. I wanted to get a cake with a sculpture of Mom in her convertible on top (yes, I've been watching too many shows like Ultimate Cakeoff, Ace of Cakes, and Food Network Challenge). It was going to cost a minimum of $200 to get it done by a bakery. My sister, being the creative genius that she is, offered to attempt to make my dream a cake-reality. I love the end result!

James' Great-Uncle Rob lives a couple of hours away. This was only the 2nd time that they got to see each other. At first James cried but then Rob held him facing out and he was happy as a clam!

Tyce, Grandma Jo, and James were having a grand time together!

I wanted a picture of the boys with their Great-Grandma Knotts.

This past Thursday Rod and I wanted to take our little brother Blake, our nephew Jeremy, and James to the park for a picnic. Here is a self-portrait of James and his Mama watching the boys play at the park.

Jeremy loves his little cousin James and was begging to hold him on the swing. They had fun playing together like big kids!

James also enjoyed the baby swing. He was yelling and smiling at all the kids who ran by.

After running around with the older boys for a while, Rod took a few minutes to toss James around. I snapped this picture and I love the way it turned out.

A friend of my Mom's noticed that her neighbor closed down her home daycare and put all her baby stuff out on the curb with the trash. She called Mom to see if she wanted it. It filled up Mom and Cait's car to the brim! This week we were finally able to sift through all the toys. James was thrilled to get some new things to chew on. He was getting bored with his old toys.

I took this picture of James and Grandma Jo playing with the drumset at church today. Isn't that little smile contagious?

Happy Half-Birthday to My Baby Boy!

2009-09-18T08:19:00.003-04:00

James is 6 months old today. I think back to six months and 1 day ago and wonder how I ever survived without him! My life has been made so much richer by getting to know little James. Here are some things I want to remember about him at 6 months:

* He loves to move! People constantly comment to me about his movement. I think he is going to be one energetic little man just like his daddy. In fact, he wants to walk so badly that we cannot get him to sit on his own. He won't bend!

* James really enjoys anything that is new. He is already bored with all of his toys. As soon as he sees a new toy he gets super excited.

* He is eating all kinds of baby foods and even a few big people foods (like smashed up bananas or cantelope in the mesh feeder). The only thing he doesn't care for is peas, but he still eats them.

* At night he typically sleeps from 8-6:30 and gets up for a 15-minute bottle around 2.

* As I mentioned in my last entry, he now has two teeth. Of course, wtih the teeth comes LOTS of drool. His shirt is almost always soaked.

* He loves animals. The cats provide endless hours of entertainment for him. Unfortunately, they are learning to keep their distance because he now has enough control of his hands to be able to grab them when they walk by. When he does get a hold of them he immediately pulls them towards his mouth like a chewtoy. You can only imagine their displeasure!

* James already has us laughing several times a day. He comes up with the craziest faces. If I hand James over to Rod when he gets home, Rod usually gets lots of slobbery kisses and smiles. Then James looks over at me with this devilish little grin like he found someone that is SO much better than me!

* He is really tall which makes finding clothes that fit almost impossible. Shirts/onesies are ok but he is too tall and skinny to fit baby pants. He is currently in 6-9 month clothes but the pants are always falling down. I wonder if they make big and tall baby clothes.

* James is such a sweet and happy (as long as he has enough sleep) little boy. We love him so much and can't wait to see how his personality continues to develop into a wonderful little boy.

First tooth and other pictures from the last week.

2009-09-15T17:01:00.003-04:00

I think I spent about 45 minutes on Sunday trying to get a picture of James' two new teeth. Believe it or not, this was the best shot I could get. Besides getting his first teeth last week, James also got his first cold over the weekend. That's why his little nose was runny in this picture.

James loves to read books with his daddy. His favorite book right now is called Baby's Sensations. He likes to chew on the butterfly's wings and listen to the bird squawk.

Eating a banana for the first time out of the little mesh feeder. He liked that a lot!

Swimming with Daddy at Great-Aunt Lori's house. He kicked and kicked like a little frog in the water.

Happy baby pictures!

2009-09-04T20:44:00.003-04:00

James really enjoys eating REAL food now. He thinks he is hot stuff in his high chair.

He is a little too short for the high chair. The tray is right at his mouth level so he always slimes it with baby food.

He looked like such a big boy in his polo shirt and shorts.

How precious is my little man? His eyes looked so blue with that hat. Of course, it took a lot of goofy faces to get a smile out of him because he was quite annoyed with the hat.

This little lion is his favorite toy EVER. Whenever he is grumpy, I show him the lion and he immediately starts laughing and reaches out for it. He loves to suck on the poor lion's face.

Pictures from the past week

2009-08-22T11:45:00.002-04:00

James sleeping peacefully in the car.

He is always so proud of himself when he rolls over on the changing table or in his bed.

On Tuesday James sat outside with me while I painted my nails. It was really hot so I spritzed him with a water bottle. He thought that was so much fun!

His favorite part about being outside is watching the trees sway in the wind.

Such a sweet little boy!

There's nothing as cute as a baby's giggle.

2009-08-13T19:35:00.003-04:00

James at 5 months

2009-08-07T16:10:00.002-04:00

I say he is 5 months old because he was born 20 weeks ago. Anyway, here are some things that I want to remember about him at this age:

* he wakes up in such a good mood...almost always smiling before his eyes open
* he really enjoys playing in his exersaucer or on a blanket on the floor
* he is starting to giggle when he finds a noise funny
* he seems to like rice cereal
* he is wearing 6-9 month clothes
* he still has difficulty falling asleep when he is too tired
* he recognizes his mommy and daddy
* he sleeps from 8PM-4AM then drinks a quick bottle and goes back to sleep until about 7
* he has decided that he does not want to be buckled in his carseat anymore and always arches his back when we try to put him in...he also cries most of the time he is in the car
* he discovered his hands and sucks on them constantly, he tries to suck on his toes but his legs are too long to reach his mouth
* all of his little quirks add up to make him a wonderfully unique little person and the joy of our lives. :)

A couple of "firsts" from the past week

2009-08-02T18:17:00.004-04:00

First time wearing his little baby bathrobe.

First time trying rice cereal.

First time going to the baby class at church.

$2.81 (aka I heart Food Lion)

2009-07-24T16:03:00.002-04:00

That's right...$2.81 for everything you see pictured below. That's 2 sweet potatoes, 5 bananas, 4 plums, an avacado, a box of cupcake mix, an M5 razor, a pair of school scissors, and a 40-pk of wet wipes for two dollars and eighty-one cents! Food Lion has online coupons that are pretty open-ended and allow for some awesome savings.

The reason I've been going back to couponing is so that I can cut back my work hours to spend more time with this precious little face.

I need to take more pictures

2009-07-20T18:46:00.003-04:00

This weekend our friends (Lenny, Cherie, and the kids) were here then yesterday we went to a pool party with my mom's family. I never once took my camera out. What's happening to me?

Anyway, here are a few pictures from last week at the park.

37 cents!

2009-07-12T20:15:00.002-04:00

I've been enjoying couponing again. So far this month I have saved over $160! Tonight Rod and I went to Kohl's. We spent $7.64 but we saved $45.65. We got this little outfit for .37. What a deal!

Happy 4 month birthday to James!

2009-07-08T20:47:00.009-04:00

Every day James becomes more fun to be around. He is such a precious little guy...I could spend all day just staring into those beautiful blue eyes.

Here are some facts about him now that he is 4 months old:

* He still loves to sleep in complete darkness.

* At night he typically goes to bed at 8:30, gets up to eat around 3:30, then sleeps until 8:30 the next morning. It's a pretty sweet deal!

* James is under the care of his Daddy this summer. Some of the things they enjoy doing each day are: playing on the floor, reading books, going for walks around the yard, listening to music, and taking mid-afternoon naps together.

* He can roll over from his back to tummy and occasionally he surprises himself by flipping back over again.

* Every once in a while he will let out a little giggle (it is by far the cutest sound I have ever heard!) when Rod kisses his tummy.

* He is in love with his pacifier.

* Sometimes, when he is super tired, he hums himself to sleep.

* James is the smilingest baby ever. But when we go out in public he is too interested in exploring the new environment to smile. Our friends probably all think he is a boring little drooling blob.

* He has his own fashion sense. :)

"Mom, this hat is so 2008"

"These glasses make me look like a hunk!"

Random pictures

2009-07-03T16:05:00.005-04:00

Here is James posing with his Daddy. He absolutely loves to lay on the floor and talk to himself. It is even more fun for him if someone will get down there and interact with him. Rod is so good about not only taking care of his needs, but also playing with him. James is going to miss having his Daddy all to himself when the schoolyear starts. I was looking through my pictures and realized that I only have a couple of me with James so I decided to snap this self-portrait. It was difficult, though, because one of the cats kept trying to play with the camera strap.

Remember how I told you James can't sleep unless it is totally dark? The next few pictures show you all the crazy ways we have modified our house to accomodate his sleeping needs!

This is the fancy little tent he sleeps in during the day. It is actually one of those crib tents that you're supposed to use to keep toddlers from climbing out of their beds. We put a black tablecloth over it and set it up in our room (which is the darkest room in the house). It looks ridiculous but it works!

James really enjoys the interaction with whoever is changing his diaper. He usually smiles and jabbers the whole time.

He's been holding out on us

2009-06-24T16:33:00.004-04:00

James rolled over for the first time yesterday morning and now he acts like he's been doing it all his life! Every time we set him down on his back he immediately flips over. As you can see in this video, he gets so proud of himself as soon as he does it. Unfortunately, he can't go back yet so he usually gets mad after about 10 seconds on his stomach. He is also starting to lose his hair. There is a funny little bald line all the way around the back of his head...hence the nickname "Baldy".

We love Craigslist!

2009-06-17T20:05:00.002-04:00

We have gotten a lot of necessities for James off of Craigslist. It is nice not having to buy brand new items that we know he is only going to use for a couple of months. Last night I picked up an exersaucer for $25. I brought it home and did a quick clean of the surface so I could try James in it. After a couple of minutes he started shrieking. We couldn't tell if it was excitement, fear, overstimulation, or if he just happened to find a new noise at that exact moment. We still don't know what the noise was about, but these pictures give you a glimpse into what he thought of the exersaucer.

This is his proud face. Whenever he sits up or stands on our lap or when he is trying to reach for something he makes this face where his top lip sticks out and his eyes become very focused. He thought he was hot stuff in the new exersaucer!

Rod's theme song

2009-06-14T13:08:00.001-04:00

Mr. Mom by Lonestar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1TTXdsCtvw

James at 3 months...

2009-06-11T19:55:00.003-04:00

Wow. 3 months old already?

Right now James:

* Can hold his head up really well.

* Enjoys laying on a blanket, sitting on the couch, rocking in his swing, or cuddling with mommy and daddy during his awake time.

* He still cannot sleep well during the day. I will have to post some pictures of what our house looks like...blankets, towels, etc. hanging from every window!

* He smiles at just about anyone or anything!

* Rolling over is his new goal. He gets so close, but can't quite figure out how to tuck his arm under him.

* Baths are starting to be fun. He still hates being cold when he gets out, though.

* Is beginning his new adventure of staying home with daddy full time during the summer.

New furniture!

2009-06-07T13:48:00.006-04:00

Rod and I have been married 6 1/2 years and our furniture is all either hand-me-downs or something we bought used.

The couch we've had for the past 3 years was purchased out of someone's front yard for $20. It served us well, but it was REALLY time to move on. Here is a small peek at our old couch. Our cats tore it up and one day a piece of metal sticking out the side of it cut Rod's finger. He immediately went out to the shed, picked up the first piece of wood he found, then came back in and nailed it over the metal piece on the couch. Classy, huh?

We used to have our computer desk in the livingroom. Thankfully we recently purchased a laptop so we don't need this big desk taking up room in our livingroom anymore. We decided to keep the desktop computer and hook it up to the new TV. It's pretty awesome having a 42" computer monitor!

Because the new couch is green and the livingroom color doesn't quite match, we decided to do one tan accent wall where the couch is sitting. Here is that wall once it was painted. The color is Cracker Bitz from Olympic.

Once the furniture was delivered, I put James on it to see what he thought. I think he liked it! Although, a little later that afternoon he was taking a nap on the couch and peed through his outfit onto it. He has only ever leaked out of one diaper in the past.

The new dark brown recliner makes a great portrait background...I'll have to remember that!
Here is a shot of the sectional up against the newly painted wall.

Rod's pride and joy! A 42" Toshiba Regza TV. He got it off Ebay new for 1/3 of the retail price.

The recliner is so cozy and relaxing.

James loves books. I've found that the corner of the sectional offers a convenient way for him to enjoy his books. I can tuck this long accordian book into the spaces between the sections and it entertains him for quite a while.

The little man just discovered his tongue. He really thinks he is hot stuff when he sits in the cocrner of the sectional.

Thanks for looking at my pictures!

Mohawk Baby

2009-06-01T19:28:00.003-04:00

I used to roll my eyes and make fun of mothers who made their babies hair into a curl on the top of their heads after bathtime. But, I also secretly longed for a time when I would be able to humiliate my own baby in the same way. Last night my dream finally came true!

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks? For those of you who haven't gotten the pleasure of meeting James, I should tell you that he is just as sweet and happy as he looks in the pictures. Rod and I (and the rest of our families) are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Silly Little Sleeper

2009-05-28T18:31:00.004-04:00

James is finally starting to figure out how to sleep more during the day. One of his tricks is to turn around in his swing so his face is hidden from the light.

2 month doctor's visit

2009-05-23T17:57:00.002-04:00

James went to the doctor yesterday for his 2 month visit (even though he is 9 1/2 weeks). He measured 25 1/2" long (97th percentile) and 13 lbs 4 oz (80th percentile). The doctor looked him over and said he looks very healthy. She even got a couple of smiles out of him which she appreciated. They gave him an oral vaccine and two shots. He did great and only cried a little when they gave him the 2nd shot. I gave him some Tylenol right after we left and it seemed to keep him from getting a fever last night. Here is a picture of my sweet little James last evening.

Road trip

2009-05-17T19:10:00.006-04:00

Yesterday we took the 4 1/2 hour drive down to my great-grandfather's 100th birthday party. It was James' first road trip and I was a little nervous about how he would do. I couldn't believe that in 9 hours of riding in the car he only cried for about 10 minutes. We left at 8:30AM and he slept from the time we got on the highway until about 11:30. When he woke up we stopped for gas and took a few minutes to get him out of his seat to feed him so he could stretch out a little bit. Then he slept the rest of the way there. On the way back he slept until we got about 30 minutes away from home. Here is a picture to show you how happy he was.
One of the reasons we went was to get a 5 generation picture. My mom and grandfather are in the back row. In the front is me, James, and James' great-great-grandfather. We also have a 5 generation picture of me when I was a little older than James. At the time I had a great-great-grandmother. My picture was in the local paper and this one is going to be printed in the same paper later this week.

James did so well letting everyone hold him. He was interested in everything that was going on at the party. Here he is with my grandmother (his great-grandmother).

Here he is with my mom (his grandma).

I was so proud of my little guy yesterday. Today is a different story. The little whiner has been crying off and on since about 12:30. He has slept for less than 2 hours since 9AM.

Here is one more picture for you. I was unloading the groceries this afternoon and our littlest cat tried to hide in one of the grocery bags on the counter. He knows he was not supposed to be up there, that's why he was barely peeking out of the bag...hoping I couldn't see him.

No sleep!

2009-05-15T11:19:00.005-04:00

Apparently once you turn 2 months old you no longer need any naps during the day...who knew? James is going through a phase where he doesn't want to sleep. Sometimes he will fall asleep right away like a little angel. Other times he will fall asleep for 15 minutes then he will wake up and be wide awake for hours. Then there are the times (mostly in the evenings) when he will whine and cry for 3+ hours at a time while blinking as slowly as he can and rubbing his eyes. We have been trying EVERYTHING to make him sleep. Nothing works on a regular basis, but different things work occasionally.

He enjoys walking around in his front carrier.

Sometimes James will lay in his crib for an hour or more staring at his fishy mobile (thanks Anne, Jane, and Heather!). Of course I have to go in every 5 minutes and wind it back up but at least he is happy.
=

James at 2 months old

2009-05-13T11:45:00.002-04:00

* Smiles a lot (he started smiling at us around 6 weeks old)

* Spends at least 1-2 hours a day laying on the couch talking to the curtains

* Has a variety of different cries (and I'm learning what they all mean)

* Sleeps 3-4 hours at a time during the night

* Fights sleep during the day

* Loves his pacifier

* Enjoys being strapped into the front carrier and doing chores with Mommy or Daddy

* Has a dimple on his right cheek when he smiles!

* Is wearing mostly 3-6 month outfits because he is so tall

This isn't the best picture but it is the most recent one I have of him. It was taken on Mother's Day right before my camera batteries died!

James this week

2009-05-09T18:27:00.002-04:00

Here are some random pictures that I took this week.

Tuesday was Rod's mom's birthday. I took this picture of James then printed "Happy Birthday Grandma" on it and we took it to her when we visited her at work. James enjoyed getting shown off to all of her coworkers.

Thursday I watched my nephew, Tyce. He and James sat next to each other on the couch so sweetly. I thought it was so cute how they were grabbing each other's hands.

James slept in his swing from 8:30PM-2:30AM one night this week. That's the first (and only) time he slept six hours at once. I am hoping it becomes a habit soon!

For James every day is crazy hair day! That piece on the right side of his head will not lay flat for anything. I've tried putting Rod's hair paste on it but that only works for about 5 minutes. He is still cute even with his funny hair!

And the Mommy of the Year Award goes to...

2009-05-06T11:10:00.003-04:00

...someone who is not me!

James has started to babble a lot before he goes to sleep at night. I'm always worried that he will keep Rod awake so we have started putting him in his crib more at night. It used to be that he couldn't sleep in his nursery at all but now he seems to be able to sleep better there than in the pack 'n play next to my bed.

I put him to bed at 10:30 last night and brought the monitor into bed with me (like I usually do). At 3:15 I woke up to Rod messing with the monitor. I asked him if James was awake. He said, "he WAS but now he is asleep again". Apparently Rod got up to use the bathroom at 2:30 and heard James screaming. The poor little guy was all worked up and I never heard him. He normally sleeps exactly 3 hours at a time during the night so he had probably woken up about 1:30. In my sleep I had turned the monitor upside-down so the speaker was facing the mattress. It muffled the sound so I didn't hear a thing. I feel so horrible that I let my little baby cry his eyes out in the dark when all he wanted was a bottle.

Rod was so sweet to take care of him even though he had to get up early this morning. It would have been a nice break for me to get to sleep through that feeding but after I figured out what I had done, I spent the next hour thinking of "what ifs" and couldn't go back to sleep.

Oh well, James is no worse for the wear today and I know that I will make many more (and probably more long-lasting) mistakes with him but I still feel bad. Now that I've confessed my mistake to the world (or at least the 3 people who read my blog), maybe I can quit kicking myself!

Help me feel better and leave me a comment with your "not so proud" parenting moments.

For a daddy who misses his boy...

2009-05-03T15:59:00.005-04:00

Rod is away on a business trip in Tennessee. I thought he would enjoy seeing some recent pictures and a video of James.

Sorry the video is sideways. I don't know how to change that in blogger.

Today is Rod's 29th birthday

2009-05-02T04:51:00.001-04:00

Cousins

2009-04-29T14:36:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday we had a family picnic. My uncle, aunt, and cousins from Virginia came up to meet the babies. While James and Tyce were both awake we took a couple pictures of them together.

Thanks, Angi!

2009-04-27T11:48:00.004-04:00

My friend Angi sent this outfit for James. I have put it on him several times with the intention of taking a picture to post for her. Each time he spit up on it or dirtied it in some way before I got the camera out. I finally captured it this weekend.

Doesn't he look like he thinks he is a cool dude?

During our photo session I was talking to him and he gave me this grin.

5 weeks old already!

2009-04-22T15:04:00.002-04:00

This week James has started smiling at us occasionally. Nothing melts my heart like that tiny little toothless grin! I'm going to have a hard time getting anything else done when he is awake because it is so much fun trying to get him to react to me with a smile.

He has also really started cooing and talking to himself. It's a lot of fun to listen to him entertain himself (except when he does it in the middle of the night).

On Friday Daddy gave him a haircut. It was really bright out so we took James into the shade of the tree in our front yard and put him on a towel in the grass. Apparently baby hair is extremely fine and shows every little mistake. Daddy did his best but it isn't exactly straight! Today while James was sleeping I trimmed his hair a little more. I was able to layer it a bit so it doesn't look so harsh.

He is starting to enjoy bathtime. We usually put the baby bathtub on the kitchen counter. He gets all soaped up and gets his hair washed then I hold him over the kitchen sink and Rod uses the sprayer to rinse him. The only time he complains is when we turn the water off and try to dry him. He does NOT like to be cold.

We have taken James to church the past two weeks. He has done great both times. His little cousin Tyce slept soundly in his carrier the whole time which allowed Aunt Lindsey to hold James during the service.

I never imagined having a newborn could be so much fun. We are trying to cherish every moment. It's a good thing he is not allergic to kisses because he gets hundreds of them every day!

1-month doctor's visit

2009-04-21T18:20:00.002-04:00

James had his 1-month appointment today. They measured him, did the PKU test, and gave him a Hepatitis B vaccine. He now weighs 10lbs 10 oz (67th percentile) and is 24 inches long (98th percentile). Although he cried at first when he was stuck with a needle, I was able to comfort him and get him to calm down in less than 1 minute. He is such a good little baby!

Saturday afternoon in the park

2009-04-20T11:33:00.003-04:00

Rod and I took James for a stroll at the park near our house on Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful 75 degrees out!

Our little family

His face is covered in baby acne but he is still cute as a button!

Hehe...look at that face!

Thanks for looking!

James at one month...

2009-04-16T14:18:00.003-04:00

(I want to keep track of his milestones so I can put them in his scrap/baby book. I thought I would jot them down here so I don't forget before I get the pictures printed and have a chance to write in his book.)

* James now weighs 10.5 lbs.
* Sleeps well at night. He usually goes to bed at 11 then wakes up at 2 and 5 to eat. He wakes up for the day at 8.
* Enjoys talking to his stuffed bear while we change his diaper.
* Likes to lay on his tummy and look at books.
* Eats 3-4 ounces per feeding.
* Favorite place to sleep is on his daddy's chest. He also sleeps well in the swing, pack 'n play, on the floor, in the car, on the couch...pretty much anywhere!
* He wears size 0-3 month clothes.

The video I promised...

2009-04-13T22:55:00.006-04:00

OK, I've been working at this for days. This is the best video of James' whining that I have been able to capture. He cracks me up!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T13:07:00.003-04:00

Random Tidbits

2009-04-10T12:26:00.002-04:00

* I don't have any pictures for you today. I'm still trying to capture the crazy performance he does when I change his diaper. Each time I change his diaper I get the camera out to see if I can get a video of it, but by the time I get all set up he is beyond whining and into the screaming mode. We will keep working on that.

* This morning he spit up on me which, thankfully, is really rare. "Spit up" is not really the correct term. It was more like projectile vomit! He got it all down my back, in my hair, all over the front of him, inside his sleepsack, down the back of the couch, and some even made it in between the couch cushions. At least he did not seem bothered by it.

* His sleep patterns are still great! It is 12:30 and he has been asleep since 10. During his nap I took a shower, ate breakfast (more like brunch I guess), took out the trash and recycling, emptied the diaper container, rinsed some dishes, sorted 200 photos, sent a couple of emails, and now I'm blogging. Who knew I could acccomplish so much with an infant? Before he was born I was envisioning still being in my pajamas at 3 in the afternoon!

* Please keep my sister and her little one who is 6 weeks old in your thoughts and prayers. Due to his cleft palate and reflux he has a lot of congestion which makes it very difficult for him to sleep. My sister is very patient but I know it has to be wearing her out.

Reading, cuddling, and shopping

2009-04-08T17:55:00.002-04:00

James and I have been enjoying our time together the past couple of days. We have been trying to expand our horizons and engage in new activities each day.

One thing James really enjoys is looking at his train book. It lights up and plays music which keeps him entertained for at least 30-45 minutes at a time.

He has discovered that every time he cries his mommy picks him up. Apparently, it is much more comfy to sleep on my shoulder than in his crib. I don't care if I'm spoiling him, he's only this little once!

Today I ventured out to the doctor's office to drop off a form and then we went to the grocery store. James slept like a little angel the whole time. I thought about going to Target but figured he would probably wake up before I was finished there so I went straight home after the grocery store. He slept for another hour and a half in his carseat after we returned home!

Right now he is sitting in his swing giving me a fake cry. His little whine cracks me up. I will try to get a video of it in the next couple of days to post for your enjoyment.

My Sentiments Exactly

2009-04-06T10:33:00.002-04:00

James and I are sad today because Rod had to return to work. It was so nice having him home for 2 1/2 weeks. During his time off he took care of our every need and now we're on our own. I'm sure we will survive just fine but it will be a lot more work for me and won't be nearly as fun without Rod. Although we will miss him, we are so thankful for the sacrifices he makes for us (not the least of which is driving an hour and 20 minutes each way to work). I suppose his absence during the day will just make the evenings that much more special.

The infamous "poopy face"

2009-04-02T17:49:00.003-04:00

James makes this hilarious face when he is preparing to fill his diaper. His eyes bug out, his face turns red, and his lips go straight across. It makes me laugh every.single.time. I know this probably gives you a glimpse into my immature sense of humor but I don't care...it's funny!

(This picture was actually taken when he was only 6 days old but I haven't been able to capture this face on camera recently.)

Superdad!

2009-04-01T10:50:00.002-04:00

Rod's multi-tasking skills are being put to the test with a newborn in the house. He's doing a wonderful job of being superdad while still working hard at his job and being the best husband in the world. I'm one lucky girl!

Thank you Nathan!

2009-03-31T09:59:00.003-04:00

Our friends Lenny and Cherie sent us a whole box of baby clothes that their baby boy has outgrown. James wanted me to post a picture of him in one of the outfits they sent. He says to tell his friend Nathan thank you! :)

Baby picture comparisons

2009-03-29T19:08:00.005-04:00

I think James looks so much like me when I was a baby. Here are a couple of pictures for your enjoyment.

Rod as a newborn

Me at 3 days old

James at 3 days old

What a difference a week makes

2009-03-28T11:20:00.002-04:00

Last Saturday I was in the hospital unable to do much for myself or my baby. Right now I am home alone taking care of James and eating breakfast I made for myself. It's so nice to be more self-sufficient and allow Rod some time to do other things besides help me get back and forth to bed!

James is sleeping away in his bassinet like the good little baby he is. Hopefully I will be able to post some more pictures later today.

That's what is happening in the Kerbs household today. :)

Happy 1 week birthday to James!

2009-03-25T17:31:00.003-04:00

Our little man is one week old today. I know I will probably be saying this for the next 18 years, but I can't believe how fast he is growing up!

He is such a content little baby. Today I walked into the nursery and he was in his bassinet smiling to himself. I went out to the living room and picked up the camera hoping I might catch a glimpse of his smile. He continued smiling so long that I was able to get 6 pictures of that adorable little grin. I'm sharing this one with you because I think it is the cutest picture we've captured so far.

Thanks for humoring me and letting me share yet another picture of our pride and joy. :)

The loooong version of James' birth story.

2009-03-24T13:46:00.003-04:00

I have lots of pictures and details to share. If you plan on reading this whole post I hope you have a lot of time on your hands!

On the way to the hospital at 6:50AM on March 18.

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While waiting for contractions to start, Rod hooked me up with the laptop and some TiVod shows. I watched a couple of episodes of 17 kids and counting. If Mrs. Duggar could do this 18 times, I should be able to handle it once!

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Rod was with me from start to finish. He watched over my every move and made me as comfortable as possible. I knew he would be an awesome support person, but never imagined he could make me feel as at-ease and confident as he made me feel that day.

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When I arrived I was having contractions about 7 minutes apart but they were so mild I couldn't feel them. I was at 4cm dilated and about 80-90% effaced. The Pitocin was started around 8AM. At 10:25 the doctor broke my water. I felt pretty good until about 12:30 and got the epidural at 1:45.

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Mom arrived around 10:45.

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Amy arrived around 2:00.

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My sisters also came and sat with me for a little while. It was so nice to be surrounded by close friends and family. I cannot imagine having to go through labor alone.

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At 3:30ish the doctor wanted me to do some practice pushes. He said that I was at 9cm and just needed to get rid of a tiny bit of the cervix before I could push for real.

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I started pushing for real at about 4:30.

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They had me trying many different positions because I could not feel the urge to push. I look calm because I wasn't feeling pain. The only thing I was worried about was that pushing was going to last forever!

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I continued to show a few signs of making progress. Every time the doctor came in she said she would give me one more hour then we would talk about the options. I got to the point where the nurse said there was about a silver dollar sized amount of the baby's head showing and they thought that was really promising. The nurse reported that the baby had a ton of hair!

A little before 8 the doctor came in and checked me one more time. The baby would make progress during pushes but then would slip back after each contraction. The doctor and nurses said that indicated that he was just too big to fit through the birth canal. I was really disappointed but made the decision to go forward with a c-section at 8:02PM. Here is a picture of me and Rod after they started the prep work.

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The c-section was worse than I expected. Being as clausterphobic as I am, I have always been terrified of surgery. They strapped my arms down on the table, placed a curtain in front of my face (it kept getting moved so my face was covered by it), and they gave me oxygen in my nose. It was all I could do to keep from having a panic attack, but I knew that wouldn't help anything. Because I had been crying and the room was freezing cold, I was extremely congested and felt like I couldn't breathe well. I was all alone during the preparations as they made Rod wait in the waiting room. He later told me that was the scariest moment of his entire life. I was pretty scared, too! They made the first incision then let him enter the room. It was such a relief to hear his voice (even though he was complaining at the doctor for starting surgery without him!). Anyway, after much pain (which everyone told me I wouldn't feel), tugging, and hearing statements from the doctor like "wow, this baby is really stuck in the birth canal", they finally told Rod to stand up. As he stood up and looked over the curtain, I heard the doctor say "8:50PM" and then heard that adorable little cry that I've been waiting for! Here is James' first picture.

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Rod stayed standing up so he could see what was happening. He relayed to me everything he saw which made the waiting a little bit easier. All I could think about was "someone PLEASE bring me my baby!". After cleaning him up a little bit, I finally got to kiss my little man.

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They wisked the baby off to the nursery and I asked Rod to follow him. I knew I would be ok but wanted to know someone was watching over James. They told me I would be in recovery for about 1 hour. It turned into 2 1/2 hours due to some nurses that seemed to thrive on imposing pain. I was still having contractions, had just been sewn up after major surgery and they were pushing on my abdomen with all their strength. Despite the pain medications, I was screaming out in pain. At one point, my heart started beating in a weird pattern due to the pain which set off some alarms. It was the most painful thing I've ever had to endure. I would gladly do the contractions, pushing, and c-section again but that part in the recovery room was absolutely awful. Here is a picture of me waiting in the recovery area (Rod was finally able to come sit with me after about an hour).

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While I was being tortured, Rod was in the nursery with James. This was his first bath.

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James was crying his little eyes out until Rod starting singing to him. He immediately turned to look at Rod and quit crying. How sweet is that?

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At around 11:30PM they finally allowed me to go back to the family birthing center so I could hold my baby. I arrived in my room and was surrounded by lots of friends and family (and LOTS of cameras!). Here is a picture of the first time I got to hold James.

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This is Rod's first time holding James.

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I was so out of it that I can't remember the situation surrounding this picture but I think it is cute!

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Rod's first diaper change. Actually, he did all of the diaper changes the whole time we were in the hospital!

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Rod took such great care of me. He helped me in and out of bed, to and from the bathroom, putting my compression stockings on and off, getting me snacks and water, etc. the poor guy never got a break. He was SO tired by the time we left the hospital.

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Our sweetie pie.

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James loves to sleep on his daddy's chest.

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I could stare at him all day long!

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He wasn't too thrilled with his going home outfit but he sure looked cute!

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Finally going home! Saturday afternoon around 5 we were released from the hospital. I was sooo happy to be outta there.

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Thanks for reading our story!

Some pictures from James' birth day

2009-03-23T20:50:00.002-04:00

I promised pics so here are a couple to hold you over until I have more time. Right now Rod is at Target and I'm home alone with the baby for the 1st time. I'm trying to feed him and type at the same time.

James right after he was pulled out.

This is what he looked like after his bath...the 1st time I saw him!

Rod with James in the nursery. This was while I was in recovery. They wouldn't let anyone (even Rod) hold him until I got out of recovery.

Just because he's so cute, here is a picture of him today.

James is such a peaceful baby. We love him so much and look forward to sharing many more of our hundreds of pictures with you very soon.

Small update

2009-03-22T15:10:00.002-04:00

I'm still recovering from my c-section and not able to sit in this chair for very long but I wanted to drop by and give a quick update.

I will have to give you the whole birth story another time (James did a good job but he missed a few details). Right now we're home and doing great. I feel pretty good and my incision is healing well. James is just as cute as a button and he is such a good baby. Feeding is still presenting a few challenges but nothing we won't overcome.

Rod and my mom have been doing everything and allowing me to just relax, heal, and cuddle with my little sweetie.

I know you're dying to see more pictures. I will try to get some uploaded for you tomorrow. Thanks for all of your support throughout this pregnancy! I hope you will continue to follow along as we explore the newborn stage. :)

I am finally here!

2009-03-19T07:42:00.004-04:00

Wow,

What a journey. I got pushed on for 3.5 hours until the doctors finally agreed that I was just to big! Off to surgery we went. My mommy was very scared but she was brave for me. Turns out that there was a full overhand knot in the umbilical cord. I could have told them that but they just couldn't hear me. But don't worry, the knot never cinched and my pulse stayed a nice steady 140 for the whole ordeal. I saw Dad first. He was describing my cute hair and overall awesomeness. That Daddy is a good man you know. He was scared too but stayed brave for Mommy and Me.

After all was said and done, I came in to this world at 8:59 PM, weighing 8lbs and 9oz with a length of 22.25 Inches. I had great Apgar scores, nines across the board. Yeah, I am a bit of an overachiever. So anyway, just had to toot my own horn since Mom and Dad are so tired. Good morning world!

Love always,

James Edward Kerbs

10 minutes to departure!

2009-03-18T06:35:00.001-04:00

Today's the day! I will try to have Rod post all the gory details and a picture this evening. :)

Are we going to have a St. Patrick's Day Baby???

2009-03-17T08:25:00.003-04:00

Wouldn't that be nice! At this point I'm going to guess NO to the St. Patrick's Day baby. Nothing has changed despite my (and Rod's) pleading with our baby boy to PLEASE come out! I was really hoping to go into labor on my own before Wednesday morning. I know the induction won't be a big deal but I am still hoping labor starts sometime today.

Our friend Aaron and his wife were also due on March 19. Judging by his facebook status today, I think they are headed to the hospital. Congratulations to them! I'm only slightly jealous. :)

Doctor's appointment update

2009-03-16T10:31:00.002-04:00

I met with the doctor this morning. Currently I am at 3cm and 90% effaced so progress is coming but very slowly. He said that I could go into labor as early as this afternoon. But he went ahead and scheduled me to come to the hospital on Wednesday for an induction. So, hopefully by Wednesday evening we will have some baby news!

39 weeks 4 days and counting...

2009-03-15T17:55:00.002-04:00

For those of you who have been obsessively checking for updates, I just wanted to let you know that Baby Kerbs is still cozy and showing no signs of wanting to enter the world today. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. Maybe I will know something more after that. Have a great Sunday evening!

Still here...

2009-03-14T13:33:00.001-04:00

Rod, our friends Lenny and Cherie, my friend Kimmy, and my friend Amy all were sure the baby was going to come yesterday. I was hoping they would be right, but sadly we're still waiting. Oh well. I'll let you know when things change.

12 pictures on the 12th

2009-03-13T11:17:00.008-04:00

My friend Kimmy introduced me to the challenge of taking 12 pictures on the 12th of each month. This is the first month I've done it. Hopefully I will do this regularly throughout the rest of the year.

(Sorry the pictures aren't spaced right...blogger is giving me a fit!)

1) Me at 39 weeks.

2) Due to doctor's orders, I have to stay home and "rest" until the baby comes. I am trying to work from home a little. I spent a lot of time on the computer doing emails, playing on Facebook, checking my message boards, etc.

3) Rod has been so awesome about helping around the house. He has taken over laundry duty temporarily which has been great for me. I wanted to help him out in any way I could so I helped him enter some student work into his gradebook.

4) The cats are getting annoying! Every time I try to do something they get in my way. Here Precious decided his fat posterior needed to sit on the papers I was trying to work with.

5) For lunch Lindsey and I split a sub from Jerry's. It was sooo good!

6) In exchange for lunch I got to spend some time with my little nephew!

7) For an afternoon snack I enjoyed some Turkey Hill Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

8) I even got some scrapping time in...unusual for the middle of a day on a Thursday!

9) Lindsey gave me some grapefruit. I peeled one and ate half of it before dinner. Unfortunately, it gave me heartburn. It was worth it!

10) I got to spend some time reading. Thankfully one of my favorite magazines arrived last week.

11) Rod bought this video camera off of Ebay so we have a way to easily videotape our new munchkin and transfer the videos onto the web. I spent a little time playing around with the camera so I could learn all of its handy features.

12) Just in case the baby is bigger than expected and doesn't fit in his newborn coming home clothes, I decided to throw a 0-3 month outfit into the hospital bag. A lady from work gave me this as a shower gift. I think she got it at JCPenney's. Isn't it adorable?

Ultrasound 38 weeks 6 days

2009-03-11T11:55:00.002-04:00

I got a couple more pictures, but they are really hard to see. They are kind of like those 3D pictures that were popular in the mid-90s...if you stare at the picture for about 20-30 seconds you can start to see a face emerge. Maybe if I feel energetic later I will go upstairs and scan them for you.

Baby Kerbs is doing well! He is floating around in plenty of fluid (the last ultrasound showed that he didn't have much but that was just because the technician didn't look for it). The technician today estimated his weight at 8lbs 1oz which is actually 1oz less than their guess last week. She laughed when she first pulled his picture up with the 3D wand saying that he is "so cute and pudgy". Then she apologized all over herself for calling my baby fat. It didn't offend me, I think chubby babies are cute! I could definitely tell he has round little cheeks.

Come on out little man...we can't wait to meet you!!!