Sunday, December 31, 2006

James Says...

"See ya next year!"

 
Last pic of 2006 and about to enter the second year of his life!

This pic is of Josh, James, and Josh's best friend Joey right before the Georgia bowl game last night (that they WON!!). It was a great game with a great comeback. James only stayed up for 30 minutes of it, but this was a cute picture opportunity that I had to take!

 
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Wishing everyone a wonderful 2007!!

Friday, December 29, 2006

Photo Session with an 8 Month Old!

I tried to take pictures of James with his new blanket that my mom made for him for Christmas. I got so frustrated that I had finally had to laugh and give up! I thought I'd share these great pics with you!

Putting him on the floor lasted about 1 second...he crawled off.


"Ahh...Maybe if I put him in the chair, he'll sit still!" This is him bouncing his leg up and down as if doing leg lifts.

In the rest of these, I picked him up and set him on his bottom, and he got in these positions before I could even begin to snap a picture!




Here he's actually climbing up the chair! Didn't know he could do that before today!


Alas, we found a way! Letting him stand up, holding onto his table, with Daddy standing behind me. This finally looks like him in a picture to me! We'll have to try it again with the blanket another day!




Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas Photos

Here are some pictures of James's 1st Christmas. We had a wonderful time with family and thoroughly enjoyed having Santa visit James for the first time! I tried and tried and TRIED to get James to sit still for a picture, but it was nearly impossible, so these are some of the best we got. Almost every picture I have of him is him lunging toward me, turning around to look at the tree, or getting into crawl position. At least his Santa Claus picture turned out OK! This is just a hard age for taking pictures, I guess!
Nana and Deedah with their 4 grandchildren 
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With Uncle Michael and Aunt Jilinda Christmas Day, wearing the adorable bib they got him. 
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With Daddy Christmas morning, after playing with his Santa presents.

We tried to take a cousin picture, but it just wasn't happenin'! Maybe next year!
 
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At Auntie Beth's and Uncle Bryon's house on Christmas Eve night

Friday, December 22, 2006

"Dada" Won!

I forgot to mention that "Dada" won...James said it to Josh the other day! I was talking to Josh on the phone while he was in Denver and put the phone up to James's ear so he could hear Josh talk. Josh said, "Say Dada.", and he said "Dada!" That night and every day since he has said it a lot. I don't think he knows what dada means, but he knows it gets a BIG response out of us! It varies from "Dada" to "Dadadadada."

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Home Sweet Home

I'm so happy to have my husband back from Colorado! Josh went skiing for 5 days with my brother, brother-in-law, and some of my brother's friends, and had a wonderful time! They left last Thursday, flew into Denver, drove to Steam Boat Springs, and then flew back Tuesday. I'm SOOO thankful they decided to come back Tuesday instead of Wednesday! You've probably heard that a huge blizzard came through Denver and people are stuck there...possibly through Christmas! It makes me sick to even think about Josh not being here for Christmas, and to think everyone there is having to go through that!

Josh had an appointment in Dallas on Wednesday, so Elizabeth and I drove up (with James, Mary Beth, and Matthew) to meet them on Tuesday, and then Josh and I spent the night with my brother and sis-in-law. I didn't want to broadcast on the internet that Josh was out of town, just to be safe, but I'm just so thankful that they're back safe and sound! I was a big girl and stayed at my house by myself for the first time, since it's so much easier now with James to just stay at home! I did get a little scared a couple of nights, but overall it wasn't too bad. I used that time to get a ton of things done and about never stopped moving the entire time he was gone. James did very well, too, which made it nice! Say a little prayer for everyone who's stuck in the Denver airport right now!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

8 Months Old!

James turned 8 months yesterday. So much has changed in this past month, and this is SUCH a fun age!! I feel like James is starting the transition from baby to toddler (I don't know excactly when that starts...I'm guessing when they walk??), and is just a little person now more than ever! I never could have imagined how much love I'd have for my baby boy, but it just keeps growing and growing beyond measure! He's my little pal or attachment who goes with me wherever I go and brings indiscribable joy daily. Ok, enough gushing for now! I know every mother can relate, though! :)

**James has gotten very mobile in the past couple of weeks. He crawls from room to room fairly quickly. He's graduated from the lopsided, adorable beginner-crawl to the equally adorable army crawl. I think very soon he'll be doing the pro-crawl, because he's trying to do it and rocking back and forth on his hands and knees a lot. It's so much fun to watch him learn and get enjoyment out of exploring on his own!

**James kicks his feet quite frequently (to where he gets lots of attention when we're out shopping), and they start going really fast when he's excited. I can always tell when I'm holding him and his cousins sneak up behind me, because his arms and legs go crazy!

**He LOVES peek-a-boo and started doing it himself a few weeks ago. We were so excited and in awe that he has gone from a newborn to a person who plays peek-a-boo with people in 7 1/2 months!

**As you saw on the last post, he's been making silly faces lately just CRACK me up! He LOVES to eat, so he mostly makes them when I'm feeding him cereal or one of his favorite fruits or veggies.

**He's actually done this for a long time, but I think it's so interesting how he knows what to expect in certain situations. I guess he's aware now more than ever. He doesn't like for me to leave him alone in the exercauser, because since I know he's safely playing in there, I'd use that as time to run around the house and get things done...which he doesn't like. If I put him in the carseat in the garage, though, and run back in the house to get my load, he's perfectly content, because he knows I'll be in there in a second and we'll be going somewhere.

**He's waving good-bye and has just started clapping. His clap does not actually make a sound, but he'll try it right after we do. This is a picture of him waving. His arm goes up and down like this.  Posted by Picasa

**He's a wiggle worm! He doesn't sit still anymore, unless we're standing up and moving around with plently for him to see. He lunges and arches his back a lot, too, which gets exhausting! Anything in sight has to go in his hand and then in his mouth. He's very quick and strong, too! He gets this funny, determined look on his face, and then you've got about 1 second to move it out of the way. He's keeping me on my toes, but it's all fun!

BTW, James's Mothers Day Out teachers made these for him for Christmas, and I actually got choked up when I saw them. I had no idea they were doing anything for the babies, and they went above and beyond. I have the first one framed on my mantle, and the second is a reindeer made out of this hands and footprint on a canvas. I will treasure them, and they'll be up in the house every Christmas.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Highlights from the past few weeks

The weeks since Thanksgiving have been fun and exciting for the most part. I'm trying to relax and take in every moment of this Christmas season, because it is our first one as parents! It's been a little harder than usual for it to feel like Christmas, since it's been 75 degrees lately, but nothing will crush my spirits! We have done a little driving around looking at Christmas lights, lots of listening to Christmas music, Christmas shopping. Yup...it's the hap, happiest season of all!!!

I'm still absolutely loving teaching at Mother's Day Out. Mainly because of the social outlet for me, socialization for James, change of pace in the week, the oppurtunity to follow one of my passions, to teach, and most of all, I LOVE my little group of kids!! They say the funniest things and are still at the adorable, pinchably cute age. We have had so many fun projects going on with Christmas coming up, so I have kept busy lately cutting, pasting, painting, hot glueing, etc. My hands have burns on them, my clothes have glitter on them, and my living room floor is a mess, but it's SO much fun!

Here are some pictures of us.  
  Posted by Picasa James has been doing this hilarious face lately that I can't get enough of. I was so happy to catch it on camera. BTW, while I was taking these pictures, I was unknowingly kneeling in an antbed (a HUGE phopia of mine).
I freaked out (hopefully the neighbors weren't near their windows at that moment), slapping my legs about a hundred times and taking my shoes and socks off as quickly as humanly possible, and when I was back inside looking at pictures, I laughed at this one. Apparently I snapped one on my way down!