Update

Thank you guys for your sweet comments! I wanted to update y'all on how we're doing.

James thankfully never got worse and is slowly acting more and more like himself.

My energy is just now starting to pick back up. Today I feel like I'm back in the land of the living, but still pretty weak.

We have been trying to ease back into activity by doing little things like going on drives and slow walks (for my health and sanity!).

To answer some questions, no, we can't reschedule. The day before was too late in the game. We just simply lose our vacation! We're trying to keep it in perspective, but we are definitely a little down right now. We are going to try and use this week to do things we don't normally do. Josh and I are going to a bed and breakfast this weekend and are going to try to go to the movies one night this week. Josh is going to put in a light work week, but get home early so we can do things around town (as much as James and I can take).

I appreciate so much your prayers! I will leave you with two fun pics and one cute thing James is saying. I absolutely don't want to forget this and think this will be one of those things that we'll still be quoting when he's 30.

James learned to say I'm sorry from me saying that anytime he'd get hurt. It has progressed, and he's says it anytime he gets hurt in the slightest way or feels like he hurts someone or something in the slightest way. Yesterday, he was sitting in my lap facing me and lightly head bumping me to be silly. He got a suppressed grin and said, "Oh my! I sorry, mama." I can't quite capture the cuteness by writing it out, but I thought I'd try. It's kind of a mixture between a Canadian and a hillbilly, the way he pronounces it.

Here are the pics.

What a day...What a week!

Josh, James, and I went to the Starbucks drive-through tonight to get some drinks. When we got up to the window, the girl asked us, "Have y'all had a good day today?" Josh and I looked at each other, laughed, and simultaneously said, "NO!"

We were supposed to be going on a Costa Rican cruise for a week together (w/o James), starting tomorrow, but James and I came down with the flu this week! It started on Monday for me, with my eyes just hurting. Then my head hurt and my body ached that night. Tuesday, my nose starting running and I had chills. That's when I knew I might have the flu. Since we were going on a trip, I went to the doctor immediately and he put me on Tamiflu. James started showing the same symptoms that night, so he started right away.

I started feeling better on Wednesday night (so much so that I went ahead and packed for the trip...almost my whole closet is on our bedroom floor), Thursday, I got all showered and dressed for the day, thinking I'd get a lot of errands run and things done around the house, but my body told me otherwise. I got all the way to the mall and realized I didn't have enough energy to get out of the car all of a sudden! I drove back home and cried because I felt so miserable.

Meanwhile, James was doing okay, but then took a turn for the worse last night. His fever spiked and he looked pathetic. I made us another appointment to make sure we weren't getting a secondary infection. We got a bad feeling about the trip, but felt like we'd know more after the doctor today.

I woke up today feeling no better, if not worse. James was just about the same. Our doctor told me today that he was afraid I had the kind of flu that will just zap my energy for weeks (ugh!). James seemed more energetic by the time we were at the doctor. He took an X-ray of both of us, and said that James looked fine, but I had bronchitis now.

I prayed before we went that God would give the doctor the wisdom to tell us whether or not we should go, and the doctor said one thing that really scared us: that kids btwn the ages of 6 mo and 36 mo have just as many complications of the flu as the elderly, so he could take a turn for the worse and need to be hospitalized at any moment. That was it for us! We made the decision to stay back and lose the trip. It was extremely disappointing, to say the least, but we know that for some reason, God wants us right where we are this week!

I feel good knowing that James will not be sad (you want your mama when you're sick), and I don't think I'd have the energy to enjoy this trip. I feel worst for Josh, who worked hard to earn the trip and is feeling just fine, but we're going to try to do something special soon.

So that's why we laughed so hard at the girl asking us if we'd had a good day. She did feel sorry for us and gave us a free cookie! Also, I'm convinced that James knew we were leaving and then knew today that we were staying. He has been so happy and affectionate, scrunching up his nose a lot, giving us the biggest smiles his face can take. That's a great reward right there!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I thought this video was appropriate for today. Happy Valentine's Day!

My Big Brother is 30!

Happy 30th Birthday, Michael! You are the best big brother a girl could ask for, and the best uncle in the world! We all love you so much and can't wait to celebrate next weekend!

Slideshow

I've taken too many pictures of James the last couple of weeks to choose from, so I thought I'd put a slideshow on so you can see different sides of his personality!

Pictures from today

James' emerging personality and a few other things

I have a few things I want to mention about James right now that I want to remember.

He is really into his teddy bears right now. It is so sweet to watch him with his two "B. Bears"~ the little one that E & B got him for Christmas, and the one Josh and I got him before he was born in NYC. He will ask for them to take a nap or go to bed with, takes them to MDO, snuggles with them and us on the couch, and talks and plays with them in his carseat. I don't know what it is about boys and teddy bears, but I think it is one of the cutest things ever.

I have loved watching his personality come out even more lately! He is as determined and passionate as ever and constantly has something going on in his head. I really get a kick out of just watching him on his "missions". He has this serious face and will be looking back and forth for something, find it, run to gather up a few things (he always has 3-5 things in his hands), run to another place, find something else, dump the things he brought over, and on and on.

He has a ONE TRACK MIND!! This goes along with being determined, but it is such a big part of him that I thought I mention more about. He always seems to be coming up with new things he wants, looks at me with his sweet puppy dog eyes, and will loudly ask over and over for it. One sorta scary thing is that he knows Josh and me so well! He knows that with me, if I get any pair of shoes other than his Pumas, he will say, "No, Shoe!!!" and I will go hunt for his Pumas and let him wear them, but with Daddy, he won't do that, and he'll wear what Daddy picked out. I didn't mean for that to happen, it just sorta did! Now I've learned to just put the Pumas on and not fight it. I'll pick my battles.

I am noticing lately that we are developing...I don't know if it's more of a bond, or just a different kind of bond, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this age and how we're talking back and forth more, making each other laugh more, and playing together more. He is becoming more of a person and less of a baby all of the time. I'm still enjoying what's left of his babyness, like him asking for his teddy bear from behind his paci, loving to be rocked, etc. I do feel like those days are numbered, though.

He has an adorable lisp!!! It is the cutest thing to me, the way he says his S's. It's somewhere between an S and TH, if that makes sense. He'll bring me "Little Red Caboose" and say "Booth!" (for Ca-"Boose") . I'm in love with his adorable little almost two year old voice.

My favorite new word of his is "stuts"(picture that with his lisp), which is his word for stuck. Things get stuck a lot for him, so we hear that word many times a day! Josh went out of town last week for about 4 days, and when he came back noticed that he was talking more. Here's what he usually says when he wakes up, "OOOOH NOOOOO, Ba-i (paci)!!!! Uh-oh, Ba-i! Ah, Mama! Ah, Mama! Ah, Mama! Ah, Mama! Ah, Mama!...." until I go in there and get him. (He likes to drop his pacis back behind his crib and then let me get them.) I guess the biggest change right now verbally, is that he's putting lots of thoughts together and just keeps talking and talking. Also that he's even more of a parrot right now. If I so much as sneeze, he will say, "Chew!" just like me.

He's got rhythm! Friday night, Josh and I were shocked, because he sang, "Beep, Beep, Beep/ Beep, Beep, Beep/ Beep, Beep, Beep/ Th'Bus." and then did the exact same thing again, "Beep, Beep, Beep./Beep, Beep, Beep/ Beep, Beep, Beep/ Th'Bus". (it's his way of singing Wheels on the Bus) I said to Josh, "Did you notice that he just did the same thing twice?", and then he did the exact same thing two more times!

We have stopped making him get in the highchair. Buying a booster seat is on the list for this weekend, but he eats so much better sitting at the table with us.

He is starting to throw some big tantrums. So far, it's not as dreadful as I imagined it would be leading up to this point. It's very sad for me to watch him be so upset, but I am just thankful they don't happen too often.

He loves to be the center of attention sometimes and will start performing for the group, and then other times, when he knows he's being cute, he'll smile and then cover his face. Both sides are extremely cute and provide lots of laughter as his personality continues to emerge. He has also started enjoying looking at himself in the mirror. He will turn to the side and smile really big into the mirror in a hilarious way.

James is working on all 4 2-year molars right now.

James still gets a little jealous when I show affection to Josh. Yesterday, I was holding Josh's hand in the car, and our elbows were rested on something with our arms up (where James could really see our hands), and he said, "UH....Awwww!!", so I grabbed his hand, too, and he was happy with that.

James' favorite things: still very much into playing sports (mostly kicking, golfing, and throwing), cars, trucks (which is another funny word..."strusie"), tractors, "diggas", choo-choos, blocks ("bocks"), buses (possibly his favorite right now), putting things in different containers, hiding objects and going back to find them, dancing, singing and motions, riding around on his truck, baths, jumping and splashing in the bathtub, reading, dinosaurs, stalling, trying on Mama and Daddy's shoes, funny games, exploring outside, running, "Grow, Grow, Grow" video, "Little Einsteins", eating-not in his highchair, climbing, playing in the playroom, being with friends and family, and that's all I can think of right now.

Here are all of the names for his people he has come up with...

"Mama"-me
"Daggy"-Josh (he likes to change words sometimes, and has gone from Daddy to Daggy)
"Nina"-my mom, Josh's mom, Hannah
"Bibi"-Elizabeth, Mary Elizabeth
"Myyee"-Bryon
"Bu-eee"-Thomas, Kelton R.
"Mashew"-Matthew (a few times lately)
"Jo"-Josie, Jo Anna
"Mamy"-Amy
"Moo-moo"-Matthew (mostly-will say this if we're in the vicinity of his house)
"Mee-moo"-Michael (and anyone who looks like Michael...even young pics of my dad)
"Deegah"-My dad (talks about him and Bibi more than anyone right now)
"Jacey"-James R.
"Bee-boo"-Amber R. (all the kids in our family and hers call her E-boo)
"Gi-gi"-my grandma

Wow! That was a lot longer than I intended it to be! That's all for now!