"M says Mmmmmm!" and "Grow, Grow, Grow"

I've mentioned before that James begs me to watch "Grow, Grow, Grow". Lately he gets so excited when I put it on that he does this little dance.

I put this second video up, because James is doing his I-know-I'm-being-cute face. There's also a little story behind it. We have a book that talks, and when you push a pie, it says, "One creamy pie....mmmmmm!" One day, James started saying, "Mmmmmm!" just like the lady, and I just cracked up. Soon after that, the letter "N" was in the toy he's playing with on the video, and when he pushed it, it said, "N says Nnnnn, N says Nnnnnn, every letter makes a sounds, N says Nnnnn." When he heard that, he looked at me and said, "Mmmmmm!" just like the "one creamy pie" lady, with the biggest grin on his face. I tried to get him on video doing it here..

Winter Fun!

We have been having a fun start to the New Year! Jamesy got a choo-choo table that used to be his cousins' (Matthew and Thomas'), and he has played with it for countless hours over the past couple of weeks. It is our coffee table for now, but we've loved having it in our living room! You can tell how happy it makes James!





James and I have been having a ball...literally...outside every day with his new balls. He could be out there for the entire day, and he wouldn't care. I always bundle up James and myself up, but after about 10 minutes of running around, James wants his jacket off. He is a hot-natured boy! He is making me get plenty of exercise, too, because he wants me up, running around with him. I think it's sweet, though, and am enjoying him wanting my company while it lasts! Somehow I don't think he'll choose me to play soccer, basketball, golf, and t-ball with him in about 15 years. I wanted to get a cute bundled up picture of James, so here's a picture of James at the park the other day with his new toy that rarely leaves his hand, "bussie".























Josh and I went on a trip this weekend with our good friends, James and Amber. Nana Anna came to watch James, and Amber's parents watched their son, Kelton. We had a wonderful time with them, and thoroughly enjoyed our kid-free time together. We missed our boys and were ready to get back to them, but we savored eating at nice restaurants with ease and sleeping in.

Josh goofing around















































I also wanted to mention that James has picked up something from his mama. Last week, he dropped spaghetti on his stomach and said, "EWWWW!" in a really girly way. I thought, "Where did he learn that?". He is saying that a lot now, sometimes in the right way, and sometimes in the wrong way, like when he wanted his backpack off, he wiggled it off and said, "Ewww!" The other day, I was watching tv and saw something gross. I said, "EWWWWW!" just like James and realized exactly where James had gotten that from!

Here is James wanting to be like his daddy. He loves to step in Josh's boots when we're in the closet, so I ran and got the camera when he did it the other day, looking like a mini-man with his jeans and no shirt on.

Lauren's Favorite Things!

My sweet sister and brother-in-law completely surprised me and got us new bedding for Christmas! She even asked my opinion on which one I liked best for her "guest bedroom", and I still didn't have a clue. I was so excited that my brother and sister-in-law got us a throw that matches beautifully. We are thrilled! We thought the walls needed to be darker with the white bedding, so Josh and I painted the room last week. Here is the finished product...































Some things don't match now, so we'll slowly change them out, but I'm really excited about it!!


I took these pictures this week and realized that they featured a couple of James' Christmas gifts.


James' cool new Puma's that Uncle Michael and Aunt Jilinda got him.
























James' adorable backpack from Aunt Bibi and Uncle Bryon. His "B. Bear" goes in the back.

"Se Beeper!"

James has gotten even more into being our little helper lately. It is the cutest thing, because when he helps us, he'll say, "Se beeper!" (I'm a helper!) His favorite thing to watch on tv (besides Thomas the Train) is "Grow, Grow, Grow", which is a children's Christian singing, dancing video by Karyn Henley. James asks for "Go-go-go" every day.

One of the songs is, "I'm a helper" and his eyes just light up when it comes on. He will spill his goldfish, pick it up, and say, "Se beeper!" (in a very proud voice that melts my heart). He was wiggling when I was putting his diaper on the other day, and when I told him we were going to put his shirt on, he layed right down for me. I said, "Oh, James, THANK you!", and he replied, "Se beeper!". I thought that was the one of the sweetest things I'd ever heard.

He pushed my laundry basket from the living room to the kitchen and said it, which I thought was funny that he thought of that as helping. He also helped me the other day by helping me transfer each item of clothing from the washer to the drier. That helped my back at least! I sure hope this keeps up!

James at the start of the 2008

James has changed a tremendous amount in the past couple of months, and we just love the little boy he is turning into! His babyness is slowly disappearing and being replaced with independence, a bigger personality, and lots of fun and laughter.

With independence comes what I call "stinkerness". I used to think my precious baby could never do anything wrong, but that is changing! He is not a big tantrum thrower, but we do have to deal with them on occasion. Mostly when he's over-tired, hungry, or teething. He will plop himself down on the ground and do a fake cry. We try to walk away and ignore them most of the time, which is what you're supposed to do, but it's so hard when you're in the grocery store and all he wants is my cell phone, drink, keys, etc. He makes me work and think in advance to try to avoid those situations as much as possible! His recent tantrums have to do with his Thomas the Train addiction. He's just recently gotten to where he will watch a tv show all the way through, but it seems he's already craving his favorite show, Thomas the Train. Josh showed it to him a couple of weeks ago, and now he goes up to the tv and begs for "choo-choo" to come on. When it's over, he CRIES! This boy hardly cries about anything, but he cries for his "choo-choo" show!

James seems to always be on a mission, and he wants me right by his side. He will decide that he wants a bath, let me know, start running to the bathtub, stop and turn around to make sure I'm coming, lead me to the bathroom, tell me to turn on the light, wait for me to do it, and then start trying to take his clothes off. It is always something. One difficult thing that I didn't appreciate before now, is that he will think of something he wants to do now, and whine about it for a while (when I say whine, though, it's more of a loud, passionate, explanation/demand of what he wants...over and over). Sometimes it's okay if it's feasible, but we have to be more creative to distract him from things he wants but can't have.

James' vocabulary has doubled, if not tripled in the last couple of months. Some funny things he says are... "alwight!" when he makes a basket or gets something he wants, "He go" (here ya go) when he gives something to us, "sure" (but think New England accent "shoowa!"), his first complete sentence "Ont su-more gookie!" (I want some more cookie), and during the wheels on the bus song, during the baby on the bus part, he'll growl "ma ma ma" (wa wa wa) with his hands up to his eyes. Another funny thing is he has been adding the "ee" sound to the end of a lot of words. He says "ballsies" instead of balls, "jucy" instead of juice, "bisi" (feetsies) instead of feet, and a few others. Some sweet things he says are...very lovingly, "My mama" and "My daddy" when he sees us for the first time, "ahhhh" when he hugs, "bisis!" when we tickle his feet, wash his feet, etc. When something hurts, he'll rub it and say the name of the body part, like "ir...ir...ir" (for ear), "her...her...her" (for hair...when he bumps his head), etc. He is saying between 200-300 words now, and lots of phrases. He can also repeat a lot of short phrases we say. This can be bad, though! The other day, he got into something, and I said, "Oh, gosh", and he said, "Oh....JOSH!". He has just started singing, and it's so cute! All during Christmas season, he "sang" "uh uh uh...uh uh uh...uh uh uh..." for Jingle Bells, and he's "jibberish-singing" songs, where they sound familiar, but I'm not sure what it is exactly. He's bowing his head during prayers (and smiling because he knows it's cute) and then will growl "AMEN!" at the end. I'm going to have to get his growl on video, because it's too funny.

James doesn't have as much time for affection these days, because he's too busy, but he will make it count when he does decide to give it. He loves "family hugs and kisses" and will pull Josh and me in to kiss him at the same time over and over. Josh started this one, but James loves it and laughs the whole time.

We might have a neat-freak on our hands. Anytime he sees trash on the floor, he'll pick it up and throw it away. He knows what's trash and what's not, too! He also hates to have food on his face and hands when he all finished and will let us know that he wants it wiped off immediately, although his STILL hates the wiping process and fights it. I don't know what he's expecting! He combs his hair, picks up toys and puts them away (sometimes), and loves to have his hands washed and dried.

James weighs a whopping 30 pounds now and is in a size 8 shoe! The other day, I thought to myself how James looked rather plump for himself, and then Josh mentioned that night that he looked bigger to him. My family will pick him up and say, "Goodness gracious!". He must be about to shoot up, because he's eating us out of house and home! Friday night, I made Jessica Seinfeld's chicken nuggets, and James ate about as much as I did. Another change is that he's given up milk! He won't touch it! He stopped drinking it when we went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, which at first I thought was the reason, but I think he's done for good. His doctor said that kids in Europe don't drink cow's milk, so it's not a problem at all, as long as he gets the fat and nutrients from other sources. He loves yogurt, so we just load him up with that. He's also gotten really into dipping and will eat just about anything if he has salsa, dip, or ketchup to stick it in. This has made meal time a little bit easier for us. Going out to eat, on the other hand, has been so, oh, so difficult for us lately. We maybe go out once a week these days, because it's not fun for anybody.

He's been working on his two year molars for a while now, and his first one just popped through. Those are supposedly some of the most painful, so I'll be glad when they are all in.

James continues to be a rough and tumble kind of guy, getting more so with every month that goes by. Everywhere he goes, he runs. Even if it's a few feet away, he has to get there as fast as he can. That is one of the things that I get most tickled about with him. One thing we are enjoying so much about him right now, is how he's becoming more of a big guy and helping us, and doing pretty much whatever we do. He's a big mimicker right now, from tapping his hand like we do, to wadding up trash, opening up the trash can drawer, and throwing it away. He likes to be involved in the process of whatever we're doing. Yesterday, he helped his daddy do yard work and his mama pick up the house. He really is helpful sometimes, when I need an extra set of hands! He's such a joy to be around!









Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2008 is a blessed year for every one of you!