The Williamses

Vacuum

2012-02-12T08:20:00.003-05:00

I'm about to have the cleanest house in the neighborhood!

Thank goodness for consignment sales and my child's love for cleaning supplies.

Sleep

2012-02-12T08:10:00.002-05:00

I decided I need to do a better job of posting the funny things James does...

This past week James has been sick and on most days has taken a morning nap in addition to his normal afternoon nap because he was just melting down and we all needed a break. Well, on Friday when I put him in his bed for his morning nap he just played in his bed so I figured he must be feeling well enough that he didn't need the morning nap anymore. So, on Saturday I wasn't planning on trying to give him that nap. Well, that morning, Lee and I were downstairs working on something and James disappeared upstairs. A little later I heard him crying and wondered how he hurt himself this time. I went upstairs to find him in his room. He had pulled his blankie out of the bed and onto the floor and was crying at the side of his crib "bobo (his monkey)...night night...bobo...night night." I laid him down and he went right to sleep.

I guess it was time for his nap!

One-Year-Old School

2012-02-06T12:52:00.010-05:00

January=Snow!

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any actual snow this January but we did our best to make as many snowflakes as possible to help us feel like we had snow inside!

making a snow scene with stickers

painting with paintbrushes

marshmallow snowflakes

S is for snowman

threading fruit loops onto spaghetti

snowman play doh

B is for ball (like a snowball!)

dress-up time!

19 Months

2012-01-23T21:05:00.002-05:00

Again, this is not going to be a very extensive post on how James has been doing over the last month but I did want to highlight that his vocabulary is really taking off. I am amazed at the words he does use. They seem like really random words for a 1 1/2 year old to be saying. He says:

trash

potty

push

bye bye

daddy

mama

boo

banana (although it doesn't sound like it)

egg

juice

shoes

cheese

football (ballball)

...there are many more but these are most of his favorites. I think it is really funny that he says trash!

The funniest thing is that if it is a word he doesn't know how to say and we are trying to get him to repeat it after us he gets really serious, raises his head and very determinedly says "A-BUT". It doesn't matter what the word is, if he can't actually say it he says "A-BUT".

Christmas

2012-01-23T20:46:00.011-05:00

This is really out of order but I realized I never posted about Christmas so here is a little run down of our Christmas fun and some pictures.

We had Christmas with Uncle Frank first and then Christmas at home with just our family the morning before we left for PA.

We were in PA for Christmas and Christmas Eve. Both days we went to church services where there wasn't any nursery provided (not that James would have been happy in the nursery anyway) so we just kept him with us in the service. I was pretty nervous be he actually did a really great job and we have decided to take him with us to church at home then put him in nursery when we go to Sunday School.

Next we went to VA for some Christmas with the other side of the family.

Update...

2012-01-23T20:42:00.003-05:00

One afternoon all of James' diapers were in the wash so instead of using disposables I decided to try out some undies. He did ok but there were quite a few accidents and I wasn't really sure he really was ready. Plus, he is only 19 months old and I don't feel like messing with it right now so we aren't. Most sources I read about potty training say don't start and stop and don't play around with it until you are ready to say no more diapers but it just doesn't seem right to tell him "no" when he asks to go potty and it doesn't seem right for both him and I to be frustrated with trying to make him go potty so for now we are wearing diapers and using the potty when he asks. It's working for us right now...hopefully it won't thwart all potty training efforts in the future.

It's Potty Time!

2012-01-20T10:52:00.002-05:00

I think it is almost time for us to get rid of the diapers for good! A couple months ago James started being able to control his body functions and would get a mischievous gleam in his eye and "go" when I would take his diaper off on the changing table or in the tub. We started talking about pottying. Then we got a little potty and James would sit on it before bathtime but never produce anything (until he got in the tub!). A couple nights ago he went when he sat on the potty. I gave him an M&M as a reward. The next day everytime I changed his diaper he asked to sit on the potty. Apparently M&Ms are very inspiring. Yesterday we went and bought some big boy pants so we could talk about what we wear when we get rid of our diapers. This morning he has had a dry diaper all morning and has gone to the potty three times. One time he asked to go potty the other times he saw the potty and wanted M&Ms so I told him to sit on the potty. I'm pretty sure he is going to rot out his teeth but I may be doing less diaper laundry soon (maybe more clothing laundry though!). We'll see where this goes.

Woof Woofs

2012-01-14T07:20:00.001-05:00

James likes to eat woof woofs!

(hot dogs)

One-Year-Old School

2012-01-11T08:17:00.003-05:00

December=Jesus

In December we didn't do very many activities...I was working on making Christmas gifts. The activities we did do I forgot to take pictures of. We did a couple crafts to show the names of Jesus. We did a sensory box. And, we did J is for Jesus.

18 Months

2012-01-11T08:13:00.002-05:00

I'm really behind on the blog. I am going to try to do better!

On December 19th James turned 18 months old. All I can really remember from that month (although I'm sure a lot more happened!) is that right at 18 months old he got the sickest he has been yet. I'm pretty sure he had roseola. We were up with him in the middle of the night for 4 or 5 nights in a row because he would have a high fever. He couldn't settle down and get comfortable so one of us slept with him in the guest bed so we could all get a little sleep. Hopefully I can do better with next month's update!

Thanksgiving

2012-01-10T08:21:00.001-05:00

For Thanksgiving we went to Atlanta to celebrate with some of Lee's family. James got a whole winter wardrobe for the next two years (good thing for older cousins).

James also got to play with some new cousins.

One-Year-Old School

2011-11-29T13:18:00.007-05:00

November=Thanksgiving

The weather has been really nice (in the 70s) here this month. Every day I think...we need to go to the park today or play outside all day because this could be the last day before it gets really cold...All...month...long... Therefore, I haven't done as good of a job with doing activities with the boys this month. I should have taken more pictures of us playing outside because we did A LOT of that this month. We did do a few Thanksgiving activities:

Sensory Box

We dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians

We talked about the letter T

17 Months-Independence

2011-11-29T13:09:00.003-05:00

I'm sure this is the story of our life for the rest of our life but I have really seen James start to become more and more independent this month. He started being able to go up and down the stairs without me fearing for his life so we took down the gate at the bottom of the stairs. Just recently he has decided that he can go upstairs to play in the playroom whenever he wants or just to go up there and get something he knows is up there. I'm not really sure how I feel about this.

As gross as this may sound James is starting to have control over his bladder. He especially likes to make himself pee when he is in the tub and he can watch it!

He now has the urge to climb on (or at least try) anything and everything he can. He can climb into his rocking chair in his room all by himself. Whenever I leave him by himself for a second I come back and he has found some kind of box and turned it into a stool and is on top of it...normally at this point just for the sake of being on top of it. It won't be long and he will be getting into things or crawling on the counters.

That's all I can think of for now...

1-Year-Old School

2011-11-01T20:30:00.011-04:00

October=Pumpkins and Leaves

For this month we ended up with two themes. We worked on scooping and filling a bucket. We worked on the letter "L" and it's sound. And we sang some songs.

sensory bucket

"L" craft

jack-o-lantern finger painting

orange play-doh

Mr. Pumpkinhead

songs

I'm a little pumpkin orange and round.

Here is my stem

I grow on the ground.

When I get all cut up don't you shout!

Just open me up and scoop me out.

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T20:25:00.005-04:00

I wanted to think of a Halloween costume that made sense for James and not just something I thought was cute. While looking online at Halloween costumes somehow I thought of "The Man in the Yellow Hat" from Curious George. James loves to carry around his monkey and this was the perfect excuse for him to be dressed up and carry his monkey around with him.

Nursery

2011-10-24T21:49:00.002-04:00

More Big News For James:

I have been hesitant to blog about this in case it might jinx us but I finally decided it was time.

James has had a good report in the nursery for the last 4 WEEKS!!! We started putting James in the nursery when he was 3 or 4 months old and he has always cried and been a general pain the whole time he was in there. The first few weeks they called us to come get him then they realized that was just how he was going to be so they would keep him and walk the halls with him and push him in a stroller and many other things to try to help him out. Needless to say, ALL the nursery workers knew James' name. I don't really know what changed but all of a sudden he is going into the nursery (he cries for a few minutes when we hand him over) and playing with the toys and not crying. It is so exciting for Mommy and Daddy.

This week when the man handed James to me at the end he said "James was such a pleasure. He is so easy!" I thanked him and said "sir, you have no idea how exciting it is for me to hear you say that. It has not always been that way." I'm glad the people in the nursery are finally getting to see how sweet our boy can be.

Naps

2011-10-22T20:38:00.002-04:00

About a month ago James started struggling a little bit with his two naps so I thought maybe it was time to drop the morning nap. We started by only letting him sleep 30-45 minutes in the morning to help him make it to the afternoon nap time but not be so well rested he couldn't sleep in the afternoon. Eventually he got to a point where he would just sit and play in his crib the whole time and not sleep. We had several days of this so I decided maybe it was time to do away with that nap altogether. The problem is no matter what I did...morning nap or not...he would only sleep 1 hour in the afternoon. James likes/needs his sleep so I was pretty sure this wasn't enough but didn't know how to help him sleep longer. I tried putting him down earlier for the afternoon nap thinking maybe he was over-tired but that just meant we had a longer time between nap and bedtime because he would still only sleep an hour. Very frustrating!! Most days he seemed to cope pretty well on very little nap time. He still slept great at night and was definitely very tired when it was time for sleep but not falling apart too much. This past week we finally started making some progress. He went to 1 hour 15 minutes for several days and then moved to 1 hour 30 minutes for a few days.

THE BIG NEWS!!!

Today he slept for 2 hours for his afternoon nap. I am trying not to get too excited and start thinking that naps will be 2+ hours from now on but I had to blog about it quick while it was still exciting (before tomorrow rolls around and he decides to only sleep 45 minutes-we've had several days like that thrown in). Hopefully, even if he doesn't make this an everyday occurrence immediately, it will mean that he is moving towards better naps in the not too distant future. I'm ready for the long afternoon naps we are supposed to be having!

16 Months

2011-10-19T17:30:00.001-04:00

It is amazing all the new things James is learning these days. And, he learns things so quickly. When I want him to learn a new sign I only have to teach him once and he seems to pick it right up. Right now he is signing, please, thank you, eat, drink, and more. He loves to fold his hands to pray before bed or meals. We often have to pray several times throughout a meal. I guess he is very thankful for his food.

He calls his monkey "Bobo". I think this comes from baby. One of my Cabbage Patch Kids is in his playroom and he will give it hugs every now and then. I have been trying to get him to say baby. He started saying bobo and will call pictures of babies and any stuffed animal bobo. I think anything cute and cuddleable is "Bobo". He also says "there it is" when we are putting on his clothes. When his hand or foot appear out the sleeve or pant leg he says "there it is!" He can also say "football" but only if he is holding his foot!

James went to his first FSU game and did the tomahawk chop with the crowd. He has a little football that plays the fight song that we practiced with before the game. He can also give a fist bump.

He has really started playing with Corbin. They often hold hands when we are riding along in the double stroller or give each other high fives or fist bumps. They also randomly give each other hugs. We have started sharing hugs as a way of saying sorry when they upset each other.

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-19T16:38:00.004-04:00

So, it's a Saturday morning in the middle of October. We decide to go to one of those church yard "pumpkin patches"-it's what we have time for this year. We start at the church we have gone to every year since we got married....they are unloading pumpkins and setting up. At 10am on Saturday in the middle of October? Oh well, we know of another church that has a pumpkin yard so we head there. They are all set up and there is only one other car there! We are excited that we won't have to try to crop out other shoppers from our pumpkin patch pictures. Then we realize that the other car is also someone wanting to buy pumpkins and the person who is running this patch is nowhere to be found. We take lots of pictures with James then decide to go to the Farmer's Market to buy our pumpkin because apparently the churches don't want our business. It was crazy. I would have thought that everyone would be bringing out their kids on a Saturday morning and I felt like we were late getting our pumpkin. Well, we finally did get our pumpkins and had a great day finding one!

First Haircut

2011-10-11T20:08:00.009-04:00

James had his first haircut last night. Lee cut his hair. We sat him up on our stool in the kitchen and turned on Scooby Doo. I sat next to James and tried to keep him from climbing off the stool. Lee wanted to cut his hair with the clippers but James wasn't sure about the buzzing sound coming up behind him so we resorted to scissors. It turned out really cute. Lee did a great job!

before

after

FSU

2011-10-11T20:01:00.004-04:00

On Saturday we went to the Wake v. FSU football game. Florida State played horribly (we are Florida State fans) so the game wasn't that great but James did great. He enjoyed cheering and eating and playing with people's empty water bottles. I made him some awesome fan gear. We did not get awesome pictures of it but here is the best we got!

you can almost see the FS on his shirt I made

cute fall hat I made to keep the sun and wind off his head

One-Year-Old School

2011-09-30T22:01:00.017-04:00

September=Apples

We have done some very simple activities to keep us busy this September. Our theme was apples and my goal was to have the boys identify an apple and maybe say the word apple. We also talked about the letter "A" and the "aaaaa" (short a) sound. We also tried to use as many of our senses as possible with our activities. Here are some of the activities we did:

apple sensory bucket

apple prints (this activity didn't really work and the boys were less than impressed)

finger painting (there was definitely crying at the beginning of this activity but they started to participate after a little bit. I think they will enjoy finger painting with more practice.)

red play-doh

apple fruit leather

apple turnovers

SONGS

Way up high in the apple tree

Two little apples smiled down at me (he wouldn't do this action when I was trying to take pictures, I'll add it later if I can get him to perform!)

I shook that tree as hard as I could

Down came the apples, mmmmm they were good!

Just Cute

2011-09-27T13:43:00.002-04:00

Not My Child

2011-09-25T21:26:00.002-04:00

Until just recently I have thought James had a lot in common with his mommy as far as his personality, etc. Well, as most of the people who read this blog already know I do not eat "white" stuff like ranch, mayo, etc.

Well the other night I made some chicken nuggets and I thought James might like to dip them in ranch...because little kids like to dip stuff right? Well, he did like to dip.....his FINGER in the ranch and eat it all up. I don't think he really wanted any chicken after he started eating the ranch. Once he licked it all up he whined for more ranch. He is DEFINITELY his father's child!

Pumpkin

2011-09-22T08:39:00.001-04:00

Me: Look James it's a pumpkin!

James: BALL

Me: No it's not a ball. It's a pumpkin. Can you say pumpkin?

James: BALL

Me: Pump-Kin

James: Ball-ball

Me: Ok, it's a ball.

Sleepover

2011-09-21T13:00:00.001-04:00

James had his first sleepover last week. We had fun playing together and Corbin and James played nicely together while I made dinner which was nice since James normally is very whiny while I am trying to make dinner.

We went to a book signing at Barnes and Noble then went to bed. The next day it was chilly so we stayed in our jammies until lunchtime and spent time inside playing in our tent in the living room. It was so much fun!

15 Months

2011-09-20T20:27:00.002-04:00

I can't believe James is already 15 months old. He is looking so big now and not like a baby anymore. Sometimes when I look at him I can see him as a 4 or 5 year old. It's crazy.

James is walking better and better and starting to learn to climb on things. He loves music and cuddling. He also likes to make a mess.

There are several words he can say. Some of them sound exactly like what they should sound like. Some of them are just words he uses consistently for an object but don't sound that much like the word he is meaning to say. I suspect there are other words he can "say" that I just haven't caught onto yet!

The words he says now are:

this (all the time!!)

ball

bye

hot

brush

shoes

done

yes

daddy

mama (hardly ever but he can...when I ask him to say mama he normally says DADDY)

boo

moo

woof

vroom

brrr

The Beach

2011-09-20T20:04:00.008-04:00

We went to the beach twice this summer. I forgot to write about it the first time we went so I am going to lump both of our trips together.

At the end of July, we went to a wedding in Florida and got to spend a few days at Daytona Beach. This was James' first experience with the beach. He loved it. He ate some sand but he also enjoyed playing with it.

At the beginning of September we went to Topsail Beach for a week. Again James loved it. This time he was a little nervous about the waves going in and out and knocking him over. As the week went on his balance really improved (after walking on many different surfaces and starting to get used to them). By the end of the week he enjoyed chasing the waves as long as Mommy or Daddy were standing nearby.

14 Months

2011-09-13T14:58:00.003-04:00

Well, since James is almost 15 months old and I never did a post about 14 months I thought I ought to go ahead and do it. Of course, at this point I don't really remember what he was doing at 14 months. A few things I do remember...

-We took away his pacifier right at 14 months old. He had been throwing it out of his bed and crying and he really only used it when he was sleeping anyway. There were times he would fall asleep without it so we knew he was capable and he also seemed to be getting more attached to it so we figured better now than in a year when he really thinks he needs it. We had three weeks of rough naps (it never really affected bedtime too much). This week he seems to be back to normal and falling asleep just fine.

-We made four 10 hour car trips. We took a trip to Florida to see some of Lee's family and it was 10 hours each way. Then, a couple weeks later we took a trip to Pennsylvania to see some of my family and it was 10 hours each way. James is becoming a great traveler!

-I think he started saying more words this month but I will talk more about that in his 15 month post because I'm not sure what happened which month.

National Museum of Play

2011-08-20T15:04:00.011-04:00

James and I took a trip up North to visit my family. While visiting with my sister in Rochester, NY we went to the National Museum of Play. While it was a little above James' level, the adults had a blast. James had lots of fun with going up and down any stairs he could find and playing with every computer he could find. He was intrigued by all the characters he saw too but I'm not sure he really "got" them.

King James

crossing the troll's bridge (over and over)

New Shoes

2011-08-07T07:47:00.003-04:00

So James is walking really well now and mostly prefers walking over crawling. He hasn't yet mastered the art of standing up on his own without having something to pull up on so he still has to crawl if he falls down. In honor of him learning to walk we thought it would be appropriate to get him a new pair of brand new shoes (all his other shoes have been hand-me-downs....and future ones will be too after we've seen the prices on new ones!). They are a little big on him so we are hoping they will last for awhile (we actually had to get ones that were a little big because they didn't really have any small enough for his tiny feet!)

13 Months

2011-07-30T20:41:00.005-04:00

I've been lazy with updating the blog lately. James is now 13 months old. He eats A LOT. I expected his appetite to slow down some once he turned 1 year old but I think it has increased. In this photo he had just eaten (and worn) 3 pancakes...not just the silver dollar sized pancakes either. He is also very messy when he eats, as you can see!

About two weeks after James turned 1 year old he started walking. At first he would only walk from mommy to daddy and back. After about 2 weeks of that he started walking from one piece of furniture to another. These days he walks all over the house, turns corners, and can walk in circles. He still can't stand up on his own without pulling up on something so he still spends a fair amount of time crawling.

This month James learned to take the rings off and on this toy. He is very proud of his accomplishments with this toy and will clap for himself and look to you to clap for him also. He also loves to put clothespins in a two liter bottle, crayons in a crayon box, and pom poms in a juice bottle. He takes these things as serious work and will sit for long amounts of time working on it.

He has also started talking a little bit. James loves to say "uh-oh". At first he would just say it when he really accidentally dropped something....I happily remarked about that to someone and the very next day he started throwing things on the floor and looking at me innocently and saying uh-oh! Mostly this happens when he is finished with his meal and he feels like maybe the floor is hungry for his leftovers. He also says "hi" and "bye" to anyone near who isn't paying attention to him. If you say it first however he will just stare at you like he isn't sure if it's ok to talk to strangers. He says mama and daddy (the latter all day long about everything). He points to anything he wants and says "this". Most of the time he is pointing to things he knows he isn't allowed to have!

He has also started giving us the nicest, wettest, open-mouthed kisses. Lee thinks it's important we teach him the closed mouth appropriate version soon. He may be right since I did catch him giving our little 4-year-old friend Emma one of his special kisses on the mouth recently.

James also got several new teeth this month. He got his 4 first molars and another lower incisor. He nows has 11 teeth in his mouth. It is funny to watch him eat now that he has gotten molars. He has figured out that his molars help him chew so he sticks food in his mouth and uses his hand to help position the food just right so he gets it on his molars. Then he chomps down!

The Children's Museum

2011-07-10T09:34:00.006-04:00

We have a Children's Museum in town and I thought it might be a fun place James would enjoy. We went for a visit a couple weeks ago with a friend and James loved it. He crawled all over the place even though there were a lot of bigger kids running all around him.

There is an "under 2" room that we played in. James loved having Mommy push him around in this ambulance. There were also big trucks he could push around.

The market is a favorite room for all children. Every time we went by, there were a lot of kids in there but right before we were going to leave a daycare with all their kids had to leave so the market cleared out. James loved shopping and pushing around his cart!

We ended the day with a little reading in the bookstore. James loved these little books with bugs as the main characters.

Bye-bye Franklin

2011-07-09T10:19:00.004-04:00

We had a turtle named Franklin that was my classroom pet when I was in the classroom. James liked to watch him and help me feed him but he was very dirty and I had to clean his tank A LOT. I wasn't very good with keeping up with it. I cleaned his tank right before James' birthday party and 4 days later it was starting to get dirty and the filter was clogged. Normally the tank would last for 1-2 weeks. It was annoying to try to keep up with but I was ok with it. 4 days I'm not willing to deal with so I decided it was time to find a nice pond for Franklin to call home. As it turned out, 2 days later we were going to a park (with a nice pond) for a Memorial Day cookout. Franklin came along but had a one-way ticket. It was a touching scenario and while we were watching Franklin walk off into his new home James reached over and patted his daddy on the back then leaned over and gave me a hug. It's good we have James to comfort us in our loss.

A Year of James

2011-07-01T09:01:00.014-04:00

Newborn (coming home from the hospital)

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

It's Party Time!

2011-06-26T21:19:00.009-04:00

the decor

I found the idea for the ruffled streamers on a blog I follow and the banners came from my research on monkey birthday parties. I found the happy birthday banner here. The monthly pics banner was a conglomeration of several other banners I found online.

the food

the cake

James wasn't really sure about the sticky icing on his cupcake but once I opened up the cupcake and gave him some of the cake he loved it. Since he didn't like the icing he didn't make too much of a mess of his face but he did get a nice stripe of chocolate down the side of his face.

gift madness

James did a pretty good job of helping to open presents and looking at the gifts he got but there was one point in the party where we stopped opening presents and wondered where James had gone. We found him sitting in the corner with his box of books reading a book. I wish I had gotten a picture of it because it was pretty funny. I guess all the attention finally got to him and he just needed a little time alone!

One Year Old

2011-06-26T08:18:00.006-04:00

Well, James is now a year old and I think this is the best age yet. A couple weeks before he turned a year old he started being able to go from a crawling position to a sitting position. This helps him be able to play with his toys better by himself. He can sit for a long time and play with his toys by himself, especially since he has new birthday toys. This entertains him while I am getting his food ready or our dinner ready, etc. He will sit and giggle and tell stories to himself...I think he has a great imagination!

He is also learning things very quickly now. Last week I taught him to point to his nose when I ask where his nose is. I can also ask him what a fish says and he will make a kissy face.

James is also learning to communicate without screaming. He has known the signs for "more" and "all done" for awhile but he would still scream at me first or while he did the signs instead of just politely telling me what he wanted (I'm sure we still have a long way to go on this one). This past week he would just sign more and point to what he wanted more of...no screaming! I'm starting to feel like we each speak a broken version of each other's language instead of not knowing ANY of each other's language. It's kind of fun. He also says "hi" to anyone near us at the grocery store or a restaurant or the street and says "yes" with a clap when I ask him if he wants to take a bath or go swimming, etc.

James isn't walking yet but he has taken a few 2 or 3 step controlled falls and will walk with you just holding one of his hands. He is trying to figure out this balance thing but doesn't seem really interested in taking off on his own yet.

I've decided that the best way to be ok with your baby turning 1 is to have fun planning his birthday party so my next post will show fun party pics.

How Old Is James?

2011-06-19T07:33:00.004-04:00

(more birthday pics to come soon!)

11 Months

2011-06-04T21:19:00.006-04:00

So James actually turned 11 months old a couple weeks ago but I didn't have good 11 month pictures yet. Then our internet was out the day I finally decided to write the post. Maybe the real reason is that I secretly hope that if I don't acknowledge the fact that he is 11 months old maybe he won't turn 1!

This month he has started clapping. He is crawling and pulling up all over the place. He has started eating more finger foods and we are almost to the point where I don't need to make him any purees. James likes to point at things and people....it can get kind of embarrassing sometimes. He will dance when he hears music or you ask him to dance (he wiggles his head and body). James has also started whistling. I'm not exactly sure how it started but he will purse his lips and breathe in and out. Sometimes you can even hear a faint whistle. It is pretty cute.

We have been taking a swim class and James loves the water. He especially loves to jump in off the side and float around in his float. We have started practicing going under water too. I wouldn't say he loves it but he doesn't cry and doesn't seem to mind if he goes under again.

the man in the mirror...

2011-05-13T20:06:00.002-04:00

...is pretty cute!

Communicating

2011-05-12T12:51:00.000-04:00

We have been working with James on signing "all done" and "more". He hasn't been getting it very well. A couple weeks ago we were really pushing "more" and James would just look at me. I was getting frustrated so I stopped trying to get him to do it and I just show it to him when I am trying to figure out what he wants. Well, today, out of the blue I asked him if he wanted more when I finished feeding him his lunch and he signed more! Of course, I didn't really have any more to give him but I wanted to encourage his signing. I pulled out these cheese crackers we have that he loves and he signed more and I gave him one. At one point he would put a cracker in his mouth and immediately sign more then shove the next cracker in his mouth. He got a little over loaded.

yes that is cheese cracker mush oozing out of his mouth

he isn't the neatest of eaters

This morning he was crawling across the floor and Franklin (the turtle) started swimming at the side of the tank as if he wanted to get out and play with James. I told James I thought Franklin wanted him to come over and say "hi!" so James turned and crawled toward the tank then waved at Franklin! I was pretty impressed.

Of course the next problem is when I know he understands me but he CHOOSES not to obey. That's when it gets really fun, right!?

Adding to the Easter outfit

2011-04-25T14:23:00.004-04:00

As the writer of this blog that I recently found so eloquently put it...I grew up with a mom who made special Easter dresses for us each year (I have two sisters). This makes me kind of nostalgic about making a special Easter outfit. However, I have a little boy and making him an Easter dress didn't seem quite right! I didn't know what I could do for a little boy so I was a little disappointed until I found this pattern and just knew I had to add a little excitement to James' Easter outfit (and Daddy's too). I was so excited to have my boys dressed with a special homemade Easter tie.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:58:00.006-04:00

Update

2011-04-23T22:33:00.001-04:00

James crawled across the living room floor tonight. It was slow and laborious. However, I remember 2 days before he started running across the living room with his dinosaur his walking was slow and laborious. We will soon need a cage for this wild animal!

Projects

2011-04-23T09:00:00.004-04:00

I have spent some of my spring break browsing people's blogs and have come across some great blogs with lots of great ideas for making cute stuff for boys...and mommies too. I have been very excited to try out some of these ideas so be sure to expect to see some great pictures of James sporting some awesome new stuff soon.

I started out by making these cute and comfy sweats from an old t-shirt of mine.

I grew up in a little town called Elkland. Every year, for several years at least, they had a 10K and fun run that my dad helped do the stats for or something. Our family would go and we always got free t-shirts. The date on the inside of the leg of these pants says April 27, 1984!! My sisters and I have always really loved these t-shirts and my roommates in college were always tired of seeing them. I decided I needed to pass down the tradition to my son. I was excited with how well they turned out. I don't make clothes very often so I was skeptical that they would fit.

Stay tuned for my homemade addition to James' Easter outfit!

Spring Break-Boy Gone Wild!

2011-04-23T08:38:00.008-04:00

No, I don't mean that in the way you may be thinking. I have been reading books about animals to James and I have been telling him the animal sounds hoping that he will learn to mimic those sounds. So far, he mostly just laughs at me when I make the sounds. It's not that he thinks his mommy is crazy it's just that animal sounds are funny (right?). So, anyway, I decided that for Spring Break it would be fun to go see some animals and hopefully hear them do their sounds. First, we went to a park to look for some ducklings. I saw some but they were too far away to direct James' attention to.

We did see this duck.

...and lots of beautiful flowers.

Then we decided to go to the Science Center to see if the animals there would be easier to spot.

The tigers made themselves known. (James was more interested in looking at the people...some of them were pretty wild)

This turkey apparently thought "Bob" (our stroller) was his mommy and followed us everywhere for quite awhile.

James' favorites were the Meerkats.

James also has a new love for books you can feel so I thought the petting zoo would be fun.

James petted this goat.

This sheep was too fast for us to get near enough to pet.

10 Months

2011-04-23T08:16:00.007-04:00

It is getting harder and harder to write about the new things James is doing each month...it is hard to remember what he has been doing for a long time and what he just started doing this month...but here goes!

James now likes to wave bye-bye to people. He can also do the sign for "all done" but I'm pretty sure he doesn't really understand what that means. One night at dinner he did "all done" through the whole dinner as he just kept on eating. Another night when I got to the bottom of the bowl I asked him if he was all done, and he did the sign, or if he wanted more. He continued to do the "all done" sign as I got up but he started screaming and I was pretty sure he wanted more anyway so I got him more and he ate it right up. We're still working on that one.

I think all our crawling work has really paid off because he is getting up on all fours when he wants to go to something and then he rocks. He has also moved his hands and knees some but he hasn't moved very far yet. He has also started cruising around furniture a little bit.

Crawling Boot Camp

2011-04-16T20:36:00.011-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, James doesn't know how to crawl. He doesn't even seem to be making progress towards that goal...or pulling up for that matter. I have visions of a 5 year old who wakes up in the morning and says "mommy come stand me up I'm ready to walk around for the day!" Ok-so maybe it really isn't that bad but I do feel like James isn't really working on some leg and arm muscles that he should be for gross motor skills. As I have mentioned here, James seems to like to lounge and let life come to him. I don't really think it is a big issue but I figure doing different activities and exercises to help those muscles can't hurt so we started a crawling boot camp for the weekend. He has been wearing disposable diapers because I thought maybe the bulky cloth diapers were holding him back.

We have been practicing pulling up in his bed because that is the only place he seems to be able to figure it out (that is if I sit him up facing the crib rail-no danger of him crawling out yet!)

We have been practicing pushing things around the house.

We have practiced reaching up the stairs and eventually pulling up on the stairs.

James has been walking on his knees...

He has been trying to go from his knees to standing and from standing down to his knees...

We even got the remote out to entice him to crawl.

As we are doing this I keep saying " I don't want him to be crawling up the stairs, or pulling up in his bed, or playing with the remote, and I'm not really sure I want him to crawl!" But, I do think I am seeing progress in how he is using his muscles and in the mobility he has and that is probably good because I guess he has to grow up sometime...even though I would like to keep him my baby forever!

All this hard work has tired him out and been rough on his knees!

A Mind of His Own

2011-04-07T20:17:00.004-04:00

He can't crawl...

He doesn't pull up....

...But he can walk!

It isn't pretty. It is very labored and very slow. But he can take that dinosaur for a walk across our living room and he LOVES it!

Home Show

2011-03-29T14:50:00.010-04:00

This past weekend, Cabinet Concepts (daddy's work) had some exhibits at the Southern Ideal Home Show. We spent all our awake time there entertaining the attendees and selling cabinets.

The Exhibits

The Reason Daddy sold cabinets...

Who wouldn't want to buy cabinets from this little salesman?!

Best Friends

2011-03-29T14:42:00.006-04:00

This is a dinosaur built for two, right?

Kisses!

...we all fall down!

Everyone's doing it!

Famous

2011-03-29T14:36:00.003-04:00

Our local newspaper did an article on energy efficient housing so they wanted to feature the company that built our house. That led them to interview Lee and come and take pictures of us in our house. It was a much bigger article with more pictures than I imagined it would be. If you are local you may have seen it in Sunday's paper. If not, here is a link to the article but it doesn't have near as many pictures or look quite as impressive.

Spring!

2011-03-29T14:22:00.008-04:00

As I am writing this we actually had snow yesterday and it is supposed to be cold and yucky the rest of the week...

But, we really did have spring/summer weather just last week. We loved getting outside and playing.

We have also loved watching our plants grow in our container garden!

...and drying our diapers out in the sun!

9 Months

2011-03-29T10:32:00.006-04:00

Well, I am almost 2 weeks late with this post but better late than never I guess.

At our 9 month appointment last week James weighed in at 18 pounds and 27.5 inches. They didn't tell me the percentiles but I think his weight is about 10% and length is 20-25%. His height has definitely slowed down which seems to make more sense for him to fit in our family!

James is sitting very well these days but doesn't seem to be moving toward crawling. He can't seem to get his belly up off the floor. He pushes way up with his arms and bends his knees but that belly just stays put. He can pivot around on his belly and roll in any direction so he can get about anywhere he wants. He loves to stand up with his dinosaur or hippo (standing/rolling toys). He also loves to stand up against the couch or the ottoman. We just have to put him against those things.

He loves to show off his "touchdown" skills and has added waving and doing the sign for "safe". The two new skills definitely don't have a 100% success rate but they come out every now and then. James is also getting pretty good at drinking from his sippy straw cup. Each time I give it to him he will take a couple sips but spends most of the time chewing on the straw, handle, or bottom of the cup. The other day I made a little mango smoothie for him and put it in his cup. He sucked the whole thing down! He is also getting better at eating solid foods that have a little more solid texture to them. He loves to "talk" to us now and he is saying babababa and dadadada. I am pretty sure baba is his nickname for me because that is what he says the most! He's getting so big I just can't believe it!

Touchdown

2011-03-11T19:43:00.004-05:00

James is learning many tricks these days. This is one we tried to teach him before the Super Bowl...he hadn't quite mastered it at that point. He definitely has it mastered now and knows that it receives lots of attention. We met someone new at story time this week and he grinned and did touchdown. Of course the lady didn't really know what he was doing so I had to explain. Some of his other tricks are to clap and sometimes he kind of signs all done. His daddy is going to play softball this spring so I am trying to teach him to do "safe".

The teacher in me is so excited that he is becoming trainable. He is a blank slate. I can teach him so many wonderful things now. But then I get paralyzed by trying to figure out what to teach him first and how to teach him all the things he should know...

Well, for now he can do touchdown...seems like a good skill every child should know!

4 Years=Stainless Steel, right?

2011-03-03T14:52:00.004-05:00

Today, Lee and I have been married 4 years. To celebrate we are going out to buy a new trash can!

When we got married Lee and I disagreed about trash cans. He wanted a trash can with a lid but I hated the thought of having to touch the lid whenever I wanted to put something in the trash can. Then there is the trash can that has a lid with a foot pedal and the lid slams against the wall whenever you step on it then slams back down on the trash can. This kind will spray trashy liquids around your kitchen if they are on the lid.

When we got married Lee got me the best present EVER-a simplehuman trash can! This trash can lid goes up easily when you press the foot pedal then has a smooth close mechanism. It is a beautiful thing. I don't have to touch the nasty lid and it doesn't slam either. Well, about 6 months ago the lid broke. We have been living with a trash can without a lid. We have a baby who is quickly becoming mobile and wanting to touch things. Bad combination! It won't be long before he wants to rummage through the trash.

We joked that we would buy a new trash can for our anniversary but our real plan was to go to Lucky 32 for peanut butter pie. Then we got a stomach bug last week and didn't think we were quite in the right place to really enjoy our PB pie. SO, we went out to buy a trash can! It was very romantic...

8 Months

2011-02-22T20:35:00.009-05:00

Well, James is now 8 months old. I didn't think I would have much for the 8 month update because I have been updating the blog more often. Well, he made the last week and a half very exciting so I would have something to talk about!

First of all I weighed him on the wii and he is about 17.5 lbs. now. I think he is making good progress with his weight.

James got to spend some quality time with his Grandma and Grandpa Wynkoop last week.

We had really beautiful weather so we got to spend some time outside playing, which James really enjoyed.

Other than that, he had a really rough week last week. He had trouble sleeping at night and for naps, and he was really congested. For a couple days I wasn't sure what was going on. Then I saw a little blister on his gums and figured he was teething but this 3rd tooth was A LOT worse than the first two. Well four days later another tooth appeared. When I looked inside today it appears there is at least one more tooth if not two or three on the horizon. No wonder the 3rd tooth was 3 times as bad...it was actually at least 3 teeth.

As if a mouthful of teeth wasn't enough for our week, James now has a little stomach bug. The past two feedings haven't done much to nourish him (without getting too graphic) they have done more to stain his clothes (and our carpet). We're hoping for an uneventful night and a slow recovery to regular eating tomorrow. We'll see!

Bath Time

2011-02-11T20:15:00.005-05:00

This boy loves bath time!

Bedtime Ritual

2011-02-09T10:19:00.003-05:00

Every night I take James upstairs to put his jammies on and feed him. When we are finished we sit at the top of the stairs and call for Daddy to come up and read the bedtime story with us. Sometimes it takes Lee a while to get to the stairs to come up and James gets impatient and starts leaning forward and trying to look around the corner. When he sees Daddy at the bottom of the stairs this is what Daddy sees:

...big grin, and about to catapult himself down the stairs.

Finally

2011-02-07T19:52:00.002-05:00

Well I think James has finally figured out and embraced this sitting thing. I am still not quite confident enough in his skills to leave him without a pillow behind him to spot him but he can stay sitting up for quite a while now.

Also, you can really see his two little teeth in this picture!

Monitor

2011-02-02T14:40:00.003-05:00

Before having a baby I thought video monitors were unnecessary. "Only really anxious parents needed them." When James was about 5 months old he started rolling onto his tummy while he slept, then he would cry. The first few times he did this it scared him and if you would just roll him back onto his back before he got too upset he would just go right back to sleep. When that started happening I thought "man it would be great if I had a video monitor so I could see why he is crying". If I went into his room to check it was harder for me to just leave him alone if he didn't really need me.

Well, this weekend I got a cheap, old-school video monitor and I love it! Last night for some reason James woke up at 4:45. I didn't have to lay in bed and wonder if somehow his bed or the monsters in his room (ok maybe I am a BIT of an anxious mom) were killing him. I just turned on the video, could see that he was fine and then turned it back off. He cried for 45 minutes and I laid in bed peacefully because every 15 minutes or so I would turn the monitor on and reassure myself that he was fine and he just needed to be left alone so he could figure out how to get himself back to sleep. It however did not make me any less tired this morning...

New Game

2011-01-28T16:59:00.003-05:00

Since most of our house is carpeted, when James is on the floor he is usually on carpet. Tonight I had some things I wanted to do in the kitchen (which isn't carpeted) so I decided to take a blanket in the kitchen and lay him on it. Right now there are no blankets that are big enough to contain all his rolling but I figured once he went off it onto the cold hard floor maybe he would decide it was better on the blanket and stay there. Once I laid him down he immediately rolled off and the first thing he did was blow a raspberry on the floor. I kept putting him back on the blanket, he kept rolling off and blowing raspberries.

It's probably my fault because I laughed pretty hard the first time he did it!

7 months-the downward spiral

2011-01-19T12:39:00.010-05:00

(it's a snow globe)

I can't believe James is already 7 months old! We are on the downward spiral to 1 year old. It is unbelievable.

James eats 3 meals a day of solid foods now. He eats avocado, bananas, apples, pears, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, squash, green beans, peas, oatmeal, rice cereal and multi-grain cereal. He loves it...except when he is teething which brings me to the next subject.

James got 2 teeth this month. He seems to handle teething pretty well. I can definitely tell something is going on when a tooth is coming but he doesn't turn into a monster or anything. He seems to fight me on eating solid foods for about a week before a tooth erupts. 2 days before the tooth breaks through he struggles to take his naps. I think the teeth have been making him wake up once in the night and need me but I'm not really sure if that is due to some other issue.

James can now roll all the way across a room and around in circles. He is starting to get into things...we will soon be in A LOT of trouble! I am trying to work on child proofing but I think it will probably be an ongoing project as James shows us what needs to be childproofed.

(Daddy caught him picking his nose)

James also likes to giggle with (at) his daddy. Daddy is REALLY funny. He also likes the patterns on his burp cloths which makes it hard for him to concentrate on burping. He especially likes to look at the burp cloth with little cars all over it.

Caged

2011-01-19T12:36:00.003-05:00

There can be only one cord in the whole room...

These boys don't even crawl yet...

I can leave for just 2 minutes and I come back and they are snacking on that one cord. They are sneaky and mischievous.

Sitting

2011-01-12T20:05:00.004-05:00

So, basically James should be able to sit up on his own now. However, James seems to be very content lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling or rolling all around the floor chasing after his toys. We practice sitting up often but James likes to kick back and lounge. Our best attempts are when he is sitting in front of the TV. He will sit up for a little longer then.

Today I put the boppy around James and left him with a toy in front of him to practice sitting a little. When I looked back over at him this is what I saw...

...lounging again!

Christmas

2011-01-04T20:40:00.009-05:00

James' first Christmas was very eventful. On Christmas day his Williams grandparents and uncle were at our house with us to celebrate. James stayed up way past his nap time in order to open presents and he didn't melt down. He was so excited about his presents...especially the tissue paper in the ones wrapped in a bag. Mommy and Daddy were especially excited about the fact that it snowed on Christmas (like 6 in.)--in NC.

On New Year's Weekend we went to PA for the Wynkoop Christmas. James did even better with his ride to PA this time. He loved playing with his Grandma and Grandpa and aunts and uncles. I think his favorite aunt is Aunt Lexi. She gives the best kisses.

The day before we had Christmas in PA. James' first tooth appeared. That explained why he mysteriously had trouble taking naps the day before. Other than that James hasn't seemed too affected by his tooth coming in.

Reflections on Mary

2011-01-04T20:32:00.003-05:00

When listening to the Christmas story I have always identified most with Mary (because she is the girl in the story I guess). Last year, when I was pregnant, I could imagine a little bit of what it felt like to be Mary and carrying a baby although I wasn't very pregnant at Christmas last year. This year I really identified with Mary. I could imagine her with a tiny baby. I sang Away in a Manger to my baby. I thought about what it was like to be a young mother and having a baby and caring for a newborn in an animal's stall. At first as I was making the parallels I thought "well at least I don't have the added pressure of having God's son". Then it hit me--in a way I am caring for God's son. He's not fully God and fully man (there's the extra pressure) but he is God's child that God has entrusted to me to take care of on Earth but he is still God's son and God is in control. I just need to love him as God would. The thought made me emotional and sympathetic of Mary.

6 Months

2010-12-20T11:54:00.008-05:00

I can't believe James is already 6 months old. This month went by very quickly. James has been very fun this month. He "gets" our jokes and laughs at us. His sleep seems to have really gotten into a pattern and he takes good long naps. He can also roll around on the floor to reach his toys instead of just laying and screaming until we give him what he wants. He started eating solid foods at the beginning of this month and he LOVES it. He has eaten several different foods and he excitedly sucks them all down.

Somehow even though he loves to eat he is only in the 8% for weight. He weighs 14 lbs. 11 oz. now. His height has also dropped to the 50th percentile. We are going to try to beef him up in the next couple months but I'm not really sure how to feed him any more. Maybe I just need to make him move less!

James also got to make his first trip to PA. A 10 hour trip on a good day. He did well for being so little but there were a few times that he cried for an hour straight so we are working on his car riding skills.

I think this has been my favorite month so far.

2010-12-16T16:26:00.000-05:00

Elves at work!

Only 1 week left!

5 Months

2010-12-02T17:08:00.000-05:00

This was a rough month but James seems to have turned over a new leaf as soon as he turned 5 months old so hopefully that will continue through his entire 5th month. This month James started standing on his legs when we hold him up. He gets very excited about his accomplishments when he does this. He can also wiggle and roll around on his blanket on the floor to get to whatever toys he wants to play with.

James is talking more and giggling. He continues to find new sounds he can make and repeats them constantly (even at 3am). His current sound is a high pitched squeal. He also buries his head into your shoulder when he laughs-like he's so pleased with himself. It is very cute.

We took James for his first sick visit to the doctor (he ended up not really being sick). He had kept us awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night for a week so we thought he might have an ear infection. He didn't. About a week later he found his ear and has started playing with his ear...I don't think it's infected but now he is showing one of the signs!

Because of Thanksgiving we have done a lot of traveling. James did great! His sleep hasn't been too disrupted and he put up with sitting in his carseat for 6 hours at a time. He also got to meet lots of new people.

James also got to see his first snow!

Best Friends

2010-12-02T14:31:00.003-05:00

A little over 2 months ago I started babysitting for another little boy. He is 5 weeks older than James. Lee and I always said we wanted twin boys...well this is pretty close! At first they didn't even realize the other one was around but recently they have started noticing each other. They will hold hands, talk to each other, steal toys from each other and chew on each other's feet!

Halloween

2010-11-04T10:18:00.004-04:00

Halloween Jammies!!

James dressed up as Tim Tebow for Halloween. Sorry FSU fans!

4 Months

2010-10-20T20:47:00.010-04:00

Well James is now 4 months old and has survived another round of shots. Both mommy and James cried a little less this time around. James is still a long skinny little boy. He weighs 13 pounds (15%) and is 25.5 inches long (75%).

James has learned a lot this month. He likes to talk to us and smile at us. He has learned to grab at smaller plastic toys and put them in his mouth and chew on them. He likes to sit up in chairs with pillows supporting him. 3 days before officially becoming 4 months old he rolled over. He is no longer able to spend any time on his tummy. As soon as I put him on his tummy he rolls right over onto his back. It won't be long before I can't catch up with him!

We went to the pumpkin patch (a fun fall experience I have always wanted to have with my child). Every year since we got married I have dragged Lee to a pumpkin patch to take pictures of the pumpkins. Those pictures were cool but no where near as special or cute as they are when you put your own little boy in there with all the pumpkins. We got some pretty cute shots even though James wasn't quite sure why he had to hang out with pumpkins for extended periods of time while we looked at him and made faces at him!

3 Months

2010-10-12T20:29:00.008-04:00

Well, I figured I should do my 3 months post quick before James turns 4 months old and I am two months behind! Basically at this point I don't remember a lot about what I was going to write about 3 months because it has been so long...

A few things I remember:

James started grabbing things this month. I expected him to grab at hard plastic toys and stick them in his mouth and chew on them but he started with grabbing his burp cloths and chewing on them. Since he seemed to like cloth I gave him his lovie blanket and he liked cuddling and chewing on that.

James started telling us long stories and laughing and cooing.

James started sleeping 8 hours a night and being very regular with a nap schedule during the day.

Too Cute!

2010-09-12T19:59:00.003-04:00

Look what my mommy found at the consignment sales this weekend (plus two others with our favorite caterpillar). Now if she would just finish my hungry caterpillar quilt!!

2 Months...SLEEP??

2010-08-17T21:52:00.012-04:00

James slept through the night one night last week (well 8 hours). Unfortunately his last feeding was at 8 pm so he woke up at 4 am. That is not morning if you ask me! One night this week he went 7 hours between feedings and this time it was from 10:30-5:30. That's more like it! Hopefully this trend will continue. I need some sleep!

He enjoys batting at his toys that hang above him on his playmat. That lion definitely deserves every punch he gets!

James loves to smile at us and laugh.

James is getting great at holding his head up. He does prefer to do it from the slightly elevated surface of his boppy but he is strengthening those muscles.

He likes to play with his mommy and daddy.

He has learned a lot this month and is growing quickly. He is getting too big for many of the clothes that looked so huge on him when he was born.

At his 2 month doctor's appointment he weighed 11 lbs. 4 oz. He is still in the 25% for weight. His length moved from 25% to 75%. He is taking after his Great-Grandpa Kelts!

He also had his first round of shots at the doctor's office. He didn't really like the shots (and neither did his mommy!). He screamed and turned really red. When we left he fell asleep immediately but when he woke up he was REALLY fussy. He wouldn't nurse on the side that had two shots. We gave him some tylenol and he felt much better and even gave us a few smiles again.

At least he got some great band-aids out of the deal!

James is 1 Month Old

2010-07-20T00:08:00.017-04:00

I haven't been very good at keeping the blog updated but then life isn't very varied around here. It is definitely eventful but not with events that are all that interesting to blog about. We do a lot of eating, sleeping, and pooping. Well, James does anyway. I don't do a lot of sleeping. Quick funny story about my LACK of sleep...one night when James didn't sleep very well I was up several times in the night trying to calm him down and get him to sleep. I ended up sleeping in the guest room so that I wouldn't disturb Lee as much because he had to go to work the next day. Finally James fell asleep and so did I. Well, I can often hear James crying when he really isn't, just because I am always in fear of him starting to cry when I am trying to do something. Anyway, at some point in my sleep I thought I heard James crying and I thought I was holding him and nursing him. I got up thinking "oh no, I am going to crush him, I fell asleep nursing him!". I stumbled to what I thought was James' room but when I opened the door it was in fact my room so I stumbled to the other end of the hall to James' room and sat down in the rocking chair to "finish nursing James". When I looked down I didn't have James in my arms after all and I kind of panicked thinking "what did I do with him". Finally I looked in his bed and there he was sleeping peacefully. Lack of sleep can make you go crazy!

Here are some of the exciting things we have done in James' one month of life...

James has been to many different restaurants.

Steak is his favorite food-like his daddy. He especially likes steak from high-end restaurants when grandparents are in town. (He went to Fleming's at 1 week old.)

James likes to have tummy time

James likes to smile.

James likes to pout.

James likes to spit up.

James likes baths.

James likes to sleep.

James went to the lake for the fourth of July.

I'm the type of person who likes to make lists and accomplish the tasks on those lists. My list looks something like this:

-make diapers

-unpack boxes

-go through school stuff

-organize closet

-update blog

-call a friend

I thought having a newborn (who supposedly sleeps all the time) would make it easy to accomplish those tasks. What I didn't realize was that after I spend time feeding him and getting him to sleep there isn't much time before I have to do it all again. What my list should look like is:

-feed James

-change James

-get James to sleep

-shower

-put clothes on

-eat a meal

-repeat

That list I can accomplish. Oh, and apparently I have been doing pretty well getting that list done because James now weighs 9 lbs. and is 21 in. long. (Incidentally I am dressed and fed most days too.)

I will attempt to update again before James is 2 months old but I make no promises!

The REST of the story...

2010-07-01T15:29:00.002-04:00

Now for the long awaited details of James' birth. In the process it was painful and not so much fun but looking back on it I think I had it really easy...

At 9:30 Friday night June 18th I started having regular contractions. They were 6-7 minutes apart and I knew the doctor wanted me to call when they were 3-5 minutes apart for an hour. I figured we would be heading to the hospital by midnight. However, they got closer together then farther spaced out so it took a little longer than I guessed. At 2:00 they had been 4-5 minutes apart for an hour so I called the nurse on call. She said I was welcome to come in but unless I was dilated 4cm she would have to send me home. I said I would wait a few more hours and see what happened. Lee had just recently fallen asleep so I didn't want to wake him. I was too uncomfortable to sit or lay down so I just paced the room timing contractions. At 3:30 I was pretty sure my water broke so I called the hospital again and said I think I better come in now. The nurse on call didn't seem to see any urgency or seem to think I was really going to have this baby but I knew I needed to go.

We got to the hospital at 4:00 and it took forever for someone to call us back to preadmission to check us out. Once we got there no one really paid much attention to us thinking "oh it's just her first baby she's got plenty of time!" At this point my contractions were 2 minutes apart and hurt! Finally someone came to check and said I was only 3 cm dilated but she stretched it to 4 cm so she could admit me instead of sending me home. At this point I very determinedly told Lee that I was going to go back on my resolve to not have drugs. I decided if I was only 3-4 cm dilated and I was in this much pain then I was never going to make it to 10 cm. After what seemed like an eternity the nurse came with my admitting information and took me to the labor and delivery room. As soon as we got there I told Lee to go find someone and tell them to get me some drugs!! He ended up going into the hall and the first nurse he found was one of our friends from church. He told her I wanted an epidural so they started getting me ready for an IV and doing blood work. My contractions were getting worse and worse. Finally I got to a point where I felt like I needed to push. I let the nurse know! She decided to check how far along I was and I was 8 cm. We were still waiting on the blood work to come back so she said she would check again at that point and then I could decide about the epidural. When the blood work came back I was 9.5 cm dilated so I said let's just get this over with!

It was time for me to push but the doctor wasn't there because they had not wanted to disturb him so they weren't going to call him until 7:00. When I said I felt like I needed to push they decided to call him. I had to breathe through a couple contractions while I waited for him to get there and get set up but then I started pushing. It's hard to know what that really means when the time comes. At first my contractions were so fast and furious that James and I weren't having time to rest so his heart rate dropped and they hooked me up to oxygen and started talking about using a vacuum. Finally things slowed down a little and we started to make some progress. After about an hour of pushing James was born at 6:55. Once James' head appeared Lee got to clean his head off and then the doctor showed Lee how to pull James out. Lee was so excited to get to "deliver" his own baby.

It was a pretty quick process...James came 5 days early and I was at the hospital 3 hours before he was born...pretty ideal for a first child.

Next time I get a chance I will have to update you on how life with James is going!

The Weekend in Pictures

2010-06-20T12:03:00.001-04:00

For a bunch of pics of brand new baby boy, go to www.flickr.com/fiestaleland to see our life-giving weekend in pictures. WARNING: site may contain emotional content, keep a box of kleenex at hand!

James Callen Williams

2010-06-19T18:13:00.003-04:00

James is here!!

More details later.

But...

He was born June 19, 2010, 6:55 am

7lb. 11oz.

20 in. long

Everyone is healthy and beautiful.

Less than a week...

2010-06-18T08:24:00.002-04:00

Less than a week until we close on our house...

Less than a week until my due date...

Just over a week until my insurance year (and thus deductible) starts over...

We may have to get this baby out before the end of June. Hopefully he will be a good boy and do that on his own. I don't really want to have the doctors "help" him out. We've been talking to him and trying to teach him to obey his parents even at this early stage! :)

My bags are finally officially packed so I am more than ready to make the trip to the hospital. Until then I am just running errands for our move (address changes, etc.) and resting.

Waiting

2010-06-03T07:59:00.004-04:00

20 days till my due date so we are just waiting. I guess technically we have just been waiting for 9 months. It feels a lot more like just waiting now. I am not working anymore because my doctor said more rest and less stress would be good for me (we figured Kindergarten at the end of the school year wasn't the place for that combo.). It has been great to be able to sit, stand, lay down, and nap whenever I feel the need! My back had been killing me at school and now I rarely feel the pain. I have the "nursery" all ready to go. Well, actually we are living with some friends so a corner of our room is dedicated to the baby with a pack n play with a bassinet and a changing table. All his little clothes are washed and ready for him to do a fashion show for me...they are all so cute I can't wait for him to wear ALL of them! I think we have everything we will need as soon as he comes home but I don't really know what babies need so there is a good chance we will find we need something else, who knows.

When I went to the doctor last week she said I was 1cm dilated and his head was down low and ready to go. I went yesterday hoping for an update and more progress but the doctor didn't check. In fact, she said she won't check again until 39 weeks...my question is how will I know when to go to the doctor if they don't check and let me know! I'm not convinced the whole contraction thing will clue me in!

We are also just waiting on our house...did I mention we are building a house and it is due to be closed on the day before my due date?! It is really moving along and I think when we look at it this weekend it will probably look pretty much done but there are little things that will still need touching up. It's really exciting but we are about to have A LOT going on all at once. The hard thing is I can't do anything about it. I can't do anything to make things happen faster or space things out at all and I really can't do much to help move things in or settle our house. I'm finding I can't really move much in general. It is a weird feeling when what I like best about summer is moving. I like to run, swim, walk, bike, plant flowers, clean... Most of those things are very difficult right now! Soon I'll be back out in the heat.

Well we'll keep you posted throughout the waiting and definitely when the waiting is over!! I can't wait!

catchup

2010-05-28T23:47:00.001-04:00

We have been very busy being pregnant and homeless and we're sorry for the lack of updates. Here's a summary of our recent adventures...

The opportunity presented itself for a glamorous photoshoot at one of Greensboro's hotspots, see a sneak preview below. You can visit Lee's Flickr Account to see many many more (scroll past our friends' prom pics).

Also of note, Stacey has had not one, not Two, but THREE more baby showers! One thrown by dear friends where she--well we--were showered with many gifts, but mostly LOVE (which is pretty much awesome). The other two were pretty good hauls, too...one for Pearce Elem staff and the other thrown by her sweet class (headed by an awesome new friend).

We both have been surprised at how overwhelmed we feel by having received so much from so many people. Never did we expect quite this much attention and immense blessing! It is...amazing.

Also, this is very late but our friend Kasey requested this a long time ago. Kasey (and Tim), we love you and here is Stacey's belly picture at 33 weeks (we are 36 weeks at the time of this posting).

There. Now consider this the state of catchup. If you have any burning questions, you may pose them in the comments section and we'll gladly respond

...probably with as many smartaleck comments as possible. But that's why you love us!

Burn Notice starts soon, gotta go set the DVR. What is there to say? Some crave pickles and ice cream, we crave mediocre television!

Kidnapped!

2010-05-02T19:57:00.003-04:00

Last weekend two of my sweet friends from college who live out of town came and kidnapped me for the weekend. They worked up the whole plan with Lee and kept it a secret for a couple months while they worked out all the details. I think Lee is glad the weekend is over so he doesn't have to keep it a secret anymore.

They haven't gotten to see me since I got pregnant so they were excited to see my progressing tummy. Then we went to this little tea room for lunch. We went and got pedicures then checked into a hotel for the night. They had planned for a picnic but it was rainy so we just had a picnic in the room then went downtown for dessert. Then we stayed up late chatting and watching a girly movie. We had so much fun and it was so sweet of them to think of me and pamper me a little before the baby comes. They will have to come back and meet our little man in a couple months!

Surprise!

2010-04-07T19:29:00.000-04:00

The fine folks at my (Lee's) office threw a surprise baby shower for us...shout out to Jennie and Michele, the party planning queens! They did an awesome job and we are hugely blessed by my coworkers' generosity--we were blown away by the awesome stuff they gave us. The important piece was the car seat and base, which means that even though we will be technically homeless in a matter of days, even if baby boy decides to come early, we're ready! Stacey's mom was even down for a fun-filled Southern vacation filled with packing up our house!

Here are some pics from our fun party...

Progress

2010-03-24T19:17:00.004-04:00

I am now 27 weeks pregnant. That means I am starting the third trimester. I feel like I am making progress. Speaking of progress, here is the 27 week belly!

21 Weeks

27 Weeks

nesting??

2010-03-09T21:19:00.004-05:00

So, when you are nearing the end of your pregnancy you are supposed to start nesting...you know cleaning out closets and setting up a nursery. Well, for me THIS makes it hard!

Yes, we are moving just a couple months before the baby is due! The most exciting part though is that we don't really know where we are moving so we won't be able to move directly from one house to the next. I decided early on that a bassinet was all I needed for the baby to sleep in for the first several months so I don't need a nursery all painted and ready. My life can be in chaos...it's ok. I was telling my mom all this and found out it is in my genes. Apparently when my mom was pregnant with me my parents sold their house and lived with my dad's mom for a while before they moved into their house. I assured my mom that she really didn't need to start a tradition like that for me but apparently the legacy lives on!

I have been finding little corners amidst the growing piles of boxes to do my own little bit of nesting. This is the awesome changing table I found this weekend and my wonderful husband fixed up to make it like new!

newer baby pics

2010-02-26T16:25:00.001-05:00

The daddy has posted pictures from our latest ultrasound (four weeks ago but better late than never I guess). Included is our proof of baby boyhood!

Check them out!

He Moves Me

2010-02-21T19:27:00.000-05:00

A quick word from the daddy...
I felt the baby move!
Stacey has been feeling some little flutters inside for a few weeks now, but I finally got to feel the baby boy bumping around from the outside! It was very slight and sweet, but it was like we were communicating for the first time. Morse code at such a young age? He's brilliant already! Must've gotten that from his mommy.

21 weeks

2010-02-20T08:54:00.006-05:00

Yes, I am a little over 21 weeks pregnant but I have an updated belly picture that is 21 weeks.

21 weeks

If you missed the other belly pictures or would like to go back and compare you can find them here.

It depends on your perspective...

2010-02-16T19:55:00.002-05:00

We had kind of a small scare yesterday which gave us an unscheduled trip to visit the doctor. Everything is fine and the doctor just said to kind of take it easy for the next week or so but it's all good. The thing that made me laugh was that in order to help ease my mind, I'm sure, they used the doppler to listen to the baby. The heartbeat was good but she also said "oh this little boy is VERY active!" Now I'm sure to some people this is great news but I am a teacher...all I think is OH NO! not active. It all depends on your perspective!!

Cloth diapers

2010-02-13T07:10:00.003-05:00

For some reason I have always wanted to use cloth diapers with my children. I don't really know why-maybe I just want to be old fashioned, maybe I like the idea that it is better for the baby or maybe for ecological reasons. Really, I think it is a combination of all three. Oh, and saving money comes in there somewhere too. Well, when you think of cloth diapers you think of the dust rags your mom used as you were growing up (they used to be the diapers she used on you when you were a baby but you don't remember them in that capacity). Cloth diapers have evolved these days and are just as easy to use as disposables (except for the whole cleaning up part) and cute too. I started doing research on different kinds of cloth diapers and found that there are many different options that could make the start up cost of cloth diapers very expensive. I could justify it because you can use them for several children so when you spread the cost out you are still saving money but that requires us to have money now... When we started looking at the easiest but cheapest route I started to realize maybe I could just make my own diapers. So I started researching that.

2 weeks ago we had 8 inches of snow and in NC that means you don't go to school for a whole week (we did make it to school for part of a day but that doesn't really count). I decided to make good use of my time and start turning out some diapers. In that week I made 24 newborn size fitted cloth diapers. These require a waterproof covering which I think I am just going to buy because making all the diapers seems like a big enough challenge for now. So, my little guy should be set with diapers for at least the first little while. Now on to the next size! Where is that snow?!

Boy or Girl?

2010-02-02T18:58:00.002-05:00

We decided to give up on waiting until after the Super Bowl to tell what we are having...so, everyone just needs to wear blue to the Super Bowl-not to support the Colts but because

WE ARE HAVING A BOY!

During our ultrasound, the tech told us to feel free to ask any questions we had, she didn't mind answering questions. Lee asked a lot of questions about how it worked so she told him that when she was done doing all the measurements she needed to do, etc. she would let him play with the ultrasound. That was really cool for him and he started to understand how it works and how to turn it to get different views.

I thought it would be easy to switch from saying "it" to "he" but it really hasn't been. I thought finding out a little bit more about "what" was in "there" would make it seem more real but it hasn't as much as I thought. It is getting more real and I am getting used to "he" and telling myself I am having a baby boy but I think it is going to be more of a transition than I had at first thought.

Nerves

2010-01-30T06:57:00.003-05:00

My body has a strange way of handling stress. There are some stresses that my body handles normally, headaches, sleeplessness, etc. These are stresses that I am aware I am stressed about. But for some reason my body tends to take some stress upon itself and not tell me about it! For example, when I was in high school and college, the week before exams I would be super emotional and not have patience with those around me. I wasn't consciously worried about my exams and feverishly studying or worried that I wouldn't do well on my exams but for some reason my body was still responding with stress. After several years my mom pointed out to me that I always acted strange around exam time. With this knowledge I tried to calm myself and not let exams bother me but I haven't seemed to be able to accomplish that.

Fast forward to now... On Thursday we had our ultrasound to do measurements of the baby and find out the gender. I took the day off to celebrate and clean our house for some showings we had scheduled. Well, I went to eat lunch with Lee and he commented that I was being short with him and then on the way home I just started bawling. I know your emotions are crazy when you are pregnant but I haven't been this crazy in the past 5 months so I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then I remembered my issues with exams and realized I was probably nervous about our ultrasound. It was such a bummer because I had been so excited about finding out about boy or girl and then all of a sudden I was just so sad and worried that something would be wrong with the baby and what would I do and how would I handle it if that was the case.

Well, just to make sure to not leave you in this same dilema let me tell you that our ultrasound went great and the baby is perfectly healthy as far as they can tell at this point. The baby was super cooperative and they were able to check all the vital organs and get some great pictures...including the all revealing one! But more on that later...

In case you aren't skilled in looking at blurry ultrasounds (and this one is very blurry because I took a picture of it in order to put it on here) this is a picture of the baby lying on it's back. It's head is on the right side and you can see the chest and and arm on the left side. The facial profile is facing up. This is my favorite picture we have so far. I think it is very sweet.

A Kids' Perspective

2010-01-27T19:46:00.004-05:00

I am taking tomorrow off so that I can go to the doctor and have my ultrasound...so today my class did a graph to show what their thoughts are on the gender of our baby. We do a graph everyday and the choices are normally "yes" or "no". Today's graph took them a lot longer to decide on. They stood at the graph and debated for quite awhile. Their reasonings were very interesting and worthy of sharing with the world!

One said, "Well my mom had boys, so..."

Another, "Mrs. Williams is a girl so it will probably be a girl."

One asked me, "What did you pray for?"

I said I just prayed for a healthy baby and he said, "That's what my mom prayed for too!"

According to my class we are having a boy. The vote was close but more people voted for boy! We shall see.

Movement!!

2010-01-22T16:13:00.003-05:00

Today, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., and so I could get my room cleaned up, we watched Our Friend Martin in class. The movie has a lot of popular music in it and at the end when the credits are rolling it plays several of the songs. Well, as I was putting some books away (while the music was playing) I felt a strange feeling in my tummy.

The baby was dancing to the music!! I think this baby likes music. I don't know what that says about the gender but for now I'm just sitting around waiting to feel some movement again. I thought it would kind of gross me out when I first felt the baby moving but it didn't!

This Baby is Getting Big

2010-01-21T17:41:00.008-05:00

So, I know the baby is only 5 1/2 inches long and 7 oz. People can't really tell I am showing that much at this point. But, I think this baby is getting big! I know there is so much more to grow but here is where we are at this point.

7 weeks

17 Weeks

Also, as a current update for the gender vote...

boy: 2

girl: 8

If you haven't voted yet you still have a week left!

What KIND it is!

2010-01-06T20:26:00.003-05:00

Well, we had an appointment today and everything is going well. The nurse was able to find the heartbeat on her very first try and the heart rate was good. We also made our appointment to find out what KIND it is (aka girl or boy). We will get to find out what kind it is on January 28. Unfortunately for you we had decided that we would have a superbowl party to let people vote on what they thought we were having by wearing either pink or blue to the party. We expected our appointment to be a little closer to the Super Bowl so it wouldn't be so long to wait but it didn't turn out that way so I guess you will just have to wait about a week and a half longer than us! You can however cast your vote for what kind it is in the comments. Just about 4 more weeks to find out if your guess was right! Happy guessing!

Small Child Needed!

2009-12-31T08:22:00.004-05:00

Wanted: small child willing to ride around in this great "ride!"

We got this for Christmas but unfortunately we have to wait another 6 months for a baby to put in it. I have considered going for walks with an empty stroller but I have been assured people will think I am crazy! What's a girl to do?

Baby Daddy

2009-12-16T06:06:00.002-05:00

I want to direct you to the a post on this baby's daddy's blog. It is very sweet. It made me cry, but considering pregnancy hormones and such that may not be saying much.

Check it out over at the daily fiesta