Uncle Justin comes to visit

Party Time!

Tonight we celebrated Abby's 26th Birthday at Bristol down in Power & Light.

James and Papaw Greg

David and the birthday girl

The boys

James is too busy with his garlic bread to smile for the camera

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! Our annual tradition when we are in KC is to do Turkey Trot 5K at the sprint campus in Overland Park. It was a little chilly but really the weather couldn't have been much better. It was mid 30's, sunny and no wind. We bundled James up in the stroller and he napped during the event. Todd, Seth, and Pete(friend from Cornell) ran while the rest of the family walked with me and the stroller. After the 5K we came home, showered and headed to my parents house for dinner. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving fare and it was so good!

Yum Yum

Growing up it was always a treat to get to lick the spatula or beaters when my mom baked. In fact, I still enjoy it to this day! I was making pumpkin bars tonight so once I finished scraping the pumpkin out of the can I gave James the spatula. It was his first taste of pumpkin and he loved it!

Lets make some noise

James has discovered how to clap in the last few days and does it constantly. Early this morning at 3am while I was nursing he even stopped several times to show me how well he could clap. He obviously wasn't in a hurry to get back to bed like I was!

Lots to say

James is becoming very verbal. His favorite saying is "da da da".

Time Capsule

I am planning on decoupaging a desk and I'm going through some old notes and postcards tonight. I came across a Time Capsule that I completed in 1991.

Today's date is May 20, 1991.
I am 12 years old and I am in the 6th grade.
What I like to do most is play with Jami.
These people are most important to me: Jami and Anne
I'm good at swimming and tennis.
What I value most is my money.
I worry about.... I left this one blank.
I get angry about my sister.
Recently, I've learned I got a 95 on my math test.
Ten years from now I hope to be in a college.
Something I'd like to accomplish in my life is school.
Something special about me is that I think I do good in school.

Finding this made me smile. Jami is still an important friend in my life nearly 18 years later. These days it is James and Morgan that are playing rather than us! I don't remember getting angry at Abby, but I guess at the time we didn't always get along. Sorry sista!

Lunch with the ladies

Today James and I had a fun day out. We met Abby at Towncenter and did a little shopping in the morning. For lunch we went to Yia Yia's with Gran, Debbie, Lindsay, Darleen, mom and Abby. It wasn't so long ago that James would sleep through lunches out or just be happy in his carrier. Ahh, how I miss those days already! James doesn't like to be confined anymore. He wants to get down and crawl around everywhere we go. Today, while in the highchair, it was a constant game of throwing his sippy, food and toys on the floor while I picked them up over and over. Regardless, it was good to get out and the food was great. Better than most lunches I have at home. One thing that I have noticed is that James doesn't seem that comfortable in the restaurant highchairs and tends to lean back and have a hard time sitting upright. Does anyone have any solutions or suggestions? I was wondering if the clip on seats would be worth a try. The lunch date really wore James out and he slept the whole way home.

Exploring and trying to stand

James loves the window and floor vent.

Looking out the window.

His other favorite spot is the magazine basket.

Doing some catalog shopping.

Trying to stand by the barstool. He also loves to chew on these along with the table and chair legs. We will have gnaw marks on everything for years to come.

baby led weaning

We have decided to take a baby led weaning(BLW) approach to solids with James. Basically we are skipping purees and moving right to table/finger foods. We offer James age appropriate foods in chip shaped or fist size amounts and let him feed himself. There are many reasons we really like this way to introducing solids and it just seemed to make a lot of sense to us after researching it. I found lots of useful information and links to other BLW websites/blogs at www.rapleyweaning.com. I also found the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com a good source of information for what foods to introduce and when. Here are some fun videos of James and all of his food adventures!

Watermelon

Toast

Oatmeal. We hand James the spoon and let him feed himself. It doesn't always make it to his mouth though. :)

Asparagus and Banana in the safety feeder. Which end am I supposed to eat??

Broccoli

Pears

bump

I'm sure this is just the first of many bumps and bruises that James will have, but I felt terrible tonight. He was playing in his crib while I was starting a load of laundry and he fell into the side slates and got a little red bump. He was fine, but still, it is his first injury. He doesn't have a bumper pad and even if he did I'm not sure it would have helped. He is really trying to pull up on things lately.

laughing

This is a video of James over at G-ma and Papaw's house tonight. Papaw Greg is really making James laugh! James has also continued to enjoy his new found freedom of crawling this weekend. He is quite pleased with himself and seems to really enjoy going places!

Locked out of the car.......

Sorry no picture post tonight. James and I were stuck at Price Chopper for 1 1/2 hours this evening. Silly mommy locked her keys in the car along with her purse and phone. Luckily, I had James out of the car before it happened. I was lifting James' carrier out of the base and into a cart. It was REALLY windy here today and blew my door shut before I could grab my purse. At first I was thinking I could call a couple friends/neighbors that live close by, but I have no ones numbers memorized. They are all programmed in the cell phone. Price Chopper let me us their phone so I left Todd a message on his cell and at home just in case he didn't check his cell to come rescue us! James and I spent our 1 1/2 hours roaming the isles and I think I can tell you where every item in the store located. I was planning on making a nice dinner tonight but we ended up at the deli/bakery with a rotisserie chicken, mac and cheese. green beans, a pumpkin pie, and Todd's favorite... burnt ends. I just couldn't face cooking.

crawling

James is on a mission and there is no stopping this boy now!  Just in the last few days he has gone from crawling 1-2 feet to going across the room.  I haven't taken this babyproofing thing very seriously so I better start!!!

Girls Night Out

Last night I got a "Girls Night Out"!!!! Yeah!  I went with some co-workers to a local pizza restaurant called Spin that was hosting a "girls night out" evening.  We got discounted food/drinks and also got to each have a 5 minute mini massage by a local salon.  Todd was in charge of bath/bedtime and James did very well going to sleep for his daddy.  The past few days James' teeth don't seem to be bothering him quite so much.  He has woke up a few times before 9pm this week but goes back down pretty easily.  He has been sleeping until around 4am and then wakes up hungry.  He'll then go back to sleep until around 7-7:30am.  I can't complain about that!

Our little Beaver

So we recently discovered that James has been gnawing on the backside of the front rail in his crib now that he can sit up.  He has really destroyed it.  We lowered the crib mattress this morning so that he can not reach the top rails.  So now he is just trying to gnaw on the vertical slates!  We keep trying to tell him that this crib is supposed to last for all of his brothers and sisters, but he doesn't seem to care.  

Another Girlfriend!

James met Charlee Terrell today for the first time at family friend Jill Morris's baby shower. Misty and I went through our pregnancies together not knowing whether we were going to have baby boys or girls!  We enjoyed e-mailing each other throughout the journey and sharing all of our ups and downs.  Charlee was born about 1 week sooner than James.  Lucky Misty!  From the looks of the picture I think they like each other!

Playing around

This boy wants to go!!! He is trying so hard to get places.  This morning before we left for his flu shot James said his first "BA" and "DA".  We were so excited and I have tried to capture it on video, but haven't been successful yet.  This morning he also enjoyed his first piece of toast.  I really didn't know what to expect since he has only had fruits and veggies, but he loved it.  He is also really starting to master the sippy cup.  Although not much comes out, he really enjoys playing with it.  It keeps him very entertained!

7 months

James is 7 months old today!  Ahhh, where has the time gone?  It was such a beautiful day so we got some pictures with James in the leaves and with his G-Ma Holly!

KU