Basketball

This afternoon we went to watch Gillian play her upward basketball game

Gillian on the court

James with Great Papaw Glen

James wanting to join in on the fun!

Happy Birthday Tatiana!!!

Tatiana, We hope you have a great 10th birthday. We wish we were there to celebrate with you but we will see you in a few days. Thanks for being such a great Aunt to little James. It is hard for me to remember the days when he was this small?

The man of my dreams!!

Jami and I took James and Morgan for their first photo shoot together. We figured it was only right to have valentine's day pictures taken with the two of them since they are each others first girlfriend/boyfriend. We got some really cute ones!!! Just one year ago we were pregnant together and each anxiously awaiting our new arrivals. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine how perfect my sweet baby James would be. And his girlfriend Morgan is a real sweetheart too. Do you think they will mind the arranged marriage we have planned???

Our little puppy dog

James is such a little puppy dog. He always has his tongue out, is a heavy breather, chases things on the ground, eats food off the floor, and loves to drink the bath water.



Speaking of doggies...I love this video and have been meaning to post it. It was taken at Abby's house with her dogs Walker and Molly before Christmas. Unlike his mother, I think James is going to love dogs.

Talking and Walking

James' favorite word is Dada dada dada. We are trying to work on Mama, but so far no success. His tongue is constantly hanging out of his mouth which makes the M sound a hard one. We might be waiting a while for Mama! He also loves trying to walk!

Sunday at the grandparents

James loved his spaghetti! He had 4 servings. I think he ate more than both Jack and Gillian. He also enjoyed snuggling up with Jack and Gillian. They all look so cute in their Christmas PJ's.

face first

Daddy fed James lunch today. For some reason he decided he didn't want to use his hands today.

Biting! Ouch!!!

If James could talk in this picture he would say, "stop trying to look in my mouth all the time." He doesn't understand that is mom and dad are anxiously awaiting each tooth and trying to check the progress of these slow movers daily. James 3rd tooth (top front) popped through last weekend! Whew! Another one down, twenty-some to go... We had assumed that the other front tooth would be shortly behind this one, but today I just noticed that one of his top side teeth is starting to show a tooth bud, so James may look like a pirate for a while. James has also started biting me a lot lately. He never bites when he is nursing(thank goodness), but he likes to bite my leg, calves and feet. At first my reaction was a loud "Ouch" and then I sternly started saying "NO". This worked back in October when he first bit me nursing and it only happened a handful of times before he figured it out. Well, James now thinks this is hilarious and as the days went on he would laugh more and more. I also tried giving him a little nibble back. That was even funnier to him. I'm glad I can provide such great entertainment for him!! So my latest strategy, thanks to my favorite Baby 411 book, is to calming take him off me and say "no biting". Then I am to walk away and ignore him for 1 minute. I guess it is like a mini timeout of sorts. The book says this could take 20-30 times before he figures it out. I hope this phase is a short lived one.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Rose

Today is Great Grandma Rose's birthday. She was one of James' first hospital visitors! We hope you have a great day!

My current obsession

I love this time of year because I get to start my day with a delicious Arizona grapefruit. They are in season from end of Dec through the end of February and we have them shipped from Phoenix. So from now until March I get to enjoy one everyday!!! Yeah!

Watching History

James and I had the morning at home before I went to work in the afternoon, so of course we had to watch all of the inauguration festivities. If James ever asks what he was doing the day Barack Obama was elected I'll have this video to show him.

Update on Robin

Robin's surgery was successful and they were able to fuse together her 6th and 7th vertebrae. She got out of surgery around 2pm. She is still in a lot of pain and unable to sit up. Once she was out of surgery Todd got to see her and talk to her before we headed back home around 3pm. She will definitely stay in the hospital Monday and Tuesday nights. They will not release her until she is able to walk. We know that she will have to wear a neck brace for atleast 3 months and that she will have a long recovery. Please keep Robin in your thoughts and prayers the next few days, weeks, and months as her body begins to heal. We wish we lived closer and were able to be there with her through more of her recovery. But, Todd and I feel good about all of the family that is pulling together to help her through this difficult time. We are hoping to go visit the beginning of February. Thank you to everyone that has been praying and sending positive thoughts her way.

Prayer Request

Friday morning around 7:30 Robin and Tatiana were two miles from home headed to Minneapolis when their car hit a snow bank and rolled several times. The airbags did not deploy. They were both wearing seatbelts. Robin's head hit the windshield and she had two large wounds to her head. Thankfully Tatiana was in the back seat and was able to walk away from the accident with just some bumps and bruises. The closest hospital was 30 minutes away and we still don't know how long it took for paramedics to reach the scene and get her to a hospital. Another women driving the same road hit the same drift less than 5 minutes before Robin, but she was able to maintain control of her car. She witnessed the rollover and was immediately able to help Robin and Tatiana while they waited for help. Once at the Watertown hospital the doctors thought that Robin probably broke her neck so she was transferred by plane to Sioux Falls, SD around 1pm. Steve(Robin's husband) and Susan(Robin's sister were both at the Watertown hospital and they made the decision for Susan to travel with Robin to Sioux Falls while Steve took Tatiana back home. Once in Sioux Falls the doctors determined that Robin did indeed break her neck. She did have feeling in both her arms and legs during the day which we considered a good sign. Todd and I left around 1pm and arrived in Sioux Falls around 8pm. It seemed to take forever before we got there. I caught myself driving 80 Mph several times. Robin seemed tired and in pain but was in very good spirits considering her ordeal. When she saw James her face lit up and I know she was so grateful to get to see her grandson. She even sang patty cake to him. James gave her lots of big grins. She was joking about how she was wearing a new black sweater for the first time this morning and it was ruined in the accident, but she thinks her coat was saved. Hearing her in good spirits made us feel a little better. We were in awe but not surprised at the support of her family. All 6 brothers and sisters were at the hospital when we arrived along with Todd's brother Justin and sister Ashley. Her sister in law Joan and Todd's cousin Nikole were also there. They are a very close family and some had to drive over 4 hours to be with her. Robin's parents are in Texas for the winter and called while we were there to let us all know they are thinking of Robin. Steve was not able to find help on the farm yesterday so he is driving down today(2 hour drive) with Shawn and Tatiana. Robin is scheduled for surgery on her neck Monday and if all goes well will be released on Tuesday. She will have to wear a neck brace for several months and we still don't know the extent of her recovery. Please keep Robin in your thoughts and prayers this weekend while she lays in her hospital bed and Monday when she is in surgery,

Story Time

James got a new book for Christmas named "Bless Me". I don't know what it is about this book but he LOVES it and always picks it out of the basket. He also loves the "That's not my tractor" book. Just in the last few weeks he has been able to sit still for story time. Previously, he had a really hard time sitting on my lap for more than 5 seconds so we would read stories while James explored his room and book basket.

Uncle Jack

My brother Jack is closer in age to James than I am to Jack. A lot closer! Maybe that is why they play so well together. Jack and I are 21 1/2 years apart while James and Jack are only 7 1/2 years apart. Uncle Jack came over to spend the night Saturday night and helped Todd clean out the garage Sat afternoon. It desperately needed some cleaning and sweeping out. Thankfully, Jack loves to sweep and clean! He also played very nicely with James and enjoyed all the "baby toys".

News Flash

James slept from 7pm-6am last night without waking. Needless to say we were ecstatic this morning and could hardly believe it. Hopefully this will continue for the most part. We also went to the dr this afternoon for James' 9 month check up. We feel so blessed that he is a healthy boy.
His new stats are:
Height 29 1/2 (80%)
Weight 21 lbs 2 oz (60-70%)
Head 44.8 cm (35-45%)
His carseat carrier fits up to 30 inches/30 lbs, so it will be time to get a new carseat very soon since he is outgrowing the height. I'm keeping him in his carrier as long as possible even though he is starting to get heavy. It is nice to be able to carry him inside the house if he falls asleep in the car.

All Done and NOT sleeping through the night

We have been doing baby sign with James for a few months now and I have been anxiously awaiting when he would sign back. The past month I can tell he understands the signs for eat, more, and all done, but had yet to copy them. Tonight he finally attempted to sign all done in his own little way. So cute. The "sleeping through the night" is not going so well. He woke several times Sunday night and I ended up nursing him at 5am. Last night he woke 4 times(11, 1, 3, 5am) and then I nursed him at 6:30. Hopefully tonight will go better.

9 months

James is 9 months today! He is growing up before our eyes. Today he spent the day playing with new toys and watching football with his daddy. We are currently working on James sleeping through the night(7pm-7am). He usually wakes to eat around 2-3pm, but the past month I've noticed that he doesn't seem hungry like he used to be in the middle of the night. I didn't want to make any changes before our 2 week trip, but now that we are back home we are going to try to cut out the night nursing. The first two nights have gone well. He has awakened around 3 and Todd has been able to get him back to sleep within 5 minutes and then he has slept until 6:30-7am. I hope this continues!

Home Sweet Home!

We really enjoyed our 2 weeks away from home, but we are definitely glad to be back home. James is also glad to be home and back in his routine. He spent his day exploring the house while I did an endless pile of laundry. He is ready for daddy to put his new presents together.

Happy Birthday Seth

Happy New Year

It was an effort to try to get Corinne and James to pose for a picture. This is the best that we got! I just realized that we never got a group picture from this trip or even a picture of all 3 kids. Ahhh, maybe next time... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!