Michigan

We arrived in Michigan last weekend and have been having a great time. Our friends, the Schneiders, joined us last week Sunday-Friday and we all had a really good time. This is the first time that I've had a chance to get caught up on the blog. I'm currently at the Lexington public Library, but we are hoping to have WiFi at our beach house very soon. I'm going through withdrawl. We had great weather and went to the beach everyday. James is getting used to his new surroundings and is loving the beach. I think he would stay down by the water all day if we would let him. He is saying lots of new words too. Last week he said trees, sky, Scout, Caleb, GiGi(Gillian), Seth along with some others that I know I'm forgetting. He still will not say Mama! What is wrong with this boy? Whenever I try to get him to say Mama he either ignores me or says DaDa in his loudest yelling voice! Here are some pictures from our last week.

1st Haircut

Just another night at the Wilson house

Poolside

James has enjoyed swimming at my parents house the last two days. He is loving the water, even bath time is going better. James' favorite thing about my parents pool is the slide. I didn't get any slide pictures though because it is a two person job. One person has to help get James up the slide and the other has to be waiting for him in the pool. James also is saying a new word... Can you guess what it is? SLIDE

Des Moines

We took a road trip to Des Moines yesterday to visit baby Maggie and the Evans family. Maggie is doing so well. She will be 3 months tomorrow and weighs over 9 lbs now. She was so precious and we really enjoyed seeing her. We also got to see our other friends Shawn and Kendra, along with their two little ones Taryn and Cael. Here are some pics from our day trip!

Are we there yet??

The 2 "big boys" at the Des Moines zoo!

Dixie and Maggie

Baby Maggie

James and Taryn reading books together

A picture of all the kids. This is the best one we got.

Wrestling the monkey

Catching up

This has been a busy week. I feel like it just flew by. We are getting ready to leave for Michigan on Friday for 6 weeks and I have a lot of planning, packing and shopping to do. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.

Gillian came to spend the night last weekend! She does such a good job with James and is going to be a great babysitter.

Jami and Andy came over this week and the kids loved playing with bubbles!

So happy!

They got distracted very easily and kept going for the rocks.

Aunt Abby came over Friday night and we made cookies and watched Bride Wars. Before James went to bed Abby read him some books. He LOVES to read and is always bringing us books. He can't get enough story time!

Mothers intuition

James hasn't had a new tooth in many months. I knew the molars would be coming soon since most babies get them between 12-18 months. James hasn't napped well today and has been extra crabby and I just had a feeling he was getting a molar. I took a look in his mouth and sure enough he has a molar popping through on the top. Yeah teeth!

All about James

James is 14 months old today and is doing new things all the time.
He says a few words that we can understand: DaDa, ugh oh, duck, socks. He also repeats bathtime and thank you, but only Todd and I know that is what he is saying. He jabbers and points constantly and is trying so hard to communicate. I know he is probably saying a lot more, but we can't understand him yet. He still does not say Mama, but I know it will come eventually..

He signs: more, all done, bye bye, drink and milk. We are working on thank you, please, and potty.
He is getting more and more independent and doesn't like to be carried as much. He loves the tv(he tries to turn it off and on constantly along with banging things against it. Glad we didn't go with an expensive flatscreen), his own remote, his cell phone, his shape sorter, playing on the couch, and throwing things aggressively... He is definitely all boy!


James is drinking milk during the day, but still nursing morning and night. I don't think he is ready to give it up yet. James will eat anything we give him(you can tell by the big tummy), but he loves bread and fruit. So I usually try to give him a veggie first before I offer him the rest of the meal. He loves to throw his food and cup on the floor, but is getting a little better with this. However, this evening all of his dinner ended up on the floor. I seriously should invest in knee pads because I spend so much time down on the floor cleaning it.
His schedule right now is:
wake up between 5:30-6:30
breakfast 7 am
play time 7:30-9am
snack time 9 am
morning nap 9-9:30- 11am
11-11:30am lunchtime
11:30am-2pm playtime
2-3pm naptme
3-5pm playtime
dinner
7pm bath and bedtime.
He used to LOVE bathtime, but the last two weeks he has screamed the entire time. This video is actually the first time in two weeks that he let us put him in the water without crying. He stayed with my parents a couple weeks ago and they bathed him in their big jacuzzi tub. He didn't like that one bit and has been scared of our tub every since. I hope this is a phase.

Fun weekend

We just got back from a fun weekend with Todd's side up north! We left Wednesday afternoon as soon as school got out for Todd and hit the road in our new minivan. It was so nice to spread out in the car and have plenty of room. We are so happy about our decision. We drove until Sioux Falls, SD around 9pm and spent the night in the Staybridge Inn(our favorite place to stay with James). Thursday morning we drove to Todd's Grandma and Grandpa Maus' house for a really yummy lunch. James loved playing with their dog Katrina. From there we drove to visit Todd's other Grandma, Orpha Wilson. She is doing well and had her famous white cake waiting for us like she always does. It doesn't matter what time it is, it is always time for cake at her place. She has help with her baking now, but is well known in the area for her cakes and lefse.

Friday and Saturday we spent with Todd's mom, step-dad and brothers and sisters. James did so well except for the 5am wake ups! It seems like 1 out of every 4-5 nights he likes to start the day early, too early! James really enjoyed playing with Tatiana and Shawn. The highlight was playing with a baby stroller. James took turns pushing and riding.



Saturday we went to the zoo. James loved all the animals.