James is 5 Months - August 3

Here is my little man! This past month we have started blowing bubbles, rolling on our sides, got a tooth, started playing with toys... really growing fast! And still, so happy! We had a couple days with many tears, he is teething and I think had a small virus, but now we're back to happy and smiley and flirty. James has the best waggling eyebrows I've ever seen! And he will smile and flirt with just about anyone. We are all still so much in love with our little buddy.
July 22 he had his 4-month wellness visit (late because we were on vacation) and he measured 27 inches long and weighed 19 pounds 7 ounces. I'm sure he's a good 20 pounds by now as he gained about an ounce a day between his appointment on July 1 in Seattle and this most recent visit.

Little Man is needing a lot more stimulation than just laying on the floor these days. He loves to roll over and chew on the toys I put out for him, but that lasts only so long. I will say that he is already starting to pull his knees up under himself when he rolls to his tummy - maybe he will crawl sooner than Maggie?

I pulled out the Exer-saucer and he loves it.
And I've started putting him in the Bumbo with some toys, too. This one needs more supervision- his spastic hands clear off the toys pretty quick and an empty tray creates a sad baby pretty quickly. Most days now I spend a good deal of time moving him between a blanket on the floor with toys, the Bumbo, the Exer-saucer and the swing (4th set of batteries, by the way and I think the motor is about to seize up).
We had a new friend come over - Josiah (and big brother Elijah). These two are only 2 1/2 weeks apart. Josiah's mom, Diana, is thinking about cloth diapers so I went over what we do and lent her some to see if she wants to go for it. We are so very thankful for our precious, sweet little man! Every good and perfect gift is from above!

Bubble Gun Fun

Got a bubble gun-thing at the store. It is pretty awesome. 

iPhone Updates

Olive thinks everything of James' is for her. She sleeps on his activity mat if I forget to put it up at night. Poor baby ends up with cat hair on his face every time he rolls over if I forget.

Today was the first time I put James in the cart without his car seat. He did alright, as long as Maggie was in sight he enjoyed being in the cart. He is not sitting up on his own yet- had to rely on the safety strap, so there was a lot of slouching going on.

Little Buddy Getting Bigger

Literally! James picked up a cold from our arriving flight, so I took him to a doctor to have him checked out just to make sure it wasn't anything serious. July 1 he weighed in at 18 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces. Friday, July 22, he went in for his 4-month wellness check (late because of our vacation). 21 days from his weigh-in in Seattle, he weighed in at 19 pounds, 7 ounces, measured 26.8 inches. I forgot to ask our pediatrician what percentile that pops him in, but according to the CDC website the best I can figure he is in the 95th percentile for both!
And I didn't mention in the vacation post, but he learned to blow TONS of bubbles, rolled over for the first time last Saturday (final results are the above picture), AND his first tooth came in Monday 7/18 (bottom left-center).

And still, he is just so darn happy! I am so blessed to have such a happy baby that loves to be around anyone and everyone. It made vacation so much easier! James loved to be held by anyone, including his cousins, and was really easy-going. Although he rarely slept through the night on vacation, but back at home he has gone right back to sleeping through the night. Blessed!

Seattle Summer Trip 2011

I am finally sitting down to blog about our trip. We had a great time with our families and managed to pack in way too many activities each day, but I think it was a fun way for Maggie to spend a chunk of her summer before we embark on kindergarten.

I loaded a ton of pictures to Picasa and posted comments on them. You should be able to click the picture above and go to the album to see them all.

4 Months - On Vacation

James turned 4 months on Tyler's birthday. We are in Lake Chelan on vacation, so no boppy picture. But I think I got a good substitution:
This past month has been so wonderful! My little man is still so chill, and happy and sweet. He's been sleeping through the night, as in bed at 8 or 8:30, through till 4:30 or later, and back to bed until 8 (except for a couple nights here on vacation) for the past month. James LOVES to chew and suck on his thumb, fingers, thumb knuckle, wrist, my fingers, his blanket, you name it. He has not stuck with just his thumb now that he can find it regularly, and several times he's even given himself a hickey on his wrist!

He's been rolling onto his sides, loves to grab his toys and put them in his mouth, can really hold his head up during tummy time, and is so close to being able to sit up (as in staying up once I put him there, he can't pull up on his own yet). He still loves his sister the most, and the past week has really enjoyed all the extra attention from his cousins, Alexis and Gabby, as well as from grandparents, uncles and aunt. Giggling is a regular part of our day and he's SO smiley and flirty.

Poor baby got his first cold from flying out to Seattle! I took him to the doctor right before we left Gramma Spaid's for Lake Chelan and they did confirm it's just the common cold not anything worse. He's already a snorty little guy, and now it's worse. Sweet Baby James is not quite so sweet when I have to spray his nose with saline and suction it out to get his nasal passages clear. I also got a weight confirmation last Friday (7/1) - 18 pounds, 3 ounces. He's in some 6 month clothes yet, moved into all of his 9 month summer clothes, and a pair of 12-month jammies.

And yes, I am still thankful every day for my sweet little blessing.

VBS 2011

Last week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. I helped out as co-director and as crafts leader. It was a lot of work to get it all put together as a new co-director, but fun! It's a great outreach opportunity in our church neighborhood.

Maggie had a great time this year, too. James was undecided in the nursery. each day he took a really good nap, but one of the days he drank his entire bottle and got angry because he wanted more (whereas the day prior he wouldn't finish the same amount).

Here are some pictures from the crazy days:
Crazy Hair Day: multiple ponytails, peacock feathers and hair bows.
Crazy Hat Day: her gorilla strapped to her bicycle helmet
Tacky Day: This was the hardest day to put together- I tend to buy most of her clothes in a complimentary color palette so she can pick anything out of her drawers and wear them. We had to pull out some winter stuff for this to work. It was 90 degrees that day, thankfully the church runs their A/C somewhere between January and Antarctica so she didn't smother in her clothe

Maggie's Dance Recital

I can I just say - SO CUTE!!! Saturday was Maggie's recital. She did great. Her class (4s & 5s Tap/Ballet/Tumbling) did two separate numbers with a Hawaiian theme: a tap routine to "Little Grass Shack" and a ballet routine to "Over the Rainbow". Synchronicity was not their strongest suit, but none of them were scared, no one burst out in tears. And they all had to wait backstage in their outfits for about an HOUR before it was their turn for their first number. I will call that a success.

Here's the grass skirt outfit for her tap routine. This was taken a couple weeks ago on picture day. The girls were instructed to wear a little light make-up. My child is just FIVE, so we went with a little translucent powder, blush, mascara and sheer lip gloss. It was enough that I can tell just how beautiful she will be in high school. It was also enough to open up a whole new can of worms. "Mommy, can I keep that pink lop gloss?" Mommy, when can I wear make-up everyday?" "Mommy, WHY do I have to wait until I'm older to wear make-up?" "But that's so far away!" Mommy, can I have more lip gloss?" And on and on...
And here she is in her ballet costume. Each girl got a "trophy" in their dance bag. Maggie was SO excited about that trophy! Daddy got her some lovely flowers, but they were sadly overlooked as soon as she realized there was a trophy in her bag. (She fell asleep in the car on the way home holding her trophy)
Here's Maggie and the neighbor girl Emily who is also in her class. They both did so well with both routines. I helped backstage to get the girls in the right skirts and shoes, fix hair, and apply multiple layers of lipgloss to many little lips.
Posing with Daddy.
Poor Tyler. He sat in the auditorium, with James and the video camera to record Maggie. There were 24 routines. Maggie's group was 12th & 19th. I was helping in the back and got to watch them from the side of the stage so I didn't even get to sit with him or keep James entertained while he filmed the 5 whole minutes Maggie was on stage (the program was nearly 2 hours). But he was a trooper, and I am so thankful for him!

We are about ready to go home, here she is sitting with James.

Melissa's Memorial Day Weekend...

... was spent in Dallas visiting some friends. Niki (Stevens) Spangler, husband Greg, and adorable kids Addie and Scott. Thank you Tyler for letting me abandon you with Maggie on Memorial Day weekend to go visit her. It was a real treat!

I've known Niki since I was 15. She was the maid of honor in my wedding. And I love her to death. She went to The Master's College in California and never moved back to Seattle, and then Tyler and I up and moved to Nashville, so we've lived far, far apart for a long time. So I was VERY excited when Southwest lowered their summer ticket prices. I rebooked tickets I had already purchased and ended up with enough travel credits for another ticket. And since James is "little", and so far a good traveler, I thought why not? I haven't had to chance to go visit her in such a long time, and this seemed perfect.

I was greeted in Dallas with a big hug from Niki and this:
That's right. Someone's boxers on the baggage carousel. Joy!

Friday night we stayed up until 1:30. Greg had to tell us to go to bed. Because really, even though we could've stayed up and talked all night, children don't know that and they'd be up around 7 am. And also, a HUGE thank-you again to Greg for putting up with two crazy-chatty women AND taking care of his own two munchkins so I could crash in their house with James and have some Niki time.

Niki and Scotty at Chick-Fil-A. We went after a visit to this huge outdoor flea market. We needed some SERIOUS A/C after that - it was in the 90's with a hot wind.
I educated them on the kids' stick-on placemats, crayons and cheerios cups. They introduced me to Chick-Fil-A sauce. I didn't know about that sauce. It was delicious!!! (and I can't believe I didn't know about that sauce!)

Here's Greg. He too has been afflicted with "my-wife-takes-too-many-pictures"-itis, Symptoms include the inability to smile nicely for any camera pointed in his direction. Even if it isn't his wife taking the picture. Sorry Greg!
Here's Addie. She's about the same age as Maggie. and such a hoot! Maggie would've loved her.
Then for some walking around with the kids we went to a big mall. They had an ice-skating rink inside. How cool was that?! This girl worked there, I think. She skated beautifully and I got this great picture of her spinning.
Sunday night we went to Hard 8 BBQ. Here we are, thick as thieves.
The dinner. We split this big tray of brisket, ribs, smoked sausage, corn and poppers (Chicken chunks stuffed with cheese and roasted jalapenos). It was some really good Texas BBQ!
And here's Scotty enjoying his first corn on the cob. It was so cute - he just loved it!!!
It was a great trip with a great friend. And it was so much fun to spend time with her children and get to know Greg better, too!

We have Giggling

UPDATED: I have no idea why clipshack.com is not letting my videos show up here. I can't figure out how to get my videos approved (have never had to do it before). So I've uploaded the videos directly to blogger. Hope this clears up the problems.

James started the past week or so. It is so fun! Grampa John is here visiting and his fake sneezes are a BIG hit!