Buddies

Just wanted to post some pics of James and friends that we have taken recently.

James and his buddy Kaleb Leckey

 Blue eyed beauties! 

 Cousins Cambria and Grant. We babysit swap with Nicole and Ty so we get to see a lot of these kiddos!

 Move it! They are going to be good friends :)

 Baby Monte

 Cousins. I hate the pic of me... but love it of James and Caroline.

Our friend and neighbor Kyle

My client (and Haws' boss) gaveJames this bear for his birthday. It is HUGE... and he loves it.

LUAU

For the past couple of years, my parents have helped put on the singles ward Luau. It is a huge fundraiser for them and the show is awesome. We took James this year (last year when we went I was ready to pop!) and went with Grandmama and Pops (Haws' parents) and their friend Donna. It was a lot of fun! James loved it. And even though he got a little restless being in the same spot for 2 hours, he did great. Loved the drums and the lady dancers of course. He would put his hands up by his head and sway side to side. It was cute.

Brooke gave me this Hawaiian shirt as a baby gift and I am glad I was able to put it to use for this occasion. 

Haws was getting mad at me for cutting off the top of his head, this is his angry face. Notice how James is  holding up his fist as well... but he hasn't mastered daddy's angry face yet. 

First Bike Ride

Last Saturday was a perfect day for a bike ride at the beach. We took James out for the first time in the iBert seat he got for Christmas. He loves it! He wanted that helmet off towards the end of the ride, but did really good. He just kicked back and sang as we rode along. I love having him in front of me so I can keep an eye on him :)

James' 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated James' first birthday a little early. We are going out of town on his real birthday (the 30th). We wanted to have a small, family party, so we thought it would be easiest to do it on Father's Day.

It was a fun day (although we missed all the other family members who don't live close) and everyone was more than generous to James. Thank you everyone for celebrating with us! We still plan to do something special for him on his real birthday.

I made these Monkey cupcakes. They were a little more work than I bargained for, but they we fun to make. I tried making the frosting the recipe called for and it was a flop! I am so glad I bought some canned frosting as a back up. I need a go-to chocolate frosting that works well for cupcakes.

The cousins helped James open his gifts.

I always laugh at James' facial expressions. When I saw this picture I was shocked that I make the some of the same ones!

Not sure about our singing skills. Looks like he is thinking "what did I get myself into with this group?"

The aftermath.

I forgot James' PJ's so he had to wear Caroline's. I think he makes a pretty cute girl :)

Caroline was in boy PJs. I loved the role reversal and the face she is making! Brooke put a bow in her hair just to make her look girly.

Here is a video of the action... It is long. As you can see... he was over it after a few bites.

Our Climber

A few random pictures of James' climbing abilities and a video of him climbing the stairs!

He is even faster than this by now!

11 Months!

 We are less than a month away from James' first birthday. I still can't believe it! Although I feel like he has been with us for longer than that and thinking of him as a newborn seems like such a long time ago... I can't get over the fact he will be 1. That just scares me. I know everyone says it, that the time just flies by, but it is true. It is so much fun seeing him grow up and how fast his little brain picks up on things as well as his body... but it scares me too. Soon he will be a toddler. Soon he will be telling me "NO" and giving me attitude. Soon he will be going to school and it goes on and on. I am hoping he will have siblings so I can do this first year all over again. Kids amaze me. James has already taught me so much about myself, things I never knew before. But I guess that is what being a parent will do. It pushes you and challenges you every day no matter what stage of life you and your little ones are in. I am so blessed I am able to take part in the experience and that I have a wonderful partner to do it all with. OK. Enough of that. I was starting to get carried away! Back to James being 11 months old!

We have had a lot of things happen this past month that I will need to document. James is a total mover! He loves to crawl (still army style) under things, over things, up and down things. He can pull himself up to standing and has even taken a few steps. He loves to use his step stool to get up onto the couch and crawl around. He thinks this is soooo funny because he makes mommy and daddy grab him by the legs while he tries to get back down. He is a silly kids and will randomly start laughing for reasons I don't always know. And we aren't talking little giggles. These are full blown belly laughs! He sometimes laughs so hard it sounds like he is about to cry! He is out of his "wonder weeks" and I am telling you there is a total difference in his demeanor  Although he is teething(for real this time!) and gets a little fussy when his mouth hurts. The teething hasn't been that bad though. One night he was awake a few hours while a tooth broke through, but he hasn't had a fever. Now his two top teeth are about to make an appearance and no sleepless nights yet...

I weighed him a couple of weeks ago and he was 8lbs 12oz. Hoping to break 19lbs soon.

We had to adjust his naps a little because he was taking too long of a morning nap and it was disrupting his afternoon nap. His schedule on most days is: out of bed 7am. nap 10am-1130am. nap 230pm-430pm. Bed by 830pm. He is still drinking 4 - 6oz bottles a day (does not always finish them) and eats 3 meals a day plus snacks.

• Got his first tooth! (lower left central incisor)
• Can pull him self up to stand (supporting himself with an object)
• Still loves to open and close drawers and doors
• Can do a pull up!
• Took a few steps while support
• Getting much better with "real" food. Enjoys feeding himself.
• Loves to sit a read books in his pack n play.
• Plays peek a boo with us.
• Likes to feed mommy and daddy when we are feeding him.
• Is finally starting to figure out the sippy (just in time to introduce cow milk)
• Say "dat dat dat" for almost everything! Still will say nana, baba and mama on occasion. He did say "mom" a few times.
• Points at different objects.

This is the normal view of James... "running away"

 Not really sitting still very long for pictures.

 Going up the step stool to take a look out side