James & Fallon

A couple of weeks ago we went to a birthday dinner for one of Jeremy's good buddies from when he played baseball at UAB. They have a little girl that is exactly a week younger than James so we sat them next to each other and the following pictures are what we got. There was no encouraging of this behavior - they just started trying to kiss each other - and at this age neither one of them has learned the art of "puckering" so all you get is big open mouth kisses. It's crazy that James never kisses all his boy buddies but he and Fallon were very affectionate! We may have to keep them away from each other as they get older! I love the fact that Fallon has her pizza in her hand the whole time as well - that's my kind of girl!




Tyler, Fallon, Joe, Dan, Nally, Jeremy and James -

The Wobbly Walker!

Over the past few days James has started to take an interest in walking. It started with him just standing up on his own and then he started taking one or two steps before falling. It's like watching a little drunk man - he hasn't mastered balancing himself for more than a couple of steps. He also likes to have a toy in his hand at all times so that is kind of "added difficulty". If he would just put the toys down and focus on walking he would probably get it faster. He will also let us hold both of his hands and walk with us which he was not interested in at all a week ago. I can already tell that once he gets the hang of walking he is going to be running because when we let go of his hands to let him walk he wants to go, go, go and he ends up falling pretty quickly. I tried to get some action shots:


we are babysitting a friends puppy and she tries to take all of James' toys - she is after this stuffed football he has -
see ya' later mom!
Just another day of being a cutie-pa-tootie!

Happy 1 1 months old!!

I can't believe James is almost a year!! This year has gone by so fast! In the last month James has continued to improve on his ability to eat finger foods and expand the foods he is eating. A couple of nights ago he had spaghetti for the first time and seemed to like it okay. So far, his favorites by far are turkey, carrots, and green beans. Still a no go on the sippy cup but I haven't been pushing it as much as I probably should. He still isn't walking but he has started standing up without holding on to anything more and more. Sometimes he'll walk with me if I am holding both his hands but most times he prefers to drop to his knees and crawl - which is fine with me, I'm really not in any hurry for him to be any more mobile than he already is. Plus, I like the nursery he's in at church. I don't think I'm quite ready for the "walkers" room yet - It overwhelms me a bit!! James is also continuing his love of climbing! He LOVES to climb on any and everything - me, the dog, the couch - you name it- if he can get his little legs up on it - he'll try and climb it - he's like a little monkey!
First time with spaghetti -

Playing in the new bathtub at the new house - this is better than his pack-n-play!
Standing up on his little scooter - If he could climb into his high chair by himself I think he would do it!
Standing on his own and reading through the junk mail -another favorite past time

35 + weeks - only 34 days to go!

Today I started my weekly check-ups and I am 1cm dilated! I know that doesn't really mean anything but I was really kind of surprised since I didn't dilate at all with James until I actually started the labor process. My dr doesn't expect me to have John-Mark in the next couple of weeks but he said I still need to make sure I'm prepared! James was 3 days past due and it was perfect - I felt I was as prepared as possible. I think once I make it past the first of August I'll feel ready for this baby as well. The house should be completed and we'll have James' 1st birthday by then so everything that I can get in order should be done - but we'll see - since I have absolutely no control over it I'll just trust God for His perfect timing, as always.
These last couple weeks of pregnancy have been the hardest so far with the heat and keeping up with a now 11 month old so it was pretty exciting today to think that John-Mark is really almost here! We've got so much going on with the renovation of the new house that we really haven't done much in the way of "preparation" for him so sometimes I forget that we are really about to have another baby - I remember how I couldn't imagine what it was going to be like to have one baby, now I feel the same way about our second but I am still full of excitement to meet this new member of our family.
John-Mark measured a little big today which he has never done so now my dr thinks he may be a little larger than James was after he had originally told me he would probably be smaller since I was having them so close together. But then he said "well, he won't be much bigger or much smaller" Jeremy and I laughed - so basically he was telling me he had no better an idea of how big he would be than we do:)
We'll keep everyone posted!

First 4th of July Celebration!

Tonight James got to experience his first fireworks show and he loved it! Our church had an early 4th of July Celebration and it was even better than what they did last year! We weren't sure we wanted to get James out so late past his bedtime and we knew there would be tons of people and it could get crazy with parking and getting home and blah blah blah but I'm so glad we decided to pack him up and go. I had more fun watching his face as he watched the fireworks than I did watching the actual fireworks themselves. He was totally focused on them. Whenever there would be a really big one all the kids around us would say "whoa" and James would copy them - then at the end when everyone started clapping he was right there with them. I wish I had some pics but I forgot my camera:(
I do have some fun pics of James eating all his new finger foods. It's amazing how quickly things change in just a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago he could barely get things in his mouth and it took him forever - now he's a pro and he eats everything we give him! Today we had pancakes for breakfast, turkey, sweet potatoes and cantaloupe for lunch then some green beans a couple pieces of an orange for dinner and there were only a couple pieces in his high chair when I lifted him out. Now if we could just embrace the sippy cup!
Eating sweet potatoes

Loving his sweet potatoes!
"why do you keep taking pictures of me eating mommy?"
Yummy Green Beans!
See what a pro he has become at getting them in his mouth! Seems like such a little thing but it's such a big deal!