Merry Christmas!

James' first Christmas was a success - ofcourse it was just a normal Tuesday to him :) but we had fun! He got lot's of toys and books from his grandparents that he will grow in to. His favorite part was putting everything in his mouth! If he can grab it and get in his mouth - it's gone! We are so blessed to have a such a perfect son and get to share such a special time with our family. Words can not express how grateful we are! We pray you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

James and daddy having a discussion about politics - just kidding :)
Sitting with grandma and trying to eat his new bathtub froggie-
Papa Allen got James this fun sit/rock/roll toy. This was our first toy we've had to put together since he was born - the first of many, many more I'm sure!
Look at that belly!
James ended the night pooped. We put his little hat on to keep his ears warm and when we got home and went to get him out of the car he was asleep like this - too funny!

Sand between my toes...

Well, James made his first trip to the motherland as Jeremy calls it. For those of you that don't know, James is the first in 5 generations to not be born in Florida. Thank you all so much for your prayers for the trip - James did great! Ofcourse we left in the wee early hours of the morning but he slept a good bit of the trip so we were super blessed!
After visiting with the Allen's in Cedar Keys we decided to go a little further south to Englewood where Jeremy grew up and visit some friends. James got to go to the beach for the first time. It was a little cool but he got to get his tootsies in the sand!

4 months old!

Today we went for James' 4 month check-up. He weighed in at 16 lbs, 4 oz and 25 inches long. He's in the 75 and 50 percentile. Our little baby is growing up so fast! He is talking all the time now. However, his talking is more like yelling. He's not upset, he's just blah blah blahing at the top of his lungs. Most of the time it's cute but sometimes it can begin to hurt your ears :)
We're taking James on his first long road trip this weekend so say a little prayer for us that he will not have a breakdown in the car seat!
Here are some more fun pics:
Here is James in his new bath robe - notice the slippers - they won't stay on his feet but I had to get a picture with him in them-

James loves to sit in his Bumbo seat while I cook but he's beginning to get himself all twisted in it -
He really loves his exersaucer now - He gets upset when he can't get all the attachments disconnected and in his mouth -

BABY DEDICATION-

Today we dedicated our sweet baby to the Lord at our church. This was just our formal acknowledgment that we entrust His life to the One who created him. From the moment we found out we were going to be parents we have prayed that we would be parents that would be guided by Him in all that we do. We know that on our own we would have no clue how to take care of such a precious gift but with His help we will raise him to be a man after God's own heart, just as David was. We are soooo blessed to be members of such an amazing life giving church and it excites me to know that James will grow up in a place where he will get to experience God in a real way! Today we dedicated James along side several of the other "supper club" babies. It's going to be so sweet to watch these little ones grow up along side each other and see how their lives impact each other. God is so fun!
From left to right - "The Supper Club" families - Scott, Mary Virgina, Kyler and Ash Wehrenberg; Mike, Nikki, & Zack Benedict; Joy, Ash, & Mallory Jonas; us; Chris, Jenni and Cooper Goodson
The Allen's and the Goodson's praying over our boys
James and my mom and Grandpa Steve - once again Charlie wants in the photo
James, mommy, & daddy

Happy Thanksgiving!

James has now experienced his first Thanksgiving - although he slept through most of it. We went to my mom's house in Huntsville for the day and after sleeping very little in the car on the way up he was pretty much pooped by the time we got there. Everyone wanted to see him and play with him and he was zonked in the back bedroom. We finally woke him up after about a 2 and half hour nap so he could meet his cousin, Mallory. She was excited about meeting "baby James". She had a fun time holding and kissing him and helping feed him but then she wanted us to put him on the floor so they could "play". We told her it would be a little bit longer before he could do that but I know they will be running around together before we know it. She also wanted to take him home - she's at that age where she loves playing with babies so what better than a real live one to take home! too sweet!

Yesterday James helped me decorate the Christmas tree - well, really he and Charlie just sat in the chair and watched but we had fun! Then I decided to put his Christmas jammies (thanks Aunt Debby:)) on and try to take some pictures by the Christmas tree - Charlie decided he wanted to be included as well as you'll see -

My little chubby elf!
Here comes Charlie trying to sneak in the picture -
We couldn't get them to both look at the camera at the same time!

James still has a hard time keeping himself upright for very long. As we were taking his picture he started to lean to the right and before we knew it he was down - we cracked up when he saw how his arm was wrapped around Charlie -



We were attempting to try and get a picture of the back of James jammies and once again here came Charlie wanting to sneak in the picture -

The Flirt

So, James is really starting to come in to his personality. I can remember sitting here only a few months ago and posting that I wondered if he was always going to be such a serious baby - well, he's not! He really has a funny personality. He likes to pretend like he doesn't hear you when you're talking to him or he'll turn his head when you're trying to kiss him and just laugh. Jeremy thinks he's going to have my personality - Finally, something from me :) He is talking all the time - to everything and everyone and he is loud! Another trait from his daddy -
We've also noticed that he is quite the flirt - He loves to look at you and give you a big grin and then turn away and act bashful - the ladies love it! Here are a few pics of him in flirt mode and some other fun times around the house -






I like to put these warm fuzzy socks on James because they are so warm. Sometimes when he takes his naps I'll take his pants off and he'll just sleep in a onsie and his socks - it cracks Jeremy and I up - I think he looks like he's wearing dance line boots! Jeremy likes to say he looks like has rubber huntin' boots on -
We put James in the big bath for the first time. I thought he would like seeing the water splashed when he kicked his feet. He enjoyed the water but wasn't too in to splashin' just yet -
Antoher flirty grin -

Fun filled weekend!

This weekend James was a busy boy. Saturday he went to the UAB/Central Florida tailgate with all of Daddy's friends. There were two other babies there as well that were about his age, Fallon DeMent and Drew Harris - we know this time next year they won't be cuddled in our arms but running around at events like this!
Then, our friends from supper club, Mike and Nikki had thier sweet baby boy, Zachary James on Friday so we went to the hospital to see them on Sunday. He weighed 10 lb 4 oz at birth! For those that are counting, this now makes 6 boy babies from supper club and only 2 girls! We also had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner supper club on Sunday.
Here are some fun pics:
James with Tyler & Tina at the Tailgate!
Daddy and James staying bundled up at the game-
Pooped on the ride home after a long day!
Having fun at supper club-
too much fun at supper club -
Introducing Zachary James Benedict

All the girls with their boys and all the boys with their boys! The Benedicts, Allens, and Goodsons!

Allen Family Update

For those of you that don't know I am now officially a stay-at-home mommy! I was a little worried about whether I would be able to quit work and not miss it since I have worked outside of the house since I was 16 - but I love it! I really feel such contentment being at home everyday and getting to be with James, more than I ever hoped or imagined. All of my friends who have been blessed to be able to stay at home as well have always told me, "you stay busier than you think" and they are so right. I don't know what we do all day but there is rarely a dull moment! Also, Jeremy has changed jobs as well and is working from home as an executive recruiter. It's kind of crazy how the job change came about - James was only 2 weeks old - but we believe the Lord's hand is guiding us and we both feel so blessed to be able to be home with James for this first part of his life. Jeremy has his home office that he works in most of the day but he's able to come out and say hi and love on James several times a day and we're able to have lunch and dinner together everyday - at a reasonable hour! It's crazy how things are so different than they were this time last year, but so amazing! I remind myself everyday to enjoy every moment because I know we will look back on these days as some of the sweetest times in our lives.
James has had a great week. He finally dropped his late night feeding and is sleeping from 9 p.m through 7a.m. in the morning - praise God! We got our first giggle this week. He laughs alot when he's asleep but when he's awake we usually only get big grins. Even though he's a little small I decided to put him in the exersaucer just to see how he liked it (our sweet friends Meredith and Austin let us borrow theirs since he has outgrown it - saved us the money of buying one and gave them some extra space! what a blessing to have so many friends with babies around us!) Anyhoo - the first time we put him in it he got sooo tickled and just started cracking up laughing - which got both Jeremy and I tickled. Once again I reminded Jeremy that we really need a video camera! Hopefully we'll get one soon!
Here are some more fun pictures - hope you enjoy!
James enjoying his exersaucer
Papa Allen and James hangin' out
I'm awake!
James likes to sleep on his tummy with his face buried in his hands - due to his "clear" skin as Jeremy likes to call it, he often wakes up with his hand prints on his face:)
Daddy kisses - whenever we give James kisses he loves to turn his head towards us and give us a big open mouth wet one!
Here is another size comparison - here is James in his bath today vs at 4 weeks! He's about to outgrow his little tub!