John-Mark is here!

John-Mark made his entrance into the world on his actual due date - how unlikely! He was born at 3:22 a.m. - weighed 7 lb 9 oz and is 20 1/2 inches long. I only pushed 3 1/2 times and he was here! My contractions started yesterday and got to be about 5 minutes apart by 7:30 last night. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and just waited until I was fully dilated and he was ready to make his arrival. He was absolutely wonderful! So far he has been so peaceful and quiet - he has barely cried at all! I'll post more pics soon!

Growing up and pics for Nanna

So tomorrow my baby official turns 1! I can't believe it! I also can't believe that I have another baby due in 4 days! Crazy! Someone told me to be prepared because once John-Mark arrives James is going to seem so much older to me! I hope not! He's only 1! However, over the past several weeks I feel like he has grown up so much. He is 100% a walker now - gone are the days of crawling at all which means his knees and tops of his feet are no longer dirty but now his legs are bruised up from falling all the time and he officially has "grocery store" feet as Jeremy likes to call them. My mom got him his first pair of shoes a couple of weeks ago and he wears them some but I just love him with his little bare feet - I've also read that it's good for them to walk on their bare feet for a while anyway. He also got a pair of crocs for his birthday which he loves! I put them on him just for fun and he got mad when Jeremy took them off! I think he likes them because Jeremy and I wear ours around the house all day so he thinks he's a big boy when he has his on too! He isn't saying any real words but he continues to jibber jabber all the time. He sounds like that Hawaii Christmas song - I don't know if you know what I'm talking about but the chorus is some Hawaii word that has lots of l's in it and that is what James sounds like most of the time.
He also loves to repeat what we do. He'll copy me and put his hands over his eyes to do peek-a-boo. Also, I'll make clicking noises with my tongue and he'll copy me. It's pretty funny to see what he picks up on and repeats. Reminds us to watch ourselves because little eyes are always watching!
We have had so much fun being James' mommy and daddy over this past year - more than we ever expected or imagined. We can't wait to see what is to come!!

Nanna, these pics are for you - we bought James a little basketball goal with some of the birthday money you sent him. He loves carrying the little basketballs all over the house:



James and his daddy!Nanna - I don't know if you can really tell from this picture how many curls James has in the back of his hair - not as much as Jeremy had as a baby but still pretty cute!James and his "snack trap" cup full of Oh's. Charlie loves when James gets this cup out because he knows he is going to get lots of falling Oh's. He follows James around the house like he's his best friend when he has his Oh's in hand!James leaving Charlie to finish off the Oh's he dropped - check out the crocs! Too cute!Also, once John-Mark arrives we will be moving to a new blog address - one that isn't just about James:) I'll post the new address with pics soon!

John-Mark Update

No pics this time - just a quick update- I went to the doctor yesterday and I am slightly more dilated than before but not quite 2 cm yet. Baby is still "floating" as they call it but he is head down so my body is moving towards getting him out. My doctor offered to induce me on Monday if I was too miserable and as tempting as it sounds I told him I think I'll just wait and see what he does on his own. I've said if he's not here by 41 weeks I'll look at inducing him but I really like the idea of letting God decide when this little guy comes as long as everything is ok and neither one of us in danger. James was 3 days late so I feel I need to give John-Mark at least that long too. I must admit though that all night I've been thinking how nice it would be to just "know" when he is going to be here and be able to "plan" things like when my mom should come down or how long Jeremy will need to be off work - I had James on a Saturday and it was perfect timing. Please pray that I won't have the desire to control this and I will be patient! I know he'll be here before I know it and it will be His perfect timing again!

In the Driver's Seat

Yesterday after church it was so hot we decided to let the car cool a little bit before we put James in his car seat so we let him stand in the drivers seat for a bit. He LOVES to play in the drivers seat - he thinks he is such a big boy - I thought these were some cute pics:

Checkin' his calls - just like Daddy:)
I LOVE this face - right before he doses off to sleep it's like he no longer has the strength to even give me a little grin - he's just all cheeks! - I could just eat him up!

Happy 1st Birthday (almost)

Yesterday we celebrated James' 1st birthday a little bit early - even though he won't be 1 until August 11th I wanted to have his party early to ensure we got it in before John-Mark arrived. As Jeremy likes to remind me, James will never remember his 1st birthday, but I wanted to make it extra special since this is the only time he will be the "only" and the only birthday he will celebrate by himself for a very long time since in future years I'm sure he and John-Mark will share their birthday parties since their birthday's will be so close together. We had the party at a place called Kid's Gym and it was so much fun! They have all kinds of things for kids to climb and jump on. The hit of the party was the "ball pit". All the kids wanted to play in it, and ofcourse, even though there were hundreds of balls they each wanted the one someone else was playing with! But since it was pretty difficult for them to actually move around in the balls for the most part there were no fights or tears! It was a great day and we're so thankful for all of our family and friends that came out and celebrated with us. Our little baby is truly a toddler now - he is walking, drinking out of the sippy cup and eating all finger foods! I was looking back at pictures and video from the past year and can't believe how much he has grown up in one year! Ugh - it is all flying by sooo fast!!
Here are some pics from the party - hope you enjoy!

Happy Birthday to James!mmmmmmmm - this is sweet -I've got this under control mom-James didn't really "play" with his cupcake - he finished it off pretty quickly - I tried to give him some strawberries after he ate his cupcake and he was not interested - He's never eaten anything so sweet and a strawberry just wasn't going to work after that cupcake!It was pretty much impossible to get a picture of everyone looking - I think James was going after a cake crumb! Beau, James, and Copper in the ball pit -Zack joined in on the fun!"All this playing is wearing me out - I need a drink!"Bubbles were flying around like crazy - some of the kids loved them and were trying to chase them - James wasn't too sure about them - The choo choo train was fun!After the party we came home and took a little nap and then we were ready to open up our presents!Of course he enjoyed playing with the cardboard that his toys came in as much as the toys themselves!Checking out the new ride his papa got him -P.S - Now that we've had James' party we're ready for John-Mark to come on out as soon as possible! Only 11 days until his due date but I'm not having any contractions or anything so it doesn't appear that he's going to make an early arrival - but I know it can happen pretty quickly - we'll keep everyone posted!

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!

And the name is....

John-Mark Allen-
This has been decided for a while now but for some reason I haven't wanted to post it yet. Many of you know the drama of the name but for those of you that don't - here's the quick run down - James is named after two of our grandfather's (James and John) and both our dad's are David. Oh, let me back up - before we even thought about having a baby Jeremy informed me that he got to pick any boys names and I got the girls - I did not agree to this it was just stated as fact - so, move ahead, we find out our first son is on his way and Jeremy settles on James John-David (Jeremy's middle name is also John-David so that was another reason he wanted it). At that time I suggested we name him James David and save the John for a possible second son and name him John-Mark after our grandfather's and Jeremy's best friend, Mark. Jeremy liked this idea but didn't want to change James' name. So... here we are with baby boy number two on the way and I thought John-Mark was no longer an option since we gave James the John-David middle name, but I was wrong. Jeremy has been dead set on John-Mark since we found out I was pregnant. I tried to get him to go with Paxton, also after his best friend, Mark Paxton, but he wouldn't budge. He said he just couldn't hear "Paxton Allen" spoken over the speaker at future baseball games - I really have never thought of such things. So, that is why both of our sons have the name John in their name. Don't get me wrong, I love the name John-Mark - it was my idea in the first place but I feel kind of silly having two boys with John in their name so I feel the need to always explain - I guess that's not really a short version of the story - but there ya' go.
Only a little over 7 weeks until little John-Mark arrives. I can't believe he will be here so soon. Only 4 more weeks and I will be down to weekly dr.'s visits! aahh! This is all going by so fast!!
I went to the house today and it is really moving along. Jeremy needs to post some more pics but it is totally framed and all the exterior walls are up, including the two additions and the new roof is on. I think the electrician, plumber, and HVAC guys are supposed to work this week. It's really starting to look like a house now - I'm starting to get excited!
Sorry, no pics this time!

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday Jeremy celebrated his first Father's Day - we had a great day of church, PF Changs, dessert and watching golf with friends. James and I also gave him a day of golf with some of his buddies. One day soon he'll be able to spend the day taking James and his little brother golfing!

Three Generations of Allens
Cutest Ever!!
James was really tired Saturday night and actually sat still in Jeremy's lap - this is very rare! Notice how he has his little ankles crossed - he always sits like this-
Breakfast in bed with daddy

New Blog Advertisement

Jeremy has started his own blog to follow our journey of renovating our new house - lot's of people have wanted to see the house so you can check it out on his blog - jeremyjohndavid.blogspot.com -
Note - the house is a TOTAL renovation so it looks pretty rough right now but he will be updating as we go along! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will have new walls! How exciting!

A few of my favorite things!

Well, Jeremy and I have decided that for James' first birthday we are going to get him his own set of tupperware - I can't imagine he would love anything more since most of what he plays with is not his toys but other house hold finds - empty water jugs, shoe boxes, measuring cups, teething tablet container, spoons, Charlie's bed! Pretty much anything that is not really a toy is what he is drawn to!
James turned 10 months old this week. Once again I will say how fast everything is going by! I can't believe he's almost a year. He's showing absolutely no signs of being interested in walking - he's way too good and fast at crawling. He will walk along furniture but when he runs out of things to hold on to he drops and takes off on his knees. If we try to hold him up and hold his hands and get him to walk he'll go limp - no interest. He likes to sit on his bottom and just turn around in circles - it's pretty cute. He also has learned how to give us high fives - we're so proud :) We're trying to start feeding him more finger foods and get him working with a sippy cup. The sippy cup is a no go - he will play with it but forget about drinking out of it. As far as finger foods go so far he's had turkey, carrots, banana's, and pineapple. He does okay but he misses his mouth quite a bit and it takes him FOREVER!! However, I do find it interesting how he has such trouble getting turkey and carrots into his mouth but can grab a piece of dog food and get it to his mouth perfectly! We fight over this daily!
As always we are having so much fun watching our little boy change and grow each day - He truly is too much fun!
Enjoy some pics!

water jug
shoe box
measuring cup
teething tablet -