James's "First" Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We're counting it as James's "first" after spending last year in the hospital with RSV. A few weeks before Christmas, we went out to the tree farm to mark our tree. It was bitter cold that day, but we still scoured the entire selection before putting our name card on a tree (of course, it was one of the first ones we'd seen...). That night we enjoyed a wonderful fire and started putting out some decorations. (We didn't want to do the tree until after James's birthday.)

We were so excited to have Auntie Peg come up for a holiday visit! She arrived a day after the first big snowfall of the year. Dan went out and chopped down the tree that day, and we decorated it that night after James went to sleep. We decided to go easy on the decorating (we only put about 25-30% of our decorations on the tree), unsure how James would react/interact with it all. The next morning he oohed and ahhed quite a bit. There continues to be much pointing and saying, "see." Fortunately, he hasn't dismantled it!


In our holiday celebrations, we left James home with his grandparents and took Auntie Peg in to the city to see the windows and the tree and "White Christmas" on Broadway. So fun! (also so cold! Glad we left James at home.)

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is wrapping gifts. I enjoy making the paper match up neatly and tying pretty bows. Well, not so easy with my little elf-in-training. He LOVED playing with the tape (it was pretty hilarious watching him deal with the stickiness) and the rolls of paper. Many of our gifts looked like the paper had been used many times (which is something we've been known to do), but in fact, all the paper was right off the roll! Also, I couldn't be bothered to make things quite as neat and perfect as before because I was busy hiding the "pokeys" (pens, scissors) and wrangling the tape & paper from James. Funny.


On Christmas Eve, we went to the 4:30 service at our newly renovated church. Again with the oohs, ahhs and sees. So cute. James did quite well for most of the service. We did feed him a cheese stick (after all, it was his dinner time), and there was a bit of fussing when the stick ran out. At the end of the service we sing "Silent Night" and hold candles. James seemed very interested in the candles (I was holding two, and Dan was holding James), so I blew one out and let it cool off then gave it to him. Well, what did he do? Try to eat it of course-- it looks just like a cheese stick! Funny.


Grandma & Grandpa were at our house for supper after church. We then visited with friends (whose 6-year old daughter Heather was certain James kept saying her name; one of his catch phrases is "hi there") before having some nog and going to bed.


Christmas morning was nice. The three of us ate cinnamon rolls then opened our stockings. James ripped our cracker crowns right off our heads. I mean really ripped them! His is the only one that didn't get ripped in half, but he would not wear it. He did open some of his gifts, but we had to laugh because he kept going over to his toy basket to take out "old" toys. And, of course, his wooden spoon and empty gift wrap tube were always close at hand. He did kiss the penguin in the book from Uncle P and Auntie Ali. He also said "vroom vroom" and rolled his new wooden cars from Nana & Pops around quite a bit. He turned into a pumpkin and went down for a nap before he even opened any gifts from us (true fact: the few small items I got for him remain wrapped and under the tree today, on the seventh day of Christmas).


When James got up from his nap we headed up to Ramsey for dinner and gifts with the grands. Well, we weren't there long before I heard James exploring under the tree. I looked in the living room to see what he was up to. He had found his gift-- a Tonka dump truck! It was wrapped in cellophane, so he could see it. He was saying "vroom, vroom" and pushing the wrapped truck all around the living room. SO CUTE! Grandpa had fun putting James in it and pushing him around the house.


All in all, it was a very fun holiday. James is still dazzled by the tree and other decorations ("see!"). We're so happy to have been healthy & home to celebrate together. We look forward to many more wonderful holidays!

James is ONE!

We celebrated James's Big Day with a Birthday Brunch on Day 365, which, thanks to Leap Year, was on Dec. 14th. It was a lovely affair with a few guests: Grandma & Grandpa, our friends Rob & Tracy and their two-month old, and our friends Jenn & Matt and their two delightful daughters. (We really missed Nana & Pop, Auntie Peg, and Auntie Ali & Uncle P!)

In typical party fashion for us, we had way too much food-- muffins, banana bread, bagels, cold cuts, cheese & crackers, fruit, veggies, quiche, salad.... It was yummy though, and I was happy to have the leftovers to enjoy as the days went on! We also had Bloody Marys and mimosas-- delicious!

It was wonderful to spend the day with our friends!

At the end of the party, James opened his gifts (for which he still needs to write Thank-You notes!). Grandpa & Grandma gave him a "Music Parade Ride-On" which is a little Fisher Price truck that you can ride or push. Well, party-guest Jolie climbed right on! James was not bothered in the least because all he wanted to do was push it around! When Jenn insisted Jolie let James have a turn riding his new toy and took her off, all that we ended up with was two disappointed one-year-olds. James climbed right off and resumed pushing (and Jolie was all to happy to get back in the seat). James even gave Jolie's three-year old sister Sophia a ride!

On his actual birthday, it was a Monday. James & I went and had lunch with Dan which was a fun midday treat. We also had dinner with Grandpa & Grandma after which James was finally allowed to have his first taste of ice cream (Grandpa's been dying to give him some for months!). He wasn't too into it; we think he was just tired.

We went to the doctor for his one-year check-up on that Tuesday. He was 30 inches long (59th percentile) and 19 lbs 1 oz (5th percentile). In case you're interested, he's grown about a foot (11.5 inches) and more than tripled his weight in a year. At the doctor's visit we discussed increasing his intake of cow's milk and working on his sleeping habits. Also, he was cleared to eat anything other than nuts and shellfish. The other highlight was that the doctor was impressed with his pointing to and "naming" of everything in the office; she said she could tell he'd be advanced verbally! (I was thrilled, of course.)

It is AMAZING how fast the year went by!

There, I Have Done It!

OK, so I mentioned before that Dan's been the one to put James in bed awake and have him fall asleep each night. I tried a week ago when Dan was out Christmas shopping. Thank goodness Auntie Peg was here because it was a screamfest.

Well, tonight Dan had to work late (ah, the joys of yearend). I nursed James, then read him his three books. After that, I put him in bed AWAKE. I told him goodnight, covered him up and let the crying begin. It was not too bad, so I sat in the rocking chair. After a few minutes, he stood up and really started hollering. I just rocked and tried to say cool. I let him cry for a while, then finally got up to comfort him. As I stood up, he laid down! The crying stopped. I covered him up and rubbed his back. There was some whimpering, but eventually, he fell asleep.

Amazing!

Sweet, Sweet Dreams

Another quick and exciting post:

Dan put James to bed around 7:30 last night. He (James) slept all night until 5:15!!! We heard a few coughs and sputters throughout the night, but he never awoke! At 5:15 he got a "snack" (nursed) then slept from 5:30 until almost 7:30!

It was glorious.

**We've spent the last two weeks working up to this. Dan puts James in bed drowsy but awake. If James awakes before 5:00, Dan goes in to comfort him (without taking him out of bed). He'd pretty much only been waking one time during the night. Sometimes Dan would just have to point at the bed, and he'd fall back asleep.

Breaking News

I know I need to post about James's big birthday, his party, his stats from the doctor visit, and, of course, about his "first" Christmas (we aren't counting last year!). Well, for now, this little update will have to do:

James now has FOUR teeth. He's been a jack-o-lantern lately: two teeth on the bottom and one on top since Thanksgiving. This snaggle-tooth-ness is one-part cute and one-part redneck. Sorry, it just is. Well, for Christmas, James got his two front teeth! Yippee. Top tooth number two is getting bigger day by day after having broken through on Christmas Eve. Nice!

In even bigger news, James is officially a toddler. Yes, folks, he's taken his first steps! He'd been standing unassisted for a week or so, cruising whilst holding furniture, and was "pivoting" and taking one hands-free step last weekend. (He's also been walking/running all over the place with the help of a car to push.) On Christmas he took a few steps a few times. He stepped longer/farther when holding a rubbermaid lid in each hand. Dan called them the magic lids. Funny. Yesterday he walked down the hall while holding a sock in each hand. SO EXCITING!!!

He's still crawling for his main transportation needs.

Mmmmmm.... cheese!

Just a quick post to share a recent (amusing) development. James likes cheese. Well, that's not new, but this is-- Whenever he sees me with a stick o' cheese, he says, "Mmmmm." He will not eat anything else when cheese is in sight. He'll point and say "Mmmm." After a few bites he claps his hands. "Mmmm."
It is pretty funny. And cute.

The Most Terrifying Moment of My Life

Well, we made it back from SC yesterday (Sun.) morning. We left my parents' house at 7:00 Saturday evening, after dinner & James's bath. He fell asleep before we even got out of their neighborhood. I nursed him in the backseat twice when we stopped for gas, and other than that he slept until 6:30 Sunday morning when we were about 45 minutes from home. Yea!

Unfortunately, we had a major catastrophe later in the morning. Dan was napping (he did most of the driving while James & I slept), and James & I had just come up from doing some laundry in the basement (he loves to "help"). I was getting his lunch of chicken out of the oven and heard what I thought was James knocking on the basement door. However, when I looked over, I saw the OPEN basement door and no James. I immediately began screaming hysterically, and continued to do so as I saw James at the bottom of the stairs!

Dan came running, and we called the doctor. Meanwhile, James seemed to be alright (thankfully)! He was conscious and had no visible major injuries.

We took him to the ER, and they said he's fine. He somehow came away with just some bruises on his head. He was his usual energetic, curious and peppy self for the nurses and doctor. No vomiting, passing out, bleeding in the ears, pupil problems, etc., so they just observed him for a while and decided against a CAT scan. He was diagnosed with a "minor head injury."

We went to the pediatrician today for a follow-up, and they said he's fine.

I, on the other hand, am still recovering-- I keep flashing back to seeing that basement door open! It was absolutely the most terrifying moment of my life. We are just SO VERY THANKFUL that James appears to have come through relatively unscathed.

This Year's Thankful List

It has been a great Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful for so many things:

• My amazing husband who is such a supportive and nurturing Dad
• My adorable, sweet Baby James
• My sisters and the fact that we're such good friends
• My family (including in-laws) and our great relationship
  
• The fact that James's runny nose is not accompanied by a fever
• Macaroni & cheese (the homemade kind with Grandmother's recipe that I made for today's dinner)
• The internet, which allows me to stay connected with the aforementioned sisters and other family members
• Running
• Naps
• Tenure
• The fact that we've weathered this economy, etc. well thus far
• Really good concealer
  
• My purple corduroy pants
• My group of mommies (and James's baby friends)
• Bananas
• Watching my grandfather and my son walking together with Granddaddy's walker
• NPR
• Our president-elect

Cutest Penguin Ever

So, as we're preparing to leave on a Thanksgiving road trip (which is what I should be doing instead of blogging; whatevs), I thought I'd better post our Halloween story & pictures.

I've called James "Lil' Bug" for much of his life. Thus, I thought I'd create a bug costume for him. Now, this was somewhat tricky because I didn't want him to look girly. Thus, no lady-bug and possibly no wings. My idea was to get a green (possibly stripey) outfit for him. I'd actually buy two outfits, cut off the arms of one, stuff them with polyfil and attach them to the outfit he'd wear. Then he'd have six "legs"-- his legs, his arms and the fake arms. I'd also make some antenae and put them on a hat. He'd look super cute as he crawled all over the place. Good plan, right? Well, two issues: 1) I couldn't find a green outfit (shocking, I think), and 2) the concern was raised that he might look like an alien, or at least not enough like a bug.

The next costume idea came from Dan-- Dress him as a monkey because he is one. Easy enough. Get a brown outfit. Put a tan belly on him. Perhaps a brown hat with monkey ears. He can carry a banana. Well, I couldn't find a suitable brown outfit! Everything had writing/graphics. I did find a zip-up hoody, but wasn't sure it would work.

Let me interrupt to acknowledge that there are plenty of VERY CUTE monkey (and likely bug) costumes available for purchase. However, I come from a family of homemade costume wearers/creators (partly because such cute store-bought costumes didn't exist in the 70s and 80s), so I felt compelled to make James's costume.

OK, meanwhile, hanging in James's closet is a penguin outfit from his Auntie Ali & Uncle P. He received it as a Christmas gift last year and would have disappeared inside it even though it is an infant design (read-- big sack). I figured it was likely too small, plus he'd get frustrated in the sack now that he's so mobile. . . Well, I took it out, and had him try it on. It fit, and HE LOOKED RIDICULOUSLY CUTE!!!!!

I was still concerned about the mobility factor, so I did make a homemade costume that he could wear under the sack. If he got too hot or too frustrated, I'd remove the sack, and he'd still be a penguin. (As it turned out, it was pretty warm for Hallween, so he didn't wear the sack much.) The homemade costume was a black unionjack suit (oddly easy to find compared to the green and brown!) with a white felt belly. I made a beak and eyes and sewed them to a black hat. Cuteness.

Oh! I did actually make yet another costume for him! A wind-up toy! I made a crank (cardboard covered with aluminum foil) and velcroed it to his back. It was pretty hilarious, but didn't stand up well, and he kept trying to look at it (think dog chasing his tail). Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it in photo form, but Auntie Peg has documentation!

Our Halloween festivities: Baby Isabella's Halloween party, Mommy's school parade (and visiting the fifth graders, aka her former students), Grandpa & Grandma's house, a party at the Whitakers'. Our trip to Daddy's work was cancelled because his building closed due to plumbing problems before we could get there. Sorry!!

Who Needs Toys?

Thought you'd love to know that James is currently playing with a big laundry basket. Pushing it all around the house. Crawling into it. Crawling out of it. Talking. Pushing. Having a ball. He was crying a few minutes ago because he'd flipped it over on top of himself somehow and was a trapped baby. It was slightly sad but mostly funny. As soon as I un-trapped him, he smiled and resumed pushing it around happily. So cute!

11 Months-- BIG times!

So, James turned 11 months old on Saturday. We're pretty sure that he's gone through a major growth spurt lately. He's noticeably larger (taller, heavier) than he was 2 weeks ago. (Perhaps this was lending to the latest sleep troubles...)



To celebrate his big day, we installed the new carseat. Now, this was preceeded with much research and stress. We knew we wanted a Britax as they are top-ranked for safety and ease of use and comfort; we just couldn't decide between the Roundabout or the slightly larger Marathon. We looked at lots of studies, and both were well-ranked. Our concern was whether James would get too tall for the Roundabout before getting too heavy. The Marathon (whose name obviously appealed to me) goes 15 pounds heavier (not really a concern of ours) and a couple of inches taller. Of course, the seat is substantially larger as well. After polling other Moms, visiting seats in stores, consulting Baby Bargains and Consumer Reports, we finally settled on the Roundabout. The great thing is that I was able to save 20% with a coupon and get it for under $200! Yippee! (We got the cow pattern--very hip.)







Well, after installing the seat, Dan crafted a slide from the cardboard box. James LOVES sliding from the ottoman across the living room now!







In another 11 month-old, growth-spurt celebration, James got new jammies. He was bursting out of most of his footie-jammies, and his fleecy sleepsacks were ridiculously small--the sleeves were like 3/4 length, and he couldn't extend his legs fully (yes, we've considered that this could have contributed to the sleep difficulties). We got him two new roomy sleepsacks and some great BabyGap jammies. The jammies are two-piece sets, so he looks like a toddler instead of a baby. Even Dan got a bit verclempt! I think they'll last longer though because his feet aren't contained.







So, now we have taken some of the bigger clothes out of the closet, washed them and introduced them to the wardrobe line-up. We'll be bagging up the footed jammies and other too-small clothes, and we need to put away the infant carseat and its accompanying snap-and-go stroller. Our baby is getting big now!

Shocking Development!

OK, so this photo has nothing to do with this post other than it goes with the title, but it is a funny face that James is making more and more often these days.

So, this afternoon, James was showing signs of tiredness at the end of lunch-- rubbing eyes, glazed expression, etc. I took him back to his room to get him ready for a nap. We did the usual routine: change diaper, read a book, nurse,... His eyes were droopy, but he kept fighting it. Meanwhile, my phone rang. After ignoring the phone and trying to get Baby Boy to sleep for a while, I finally just put him in the crib and went to turn off the beeping phone. He cried when I left. Then he was talking and playing, so I decided not to go back in just yet. I checked my email. After a little while, he whimpered a bit, then turned on his music (left from the mobile). A little bit later there was silence (well, other than the mobile music)-- he fell asleep!!!! On his own!!!!

Sleeplessness

So, we're pretty tired around here.

In October, I finally nailed down James's nap schedule, and was working on night sleeping. He'd take a nap at 9ish and 2ish every day, usually for an hour and a half each time. For a while, he was falling asleep at 8:45 every morning like clockwork! With the help of The No Cry Sleep Solution, we established a nightly routine and found ourselves happily getting Baby Boy in bed much easier and by 7:00 each night. He was still waking a few times, but I felt we were definitely making progress.

Then we were hit with a one, two punch:

One: The marathon. And all its accompaniments: Dan offering to tend to James in the night in an effort to get me more rest (major backfire), visitors from out of town, major schedule alterations (traveling around the city, etc.)....

Two: The time change. Because of the marathon, we didn't really try to pre-empt this because it actually worked out better for us if he woke up an hour early the morning of Nov. 2nd (so I could nurse before heading to the start, and he could eat a good breakfast before trekking to Brooklyn to cheer).

In the first days after the time change, he still napped twice a day, and slowly seemed to adjust his time from DST to Standard.

Not so much anymore. He's been fighting naps like crazy and waking up lots at night. I'm really hoping it is the elusive front teeth causing all of this. (His gums are all white and swollen.)

On Tuesday night, he woke several times then was up for the day at 3:30!!!! Dan rocked him for over an hour. I nursed him. He even went for a 30 minute stroller ride around the dark house. No luck. We finally gave up at 6:00 and got ourselves up.

Guess what. He's crying now. Loudly. After his second lame, 30-minute nap of the day. This is killing me.

Long Time, No Post

Sorry that it has been over a month since the last blog entry. Here's my lame excuse: the New York City Marathon. True, it was just last Sunday (Nov. 2nd), but I got injured in late September, so I spent all of October mending. I had PT three times a week, and was napping whenever James did in an effort to mend. So, with all of that, not much time for blogging. I did succeed in running the marathon, but more on that later.

James is doing WONDERFULLY. He is standing up all of the time now. He's still crawling (very fast) to get from place to place. He loves exploring: the cabinets, the bathroom (he pulled off all of the toilet paper on Saturday), the plants, the stereo (it cracks me up when he turns on the radio then crawls away in a hurry as though he's frightened himself), anything!



He's also a fan of the playground. He likes to ride the swings and go on the small slides. It is so fun. One day we did the playground twice, and he ended up falling asleep with his mouth full of fish at supper!

We did have a bit of a scare the week before the 'thon. That Tuesday evening, James got a fever after having had a runny nose all day. The fever lasted about 24 hours (with Tylenol every 4 hours), then it broke. Hooray! The runny nose stuck around a bit longer, but no RSV-like difficulties, so we're alright. Unfortunately, Daddy & Auntie Peg (who was in town for the 'thon) also got the cold, so that was no fun.

October was a busy month for parties as well. James attended THREE first birthday parties! Our friend Jolie in Brooklyn celebrated her day in Prospect Park. The next day, Marissa, one of our baby buddies, had her party complete with a magician! The following week, we went to baby pal Cora's house for a fun princess party. As if that wasn't enough, we attended TWO Halloween parties (plus the parade at Mommy's school)! Baby friend Isabella had all the babies over on Halloween, and the Whitakers hosted a bash the following day.



In these photos you can see James's homemade penguin costume. He also has a VERY cute, warm & cuddly penguin suit from his Auntie Ali & Uncle Preston-- photos will come.


James continues to enjoy lots of new foods and eats most items in bite-sized pieces rather than as mush. Lately he's enjoyed: avacado, pears, plums, applesauce, waffles, pancakes, bagles, bread, hummus, bananas in yogurt, "grown-up" oatmeal, beef, chicken noodle soup, tilapia, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots and cheese.

I hope to do much better blogging this month! Look forward to discussions of sleep progress (or lack thereof), car seat graduation, and "rotisserie baby".

Happy Healthy Heart

So yesterday was the big trip to the pediactric cardiologist. When we got there the nurse stuck leads all over James for an EKG. He hadn't had that done since he was in the hospital in late December. Back then he wasn't mobile (understatement!), so this time he had to sit on my lap. This nurse had great skills and a clever little bouncy bee thing hanging from the ceiling which she used to distract James until she got a good reading/printout. She also took his blood pressure on his arm and leg. Again the bouncing bees were excellent assistants.

Next came the doctor. After chatting with us to get the background scoop, he took a peek at the echo reports. He had read the August echo and stated that he noticed an enlarged portion of the heart. Scary! He then took us across the hall for another echocardiogram which he himself would administer to find out what exactly was going on.

After James laid back onto the pillow, the doctor asked us if he'd prefer Elmo or Barney. We looked at him confusedly. "In the VCR," he says. "Oh, he doesn't really watch TV," Dan replies. "Oh. Well, does he have a pacifier?" "He doesn't really use those either." It was pretty funny. James, meanwhile, squirmed a bit (probably annoyed that we had delayed things with this discussion), so we agreed to Elmo. Well, James was much more interested in watching the screen of the echocardiogram than the one with the loud, red monster. Nice job. He also stayed very calm and still. Way to go! The doctor even remarked that he was quite impressed with how sweet James was. :-)

Now for the real news: there is NOTHING WRONG with his heart. No hole. No leaks. No enlarged anything. It is just a bit noisy (thus the murmur). YIPPEEEE!!!!!
As Dan said, "We always knew he had a good heart. Now we know it is healthy."

Three-Quarters of a Year!

Well, James has been 9 months old for two weeks now, but he just had his check-up last Thursday. He is 27.5 inches tall (20-30%) and 18 lbs. 2 oz. (11%). Our doctor was slightly concerned about his weight. She attributed it to his active nature and distractability when nursing (which is what I attribute it to as well). Since he fights the bottle (from what I've been told), she said he could have pumped milk in a sippy cup when away from me. She also recommended he start dairy consumption (cheeses and yogurts) to get some fat ingested. He's had whole-milk yogurt for lunch every day since. I've also bought more avacados, since they are fatty and he likes them.

Otherwise, he did just fine. We have an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist next week. This is the doctor who has read his two echocardiograms. The check-up is just to be able to talk with him first hand regarding James's heart murmur. Again, our pediatrician was not worried about it at all, but this is just a cautionary measure (to make us all feel better).

No major shots this time. Just a half-dose of the flu shot (he'll get the other half in October). During this shot, James smiled at the nurse and watched her the entire time. No crying. Seriously! Both she and I were AMAZED! If I hadn't seen him cry after bonking his head before, I'd be worried that he couldn't feel pain or something.

Oh, the other thing we discussed was his sleep habits. I admitted that we either nurse or rock him to sleep, and she said we need to stop that. We can nurse or rock him to almost sleep, but then he needs to be put into his bed. I knew that; it is just easier said than done. I mean, back when he didn't roll, crawl or stand, it was no big deal: turn on the mobile and he'd fall asleep. Now he crawls around and stands up no matter how tired he is. We're working on it, and it is getting easier.

For those who are curious, James's latest culinary experiences: yogurt, flounder, lamb, chicken, cheese, bread, bagel, chicken. He still loves Cheerios and many different fruits and veggies.

Cinderfella

So you may recall how James was enamoured with the vacuum recently. Well, he's now moved on to the Swiffer. I decided to clean his room this morning-- changing the sheets, dusting the rails of the crib (and elsewhere), and cleaning the floor.


He started out by making sounds of enthusiasm as I Swiffered his floor. When I set the handle down for a moment to move the laundry hamper out of the way, James took over.











He actually grabbed the Swiffer and started pushing it all over the floor. It was great!








When I removed the swiffer cloth, he didn't want to stop cleaning!











I put on a second cloth, and he literally crawled all over the floor chasing the Swiffer as I cleaned. Too funny!






All that cleaning wore him out. He fell asleep in his highchair at lunch between spoonfuls of plums. However, when I put him in bed, he couldn't stop practicing his latest trick...

Game Time!

So this weekend was quite packed, and quite fun. On Saturday we took a road trip up to Colgate for the Colgate v. Furman football game. James looked stunning in his football uniform (Thanks, Nana!!!). As he tried to make his morning rounds at home, he had a bit of trouble negotiating the slippery fabric of the pants, but eventually he had it all figured out.

The drive was quite a long one, but pretty. As it turns out, Colgate is in the middle of nowhere in upstate New York. We saw many farms, mountains, trout fishers, cows and scenic vistas. We made one stop along the way for a diaper change and nursing. James was mostly just thrilled to be out of his carseat, and tried to drive the car (not really; we were parked).

We finally made it to Colgate, and were able to enjoy the end of the Furman Alumni Association's tailgate. Two nice women happily took James from us so that we could eat. We also got some great Furman swag: coozies, pompoms...

Then it was off to the game! Furman won 42-21-- Go Paladins! We had a really fun time together. After the game, we drove around campus-- beautiful stone buildings, but VERY HILLY-- then headed home. It was a long day, but much fun.

On Sunday, we went to Shea to cheer the Mets on against the Braves. It was super hot & humid, and the game was sold out (we had tickets already). Also, the Yankees were at home as well, so traffic was nightmarish. James did well-- the traffic delays bought us an extended nap, so he was better rested than he's been for his other two games. He ate lunch and drank water in the stands and befriended everyone in our section. We made it through seven innings before packing it in. . . Dan & I probably would have left at this point anyway because it was so hot and the parking was such a mess. When we left, the Mets were ahead by 2. We listened in the car as the Braves got 5 runs in the ninth. Oh well.

Snuggle Puppy

This is one of our favorite books to read with James, and something VERY CUTE happened as I did so last night at bedtime and again today before a nap....

James was sitting in my lap as I read/sang him the book. The last page has the same illustration you see on the front cover. Well, James leaned in and kissed the puppy!

AAAAGGGHHH! It was SO SWEET that I almost cried!

Here's to You, Ramsey!

Today was Ramsey Day. Really, it was yesterday, but due to TS Hanna, it was postponed to today. We happily traveled up the road to Daddy's hometown to celebrate its goodness.

Shortly upon our arrival at the festivities, a nice VFW gentleman gave James the flag you see in the photo. Of course it is pointy and dangerous. Of course James loved it. Of course we didn't take it away immediately after passing Mr. VFW. It didn't take long for James to begin gnawing on it (teething is in full effect).

Not long later, while we were examining the wares at one of the booths, a lady at the neighboring booth leaned over to say, "She's really upset," pointing at her co-volunteer. Ms. Co-volunteer sat in her wheelchair shaking her head at James. "He's going to give himself a tonselectomy." Thanks. I told them they were right, it was dangerous, his favorite toy is a wooden spoon, he's teething, we'll keep an eye on him, blah, blah. But I didn't take the flag away from him.

Yet. Eventually I did. And he cried.

Later, we found a picnic table in the shade. Dan & I sat across from each other while James napped in his stroller. When he awoke, we started getting him ready for lunch. I was sitting with James in my lap, and Dan was standing getting the bib and food ready. A family came and plopped themselves down on Dan's side of the table, taking up the entire bench but facing away from us. We thought it was a bit odd, but Dan just moved over to our side of the table, and we fed James.

After eating, James was banging on the table and babbling. Hearing his babbles Ms. Seat-stealer turns around and makes a sound of shock, reaching for his hand (yes, she actually grabbed James's hand!) telling us that he'd get a splinter. Due to the fact she'd annoyed us by sitting down in Dan's spot and touching our child, we both assured her James was fine and began stroking the table ourselves. The Family Seat-stealers soon got up and left.

So, my apologies, good citizens of Ramsey. We know that you had our son's best interest at heart. We did take away his impailing flag and move his hands off of the wooden table. We're sorry for being so defensive.

(Oh, and lady with the baby in the Bjorn, I really wanted to tell you to put her arms under the straps correctly, but I held my tongue.)

On the Move!

So, you know that James is big on rolling. He has gotten really fast with his rolling skills. I mean, sometimes I think he may have wizarding skills because he is so fast across the floor!


I also believe that I posted about his first crawl-- it was toward a golf ball (much to Dan's delight). Nana arrived that day and informed us that it wasn't really crawling because his belly wasn't up off the floor. Oh well.


Now, folks, he is really crawling. Belly up. He started last weekend. He'd crawl a few "paces" then go down on his belly and commence pulling himself with his ridiculously strong arms. But as each day goes by, he crawls more and creeps less. In fact, i haven't seen him creep at all today.


When he gets tired he rolls. Fast.




He also climbs a bit. For about a week, the vacuum had been in the middle of our bedroom floor. James would stare at it wistfully from the Pack & Play or crawl to it when he was on the floor. Yesterday we finally vacuumed the bedroom (and hit the rest if the house again), and James couldn't get enough of the vacuum-- he had to be in the same room as it, and was sad when I put it away.






Another interesting event occurred yesterday while I was snapping some photos of James playing with a (non-spoon) toy from Nana. Luckily I was able to get a picture of this as soon as it happened even though I was freaking out.


James stood up on his own (with assistance from ottoman)! Oh man... here we go!

Delicious!

In this photo, as you can see, James is sporting a lovely carrot mustache and goatee. It cracked me up. This was also his last store-bought baby food. I've been making it myself for a few weeks now. It is really pretty easy; I just buy fresh or frozen organic fruits and veggies, steam them, and puree them using our hand-held Braun mixer.

The first time I made any it was fresh NJ peaches. When I put the top on my final jar (I'm re-using all my store-bought containers), Dan said, "Don't you feel like a super yuppy mom now?" Yes, I do.

It is SO much cheaper to make it myself! Plus, I have plenty on hand. Right now there are several jars of peaches, plums, sweet potatoes, peas and green beans in the freezer. Other pros to homemade: it is prettier (the peas and beans are actually GREEN instead of olive colored), you can make whatever you want and however thick or thin you want it.

James has also enjoyed fresh avacado and banana. Thankfully his early distaste for Mommy's favorite wonder-fruit subsided, and we usually share a banana every morning. Lately he's been enjoying having about half a banana mashed into his morning oatmeal.

He also had a few pieces of zweiback toast. He seemed to enjoy it both times, but on subsequent offers, he wanted no part of it. In fact, he just tossed it aside.

This weekend, we gave him Cheerios instead. He liked them. Lots ended up in his high chair and bib pocket, but lots went into his mouth and belly as well.

As a baby who'd conquered finger foods, last night we gave him chicken! We'd broiled a breast with no seasoning (yum), and cut a portion of it into very small bits. He had a great time eating them, and ate quite a bit!

Our little man is growing up!

You'll Poke Your Eye Out!

So, Nana came up for a great visit last weekend. We were thrilled to have her here from Saturday through Tuesday evening. James showed her all of the tricks he's perfected since she was last here in late June: rolling, eating, splashing in the pool....

He also showed her his prized possession: Spoony.

(Daddy named it.) Now, Spoony is just a wooden spoon from the kitchen. In fact, Spoony is more than one particular wooden spoon (we have lots; I think you cannot have too many)-- just whichever one is handiest.

Well, Nana was sure that James was going to impale himself with the non-spoon end of Spoony. Hmm... hadn't really thought of that. I insisted James would be fine and continued to let him play with his beloved wooden spoon. He flings it. He wields it like a wand. He bangs the trashcan with it. He rubs it on the floor. He loves that wooden spoon.

After Nana left, her words stayed with me. What if she's right? What if James gave himself an internal organ injury or poked out an eye with Spoony? I could never forgive myself.

So now there is no Spoony in James's toy basket as there once was. Spoony still shows up at meals sometimes, especially if Daddy is feeding James (he likes to rub James's head with Spoony or perform a "Spoony puppet show" on the side of the high chair tray to get him to open his mouth).

Another Side to the Story

So, a few weeks ago I went off about how great breastfeeding is. Well, of course, sometimes it isn't. Like today.

Dan's cousin & his 10-year old son came up to visit from SC. After a ridiculous number of phone calls last night and today, it was decided that Dan & I would play tour guides in the city whilst Grandpa and Grandma would take care of James here at home. This meant that there needed to be bottles ready for him. There weren't, but I was pretty sure there would be enough pumped milk in the fridge, and there's back-up frozen.

So, off to the city. After several hours in Central Park and the Museum of Natural History, I had quite lovely bosoms, if you know what I mean....

Meanwhile, back at home, James was not loving the bottles. And Grandma took out some milk from the freezer just in case. She didn't use it, so now it may spoil...

Argh.

The End of an Era

One week ago today, James's mobile came down. A very sad day indeed. That morning James had grabbed the animals as they danced by. He's been doing this for a while. In fact, that is what prompted us to lower his mattress; it was in effort to keep them from his reach. Well, on this day I realized he was always reaching them now. When he grabs them, he pulls them toward him (and his mouth, undoubtedly), thus pulling the entire mobile as well. A lovely clicky noise happens as the mobile is prevented from turning. I decided that I didn't want him to break the mobile or damage the crib where it's attached (or hurt himself, of course), so I took off the mobile arm. The music player is still attached. I was holding James when I did this, and he was aghast. He watched me take it off and put it in the closet with a look of disbelief and awe.

When Daddy got home and saw it was gone, he was disappointed too (our baby is growing up!). He offered to lower the mattress again, to its lowest setting. I said, "no" because soon enough James would be able to sit up and reach the mobile anyway. While Dan did point out that this might be a good way to entice James to sit up, I maintained my stance (plus, I don't want to have to reach down lower to pick James up/ put him down).

In the last week, he's survived just fine. He still enjoys turning the music on and off (especially with his feet...funny), and seems to have moved on to other stuffed animals as his source of affection.

Three Cheers for Breastmilk (aka Mom on Soapbox)

OK, I know you know I'm a big fan of the breastmilk (you may recall the "too much information" blog post regarding pumping...). This post is not meant to offend any formula users; I realize that formula has its merits, and that many moms cannot breastfeed. Today, though, whilst running, I was thinking about how glad I am that I was able to breastfeed, and all the reasons why it's been good:

• Washing and drying bottles is VERY irritating. Especially when one is avoiding BPA leaching by not using the dishwasher.
• Dan reported that James would get very frustrated when waiting on Dan to get a bottle ready. So add preparing bottles is frustrating.
• Breastmilk is very healthy; as we were told, James's RSV may have been MUCH worse if he was formula fed.
• It is free, and let's be honest, in this economy, and with just one salary, free is darn good.
• It makes for easy portability. When I had to run errands, no worries-- the milk was there, in no danger of spoilage.

Now, all of this comes to mind because now that James is eating "solids" (and that is an appropriate use of quotation marks; babyfood is hardly solid) there is more to consider: timing, bibs, food, spoons, chair, etc. For instance, yesterday we had a very lovely baby playdate at 10:00. I threw a spoon & a new (and therefore not in need of cooling) container of pear puree in James's bag, just in case. Well, good thing I did, because we were still there at 12:30, and James was hungry.

So were his baby friends who also had lunches packed. As they're older than James, they've already moved on to yogurt, and thus had insulated cooler bags for their lunch. Man. Such planning ahead needed!

It is very exciting to see James growing up. And I'm glad that he's eating foods (today he had applesauce for the first time) and enjoying it. I'm just saying that I now truly appreciate just how easy and convenient breastfeeding is!

Oh- and one more thing about milk. I've heard an interesting argument from more than one mom: they use formula because they cannot bear to see breastmilk being "wasted" when mixed with cereal (because it gets on bib, face, etc. and/or goes uneaten). Ok, I get the fact that breastmilk is priceless, but folks, it's PRICELESS... as in FREE. I'd rather let that go to "waste" than pay big bucks for formula to go down the drain...

Again, I don't mean to offend anyone. I'm just glad things worked out like they did for me. That's all.

Dining Entertainment

So tonight's meal was pretty funny. During the first course, green beans, James was banging his spoon a lot. Oh, I should tell you that I've learned that it is good to give him his own spoon; he doesn't reach for the one I'm using to feed him with so much. A few times he blocked me with a sword-fighting move causing green bean puree to splatter off my spoon. Mildly amusing.

During the second course, oatmeal, James had dropped his spoon sword fighting routine. In fact, he'd dropped his eyelids. Yes, he was falling asleep between bites like the babies you see on TV. It was hilarious! I wasn't too surprised because he hadn't napped well this afternoon, so I knew he was tired. I'd wake him up and give him another spoonful, but finally gave up. Of course, by the time I'd taken off his bib, cleaned his face and hands, and gotten him out of the chair he was fully awake again....

Oh, and about those splattered green beans-- for some reason they're really sticky. I was washing the tray in the sink and decided to utilize its ability to go in the dishwasher feature. Well, I don't know what kind of ginormous dishwasher the people who designed that highchair have, but the tray top does NOT fit in ours. Oh well. Back to the sponge :-)

Mommy & James Time

James "helped" me mop today. Really, he rode along in the Bjorn as I mopped and told him all about its merits. Good times.

We also went to the pool. Without Daddy. It was fun. James made a friend. Four-year-old Peter. He could immitate James's babbles perfectly. It cracked me up!

Then I gave him a bath. He's getting better at sitting up in the tub. Not so much wrangling these days. Instead he splashes and plays with his duckies. Fun.

James's Pastimes

James likes music. He likes listening to music, but he really enjoys making his own music: on the keyboard, the guitar, or even "drumming."

James has lots of fun playing with his toys. He likes to hear the sounds his fish make as well as feel them against his gums.

It is so fun making Mommy and Daddy laugh with his new funny face:

But sometimes, like all of us, he just wants to curl up with a good book.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Today was James's first major league baseball game. We went to Shea to see the Mets play St. Louis. Dan was very excited and dressed James up in his Tigger baseball uniform and VERY CUTE hand-me-down baseball hat. James was so excited that he fell asleep on the way to Queens. He did find the escalator ride to our seats pretty interesting, however.

When we got to our seats, everyone was very adoring of our cutie. He was just taking it all in. The game started out pretty slow-- three innings of a pitchers' dual (Santana was pitching great and keeping his pitch count ridiculously low). Then the Mets started getting hits and the crowd started getting loud. James then started crying.

Fortunately, the Mets kept getting hits. Unfortunately, the excitement of the game kept getting to our little fan. We took turns taking him on a walk inside the stadium to try to get away from the noise. Dan found that every time he got him settled down and tried to return to our seats, the crowd would cheer again, and James would commence with the tears. We ended up leaving, but we made it through more than half of the game, listened to the rest on the way home and saw Santana pitch the ninth inning for the win on TV. GO METS!