Cookies and Milk

This is from last week too. James ALWAYS has to have his milk and cookies before bedtime, with Blankie at his side (or close by). He used to switch between cookies and ice cream, but lately he's been all about the cookies. He also watches "just one show", usually a Star Wars cartoon. He really loves his routine!

Its been a long time!

I don't know why I don't update this babysite often anymore. I guess we haven't been too busy, so well, no excuses here but I'm enjoying my time with James and that's good enough for me!

We've been staying home more often because of the heat, saving on gas and money, etc. Here is our normal schedule:

6:30/6:45 Wake up

7:15 Breakfast

7:30-9:00 Playtime

9:00 Snack

9:15-11:30 Playtime (or errands)

11:30 Lunch

11:45-12:00 Play or TV as Mama washes dishes

12:00 Brush Teeth

12:15-3:00 Naptime

3:15 Snack

3:30-5:00 Playtime

5:15 Dinner

5:45-7:30 Playtime

7:30 Brush teeth, bath

7:40 Bedtime

It seems like a lot but it flows pretty well. Though it seems like its a constant schedule of eating and diaper changes!

Some cute things James is doing now:

His new word is duck. He says "uck" when he sees a rubber duckie or even the goose prints on our wall. Hey, I'm just happy that he recognizes a duck like bird and we don't correct him that its a goose!

James understands so much! We are just amazed because all of a sudden it seems like he is following simple directions and answering questions. Like we can say, "James, do you want to go downstairs?" He will say "yeah" and walk over to the basement door. Same thing when we are downstairs and ask if he wants to upstairs, he walks over to the baby gate and waits to be picked up.

James also enjoys walking up and down the stairs. Most of the time he will crawl but he likes to hold my hand and very slowly climb his way up. It must be quite the workout for his little baby legs! And always he will stop to kiss R2D2 on the way up or down! (Please see the baby album for a picture of this!)

Some not so cute things James is doing:

Well, just one thing. He is refusing most of his usual foods. He's getting pickier and pickier. He is now refusing his chicken nuggets (really his only meat), his peas (his only veggie), waffles, bread, sometimes bananas. I'm still sneaking in protein in his mac n cheese, but I need to find a way to get some veggies in this boy!

Two Months Old Today!

James is 2 months old today! Time flies!

Its Saturday late morning. Jim and I have been doing things around the house and we're just now taking breaks. I'm updating this, Jim is probably playing online poker :)

We were going to go to Carole's (our local fave restaurant) for breakfast but James' schedule was kind of hard to work around this morning. He was up at 5am and it would have been hard to wait until 7am to go to breakfast because we would have had to feed him there. That's not a relaxing breakfast for US. So we'll go some other weekend.

I took some new pictures this morning of James and his/my teddy bear, Brownie, and in his monkey chair. I've been taking pictures with the two animals to gauge James' growth. He is bigger than Brownie now! You can find comparison pictures in Baby Albums "Week One", "One Month Old", and "Two months old".

Again, last night, I learned a thing or two from Daddy Jim. I was feeding James and Jim taught me how to get James to accept the bottle after burping/a pause. Sometimes James purses his lips and refuses, so Jim taught me to wiggle the bottle nipple sideways and slip it into his mouth. I love that Jim is so good with James :)

Weekend plans: We're waiting for our new TV to be delivered. Isn't Daddy wonderful to buy James a new TV for his birthday? :) We'll have to get those Baby Einstein videos really soon! Other than that, we're just doing stuff around the house and getting ready for a full work week.

Happy Birthday James!
Love, Your Mommy & Daddy

Late Start

Sorry for my late start this morning- I usually add a journal entry before noon! I took a nap this morning with James after a long night. James was fine- he slept and ate like usual but *I* was sleepless due to more pain. I'm weaning and not pumping at all now- it hurts like hell.

James is especially beautiful this morning. His skin is clearing up (he's had baby acne and dry skin) and he looks beautiful in blue. He really needs a bath though! I do too- a relaxing bubble bath would be nice :)

I don't think anything else is new. Sometimes it feels like we're in that movie Groundhog's Day where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over and over and over... Haha.

The homepage picture is our beautiful boy this morning! He was calm and alert so I took his picture.

I added a new video yesterday, More Pacifier Love.

Sunday morning

James makes this hilarious sound when he's desperately in love with his pacifier or frustrated, one of the two. We captured it on video this morning when Jim was playing with James on the floor. Its not as desperate as he usually sounds but he's making the definite "oy oy" sound we've come to love (and laugh at)!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We had a fairly peaceful night with James. He had his feedings at 8pm, 11:30pm, 3:30am, and then at 6am. He went a little longer between feedings than normal but I'm learning not to get used to it. He changes things up often to keep us on our toes, I think!

A new thing (Jim says) is James crying/yelling out in his sleep as if he is in pain or gassy. I think he's always done this but just not as loud as now. Its leading to a lot of false alarms, where we think he's waking up and we get out of bed to go to him, but then when we get to him he's fine and back to sleep! Again, he's trying to keep us on our toes!!

Tia Ana was here for a visit yesterday. She loves James :)

Plans for today: just the usual weekend stuff- Jim is going grocery shopping, and we'll both do stuff around the house.

Its the weekend!

I'm up a little earlier than I expected because James didn't take all of his bottle this morning and I expect he'll be up in the next few minutes, crying and wanting the rest of it. I also couldn't go back to sleep with the upcoming excitement of our first trip to the mall! We're leaving this morning to do some Christmas shopping.

Last night Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy came to visit. Joe gave James his bottle and watched my diaper demonstration. Next time he'll be able to do it :)

James has decided to go back to his 2 1/2 hour schedule. I knew I was speaking too soon when I was bragging about his maturity!

We have our Christmas plans set now. We're spending Christmas Eve with Jim's family, Christmas Day with mine. On Christmas Eve we're going over to Grandma Laura's (over the river and through the snow...!) I'm sure it will be a wonderful, memorable Christmas! James won't remember it but I'll be sure to document it with pictures and video (we have a new camcorder from Grandpa Frank & Grandma Julie). Yay!

Well, I'm going to take advantage of the quiet morning (James and Jim are sleeping) and do some things around the house.

Thanks for reading this!

Am I smiling now?

The picture on the homepage is from this morning. I think James is giving us real smiles now! Jim swears that his "first smile" was a couple of days ago- James was wide awake and looking up at Jim. I guess this makes sense since I always smile when I look at Jim too :)

Please see the guestbook entry from Daddy Jimmy. I was pleasantly suprised to see that Jim had written something and then I laughed when I read it. Jim did have an early morning today- waking up at 3am with James and then he was unable to get back to bed. Jim then took the 6am feeding and cared for James until I woke up at a lazy 8am. Super Dad!

With James' mature age of 1 month, we've had a change! He has put himself on a 3 hour schedule now. He has his bottle every 3 hours now, instead of the old 2 1/2 hour schedule. This means just a little bit more sleep for us at night :)

Oh, and a funny story that I forgot to share from my school visit. I was feeding James his bottle in the middle of a group of kids. One of my students, Tope (pronounced Toe-pay), tugged my arm and said, "Ms. Lisa, you must be distracted. You're feeding him with the bottle at the wrong angle. He'll get air bubbles." It was hilarious because it was a 12 year old telling me I was doing something wrong! But she was right. I looked down and saw that the bottle was horizontal and not at the right angle like she said. She told me that she works at her church's nursery with all the babies and is a "pro". In the same breath she told me that she would love to babysit.

Well, we don't have much on our schedule today. We'll just enjoy James today- as always! :)