Easter

If you see our Easter pictures you'll see our Easter baskets. It probably looks like the one on the very left is for me, but it was really an adult easter basket for Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy, who hosted a very delicious Easter dinner.

James had an Elmo basket, full of little goodies from both Mama and Dada, but also from Grandma Rosie. Dada (Jim) had a basket with little Star Wars gifts. Mama received beautiful pink tulips from Dada.

The Easter egg hunt did not happen as I planned. James found the bag of plastic eggs before we could hide them and he dumped the entire bag on the floor. He did like playing with the eggs and the small toys hidden inside of them.

I really enjoyed my Spring Break with James. We had a lot of indoor fun, though I had hoped for nice weather to take walks and go to the park.

Please see our pictures of James and his Easter basket and then James wearing his new "Mr. Happy" tshirt. I saw the shirt and couldn't resist, since Sandra calls James "Mr. Happy Mellow Fellow". This is very true of James! He is certainly the most happy when he is around Mama and Dada, has spoons in his hands, or when he is eating his most favorite foods- peas, strawberries (new!), or bread. Oh, he is also happy when music is playing :)

End of Spring Break

Its our last weekday of spring break and I kind of regret not doing more, BUT it was very relaxing just hanging out at home with James for most days. We did get out today to meet my friend Jolene, to pick up girl scout cookies from her daughter (she is nine!!) and to have lunch. We met at Northtown so James had a chance to play at Bacon and Eggs again- he loves it!

I also hit the sale racks at Baby Gap :) James now has a dressy/cute shirt for Easter, a pair of athletic pants, and a new windbreaker in navy and white. I've been buying up a size in clothing, I hope they fit.

Also, this week I had a MNO (Mom's Night Out) with two friends- Anna and Erin. We thought we were going to a movie in Uptown but we screwed up and didn't get there early enough. We were perfectly happy with eating a good dinner, having a few drinks, and then browsing the stores in that area. Woot woot- I got home after 10pm!

Well, it was a busy week. James is sleeping so much better- for example, this morning he didn't get up until 6:45!!! For a few months now we haven't needed an alarm clock because he gets up before 6am... well, if this keeps up, we will need to set our alarm so we can get ready for our work day!

Another thing we worked on this week was to get rid of his bottles. Yay! It has worked. He hasn't had a bottle for almost three days now. The first bottle to go was the morning bottle. We started giving him a "snack" because typically he would have breakfast at Sandra's. So as soon as he wakes up, we offer a sippy of milk (he pretty much refuses this) and a piece of bread. He LOVES bread. At 7:30ish I've been giving him his usual breakfast- either oatmeal or cheerios and fruit. We did this for a few days and it worked well. So the last few nights we just haven't given James his almost-bedtime bottle. We've let him load up at dinner and then kept a sippy of water out constantly. He hasn't seemed to miss the bottles! He does occasionally say "Ba-ba" but now I just point to his sippy cup.

The video below is James watching Sesame Street. He doesn't need my prompts anymore to say 'Mo (Elmo). We were at the library earlier in the week, looking at the video aisle, and he saw Elmo on the video spines. He very loudly started saying "Mo! Mo!" It was cute :)

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Spring Break!

We figured this would happen and it did. James' language skills have exploded! He is saying "nana" for banana, "'Mo" for Elmo, "twooo" in response to counting (1, 2), "Go", Bah Bah for goodbye, "Baba" for the bottles we're trying to give up, he's been saying "Dada" for a while but it was in full force yesterday, and of course there is "No". The other remarkable thing is that he recognizes a picture of bananas and will say "Nana". The same with Elmo. Oh, and he baby signs "Bath" when he sees the sign in his book. Other signs (but not as consistent): more, cereal (cheerios), and eat.

James also blew kisses at his Dada this morning as Dada left for work. That was new. He copied us after just watching Jim do it for a few seconds.

We are also successfully brushing James' teeth now! I had a brainstorm of buying non-fluoride kids' toothpaste and using TWO brushes, one for each of his hands. We recline James, give him the brushes to get used to them, and then I'll use one of them and get in his mouth. He will let me scrub away for a few seconds and I think it tickles because he giggles. Hey, its better than screaming. I will try to scrub a few times within 2-3 minutes and I don't push it past that. Any little bit is better than the nothing at all we had before.

Another amazing thing is that James slept until 6:30am!! Oh, relief. He's been falling asleep much easier and without last week's crying for 10 minutes or more. Last night there was not a peep. We think a couple of things contributed to this long slumber: a very full stomach, a short nap on Monday, no night poop, a full day with Mama, and the sleep training is kicking in again. Well, here's hoping that 6ish becomes the new wake-up time.

Oh, speaking of poop. I never changed so many poop diapers. I'm keeping a poop count today because I seriously lost track yesterday. It seemed like it was every diaper change. No 'rea just normal.

Yesterday's fun: We had a very successful coloring session. In the past James would try to eat the crayons nonstop or he would try to walk away with the crayons (and we feared wall messes), but yesterday I very smartly put James in the highchair with his coloring book and crayons. Please see the video!

Weekend: We bought a bike seat and a bike helmet for James! The bike seat is called a "Wee Ride" and it attaches to the front of the bike frame, so James would be nestled between our arms. It looks very cool! He'll be able to feel the wind on his face and see so much more than our backs (if he was in a back seat). I'm looking forward to nice weather so we can try this out! Also, over the weekend, James saw Grandma Laura twice! She is a smart grandma and had tupperware and a ball for James to play with. I learned that James loves to kick. He may be a future soccer player :)

The second video is from when I forgot to lock the kitchen cabinet drawer of kitchen towels. James pulled out every towel and played.

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Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sleep issues

James had a rough time adjusting to the daylight savings time change. On Tuesday night I had to resort to CIO (crying it out) again because it took 90 long long minutes for James to fall asleep. After that long, I was worried that he was sick or something was wrong so I did take him out of the crib, gave him a bottle, and rocked him to sleep. Well, as soon as he hit the mattress he woke up and screamed. Fifteen minutes later he was asleep.

Well, until 2am. He screamed and screamed again. Jim ended up sleeping on the floor next to James to comfort him. It worked but it wasn't going to be a long term solution.

Changing his bedtime the next night really helped. BUT now he wakes up at 5am and screams. We call it a morning at that point. We don't know what else to do.

I am sick with some strange illness. I had to let Jim take over everything (feeding, playing, and putting James to bed) because my head was pounding and I was nauseous. I felt better this morning and I slept in, but I'm feeling not so good again. I'm determined to ignore this awful feeling in my stomach and do something fun today. And NEXT WEEK IS SPRING BREAK! Yay! Nine days with James.

Spring break plans: playdates?, storytime at the library, visiting Dada for lunch, going to the park, maybe some spring cleaning and baking :) Oh, and I'm going to completely get James off of his bottles. They are just habit at this point and not really needed. James is getting plenty of dairy and all of his vitamins through his real food :)

Jim should be back from the store soon and James will wake up from his morning nap soon too. I think we're headed to Babies R Us to find either a bike seat or a bike trailer for James. Getting ready for some exercise!

Oh! And I have my cell phone back. The student told the detective she "found" it. Whatever. It is reconnected again. Yay.

16 months plus a few days

Baby James is a little man. He amazes us every day! His favorite things to do are "sing", dance/move to music, and read books. (Please see today's video clips and last week's for examples of these things!) He still isn't talking much but I know his words will just explode one day. I'm a little sad that he doesn't say "Mama" much- but he knows Elmo from his doodlemat and books and says 'Mo. I'm sure this is to drive me crazy!

James continues to charm everyone he meets with his beautiful brown eyes and the longest lashes you've ever seen. We are very lucky to have a beautiful, happy baby.

I realized that I haven't sent an update to everyone since his first birthday. Please visit this babysite whenever you'd like, of course. I've slowed down with the journal entries and picture taking but to make Grandma Rosie happy, I try to add new pictures at least every week.

This month's shout-outs: Welcome to the world, Baby Lucy Q.! and Happy Birthday Esme B.! We can't wait to see both of you :)

The videos below:
1. "Read me a book?" in James-speak
2. James "dancing" to the beat of his own drum
3. Baby sign language- "Bath"

In unrelated James news, I have "lost" my cell phone. Actually, it seems as if it was stolen by a student. While I am waiting for my assistant principal to investigate and as I am working out the phone bill with many calls/text messages on my account, I am without my phone. It was a student who stole it because they were silly enough to call a number we could identify. Not too smart! I will email when I can be contacted again :)

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Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cuteness!

James and I had a great time tonight. He was very good while I baked cupcakes (student party tomorrow) and ate well for dinner. After dinner I captured the video below. Please ignore my singing. I did this for ya'll cuz James is the cutest when he "sings" along.

Note to self: Please don't name any other future children a name that will be ridiculed or laughed at. I have a student that is starting at my school by the name of Shaquille-Oneal. That is his whole FIRST name. All of the adults in the office chuckled, including me. I hope this kid goes by Shaq or Neal or something. I wonder how much grief he's gotten from others his whole life? How awful for a parent to do that to their child. Jim and I once joked that we would name a child Eiffel, but we were never serious! Eiffel Tauer. That would be mean.

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Books and more books

If you look at the picture closely, you will see every book that James owns on the floor. I sat with him before bedtime to read books. He tolerated a couple of the books well but then he would grab the book from my hand and slide it to the floor. I guess he doesn't like some of them! We went through his whole bin of books and he probably listened to about 10 of them. His favorites right now are the Leslie Patricelli books, Hola Jalapeno, the Baby Signs books we have, Mama Mama Papa Papa, and I Love my Daddy Because...

Sunday was a good family day too. If you read Saturday's journal entry, we went to the Science Museum. On Sunday we went shopping for deck furniture. We also went to Bacon & Eggs again to show Dada James' climbing and playing skills. James had a GREAT time! There were tons of kids running around wild, and we were a little afraid that James would get knocked down but he was fine. He did get knocked down once by a little girl that pursued him. James is quite the ladies' man. The little girl followed him around to hug him. She got a few hugs in before James tried to walk/run away. She accidently knocked him down and then she dropped to her knees to hug him. And then she kissed him!!

Speaking of kisses, James does a cute thing now when he wants a kiss. He will lean forward and give you his forehead. Jim and I both know that this means he wants a kiss. We are happy to comply :)

Also, at Bacon & Eggs an older boy tried to get James to "play" with him. He followed James and tried to tickle him (after he saw me tickle James once). The little boy kept reaching and tousling James' hair, saying "Tickle Tickle". James ignored him. James was more interested in watching the big kids and climbing.

After our shopping and play, we stopped by Uncle Joe's house for a quick visit. He was glad to see James and James loved exploring a new place.

We don't have any plans for the week. This weekend we want to go shopping for a bike trailer! Nice weather will hopefully happen soon and we can get outside with James! Oh, and just two weeks to get through and then this Mama has Spring Break!

Museum

Today we became members of the Science Museum! Yay! We will be returning in June for the Star Wars exhibit. :) We got a special discount because I'm an "educator". Nice.

Jim thought of going to the museum because of the Cartoon Network's exhibit on animation. We were really impressed with the interactive displays and experiments you can do. Please see our video for the videos we took at the Animation exhibit. We had a lot of fun! James was very impatient with the stroller and wanted to walk around wild. We let him and he loved the simplest things- the child sized chairs, the lights, the people. Someday he will love the idea of a science museum :)

It was nice to leave the house this weekend after a confined weekend at home last weekend due to James' fever and ear infection. Yay for a nice winter day :)

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Sick Baby- Day #3

Well, yesterday morning was very sad. Its very sad to hold a sick, miserable baby in your arms and know that you can't do anything more to help him. James was snotty, coughing, red-eyed, and very clingy. Naptime did not go well but at 11am, James fell asleep on my chest. I was very uncomfortable for 15 minutes but it was worth it to have James get a few minutes of sleep.

The Motrin seemed to wear off by noon and I noticed that James was very hot again. We took his temperature and it was 104! Jim called the doctor's office and they said to give Motrin religiously every 6 hours and keep up with the antibiotics. Beyond that, there wouldn't be much else they could do if we went to urgent care. James again fell asleep on top of me, and Jim was able to transfer him to the crib. He slept for about an hour.

Luckily James' temp lowered when we checked again. The rest of the day was highs and lows. James would cheer up momentarily and then break into tears and insist on being held. We put him to bed right at 7pm and he's been silent ever since. Healing is tough work and exhausting, I suppose.

James woke up at 4am. Yikes. I tried to hurry and get his Motrin and bottle ready, figuring he didn't eat much or drink his milk last night and he was hungry. Wow, was I right. He gulped his bottle and then was wide awake. Luckily, I put him down in his crib like we normally do and he fell asleep within a few minutes. He slept until 7am.

It was my turn to sleep in so I woke up at around 9am and James was looking completely normal! He was playing, smiling, and Jim reported that he ate well and took his medicine.

A temp check just now says that he is normal! He is happily playing with a bouncy ball that his Dada bought for him at the grocery store and trying to push buttons the TV. I'd say that's back to normal!

We're so glad to have our happy, wonderful James back.

Sick Baby- Day #2

James cried in his sleep off and on since 4:30am. I would listen and he would stop within a minute. At 6am it seemed like he was really awake so I got up to get him. He was still sleeping. He felt VERY warm so I woke him up to get him changed, give him medicine, and take his temp. It was 102.5, a temp but probably normal considering he's sick and has his ear infection.

Our sick baby spent a lot of time on my lap this morning, watching TV. We've drastically cut back on his TV, but I'm spoiling him and keeping him happy. He had an okay bottle and a small amount of oatmeal, so I'm happy about that. He's been very crabby, hot, snotty, and clingy.

I did get him to smile a few times, so there is a happy boy in there somewhere!

Right now I can hear him stirring. He's had a hard time napping. Off and on crying, sniffling, coughing. I'm going to get him soon to cuddle and just get through the day.

Poor Baby James!

Uh Oh!

James' eye is red and puffy again. No waiting this time, I immediately made a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. We see a different doctor at 4pm.

Another Uh Oh is that Sandra just called me unexpectedly. This scared me! She was just calling to me that one of the little girls went home sick today with a temp of 103, and one other little girl hasn't been to daycare for two days because she is sick too. Let's hope that something is not going around!

She said James is fine- acting normally and no temp (its 100.3 but that's a high normal). She's keeping an eye on his temp though. I think she called too just so I would have all this information for the doctor this afternoon. When I pick up James today I'll probably fly in and out of Sandra's house, so I'm glad she did call.

I do kind of think that James might have a reaction to tomatoes. We had spaghetti yesterday and I kind of was waiting to see if he would have bad diarrhea again. I'm not positive that there is a connection, but its funny that his eye acted up again. Who knows if food allergies work like that anyway.

We had a great family night last night. We were all sitting on the floor while James played with his newest Baby Einstein book (it makes sounds). He kept pressing the music buttons over and over, and each time Jim and I would "dance" to the music. James would imitate us and laugh. We just look at him and think he's the cutest

5pm update: The doctor was very nice, we may need to switch to her! Anyway, James' temp went up to 101.7 or so, his ears needed to be cleared out of earwax, and when that was done she found an ear infection! So we are back on antibiotics. The red, swollen eye is unexplainable. It should clear up soon. Our weekend will probably be at home, away from others. James has been exposed to strep too- we found out that the second little girl went to the doctor and had strep. Well, James will no doubt be healthy by Monday.

President's Day

A day off after a busy weekend with Grandma Rosie and Tia Ana & Tio Rich.

Today we (James and Mama) headed to Northtown Mall to run an errand and then to give James a chance to play at the children's area called "Bacon & Eggs". He LOVED being around the other kids, sitting shyly at times on the side, but then other times running up to people, throwing up his hand, smiling, and then running away. Too cute! He was a busy boy running around and climbing on the waffles, the bacon, and the eggs. He wiped himself out because we played a bit more at home and then he took his normal nap at 2pm until 4pm. I woke him up at 4! He must have been exhausted.

Fun day :) Back to the grind tomorrow.

Mexican Baby

Today's Sesame Street was Mexican themed. Rosita (a character) missed Mexico so her Sesame Street pals recreated a Mexican fiesta for her. James watched the sing-along and here is what happened. Please see the video below and turn up your volume to hear the music :)

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Too cold!

It is too cold for us to go anywhere fun today. We have spent a quiet day at home, except for when Dada went to get groceries. For those not in Minnesota, it is a cold -12 degrees with a wind chill of -35!

We went to Rosedale Mall yesterday to buy James new big boy shoes, and because I had an errand there, and then to have lunch at Big Bowl. Yum. James ended up getting size 6 toddler shoes- they are a cute black, blue, and grey tennis shoe. We shopped at Payless for his shoes, even though Stride Rite was right across. We agreed that for this stage and type of shoe, James could get by with a $20 pair of shoes rather than a $45 pair. I think for the summer we will definitely get Stride Rite sandals, for the most comfortable fit.

Dada went to get the car and we met him at the front entrance. We were nearly blown away by an artic wind and spray of snowdrifts. James was very stunned, and probably cold, but did not cry. Jim said he thought James was going to be blown away! James has done very, very well with cold weather- he actually smiles when I take him outside. We're only ever in the cold for brief periods, like from the car to a house, but he does not mind the cold at all. We make a game of it and blow cold puffs at each other.

Speaking of games, one of James' favorite games right now is to bring books to us. He will follow us around the kitchen or bring a book to us when we are sitting and rock back and forth on his feet until we read it to him. We then need to read the book at least twice before he is happy. His favorite books are still the Leslie Patricelli books, with the baby character. He can't get enough of those! He also really likes his interactive books with sounds. This week I bought a new book at Target with Baby Einstein sounds.

Food has been challenging. We are in a rut. His old favorites aren't favorites anymore. Give James a Ritz cracker and he is perfectly happy!

James is having smaller and smaller milk bottles. He prefers to carry around his water sippy cup, but doesn't take milk from it well. We're continuing with the bottles, especially in the morning and at bedtime, for who knows how long. I wonder if our doctor will yell at us? We didn't end up seeing him last week, our appointment was rescheduled for this upcoming Wednesday.

Well, James is up early from his nap. He is crying :( I think he might have a new tooth coming in.

This week: Doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and Grandma Rosie is coming this weekend! We still need to finalize some plans with Grandma, but we think she's coming. James will be so happy to get some Grandma time!

SuperBowl

James is a football fan. Well, he likes to throw things- does that count?

Jim (Dada) had his friends over for the big game and James was in a great mood. One person even asked, is he always this happy and smiling? Our answer, yes- about 80% of the time :) We are very lucky!

There was one other child at our house and it was interesting to watch James interact with her. She is almost four and was very interested in James' toys. James would watch her play and try to touch the same book or toy, but she paid little attention to him. I wondered if he would get possessive of his toys, or be upset if she didn't play "with" him. But it was all good!

James and I had a day alone on Saturday because Jim had a pool tournament. It was a nice day. We fingerpainted, read lots of books, and practiced with James' puzzles.

Another busy week for this Mama. I have lots of work stuff on my mind (ambitious projects) and then on Thursday James has his 15 month wellness appointment with Dr. Nelson. I hope James is not off the charts for weight because of his big belly!!