Camping and Lemons

James went on his first camping adventure last weekend. We went with our friends Amy, Tony, and Lucas. It is an annual tradition of ours that has lasted over 10 years! A 6 month-old baby wasn't a good enough excuse to miss the trip (believe me...I tried!). It was a LOT of work but I'm glad we did it. James had been fussy the whole week prior and the weekend was no different. I spent most of the time holding him because he cried whenever I set him down. Thankfully we didn't have a lot of plans other than sitting around the fire so that allowed me plenty of time to cuddle my little whiner.

The hillbilly high chair (a booster seat on a campchair).

Getting ready to go on a walk with Daddy. We were really glad we brought this carrier because he seemed to be content if he was strapped to one of us.

He slept great in the pack 'n' play inside the tent.

The 2nd night was pretty chilly (in the lower 40s). In the morning I dressed James in this little fleece outfit. He liked it!

James and I accompanied Lindsey, Tyce, and Mom to Johns Hopkins earlier this week. Lindsey treated us all to the Cheesecake Factory on the way home! I gave James a little taste of a lemon and he loved it. One time when I wasn't looking he grabbed my hand and stuck the lemon in his mouth. I was amazed that he didn't even make a funny face when he first tried it.

Pumpkin Patch

I finally got around to uploading our pumpkin patch pictures from two weeks ago!

I LOVE fall and have dreamt about taking my little boy or girl on their first visit to the pumpkin patch for many many years. Our adventure was even more fun than I anticipated! James enjoyed every facet of our trip: riding on the hayride, picking out a pumpkin, and looking at the animals.

Here he is riding on the hayride with his Mommy.
"Let me taste this one and see if it meets my specifications."

What could be better than taking a walk on Daddy's shoulders on a beautiful fall day?

"Yum. This one tastes even better than the last one I tried!"

Rod did pretty good with this family self-portrait...he even got the pumpkin in there!

6-month Doctor's visit

James was 17.5 lbs and 28.75" long. This puts him in the 96th percentile for height and 37th percentile for weight. He got 4 shots during which he cried his little heart out. After I got him settled down and dressed again we walked out into the hallway. He smiled at most of the people out there but started screaming again as soon as he saw the nurse who had administered his shots...such a smart little cookie he is.

Pictures of my favorite little 6 month-old!

I guess 6 months was the magic age James needed to reach before sleeping through the night. All week he has gone to bed around 9 and gotten up around 6:30. His Mommy is really enjoying the uninterrupted sleep!

Here are some pictures from the past week. We will start with Mom's big 50th birthday bash last Saturday.

This is the cake Lindsey made. I wanted to get a cake with a sculpture of Mom in her convertible on top (yes, I've been watching too many shows like Ultimate Cakeoff, Ace of Cakes, and Food Network Challenge). It was going to cost a minimum of $200 to get it done by a bakery. My sister, being the creative genius that she is, offered to attempt to make my dream a cake-reality. I love the end result!


James' Great-Uncle Rob lives a couple of hours away. This was only the 2nd time that they got to see each other. At first James cried but then Rob held him facing out and he was happy as a clam!


Tyce, Grandma Jo, and James were having a grand time together!

I wanted a picture of the boys with their Great-Grandma Knotts.

This past Thursday Rod and I wanted to take our little brother Blake, our nephew Jeremy, and James to the park for a picnic. Here is a self-portrait of James and his Mama watching the boys play at the park.

Jeremy loves his little cousin James and was begging to hold him on the swing. They had fun playing together like big kids!

James also enjoyed the baby swing. He was yelling and smiling at all the kids who ran by.

After running around with the older boys for a while, Rod took a few minutes to toss James around. I snapped this picture and I love the way it turned out.

A friend of my Mom's noticed that her neighbor closed down her home daycare and put all her baby stuff out on the curb with the trash. She called Mom to see if she wanted it. It filled up Mom and Cait's car to the brim! This week we were finally able to sift through all the toys. James was thrilled to get some new things to chew on. He was getting bored with his old toys.

I took this picture of James and Grandma Jo playing with the drumset at church today. Isn't that little smile contagious?

Happy Half-Birthday to My Baby Boy!

James is 6 months old today. I think back to six months and 1 day ago and wonder how I ever survived without him! My life has been made so much richer by getting to know little James. Here are some things I want to remember about him at 6 months:

* He loves to move! People constantly comment to me about his movement. I think he is going to be one energetic little man just like his daddy. In fact, he wants to walk so badly that we cannot get him to sit on his own. He won't bend!

* James really enjoys anything that is new. He is already bored with all of his toys. As soon as he sees a new toy he gets super excited.

* He is eating all kinds of baby foods and even a few big people foods (like smashed up bananas or cantelope in the mesh feeder). The only thing he doesn't care for is peas, but he still eats them.

* At night he typically sleeps from 8-6:30 and gets up for a 15-minute bottle around 2.

* As I mentioned in my last entry, he now has two teeth. Of course, wtih the teeth comes LOTS of drool. His shirt is almost always soaked.

* He loves animals. The cats provide endless hours of entertainment for him. Unfortunately, they are learning to keep their distance because he now has enough control of his hands to be able to grab them when they walk by. When he does get a hold of them he immediately pulls them towards his mouth like a chewtoy. You can only imagine their displeasure!

* James already has us laughing several times a day. He comes up with the craziest faces. If I hand James over to Rod when he gets home, Rod usually gets lots of slobbery kisses and smiles. Then James looks over at me with this devilish little grin like he found someone that is SO much better than me!

* He is really tall which makes finding clothes that fit almost impossible. Shirts/onesies are ok but he is too tall and skinny to fit baby pants. He is currently in 6-9 month clothes but the pants are always falling down. I wonder if they make big and tall baby clothes.

* James is such a sweet and happy (as long as he has enough sleep) little boy. We love him so much and can't wait to see how his personality continues to develop into a wonderful little boy.

First tooth and other pictures from the last week.

I think I spent about 45 minutes on Sunday trying to get a picture of James' two new teeth. Believe it or not, this was the best shot I could get. Besides getting his first teeth last week, James also got his first cold over the weekend. That's why his little nose was runny in this picture.

James loves to read books with his daddy. His favorite book right now is called Baby's Sensations. He likes to chew on the butterfly's wings and listen to the bird squawk.

Eating a banana for the first time out of the little mesh feeder. He liked that a lot!

Swimming with Daddy at Great-Aunt Lori's house. He kicked and kicked like a little frog in the water.

Happy baby pictures!

James really enjoys eating REAL food now. He thinks he is hot stuff in his high chair.

He is a little too short for the high chair. The tray is right at his mouth level so he always slimes it with baby food.

He looked like such a big boy in his polo shirt and shorts.

How precious is my little man? His eyes looked so blue with that hat. Of course, it took a lot of goofy faces to get a smile out of him because he was quite annoyed with the hat.

This little lion is his favorite toy EVER. Whenever he is grumpy, I show him the lion and he immediately starts laughing and reaches out for it. He loves to suck on the poor lion's face.