Blogging from my phone!

This is a test. A goofy little boy with an orange piece of plastic over his face should be appearing on your screen. :)

Update: the blogwriter app says I need to login to picasa in order to upload photos but it doesn't give me the option to do that. Do you know if I need to pay for a picasa app? If anyone has a good blogging app, please let me know!

random updates

It's been a while since I blogged so I drew up this new post for all my faithful fans!

James' vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. The average person off the street could not decipher most of his words, but those of us who see him daily can recognize that he is trying to say lots of new things. As soon as we approach the driveway he starts saying, "Buuuuck" (the neighbor's dog or "swing swing" indicating that he wants to go adventuring in the back yard. He is in the "no" phase. When asked a question he always responds with "no" but you can tell how he really feels by whether he waves his hands or flails his arms. It's pretty comical to watch how passionate he gets about certain things. Other things he started saying recently are: "fish, shoes, glasses, bath". He calls the cats "dog" except Beasley whom he calls "Beebee".

He is all about independence when it comes to eating. We discovered that he really enjoys some fruits when he can take bites himself versus us giving him little pieces.

James' daddy turned the big 3-0 last week. James enjoyed all the celebrations!

I finally lost my "baby house"! That's the term my little cousin uses for the weight a person gains when carrying a baby. :) I gained a total of 50 lbs with James. The first 20 lbs came off in about 6 weeks. After that I tried to exercise and eat right, but the weight just stuck around. I started a new diet on March 22 and as of today I have lost 32 pounds! (This picture doesn't show off the weight loss as well as it could because of the way my shirt was hanging).

Baby's first stomach virus :(

Poor James was so pitiful last evening. He had a fever which made him want to do nothing but

lay on my (or Rod's) lap. He vomited all over himself, me, the chair, his clothes, his special blanket, the floor and his night stand as I was putting him to bed. It was such a mess to clean up but my wonderful husband came to the rescue (even though he was very tired and still hadn't eaten dinner at 9:00 at night). Thankfully James' fever was gone when he woke up but he was still pretty lethargic. He and I sat in the recliner together for almost 2 hours reading books, watching TV and looking at videos on my iPhone. The picture was taken this morning when he was watching Clifford. I don't like to see my baby sick but it makes me so grateful that he is a typically healthy child!

James at 13 months

Wow...it's been a long time since I have submitted a new post. Sorry to keep all my faithful fans waiting. :)

James is so mobile and busy these days that it is hard to leave him alone for the length of time it takes to write a blog entry. Rod has been away a lot due to work which means I am the only one responsible for making sure this little toddler doesn't tear our house to shreds! Anyway, I will try to write more often.

At 13 months James:

* is walking really well. He still can't get up without holding onto something, but he is pretty steady once he gets up.

* is becoming opinionated about everything. He whines, pulls on your clothes, hits things out of your hands, etc. to try to communicate his requests. We are all looking forward to the time when he can use words!

*is learning more words every day. Some of his new ones include: dog, nod (from a song) and bath.

* is able to respond occasionally when asked a question. For instance, if I say "are you hungry?" he will either ignore me (meaning no) or say "mmmmmm" (meaning yes). It is really neat watching him learn.

* has 3 favorite things: dogs, books and the outdoors. He LIVES to be outside where he runs around in the back yard, pets the neighbor dogs through the fence, swings and plays with bubbles.

* typically sleeps from 8PM-7AM. I am loving the full nights of sleep!

* spends at least 20 minutes/day watching videos of himself on my iPhone. His favorite videos are those that show him playing with Daddy, Grandma Jo or Tyce.

* is a wonderful little boy who is showered with love every day!

What I want to remember about James at 12 months...

* He can walk (when he wants to!). In most cases, he will start off walking then when he falls down he finishes out the journey by crawling. He can crawl much faster than he can walk.

* James absolutely loves being outside. He can be super tired and whiny inside and then turn into the happiest little guy as soon as you step outdoors.

* He can say quite a few words now. I'll see if I can remember all of them: mama, dada, byebye (buhbuh), baby, up, down, Beasley (Bee), bottle (baba), no no (nah nah), uh oh. Rod and I just went through his animal sounds tonight and these are the ones he knows without prompting: elephant, cow, sheep, bird, dog, cat, duck, snake (just learned this one today!), monkey, lion.

* When we start to sing "I have hands that clap clap clap" he claps his hands. If we sing "with James in the family" he says "hah" (his version of "happy happy home").

* One of his favorite activities is watching videos of himself on my iPhone. He probably spends at least 15-20 minutes every day watching his videos.

* He is still in love with books. The Pout Pout Fish remains at the top of his list. His attention span has extended and he will usually sit through about 4-5 books at one time. We usually save "Blub Blub" (as he calls The Pout Pout Fish) for last.

James makes us laugh constantly with his goofy faces and noises. He brings lots of joy (and entertainment) into our family.

Happy Birthday to my little sweetheart!

James turned 1 year old today. We are the luckiest parents in the world! This sweet little boy has brought us more joy than we could have ever imagined. :)

I love my silly little boy!

This week I noticed that James has started to take an interest in cars. Previously, we had thought he was going to be a tech geek like his parents, but now I see that he also has a mind for mechanics. :) He has taken to pushing cars all around the house. He crawls with one hand and two knees while the other hand is pushing the car out in front of him. Of course, he is not picky about what kind of car he uses. In fact, he has been seen pushing a remote control, book and cooking pot.

One of his favorite new games is sitting on my lap and then bending backwards so he can see the world upside down. He clearly says "up" and "down" to tell you which direction he wants to go!

He is really enjoying the warm weather lately. Every time we walk by the door he says "buh bye" and tries to grab the door. As soon as you walk outside he gets a huge smile on his face!

Right now he is very sleepy, so I must end this and put him down for a nap. I wish I could post a video of how he is telling me he is ready for a nap. He is rubbing his face as hard as he can on my face. One of us is going to get a black eye!