Elephant Noises

James trying on the AT&T service man's work boots (we had a line knocked out when they installed U-verse -- all good now)

Ready for some Bears football in the afternoon and Colts at night for the Manning Bowl 2010.

Bears Butt

James has added an elephant to his repertoire of animal imitations :-)

Weekly re-cap ::

• James actually got "all" circled on his lunch sheet at school (never happens, usually "some" is circled) -- guess he LOVES meatballs
• He has been practicing "up" and "down" and knows they go together
• Slept for +12 hours both Friday and Saturday night

Giddy Up! Dance Move

Hanging out with Daddy on the couch
Freaked out when I tried to take the binkie, but was happy as a clam with it

Looking for bargains
And the best for last....featuring James' newest dance move -- to be named, suggestions?

Room Re-dec

Abby, Bella and James learning how to picket for better legislation for teachers -- start 'em early
The picture below of James as a lion was featured in the school's weekly newsletter -- very exciting stuff!

Re-decorating the front bedroom was a major summer project of mine (and now fall project). I had to strip all the ugly flowered wallpaper, scrape and wipe and sand and wipe and Spackle and wipe down the walls.

2 layers of primer; 2 layers of blue paint on the storage shelves and lighting

2 layers of puppy paws brown on the walls

Just have to touch up the ceiling (I'm a horrible free-hander for cutting in), paint the trim and window frames and door and the quarter-round and shelf doors...then it's time to decorate! I have many ideas floating in my head about what to do in here, can't wait to see how it turns out :-)

We have a 1 1/2 year old!!!!

How in the world did this happen so quickly?!?!?! How is James already one and a half years old?!?!?! I still have pain from my c-section, surely this isn't possible that he's already this old?!?!?
Everything goes into the mouth -- gotta watch this kid like a hawk!

James had his 18-month doctor appointment :: back on the charts, WOO HOO! Go James! Well, go James at drinking your Kid's Essentials everyday -- those guaranteed 240 calories are definitely working! He was up to 22.2 pounds (3rd percentile; from off the charts at 19.2lbs at 15-months) and 30 inches tall (9th percentile) with a 47.2cm head circumference (lots of brains = big head, right, putting him in the 50th percentile there). Poor kid got 3 shots, including his flu shot, so hopefully that stays out of our house this year! He passed with flying colors on all the physical developmental stuff (+3 word, check!; autism questionnaire, check!; drinks from sippy, check! imitating mom and dad, check!) and is catching up on the teeth (9 total now -- popped out a molar last week)! Overall, he's lookin' darn good if we must say so ourselves :-) Very proud of all our 18-month old has accomplished so far and can't wait to see what he has in store for us next! We love you, Bug!!!!

We Meet Ms. Ainsley!

James was very excited to meet a "baaaby" -- although it doesn't look like it from the picture, he did a fantastic job using "tull" (or "gentle" to us) touches around Ainsley and has been practicing on the babies at school...only bad part, he usually goes for the eyes, whoops!
Proud Aunt Cassie with Ainsley Elizabeth -- who's workin' the diva outfit at 4 days old :-)

Had to post this picture because of Ainsley's facial expression -- if you remember, the "O" face was one of ours and Kristen's favorites of James' when he was this age

Beautiful little girl!

Madilynn posing with Uncle Jim -- she's in baby heaven with both Ainsley and James around

I didn't think Uncle Jim was going to give Ainsley up :-)

How a daddy looks when he doesn't get much sleep the night before because of a baby girl who has her nights and days mixed up...hopefully that changes soon!

Aunt Dani being silly with Ainsley...she wanted to stretch out after Uncle Jim made her hot (he's a human heater) and I changed her diaper....if you look closely, you can see another similarity of hers and James :: they both have the kiss spot swirl at the top of their head :-)

Aunt Dani trying to imitate Ms. Ainsley -- she's much more cute while yawning than I :-)

Welcome, Ainsley Elizabeth!!!

OUR NIECE IS FINALLY HERE!!!!! Ainsley Elizabeth joined us via c-section on September 7, 2010 at 9:24pm. She weighed in at 6lb 9.5oz and was 19 inches long. She has a full head of dark, coal black hair (like her mama) and blue/grey eyes (from her Daddy) and long long fingers.
The first picture of the new-look Motes family together (big sister Madilynn had school and couldn't get there until later in the week)

GG and her new granddaughter (LOVE the hats with the bows...so cute)! Pops and GG checking out Ms. Ainsley

Great Grammy got to meet Ainsley on her birthday too -- good thing we talked her into moving to Indy!

Labor Day Weekend

Saturday of Labor Day weekend, Jim and I had the pleasure of helping Anne and Jaime celebrate their marriage. James got to hang out with Laura S. and Uncle Ed -- they did lots of playing and waving "good night" to all his animals. Above :: Anne, the bride, and her sister (and our dear, pregnant friend), Lynn, cutting up the dance floor (I didn't get any good pics of the bride and groom :-( sorry)

The favors from the wedding were hand painted pieces from Jaime's village in Mexico -- one of them was this beautiful bell, which was probably the first time James saw a bell -- it was a big hit, he loved the noise it made and was upset with me when I took it away from him to make sure he didn't break it.

On Sunday we went and played Frisbee Golf for the first time. James was our awesome caddy until we decided it probably wasn't the best idea to give him Frisbee's that had potentially touched poison ivy (our discs had a magnet for the trees where it was growing, but we all managed to stay poison ivy-free, probably because of the paranoid scrubbing that ensued when we got home). It was a fun way to spend the morning in the beautiful weather and James took a fantastic nap!

Above :: this tree had fallen down in the forest (there's gotta be a joke here somewhere, don't know if anyone heard it or not) and what you are looking at it the trunk of the tree -- it was HUGE! It looks like a bear's claw to me :-)

Below :: Our caddy cheesing it up

Suzi and Preston came out from the city on Sunday night :-) It was so fun to see them, it had been waaaaayyyyy too long (I mean, seriously, over a year and they're only like 35 minutes away). We had some yummy cheddar wurst and delicious appetizers...we were going to do S'mores but it was raining, so that went out the window and we enjoyed yummy canoli's instead.

James had a great time playing with Suzi...he really loved her phone :-)

I FINALLY got some video of James as a giraffe :-) LOVE IT -- he doesn't have his "tail" going here, but this is how he shows us how a giraffe munches on the leaves....he gets more and more cute every day.

Lil' Lion Man

One of the teachers painted all the children as different parts of a circus on this day -- James was a lion (how appropriate as he loves to "roaaar").

:: Giving Easton a hug (I just can't get enough pictures of them hugging)
:: Practicing downward dog and getting ready for a somersault

LET'S GO ILLINI!!!! James was all decked out for the start of the college football season!

Shortest Giraffe Ever

They have been talking about animals a lot lately at school. James has recently decided he really loves giraffes (or "gigi"s as he calls them) and even treated Jim and I to an unexpected impersonation of one (we didn't even know he could 'pretend' yet) -- it involved walking with his hands behind his back (as a tail) and his head up high and "munching" on the leaves way up high in the sky (in the video). It is currently Jim and my favorite thing to ask him to do (well, other than to give us kisses, because it's always fantastic to get big, sloppy kisses from our dear little boy)! They also practice yoga at school -- I much prefer him doing downward dog on the floor like this versus on the couch ;-)

Blinking and Noises

James loves to try and blink his eyes. He has blinking down pat and thinks winking and eyebrow raising is hilarious :-)

A dog says "oof" and a lion says "rooooarrr" -- can't wait for him to be a lion at Halloween!

Week of 8.22.10

This week marked the end of summer for me as I had to go back to school :-( I am happy to be back but could really do without the +70 miles of driving every day -- that could be some QT with my Bug! He was going to school full time since the beginning of August, so the transition was super easy for James (and whenever Jim asks him "James, you want to go to school" he very excitedly says "JoJo, JoJo, JoJo" -- which is also becoming what he calls everything that's not Dada or Gigi, for example :: all animals but a dog or giraffe are now "JoJos" because she teaches him about them).
Above :: a new favorite past time -- taking all the towels and oven mitts out of the bottom drawer -- at least he usually helps put some of them away when he is done :-)
Below :: helping Mommy mix up some pancake batter -- YUMMY!


Other things this week ::

• He knows a lion says "rooooaaar"
• Tooth #8 popped through on Monday -- of course, waking him up in the middle of the night when Mommy had to be up for the first time at 5am, poor Bug
• He keeps asking his teachers for the "row row" to be down in the classroom -- he loves to rock in the wooden boat
• James has been very much the Love Bug lately -- getting hugs and kisses from his girlfriends at school before he leaves (practically making out with P -- so funny, but I had to play Mom and break it up)
• He also knows a monkey says "ahh ahh" but can't make the "ooh ooh" part to go with it

Week of 8.16.10

You can get a good look at the hair cut I gave James (my 1st attempt at cutting hair) -- we had to do some trimming up in the bath tub, but it was just as good as his first cut that we paid for! He took his first bath in the big bath w/o the toddler tub -- he is still hesitant about it but getting used to having all that space to move around and play with toys :-) Jamie S. had Thursday off and her, my neighbor Rachel and I went out to the Huntley Outlet mall to spend money before school started up again -- only bought James fall clothes and socks, but it was more about the time to catch up with the girls.
Above :: James was super excited to see Jamie and he showed her how to play with all of his different toys on the porch (it was super hot that day, so inside with the A/C was necessary).
Below :: James loves to take my keys at school and tell me "on on on" when we get to the car -- below, he is starting his coupe :-)

James loves to come in the office with me and take books off my shelf to read -- today it was the "Everything Exercise" book, the other day it was "Boxing for Women." He also read "Color for your Home," "Baby Signing for Dummies" and "Heart Health" -- he's well-rounded.

Below :: what happens when your child has adapted the sign for "please" to be patting both hands on the chest and he wanted "more paint please" at school for their project -- good thing this stuff comes out easily (and he's polite, ha)!