Pulling Himself Up!

Logan has found all new meaning to "trouble" in the past month while learning to crawl (and even modified crawl as he's developed a different style crawl for the hardwood/tiled floors).  He has been shut out of 3 new rooms today because of his curiosity :) Yesterday he got himself up into a bear crawl position (there's some back-to-school PE jargon for ya) and today I caught him pulling himself up to standing at the fireplace! He even transferred his hands from an assistive object to me to help him stand and shuffle his feet.  What else can he squeeze in and accomplish before his 1st Birthday?!?

Tooth #5

Lowgs cut his 5th tooth overnight - bottom right, 2nd one out. The dr had said he was cutting at least 4 of them (maybe 6) a week ago.  I told Jim this morning that I bet Logan cut a tooth because he was fussing a lot about 5:30am, which is really early for him to wake up. He went back to sleep until 8:40 and I found a happy, hiccuping baby playing with his binkie with a new tooth poking through :-) He started playing peek-a-boo with his burp rag while I was changing him and he turned it into a teething rag - such a silly boy.

What a Difference 6 Months Makes!

I was determined to get a picture of Ben (James' friend Katie's little brother) and Logan in cute matching outfits while they were still "little" (doesn't really apply to B.Dub anymore as he's rocking the top end of the growth charts)...needed some cute pics to bust out at high school graduation :-) It's really nice to have kids that are so close in age to compare war stories with...confirms that you aren't the only ones going through the tough times (non-sleeping nights, teething, 2-year old independence, etc.) and you can enjoy the fun things with them too!

Ben (9 months) and Logan (almost 3 months) Logan sitting in the Bumbo for the first time -- we'll have to bring our Bebe pod chair up and let him practice -- still a little bobble head-ish but getting stronger and more control over it every day!

Logan :: 11 weeks

Look at those chubby, totally kissable cheek-os :-) Don't you just want to eat him up? Logi is gearing up for Thanksgiving and wishes he could feast on real food; however, it's milk only for him this year, sorry Bear! He thought it was hilarious when I asked him if he was my "little pilgrim" -- got some good grins (but always seem to miss them on camera).
Side updates :: Logan is getting much more head control (although I still have a sore occipital bone from the head banging); he has discovered his hands, but often forgets they are there; and, all three of our favorite, he is smiling and "talking" a ton lately!!! We've had some great talks in Gerber, involving lots of different "goo"s, "ga"s and "ah goo"s...love this stage of speech development.

Pull Ups, Here JamesE Comes

James had a great day of sprinting to the bathroom and sitting forever when he had to go on Friday at school, so his teachers said they'd be "fully on board" with trying pull ups. James is totally stoked about them, calling them "underwear" and correcting me every time I call them diapers. We tried on Sunday and he did great -- recognized his body signs 3 times and had successful "sous sous," as he calls it (an Indian dialect for pee-pee that he picked up saying from some friends at school). He was so proud of the stickers he got to put up on the poster Aunt Jen and Uncle Dominic got him for potty training....the poster is almost ripped to shreds from him taking it on and off the fridge and dishwasher (which we just figured out was magnetic) and carrying it around :-)
I haven't picked him up from school yet, but we'll see how it went! Hopefully this is the beginning of a quick training session since he's making the decision to start now and he has some uber-cool Cars underwear waiting for him when he's ready (please? fingers crossed extra hard). Now just have to get him to not be terrified to poop in the potty.....even a new remote control race car incentive isn't helping with that one.

Big Boy Bed!!!

8:15am :: "I got out, Mommy! James did it!" Such a proud lil' man, climbing out of his crib all by himself -- our monkey man (appropriate PJs that have a monkey on them) didn't even make a noise as he hoisted his leg up over the railing, pulled himself up, rotated his hands and slid down.
James' new found freedom meant we were trying out the big boy room and bed! He wasn't such a fan at first, needed to get used to it...below is how he napped after 40 minutes of straight screaming...passed out on the floor.

It was a loooooong week of transition with Mommy having to get up every hour to go give him a kiss at the gate to let him know we were still there. Thank you, video monitor though!!! Hooked that puppy up and have used it as a way to keep him on his bed at night because he really doesn't want his door shut or the gate up. He's waking up a bit earlier then he did in his crib, but not needing Mommy to come say hi in the middle of the night every night anymore (we've gotten about 5 good nights in a row, which I'll gladly take)! We are going to decorate the storage wall with some cool trucks and car decals (totally up his alley), so he's really excited! Also a good motivator :: Big Bird and Cookie Monster stamps in the morning if he stays in his bed all night long and gets ready nicely in the morning :-D Cute side story :: Mr. Helper James has to put away the stampers, and this morning he gave them kisses and said "Bye Bye Big Bird" and "Bye Bye Cookie" before putting them up and leaving for school...awwww, such a love bug! He loves to get smiley faces on his reward chart, too, hope this motivation eventually kicks in at potty training time!

Singing Happy Birthday

Swimming with Daddy
I caught video of him singing "Happy Birthday" to himself :-)

Celebrating Jim and John's Bdays

We visited Kampai Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate Jim and John's Birthdays. James loved (not so much love from Dad or Uncle John) when the men came to sing Happy Birthday to them!
James mastered using chop sticks within 30 seconds of getting the helpers -- such a fine and gross motor genius, haha! (I mean, he's been gallopping for over a year now and I had kids in Kindergarten PE who couldn't do that)

Big Week of May 16

The week of May 16th was a big one! On Monday, James went pee on the potty at school all by himself :-) He enjoyed Gym Stars on Wednesday :-) On Thursday, in the middle of bath time (which has become very eventful and unpleasant for James recently out of the blue), James told Daddy "I go potty" and he sat and...went potty on the toilet :-) On Friday, he picked out the Monsters, Inc "DVDV" to watch (1st movie he's sat and watched through) and WENT TO BED WITHOUT THE BINKIE!!!! :-) I told him his binkie went in the garbage truck with his friend Mikey's, he was pretty distraught, but has been doing well....a month later he has FINALLY stopped asking for it when he gets overly tired/cranky :-) This kid has a steel trap for a memory, I tell ya!
Above :: our neighborhood fox was ticked after a huge storm that morning and was cleaning herself off in the neighbor's back yard
Below :: James "insisted" that JoJo "make foot pretty" like hers -- his first "ink" tattoo (we've randomly put temporary tattoos on his booty before to make his teacher's laugh, hehe

James loves to help put away the dishes -- you gotta be quick to keep up with him though! One of his best chores along with "clean up" (which he has a song for)

James loved to watch the men pull out the ugly bushes from between the columns....prepping for (eventually) the new front porch that we want to add on (update :: just got the call today, permit has been approved, I rock and should be a contractor, I tell ya, first try). This whole project got delayed because the sewer pipe broke at the foundation and we had a LOT of sewer water in the basement (a separate post)...ended up being a good thing we dragged our feet a bit until summer on this because the sewer line comes out the front of the house and they would have needed to cut up our brand new concrete to get to it! Now we have a nice, long, gravel-supported sewer pipe with clean out valve outside to hopefully avoid this again!

Had them remove a bush-on-steroids from the corner (couldn't keep up with it) and move the rocks from up front to back here -- I think I'd do well with "gardening" in the southwest, as I LOVE this -- the less gardening, the better!

We survived the rapture and went to dinner at the Grand Victoria Casino Buffet with Gma Chele and Uncle John....thanks for getting stuck in an elevator there and taking us with your passes, Gma! Yummy :-)

Above :: James got my camera, not too bad!

Below :: TROUBLE -- but SO DARN CUTE!!!

Valentine's Day

!
James celebrated Valentine's Day at school with some cool art projects -- a heart with a picture of him on it w/ stickers and finger painting and painting a picture of Big Bird with water colors. I found him a shirt on Friday that says "Little Flirt" on it -- should be big enough for him to wear the next 3 years, haha :-) By the time I picked him up from school though, he had his outfit changed from playing in the sink, so I wasn't able to get a picture....next year! They had a table set up for kids to decorate and take home cookies....James started eating his before I could get the baggie to put it in....he was a mess of pink frosting all over his face and hands (which drove him bonkers)! He really enjoyed it though -- they're so good to the kids there!
The big news of the night though was James' Valentine's present for Jim and I :: he went poop in his potty!!! or, as he said, "James toot" and I think it squirted out on him :-) haha, we made a big deal about it and even made Daddy come upstairs to celebrate (it was before bed). While he was getting re-diapered and pajama-ed, I put it in the toilet and let him flush it and say "bye bye poopies." Very cute and so proud! He's been sitting on the darn toilet for at least 8 months now and this is the first time I've witnessed him doing anything productive on it....so while it may have been an accident, I'll take it :-D

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 8.9.10

James was overly tired and spending some time in pack'n'play prison for hitting Daddy, so I gave him a binkie and he laid right down in there -- so I covered him up with the blankie Aunt Amanda made him and he just thought it was the coolest thing ever! So, once we had our talk about not hitting and told him we loved him, covering up with the blanket became the new game. I guess it's pretty exciting stuff since he still doesn't sleep with anything in his crib with him.
Cute story of the week :: while on a buggy ride at school, his friend, M, was sitting next to him (she's a 20 month old language genius, I swear). She kept hugging him saying, "James, he just soooo cute!" HA! I guess she's heard that a few too many times at school from all the teachers at school that come to play with him on their breaks because he never sleeps the whole nap time:)
Thursday involved Tooth #7 popping on through! I guess he only teeths in pairs (all but one have come in pairs within a week of each other). He also added some new words :: "TV" as he was concerned it wasn't on when he walked past (Daddy uses it to unwind after work) and, my favorite story of the week...
Jim (as he is counting because James is standing on the couch) :: "Onnnnneeee"
James (without missing a beat and perfect voice inflection) :: "Twwwwoooo" and then sits down on the couch. Now, I'd like to believe he was just showing us he knows the number two comes after one; however, I have a feeling Jim was being sassed by a 17 month old :-) We are in t-r-o-u-b-l-e I tell ya.

17 Months!!!!

Our lil' buddy is 17 months old!!! We just can't believe it! He's growing up so quickly, I'd like to just bottle him up to keep him like this forever (OK, we can add "potty trained" and "good eater" in the mix). And he finally hit a solid +20lbs, so he can now safely be forward facing in his car seat! It's so cool to look back and see his big brown eyes looking at you :-) Although he's already asking for the "kees" and telling me to turn the car "ahn" -- thinks he'll be driving by 2, I guess!
James figured out he can use the side rail of the obstacle course to shimmy his way up the slide and go down head first -- somehow, for him, I think this is safer than the alternative of going down on his butt.

Rest of Weekend

Sunday we went swimming at Gma Chele's in the morning. James went in his float for the first time -- we were very surprised that he took right to it and enjoyed being somewhat independent in the water! Of course, he had to take the paint brush with him for safety :-)
He's now posing for pictures :-D

G-O-O-F-B-A-L-L!!! Our little shepherd was entertained for quite awhile (again, with something on his head)

He saw my camera and kept saying "cheeeeee" and posing for me, haha. We Skyped with GG and Pops on Tuesdsay, Aug 3 and James said "GG" a few times and pointed at her!!! He loves to talk to Pops too, but is still calling him "Dad." He read them a book and blew them lots of kisses.

Lying on a pillow with Daddy after a long, busy day at school -- James went back full time on Monday to get prepared for the school year ahead (BOOOOO, but I do have a job, so I'm thankful there). When I was getting him ready in the morning, he told me a cat says "ooowwww" (he misses the "me" part)

In the video, James shows us his lightning speed of climbing up onto the couch and then says "cheeee" for a picture.

OK, and I'm finally ALL CAUGHT UP for July blogging -- WOO HOO -- gotta go get my Bug from school now -- I'm interested to hear their story -- supposedly the toilet in between the toddler rooms "exploded...just blew up" today -- and James was the last one near them -- why am I not surprised?!?! t-r-o-u-b-l-e-m-a-k-e-r :-)

Peek-A-Boo!

The video clip is of James playing Peek-a-Boo with Maddie when we were out to breakfast in Indy. James has lots of new large motor skills these days :: playing peek-a-boo where he hides his own eyes (usually, but he gets the concept), kicking and throwing balls, tapping a stationary ball with a bat, putting his toys away in his toy chest, helping put clothes in the dryer (he's very good at this one and loves to help), giving kisses (regular, butterfly and I just taught him Eskimo kisses which he thinks it's hilarious and will try to give them to me every time I come close -- too funny)! He also figured out how to drink from a straw -- I was floored, I gave him the sippy and thought for sure it would take a couple of days of trying at least to figure it out -- nope! Within 2 minutes of giving it to him, he was slurping the water right up (and then letting it drip back out down his shirt, which was evidently just so much fun at the time)! Such a smart, coordinated (actually, "controlled," but I'll spare you the lecture in motor control) lil' man! We are so proud of him and constantly amazed by how quickly he learns new things!

Indy & First Full Hair Cut

We headed down to Indy last Friday for a visit -- we had a wedding on Saturday and Cassie and B.Rosie's wedding shower on Sunday -- BUSY!!! Aunt Kiki had threatened the weekend before (she was up in Chi-town for Cassie's Bachelorette) that James' hair needed to be cut or she (the crazy pregnant one) was going to take care of it :-) Here are the last pictures of his curls :-( I miss them but his new hair-do is cute and it still gets curly at his back cowlick, so I still somewhat win :-)
Above :: havin' some fun with Pops -- poor Pops had a bulging disc in his back on our visit but didn't know it so he had trouble bending to pick up/put down the lil' one and just moving (or sitting) in general.
Below :: Madilynn was in town for a very important "what to do now that dad/mom is back from war" class -- we were SO EXCITED to see her!!! She really loves to play with James and is a great baby-entertainer. Her and Kris met us out at The Original House of Pancakes (amazing) for breakfast on Saturday and then we got to see them at Bre and Clev's wedding later that night. She had fun playing peek-a-boo with him :-)

This picture was when he was playing peek-a-boo and covering his eyes (I'll post video in the next post). PS -- notice the place mat Kris found us -- awesome! It sticks to the table and has a catch-all pocket and washes easily -- fantastic!

Here we are at Cookie Cutters, getting a last pic of his curly mess of hair that I loved so much!

See, he wanted to keep his curls, he was willing to comb them himself :-)

First cut -- it was not this easy the entire time -- Jim and I were both holding him in lock-down at one point during it -- the lady did a decent job considering the screaming subject :-)

The finished product -- back view -- looks like a grown up lil' boy now (still oh so cute)

Brian's mom, Sharon, threw Cassie and him a co-ed wedding shower on Sunday. It was fun to see what "month" people got for their gifts and how they coordinated them. Sharon and her friend did an amazing job setting up the yard and getting all the food ready and there were even a bunch of my old HS PE teachers there to catch up with (Sharon was a PE teacher at my HS). She got everyone these shirts to celebrate the upcoming festivities -- this is James in his small shirt -- hit the floor! haha!

14 months

Lil' Stinker has made it nearly impossible to get a picture of him and the label or him and Teddy easily -- so Teddy comparisons may have to wait a few more months until he will willingly hold the bear instead of throwing him to the side in a toddler hyper-fit of "must run as much as possible before you put me to bed."

He is gonna be trouble :-) Below :: trying to climb up the slide from The Motes Family

A rare moment of actually sitting on the couch -- smile would be better w/o that darn binkie, but it keeps him from sticking his whole fist in his mouth and making himself puke (GROSS)!

Things accomplished/done up to 14.5 months::

• transitioning to toddlers
• adding words :: Dana, Danielle, Dad, Dawwwwgg, Water, Yah (with appropriately, one very emphatic head nod), No (a little closer to 14.5 months) and "E-I-Yo" (what he calls any book, but also his favorite book and nursery rhyme), Socks
• adding signs :: "more" is now done w/ vigor; "all done" is usually accompanied by James brushing all left over food on his tray on to the ground -- he does not appreciate left overs when he is done; and "milk, milk, MILK" is used to get milk or water and he needs it right now every time
• 1st "raging" ear infection :-( He barely ran a fever, so no real clues, poor Bug
• 1st wagon ride and park visit
• he's become a very avid dancer -- has the "bounce" "spin" and "hike" moves down pat and working on the side-to-side sway

First Haircut

Wowzers, I have LOTS of blogging to catch up on...it's going to take me awhile, so patience, young one. GG came for a visit as our Spring Breaks overlapped. We were very busy bees as we (she) touched up our downstairs bathroom to finish up the remodel (pics soon), cut out the shapes for Cassie & Brian's wedding favors and printed up all the invitations and response cards and directions for the wedding (took the better part of 2 days, I don't remember it taking Jim and I that long)! We kept JamesE home with us the morning she was planning on leaving (we wished she had stayed another day to play with him, it was fun having her) for his very first haircut!!! I finally gave in because his bangs were all up in his eyes and a trim was much needed -- the curls still haven't been touched in back though -- they're awesome (and drive Jimmy crazy, haha)!
Above :: the first cut
Below :: the whole process was made a bit more bearable with a binkie and a Baby Mozart DVD on for him to be distracted

His cowlick and the fact that she was cutting his hair from behind made it hard to get them even, but they've grown in nicely :-)

Finishing up his Nebulizer treatment later that night and waiting for his bath as he boogie-d down to Baby Mozart (that DVD mesmerizes him, it's crazy)

Why Teeth Are Bad...

...they result in bloody lips :-( Saturday we kept debating and changing our minds all day as to if James' 2nd tooth had broken through the gums (like I said before, he sticks his tongue out as soon as you try to look) or not. Well, the question was answered when he was waddling towards the front door to walk Laura S. and her friend out to their car and he tumbled and barely hit his mouth on the kitchen chair...and it exploded in blood on the side where the top tooth in question is located! I was lucky that Laura was there to help me hold an ice cube on his fat lip, but our question was definitely answered -- TOOTH #2 officially popped through on Saturday -- that means 2 teeth in 4 days! It was his top left tooth to go with his bottom right that was already there. We can also mark down his first (of many I'm sure) bloody/fat lips. You can tell in the picture he looks pretty torn up about it -- haha -- he's been a good teether so far, I hope it continues as we're thinking tooth #3 is getting ready to make an appearance itself. He got an AM bath because he soaked through his diaper (so frustrating as he's not even in the weight range for the size 4's but we have to put him in them for night and he's leaking out of those, but the new "dry max" seem to be doing the trick) and loved his mohawk -- I keep promising Jim I'll cut James' hair after I get his 1-year pictures (we'll see though, it will be easy to trim up the bangs, no biggie, it will be tough to get rid of those uber-cute curls in the back).