Month 23 Pics

Playing quietly in his new playroom -- we moved the dining room into the living room since we really never used either of them

Much messier eater this time -- insisted on feeding himself his mac'n'cheese

Speaking of cheese -- James eating it for breakfast

"Mommy, picture!"

Valentine's Day art work

First time eating cereal w/ milk in it -- stole my Special K w/ strawberries -- "James try, James TRY!" Why couldn't he like cheap cereal?

Lounging on the chaisse, watching (most likely) Elmo

Downstairs Bathroom Re-Model

It's been sippy-sailing for me since last week!!! No more bottles for this big boy :-) He's gonna eat us out of house and home if he keeps eating like he has been -- I couldn't believe how much he ate over the weekend -- but it's good to see him eating table food (he refuses to eat fresh fruit -- must be a texture thing -- so I still mash it for him so that he gets some in his diet). The pic below is gross because of the food in his mouth, but you can kind of see his top teeth pushing through the gums -- his top left came through Saturday and I think his top right will be the next tooth he gets.

Sunday early afternoon Jim found the downstairs toilet leaking and that led to quick, impromptu bathroom remodel. So he went to the hardware store to get some new seals for the toilet and we spent the day stripping the wall paper border (it took forever to get that darn stuff down -- I would like to have a good talkin' w/ the person who developed the glue for wall paper). Jim got the paper down and filled in the holes from hangy thingies and I got the glue down on Sunday -- then Monday I spackled and sanded behind the sink and where the toilet tank had been (they used a flat paint last time so there was some water damage) and Jim painted the ceiling. So today we are hoping to get the walls painted and finish this project off -- 3 days with work and a toddler around, I don't think that's too bad for a project!

ABOVE :: pre-painting

James Giving Zerberts to GG

Pops, GG and Aunt Cassie came for a visit this weekend. James was cracking us up as we were getting him ready for bed -- he was being a goof ball and kept giving my mom zerberts on her arm! It was hi-larious -- he had us crying because we were laughing so hard.

James kept stealing Pops' Nike hat off his head :-)

James tried pears for the first time on Friday -- he devoured them!

James and Dominic had a very in-depth conversation Friday night-- I don't know what they were discussing but I heard a lot of "da da da" in there.

Still hoping James' diaper rash goes away or that it brings a tooth soon! Poor baby's booty is all raw :-( It's gotten better as we put a ton of Aquaphor on it and change him often but it pains me to see him hurting.

First Food!

I couldn't handle James dive-bombing my food or drooling like crazy as we ate dinner anymore, so we thought about trying some rice cereal. I've read that both are signs that their thrust-reflex has relaxed and they may be ready to start some foods. The doctor said to wait until he was 6-months old for food but I believe he was talking about the more standard baby foods (starting before 6 months has been shown to lead to obesity, Type II diabetes, food allergies and heart disease...crazy)! I figured it was time and gave it a go...he LOVED IT! He kept whining/crying because it was taking me too long to get it on the spoon and get it to his mouth :-) He'll fit right in this family if he keeps that up as he gets bigger!



Before the fun began -- he was just happy to be in his bebe chair on the table where there were lots of new things to explore.



Just like with his bottles, James, aka Mr. Independent, wanted to feed himself.

I'm pretty sure he got more actually in his mouth than on it, but it's hard to tell from the picture.

The video is of his very first bite of the rice cereal :-) What a big boy he's gettin' to be!!! I got a big smile at the end, he must have enjoyed it!

Breast feeding article

I noticed an interesting article about breastfeeding on my Yahoo! home page today and thought I'd share. It's a bit jumpy as they go from breast feeding to H1N1 flu back to breast feeding, but I find the numbers pretty amazing...only 40% of women breast feed their babies through 6 months, no matter how rich or poor the country. They estimate 1.3 million babies lives could be saved from it. Hmmm, glad I'm still primarily breast feeding James. However, I also don't think people should be judged if they cannot breast feed their child...I think good health care can go a long way....just my cheap two cents as I know my production has sloooooowwwweeeddd waaaaayyyy down and I have to supplement to keep our Peanut growing strong and there's not much I can do about it, so I feel for the moms that want to do it but can't or go through so much pain with it.

First Trip to Gma's Pool

Gma Chele got a still picture of Jimmy putting James in the pool for the first time...here is the result of the Daddy Dip...not such a happy camper! The water was 78 degrees -- I'm with James, chilly! You can see Easton in the background mid-jump -- he was having a ball :-)

Mommy had a happy baby before hand though -- even with the floppy hat that's way too big on to protect his pretty face. There should really be a sunscreen safe for babies under 6 months - seriously, this is 2009 people, get on it!

I've titled the below picture "Mommy, just give me the bottle and I'll do the rest." James has been holding up his bottle by himself for a few weeks now...you have to put it in his mouth and help when it's almost empty, but he does a good job and definitely knows that he wants what's in there!

PS -- Sorry Sheryl, I forgot to change the picture upload size this time...I'll remember soon, promise!