As James slept on my chest, I thought about how long he will come to me for comfort and at what age will I embarrass him with a kiss or a hug. I wonder how much I will miss these moments when he is in high school.
I kiss his tiny toes all the time and think about how I won’t be able to do that much longer. One day these feet will be calloused, soiled and covered with shoes.
That one day this little bulldog
won’t be so little anymore.
Each night when we bathe James, I say that he is getting too big for this tub and that it’s time we move him from the kitchen counter to the big boy bath. I was just looking for a bath picture of teeny tiny James, but remembered I never got the chance to take any because he screamed and cried throughout every bath. He’s grown so much that now he rarely cries!
Even Lynyrd loves bath time now, because he can keep his eyes on his brother!
Lynyrd and James are becoming best buds, by the way.
It seems like either James is staring at Lynyrd,
or Lynyrd is staring at James.
Lynyrd loves to give him kisses.
And when James goes to sleep at night, we sometimes catch Lynyrd sleeping at his door. Or by the monitor.
As we all know, James has been trying solid foods. He’s had rice cereal, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Today, James met the first food he did not like…
… and that was prunes. I definitely don’t blame him. In fact, I felt guilty even making him try them. The doctor recommended it on the days he needs a little relief. :) So, I made some prune baby food yesterday and it smelled so gross! I mixed it with sweet potatoes this morning (about 70% sweet potatoes, 30% prunes), but I wasn’t fooling anybody.
My boy loves to eat so, he continued to try it even though he wasn’t a fan.
But just could not bring himself to acquire the taste.
And could not seem to unfurrow his eyebrows.
And eventually the battle went to the prunes.
Hmmm... I've never posted a video before. Here is a 7 second video that Josh took last time I was in Jax. It cracks me up... let's see if this works...
This is James watching TV. Make sure you turn your volume up for this one.
of James Wallace.
PLAY
TIME WITH MOMMY
TIME WITH DADDY
EAT
of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
PLAY
TIME WITH MOMMY
TIME WITH DADDY
EAT
As soon as the doctor gave me the go-ahead to start James on solid foods, I was SO EXCITED to make baby food. He loves rice cereal so much and now gets so excited when we put him in his high chair. He grabs the spoon as we feed him and tries to jam it in his mouth! Next we are supposed to introduce vegetables. Then, fruit. When I was making my first batches of baby food the other day (squash, carrots, and green beans), I couldn’t help but give him a little taste.
He took his first bite…
and was not sure how he felt about it!
He gave it some time as it sat in his mouth…
then, decided he liked it.
A lot.
So, he wanted more.
And more.
And more.
My friends tell me that solid foods will be “life changing” for me. That his belly will stay full a little longer, therefore he will sleep a little longer.
This past weekend we headed to Myrtle Beach with The Duprees and The Grangers. This trip was planned last year so, it came with big expectations. Between our two families we had a full house of 10 (soon to be 12 as Amy and Erin are both pregnant!) There was always a baby crying (usually ours), someone up in the middle of the night (usually us), and kids running and crawling everywhere (not ours!). It was our first vacation as a family, and like most firsts, it was a learning experience. We’re learning how to juggle our new lives as parents with our old lives as The Helfer Duo.
Although it wasn’t a perfect weekend, we wouldn’t have wanted our first beach trip shared with anyone else. Or our hectic routine (or lack thereof) shared with anyone else. We are truly blessed to have our friends and family to make these chaotic memories with!
James’ first beach experience was less than ideal. In his defense, it was extremely windy. So much that we couldn’t put the big umbrella up, sand was in the air, and the wind gusts to his face… well, let’s just say, he didn’t take it so well. “Our little beach bum” made it clear to the east coast that he, in fact, DOES. NOT. LIKE. THE. BEACH. AT. ALL.
He did not like his toes in the sand.
He did not like the water.
He did not like the wind. (can you blame him?)
After I tried to calm him, Vaughn tried to hold him, and Justin tried to help him, James could only be soothed by one person: our baby whisperer, Mrs. Amy Dupree.
Back at the house, James again took to Amy.
And also spent some quality time with Aaron Dupree.
Emory and Mr. Lynyrd spent some quality time together. (Emory used to call Lynyrd “LIzzard” and out of the blue has switched it to “Mr. Lynyrd.” We’ll see what his name is next week.)
She has learned the key to Lynyrd’s heart: Carrots.
Day two on the beach started off bad. Inconsolably bad. So, James and I left the beach festivities for a nap and a full tummy. Then we headed back out to give it one last try. Glad we did, because third time was a charm.
He dipped his toes in the sand.
And in the water, too.
We kept it short and sweet given James’ attention span, but all in all he was a trooper.
