Ba ba ba ba ba

Ever seen Stupid Human Tricks on David Letterman? We all have little cool tricks we do, and James has discovered his first. (Well, second, if you count clapping his hands.)

Oh Christmas Tree

And the festivities begin.  I was telling a friend last night that although James has no clue what is going on, it’s so fun to pretend the holidays are all about him.  So yesterday, we went to get a Christmas tree for James! :)

We didn’t find our tree at the first stop, but James was introduced to a few trees and like usual, enjoyed being outside.

We put his jacket on for the next stop, and he reminded us of the kid from The Christmas Story that gets stuck in his snowsuit.  “I can’t put my arms down!”

What a funny little guy.

He played a bit more,

while we tried to find the perfect tree.  (this was not it.)

We found a tree and left the decorating for this morning.  We started the tradition of letting James put his ornament on the tree first.  (Or Daddy putting it on for him.)

Although the Fighting Gators haven’t had their best season, it’s still Great to be a Florida Gator.  So I made sure to pick out an extra special first ornament for James.

Then we finished decorating, while James played with his Nativity set.

When I would try to take his picture, he kept scooting to me.

And I thought,

Awe, how sweet.

So sweet he shows his affection now.  The last couple of days, when I sit on the floor, he’s been climbing to my lap.

Until I saw that all-too-familiar look on his face.

And I knew I wasn’t the goal here.

My lens cap was dangling from my camera.

{By the way, just wondered why James hadn’t made a peep in about 5 minutes, only to find him chewing on Lynyrd’s dog food.  My fault for forgetting to put it up this morning.  Luckily it didn’t seem to do any damage.  Just bad breath.}

Oh, and the Christmas tree is up.  Waiting to be tugged, and eaten and tipped.  What an eventful month of December this should be!

Thanksgiving Day

This  year, we spent Thanksgiving in Columbia with Justin’s family.  We started the holiday off at his Mom’s house for an early Thanksgiving Dinner.  At James’ 6 month check-up, the pediatrician told us around Thanksgiving we could start giving James little finger foods.  (She tends to do things by holidays: Halloween was flu shot, Thanksgiving was finger foods, Christmas is big boy carseat.  Wonder what Valentines Day will bring!  Maybe diamond earrings.  Juuuust kidding.)  Anyways, I’ve been very excited about James’ first plate of food!  He’s been eating Ritz crackers and Puffs lately.  But on Thanksgiving he had sweet potatoes, carrot soufflé, butter beans, cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing and rice!   He loved it all so much that he wouldn’t swallow, and let it just sit in his mouth as he wined for more.  Never a dull moment with this one.

 

The best part of the day though, was all the cousin time!  Unfortunately, I didn’t take many pictures.

I did snap a picture of Cousin Harper trying to teach James to crawl.  Maybe it went something like this.  Harper: ‘Why don’t you just crawl already?’

Harper: ‘Why doesn’t he just crawl already?’

James: ‘Okay, I’ll start tomorrow.’

He spent some time with Uncle Jay.

And Nanny Sasa.

And then we fought his afternoon nap for about 2 hours before we finally gave in and accepted it would be a tough evening.  (Don’t be fooled by this innocent face.)

We headed over to Justin’s Dad’s house {where I took even less pictures} to have another Thanksgiving Dinner!  We tried to snap a few pictures of the cousins, Amelia (5), Harper (almost 2), and James (8 months).  Tried being the key word.

James did pretty well considering he skipped his afternoon nap and was 2 hours past bedtime.  (Although we paid for that during the night and the next day.)  Well worth it, though.  Even though he’s too young to understand the meaning of the holidays, it was so much fun to share the day with him.  So much to be thankful for.  God Bless this little turkey.

Boot Scootin' Boogie

James is on the move! And so are we, trying to grab things out of his hand and mouth! (my camera, Lynyrd's dog food, the surge protector, etc.) He's scooting his way all over the living room. Although he's a little distracted in this video, I thought I'd post it anyways. Baby Proofing, here we come!!




I cut that video shorter than I thought. Here's the link to the longer version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vwgtyJOkmI

Like Father Like Son

When James was born, Justin took a couple weeks off work.  He enjoyed the freedom of not having to shave every day.  He decided to welcome his son into this world with a fu manchu.

Was I a big fan?  No.  Did I think it would influence James?  No.  Did it?  Perhaps.

Bye-Bye

Bye-Bye, Gummy Smile,

Bye-Bye

Trick or Treat

As a last minute plan, we took James trick or treating for Halloween. Our cousins, Laurie and Jay Thomy, (who just moved to Columbia!) asked us to join them, and we couldn’t resist. I’m so glad we went, because we had a blast!

First we made a quick stop by Nanny and G-G’s house.

They’ve been spending so much time with James lately (and helping Justin and I so much!) that, they can hardly go a few days without seeing their little pumpkin. In fact, it was a joke that James didn’t seem to understand we were just stopping to visit, rather than the usual ‘drop off, thanks, and see you later!’

James knows at Nanny and G-G’s he gets lots of “sugar” – hugs and kisses. But what he didn’t know is that Nanny Sasa bought him a cupcake. He’s only tried a little icing once, but I thought, “It’s Halloween so, why not!”

Being a first-timer with this stuff, I didn’t think to roll up his sleeves or put a bib on. He dove in so fast that he immediately got icing on his costume and hat, and Justin had to jump in for damage-control.

By the time he was finishing up, he had a bib, sleeves rolled up and the hat off.

He flipped it over and went for the wrapper. We were so caught up in the fun that it took me a few minutes to remember that he’s only been eating pureed solids and would choke on the actual cupcake!

Nanny quickly took it away and to my surprise there were no tears.

He got some Nanny sugar, and we were on our way!

{Intermission: This is going to be a long blog…}

Laurie and Jay have two girls: Catie – 4 years old, and Ellie – 1 1/2 years old.

Now that the Thomy’s live in Columbia, James will be seeing his cousins often! (And hopefully will stop the who-are-you-and-I’m-gonna-steal-that-chicken-nugget-stare.)

Belle, Snow White, and The Pumpkin were ready to trick or treat!

Well, James stayed in the stroller and didn’t make a peep until the very end. And I had so much fun watching the girls run around from house to house. (I love how Catie is holding her dress up as she walks up the stairs. Like a true princess should.)

After visiting several houses, Catie told us “this is the greatest night of my life.” It was so sweet. Have I mentioned I love this girl, yet?

After the usual bedtime, we knew it was time to get the kiddies home.

We had such a fun time with the Thomy’s and are looking forward to all of our get-togethers.

I remember telling Justin the last coulple of years on holidays that I felt like we were ready for the holidays to be about the kids. But we just didn’t have the kid yet! It was so much fun to be a Mom this Halloween. I can only imagine how fun Christmas will be!

I know you thought this was over, but I can’t forget my little soldier.

Sergeant K9 was less than pleased to report to duty this Halloween.

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had as much fun as we did!