The Backyardigans

James woke up from his nap today with some energy!

And with so many toys to play with…

he chose to explore his other options.

He found Daddy’s Citadel Ring (which won’t happen again. A. because I’d be willing to bet, it’s more important to Justin than his wedding ring and B. because it’s a choking hazard.)

And he practiced holding his own bottle. Practice has yet to make perfect. And he dropped it on Lynyrd’s head.

Given the beautiful weather and all this energy, we decided to take our baby boy outside to play for the very first time on his own two feet! {If this picture could talk, I think it would say, “Now. What. Do. You. Think. About. That?”}

Not to be a stage mom, but I’m really hoping James is walking by his first birthday so, he can play outside with his friends. So we took his walker outside and put him to work!

Up and down the backyard.

Mowing the lawn… I mean, learning to walk.

We stopped to smile for Mommy, of course.

And we laughed with Daddy.

And we were quite distracted by the leaves and the grass and all the newness of our environment.

As big of a boy as he’s becoming, James just looked like such a little baby sitting in the big backyard.

As much fun as I had today, I think the true proud parent was Justin.

You could see a glimpse of the future in his eye: playing catch in the backyard, building a snowman in the winter, learning to ride a bike, working on projects in the garage. Yup, Justin has his boy he has always wanted. And James has the best father in the world.

El Cid

Getting out and enjoying the weather this weekend.

Had a nice lunch yesterday outside at Harper’s.

With my favorite Citadel boys.

The Outdoors

Since James was a newborn, he has loved getting out of the house.  In my moments of desperation, I would put him in his car seat (which he loved), and put him on the back porch just to get him to stop crying. 

I would drive and drive up and down Two Notch Road trying anything to soothe this newborn baby.

As he got older, I started taking him to Publix or Target just to get him out of the house.  When he’s fussy, anywhere is better than home.

I have said since James was teeny tiny that once this kid is in high school, it’ll be, “Bye, Mom” here and “See you later” there.

Now, I’m starting to wonder… is this baby of mine already trying to escape home?

Mr. James is on the move.  And I am just trying to accept that my baby is growing up.

New Tricks

James loves his walker from Aunt Andrea! 

And his new favorite trick is clearing his throat.  Random, I know.

Papa influenced

Happy Ten Months, Baby Boy

I cannot even begin to explain the sentimentality I feel of this ten month age.

Don’t even get me started about how I know James Wallace needs his first hair cut…

But I just haven’t quite been able to bring myself to take him to that milestone.

Since I skipped the 8 and 9 month blogs, I know I’ll want documented that James was scooting at 8 months and crawling a week later.

At 9 months, he started pulling himself up to a standing position.

At ten months, he is beginning to understand language and will cooperate when asked to do so.  Like “take another sip” or “one more bite” or “take your paci out.”

He loves to imitate.  Exaggerated chewing, kisses, coughing, but his new favorite imitation is clearing his throat.  He loves to throw his arms up when he hears touchdown, but mostly he loves to throw his arms up then, hear you yell touchdown.  That James... he’s a ham.

James has always enjoyed toys that light up and play music, but he now also loves trucks.  He loves to watch the wheels spin, and if this counts, his first words were “vroom vroom.”

Of course, he’s still the little firecracker he’s always been.

Don’t get me wrong: His good moods are great. 

I often get asked while we’re out and about, “Is he always this happy?”  To which I reply, “The first 6 months were horrible,” and I smile, laugh and kiss his sweet forehead, and admit that he is a very happy baby, now. 

But his bad moods are baaaaaaad. 

Lately, his temper tantrums are our biggest struggle.  This is a new thing.  Not a real cry.  Just a loud, screaming, kicking, {sometimes embarrassing}, why are you changing my diaper or making me put that jacket on, rant and rave.  It’s all an act followed sometimes by hyperventilating, but always by one eye opened to see our reaction.

This is just a little taste…

and it never performs without the lip.

But we love those eyes.  And we love those lips.  And we know that God knew The Helfers wouldn’t be The Helfers without this little addition to our family. 

I love you, James Wallace.  I love all that you bring to our family and I love all that you are.  Happy ten month birthday, My Sweet Baby James.

Cheetos

James sharing his Cheetos has gone to a whole new level.

And just to have a little more James in this blog, here’s last night at dinner.

First snow

Although James is too young to play in the snow today, we wanted to make sure that he got to see and touch it.

It was naptime so, for the most part, he kept that pouty, I’m not going to move a face muscle look.

Lynyrd on the other hand had enough excitement for us all.

As he hopped through the snow like a bunny.

There’s not much to blog about. James appeared to be emotionless.

Oh wait, at one point he put his hand in the snow.

And wasn’t a fan.

So, we took our baby in and let him take his nap.

I love you James. And I know we chose a tired time for this experience. Did I mention how cute you look in your pea coat? But it’s hard to beat last year’s snow picture.