Davis Visit

On the way to visit their Grandma, The Davis Family stopped by the Helfer Household last Friday night.  The Davis Family includes Leah, my Matron of Honor, her husband Mike, and their two kids, Jack and Lucy.  All the kids were very well behaved and went to bed at a decent hour.  We stayed up late, relishing our adult time.  It wasn’t until the morning when I snapped a couple of pics.

Daddy Mike and Jack.  Jack held onto this train {with a red light} all morning.  Hope the Easter Bunny is reading this blog…

Lucy: The most easy going baby I have ever met.  After a five hour car ride, she still did not cry one time during their visit.  Not once.  I didn’t know babies like this existed.

 

Leah is not pictured, as I was under strict orders to crop her out.  Morning pajama time just isn’t as cute for mommies as it is for kids. :)

James and Jack had a great time hanging out together.  Although they did what most toddlers do, and just played with different toys next to each other.

There was one thing they did together: tried to sneak up the stairs.  So we grabbed the camera and went up to play!

All in all, James did well sharing his toys.  Only minimal hovering.

This was our first time meeting sweet baby Lucy.

There’s one thing that James never likes to share.  And that’s me.  {He did not hit Lucy by the way, even though it looks it!}

We compromised.  Lucy didn’t seem to mind.

Leah, I’ve seen you grow from Leah-ba-deah, to The Davis Duo, to a family of three and now to Davis Party of four!  I love every bit of your precious family.  And Mike, it’s time to stop kidding yourself and get a small dog.  You can’t deny your love for Lynyrd, and as Justin says “Lynyrd is the perfect size!”

Beautiful day of videos

Beautiful day today.  We took a few videos while outside.  You can even hear the birds chirping.

The first one is my little actor.  He does not get his acting skills from me, as I cannot even keep a straight face.  In fact, it took me a minute to figure out he wasn’t serious.

Phones that do everything.  Videos, pictures, music, songs, video chatting, and of course, talking.  Easy to get confused.

Backyard Ballin’

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve used my real camera to take pictures.  Glad I switched from the iPhone for 15 minutes to capture these two playing in the backyard.  Don’t be fooled by Justin’s flip flops… these pictures are from today.  Nothing more than a warm winter day in the South. 

Throwing the ball against the fence.  {Hope our neighbors enjoyed it as much as we did.}

His turn.

Stop to wrestle… or steal some kisses…

Fly like Buzz Lightyear…

Then back to ballin’.

Our sweet baby boy.

Valentine’s Days

Between school, family, friends, crafts and celebrations, holidays tend to be more like holiweeks.  And I love it.  All it takes is one tiny little being to remind you to celebrate life.  Halloween was a month.  Thanksgiving was three weeks.  Christmas was five.  January was just one. long. month.  And Valentines Day was a celebratory three days!

It started on Sunday with red cookies from a desserts wedding shower I attended.  A pleasant surprise when Mommy came home with cookies!

Monday morning, James had a Valentine’s party at school.  I saw a cute idea on this blog for school Valentines.  I wasn’t too pleased with the heart crayons I made, but we passed them out nonetheless.  And James has enjoyed coloring with the leftover hearts.

James’ new obsession?  Buzz Lightyear from the movie, Toy Story. For Valentine’s Day, we gave him a Toy Story book  “buzz book” with 12 little figurines from the movie.  Just a thought.  However, it turned out to be the best 7 dollars I ever spent.

Buzz is not pictured in the above right, because he hasn’t left James’ hand.  James didn’t eat dinner that night.  He was so excited about his Buzz that he wouldn’t eat dinner or breakfast the next morning.  Buzz takes baths and goes to bed with James.  I hope his heart stays this unassuming and gracious forever.

Valentine’s Day morning, James had a special play date with cousin Harper.  I find it so difficult to take pictures of toddlers… especially from my phone.  They’re like little ants that don’t stop moving.

I asked them to hug and got a chokehold instead.

Luckily, his playtime with Harper {and epic meltdown as we said goodbye} worked up an appetite.  James finally ate a meal when we got home.  With Buzz, of course.

That afternoon we decorated cupcakes with Callie and Chloe.  James wasn’t so into decorating the cupcakes as he was decorating his face.

We went home to have dinner with Daddy.  And Mommy was spoiled with chocolate covered strawberries, wine and flowers.  These Helfer boys sure do melt my heart.

Hope you had happy Valentine’s Days as well!

Videos: Oh Goodness

As James gets older, I sometimes feel like he is my mirror.  I pick something up, and he says “Mommy, be careful with that” with the exact tone one should have with such a warning.  When Lynyrd barks at neighbors, James says “Yeh-yeh, quit it!” or “hush!”  I’ve since watched my tone with Lynyrd.  It’s not always pretty seeing someone impersonate you.

Well, in this first video, I realized that when James gets a runny nose, I must say “Oh Goodness” as I {frantically} grab a tissue.  I’m kind of a neat-freak about runny noses, and well, James’ nose has been running this past month… a lot.  He’s feeling much better as he pretends to sneeze, and you may need to turn the volume up a little bit, because he gets real serious and serenely says “Oh Goodness.”  I laughed out loud then, video taped after the fourth or fifth time.

In this video, James was saying his version of “Yum yum eat ‘em up!”  ‘Something my parents have said to make him laugh for as long as we can remember.  Of course I start the video, and he stops, but I got it at the end!

This one is just James being James.  He loves to look in the mirror and watch himself on camera.  He gets that from his Daddy.

And if I still have your attention… I came across this video today.  Remember the toddling little guy that walked around all day saying “cracka? cracka? cracka? cracka?”  Well, in case you forgot, here he is.  13 months old.

Getting Better All The Time

January?  Not our month.  Coming off the holidays, getting sick, and entering terrible twos gave us a run for our money.  February?  As John and Paul once said, “It’s getting better all the time.”

We started February with a virus.  And I thought, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

So last week, we stayed indoors

and let’s just say, James, Lynyrd and I had A LOT of quality time.  I don’t know who has been most excited for Daddy to come home.   Actually, it’s me.

Seeing as how we still have 11 months of 2012, I refuse to say that this is a bad year.  So, we turned our sickness into snuggles,

our sore throat into popsicle tongues,

and our doctor’s appointment into parenting advice.  Her advice – “Ignore, ignore, ignore.  James is not at a reasoning age.” – and some reading have taught Mommy and Daddy some lessons.

Yes, the culprit is my bookmark above.  Not crazy about all the advice in that book, but it helps to understand the mind of a two year old.  Justin and I are focusing on ignoring the outbursts,

letting the little things slide,

sticking to our guns on the big things,

and letting our baby grow into the little independent boy that he wants to be.

Apparently if Mommy and Daddy can do something, so can James.  So we’re all working on finding a balance between letting him do more {or think he’s doing more - the Cheerio box is closed…}

and enforcing our rules.  For example, you do not touch the grill.

And things have really been looking up.

Oh, and distraction is also huge.  Bonus points if our distraction can prevent the meltdown in the first place.

This week, morale has been much better.

We celebrated Moose’s birthday yesterday with BLTs, fruit and cupcakes.  And I can’t believe this is the one and only picture I took!

We had a GREAT time, and James has been talking about you ever since.  I love you, Moose.  Happy Birthday!

We’ve been getting out

and having lots of fun!

And even though all things aren’t fun, like haircuts, we try to find the positives, like lollipops!

It’s “Getting so much better all the time!”