Sweet Baby James

James is Two!

2010-12-13T13:23:00.001-08:00

James has started saying a lot of words the last couple of weeks. He knows some colors but can't say them. He hurts Levi all the time but he's starting to share. Instead of just a closed mouth lip press to kiss, he makes kissing noises now.
His birthday was fun. We had a pinata, he loved that. It was kind of jungle themed. Aunt Jeni made a cake with a tiger on it, it was so cute! I wish her family could have come but they were home bound near the beach.
Piper and Hunter were the other toddlers who attended, and of course all his cousins and aunts and uncles (minus Jeni and Elliot and Matt). He had a lot of fun. He took his clothes off to run around in his diaper.
James is enjoying drawing now. He loves playing in our bedroom with Levi and running in and out of the curtains and jumping on the bed and he sleeps, for the most part, in his big boy bed by himself. He's starting to sleep through the night, but he wakes up a lot, still.
He loves to pee in the toilet, but he hates not having a diaper on, so I'm scared to force him to potty train cause right now it's just a fun activity. I don't want to take that away form him. Plus he pees a lot at night so we couldn't let him sleep without a diaper or pullups anyhow.
He loves Sponge Bob, Thomas the Train (first and foremost), and Blues Clues. Not so much Dora anymore.
He loves being read to. One day I actually got him to sit on my lap and listen to me read A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. And he would whinny whenever I said the word "horse."
He prays with Jason now, sometimes initiating the bedtime prayers. Jason will thank God for all the things James likes, and James will start talking with Jason and say words and makes sounds of more things he likes. I know he doesn't understand who God is yet, but it won't be long before he does and he'll understand that all good things come from Him.
He loves dancing. And he's choreographed the weirdest style of dancing. It looks like it's interpretive ballet.
And he likes going places and seeing other people. I think he has a lot of fun at church cause Grandma and grandpa are there. And he gets to run around and jump off stuff and see everyone.
He's a little cutie. He got his first hair cut last month, right after his birthday. He did really good, too.

22 months

2010-09-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

James is somewhere between 18 months and 2t clothes. I started buying 2t this summer, no more 18 months stuff. The 2t fits well enough, the shirts are barely too big. The pants have to be rolled up a bit, but they fit good in the waist.
James shakes his head yes and no when I ask him questions. My heart sings when he obeys me when I tell him to do something. Usually it doesn't happen.
He still loves motorcycles, but he has expanded his love of animals to include big cats (he roars when he sees a monster, a bear, or a wild cat). And this week we were looking at pictures in our new childrens story bible, and the snake was on Eve and I said "That's a snake, and it goes ssssssssss." So anytime he sees a snake he says "sssssss."
We realized that some of the words he says are just backwards. Like food, he says dooofd (with a tongue roll between the f and d).
He loves Gaga. I'm trying to now steer him from that cause he could pick out the Bad Romace video on the youtube clip pictures. He also likes the "worst worship Ever" video where this worship leader took "You Spin me Right round" and replaced baby with "Jesus" and has everyone jumping up and down and swinging socks over their head and all that. James jumps in circles to that video.
He knows to point to the youtube videos he wants to see. We watched sheep, cows, lions and tiger and bears and pigs today, and then ended up with the Crocodile Hunter and James LOVES that show. James also attempted to mimic the sheep after I showed him what they said. He pressed his lips real tight to make the "b" sound and then croaked out the "aaaaa."

James 21 months (almost)

2010-08-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

James has discovered a love for some things. Like motorcycles, quads, trucks, and airplanes. And pushing his little brother over and taking away his toys.
He started opening the fridge. He doesn't just play in the fridge anymore, he just gets into it when he wants something, now. Usually cheese and milk.
He also learned to pick his nose and wipe it on us. He hates getting his hands dirty. He will sometimes get hurt and not cry at all but just stare at where he got hurt for a few seconds and then continue doing whatever it is he was doing. He loves waking up Uncle Tommy

James the big Brother

2010-01-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

James is now almost 15 months old. He has 4 molars, a fang or two coming in, and he sleeps on a bed made up of a stack of blankets on the floor at the foot of our bed. He tosses and turns all night long, but has slept pretty soundly the last few nights. When I wake up to take care of Little Brother, James is some odd feet away from his original starting position and I have to move him back.
He likes cheese, bananas, meat loaf, swedish meatballs, pork chop in rice-a-roni, and sushi and other fish items (like salmon). He does not like steak. Anything else is a pain to get him to eat. And he usually will fight the food if he's had it at all in the last week.
He gives hsi little brother lots of kisses, and when I put Levi in the swing, James will go over and make sure the music is on for him.
When we hear Levi cry or make any noise and he is somewhere else int he house I ask James 'Where's little brother?" and James will start to "call" for him and turn to me and put his hands up like "I don't know!" and then go and look for him.
I think he's talking, but his words are so mashed up together I can't tell what he's saying. Yesterday, he said what sounded very clearly like "Hi Dad" when Jason came home. I didn't even register it at first cause I was doing dishes, but it kept playing back in my head and I turned to Jason and said "Did he say Hi dad?" And Jason agrees, it sure sounded very much like Hi dad.
I think he more copies the tone of things than actual words. He and Levi were at mom's house and he called Levi "Little Brother" to mom. I didn't say anything just cause I don't like seeing things that aren't there, but mom caught it. She asked me if we call Levi little brother a lot, and we do. James thinks it's Levi's name.
He tries to hold Levi, too. Not unless I'm holding Levi first, though. He takes Levi from me and just sits there patting him. He's a good big brother.
He is in size 4 diapers now, steals the dog's bed to sit in front of the heater, and can be pretty mean to her in the name of fun. He gets yelled at for grabbing her feet or tail, or pulling her fur. But he's getting nicer where he'll pat her and hug her, and he's stopped trying to give her kisses. HE also gives her food when he's eating. He teases her with goldfish crackers, and chases her around laughing hysterically as she walks quickly away from him.
James still like bigger kids than babies his age. Last week we were at the Pennington's for homegroup and their 4 year old daughter came into the room and James stopped what he was doing and stared ta her for a moment, then broke into a big smile andwalked up to her ever so confidently and took her hand. He then followed her around for quite awhile, never taking his eyes off her. James has already had his first crush! He's growing up so fast!
Alien people give him nightmares.
He likes hot things, like horseradish mustard and wasabi. Makes the funniest faces, and then eats some more.
He loves being outside, even in the cold. I let him go out one in his diaper to see how long it took for him to come back. He took the cold too well so I had to go and get him before he got hypothermia. Silly little guy.
He loves going places, but doesn't care for being in the car for very long. He likes church cause grandpa throws him around. I keep thinking James is going to use up Jim's back before Levi gets a turn.
James ignores the possibilty of getting burned, and actually has a mark from one of the heaters. This is the second time he's gotten a mark from something hot, but when we tell hit something is hot, he thinks it's a game, so trying to open the oven becomes challenging when I'm cooking. He wants to grab the oven door and open it for me.

10 and a half months

2009-09-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Two Sundays ago James walked a few steps. Since then it's been a real pain to encourage him to walk. He'll stand there forever and then sit down. So I tricked him. He has a little bike meant for toddlers that Kristin gave us, an old looking radio flyer, and James loves it--he uses it as a walker, by holding onto the front of side and walking it around everywhere, and he screams when he runs into a small obstacle that he can't get the bike over. He found that chasing Pepper down with it is really fun, he laughs so hard.
Anyways, knowing he can walk and just lacks the confidence to do it by himself, we had him in the toy isle at Fred Meyer, and you know those push toys for toddlers with wheels and they pop when you push them on the ground, or the ones with bells in them? Well they have no support of their own you have to hold them up. I showed James what it did when it was pushed across the ground and set him down with it. He walked a few feet before Jason had to dive because James put too much confidence in the toy and tried to lean forward on it. Probably would have ended up with a broken nose if Jason hadn't caught him.
James really likes animals, he wants to touch them all, I can't wait to get him around a horse to see how he reacts.
He's eating more solid foods, it's a fight to get him to eat baby food. He really likes meat. Chicken and beef, not so much pork. He loves mac and cheese, especially kid cuisine mac and cheese. He drinks whole milk now, doesn't seem to bother him at all, except he gets more thirsty. Drinks from his sippy cup, we had to get a soft tip and spill proof so he'll actually swallow all the water he puts in his mouth.
The past two days he's been trying to climb over the barrier of boxes in the kitchen, and he's found one box that he can climb in and try to get around it, but ends up just sitting in the box and screaming cause he can't climb out. LOL!
Sleeping ritual is now this; try to put to bed, but he runs around the bed, so he goes in his playpen for a few minutes, take him out and he has the idea it's actually bed time and nurse him for about ten minutes so he can sleep.
He can do patty cake all by himself. He tries to get Pepper's toys that roll under the couch, but he has a big head and stubby little arms and it's really funny to watch him try until he gets mad and screams.
He gets spankins or a slap on the hand when he touches things he can't. He likes to watch me or Jason while tying to reach the keyboard and mouse or sockets, or the lamps. It takes a few tries and he gets so mad at being punished. He doesn't like being told what he can't do. He also gets spanked when he's trying to get away while I'm changing his diaper. That stops him after the spank.
He loves strumming the guitar, we've taught him not to grab the strings, so he's figured out that it makes better sound with the strumming. He's not too bad at it.

8 and a half months

2009-07-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

James is drinking goats milk, has been for awhile. He eats like a pig, and loves saltine crackers. He's started enjoying bites of my dinners as well. His first check up was a few days ago, where he measure an 18 inch head, 28 inches long, 19 pounds. He was only army-crawling then, but right after that he started crawling on all fours a bit.
He is pulling himself up on stuff and walking around it all by himself, which leads to falling on his head.
He's taken some dives off the couch, the last time he did face plant on a key-board cord, and got a black eye.
I think the only time he sits still in when he's eating or sleeping.
He sleeps mostly in his own bed, at the moment in the living room cause his room gets too hot during the day and doesn't cool off till really late.
He drinks water from a water bottle, loves drinking from cups, and enjoys swimming on hot days. Somewhat. He makes swimming motions when I put him in the water and gasp for breath cause the water is cold, and I take him out and he starts laughing. He loves trying to grab the water.

2009-06-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

We moved James out of the room last night. He was not a happy baby about this. He fell asleep for a couple of hours at a time, but we didn't give in when he would wake up crying. I felt bad when he was crying normal, but as with all children, I no longer pity them when they start to scream. I didn't think it would happen with James, but it did. I did not feel sorry for him because he became a demanding brat. I am relieved by this fact. I will not spoil brats.
Of course, I was awake a lot of last night, too. Even when he would fall to sleep, I was worried that maybe he had put his face into the bed and was smothering himself, or his sleeper was wrapping around his neck and choking him. I resisted every temptation to check on him except one, at 3, after he had fallen back to sleep. He was sleeping on his belly and I resisted the urge to turn him over. But he was fine.
Finally he woke up at 5:30, crying a little,and i went and got him to feed him. He has never gone all night without nursing. I put him to bed with us and fed him, and you could hear the emptiness filling up. He seemed so happy to be in bed with us, he just stared at me. I asked Jason to change his diaper while I nursed him, and he couldn't get enough of watching dad. When dad left the room, he would strain to watch the door over me. He finally fell asleep at about 6, and stopped nursing on his own then.
He just now woke up, it's 9. So ep. That was poor Jamesy's all alone night.

No?!

2009-06-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

James told me no today. Twice. Just so I didn't think I heard something that wasn't there. I was trying to stuff him full of oatmeal and he started getting disinterested. When I tried to put the sppon in his mouth again he looked at me and said "no." like a little moan. I waited a moment and tried again and he did the same exact thing.
And the other day I told him "I love you" and hugged him and he said it back! Okay, not so notable words, but the rise and fall of his mumblings were the exact copy of my "I love you." I tried not to think anything of it, but Jason was sitting a few feet away and turned around with the biggest open-mouthed smile I have ever seen him make. LOL! So I am not making things up that aren't there, I didn't say anything for a few minutes and decided to ask Jason if that's what it really sounded like.
He's been giving a lot of hugs lately, it's really cute.
He says dadada and Mamama. And if he wants something he opens and closes his hand really fast at the person or object. I would say he was waving, but I've seen him do it to objects he is scooting for.
He still hasn't been sleeping good. He's fall asleep for a solid hour or two, and then start nursing all night. I've been trying to keep him in his bed at night, but he doesn't want to stay there at all, and I want to sleep.
He's also been having tantrums. When he gets mad cause I'm putting him down, he throws himself backwards and screams. I've give him a little slap on the leg and tell him no, then ignore him until his crying gets into normal crying and not screaming. He didn't get hurt, but it surprises him and he get's the point that I'm not playing. It probably has to do with that slap and yelp I gave the other day when he bit me really hard. He hasn't bit so hard since, and he doesn't do it often.
He gets really cranky until we leave the house, so I think the house is really starting to bore him. He loves being around people unless he's tired. He likes his grandma's and his grandpa, and his aunts and uncles and cousins. I think Sarah left a pretty big impact on him, cause when he sees her he starts moving toward her and wanting to face her and play with her.
It's funny to watch a baby try and go to play with big kids who can run around. He loves being around other kids. He's a really social baby.
Iwonder what this next baby is going to be like. I didn't think a personality would show up so vividly already. When he was first born I couldn't see one really, cause he just liked to sleep, of course. He never liked being alone, I guess. That's a hint.

EW!

2009-06-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I left James on his blankets (about 8 feet wide worth of blankets) in the living room, to go make him a bottle. I came back to see no James on the blankets. He ended up being in the doorway of my room, and facing away from me, quite content. I picked him up, lo and behold! A rawhide beef chew bone, much used by dog, being enjoyed by baby James! EW!
Right now, my baby is trying to make his way over to me and getting frustrated with everything in the way (climbing over pillows, and the diaper bag). Poor baby. I'm trying to get him to crawl, but now I'm not so sure. With this scooting/army crawling he's already getting his mouth on some nasty chew bones. Man, time to start regulating the dog toys.
It was so sad, earlier. I felt really bad. He was nursing and gave me a nasty bite, the hardest he's ever bitten me, and I reacted by slapping his little face without thinking. It wasn't hard, but it startled him. He stopped crying when I hugged him. Of course, I had yelled at the same time, and usually when I yell at him for biting, he just laughs at me. But the next time he bit me, I didn't react except by yelling and frowning at him. He stared at me like he wasn't sure if that was a good thing like he used to think. I feel bad, but I hope that little slap got him thinking that my yelling doesn't mean play time.

Went to the beach and a new discovery yesterday

2009-06-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach with family this last weekend. James didn't like the beach. He would try to grab the sand and i think he would get frustrated cause he wanted to put it in his mouth but the sand would fall out of his fingers before he could.
He absolutely adored Danica, his 3 year old cousin. I waned to get a picture of them together, but I didn't. It's almost weird how similar they look. I think it's the brown eyes, long eye lashes, and nose. Danica is way darker than James.
It's funny how both these kids have brown eyes. Danica's mom has blue eyes, Daniel has hazel. I have blue/gray/green eyes and Jason has hazel.
And then yesterday, i had James naked for about 45 minutes to take a break from the diaper gook, and I looked down at one point and James has discovered a very interesting piece of body. His poor peepee must hurt cause he looked like he was trying to tear his stuff off! LOL! It was funny to watch him figure out that it was attached to him.

Some more pictures.

2009-05-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Okay from top to bottom: Pepper trying to push James out of the boppy pillow so she can sleep in it behind him. # 2 Pic is James trying to get his mirror, so he was using a swimmer's stroke to get there. #3 Uncle Tommy and James hanging out, having a drink. #4 I don't know how I got this picture, cause I thought when I took it both his eyes were wide open. #5 is James enjoying his diaper.
PS, to all who don't know, that red spot is not a bruise or a bite or something bad. It's his birthmark. A weird, kind of unattractive birth mark that should go away as he get's older (after it gets bigger).

2009-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

So last week we got to go to homegroup for the first time in a month! James hasn't been around babies much, but Piper was really excited to see another baby, and was talking ot him. Which scared James, and he would cry. LOL! And when hunter started crying, James would cry. He looked really scared whenever either baby made any loud noise.
We had a nice walk with Becky, Hunter, Emily and Piper. When we got lunch, James was not happy.
He has been pretty cranky recently, nursing all night again, and just being generally unhappy. On Sunday I stuck my finger in his mouth and was greeted with the tip of a really sharp tooth. So, since Sunday, he's been pretty happy again. Must have been the tooth coming in.
Bottom middle tooth. He bit my finger really hard and it hurt! And now he is biting when nursing, but it's such a little tooth it doesn't sever anything. Still hurts...

Waving

2009-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

James has, for the past few days, been swinging one hand around erratically. To me, it looked a little like waving, but I don't wave to him, and the only people who do don't see him that often for him to pick it up. But Two days ago, I put him in his car seat and he started doing it again. So I waved back and said Hi. He responded! He waved and said Hi! Of course, he might not have said hi, but it sure sounded like it.
So, James apparently learned to wave. He does it quite often, but doesn't always respond to waving. When other people wave, he likes watching their arms.
Right now he is wrestling with a piece of a toy. A foam bar and complaining about it. He's tired and I'm trying to get him to play himself out.
He's been standing with the help of himself (holding onto sturdy objects).
Yesterday I went to put him on the floor and he was on all fours for a moment, then dropped. He should be crawling soon. I'd say in a couple of weeks if I can get him on the floor more. He's really mad right now.
He's also exploring new nursing positions. If we are laying down side by side, he like to flip over onto his tummy. He also really likes sitting on my lap and facing me so he can nurse upright.
Yesterday he ate a lot of food. He had two things of pears and a thing of carrots. I tried green beans on him. LOL! He kind of just et it fall off his tongue. He really loves carrots, though.

2009-05-10T07:57:00.001-07:00

So James is just getting over pink eye to start throwing up. Not spitting up. It's way different. He had no warning, no fever, and he was really happy yesterday. I was throwing up, Jason and I had aches and pain, sore throats, and Jason was nauseous. I thought throwing up was just morning sickness until James started throwing up last night, and Jason was just waiting to.
He's happy again this morning. This time, I don't know where we could have gotten it. My mom, Jason and I got it all at the same time.
I'm sick of James getting sick and not being able to go see the other babies. Jams loves babies! And I want to see them, too!
Right now, James has a death grip on Pepper's throat and is talking happily to her swinging it about. I don't know why she puts up with it. Walk away, dog!
I think Jason almost convinced himself we had the swine flu. Sorry, I mean H1N1 virus.

2009-05-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

James has started to get around a bit. I think he's traveled about 5 feet from one point to another max before I took him back to his blanket. He whimpers a lot while he's moving. lol! Not crawling, but more of a rolling, inching sort of travel. Something similar to a non-sticky slug, maybe? Does he have that little flap of skin at the edge of his stomach that I can't see that propells him forward? I dunno! He does kind of leave his own trail of slime, too.
My son is a slug! NO!

6 months old. YAY!

2009-05-05T08:49:00.000-07:00

James gets to celebrate his 6 month mark with...(drum roll please).dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd. VIRAL PINK EYE! WOO! Of course, his eyes aren't pink, but one of them was cemented shut this morning. I guess it's a form of a cold. I've been trying to keep him home and away from other childrens since I found out that's what was going on on Saturday. All I knew was that his eye was making a little extra goop. Then mom took him to the store ith her and Shawna and Shawna told me it was pink eye. Her kids had it, and apparently the drops won't work for this type of pink eye.
I'll write the rest of this later, I tihnk I'm going blind

2009-05-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Favorite Activity: Bathtime
Favorite Toys: Keys, and jumperoo.
Favorite foods:Sweet Potatoes, carrots, and sugary items
Goal: To go
Favorite Song: Hallelujah (That song that's in Shrek)

Yesterday James started to walk. Of course, I was holding his hands, but he was taking all the steps. Usually he only does this in the bathtub, but he walked all over Grandma Lauri's house yesterday. He can go faster when he's focused.
We went to the beach with Jason's parents he other day. It was cold and windy, so he didn't like it so much. We let him munch on some french fries in a restaurant and he is not so good at swallowing, but he's been practicing, so I thought he could give it a try. He started to choke, but not really bad. I flipped him downward and hit his head on the table a little (poor baby), and hit his back. I think he was done choking by then.
We let him suck on a lemon slice and he loved it.
He's been enjoying his jumperoo a lot more lately, he squeals with delight when he's jumping, and he's figured out how to spin the little toys. There are these two little stuffed animals that hang form the top, so he stops once in awhile and tries to get them. Right now he's talking and trying to grab the frog.
He's taken up sticking his long tongue out. He licks the bottom of his chin, I swear. And also is sucking his lips in and it's darn cute.
Pepper has found out that he can't play with her very well, but he's started trying. I got him to play tug of war with her a couple times by holding his hand around a tug rope. He really was focused on her.
I'm not sure if I should start another blog for the new baby, or just combine them. It would make it easier if I combined them, but I think I'm going to print all this stuff up soon to add to the baby book.

I found the camera!

2009-04-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Jumping the gun!

2009-04-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so someone said James was 6 months old--a couple of weeks ago. And for some reason I believed them! I've been a little disappointed with his lack of development (ie just starting to roll over). Last night Jason and I sat down and recounted the months and realized he is 5 and a half months! He just turned 5 months when I started telling people he was 6 months. Jeeze. I feel stupid.He doesn't turn 6 months until May 6th. Of ocurse, it gets a little kooky when you count weeks and he just turned 24 weeks.
But for some reason I correctly counted the distance between James and his little sibling. Pregnancy brain again?
So James is sick again, but just with the fever and the mucous and body aches. He kept holding his breath last night, not for long, but it seemed when the pain would start.
I was so excited that I waited until James was six months before I gave him food. FAIL!

Sick again?

2009-04-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

James has apparently gotten sick again. I thought his raised fever was from of two things--being out in the sun (i get feverish from sunlight), or from teething. But then on Monday night he started getting mucousy. Not really stuffy, just a lot of muck in his throat. LOL! When I switched him from laying on one side to another he started to gag.
He keeps getting feverish, and then it goes away. I'm wondering about fifths disease because I woke up one night and he had bright red cheeks and body. It didn't cross my mind at the time, I just thought he was way too hot.
I was too concerned at first because he didn't show any real crankiness or lack of appetite. But he steadily got crankier since monday.
But it says fifths disease only usually affects children 5 and up, and theres nothing about babies.
And then again it might be allergies. Weird

Half a year!

2009-04-05T08:27:00.001-07:00

Jason and I both noticed this new trend in our lives--time started to fly by at light speed when James was born. He is, today, a whole 6 months old. He'll be a year old in 6 more months! Spring is here, the weather is warming up all of a sudden, and James is growing up so fast! How do we stop it?!
He's flip-flopping back and forth now for the heck of it. Sometimes he's trying to put his legs under him, but he ends up digging his face into the floor. lol!
Yesterday we went for ice cream, and tried to mimic us eat it. I let him lick the cone at first, then I got curious and let him have some ice cream. He dug right in, licking it like crazy and when I would try to pull it back he would wave his arms like crazy and grab my wrist and jerk my hand back down to mouth. He really loves ice cream. He had a two second fit when I took it away for good, but that ended pretty quickly.
I guess I should start getting some food for him to eat on. He didn't stop nursing last night, so I think it's fulfilling his nutritional needs like it used to. Hmm...Babyfood...

2009-03-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

So, we went to Grandpa and Grandma's last night. We brought Pepper. Mary was holding him and I was throwing a frog toy for Pepper to fetch. And every time she moved, James would start laughing at her. It was funny. He loved watching Pepper run back and forth. He really liked it when she would twitch when I pretended to throw the toy.
Before that Mary, James and I explored the property. James liked the walk. I'm guessing Mary's arm is going to kill her today.
Right now he is napping, with Pepper curled up at his feet. How sweet.
He did not sleep by himself last night. Refused to stay in his bed longer than an hour. Made me mad. Okay, not really mad, but disappointed.

Finally!

2009-03-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

I put James in his bed at almost 11 last night, and he did not wake up until 4. When he did wake up, he was talking and scooting around. I checked his diaper, which was really full, went to go get a diaper and when I came back he was asleep. So I had to wake him up to change his diaper so he wouldn't get itchy. He was only awake for two minutes, I put him back and he slept until 7:30! WOOT! Will this happen again tonight? Who knows!
Unfortunately, I'm still attuned to getting up so often.

Updates?

2009-03-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

James is becoming more active and attempting to control his own movements. Lately, he's taken to grabbing my hand at night while he's nursing and caressing his face gently with it. It is heart melting to have baby grab your hand and use it to make their faces feel good. It seemed so familiar, I know one of the younger kids in my family probably did it when they were babies. More than likely, it was April because I would sleep next to her.
Anyways, it felt good to feel that relaxation.
James has taken to spitting up more. He eats fewer times a day and gets really mad if I try and make him eat. He naps once or twice a day. He sleeps more in a crib, but still spends few hours a night off and on in the bed. That's where he does most his eating. I think he gets really distracted during the day, so even when he's hungry, he'll only eat for a few minutes before wanting to do something else.
He's trying to turn over more. He does try to go other places. He will start to throw himself toward the person he wants to hold him.
He's also taken to petting Pepper. She is generally close by and he likes touching her. Grabbing her skin gives me an opportunity to teach him gentle touching. Today James was on my lap and Pepper ran up and stood on my knee. James threw himself forward and started grabbing her. She is a good dog. Operation "Best friends" has already commenced!
James is exploring with his hands and mouth now, as well. When he feels something interesting, he starts scratching it. The boppy pillow, my knee and hand, Mary's coat, Jason's shirts. It's really funny, but it can hurt.
We got his pro pictures back! When the monitor for the other computer stops irritating me long enough, I'll try to scan them in and show 'em off.
James loves playing with the piano. He starts trying to mimic Jason when he's playing, by throwing his arms up and down to bang on the keys.
He's also learned and learning to grab things and manipulate them to get to his mouth.
I lost his ball, so she hasn't been able to work so much with his feet.
James is between diaper sizes. Not quite big enough for 3s, too big for 2s.
Tomorrow he will be 19 weeks.

2009-03-08T17:59:00.001-07:00

Back to bed!

2009-02-23T12:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, for the past three nights, James has been put back into his bed. The first night I got him out every hour to feed him. That's all I remember. And he didn't stay in there the whole night, but the memory is fuzzy. Just like all the rest.
The second night I didn'tgethim out till 3, after he'd been crying for a straight hour. He was really hungry, hadn't had anything in more than 5 hours. You could hear the milk filling his belly up, but he was so tired from crying heonly ate for a few minutes before falling back to sleep so deep I was changing his diaper and moving him aorund and he wasn't stirring. Needless to say, his hunger woke him up at 4, so I fed him the rest of the night.
Last night he was best. He only whimpered every couple of hours so I would feed him and put him back. Exciting. Now he's going to be too big for his basinet! NOOO!
Lately, James has been trying to use consinents, a t, g, m, b, j. He snorts alot when he's talking, and he likes to talk more when Jason is home. Jason played with the piano and was letting James hit the keys, which James liked.
I'm teaching him body parts; eyes, ears, mouth, hands, belly, and toes. I point at mine and say the word, point at his and say the word, then make him touch them himself and repeat the words again. I've been doing this since he was three weeks old, but stopped for a little while. After I intoduced toes yesterday, he started grabbing them! So cute!
I think we are going to either make our own "reading program" or we might buy the 'Your Baby Can Read" thing. I gotta make flashcards, thought, and that will be fun. Ha.
Anyways, I'm also going through the sounds of the alphabet, too. He watches me do it, it's pretty funny, cause I'm just making noise, but he's completely awed by it. He even smiles at it a lot.

Sizes and play

2009-02-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

James has been able to fit into his clothes sized for six months! WOW! He is getting so big so fast.
We bought him a bouncy chair that he likes. He can't touch the ground in it yet, so I put a wii fit board under it so he can. It has some flashing lights, some music, little animals on it. I found out he actually likes it while I was setting it up to put him in it while I was holding him. I changed my mind and started to walk away from it and he started crying. So I looked at him and started walking toward it slowly. He stopped crying and started staring at the chair. So I put him in it and he just sat there staring at the lights. LOL!
Another thing he loves ot play with is a blow up ball with a strong in it made for another toy. I sit him in his car seat and hand him the ball and he grabs it with his hands and feet and tries to eat it. It's pretty cute.
My favorite thing he does to date is when I'm changing his clothes or diaper and he start grabbing my arms and hands with his feet. It's really cute.
Right now I have him in his carseat, playing with his la-maze moose. He's learning to grab it better and make it rattle, but right now he's grabbing his other hand grunting and staring at the moose like he can't get his hand to go that direction. The frustration!
Since he's been born, I feel like I've reverted back to these ages and learning stages myself, when I watch him, I can feel the frustration and the confusion as he learns coordination. I can even feel the familiar brain tingle that comes from learning new things with your body that are difficult.
Okay, he's really frustrated, I think I'll feed him.

2009-02-16T08:19:00.000-08:00

On Friday, Grandma Mary took us to get James his first professional pictures. He was not a happy camper. No smiles. Lots of whimpering, crying, and general discomfort, but the lady still managed to get some really cute ones of him.
We took him to the park yesterday when Jason went to play disc golf, he did really good for awhile. He liked the bouncing in his stroller.

2009-02-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

We got James a bouncy toy, because he loves to stand up. It's his favorite thing to do, to pull up into a standing position. Last week he started trying to sit up on his own. He hates being on his stomach, so he's doing this the hard way, trying to bypass the rolling over.
He smiles a lot, and laughs easier! Last night during Bible study I was making faces at him and he was laughing. His laughing makes me laugh.

pictures!

2009-02-02T07:57:00.000-08:00

My baldies!

"I'm a model, if you know what I mean."

A real cold and the circumcision

2009-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

So little James is sick with a cold. he's surprisingly easy going when he's awake. When he's really tired is when he gets cranky, cause he can't breath well. He sleeps better in the daytime when I have him in his car seat.
I think he has a sore throat cause I can tell he's hungry, but he tries to eat and can't. It usually takes him a bit longer to calm down and eat than usual, too.
Poor baby coughs so hard sometimes that he starts gagging. I got up at 4 to try and make him more comfortable. The snot sucker isn't working so well today, the mucous has moved down into his chest. Tonight we're going to use baby vaporub. We'll see how that goes. I put some nose drops in to rehydrate his snot-suckered nose. He didn't like that.
I think I'm also going to try and make him sleep in his car seat tonight, too.
So, Jason had made an appointment for February 5th for James to get circumcised, but a few days ago the doctor called and canceled, because the appointment should have been made in the first place. He doesn't do it after the first month, and if we still wanted it done we would have to call another specialist. I think that talked Jason out of it.
So James will get to make the choice later in life.

Two teeth?!

2009-01-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Two front teeth on the top are coming in. I can just barely feel them, and he's getting crankier and want to just gnaw on our fingers. He's sleeping pretty well, but around 5 this morning he just kept kicking and fussing, I think because of his teeth. He was trying to stay asleep. Poor little guy.
Still won't stay in his bassinet longer than an hour. I think because he's so gassy. I sleep with one knee propping his legs up, which keeps him happy. Maybe if I put a pillow under them at night he'll sleep on his own.

2009-01-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

So there was no cold, just the stickiest bougar I have ever seen. It clogged the snot snucker. Yuck.
And James appears to be teething already. He started drooling, and chewing on his fingers, and then on his pacifier and bottle, and our finger are munched on with expertise. Maybe he's just learning to chew and not teething. Who knows?

The first cold?

2009-01-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

Poor James is suffering from an overly-stuffy nose today. I think he caught Piper's cold. He was snorting all night, and eating has become more difficult. My boob wants to block his one good nostril, no matter the position. Maybe I'll just have to bottle feed him till this clears up. So sad. The little nose sucker thing isn't working, either. It's way in there!
Bryce was saying something about a nasal wash for Piper, and I felt so bad for her. I might have to do it for James, though, if this gets worse.
I'll be putting up more pictures when I move the dog crate out from under the computer desk so I can plug int he camera for picture transfer.

Oooo

2009-01-15T12:06:00.001-08:00

So james laughed for the first time just a few minutes ago! It was so CUTE! We were playing patty-cake, and I was rubbing his hands on his belly. He LOVES it! So I called Jason and when the phone was answered, I immediately told him that James laughed for the first time!
And then the guy says "Well it's too bad Jason didn't get to hear that!" And I first thought it was Steve, but Steve didn't sound like Steve, until it clicked that it actually sounded like Kin, and it was. I forgot Jason was going to be in Salem today. So then Jason felt a little bad when he got the phone back. LOL!

Babysitters, Nicknames and circumcision

2009-01-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

James has been babysat 3 times now. First by Grandma Lauri while we ran to the store in the snow storm, second by Aunt Shawna while we did our Christmas shopping in town during the snow storm, and third by Grandma Mary and Grandpa Wiseman while Daddy and Mommy went on a date.
His nicknames are: Fat Face, Fatso, Chubsy, Milk Breath, Milk Face, Jamesey, Jamesey Boy, Jamie (Jason hates it when I call him that), Jimmy Bo-Bob, Little James, Mr. James (Grandma Mary's favorite, I think), and James the Giant.
We really do know that James is not a fat baby, but I like to call him all these fat names because it makes fun of his double chin and rapid growth.
Jason is now considering NOT circumsizing James. He made the appointment and then the next day his boss told him that uncircumsized men have better sex. It may be a little weird trying to make decisions on your infant son's future sex-life, but I really think it should be considered in the face that religiously, we don't have to circumsize anymore.
I told him that the foreskin makes a penis more sensetive (No, did not know this first-hand, I came across it when I was trying to figure out how circumsicion works) but I think he thought I was lying to stop the circumsicion.
I will just teach James all his life that if he doesn't clean his pee pee, it will fall off. And then he'll have a deathly fear of having his penis fall off, all his life. I think that's a healthy fear, don't you?

First, second and third Doc's visits, and the sleeping pattern

2009-01-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

James was born in his Aunt Shawna's house. He was weighed and measured and checke dout for all his fingers and toes. He had his first checkup the next day, at Aunt Shawna's, and then a few days later, where he was weighed again, and a PKU test was done. We didn't have to get him any shots, or have any tests done because we, his parents, knew for a fact we didn't have any sexually transmitted diseases (which was nice). No icky eye-gook for James!
He weighed 7 lbs 4 oz. at this second checkup.
At his Two week checkup he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz. Our son the weed.
At this last check p, which was late due to being snowed in--at two months (January 6th, 2009) he weighed just over 12 lbs. and is approx. 24 inches long.
He has grown out of his newborn clothes pretty much completely, and moved into the 3 month old clothes. Which means mommy is going to make an even bigger mess trying to sort the clothes again.
Sleeping arrangements: From the time he was born, he slept in the same bed, until December 3rd, when I put him in his bassinet. That went well for a couple of weeks, then he started fussing about it and refusing to sleep there. Now he goes back and forth. He will sleep there for about an hour or so and then wake up and refuse to stay in there any longer.
Bed time become frustrating, as when he gets tired he's decided to be a brat and stay awake as long as he can fight off sleep--by crying for an hour or two before anp/bed time. The little turd.
After the initial wake up in the morning or grunting and kicking and fussing over farting, he become very happy, smiling at us and playing.
His sleeping pattern became really solid a week ago, and then th day before yesterday started changing again. he was from sleeping all ngiht with two or three feedings/diaper changes, waking up at about 6:30, falling asleep at 10, waking up at 2, falling asleep at 4, an waking up at about 6, with a couple itty bitty naps afterward. Then he started getting cranky about 9, fell asleep between 9:30 and ten. Now he doesn't stay asleep as long. A couple hours asleep here, an hour or so awake, another couple hours asleep, awake another couple of hours, sleeps for thirty minutes off and on after that. That's the last couple of days.
During the day he naps the best in his carseat, or the swing. If I were to just put him on the bed or in his bed, he'd wak eup immediately.

The Birthday!

2009-01-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

My first contractions started: 12:30 AM November 5th, 2008

Born: 12:27 PM November 5th, 2008

Gender: Male

Eye color at birth: Dark Green

Skin Color: Blue, which quickly turn red

Hair Color: Brown

Weight: 7 lbs even

Height: 20 Inches even

Head: 36 CM

Mommy's First reaction: Upon seeing his head I was shocked. It was such a big face! I quickly thought "How big is the rest of him!" before pushing him out all the way. He was much bigger than I imagined my baby would be.

Daddy's first reaction: "you were blue, I thought that was weird. Still the proudest moment of my life." (Quote from Jason Wiseman, Baby Book)

Baby's first response: A cry for a few seconds, then slapped onto mommy's chest. When I turned him right side up, he immediatley stopped crying and looked up at my face, and then Jason's. He looked confused. LOL!

People Present: Midwife for Joy, Midwife for James, Midwife in training. Daddy, Grandmas Lauri and Mary, sisters Shawna and Lanelle, and friend Becky. Grandpa Jim and Uncle Robert were downstairs with cousins Austin, Alyssa, Ethan and Lily.

Memorable Moments: The puking pumpkin, the bright colors of the My Little Pony poster (it was kind of soothing in a blinding way), my water breaking like a waterfall, and when I saw his head start to come out in the mirror, and got to touch the slimy little guy.
Then I was sowed up (8 stitches, thank goodness, no outer tearing), and we got Him to latch within a couple of minutes (delay was my fault and midwife was showing me how to get you to take the breast best). He was a natural born eater.

The Baby Blog!

2009-01-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have a baby book, but I decided to start a Baby Blog. Let's take Baby books into this century. It won't always be around, so I better use it now. Instead of posting about James on my blog, he gets his own! Pictures, maybe some slideshows, polls, I dunno. The possibilities are Endless!