10 Months

Where is the time going? James is fast approaching one year, and he is a very active little dude. At his most recent doctor appointment he weighed a little over 17 pounds and is 28 inches long. He's a little guy...4th percentile in weight and 41st in height. He has begun to pull up on everything and can cruise around the house pretty well on furniture. He gets himself hurt every now and then. Poor guy has had some falls. Tonight he took a little spill in the bath tub because he insists on standing in there too. Fortunately he wasn't hurt! It scared me though! The true test is going to be successfully packing up our house and moving to the new place. Our closing date is June 8. I wish we could have moved before he was mobile. Luckily, he's very fond of hanging out inside cardboard boxes. He might have to spend some time playing in a few to keep him occupied. School is out this Friday and teachers at my school have to come back next Tuesday, but then we are DONE! Unfortunately, I have to complete a month long internship during the month of June to complete my masters in reading. We are looking forward to July! James' first birthday, a new house, vacation, a new pool, and seeing friends and family. It's going to be busy, but fun.

9 Month Wiggles

Well, everyone told me to enjoy the time when James was immobile and would sit endlessly in one place playing while I emptied the dishwasher, checked my email, did laundry, etc. Those days are officially OVER! he is a man on the move and boy can he move fast! The crawling officially started about 3 weeks ago. It was a little rough at first, but he's definitely mastered the crawl. Now he zooms straight over to the most dangerous item in the room. (What is with babies and being attracted to danger!?!) I need to get this house baby-proofed even better, but I feel it's irrelevant because we are under contract! Yup, we will soon be moving to a new house that we just put a contract on ourselves. The new place is a sprawling ranch with a really open floor plan, lots of big windows, and the icing on the cake--it has an in-ground saltwater pool! We will need to get James some swim lessons soon. Our closing date is June 8. There is so much to be done between now and then...my head is spinning. James is so active now that I'm really wondering how I'll manage to pack up our entire lives and successfully unpack it without him getting into trouble. These days I put one knee on top of him for diaper changes, otherwise he's rolled over and off. Here are some 9 month updates:
- 6 teeth (2 bottom, 4 coming in on top)
- Claps hands and waves bye bye
- Crawls, pivets, sits up, turns
- Can walk with a rolling walker
- Today pulled up into standing position
- Sleeps through night still with one long nap and one short nap
- Had first ear infection (up every 20-30 minutes all night screaming!!)
- Loves books and laughs out loud at pictures
- Weighs 16 pounds
- Says, "da da" "ma ma" "ki ki" (cat) and definitely knows other words just can't say them yet
- Laugh sounds like a really rusty door opening (you just have to hear it!)
- Super thick head full of blonde hair
- Eyes turning hazel

California Baby

The Elite 8 Months

We have had some big firsts here lately for Mr. James. He took his first plane ride with my sis and I to visit Sarah Rich in L.A. Our flight was not too bad even though he never really slept. We couldn't have asked for better weather while we were there. It was 80 degrees and super sunny the whole time. James got in the roof-top pool at Aunt Sarah's downtown loft. We rented bikes and headed out to Marina Del Rey for an afternoon with Kristyn. James loved rolling around the board walk near Santa Monica Pier. He even experienced his first earthquake. That happened at about 4 a.m. and was a 4.4 magnitude. No damage, but definitely shook the bed and the loft a bit. I wouldn't say that it was scary, but I was super nervous that it was the "small" one before the huge earthquake. Luckily that never happened! Brian was on spring break this week, but he left for 5 days for his grandpa's funeral and to spend some time with his family. It's good to have him.

Other updates include:
- 2 top teeth have surfaced
- We finally stopped swaddling at bedtime this week (going well!)
- Eating all sorts of foods (avocado, tofu, peaches, bananas, peas, carrots, etc) he loves it all
- New favorite past time is walking with our help. He cruises around the house this way and screams joyously the whole time
- Can now sort of clap...especially to patty cake
- Says "ki ki" for the cat, "mama mama" "dadada"

Oh, and the title of this blog entry is because MI STATE made it past the Elite 8 once again...and is heading to the Final Four!

The Pied Piper

We had to vacate our house this weekend for showings and the big open house that was today, so we headed out to my parent's place for the weekend. James had a blast playing with this recorder. He actually blew into it and sound came out! What can I say, he's advanced! (ha ha) We had a great open house. There were about 20 different people through and one person visited twice! Hopefully we get an offer soon! Now, the only question is, how did this weekend go by SO fast????

7 Month Itch

Getting James to sit still for his month photos is NOT easy!
Hopeless!
Well, this is the best I could do! So James had his 6th month visit (but he was actually a week away from being 7 months). He's growing up so fast:
- 15 lbs (4th percentile)
- 27 inches (52nd percentile)
- still 2 teeth
- says "ma ma ma"
- eats 2 solid meals a day (one fruit, one veggie)
- can sit all by himself
-just started getting into the hands and knees crawling position and rocks back and forth
-sleeping well (12 hours straight through and usually 2 naps)
-loves the door jumper
-laughs at nothing and screams out all the time
-can drink from a bottle and sippy cup all by himself!

Having Fun

Today we enjoyed our 3rd snow day of the winter. James has been so happy and cute lately. He really is starting to have a little personality. Right now he's totally obsessed with his tongue. He leaves it out most of the day and makes all sorts of funny noises with it. Recently he started saying "ma ma ma ma". I'd like to think he's talking about me, but I kinda doubt it. He can now sit up on his own, which has made play time more fun. Long gone are the days of hanging out laying around. He hates that! When I try to lay him down anywhere he immediately flips to his belly and gets into the upward facing dog yoga position. He's building up a lot of strength, and I think it's only a matter of a couple of weeks before he begins to crawl. Watch out! He's been super drooly lately so I think he might be getting ready for the next few teeth. His bottom ones are totally in now. The great news is that James is back to sleeping through the night! We had about a month and a half stretch where he was waking up once or twice every single night. I was getting very little rest and it finally caught up with me. I was really sick last week with a sinus infection. He's been sleeping really well for the past week or so. Knock on wood that he keeps that up. I think it was the bottom teeth coming in that made him fussy at night.

The other news around here is that Brian and I have decided to put our house on the market! We have been feeling a little restless here recently (probably due to all the long hours spent inside) but the market where we live is thriving and it seems like we can get a good bargain on a house. So for the past 2 weeks we've been cleaning, decluttering and taking care of fixing all problems around here. Our first open house is the week after next so we don't have much time. Hopefully we get a buyer soon...and for the price we are asking!