The Party is O-ver

It seems earlier than ever this year, but school is officially back in session. We had such a fantastic summer! I was able to be with James every day for over 2 months and Brian had 5 straight weeks too. We were busy! James learned how to swim! He took 6 weeks of ISR (Infant Swim Resource) lessons and can now swim underwater with his eyes open to a ladder, hand or any other target. When he needs air, he has learned to float up on his back to relax and regain energy, and when he's ready he can turn back over and continue to swim! It is absolutely amazing! There were some tears along the way, but now James is a confident yet cautious swimmer. He will no enter a pool unless "invited" by an adult.

We had a fun trip to Houghton Lake, Michigan for the fourth of July with the Rich family at their beautiful lake house. James had his first real experience with big fireworks. See the picture below for his reaction. Let's just say he is not a fan! We spent tons of time with friends and family up there and lots of relaxation was had by all!

James had a great second birthday with all his friends and family by his side. His cake was Cars themed. He saw the movie Cars 2 with Nonie and Papa Rich and Aunt Sarah. He loved it! During the movie he jumped up and said, "OH NO!" loudly when the cars crashed. He sat and watched the whole movie! He takes after Brian and I...we love movies too!

What else???? Well, I can officially announce now that I am pregnant! That's right, baby Rich number 2 is on the way! I'm 14 weeks pregnant and due February 16th. James is going to need to become a big boy fast! Unfortunately, he has no interest whatsoever in potty training so the diapers remain! We are starting to get furniture together for his "big boy" room. I'm thinking a Zoo theme would be fun! We will be finding out the gender in a month or so! I can't wait! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a girl, but I have a feeling it's another boy due to the fact that my pregnancy is almost identical to how James' was. We'll see! I feel great and have tons more energy than I did earlier this summer. No morning sickness or weird cravings. My belly certainly isn't taking it's time to pop out! I guess that's the way it goes once your stomach muscles are pretty much gone! Ha ha!

Here's some pics of James:


Cars themed birthday cake! James loves Mater, the tow truck.
James dug right into his cake this year. He was on a major sugar high!
First Cardinals game thanks to DJ Reyburn. It's good to know a major league umpire! James loves his friend, "D".
Driving the boat at Houghton Lake with Noni Rich.
This is James' reaction to the first big fire work of the night. He cried for the next few minutes.
James with his good friend Macy Leitz at the Leitz Family Cottage.
This was Brian's life vest when he was a baby.
And this was Brian's rocking horse too. Noni Rich saves everything! James also slept in the crib that belonged to Brian and ate at the original wooden high chair. They don't make them like they used to!
James with Audrey Menees! She is too cute!
On our trip home from Michigan we stopped in Indianapolis to see the Everheart Family at their gorgeous new home. James had fun with Adrie in the wagon and in their pool.

Summer Time and the Livin's Easy

James playing the harmonica at Sam A. Baker State Park. He was actually pretty good!
I want "YOU!!!" Having a good time in the kiddie pool.

James loved our close family friend, Kim Doi!
Hunter S. Thompson a.k.a. James
With a little imagination, anything can become a bridge or a highway.
Happy Father's Day!
Happy Father's Day to you, Papa!
Helping daddy assemble the train table, a.k.a. "the babysitter." James will literally play with it for hours.
Memorial Day weekend at GG Shirley's pool.
2 little bears sitting on chairs.
Clowning around!

We're Still Here!!!

Wow! We have been out of the loop for a long time! Things are finally starting to settle down. We've had a very busy year, but that is no excuse for not posting to our blog for almost 4 months! So what's new??? Here's a few photos of what's been going on. James is such a big boy now. He has been eating so well since he had his tubes put in, and the ear infections are gone! He's happy, healthy, and has quite the sense of humor. Here he is at dinner tonight playing peek-a-boo.

The boy LOVES trains! We went to the Museum of Transportation on a beautiful Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago. James was in heaven! The place is super cool. There are tons of really old trains that you can climb on and inside even. James loves walking on the tracks.
He would have spent the entire weekend there if he could!
Waiting for trains at the Kirkwood Train Station on Mother's Day.
He looks like he's part of a traveling circus.

Waiting for trains with Papa Dan at the Kirkwood Train Station on Mother's Day.
Awww. It was a great Mother's Day!
A really cool old train at the Museum of Transportation.
His body fit so snuggly in that little crevice.
James also loves planes. Planes, trains, automobiles. He is such a boy! Striking a pose with Daddy!

Promise to see you soon!

1.5 Years Old

He looks so big compared to his first months in this chair! Check out his first month pic.
This Friday we will be getting James his 4th big boy haircut. He has so much thick, blonde hair.
This winter has been pretty snowy for Missouri. We've had a little fun in the snow, but I feel like the majority of the time is spent getting ready to go out in the snow. It's usually 20 minutes of getting dressed for 10 minutes outside. Not only has it been snowy, it's been bitterly cold. Needless to say we have some pretty serious cabin fever around here!
GG Shirley gave James this mini guitar at Christmas. It plays Elvis' song, "Blue Christmas." James loves music and especially loves the color blue. Lately he's been pointing to anything blue "boo" in the room. He can also identify red and yellow. We've been working on letters too. He can say "K, M, J, E, and D."


We are having so much fun with our little guy. He has quite the personality. He's happy, growing, eating well, healthy, sleeping well and just at a really easy, fun age. The bears in this video were won by Grammy Sandy Rich in a karaoke contest. James (obviously) loves them. I recently bought the little potty for James to start getting used to seeing around. I'm not sure when we'll actually use it though. That's going to be a whole new chapter!

James gets tubes put into his ears to hopefully help with ear infections on Feb. 9. It's crazy because he's been perfectly fine for so long that I feel like we shouldn't go through with it. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before gets another one. He's had 4 this season!

First Santa Visit

We were worried when we approached big ole' Santa at Plaza Frontenac that James would cry, but to our surprise he took to him very quickly. In fact, he got so comfortable on Santa's lap that we thought James might take a little nap. I framed this picture in our house and every time James sees it he says, "ho, ho, ho!"

Turning Corners

James and Pa Pa Rich hanging out. Bill and Sandy came down from MI to spend Turkey Day with us. James had so much fun with them and aunt Sarah from L.A. He was really sad when everyone left. He kept walking around the house saying, "Pa Pa?"
Quick messy face pic with mommy.
Feeling good and pigging out! James ate more today than he has in the past week!
Future quarterback???
Touchdown!
Oh, the things you get away with when you're sick.
You'll never get me, copper! Mini mobster!

Poor James has been super cranky, congested, finicky about food and just generally miserable for so long that I couldn't even remember what my happy little baby used to be like. He was diagnosed with an ear infection over 2 weeks ago, and after the first antibiotic did nothing, the doctor prescribed a stronger dose. Twice this week he was sound asleep by 5 p.m. and slept until 7:30 the next day! But then, all of a sudden he woke up happy, healthy and all the sickness was gone! Today I got a call from the babysitter saying that he had yellow puss coming out of his ear. Gross! I took him in and it turns out that his ear drum had burst and the fluids were coming out. The doctor said that the relief of pressure behind the ear drum would explain his sudden mood change. He's like a new person. And tonight for the first time in literally MONTHS he ate dinner. In fact, he ate breakfast, lunch, dinner and several snacks, lots of milk! For the longest time he's been living on practically nothing but milk, an occasional banana and goldfish. He was even starting to look gaunt and his color looked weird. I guess that built up ear infection took a major toll on his well being. But now...he's back! I'm soooooooooooo relieved.

Updates:

• James now has around 20 words and sometimes he puts two words together (uh oh baby!) (he also says: mommy, daddy, kitty, football, ball, woof, moo, shoes, papa, see, car, hoo hoo, owl, key, hi, cracker, mi mi, bye bye)
• He can sign the following (help, more, sleepy, drink, eat)
• He can also blow a kiss, dance and locate his head, nose, feet, hands, belly and hair)
• He weighs 18.8 pounds (hopefully he'll start gaining more now that he's better)
• He sleeps 11-11.5 hours through the night (usually 7:30 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.)
• He takes a 2 - 2.5 hour nap
• He loves books and will sit and listen intently for as long as we feel like reading
• Sometimes he'll sit and "read" his books alone
  
• He absolutely loves football! Anytime we're around a tv with football on he will yell football, and sometimes he begs me to turn it on by pointing at the tv and saying football.
  
• He's getting really good at puzzles.
  
• He can run now and loves to be chased in circles around the house or play peek-a-boo
• He will sit and watch a dvd when mom needs to get ready for work or cook dinner

Zombies and Firefighters

Once again, a huge group of friends and family headed down to the beautiful Sam A. Baker State Park for our annual Halloween getaway. Since this was probably the last year that we won't have issues with James wanting to go trick-or-treating, we were in the clear. It was a beautiful weekend full of hiking, laughing, eating, bonfires, and of course the murder mystery tradition. This year's murder mystery was "zombie" themed. It was hilarious! 18 of us got all done up it pretty scary zombie gear. James was close to bedtime that night, but he got a good glimpse of all of us right before bed. I just found out that 15 months is the usual age that kids can start having nightmares! Oh no! The zombie thing might be what has been waking him up the last few nights in a row yelling for "mommy!!" We were going to stay Sunday night at Sam A. Baker, but I was beat and Brian couldn't stay so we decided to head home as a family for our first Halloween in our new house. We were a little underwhelmed by the small amount of trick-or-treaters. Once again I bought WAY too much candy for the turnout. James was pretty excited to see the kids coming to the door. He wouldn't leave the door for a while in hopes of seeing another one. Finally, James had to go to bed so Brian and I waited up for more kids to come to our door. We finally had a "rush" of them around 8:00 p.m. Brian was impressed by the St. Louis tradition of having to tell a joke or do an actual treat to get candy. Apparently, in Michigan people just give the candy out without forcing young children to perform first. I think it's a nice justification for free candy! James will need to start working on his ghost jokes for next year. Now... on to the holiday season! There's a lot to look forward to!