created especially for us: Finally A Real Update

I'm going to attempt to keep this concise, but I make no promises. I have so much going on in my head these days that I'm almost tempted to make a separate blog for it and then I remind myself that it's just another thing for me to get behind on. Soo here goes:

May and June flew by in a whirl of sand volleyball games, visits to IL and MN, taking walks with Callie and J, and lots of rain. We ushered in July with the deaths of both of Brian's grandpas which wasn't unexpected but not any less sad or hard. The passing of them so close to each other gave us the opportunity to see and spend time with a lot of family and for that we are very thankful. It sort of turned into an unplanned vacation as we were able to stay with his parents for over a week. It was a treat even for Callie since their fenced backyard is a playground for a lot of squirrels and birds, plus they have an above-ground pool, and even chickens! If you could imagine what heaven is like for dogs, that would probably be it. Callie was actually depressed for a few days after we got home. It probably didn't help that we didn't get any rain while we were away and the now yellowy-straw color to the lawn is a constant reminder of how much more boring our yard is in comparison.

In these past few months, James's personality has really begun to shine and it still amazes me how happy he is ALL. THE. TIME. He will be 11 months old on the 30th. Here's what's been going on:

Crawling/Climbing/Walking?: James pulls himself to standing on basically everything, and walks around anything he is able, e.g. tables, chairs, furniture, etc. His favorite place to go is the stairs where he can climb those babies at a shockingly fast pace, and even more so if he knows I'm going to pick him up. He is SO fast at crawling, and knows it, and therefore doesn't seem to have a huge interest in walking yet. Why walk when I can get there faster by crawling? We continue to encourage him in it, so we'll see what happens. I know it's going to be just like everything else, he'll try it and have it mastered within 24 hours.

Eating: Aside from being sick, James has become a fabulous eater. So many times I put food down in front of him and turn back what feels like 30 seconds later and his tray is empty! He gobbles up most things put in front of him but that boy sure loves his meat, particularly chicken. Which is a good thing because we eat a lot of that around here.

Facial expressions: Within the last month or so James has become VERY expressive in his facial expressions. His eyes get big, he raises his does silly things with his eyebrows, he gives big open mouth smiles, I could really go on and on. He's always smiling. Last week when James was sick and pretty fussy (very uncharacteristic for him) I chanced a quick trip to Target to get some groceries and two random strangers commented on what a happy baby he was. Of all the days.

Sleeping: James is still not a good nighttime sleeper. He usually takes two good naps each day, but he's still waking up at night. Each time he starts getting better something disrupts it. Most recently was our "vacation" and then getting sick. Over two weeks of bad sleeping = zombie mama. Thankfully he's just finally starting to sleep a little better. Just in time for us to travel again in a couple weeks and mess it up again.

Imitation: James can mimic a few words (mainly "dada" or "hi dada") but has yet to really put meaning behind any of it. The character of the noises he "says" is changing and you can tell he's getting close to really talking. He can also mimic facial expressions or motions which typically end in a lot of laughing by both him and us. He also loves to wave and point at things. On Sunday he was standing holding onto a kitchen chair and accidentally hit his face on it and started crying. I picked him up and held him and as he was crying he pointed over at my stepdad as if it was his fault. We all started laughing and the crying ended pretty quickly.

Playing: He loves silly interactive play, particularly being chased. He has his own ways of asking you to play with him, too. A couple days ago he was climbing up the steps and I was nearby but not looking directly at him. I looked over to see him reaching through the banister posts in my direction trying to get my attention. When I did, he gave me a big smile and I said, "I'm going to get you!" and he gave a little giggle of excitement and tried to race up the stairs before I could catch him. He is in such a fun stage right now, even if it can get tiresome chasing after him all the time.

In my last post there was a quick little blurb about potentially figuring out what I wanted to do for a job that would also allow me to stay home with James. I've taken a few steps toward making that happen but I'm still not quite ready to share it yet. I am very excited about it and I'm looking forward to sharing it with everyone when I feel ready to do so. Continue to stay tuned for that!

I am planning on writing a few follow up posts to this one detailing a few events that have happened recently, but it would be too much to add here. So I think that is all for now and hopefully I can get back on some kind of reliable schedule with keeping this updated. Pictures from our "vacation" will be in a forthcoming post.

Munchin' on an apple slice

Teasing Callie with it.

Buddies ♥

Hi!

We were on a walk (in May) and among all these friendly little cumulus clouds was this guy. Little did I know that later that day we would see this: