Not Slowing Down

Man, is our boy busy and he is only getting busier! He is on the move and gets faster each day. He's crawling like a champ and pulling up on anything and everything in sight. The other night he took it upon himself to crawl over to me, pull up and stand next to my legs, and then proceeded to stand up and LET GO! He didn't stand long before be fell onto his buns. But, seriously, is this normal?!!? He's at the ripe age of 7 months! He is clearly not slowing down and I am only assuming he is going to be an early walker. John and I keep talking about how we need to get a baby gate and I fear our days are limited at this point before we cannot keep up with our busy boy any longer.

My sweet, James....won't you please stop growing so fast?! Your first year is passing so quickly and we are trying to soak up all of these little moments as fast we we can.

Happy 7 Months!

My sweet James, you are 7 months old today! How can that be? I know I say it every month, but time is seriously flying and you are suddenly turning into this little active human. Some things about you right now....

You've started to become more vocal over this last month. You are babbling, screeching, laughing, etc. I swear even a few times I've heard you say momma as you are crying out for me. Totally melts me!
When we go to walk over to you to pick you up, either off the floor, in your crib, or in your exersaucer, you have started to put your arms up and reach for us. I find this particularly adorable. There are times when you have even crawled over to me, sat up, and then held your arms up in anticipation for me to pick you up. Love it!
Speaking of crawling, you are picking up speed and you are FAST! We really, really need to buy a baby jail because we can no longer leave you playing quietly on the floor as we make a quick run to the bathroom or run to get something from another room. Once you are on the floor you are exploring the room and likely on a mission for some power cords of some sort. I also need to get out those outlet covers that I have had stashed away and get them in place. I'm convinced you'll be an early walker and this scares me.
You are eating more solid foods, usually eating a fruit and veggie at school and some meat/veggie/fruit combo in the evening. You're slowly getting the hang of your sippy cup with a little water, love eating mum mums, and still think it's fun to wash down your food by sucking your thumb. :) You are still a rockstar at breastfeeding! You'll still nurse in the morning and before bed and take anywhere from 22-24oz at school. Little piglet! :) We are so thankful you are a good eater so far. I will admit that each month you get older I think about how weaning you is getting closer and it honestly hurts my heart to even think about. Even with the challenges of breastfeeding, I am so glad I have done it this long as it is our special time to bond and snuggle.
According to your visit at the pediatrician's office last weekend (darn ear infection and pink eye!) you weighed in at 18lbs 11oz. That is a whole 1 lb weight gain from 3 weeks ago at your 6 month check up.

I simply cannot believe you are already 7 months. These have been the happiest, hardest, funnest months of our lives and we are so blessed that you are ours!! It's so fun to watch you grow up and explore all of the things around you. I pray that you continue to be a happy and healthy baby.

We love you to pieces sweet boy!

Sickness Strikes Again

Poor James. Just when we think we're in the clear from the winter illnesses, pink eye and an ear infection strike. I had picked him up from daycare last Thursday after work and noticed that he had a little bit of green-tinged eye drainage. My first though was of course pink eye, but the whites of his eyes were not red. His teacher at school had relayed a few weeks ago that pink eye was going around in the class but, I hadn't seen him display any symptoms so I thought we were in the clear. Friday morning I noticed more drainage, but he was happy, eating fine, no fever and once I wiped away the drainage nothing returned. So, off to school he went. The saga continued Friday evening and at that point I was prepared to take him in on Saturday.

We saw one of the pediatrician's on Saturday morning and he was instantly diagnosed with a double ear infection. Poor baby!! He was still happy as can be and you would have never guessed that he was sick. We started amoxicillin right away and went home to snuggle, which we did a lot of the rest of the weekend.

He's been doing pretty good majority of the week, although he started his nagging cough again over the last 24/48 hours. Poor guy is miserable and can't catch a break. I called the pediatrician's office again this morning to which she wanted us to re-start the breathing treatments and bring him in tomorrow if the cough continues. Funny part in all of this is that I had taken PTO tomorrow with the intention of taking James to daycare so that I could unpack, clean, and organize the new house with little interruption (oh, and we're also getting a new dishwasher delivered- yay!). Isn't it funny how things work out? Obviously James is the #1 priority as we just want him to feel better.

Praying that our sweet boy is on the mend soon!

To My Son On My First Mother's Day

Dear James,

Today was the first Mother's Day that I got to celebrate with you! As I sit here trying to type about our day, I am starting to become flooded with tears. Tears of joy that is. What an honor it is to be your momma! I knew the moment that I met you that life was going to be an adventure. You have brought so much joy into my life in the past 6 1/2  months. More joy than I can even begin to describe.

Motherhood is- Fun. Hard. Tiring. Spontaneous. Unpredictable. Emotional. Exciting. So many emotions all rolled into one. You are by far my greatest adventure in life! No day is the same with you. I, as your mother, am not fond of change. Yet, I look forward to all of the change that you bring me on a daily basis.

I have loved watching you grow, explore, laugh, cry, crawl, and try to learn new things over these last 6 months. I knew motherhood would be amazing....but you have simply blown my expectations out of the water.

I love you son. More than you will ever know. And today, and every day, I am so proud to be your mother!

I love you to the moon and back!

Mommy

Mother's Day- 2016

Mother's Day 2015- 17 weeks pregnant

April's End

 

April came and went in a flash. It was a total blur between the move, John's birthday, work, John's travel schedule, and me going away for a girls weekend amidst the chaos. But, as usual, we survived. Here is a re-cap of some of the events from the end of the month.

 

 

We celebrated Daddy turning the BIG 3-0 on the 26th! It was a low key evening spent having dinner as a family at our new favorite spot in Brookside, Bella Napoli. We both enjoyed a lovely dinner and a nice bottle of wine, while James was either content with a bottle or mum-mums.



 

 

 

James has also taken it upon himself to start pulling up on furniture, people, etc. I could not believe my eyes when one evening he decided to greet me in the chair by pulling these shenanigans.

 

"I think I can, I think I can..."

"Almost there!"

"Tah- dah!!"- As you can probably tell from my expression, I could not believe it!



Then, James thought it would be fun to crawl over to the steps in the den and pull up on those too! 

 

 

 

 

 

 And the fun continued in his crib...more standing and he is oh so proud! :)

 

"Look mom, I can do it!"

"Hellooooo."

"Peek-a-boo!"

 

 

 

James also enjoyed his first Royals game! He did great and enjoyed watching all of the people and excitement around him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last weekend in April, we took a quick 24 hour trip to Grammy and Grandad's to load up the guest bed for the new house. James did not suffer from lack of attention one bit! :)

 

 

I love this picture.

 

Grabbing an afternoon nap with Grandad.

 

Taking a dip in the kitchen sink during bathtime!

 

Having fun with Grammy!

 

 

And then we ended April with more standing! Sheesh kid, SLOW DOWN! :)