James - Three Months

This little stinker was three months old on Friday!

Well the biggest thing that happened for him this past month is that he survived Hurricane Harvey.  He was alive during the 800 year flood!  History, man!

He also already has a favorite color!  I know, he's very advanced.  It's red.  I know this because Eden and Ila told me so.  And now anytime we see anything red, Ila shouts, "LOOK!  A RED CAR!  IT'S JAMES' FAVORITE COLOR!" or "LOOK!  AN APPLE!  IT'S JAMES' FAVORITE COLOR!"  And so on and so on!

He laughs and laughs now.  Dustin is usually the one who can make him laugh the most by making funny noises at him.  But he's still a mama's boy through and through.  He'll let other people hold him for a while, but then he'll start fussin' and lookin' for me.  Hims needs his mommy.

My favorite thing that he does though happens when he gets angry.  (And boy can he get angry!)  If he's laying on the floor or in his nap nanny and decides that he wants to be picked up, he will just start screaming and crying his little head off!  And when I do pick him up, he usually stops crying instantly, but he'll look me in the eyes and let out one last little yell.  I'm pretty sure he's telling me off and letting me know that he is unhappy with how slow I was to get him, but I think it's adorable.

That's all for now!  I have a month's worth of pictures of him on my camera, but they will have to wait for another day!  I have a kid to go pick up from school and take to her first day of ballet and tap for the year!

Kindergarten, Y'all!

It's the middle of the afternoon, and I'm on my computer.  It has been a LONG time since that has happened.  But Ila is taking a nap, James is strapped to my chest in his carrier (also napping), and Eden is at... KINDERGARTEN!

That's right - my baby girl started BIG GIRL SCHOOL!

Her first day was last Wednesday, but I haven't written this post until now because we had a bit of a rocky start.

Which was completely unexpected.  She's always been my super outgoing, never-met-a-stranger kid.  Trying new things has never phased her.  Dancing on stage in front of an audience... no big deal.  So I wasn't worried at all about how she would handle starting kindergarten.  She never shed a single tear when she went off to pre-school at the age of 3, and last year, toward the end of pre-k, she kept telling me how she couldn't wait until she got to go to kindergarten in Building 2.

But I think Building 2 was just a littttlllleee more overwhelming than she was expecting, and although she woke up super excited and ready to go last Wednesday, once we were at the school, I could tell she was getting nervous, and once it was time for me and Dustin to leave the classroom, she broke down in tears.  I rushed back in to hug and comfort her until Mrs. Little came and took over and let me know I could go.

She cried in the car on the way home that afternoon.  She told me she couldn't go back because she missed me too much.  Heartbreaking.  And she cried when I dropped her off the second morning too.

I could barely stand to see her like that; I was all ready to take her out and homeschool her.  For real.

But when I picked her up that second day, she was in the BEST MOOD EVER!  She had done a worksheet in music class and made a 100!  Her first 100 ever!  And being the little perfectionist that she is, she said she couldn't wait to go back so she could make some more 100s!  That's my girl!

She had a great day Friday, we had a fun weekend, and then... On Sunday night when she found out she had to go back to school the next day, the crying started all over again.

Once the day starts going, she always has fun.  I have friends from the school from my teaching days who send me pictures and texts letting me know how Eden is doing throughout the day... and they always have positive things to report.  And all week when I've gone to pick her up, she gets in my car in a great mood, happy to tell me all about the fun things she did.  But every night, she gets nervous and says she misses me so much when she's at school.  I put notes in her lunchbox every day, and a couple of days ago, a friend from the school texted to tell me that Eden held the note from me in her hand for the whole lunch period.

Finally... Last night we had a great bedtime, and for the first time since school has started, there were no tears shed!  She was excited to get to school this morning!

As for me?  Well I definitely shed my share of tears as well.  I never let her see me cry because I tried to act all happy and positive and all "SCHOOL IS THE BEST THING EVER, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH FUN AND MAKE SO MANY FRIENDS AND LEARN SO MANY COOL THINGS!" when I was around her, but usually the second I was away from her after drop off or bedtime, I was crying.  Partly because she's my baby girl, and I can't believe she's off to kindergarten.  And partly because my heart was breaking to see her so upset.

But I think all is well now.  We're getting into a new schedule around here, and it's fun to have so much time with Ila now.  Ila definitely misses her sister though and lets me know it.  They got very close to each other this summer while I was busy with James, so I knew it was probably going to be a little hard on Ila when Eden left.

Okay, I'm going to do that super annoying thing now where I talk to my child on this blog even though she can't read it.  But maybe one day she will.

To my precious Eden.  To the girl who made me a mother.  Thank you for giving me the best years of my life.  I can still picture the moment that the nurse first handed you to me.  I can still picture your eyes blinking up at me.  You kept sticking your tongue out at me too.  You grew and grew and grew, and somehow, five and a half years flew by in the blink of an eye, and man oh man were they fun!  We've spent almost every minute of the last five and a half years together.  Preschool a few mornings a week was nothing compared to what we're doing now.  I've been there to witness pretty much every milestone, every laugh, every tear.  Believe me when I say... I miss you as much as you miss me.  But it's time.  It's time for your world to get just a little bit bigger.  It's time for you to have a world that doesn't have me in it.  Now go rock kindergarten, Baby Girl!  I love you!

 mani/pedis the day before school started

 When we woke her up that first morning, we gave her a present - a James Avery schoolhouse charm to add to her bracelet.

 talking to my mom on the phone during breakfast on her first day

a picture that a friend from school sent me last week

celebrating her first week with snocones last Friday

her first chapel day... I LOVE THE UNIFORM!!!!!!!!

a friend whose daughter also started kindergarten this year gave me this idea... 

our matching bracelets, so that when we're apart we will have something to remind us how much we love each other

James - Two Months Old

Well time just keeps marching right along, and as of today, I have a two month old!

He had a lot of "firsts" this month!  

Let's see... he attended his first birthday party (my Pops' 85th):

 He celebrated his first holiday:

He took his first trip to the beach and stuck his foot in the Gulf of Mexico:

He rolled over for the first time (July 10th - he did it four times that evening, but he hasn't done it since).  I don't have a picture for this one!

We put him in the swimming pool for the first time.  I just walked around the shallow end with his lower body submerged.  He pretty much had zero reaction:

We introduced him to his swing.  I save it for when I go swimming with Eden and Ila.  It keeps him occupied for an hour or so while I spend some time with them in the pool.  He was so mesmerized by those hanging elephants the first time:

And he took his first overnight trip... we spent a few days in Matagorda this past weekend.  (More on that in a later post!)

This is what James does:

EAT!

EAT!

EAT!

EAT!

Man oh man is it COMPLETELY DIFFERENT nursing this boy compared to his sisters!  There are some days that I feel like ALL I DID THE WHOLE DAY is nurse him!  But I really don't mind.  I'm a cocky nurser... have been with all three... every time they gain an ounce, I'm all, "OH YEAH!  I DID THAT!"

Also, he is a HUGE MAMA'S BOY!  Already.  He wants me.  All the time.  When I do things around the house, I have to strap him to my chest with the baby tula because he cannot stand to not be with me.  When I try to play or read with Eden and Ila, he has to be laying in my lap.  And at night, when I finally take him out of the tula and give him to Dustin so I can shower/brush my teeth/get ready for bed, he screams until I take him in my arms again.  And then we get into bed, and I lay him next to me.  He no longer fits comfortably on my chest, so now I usually just lay him in bed between me and Dustin until he falls asleep.  And a few nights ago, he wiggled and wiggled and wiggled until he managed to move his body until he was touching me, and then he smiled at me!

I love it so freaking much.

Don't get me wrong... it makes life difficult sometimes.  I pretty much get nothing accomplished ever because he won't let me put him down long enough to do anything (right now, as I type this post, he is strapped to my chest), but BABIES DON'T KEEP, DANGIT!

My mom and Grandma Jan both came to watch Eden and Ila do gymnastics today.  Ila's class is mommy & me, so while I did Ila's class with her, my mom and grandma did their best to keep James happy.  He pretty much cried or fussed the entire 45 minutes.  But once that class was over and he was in my arms once more... HAPPY!

I love my little mama's boy!

In addition to nursing, bathtime, and being held, add pacifiers and being outside to the list of things James likes!

On the day he turned 6 weeks old, I dressed him up in Dustin's "coming home" outfit:

And some more pictures of my handsome boy:

And do you want to see the most adorable thing ever?  This evening, when Eden saw me taking James' picture on his blanket next to his stuffed animal, she set up her doll on her blanket next to her stuffed animal and took pictures of the setup on her LeapPad!

James - One Month Old

James was one month old on July 1st!  And what an amazing, wonderful, magical month it has been! Oh, having a newborn in our house again!  There's nothing like it!

Part of me feels like it just zoomed by!  One month?  Already?  How?  But then when I look back at pictures from the hospital and the beginning of June, it feels like ages ago.  A lifetime ago.  It seems like he's always just been a part of our family.  Hasn't he always snuggled with me in bed in the mornings?  Hasn't he always been asleep in the bassinet by the table while we eat?  Hasn't he always laid on Eden and Ila's beds while I read them books at night?  And when I look at those early pictures, he has grown and changed so much already!

At his 1 month checkup, he weighed 9 lbs. even.  That's more than a two pound gain from his two week checkup!

James didn't get much downtime before he had to start accompanying me to all of his sisters' activities!  Here he is at five days old, headed to gymnastics:

In addition to gymnastics, he spent his first month going with us to horseback riding, Sleeping Beauty Dance Camp, and Vacation Bible School.

But when he wasn't in his carseat on his way to all of those things or laying in my lap in a horse arena, he was in my arms.  OH, newborns.  I can't leave him alone, I have to have him on me at all times.  MY FAVORITE THING IN THE WORLD, ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING EVER OF ALL TIME is to hold a newborn on my chest.  So we also had plenty of days in June where I was all, "Eden and Ila, let's watch Bubble Guppies for five hours straight!" just so we could all lay on the couch together, James asleep on my chest.

Sometimes I have to share him though.  One month in, and Eden and Ila are still head over heels for him!  Eden likes to hold him.  Ila likes to hug and kiss him while I hold him, and as a former pacifier addict, she always makes sure he has his paci.  At the first sounds of fussiness, Ila shouts, "HE NEEDS HIS PACI!  HERE'S ONE!  I HAVE ONE!"  And she comes running with a pacifier and shoves it into his mouth.  Sometimes she tries to shove it into his mouth even when he's perfectly fine and completely asleep.

I taught Eden the pure joy of having him sleep on your chest.

He smiles already.  I KNOW HE DOES, DON'T TELL ME IT'S JUST GAS!  Because he smiles at appropriate times!  There are so many mornings when I take him out of his bassinet and hold him and say, "Good morning, James", and he just breaks into a little lopsided smile.

He pretty much spent his first month sleeping, but here's what we have so far:

likes: bathtime, nursing, being held
dislikes: not being held

haha!  He's a cuddly one.  We've spoiled him rotten, and he wants to be held!

He is handsome and snuggly and perfect.  Happy 1 Month, James!

 left: one day, his sisters thought he needed to be surrounded by all his stuffed animals  

right: day of his two week check-up

 2 weeks old

 He and I spent many afternoons this month sitting in a chair by the pool while his sisters swam.