Happy Birthday Sweet Baby James!

FASTEST year of my life! Whew... I feel like I barely turned around and my baby boy is already walking and having his first birthday. We have had twelve months of fun being the parents of two amazing kiddos. There are days when I am flat out exhausted and feel like a very sub-par mama, but there are also days where I stand totally in awe of the fact that the Lord choose me to play a role in shaping these two incredible little human beings into vessels for His glory. I get to be a part of their story, and I am thankful and blessed.

James - we have had such a fun year watching you grow! There have been some challenges with your breathing and throat at first, and your crazy bad eczema and egg allergy, and your horrible sleeping patterns, but we have overcome them all, and you are a super fun, sweet and snuggly, determined, quick to laugh, adventurous, and laid back little dude. With your crazy hair, and smile that lights up your face it is impossible to not just be wrapped around your little finger. Thanks for a year of fun and laughter. Thank you for challenging mom and dad to pray harder, let more of the little things go, and to be fully present in everything.

This past month has been full of fun with birthday celebrations and Easter, but also some yucky sick days for James who had his first real virus and terrible, scary fever. Sick babies are not for the faint of heart!

Park playing during a visit to NC and Gram's house!

A fun day with sweet baby friend Parker Lang

We enjoyed some nice sunny picnic days... and as James' shirt says, Life is REALLY Good at Grams house! 

Pitiful sick baby. It was awful to see him so miserable with such high fevers.  I did enjoy the snuggles and became even more thankful for our young living essential oils and thieves cleaner! 

James' first Easter at Papa and Gammie's house with our fun cousins!

Mickey Birthday party craziness... more about that here!

These two lucky ducks got a picnic table from Gram for their birthday.... They both LOVE eating there, and James even likes getting a little adventurous and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from up top. 

Lots of playtime in our jammies! James and Caroline got a little mini piano for their birthday too. James has been practicing his music skills... and loves to dance when Caroline plays! 

Some Backyard swinging... 

and even more baseball hat wearing. 

Tons of eating! And quite a bit of mess making too :) 

Tried out the hammock for the first time and had a blast!

 Several wagon rides this month... and I suspect lots more to come through the summer...

And we got to check out the plane that Daddy has been flying and the one he first flew solo while getting his private pilots license. Cant wait to fly with him soon!

We have loved this past month.. and can't wait for many more outside adventures with our all-boy little guy this summer!

HAPPY ONE YEAR JAMES!

Eleven whole months!

Our little monkey is 11 months. As in only ONE month from being ONE... as in kinda not a baby anymore?? Not ready to accept that yet AT ALL. He sure is fun though... and busy. Whew! I am a few days late in posting this, and actually have BIG 11 Month news... As of 11 months and 1 day James is walking. Yup! And so so proud of himself. We are loving seeing him figure out this big new milestone and also realizing how much he can get into fast. We are in for a busy summer for sure :)

Another huge accomplishment in the past month was sleeping through the night. Jay and I finally came to our wits end with our lack of sleep and one night around 3 AM decided something had to change and fast. So we found (totally by the Lords doing) a sleep coach. She was the biggest blessing to our family. She, via phone, helped us come up with a sleep plan for James that worked with our family. She spent about 3 weeks walking us through a gentle sleep training plan to get this little man some much needed rest. Jay and I knew that not only were we sleep deprived, James was too. It wasn't healthy, and we wanted him to sleep as much so that we could also rest, AND so that his little brain could develop. It took about 3 weeks of fairly intense devotion to sleep training and some HUGE help from my mom, but we are happy to report that James is sleeping like a champ. We even went away last weekend and kept his schedule, but he was in a pack-n-play and not at our home and he still slept through the night. Amazing. I would highly recommend our sleep coach if anyone is as desperate as we were!

James is still loving to eat and really has fallen in love with feeding himself this past month. We have yet to find a food he doesn't like. He is still in size 4 diapers, made the jump completely to 12 month clothes. We still can't make the sippy cup thing work for him. He isn't into straws either and will just chew on them not suck water. Hmm... thats our goal over this next month to get him drinking more water from a cup. He is still nursing about 6 times a day with a dream feed night time feeding.

We are into all things shaped like a ball. Anything that resembles a remote and also books! This past month James has really loved flipping through books, especially anything with a texture. He is saying "Mama" and "Da" and "Ball" and "up" and "more" appropriately. LOVE. He seriously is the most smily little thing. Jay and I think he is going to be a little jokester too. He will already play little games pretending to hand a toy and turn away and giggle. Loves peek-a-boo and will cover his own eyes or turn his head away to play. CUTE. Just want to freeze time and hold off on these babies turning 3 and 1 in a few short weeks.

Some other highlights from the past month:

Sleep Training! 

St. Patricks day picnic outside with sister

Celebrating Gram's birthday!

First time in the pool... and LOVED IT! Definitely planning to spend our summer in the water!

James, Thanks for another fun month. Thanks for learning to love to sleep. It is SO appreciated. We can't wait to see you walk even more. You bring a smile to our family and we could all (caroline especially) just squeeze you up. You're the best and we couldn't be more thankful for you! 

our TEN month old

Our sweet growing little guy is TEN whole months. We couldn't be more thankful for you James, and all that you add to our family. This past month you have decided that it is seriously time to MOVE. And keep up with sister. Whenever you are down you find something to pull up on. You are "walking" laps around the coffee table and your crib and attempting to climb the stairs and anything else you can find to practice your new favorite activity. Life has been BUSY, and fun, and exhausting, and so full.

You are maybe sleeping a tad better too. We have put into place some new sleep routines, attempted to be 100% consistent with how we put you to sleep and how we respond to you in the middle of the night and have talked with a great sleep coach for some advice, because this mama has decided that nobody has time to walk around like a zombie for what feels like the rest of my life. We have seen improvements for sure and continuing our gentle approach to training you to love sleep like the rest of us :)

Food is your favorite. I haven't met a food you don't love. You eat everything. We have tried strawberries, peaches, broccoli, carrots, and peas most recently. You gobbled them all up. Bananas, Pears Avocado, and Sweet Potato are still some strong favorites for sure. You usually eat 3 solid food meals a day and nursing 5-6 times a day. We also are doing Mum Mum crackers and some soft apple chips and you think we are big stuff having a "snack".

Appart from moving and eating, your love love love to "talk". The babbling and even some words has been so so fun these past few weeks. You say "mama" and "da" appropriately. You say "hi" and "bye" and wave your fat little hand. SO CUTE. You also say "Ba" and that can mean either Bella or Bottle. The screaming has subsided some and we are so thankful buddy. Talk to us all you want. We were really working on the sign for more at the table, and you mr. smarty pants decided you didn't want to sign, but instead just say "more". Great. Love it. Just don't scream.

 James, you also have realized that Caroline is pretty fun, and you want to be doing exactly what she is doing. If she is playing with blocks, you need to be right in the middle of it and knocking things over. So I am realizing the beginning of this sibling rivalry thing is starting.Some other fun things include the fact that you still adore your bath. I am confident you would literally stay in there for hours if I let you. So fun. We are completely in 12 month clothes and just made the jump to size 4 diapers. You just keep growing and growing big guy!

Some highlights from the past month..

Lots of moving and eating and playing in your "car"... and tons of SMILING!

Conversations with your crazy-haired friend in the mirror ;)

pretending playtime with sister in a "spaceship"

Family day hiking in Shenandoah National Park... loving a beautiful february sunday outside!

First time in the swing... and LOVED IT!

Lots of "getting in trouble" by climbing the stairs and unrolling the toilet paper. You're such a boy!

Play dates with Young Lives baby friends. 

First bubble bath... and it was a bubble explosion! 

Favorite activity is climbing and walking around under the dining room table. We think you'll be a future fort builder one day. 

And LOTS more car / bike racing around inside with Caroline. Love seeing you two play!

Thanks again for being our sweet little guy. We love you more than you can ever imagine buddy!