we've got ourselves a BIG boy!

It has been a BIG couple of days for our James. He got a toddler bed and a potty! (and a haircut - but that was AFTER these pictures!) Wow, what a big boy!


Jonathan put the bed together and James loved it so much, and we ended up taking the crib right down. So far so good - James loves his new bed! He loves climbing in and out all by himself. Although he didn't nap today, he went right to sleep in his new bed last night and stayed in there all night, and he went right to bed tonight.




He also has tried to go potty twice today (and kinda sorta did go potty - and was SO pleased with himself, saying, "I did it!! I did it!!") and is so excited about it! We are basically just taking our time and letting him get used to it, but hey, if he wants to try, I am all for it!

Wow, my baby is a big boy, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that! What makes me so happy though is that several times a day he'll say, "Mommy? I happy." And that makes me the happiest!

Finally - a whole bunch of pictures!

Haircuts for the Boys

James got his very first haircut today! He really needed it - he was starting to sport a pretty awesome mullet so we decided it must go! Jonathan also needed a haircut so badly - we were planning on cutting it a few weeks ago, but he decided that in order to be Superman for Halloween he ought to have longer hair. Then he had his ear surgery and after that we were too scared to cut it with his ear all stitched up like it was.

So I cut Jonathan's hair and then he held James on his lap while I cut James' hair. James behaved surprisingly very well during the haircut and actually held relatively still. We basically just trimmed the back and left the top alone. It isn't a huge difference but we think it looks a lot better!

It was kind of funny because when the first chunk of hair came off I just sort of held it in my hand and looked at it, not believing that my baby was big enough to be getting a haircut! It made me kind of sad in a way! I just stared at it and said "oh!" Jonathan's Mom thought quickly and grabbed me a ziploc bag to put it in to save.

When we finished the haircut James looked very pleased and started clapping his hands! It was adorable. Anna even got it on camera! Anna and Rebecca were our photographers - Anna with the digital camera and Rebecca with the video camera. Thanks, girls!

I've got some great pictures that I'll put up later!

Trick or Treat!

James' first Halloween was quite the exciting day. He got to dress up in two different costumes and go trick-or-treating for the very first time! By next year he'll be a pro!

Here is our little Superman all ready to go! He got to go to Aunt Annie's work and go trick-or-treating! He just loves his plastic pumpkin bucket and loves to carry it around and put things in it.


Here is our little guy with his cute Aunt Annie at her work. He wasn't quite sure what to think about all the trick-or-treating, but he sure enjoyed holding the candy.


James met a little friend who was dressed up as a kangaroo. Being the stuffed animal-lover that he is, he tried to take her baby kangaroo from her pouch!


Next stop was Grandpa's work, where we changed him into a Spiderman costume (which we got at DI for $3, what an awesome deal!) so he would match Grandpa, who borrowed Jonathan's Spiderman costume. Look at these handsome Spidermen!




Dad's court clerks all dressed as prisoners, it was such a cute idea.


Later we had some yummy homemade chili at my parents' house and had a fun evening with my family.


James was all tuckered out from the long day, but of course he had to go through his loot and see what he got! His very favorite was a round silver chocolate coin, he loved holding it and looking at it. Too bad he couldn't eat it!


Our sweet little Halloween boy -

Our almost-walking and talking little guy!

This past week or so has been a big one for our little guy. Each day his balance gets better and better and he can now stand for 2 or 3 seconds all by himself! He is wanting like crazy to walk and he will lunge forward to try to get to where he wants to be. He is getting really good at walking while holding onto a hand or two - pretty soon he will be taking off!

Also, in the past few days we have noticed his babbling turning into the beginnings of real words! I was rocking him at bedtime the other night. He heard his Daddy brushing his teeth in the bathroom, looked in that direction and got a HUGE smile on his face, then he looked at me and whispered "Da da!" We are pretty sure he knows what this means! Then, last night we were at my parents' for dinner and we were celebrating Jonathan's birthday - James saw the balloons hanging from the ceiling and got all excited, pointed his little finger and said "buh-ooohn!" (or something close to that - that is my closest approximation in spelling of how he said it...

And here are just some recent pictures of the little man -

playing with toys

reading?

going for a walk with Mommy - check out those nice shoes!

Mommy, let me out!!

showing off his pearly whites

sweet boy

there's that smile!

our little swimmer

We had a fun vacation with my family last week; we went to St. George and stayed in an awesome vacation home and had such a fun time relaxing and being together. James got to go swimming for the very first time and he absolutely loved it - he would just kick and kick, and loved being in his little boat. Here are some pictures of our cute boy -

James and Mommy

James and his Daddy

Getting ready to go for a swim

Some more swimming!

James and his Grandpa

Coming in from the pool. I made James this cute hooded towel - boy do I feel crafty!

James' first solids!

Tonight we fed James his very first solid food, rice cereal - it was so much fun! I still can't believe he's almost six months old already! He actually took it pretty well, considering that he was really tired and getting fussy (the past couple of days he randomly will not take a nap! I don't know what to do, he just cries and cries and won't fall asleep . . . any suggestions?) A lot of it ended up on his bib, but I think he actually ate a lot of it - and he seemed to really want to eat it - either that or he just really wanted to bite the spoon. Here are some fun pictures:

a first

Well, I don't have any pictures to go along with this (now THAT is a first!) but I just wanted to tell what James did today for the first time. He was crying in his crib, and his Daddy picked him up and was holding him; I had just gotten home from the store, and when James saw me he totally REACHED FOR ME!! It was SO cute. It is the first time he's really done that, like he meant to do it. It was the best feeling ever! I love being a mom!

James' first shoes

choppers!

The BIG news for this week is that James cut his first TOOTH! He has been drooling a TON lately, but still, we were so surprised! He is pretty young to be getting teeth, so it was kind of random. My Mom discovered it during graduation on Thursday. I think he is working on the 2nd "chopper" now, so he is kind of fussy and in pain, poor kid. Here is a (kind of blurry) picture - you can kind of see the white tooth. What a big boy!

Our Baby is Growing Up!

James is changing so much every day! His latest accomplishment is that he can roll over from his tummy to his back! It happened about a week ago, when he was six weeks old. Jonathan and I were actually not even there when it happened! I was picking him up from work while my parents and Josh played with James. When we got home, they all looked at each other with guilty faces and said, "should we tell them?" They felt so bad that we had missed it! But the next day, he did it again, about ten times in a row! It is the cutest thing ever. He purposely lifts up his little arm and then he rolls! We think he's a genius :)

Here are some fun pictures I took of him with my cell phone. He is starting to hold onto things if you put them in his hands, and Grandma got him the funnest toy the other day - a little red telephone that rattles! He also has some keys that she gave him. We were playing with his toys the other morning and it was so much fun! It looks like he's a big boy all ready to go out - he's got his cell phone and his keys.

What a happy guy!

Every little boy needs a baseball cap!

This is one of my favorites - he totally fell asleep in this position and stayed like that for awhile. What a funny guy!

Uncle Josh is getting to be quite the pro at getting James to sleep. James just loves his uncle. The other day Josh was holding him and James just stared adoringly into Josh's eyes for about half an hour. It was the cutest thing ever. Here is James in his big boy hoodie!

My baby!