one exciting morning

One thing we have learned lately, since we are still sharing a room with James (can't wait until he has his own...), is that if we wake up in the morning and James is awake, he will happily play in his crib (usually) if he thinks we are still sleeping. However, if we as much as move a muscle, James will notice and he immediately starts crying for us to get him out. There have been many-a-morning when Jonathan and I have both been lying there as still as possible, hoping to catch a little more sleep before we absolutely must get up, or at least to get to stay in bed a little bit longer, even if it means we have to just pretend we're sleeping.

On Saturday James woke up bright and early at 6:30, as usual (darn) and I fed him, half asleep, and then tried putting him back in his crib, hoping he'd sleep a little bit longer (it was Saturday, after all). He apparently didn't like that idea - he would have much preferred to stay in our bed and crawl all over us. Well, it was a good thing I put him back in his crib. He fussed for a little while and I immediately went right back to sleep, I was so exhausted - he finally fussed enough to wake me up, so I felt bad and went to get him up. I found him sitting in his crib in a big mess that had somehow exploded out of his diaper. It was everywhere. Poor Jonathan wanted to sleep in but I made him get up and help me. We sleepily gave our happy boy a bath and he had a grand old time. Then I washed everything, the sheet, mattress pad, blankets, bumper pads and his clothes. Whew, what a morning! And it wasn't even 8:00 yet!

sleepy Daddy and his happy boy - lately James points at everything with his cute little finger

one cool dude

Just chillin' at Uncle Josh's cross country meet.

sticky-ups

James is finally getting some substantial hair, and I was excited the other morning when he woke up with some "sticky-ups!" Here he is at breakfast showing off his bed head.

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!

In the great green room...

My favorite book of all time is Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I have loved this book ever since I was a little girl; I think it may have been this book that resulted in my need to see the moon each night before I went to sleep - my Dad would wrap me in a blanket and carry me outside to see it. We have got like four or five copies of this book in our home, and we read it to James regularly - he is getting to the point where he really enjoys books, and he even points at the mouse in the picture! So cute. It's kind of crazy how these things come full circle!

Well, tonight Jonathan and I were playing around with the computer, and we noticed that it has a voice recognition program. In theory, instead of typing a document, you just speak the words out loud and the computer types it for you. Jonathan went through the little tutorial and learned a little bit about it, and then we just tried it out with a blank word processing document. I decided it would be fun to recite Goodnight Moon (because I have it memorized, of course) and see what the computer picks up.

Just in case you're not familiar with this book, here is how the text really goes:

In the great green room
There was a telephone
And a red balloon
And a picture of the cow jumping over the moon

And there were three little bears sitting on chairs
And two little kittens
And a pair of mittens
And a little toy house and a young mouse
And a comb and a brush and a bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady who was whispering "hush"

Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
Goodnight light and the red balloon

Goodnight bears
Goodnight chairs

Goodnight kittens
Goodnight mittens

Goodnight clocks
Goodnight socks

Goodnight little house
And goodnight mouse

Goodnight comb
And goodnight brush

Goodnight nobody
Goodnight mush
And goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush"

Goodnight stars
Goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere

So, pretty simple, right? A computer, with its advanced technology, could totally pick up these simple words and repetitive phrases. Well, here is our voice-dictated computer version. Really, it is amazing how close it came to the original. Oh, and my favorite parts are the part about Iraq, the pianist, "goodnight BS" and the "bowl full of months." See if this goodnight story puts you to sleep:

integrate green room chair with a telephone and Iraq and in the picture of take out the beam public how fun and to ask interest and a pianist seed team seems him to lead a team an apparent 19 10 and the targets were a highly any amount for all that column and a brash and a bowl full of months of 10:00 ARED and resource to remove house world renowned name in the county and the nail them in good night BS in car sales and 92 8^th eight day at a meeting that can make I the stocks that the grenade column cleaning plants are 90 mailClean E AI to the altar ED wheat 13 practice green notes diets and could AAM great not knowing CH 3 we

28 years

On Tuesday my parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary! They met 28 years ago this June in a parking lot (no joke) and were married on September 9, 1980. I love my parents so much, they are two of my best friends and I look up to them in so many ways. I love you, Mom and Dad! Happy Anniversary!

So I wanted to post a picture of them around the time they got married, but I didn't have one - until I realized that Grandma has one up on her shelf in the living room! So I scanned it in and here it is - aren't they cute? This was one of their engagement pictures -


This is them at our wedding almost three years ago -

More Labor Day Weekend Fun

Here are some more random pictures from our fun weekend in Oregon -

James and cute Aunt Rebecca

James and Aunt Sierra

cousin Joshua

James and Aunt Anna - wow, this kid has got so many fun aunts and uncles!

Story time with Daddy before bed. This was actually really cute, Jonathan and I got James ready for bed, and then Jonathan started leaving the room and I was going to put James in bed - but when Daddy went to leave, James freaked out and reached for him and cried! We figured that he missed his nightly story time with his Dad, so I left the room (which James didn't even notice) and Jonathan read books to him and James was SO happy. He LOVES reading books with his Daddy - he loves to point to the pictures, like the mouse in Goodnight Moon. What a cute boy :) Oh, and by the way, we want to thank Uncle Spencer again for giving up his bedroom for the weekend so we could sleep in it - what a gentleman!

Aunt Emma Jeane

Hannah looks adoringly at her Aunt Rebecca

cousin hug!

the boys work out

James loves his Uncle Joseph!

We celebrated Hannah's 3rd birthday while we were home! I can't believe she is three already - Bethany was pregnant with her when I first met Jonathan's family, when we were dating. It makes me feel like I've been in the Boster family for a long time! Can't believe how the time flies...

Hannah loves her new dress that Nanna made for her!

cute birthday girl

Nana

Here are some cute pictures of James with his Nanna. James is so blessed to have four wonderful grandparents who all love him so much!

Cousins

James and his cousin Joshua are only a little over four months apart. It is so fun to see them both grow up, and as they get older they are seeming more and more the same age. Joshua is walking now and James is just learning how to stand up on his own - so pretty soon they'll be running around together and having tons of fun!

On Sunday while we were in Oregon for the Labor Day weekend, the boys would not behave during Relief Society, so Bethany and I took them outside and took some cute pictures of the boys together.

Handsome, Hyper Boy

Yes, I know he does not look hyper in this picture. This is a picture from yesterday morning before church - I had to get a picture of his new outfit! I bought the shirt and my Mom bought the pants. The other day after his doctor appointment, we went on our traditional-yet-still-spontaneous-post-doctor-shopping trip-where we buy James a new outfit! Yeah, I know - we are suckers for the clearance rack.


Tonight James has been so hyper! He is so funny, it is so fun to see his personality blossom and I can't wait to see what he's like when he starts talking. I gave him some Fruity Cheerios today, which may have been a mistake because the sugar seems to have made him very hyper. At dinner he was squealing and screaming and laughing like crazy at his Daddy. He climbed all over Daddy during family home evening and when I tried to nurse him before bed he arched his back and squirmed and got so mad and screamed - until I let him go on the floor, and then he was smiling like crazy, kneeling down and bouncing. When I picked him up to get him ready for bed, I think he had his very first tantrum. It was actually really funny. I may not be saying that when he does the same thing at age 2 or 3, but it was cute this time!

Well, he's in bed now, and I can still hear him making some noises. I hope he goes to sleep soon!