16 Months Old

James - you are 16 months old! 

Actually... 16 and a half months old by the time these pictures were actually taken!  Also, please excuse the presence of kid pots and pans in the pictures, as this was the only way to keep him entertained for the pictures!

I do not have official stats, but you are getting HEAVY.  I would guess you are creeping up on the 30 pound mark.  When you first started walking you lost that little round belly for a little - but now it is back.  Mainly due to your love of food.

I think you have also been growing a lot lately.  Your 18 month size clothes that were once big on you are now getting snug.  I think pretty soon I will need to be shopping for some larger sizes!

You are still wearing a size 5 diaper and a size 5.5 shoe.  You LOVE shoes.  You will carry you shoes over to us so we can put them on.  You will also bring me and daddy our shoes to put on.  Sometimes you even like to take our shoes and throw them in the laundry bin in the closet and I only discover them when it is time to do laundry!

You are still eating pretty good.  You have your picky moments and sometimes ALL you want is a banana.  You pretty much will always eat your go-gurt or cheese crunchies.  We also discovered how much you love the yogurt fruit snack bites made by Gerber.  I tried to give these to you when you were younger and you HATED them.  Now you will cry until we give you more.

You like to make a huge mess when you eat.  You will get food all over youself.  You will rub the food in your hair and wipe your hands on your shirt.  You think it is funny.  I do not find it so funny when I have to clean up after you!

You are a happy helper though.  You will carry stuff to the trash and put it in.  We also give you a wipe after eating and you try and clean off your high chair try.  And you will try and wipe your mouth too.

You are learning so much these days!  You say several words, including trash, cheerios, brush, bye-bye, hair, mama, dada, uh-oh, bath, bottle, dog, duck, quack and I am sure I am forgetting some others!

You also know who mommy, daddy, Brandy, Auntie are and you know a lot of your body parts!

James, where is your nose?

James, where is your mouth?

James, where are your eyes? 

You still do have some temper issues.  You get mad very easily if things do not go your way.  We have figured out the best way to deal with this is to ignore your or distract you with something else. 

You are still a loving boy.  You give the best hugs.  And you are still giving kisses.  It continues to melt my heart every time you give me a big hug followed by a little smooch!

I am SO proud to be your mommy and to be able to watch you grow even more...

Love this face...

 Wait a second... what is this thing on my shirt?

Spring Mini

I think I mentioned a while ago that we got the opportunity to have another mini shoot with our favorite photographer Mollie.

As usual, she did an amazing job.  I wish I had about 10% of the talent she does!  Check out some of my favorite shots:

Daddy's Little Helper

Last weekend, we bought a new deck box for outside and James decided Daddy needed some help putting it together!

and the photo below just makes me laugh... 

Little Rocker

A few days ago, I went to pick James up from daycare just like I do every day.

This time was a little different.  I was greeted by this:

Looks like someone had a little fun with his teachers at school that day!

What do you think of my little rocker?  I think I may need to invest in some more hair gel...

It's Official

I am a sucker.

Not only did I pay for school photos for James for both Fall and Spring this year - but I also paid for a class photo that was taken on a separate occasion!  

And did I ever mention his school also has photos with Santa each year that cost additional too?  

Geesh!  That is four separate opportunities during each year to get more money out of my pocket!  And yes... I am pretty sure I will end up getting a copy of every photo James ever takes.  Why?  Because I am a sucker for pictures of my little man.

Take for example, the class photo below.  How cute is my little guy??  How could I not get a copy of the picture!

Father's Day

Yesterday was a great day. 

Yesterday was a day to celebrate Brian’s 3^rd year as a Dad – if you count the year James was a little nugget, that is.

We spent the day together as a family – hanging out in the backyard while Daddy did yardwork, swimming at our community pool with auntie and then having a shrimp boil at the house with our friends that involved lots of food and running around the backyard.

After such a day, all I can think about is how lucky James is…. How lucky he is to have a dad that…

…is there for him.

…plays with him.

…takes him for walks.

…teaches him things.

…reads to him.

…puts him to bed at night.

…feeds him.

…shares his food with him.

…hugs him.

…gives him baths.

…kisses him.

…swims with him.

…tickles him.

…chases him.

…protects him.

And most of all…LOVES him.

And James LOVES his Daddy too.  They are best buds.  James gets so excited when Daddy comes home and so sad when he leaves.  They are both so much alike.  They share the same temperament and both have huge hearts.

In honor of their special relationship, here is the first photo I have of the two of them.  This is from the hospital, a few hours after James was born.  Seeing this photo again, just melts my heart!

I love you Brian!

A Rough Couple of Days

It has been a rough couple of days at the McDermott household.

 

Our weekend started off great, with a little of this:

and this:

and this:

At approximately 11:30 on Saturday night... things started to go down-hill.

A certain sleepy little boy of ours woke up crying.  And I do not mean the typical crying/whimpering that he usually does when he first wakes up and wants someone to come get him.  I mean - he woke up screaming!  Full-on fits of LOUD crying.

Brian and I waited a few minutes to see if he would calm himself down enough to go back to sleep.  But no such luck.  Brian then went upstairs to rock him a little bit and I just assumed all was going well, until I heard a stern "LIZ!"

I ran up the stairs not sure what to expect... and what I found was not a pretty sight.  James had thrown up ALL over his daddy, the chair, his clothes and the floor.  It was a mess.  I went into "mama mode" and got James cleaned up and tried to get him back to sleep.

He then threw up on me.

And then on daddy again later.

We finally managed to get him to sleep around 1:30am in the bed with us.  It was a night full of little sleep.  Every stir James made woke me up.  I would just lie there and stare at him to make sure he was OK.

Sunday, James seemed to feel a little better - besides sleeping a lot.  Then things got worse as the throwing up turned into "stuff" coming out the other end.  All I can say is there was a LOT of diaper changes that day.

Monday and Tuesday were more of the same for James.

Today, James was feeling good enough to go back to daycare - but in the process of getting him better - both Brian and I managed to sick too!

Here's to hoping the rest of the week turns out better!  On the bright side, at this point... I do not think it can get any worse!

The Little Things

James …

I look at you now and see how big you are and it is hard for me to remember you being so small – so small that you could fit in your daddy’s hand like this:

Now when we hold you, I have to switch arms often because you are HEAVY.  You are also getting so tall!

Every day you do something that just melts my heart and makes me so proud that you are mine… I thank God every day that he chose your Daddy and I to bring you into this world.

As I get older, I realize how much the little things in life mean to me….

Little things like kisses.  And hugs.

Your newest thing is to give kisses.  You do not quite yet understand that you kiss with your lips closed – but that does not stop you.  You give me, your dad and even Brandy kisses. 

My favorite is when I rock you to sleep at night.  You will have your arms wrapped around my neck with your head buried in my shoulder and all of a sudden you will pop up, smile at me, lean in to give me a kiss, then you laugh and go right back to sleep.  It is the cutest, funniest, most adorable thing in the world. 

I usually count the number of kisses I get each night so I can tell your Daddy later!

You still give the best hugs.  I just love when you wrap your arms around me.  You can make everything better with just one hug.  You have also started giving Brandy hugs now too.  It does not look like Brandy thinks the hugs are so great… 

You also like to give the giant teddy bear in your room hugs now too.  Sometimes you will run into your room and we will find you sitting in the lap of the teddy just playing with your toys. I do not think that when your Daddy bought me that teddy almost 6 years ago that it would end up in the room of our future children!

I can't wait to see what the next "little thing" is you have in store for me!

I love you,

Mommy

School Photos

So... I must be old - because when I was in school we only took photos once a year...at the beginning of the school year.

The daycare that James goes to takes not only Fall school photos, but Spring school photos as well!  Just another way to get parents to fork over more money!  

Being the sucker that I am - I had to get a copy of the two photos James took because they turned out oh-so-cute!