Friday, September 30, 2011

18 & 19 Months Old

James, you are 19 months old!  
(OK, almost 20 months old... but whose counting??)


I say this practically every month, but I still cannot get over how fast you are growing up!  It sometimes feels like just yesterday that we just brought you home from the hospital.

I am guessing you weigh around 29 pounds now, as you were 28 pounds exactly at your 18-month check-up.  You have started getting tall (finally!) and are now at 33 inches, which puts you in the 70%.  Your head is still huge and in the 90%!  You wear all sorts of sized clothes - from 18 months all the way up to 2T.  Your big head makes it hard to get some shirts on your head, so we always end up buying a larger size.  You also have a long torso with short legs (kinda like how Daddy is).  Your pants tend to get way too tight around the belly, while the length is too long.  I just can't win with your clothes!


In the last few weeks, your being a boy has really started to come through.  All you want to do is play with you cars, run them all over the furniture, crash them into each-other and watch them fall from the furniture.  You absolutely LOVE anything that moves... airplanes, buses, trucks and of course, cars!  You get so excited when we are out driving and you see a bus or an airplane, or "mare-plane" as you call it.

You also LOVE your tunnel.  We have to put it in the closet now when it is not in use, because if you see it, you will cry and cry for your "tun-L, tun-L."

You still LOVE Elmo.  You like to watch him on the iPad, your favorite videos of him are Elmo's Ducks or Elmo's "Hot N Cold" with Katy Perry.  You also watch some Yo Gabba Gabba videos and videos of other babies.  
I have said this before, but you are definitely stubborn.  You want what you want when you want it.  You do not like to cooperate (as you can see from the below outtakes of your monthly shots) and you make life a challenge sometimes - but I know (hope) that this is just a phase.


You are also still a very loving boy.  You still give great hugs and you still give us kisses.  You know how to say 'I Love You' now, although most times you forget to say the "you" and just say "I love."  You like having both mommy and daddy around - you tend to cry when one of us leaves the rooms.

At daycare you are now in the big boy classroom and while we had a very rough first couple weeks when we had to drop you off in the AM, you now have no problems.  You walk into school and practically run down the hallway and then once in your classroom, you usually gravitate towards the blocks or cars.  Sometimes you do whimper a little when we leave, but your teachers reassure me that you only do this for a minute or two.

I love when I get to pick you up from school every day.  You get SO excited when you see me and it always melts my heart.  You then grab my hand and we walk to the car, all while you wave at everyone on the way out.

Your vocabulary is growing by the day.  I have stopped jotting down words you know because I have lost track of them all.  Practically every day you will say something new and I always wonder how you know that word.  For example, it almost rained the other day and as soon as we got outside daycare you started yelling "rain, rain" - although it has been so dry here I can barely remember the last day it rained!

You bring so much joy to our lives little man and I cannot imagine what life would be like without you!  We are so very blessed to be your parents.



*And since I never did your 18 month update, the photos are below. 



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A Weekend with my Boys

Normally, weekends consist of James and I hanging out at home, watching some football, reading some books and playing with cars while Brian works.

This weekend - Brian had it off and I was able to spend some quality time with my boys.  We went to the park by our house for a little bit in the AM on Saturday and boy was it a gorgeous day (see below photos for proof)!



We then watched some football games (go Notre Dame!) and then headed down to South Congress with a friend who was visiting from Colorado.  We found a cute little venue that had a band (and some yummy margaritas for me) and James really enjoyed the music and loved being able to run around and dance.

(photos above from Shannon Gray Photography

We also discovered that James loves Thai food!  We ate dinner at a food truck and as I was eating my pad thai, a certain little boy decided he wanted to try the noodles and then he proceeded to eat the rest of my food! 

On Sunday, we took it easy and then hit up the Children's Museum for Austin Museum Day.  James had a blast.  He LOVES slides.  That is all he wanted to do.  Walk up and down the ramp to the slide and occasionally actually go down the slide!  And he wanted to play with the trains - he loves his "choo choo's!

It was a great weekend and I am already looking forward to the next one, as we have some more fun stuff planned!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Ry Ry to School

James LOVES to go on stroller rides... or "Ry Ry" as he calls it.  Now that the weather is getting cooler in the morning, Brian is able to take James on a stroller ride to school.

James loves when Daddy takes him to school.  He loves the stroller so much that when we ask him if he wants to go for a ride, he usually goes into the formal dining room (where we keep the stroller) and he pulls the stroller out and gets in it himself!

Here is a quick shot I snapped of him this morning hanging out in his stroller, finishing off his milk, while Daddy was busy putting out the trash cans.


And here is another one I got as I was headed to work... Look how cute both my boys are!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Big Boy Haircut (Take Two)

James' first haircut ending up being more of a trim because I was not yet ready to say goodbye to the precious baby curls. 

While it has only been 4 weeks since the first haircut - it was time to get another cut.  And this time Brian said James was getting a Big Boy Haircut.

I braced myself for the appointment and while, I did tear up a little when they got out the clippers - James did wonderful.  He did not even flinch at the buzzing clippers or when they had to trim his neckline.

 The end result:


And while I miss his baby curls, I love how much James looks like a big boy now.  It is amazing how much he has grown up over these past few months.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

New Toy

James has a new favorite toy to play with.

It is not a ball.

It is not a truck.

It is not a stuffed animal.

Or even a book.

His new favorite toy is something that has been sitting in our living room since James was born.  Something that James just discovered has a lid that can be removed, which allows for the following:


In and out...

 and in again...