Dear James,
I've been so BUSY CHASING YOU AROUND everywhere that I never finished your 9 month update...so I'm going to combine 9 and 10 months. You know what that means...this will be EXTRA long :) You are changing so fast I cannot even keep up. Where did my baby go? I see a little boy but no baby!
You took your first big boy bath!! You got to be too much to handle in that baby bathtub in the sink, so we had to move the BIG tub. Since this picture was taken, we've invested in a bath seat - you were EVERYWHERE in there and I could not handle it. You hate for water to be in your face while I wash your hair, but other than that, you love being in the tub.
Here's your wild man hairdo after bath...
You love to play with your car - making the "
vroom" sound for
everything, not just cars :)
Whoo -
hoo!! You are standing up GREAT. Not by yourself yet, but very confidently while barely hanging onto things. You are proud of yourself in this picture!
Are you going to be a pianist? You love to stand up at the piano and play the keys. Since we took this picture, I've had to move the bench into the study because you pulled it down on yourself trying to pull up on it.
We made our first trip to Winter Haven with you last month - right at your 9 month birthday. We had a GREAT time seeing everyone and letting you meet them. You got PLENTY of love that week, and I think you were lonely when you got home and it was so quiet!
Here you are with Granny and Richie!
On the way back from Winter Haven, we stopped in
Gainesville to take your picture some and show you the campus. Love and indoctrination for the Gators can never begin too early, you know.
YAY!
Steph came to visit us. You had a GREAT time playing with
Steph, and having her fly you around like an airplane the whole time...I know her arms were tired by the time she went home.
And,
Grammie and
GatorPa came to visit! Not many pictures from their visit...as you can see. You are really hard to get still. We had a great time while they were here. It was a very short visit, but short is better then nothing!
This is a classic James pose to me. On the move. Never resting.
We just went to the Public Library for the first time last week!!
YAY!!! Mommy has such great memories of the public library with
Grammie when I was little. I want you to have those same memories! We went for
storytime and made a craft and danced to music! :)
This picture I actually took on your 10 month birthday. You are so cute I cannot stand it!!
Let's see....what have you been up to these last two months?? I have LOTS to say...and it's not very organized since I waited TWO months to update....so...take a deep breath! Here we go...
- You vomited in your first public place...Chili's. We went to eat, and I think, tried to let you try too many new things :( You had just had your milk, so you threw up all the milk EVERYWHERE. Daddy was holding you, and it was quite a scene. You and Daddy just had to go straight to the car, and then I stayed behind to help clean up and gather our stuff. You taught us a valuable lesson about trying new foods in public. The lesson is: Don't ever do it if you just drank all your milk!
- All of a sudden, you started EATING. Eating like you were hungry. Eating like you'd been hungry your whole life and were making up for lost time. It was SHOCKING, but great!!!! You've slowed down some, but all in all, you are eating pretty decently - much better than before. I've even stopped tracking your milk intake! Some of your favorite foods are bananas and cookies. I'm trying lots of new foods with you - you seem to like nutrigrain bars, cheerios, cheese...but you are a pretty picky eater. Like, one day you love something, and the next day, you refuse it. The one thing I cannot get you to like it yogurt. Dr. Evans really wants you to eat YoBaby yogurt...and so far, no go. I'll keep trying tho!
- Everyone said I should just "get ready" when you started crawling because it was going to be so much work. I do think it's so me work, but so far, it's my FAVORITE!!! It's so fun you following me and crawling from room to room entertaining yourself. We've just got to get those cabinet locks on....
- You are doing GREAT with your toys. You are pushing the Noah's Ark animals around in your car, you are pushing the red button on top of your pop toy. You actually are trying to put the legos on top of each other - just a little bit. You are trying to do the stacking toys, and stick the shapes in the shape sorter, BUT what's really funny? You won't let go. Once you get it in the correct shape, you won't let go to let it fall. Or, you won't let go once you get the ring stacked. You just pull it back off. You also are playing so well with your drum. You know how to push the star to make it come on!!
- You LOVE your books. Some books better than others, but your favorites right now are an Oscar the Grouch trashcan book, which has not been a good example because we are now having a problem with you getting in the kitchen trash :( You even have started crawling over to me with a book, I assume, showing me you want us to read!
- I think you are definitely strong willed. A month and a half or so ago, Mr. Don was in the nursery with you one Sunday night. I came to get you, and they were telling me that Brady tried to come over and play with you and Mr. Don and that you pushed Brady!! Yikes! Clearly you wanted all the attention for yourself, huh? You might as well learn now, the world (unfortunately) doesn't work that way for any of us. You have to share toys...and people!
- At 8.5 months, you stood in your crib for the first time. The mattress is lowered all the way, and so far, you haven't climbed out. You are a big climber though. You have a zoo toy thing that helps you stand up, and you fell over the top of it as you climbed up it.
- You are cruising around GREAT!! You have not stood yet though, alone. You are very confident standing with assistance and are a crawling machine.
- You love to play in the dishwasher. I try to get things done in the dishwasher while you aren't in there with me, but it's hard. And it's not even that you want to just touch the stuff - you want to crawl on the door and try to get in!
- A while back, Daddy got a little tree he's been trying to grow in a really small pot. It's been in our kitchen and was on a folding chair. I was cleaning up and looked over at you. You were sitting on the floor completely surrounded by dirt. Everywhere. You were not eating it - I think it must have just happened you were too shocked to eat it...YET. It was really funny - the first really messy thing I think you've done.
- You are doing some fun tricks. Kissing us - sometimes - when we ask you to. You are biting less and less. You can say bye bye, but you say it at random times. You said it at a correct time when Grandaddy was here visiting to go to basketball games with Daddy and we were at Cracker Barrel eating. When the waitress walked away, you, plain as day, said "Bye Bye."
- You've had some little accidents, but nothing crazy yet, thank goodness. The most dangerous things you've done have involved the stove. Again, one day, I was cleaning up the kitchen, and I didn't think there was any way you could reach the oven door. I was wrong. I hear a WHAM and look around. You pulled the oven door down on yourself. :( You were able to step part of the way on the drawer handle with the pans below the oven, and reach the oven door handle. yuck. It scared me to death! You were okay, but you did hit your head, and I learned then to keep the oven door locked AT ALL TIMES. Most recently, I didn't think there was any way you could reach the dials of the oven, but guess what? Last night while I was cooking, I looked and you had climbed up onto the oven drawer door and were standing on it touching the dials...nearly touching the eyes....it was SCARY. And showed me I need to get some of those protector things :(...like ASAP.
- You are starting to share your things. One night I was putting you to bed, and I was singing Jesus Loves James. You kept taking out your paci and giving it to me in my mouth. It was really funny.
- You are playing peek a boo - but you are the one doing the hiding of your face! You got behind Nanda's desk the other day and did it, and you played peek a boo with Grammie from behind the fireplace fence at our house last weekend.
- We've had some major sleep issues the past two months. When we went for your 9 month appt, I was telling the dr. I had started rocking you to sleep all the time again since you had croup and it scared me so bad. She told me now would be a great time to sleep train you. SO...it began. Most people said it took 3 days to form a pattern. Well, it took us a week and a half. I thought I was going to lose my mind. But I knew I could not cave and start from scratch again! You screamed and screamed and screamed - it was CRAZY!!!! But, you got the hang of it...finally!! And, it's so worth it!!! You lie right down with Winnie when I put you in your bed, and just go right to sleep. I know you are sleeping better, so I am really thankful we made it through.
- We had a great trip to Granny's. You stayed with Granny and Grammie for two nights while Daddy and I went to Orlando. You did GREAT!!!! It was so exciting at Granny's with everyone visiting all the time - especially Hannah, Jenna, and Faith! You always love other kids so much. I think because we were gone, though, it did ramp up the whole separation anxiety thing. That is a problem sometimes - not always - but definitely sometimes. When Steph came to visit us, she kept you for a while so we could go to a deacon thing at the church. She said every 30 min or so, you would go to the garage door and stand up against it and cry. Don't forget...I always will come back for you!!!! I tell you this all the time, and I'll keep telling you!
- You are talking a lot - mainly nonsense, but you have said first words. Your first word was "Dada". Your second word was "Bye". And your third word sounds to me like 'Yay". You are even getting better at saying the words at appropriate times. You definitely know Dada. AND, you FINALLY said MAMA!!!! Finally!!! Good grief! On 04/10, you said Mama at church at then again that night when we got home :) YAY!
- You are crazy funny about crawling to duck under things and around things. You would rather climb over toys/people/anything, or duck under something that find a clear path. I don't know what this means, but it's funny and sort of frustrating to watch. The other day I had to pull the kitchen chair off of you because you crawled up inside it at the bottom and got tangled up. It's like you want everything to be a tunnel or obstacle course.
- You are CLAPPING!!!! And, you are trying to do the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider. You are clapping GREAT.
- At your 9 month checkup, Dr. Evans said you were 'all boy'. While we waited for her to come in, you crawled back and forth and back and forth and back and forth over the crinkly paper on the table.
- You are starting to try to eat random things all over the floor...anywhere. I finally had to move the ottoman in front of the fake plant in the living room because you keep eating the fake moss. Big pieces - you just shove them in your mouth and then crawl away. I have to shove my fingers in your mouth and pull out whatever's in there. I'm always watching your mouth to see if it looks like something's in it that shouldn't be - it's hard to tell because your little cheeks are a little chipmunky - so I sometimes can't tell if there's something in your mouth. You've even tried to eat candle wax. I let you play with a big yankee candle in the bathroom for a second, and then I looked and you had a huge chunk of wax in your mouth - where it came from, I don't know, but good grief.
- I've started to try to figure out some things that we can do together during the week. We went last week with Aunt Kelli and Caroline to the Public Library for storytime. You weren't so sure about the music, but you liked everything else - well, you liked watching the other kids and crawling around and playing with the train table :) It was really fun. We (meaning I made) made a bunny mask for Easter for you. We also went to MOPS at Hebron for the first time. I'm working on a play group for our Bethabra friends, but I was interested to see how a MOPS group worked, so we went to check it out. We had a lot of fun - you were great in their nursery!
- Your stats from your 9 month checkup:
Weight - 18 lbs 7.5 oz. (16%)
Height - 30.5" (96%)
Head Circumference - 17.5 (24%)
You are long and lean...still!
- Oh, and we switched you to a convertible car seat, still facing the rear. And guess who it's from??? Some of our favorite friends, the Foster's!!! They didn't need theirs anymore, so they passed it on to us. I think about how much I love them everytime I put you in it. I can't wait until you can turn around to face the front, but it's not yet :( You haven't quite outgrown your infant carseat, but we're just keeping it in Daddy's car all the time now - you have probably an inch to go and then that will be it. You are so tall that you are outgrowing the carseats quickly!
ALRIGHT. I feel like I'm missing stuff since I am trying to combine two months, but I know it's okay. You are just growing and changing every day. I wish you weren't quite so fascinated with the power outlets at home, but hopefully your interest will wane. :) You are a delight to me, and you keep me very busy. Very, very busy. Daddy takes you to breakfast - just you and Daddy - every Friday morning and I get to sleep late. It sure is a special time for you and him. Daddy even got you a pancake, but you wouldn't eat it!!! Soon it's going to be your 1 year birthday!! Can you believe only 2 months left. My goodness. Time is flying. I'm so thankful to Jesus for a healthy and growing and ACTIVE baby boy!!! I love you, Sweet Baby!!!! Mommy thinks you are very special.
Your Mommy
James was so funny about this cup. He likes cups (which is like me. I used to buy a new cup when I finished taking a really hard test in college each time). ANYWAY. He is drinking great out of a sippy cup with water for every meal. Still drinking out of his bottle for milk though, of course. Usually the first thing he does when he wakes up is drink his milk. Well, Easter morning, Landon needed to go on to the church, so I wanted him to look at his EB stuff. So...he cracked me up because the cup was the first thing he grabbed, and he started trying to drink it. And then he just seemed confused...like..."Mom, uh, where's my milk? Then you give me an EMPTY CUP in my basket? At least you could have put some water in this!" 
You can see his bottom teeth great in this picture. He has his two top and as they coming down more and more we can see them more often...but not all the time yet.
As you know, I LOVE it when there's something on his behind....!
Taking a few pictures before church that morning. He wasn't a huge fan.
Later that afternoon, after eating lunch and James getting a sweet present at Nanda's, we headed to Athens for Landon to visit someone in the hospital. We had to stop at Krispy Kreme (after we tried to stop at Raisin' Canes and it was closed for Easter). James actually wore the hat for a little bit! He was so funny in it. We did NOT give him a doughnut - I am not against it, but it had been a crazy day already - really long for him - and I didn't think we needed anything making it any more difficult. Doughnuts are for another day....
