James's Frist Birthday!

We spent a good long month in Utah, enjoying having the whole family back together at last!! Best of all we got to celebrate James and Aurora's first birthdays.

Now, I must take a moment just to brag. I'm not a crafty person, but I'm pretty proud of how cute this little one year party turned out. I'm so glad Kristina had a girl or all this cuteness never would have happened! 

Why are you making us wear these? Just give us the cake already.

It's ok, we can make it through this together. I promise, She'll take the hat off eventually

Come on mom, get this thing off my head!

The spread. One cake for James, one cake for Aurora and two cakes for me. Since my birthday is only three days before James's I think my lot in life will always be planning his birthday for my birthday. Which isn't that bad. I had a blast making the cakes! Finally putting my culinary school to good use! I made two double layer red velvet cakes for me and of course everyone else at the party... 

James and Aurora had four layer 6 inch rainbow cakes. The perfect little size to smash their hands in. The plan was to give them the whole cake and let them devour it. With good reason my mom convinced me that might not be a good idea. So we cut them a slice and let the two little ones dig right in!

James dives in mouth first, like a man. Aurora is to disgusted by the sticky frosting to even bother with the rest of the cake, like a lady. 

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! In fact, it has been a great Easter Month. At the beginning of March I determined I was going to celebrate Easter like Christmas. Not in gifts, but in taking time to think about the blessings I receive because of Christ. Of all the miracles of the atonement, today I am most grateful for eternal families and my two favorite boys.

 

I couldn't ask for anyone better!  

Or anyone more adorable!

The sun was out in full force over the weekend, it was gorgeous! Felt like summer. Yes, high 60s that's summer to me now. We enjoyed the cherry blossoms in full bloom and sported our short sleeves for the first time! Yes, even James. We had two couples over for dinner and I baked up this super fun Easter Bread, complete with a hard boiled egg in the middle.

Apparently James loves asparagus, who knew? He would not let me take this away from him. He devoured the whole thing. 

And because no one can get enough of James. Here is more :) Standing up for the first time without mom or dad for support! He didn't pull himself up, but he can now balance. 

Official 8th month shot. 

Uhm, he struck this pose all by himself. No coaching from Dad. 

 And then the smile. I love how he pulled his leg up, rested his hand on his thigh, looked right at the camera and smiled.

James and Matthew

Laughing at Matt in the car. First big belly laugh!

All Grown Up, At Least To His Mom

I can't believe how fast time has gone! Sometimes each day feels like an eternity and I'm begging for Taylor to finally walk in the door and take James. Others, six o'clock comes and I have no idea what we've done that took up so much time! Either way, today is Friday and that means the weekend and Taylor home and of course catching up on Downton Abbey. 

So, the pictures are in reverse order. This is James at 7 months!! Can you believe that!? Seven whole months, it's crazy. He has lost his baby look. He is becoming a little boy all too quickly!

I love the faces he pulls. Where did this one come from? 

Hooray for SUNSHINE!! It was a beautiful day! Probably hit low 60s. We had a great lunch meeting Taylor at work. 

Here's his 6 month photo. Obviously much happier than 7 months. 

Waiting for the plane on our way home from Utah. When all else fails he always has his pant ties.

Nothing beats out pic-a-boo to pass the plane ride! Thank you Southwest for having an entire row all to myself!

Nana finally got to meet James! We had crossed paths 3 times. I was in Detroit a week before she got there, I was in Utah when she was in Detroit, then I was back to Detroit right after she left for Utah! James was a little fussy and wouldn't be cute for the camera so I took the video instead. 

Grandma Becky was nice enough to babysit James for a morning, on her birthday and everything! I came home to this cute sight.

James and Aurora were so sweet together. The pretty much ignored each other, but still pretty cute. 

The cousins! One day they'll be besties, I know it!

The smolder. Nothing says cute like chewing on diaper rash cream. 

Another face of James. How great is that. 

LOVES Solids. He gets so angry if I don't feed him fast enough. 

The new whine. Isn't it cute?

Babies in hoods. Can't beat that. 

The eyebrow. It kills me every time. How cute is that!!

So sweet. He is sometimes (cough cough) the best shopping partner. 

We have a tooth!

This has been a big week for us! Sleep training James, he slept through the night Thursday! He still wakes up around 3 most nights, but only fusses for a bit and goes right back to sleep. In all his crying at night he has become a pretty good roller! Every morning I find him on his stomach. He rolls all the time, except when I pull the camera out. James got a tooth, it poked through on Sunday, I was in denial all week that he was teething, but lo and behold he was. Taylor and I actually spent an evening together! Friday night James went down at 8 and we stayed up until 11 watching Downton Abbey and The Office, just like the good old childless days. James is back to taking a binky, not sure how long it will last this time, but it has been 2 whole days! And the biggest development in my opinion, James said Momma! He has been making mama sounds for awhile but tonight in the tub, without any coaching from me just brakes out with a big Momma he said it about 3 times before we got the camera. My heart melted :)

Pretty much all the goods are in the first 20 seconds

Where did 2012 go?

The Holidays make everything fly by! I can't believe we are already into January. I think I spent too much time in 2012 focusing on being pregnant and then focusing on James growing up! We had a pretty incredible year and 2013 is proving to be just as good.

Cute James hanging out in the rocker.

Finally he takes a binky and loooves it! For about two days...

The new binky? Black licorice. He loves it.

The only time we could get Whit off her new iPod

Oh, Matthew. Endless entertainment for the whole family. He was always getting James to smile.

Good morning! Noon on the east coast = wake up time for James.

What shall we do with a drunken sailor? A certain Aunt was pushing James trying to keep him calm while we shopped and suddenly she noticed the stroller was much ligher than it should be. Granted, I did forget to buckle the little guy in, but it was cold outside so we rushed right into the mall! Cute little guy didn't make a peep.

Gingerbread houses. This year was especially impressive.

Grandpa, always trying to come around when James was in a good mood. By the end they were pals. 

Heidi and Dane entertaining James...or themselves during church. 

Airport :( At least James was happy.

Another shot at another binky solution. He likes the wubbanub off and on. Thanks Grandma for never giving up!

Bed head! Good morning pacific time!

James is loving solids. Bananas are his new favorite

Mom of the year award goes to me! We drove all the way to Costco with James not buckled up. I went to get him out and found this. I wondered why he was being so good.

So, we've been letting our little guy cry it out :( It's been a bit rough, but he's done amazingly well! This was the morning after the first night, proving to Taylor that he still loved us.