A Happy Six Months

Wow!  It's hard to believe James is six months old.  On the one hand, it has gone so fast and I can't believe he is already midway to his first birthday.  On the other hand, I can't believe it's only been six months because I feel like he's been with us forever.  If there is one word to describe James, it is: happy.  He is a happy, happy, happy boy, as the pictures here demonstrate.  He doles out heart-melting gummy grins and full fledged crinkle eyed smiles, and just seems truly happy to be in the world.

I know I sound like a sappy mom, but he really is SO HAPPY.  Now don't get me wrong, he cries, and does have his fussy moments, but they are few and far between, and usually very easily remedied. When at the doctor for his six month check up, he got upset when the doctor looked in his ears.  But, he then started giggling at the same time.  The doctor was quite amused and said that if she didn't know better she was pretty sure he was trying to make himself be happy. Thinking back, James has been this way from day one.  I alluded to his delivery being a tough one, mainly due to his size, but it did take him awhile to cry once he was born.  It was probably less than a minute, but it was the longest moment of my life.  And, when he finally did cry, it sounded like he was having to force the sound out.  I remember being very worried at the time, but now, having the benefit of knowing him, I think it's just his personality!

Now for some stats - the big trend continues, with him weighing in at 21 lbs and measuring 27.5 inches long.  James is sitting up and very nearly crawling.  He does a sort of army crawl to get to toys he wants and I know the time to batten down the hatches for real crawling is just around the corner.  Not surprisingly, he loves to eat, and will devour pretty much anything (pears and bananas are favorites).  Two of his most favorite smile-inducing things are Anna and Tope.  I don't know who he likes more.  And, apparently even Tope picks up on his jolly vibe because she will sit by him and allow him to pet (grab fistfuls of fur) her.  She NEVER got within arms reach of Anna as a baby (and still rarely does to this day!).

I am so thankful to have this wonderful, sweet, happy boy in our lives.  We wouldn't be complete without you, sweet, happy baby James.

A Good Day

Even though the trip may be a pain, it's always worth it once we arrive. We logged a great first day with family and friends, complete with a birthday celebration, champagne at sunset, and a launch of floating lanterns a la the movie Tangled (consider Anna amazed). And of course, James was a big hit, meeting most everyone here for the first time. He went with the flow and kept his cheerful disposition even as we pushed him to a 9 pm bedtime. Let the fun times roll!

Wellfleet, Here We Come

And the annual trek to Cape Cod has begun. We started this morning with a 4:45 am wake up (eww!) which Anna did not appreciate. She had two meltdowns before leaving the house - the problems: "I never get to use mommy's make up!" and "I never get to hold James!". Very serious issues that early in the morning...

The flight to Boston went well. Anna was entertained by episodes of cartoons she doesn't gets to watch at home - Scooby Doo and Spongebob - on the TV at her seat (love those Boeing 757s!). For his part James tried to sleep but the announcements kept waking him up. I'm hoping that means he'll sleep the entire ride to Truro.

The weather in Boston is a glorious 70 degrees - here's to a hopefully relaxing, albeit slightly chilly, beach trip.



Happy James on the plane.



They can't fight sleep in the car...

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

James enjoyed a quiet Sunday afternoon laughing and playing while I folded laundry (glamorous!), Jason tended to the yard and Anna took a 3 hour (!!) nap. He's such a happy little guy!

Happy Birthday, Jason!

5 Months and Rolling...

Well, the days keep flying by and unbelievably James is five months old.  The last month was a big one for James — he started rolling over, eating solids, and really interacting with the world around him. 

One thing we've learned about this little guy is that he likes to move.  When he rolls over he scoots around on his tummy and has become adept at getting to toys out of his reach.  And, inching around the perimeter of his crib.  Since he mastered rolling from back to tummy, he's become adept at scooching around the entire crib to explore, often at the expense of his sleep.

James also is reluctant to to sit still.  So, when you hold him you have to bounce, rock and sway to keep up with his actvity.  He likes to stand holding onto tables and toys and loves to play in his exersaucer.  A new favorite is the old fashioned "Johnny Jump Up" that allows him to bounce on his own.  All of this activity makes me think James will be an early walker...only time will tell if we'll need to batten down the hatches sooner rather than later.

Regardless of the activity James has a heart-melting, sweet smile on his face 99.9% of the time - which I've now managed to catch several times in pictures.  Who doesn't want to eat this boy up??

Showing some Red Sox love

Baths are still a favorite

Strong boy

Rolling over (the ominous shadow at the end is Tope)

Giggles

Farmer Anna

Anna's favorite TV show for the last several months has been Curious George.  While Jason and I have had more than our fill of the show, it is rare for Anna to agree to watch something different - she just LOVES that monkey and his hijinks.  Even if we think George is annoying and that the Man with the Yellow Hat is just plain weird, the episodes do focus on problem solving, math and science skills.  So, TV is good, right?!?

Anna often wants to perform the activities George does (one might say she's curious) - from requesting a tape measure to measure things around the house (according to Anna everything in our house is "9 pounds 2 inches big") to creating a paper mâché piñata (haven't tried that one yet) to looking for earthworms to have a worm race (yuck!).  On a recent episode George planted a garden and she started asking so many questions about what happens to seeds when you plant them that I decided to let her see for herself.  After a 15 minute search in the garage and kitchen we dug up some old pots, a half-used bag of potting soil, and seeds from a tomato, bell pepper and cucumber.  And then the little gardner got to work.

Of course after the seeds were planted, Anna expected leaves to start shooting up from the dirt.  Turns out planting items is a good test of a three-year-old's patience.  After 3 days of no noticeable movement in the pots, I feared the seeds we plucked from the veggies in the fridge were goners.  Then it occurred to me to plant beans (DUH!) so we added one more plant to the mix.

Lo and behold, on day 4, the tomato plant sprouted, the beans on day 5, and the pepper on day 6.  Sadly, the cucumber did not make it.  Anna tends to her "garden" daily and loves to show the plants to visitors.  In this case I think that Curious Monkey paid off.

Photos of the plants by the farmer herself: