James at 4 months

James passed the four month milestone while we were away so this post is a little delayed. Keeping with the big boy trend, James weighed in at a whopping 18.2 pounds and 26.5 inches at his doctor visit. Both are the 95th percentile so he's come down a teeny tiny bit from the 98th percentile at his two month appointment. In the last month James has really started talking and is trying REALLY hard to roll over. He continues to be an easygoing guy who only gets feisty if you delay a feeding - hey, he's growing! James is very smiley and giggles a lot, but, for some reason I can't capture many of those smiles on camera. As soon as the camera comes out, his brow furrows and he concentrates on the camera and loses the smile. We'll keep at it, though. Anna says to me often, "Mommy, I'm so glad we got our baby. He's the best baby." We couldn't agree more. We love you James!

Tiny Dancer

I thought one item from our recent vacation deserved a special call out. One evening while we were out to dinner, we were seated near a singer at the restaurant. The guy was great - he took requests from the crowd and could play pretty much anything. Anna was transfixed on the music from the moment we sat down. After about five minutes of sitting (somewhat) patiently, she asked if she could dance. We said sure (funny enough the song she initially started dancing to was "Tiny Dancer"). And, dance she did - for about 45 minutes much to our and the other restaurant patrons' delight. She only stopped for a quick bite or drink here and there, but never sat down for the rest of the time we were there. It was great to see her dance with such joy and complete abandonment - a good reminder of how we should stop and enjoy the small things in life.

Ahh, Vacation

Over the 4th of July we took a somewhat impromptu trip to Hilton Head.  We planned the trip only three weeks in advance and were lucky to end up on a great beach considering we pretty much threw a dart at a map when deciding where to go.  We logged lots and lots of beach and pool time, and just enjoyed relaxing together for a full week.  There's not much to say - the pics will fill in the gaps.

The view from our condo - we saw lots and lots of dolphins.

Heading out to see fireworks (and experimenting with the timer on the camera).

Waiting for fireworks.

Red, white, & blue cuties ready for some beach time.

Rockin' in Harbour Town.

We played Candy Land.  Lots and lots of Candy Land.

Why does James look concerned in every picture with Anna?

Photo by Anna...

Sweet girl.

The girls.

The boys.

The girls again...

Watching A Bug's Life after a day at the beach.

Pool time.

Crafts on the beach - what could be better?

Frolicking at the shore.

Anna and I swam a lot in the ocean - she was fearless.

James taking his daily 1.5-2 hour nap on the beach.  Easiest. Baby. Ever.

Fun at the Harbour Town playground.

We had lots and lots of ice cream.  This particular flavor was "Cookie Monster" - blue vanilla ice cream with cookie dough and pieces of Oreos.



Still Splashing

Hands down the best money we spent this summer went to Anna's swim lessons. Her confidence in the water has grown by leaps and bounds and she is getting braver with each trip to the pool. As evidenced by the videos below...at our neighborhood pool Anna can go down the slide solo (a big yay! from me and Jason on that). The second shows her jumping from a diving board at a friend's house.

Gimme glue, mommy!

Over the last month Anna has become obsessed with her scissors.  Each day she has spent at least 15 minutes a day cutting - magazines, notebook paper, coloring books, wrapping paper, paper towels...if it's made of paper (ONLY PAPER! :)) in our house, she has probably cut it.  This activity started shortly after school let out and Anna informed me her teachers told her that she should practice using scissors this summer. 

Well, she has followed their instructions diligently (why won't she follow mine with as much zeal?!?).  In fact she has done so much cutting to require a paper bag to hold all of the snippets.  It's emblazoned with "Anna's Bag o' Cut Stuff".  Her skills have improved with the practice — she's gone from clipping haphazard shapes and sizes to cutting actual pictures out of magazines.  This week she got it in her head that she wanted to put the clippings on paper to create art (when I told her that was called a collage she looked at me like I had 2 heads).  I had to dash her collage dream the first time she suggested it because I surprisingly couldn't find one tube or stick of glue in the house.  Apparently afraid I would forget she wanted glue, Anna felt the need to remind me every chance she got...

"Mommy, I need glue."

"Mommy, did you get my glue yet?"
"Mommy, where is the glue??"
"I have a good idea, mommy!  You can go to the store now and get me some glue!"

Well, I fulfilled her request and she immediately set to work sticking her precious cuttings to paper.  Anna is a crafter and loves projects - so far, the $1.79 I spent on Elmer's White School Glue has paid us back in over an hour of quiet, diligent gluing activity.  Here is one of the many collages she has made in the last two days.  The pictures are a funny mix from Parents, High Five (Highlights for little kids) and Entertainment Weekly magazines.  So, if you look closely, you'll see cute babies, cartoon bugs, and Bella Swan (for you Twilight fans out there)...

Gettin' Comfy

James is staking a claim to this seat for future Red Sox/Pats games...

Sucker!

When he turned three months, James started sleeping through the night all on his own.  This was a very different experience for us compared to Anna.  She was not a difficult baby by any means, but she definitely took some coaxing and encouragement (i.e., crying it out) to start sleeping through the night.  Anna was a paci baby which worked great in the long run, but there were a few agonizing months where she did not have the ability to pick up the paci and put it in her mouth.  So, she would fall asleep with the paci, wake up when it fell out and scream until we put it back in.  Once she had the coordination to pick it up and navigate it to her mouth, all was fantastic (and to encourage this we scattered about 10 pacis in her crib).  James on the other hand quickly mastered thumb-sucking.  I'm very happy for the moment because he is a pro self-soother.  However, I'm somewhat nervous about what the future holds if we have to break him of the habit.  Taking away the paci was easy...a thumb, not so much.  I am envisioning all kinds of weird dental devices, hot sauce and stinky nail polishes - hopefully we don't have to go there.  For now though, I'll focus on the adorableness of a baby sucking his thumb.