5 Months Old!

Well once again I have been slacking off on updating the blog. I swear, keeping family and friends updated with pictures of a baby is a full time job. Between uploading pictures to Kodak Gallery and Facebook and trying to keep up a blog, it can consume you. So here is a long overdue post with a video of James from his 5 month birthday this past week. James tried rice cereal for the first time on his 5 month birthday, and I tried to upload the video here but had some technical difficulties. If you want to see the video of him eating cereal you can check it out on my Facebook page. Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's our little Valentine in his festive holiday outfit. It says "All you need is L-O-V-E (and naps)". It's not the greatest picture of his outfit, but it's still pretty cute. He's actually more interested in his feet in the picture. You can see that he's grabbing them, and trying to talk to them! That's his new trick, talking to everyone and everything that will listen.

Last year we found out that we were expecting James on Valentine's Day. I surprised Jim by wrapping up a positive pregnancy test and giving it to him in a Valentine's gift bag. It's pretty hard to top that gift, but Mom and Dad get to enjoy a Valentine's night out on Friday. Thanks Suzi! We are going to try to go to dinner and a movie, but I'm not quite sure I'll be able to make it that late!

February Already?

I cannot believe it's February already. That means our baby boy will be 4 months old in less than 2 weeks. It also means I have to go back to work next month! I'm actually not going back until the last week in March, so I still have close to 8 weeks left, but I still have to say I'm going back to work NEXT month. I hate the idea, but I know it's something I have to do. I try not to think about it, but I can't help it. When I first had James, 24 weeks seemed like an eternity, and now with less than 8 weeks left I have no idea where the time went. I thought I'd really take advantage of the time off and have a chance to do all kinds of projects and go all kinds of places, but my days have been filled with diaper changes, feedings, trying to get James to nap, and singing silly songs and doing crazy dances to try to entertain a screaming baby. Sometimes I ask myself what do I have to show for all my time off? Then I look over at my happy, healthy, growing baby and realize that's what I have to show for it. Taking care of James was what I was supposed to do over these many weeks and that's exactly what I did.


We survived North Carolina's first winter storm of 2010. We actually got about 5 inches of snow, which is quite a bit. They don't plow the streets here, so our neighborhood was a sheet of ice all last weekend. I'm proud to say that with the exception of walking Max, I haven't left the house since last Thursday! I've really embraced the Southern way of life!


Max loves the snow. It's so much fun to watch him try to figure out what it is when it first covers the ground. James didn't make it out to play in the snow this year, but I can't wait to see him in it next year with all the other kids in the neighborhood. The kids here really take advantage of the snow. They are out playing before 8AM and still out when I'm putting James to bed at night. Yesterday during our walk I noticed more snowmen in our neighborhood than I think I ever saw in my entire life growing up in Western New York!

Infant Massage

Over the weekend we took James to an infant massage class. Before you laugh and call me crazy like some members of my family did, I will tell you that the classes are taught at our hospital by the same RN who taught all of our childbirth classes, and the benefits of infant massage include parent child bonding, relaxation and stress relief, reduction of fussiness, relief of discomfort from colic, gas, teething, and congestion, and improvement of sleep quality, among many other things. So it's not like we took him to spa to get a baby massage like Uncle Greg thought.

James really seemed to enjoy the class. He was the only boy in a class full of girls, and there was one little girl in particular, Mackenzie, that he couldn't take his eyes off of. He smiled, made all kinds of noises and kicked like crazy while mom and dad learned the different strokes and massage techniques. The instructor had us undress the babies from the waist down, including their diapers, in order to get the most out of the massage. Well at one point James must have been feeling really relaxed, because he just started peeing. The stream went right over his head in a huge arc and caught the attention of all the moms and dads in the class! Everyone started laughing including James himself. He seemed quite proud of himself and gave us the biggest smile and let out a huge giggle. Being fathers of girls, the other dads hadn't seen such an act before, so they were quite impressed by this feat. They all wanted him to do it again. Luckily he didn't, but there is always next week!

That's our boy!

James's Busy Week

Well let me first start by addressing the title of this post
"James's Busy Week". Ever since considering giving our son a name ending in "s" I was bothered by the fact that I was unsure of exactly how to form the possessive singular of James. I have seen it both ways - James' and James's. If I write "James's" spellchecker immediately flags it as incorrect and changes it to James'. Not wanting my baby to grow up in a world where his mother doesn't know how to correctly form the singular possessive of his name, I consulted "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. Strunk and White is basically the bible for American English grammar and writing, and as a lawyer I keep my copy within arm's reach at all times. According to Strunk and White, we form the possessive singular of nouns by adding 's. This rule should be followed whatever the final consonant. Thus write, "Charles's friend", "Burns's poem", and "the witch's malice". This is the usage of the United States Printing Office and the Oxford University Press. So to form the singular possessive of James, I should write "James's". Do you see why I have trouble sleeping at night? These are the problems I plague myself with!


Ok now that I've got that cleared up and off my chest, I can get on to the subject of this post - James's busy week. Last weekend James got a visit from his friend Carly, and what a great time he had. It's hard for me to believe that I have been friends with Carly's mom Rachel since we were six years old. We've been through everything together and now we are experiencing motherhood together too. It's crazy to think about.


We spent the weekend just hanging with the kiddos. It was so much fun to see Carly at ten months old. She is so active and such a sweet and happy little girl. She has the greatest little faces and definitely tells you exactly what she is thinking! She seemed more interested in Max than James, but she gave us a preview of what James will be like in just a few short months. It's amazing how much babies change in the first year of life.

This week James also had a playdate with his friend Dominic. James is just a little more than two weeks older than Dominic, so I got to experience my entire pregnancy with his mom Theresa, and now I am experiencing motherhood with her too. It's so nice having a good friend going through the exact same things at the same time. Dominic and James were so cute together. At one point when they were laying together they grasped hands and held onto each other for a few minutes. It was so cute. I think it means they will be best buddies for life!

Also this week James started reaching for objects. Here he is grabbing for Mr. Giraffe on his play gym. So far he only really grabs with his left hand. Does that mean he will be left handed? I guess only time will tell. It may be a good sign for his future as a Yankees first baseman ...

Three Months Old!

Our Sweet Baby James is three months old today! A whole quarter of a year. Where has the time gone? He is sweeter than ever these days. He's smiling more, making all kinds of beautiful little sounds, kicking his legs like crazy when he's happy, and is just a joy to be around. He's getting stronger every day, and when I put him on his tummy without a bolster, he's trying so hard to roll over onto his back. He continues to impress his teachers at Gymboree with his strength and determination.

He's found his hands and just loves to put his whole fist in his mouth. We are still trying to get him to sleep in his crib. We've moved his swing from our room to his, and he's done great sleeping in his room in the swing. The only problem is his crib. He seems to think it's for playing rather than sleeping! Hopefully we'll get there soon!

Recovering

Well after my last post I had the best intentions of updating our blog at least once a week. Then the holidays hit, and that just didn't happen. So now that all the craziness that was Christmas and New Year's, and post New Year's is over, I can finally get a few things done including update the blog and upload the hundreds of pictures we took during that time. I swear taking pictures of a baby and sending them to family and friends is a full time job!

James had a great first Christmas even though he slept through most of it. We spent Christmas at home in Charlotte with Grandma Joanie, Uncle Greg and Uncle Kevin. James went to church for the first time on Christmas Eve, and he was very well behaved. Santa (and all our family and friends) was very good to him! After Christmas Grandpa Gerry and Grandma Liz came for New Year's for a few days. James spent New Year's Eve with his grandparents while mom and dad went out for a much needed dinner and a movie alone. After New Year's Great Grandpa Guelfo came to visit for a few days. We spent the time showing Grandpa Guelfo around town and listening to many many stories. This weekend James is getting a visit from his friend Carly and Aunt Rachel before Grandma Joanie returns at the end of the month for a few days before heading to Florida.

So for now we are enjoying the down time and trying to get into a sleep and nap schedule. I wish I had started this earlier, because it is definitely challenging. I'm trying to think of it in baby steps, and be happy about the small progress we make each day. We have a long way to go, but hopefully now we have the time to work at it. Let's see if I can do better at the blog updates now too and keep one of my many New Year's resolutions of updating the blog at least weekly!