Merry Christmas to all

3 Month Old Today!

James is 3 months old today!! He's such a good baby. He is cooing and kicking and squirming and generally being quite charming. He's still spitting up a lot, but it does seem to be getting a little bit better. He usually sleep about 7 hours a night and we've had a few nights where he slept 9 hours!!! He's a little chunk - he's outgrowing all his clothes at a very rapid rate!!

"I'm not so sure about this"

"Still with the pictures - the things I put up with"

And now, some video...it's a little hard to tell, but he was kicking his feet like crazy...you can hear it, but you can't really see it.

Swing Time

I looked outside and what did I see? Our little bug was swinging away. Now, Emma loves to swing. LOVES to swing. But, up until now, she has only been "pushing" with her arms. She hasn't quite mastered pumping with her legs. It must have clicked, because she nailed it. Now, when I went to video her...well...you can watch for yourself...

So, we tried on another swing...

And, eventually gave up and shot a little on her favorite swing...

Emma's First School Program

If you look VERY closely, you can see Emma right in the middle of this picture. Emma had her first school program on Monday, December 8th. The kindergarten class sang Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer as part of the Christmas Concert. It was about 1000 degrees, totally packed (I'm pretty sure we violated the fire code occupancy requirements) and we were there 30 minutes early and still had to stand the entire time. I have some video, but haven't figured out how to get it on the computer yet. When I do, I'll post it on YouTube.

I was so proud of Emma that I could have exploded. She marched in with her class, mostly sat still (as far as I could tell) and sang and did the motions. She knows every word. She was so cute - she would turn around every now and then during the song, almost like she was checking to be sure that everyone else was doing what they were supposed to do. We are so happy with her class and her progress this year.

I really missed Gary on this night. Gary would have been all over this. If you were blessed to know Gary, you can totally picture this, can't you? Gary, with video camera in one hand and digital camera in the other, or in his shirt pocket. Gary, insisting on photos before we left the house, while we were at the school, in the classroom and then when it was over. Gary, not caring that the place was packed, and maneuvering around to get the best possible video position. While we have about 5 minutes of video, Gary would have had about 30 minutes!! Gary, showing off the photos and videos to everyone who was lucky enough to run in to him over the next few days. While we have pictures, Gary would have had LOTS of pictures!! We miss him!!!

Emma's reindeer shirt.

The video is of Emma saying reindeer - she wouldn't sing...

Jack Henry

Jordan, Seth, Jack & James (don't know where Emma was!)

James & Jack (& Mrs. Thompson)

We went to visit Jack Henry Pracht a few weeks ago. Jack is one month and one day younger than James. He's bigger than James already, but he was almost 2 pounds bigger at birth, so it's to be expected. He is so cute and so strong. You should see him on his tummy - he's practically doing push ups already. Given that Sara & I have been friends since kindergarten, we hope this is the start of a beautiful friendship - how cool would it be to be able to say "we've been friends since before we were born"?!!

More Thanksgiving

After we got home from Hendersonville, Sandra, Brad, Melanie, Anna, Ashlyn & Ethan all came over for Thanksgiving dinner at our house. We had way too much food and really enjoyed just being together as a family.

Thanksgiving continued...We are Family (think the song)

This is a shot of all my cousins (minus 1 - missed you Michelle!), and my cousin's kids, and my sister and Granny's great niece & nephew ( I have no idea what that makes us - some kind of cousins I guess) - anyway - we had a crowd and it has been a long time since we were all together.

What a catch!

Everyone plays if they want to - no one is too small. The smaller you are, the better for the sneak attack!!

Thanksgiving

Important Note: My camera is broken. I have NO NEW PHOTOS of my own, but plan to remedy this siutuation within a few days.

We had a great day on Thanksgiving. First, we got up and made a mad dash to Hendersonville to visit with my dad's side of the family. We only got to stay a few hours, but it was awesome to get to be there with everybody. Plus, everyone wanted to see James - I'm not living under any illusions - I know they don't really want to see me - it's Emma & James they are interested in!!

Dad & Granny

The family!

Jennifer & Emma

Emma with her Papa (who was not supposed to be lifting more than 5 pounds - you can see how well that went).

Granny & James - she claimed him right off the bat and didn't seem to be even slightly worried that she might be covered in spit!!

Emma & James

Emma - holding "her baby" - so sweet!

Me & James - I'm usually the one taking the pictures so these are rare!

Sandra's Birthday

We went to Mimi's Japanese Steakhouse for Sandra's birthday. It started out tough - we were 20 minutes late for our reservation because of horrible traffic (big wreck). But, we got settled in & had a great meal. Our server left a lot to be desired, but our chef was great. In attendance...Mike, Cindy, Holly & Kyle Perry...Jennifer Huggins...Brad, Anna, Ashlyn, Ethan, Brian, Lynn, Emma, James & Sandra Blackburn. They made Sandra get up and had the whole restaurant sing to her!! It was great!! Then, we went back to our house for cake & presents.

Ashlyn really wanted to use her chopsticks - and she did GREAT!!!

First we get the shrimp with the chopsticks...

Then, we carefully bring it to our mouth...

Success!!!

Best Buds

Emma & James "watching" Barney - here's hoping they are still best buds 20 years from now!!

The Many Faces...

All these were taken within just a few minutes of each other!

Video of James

Saturday morning at our house

OK - you'll have to look closely, but if you do, you'll see that this is a picture of Emma - in our bed - SIDEWAYS!

The story - Emma decided that it was a grand idea to get up BEFORE the crack of dawn. Brian and I were opposed to this idea. So, she crawled in to bed with us and miraculously, fell back asleep (she usually "jabbers" - LOUDLY - until we give up and take her in the bonus room to watch JoJo's Circus or Signing Time!) and was sleeping soundly when I got up to feed James.

When I returned from feeding James, looking forward to crawling back into bed, this is what I found. She left about 1 foot on Brian's side of the bed for me to squeeze in to - I had to try to go back to sleep with her feet in my face. I know Dad is going to get a kick out of this because I apparently did this as a child, except I actually slept ON the pillows with my feet in his face. I guess what goes around comes around!!

James

Isn't he adorable!!!

Emma's Field Trip

I didn't get a lot of great pictures of our field trip. We went to Steven's farm with Emma's class. First we went through a corn maze, which I think would be a lot of fun in the dark - we were totally turned around in broad daylight with a bunch of 5 & 6 year olds! Then we had lunch and some free play time and then it was off to the pumpkin patch. The lady who met us there did an awesome job of explaining how the pumpkins grow. Then, it was time to pick our pumpkin. Truthfully, I don't think Emma really cared. She liked the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and I think she had fun playing duck-duck-goose with her classmates, but she was pretty much in her own little world the whole time.

Each field trip brings its own set of challenges. This was our best one yet. Overall, she did fine and that, in and of itself, is an improvement. Past field trips have been completely exhausting because I spend the entire time chasing her and trying to keep her from having a total meltdown. Our next field trip is to the Peace Center in January - now, that will be interesting.

Special thanks to Aunt Brenda who watched James so I could spend the day with Emma!!

Sky Top

James did NOT really want to have his picture taken!

We attempted our first "outing" with 2 kids. We drove up to Hendersonville and went to Sky Top. Now, it should be noted that in our original plan, we were going to go to Sky Top and then maybe run by Granny's house. This did not happen. First, it took us WAY longer to actually get away because, well, it takes WAY longer to do anything now! Then, when we got there, James was not particularly cooperative and we had to make a couple of trips back to the van to change clothes and diapers. So, by the time we were actually done at Sky Top it was time to go back home and pat ourselves on the back for surviving the day!!

Emma got to see the goats and the sheep, she played on the playground and she went on a "hay" ride (there is no hay - it's really a big wagon pulled by a tractor, but she loves it). I got an apple cider slushy, which I HIGHLY recommend if you like apple cider - it was delicious and refreshing. And, we actually remembered our money (one time we got up there with no cash) and got a bag of pink lady apples, which are our favorites!

My favorite thing of all was the mountains - I miss the mountains - and they were spectacular. Talk about a show - orange, red, yellow, gold, amber - every imaginable hue. Absolutely stunning. I love fall!

A pretty little flower

Emma was a flower for Halloween. She definitely has figured out that Halloween means candy. We didn't really do the trick or treat thing. Brian just took her to a few neighbor's houses so they could see her in her costume. James had decided it was time for him to eat, so he & I stayed home.

Shannon & Christopher come to visit

My cousins Shannon & Christopher are fantastic! They wanted to meet James and came by on Saturday afternoon. James was so good - he smiled and was quite charming for his cousins!! And didn't spit up all over them! He must REALLY like them! :-)

7 weeks old!!

Can you believe it!! We've made it 7 weeks - astonishing! James gets cuter EVERY DAY! He is smiling and cooing and generally being adorable. We won't discuss the amount of spit that can come out of him at any moment. He's growing and getting longer and chubbier and outgrowing clothes - it's fabulous!

He also slept from 11 - 6:30 last night, which is why I'm able to take a moment to post to the blog!!

I had to add these pictures too - he was mad, but he's so cute when he curls out his bottom lip.