Short but Special Visit

This past weekend my brother and Greer stopped by for a quick visit on their way to North Carolina.  They were here less than 36 hours, but we made the most of our time.  I  was so sad when we moved to LA for more reasons than one, but a big reason was that my brother had moved from Miami back to NC 2 weeks before we left!  Maybe one day we will all live in the same state again... Saturday was spent hanging out, playing with James, shopping, strolling along the boardwalk, cheering on various football teams, and of course lots of laughing.  I think my brother may be the funniest/craziest person I know. :)  We even found time to get some pie from Strawn's!  A requirement when you come to visit Shreveport.  James loved having the company, and had a great time showing off his toys and tricks.  Thanks David and Greer for taking your trip via the deep south route. We can't wait to see you again!

Sporting their ECU gear

Getting ready to go out and about on the town

Story time

What a great uncle

Early morning picture before they hit the road again.  Thanks for coming!

Granny Deb Comes to Town

We are always so excited when my mom comes to town and this trip was no exception. It only took less than 24 hours before James wanted to be with Granny Deb instead of me and Ryan.  That's a little insulting! :)  Here are just a few memories from our time together.  It went by too fast!

 

On the way home from the airport- hurray for Granny being here!

Mom brought some leftover food from our last visit and it accidentally spilled into her suitcase.  James decided to crawl in and have a snack!

Little pig

One of many lunch/dinners out- Monjunis!

 

Lots of early morning playtimes

Stroller ride at dawn- no this is not our yard.  Our neighborhood loves these crazy things!

Fun at the park

 

Trying to convince someone its time for bed

We love you Granny! Come back soon and see us!

13 Months Old

Stats:  18-24 month clothes, size 4 diaper, size 5 shoe, still our chunky monkey but you are starting to slim down!  

 Likes:  being tickled, any type of ball (you are slightly obsessed), pushing your cart down the road, being outside, going to MOPPETS, playing at Gymboree, eating lots and lots of food, dancing to any type of music- even to your mom's voice! 

Dislikes: sleeping past 5 a.m., taking afternoon naps, eating your vegetables unless they are fed to you in a spoon (yes you are spoiled rotten!)

James, this month you have really started communicating more.  You have learned sign language for "more" and like to use it to tell us when you want more food.  You eat so much, and I have a hard time thinking of new things to give you.  For breakfast yesterday you had oatmeal mixed with avocado and applesauce, a sweet potato pancake, Cheerios, and then you begged for some cheese.  This is on top of your 6 ounces of milk! A couple of your new words this past month are cheese, diaper, and bubble. You are slowly getting better about staying with other people.  You are not walking yet and don't seem to be interested in it, but that's okay.  The other day you tried to turn the television on with the remote and then started "talking" on our cell phone.  This made your dad and I feel a little guilty- looks like maybe we have been spending too much time on those things! When we ask for a hug you give us one and you love for us to chase you around the house.  You continue to hold the record for the worst sleeper/napper ever but also the record for the cutest, sweetest child on the planet and we wouldn't change you for anything!

We started doing Gymboree as a way to find somewhere cool inside to play.  You love going but we are probably going to have to take a break until next summer. 

Ryan got to come meet us one afternoon!

Busy box time

Ball heaven 

 

 

 

 Bath time is always a favorite part of the day.

Coolest baby ever

Love pushing this around the house!

Love being outside!

JT also got his first "real" haircut this past month

Mother's Day Out

I love being able to stay at home with James and am thankful for all the time I get to spend with him. The first year has gone by so fast, and I know before I can believe it he will be all grown up and gone.  However I have to admit I have been anxiously looking forward to Mother's Day Out.  Last winter we decided that it would be good for the family for mom to have a little alone time each week. :)  He only goes one day a week for a few hours, but it was so nice to be able to get things done around the house without feeling guilty for not playing with him.  I don't know how I am going to let him go to kindergarten one day though.  I was tearing up just saying goodbye for a morning!  It's hard letting other people take care of your baby!  I was really glad to see him when it was time to pick him up.  Of course they told me he had cried a lot and not slept at all.  Somehow I wasn't surprised.  Unfortunately I did not nearly finish my to-do list, and I may have unrealistic expectations for what can be accomplished in a single morning but oh well.  I'm already looking forward to next week!

Everything laid out.  Thank you Rebecca and Sara for his lunch box and book bag!

Trying on his book bag in his pjs 

Ready to go!

No I have not had a shower or put on makeup in this picture! :)

He has his own apple name tag and his own cubby.  The elementary teacher in me got tickled about this.

Dallas Disaster

As soon as Ryan found out he didn't have to work Labor Day weekend we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go somewhere fun.  There aren't many places that are an easy weekend drive from here so we figured we would go back to Dallas. (any of my LA readers have any other road trip suggestions let me know ) We were both SO ready to get away and had planned our trip completely with what we were doing, where we were eating, etc.  We even lined up our babysitter who moved to Texas to come babysit one night for us- a major splurge! Unfortunately things started going downhill before we even left.  Friday morning James woke up acting fine but then threw up 6 times in 90 minutes, 3 times which were all over me.  Down the shirt, in the hair, on our bed, the rug, the couch......it was bad.  I immediately thought that our trip was over but after a couple of good naps he seemed to be doing much better.  By the next morning he hadn't thrown up for 24 hours, we all felt good, and figured we might as well head on to Texas. 

Bath after "episode" number 6

JT just wanted to lay on the floor to play all morning. Something he never does!

Rough day...rough hair

After checking in our hotel and hanging out for a few hours our babysitter arrived.  We hardly ever get a babysitter because its so expensive, but we wanted to take advantage of getting to go out somewhere special. We walked to a seafood restaurant nearby, and I ordered soup and a fabulous looking crab cake.  I took one bite of that thing, and it was over.  It became clear very fast that I now had the stomach virus.  We got our check as quickly as possible and hurried back to our hotel, still having to make several "pit stops" along the way.  I don't know if I can ever eat seafood again!  I felt  horrible not only for being sick but also for wasting so much money on food and a babysitter. :( At least Ryan was feeling good so hopefully he could take of James the next day while I rested.  Yeah right.  Around 1 a.m. it was apparent that Ryan now had the virus as well.  We have known each other a long time but let me tell you, throwing up together is a whole new level of intimacy in your marriage! Lol.  We were both up ALL night and then our sweet alarm clock woke us up before 5 the next morning.  Needless to say the trip didn't quite end up being what we had planned.

Instead of crabcakes we ate cheerios and crackers.

Instead of going to the aquarium we went to the Target pharmacy.

Instead of buying clothes at the Galleria we bought sprite and Gatorade. 

Instead of a romantic night out on the town we got to have a date with the trashcan  

About to go on our date.  Little did we know what was ahead!

Thankfully one of Ryan's co-workers called us in some meds so we were feeling marginally better on Monday.  We decided to grin and bear it and try to do at least a couple of things before heading out.  We stopped by The Container Store (a wonderful place for someone like myself), Buy Buy Baby, and finally split some lettuce wraps at Pei Wei.   By then we had had more than enough and it was definitely time to get home.  The grand finale of the weekend was the final hour.  James decided he was done being in the car and screamed as loud as he could for the remainder of the ride.  Needless to say he is still learning how to "self-soothe".  About five minutes from our house I heard a bad sound, turned around and realized he had gotten so upset that he had thrown up all over his car seat.  Nice.  Our car now permanently smells like vomit, and I really wanted to spend an hour scrubbing a car seat that night.  I brought JT in, calmed him down and within 10 minutes his big 95 percentile head hit my lip and busted it open.  Blood, more mess to clean up.  Is the weekend over?  Thankfully it finally was.  That night Ryan looked at me and said, "I still really had a good time."  I'm not quite ready to say that yet but it was definitely a memorable "vacation." :)

Ryan and I didn't want to eat but James still needed to so we got him room service.  The kid is so spoiled!

JT- feeling good.  Mommy- not so hot

Taking a spin at Buy Buy Baby

Hanging out at the hotel

Lunch at Pei Wei