Pregnancy Progression: Week 25

Here's the progress. I took my glucose test for gestational diabetes today and I am diabetes-FREE. Yay! All is well. Baby Girl is moving a lot, a lot. She is a very active little one. She doesn't seem to like it when I cross my legs. That seems to get her kicking anytime I happen to do it. James seems to know that we have a baby sister coming. He will tell you that "Baby Sister" is in my "belly." We recently checked out a book from the library titled "Hello Baby!" about a baby sister who is born to a family with a little boy. I think it really helped him to understand.

Mom, Mom...love oo.

Today, I was doing the dishes and I heard "Mom, Mom," and then James came around the corner, looked up at me, and said, "love oo" (love you). It was so sweet. I think it made my life.

Here's a fun video of James "dancin'" to a musical Christmas card. He has just gotten into dancing. He loves to dance (especially to Christmas music). He also enjoys ballroom dancing with me (not that I really know how to ballroom dance). I pick him up and he puts one arm around me and the other in my hand and we dance. It's cute. He's so much fun.

Just Plain Cute

Just plain cute.
You can't see it, but James had some string cheese that he was calling a "bunny." He had apparently bit into the middle leaving two thin strips on each side (bunny ears of course).

James loves hats.
This particular morning, as soon as his "p-days" (p.j's...i.e. pajamas) were removed, he requested his green "hat." He managed to put it on all by himself. He couldn't really see well, since it was covering one eye, but he happily walked around the apartment with his chin up so he could get a view with both eyes.

Cute messy face.
James is now a completely independent eater. He even eats soup all by himself. It's been a couple of months now, but when we started letting him have complete reign, he would excitedly say "Self! Self!" when we would bring him his food. He loves the independence. He caught on really quickly. His face gets messy (of course it also did when I fed him though), but he doesn't spill much. He still resorts to fingers at times, especially when it's down the the last morsels. Recently, he decided it's also appropriate to try to drink your food. So, we've gotten a little more messy lately. He has also decided that it is nice to occasionally dip your fingers into pureed-type food and suck it off of your fingers. Hopefully, he'll realize that it was so much nicer to have clean hands and a relatively clean face. I've found that a quick way to get him to choose appropriate table manners is to say, "Do you need Mommy to help you?" He'll typically quickly say, "No, no" and pick up his utensils.

James in Mama's apron. He loves all that is associated with "cookeen" (cooking). Notice the spoon next to him on the desk (however, please don't notice the clothes on the back of the chair or the stack of books on the desk...don't worry, they aren't there anymore...not that you've noticed them).

Pudding is delicious to eat and fun to squish!
James pretty much loves anything "choc-o-late."

James is regularly found carrying around a cooking utensil of some sort: "pan", "whisk", "poon" (spoon), "salapa" or "sapala" or "spatulapa" (spatula). If you ask him what he is making he will usually tell you he's making "soup" with "chicken" and/or "cinnmin" (cinnamon). He really has a thing for "cinnmin" right now. It's really fun to watch him make things in his pan. He will get a measuring cup and pour some imaginary substance in and then he'll put it "way" (away) and get a measuring spoon and pour another imaginary substance in and put it "way" before getting more. Then he'll mix it. If you ask what he's doing, he'll tell you he's "mixikin."

Jordan and I absolutely love this face.
James and I were making no-bake cookies and he had made a nice little mess on the table and on himself while he was "mixikin" it. So, I was taking pictures of his sugary self and he wanted to see "James" on the camera. I think this is some sort of look of dismay at not being shown "piturs" (pictures) of "James" immediately upon request. And don't worry, that's only a butter knife he's holding and I had my eye on him at all times. :)

This is a "cheese" now let me see "James" picture.

James has always loved shoes. I found him trying on Daddy's shoes the other day. A couple of weeks ago, I found him chewing on a shoe. Honestly, I thought we were over the whole sticking random objects in our mouth thing. Today it was a piece of asphalt that he'd picked up on our walk. He rarely does this, but every now and then, some things apparently look too intriguing not to taste. We were informed that, in Nursery on Sunday, he stuck a bubble wand straight into his mouth. He was gagging and seemed to be having trouble breathing (probably because he was breathing in nasty-tasting soapiness), so he was given some water, which washed it down and he went on his merry way. Two days later, he is still saying, "Bubbles...yucky." Yet, he still tasted the asphalt today. It must have looked quite good.

"Cheese."
I asked him to smile for the camera, so he leaned forward and said "cheese."

Pregnancy Progression: Week 20

Jordan decided to be artistic in his photographic documentation of week 20. Who knew that slanting the camera just so could have such inspiring results?

A Little Announcement...

One of my sweet friends made us this adorable and delicious cake to celebrate the news.

As you can see, my belly has expanded enough to at least fit something the size of this cake.

Our baby girl is moving a lot. She looked perfect in her ultrasound. She's right on track in her growth for my current stage of pregnancy. We're excited!! If anyone has any cute girl names they would like to share, we'd be much obliged to hear them.

Fall Fun

We enjoyed a night at Lubbock's 1st pumpkin trail. Over 500 jack-o-lanterns were donated to light the trail. James has been absolutely in love with pumpkins, so this activity was right up his alley. The only problem was that hundreds of people, candle-lit pumpkins, and a toddler who loves pumpkins and wants to run around and pick them all up was not the best combination. We had some tear-filled moments at the beginning while James learned his boundaries. We ended up carrying him the whole way. This seemed to be easiest for him, so as not to tempt him with pumpkins within his grasp. He really enjoyed looking at all of the pumpkins.

And what would a little boy who loves pumpkins be for Halloween? That's right. A pumpkin.
Here is our little pumpkin on the way to the ward Trunk-or Treat.
(Thank you to the Nelsons and especially Sophie for letting us borrow the costume!)

Here is the Cullimore Pumpkin Patch.
The extra look of elation on Jordan's face is probably due to having just won "Best Overall Chili" for the ward chili cook-off.

James absolutely loved running free throughout the gym. He did not want to stop to pose for pictures. He, in fact, thought of a fun game to make of it. I would take out the camera and ask him to smile. He would then pause as if in complete obedience to my request and then take off as soon as I pushed the button. Do you see the clever look on his face? This is my best shot. Most of the pictures are of his back or side. I finally wised up and started pushing the button just before I asked him to smile.

James's first taste of Trunk-or-Treat spoils.
We don't ever have much candy around our house, but somehow this boy knows candy. He discovered a love of chocolate while helping to make chocolate chip cookies one day...so, maybe, it was the chocolate. He could smell it. And he wanted it.
Yes, he bit straight through the wrapper. He also promptly clenched his jaws as tight as possible when I tried to retrieve the wrapper pieces. The result was chocolate all over both of us and only a small piece of wrapper. After a trip to the bathroom to wash up, we continued our trek.

Here we are after James's first trick-or-treating experience.

The spoils.

Here is James on Halloween.
His pumpkin costume was sitting forgotten in the laundry basket.
So, he donned Daddy's "costume."
We didn't go trick-or treating, since we'd had the trunk-or-treat, but we were visited by friends.

Mommy's Little Helper

James cleaning up a "mess" (spilled water) on the kitchen floor.
He immediately informs me when he sees a "mess" and often follows his "mess" declaration with "clean it!"

James loves cooking and "miking" (mixing).
He always wants to be a "helpoh" (helper) when I'm cooking.

He also enjoys sharing his personal creations (imaginary, of course).

At least weekly, James asks to "dus" (dust).

He LOVES to "dus."

Maybe we should have been working on cleaning up
when your done playing instead of dusting that day.

James absolutely loves the "ba-coon" (vacuum).
He must have a turn vacuuming on his own when I'm vacuuming.
And the vacuum must actually be on.

I'm so grateful for my little helper.

Our Future Missionary

Jordan decided to dress James in an outfit worn by James's teddy bear. The "shorts" are actually teddy bear pants and the belly shirt is a teddy bear long-sleeved white dress shirt. He sure looks cute in his ill-fitting attire though.

"And they pitched their tents..." (Mosiah 2:6)

We watched Sunday morning General Conference Nephite style. Or at least we tried to. We thought James would love it, but after going under a couple of times, he was more interested in tearing it down than sitting under it. Maybe some other time...

Pregnancy Progression: Week 16

So, I thought I was showing more this time around...then I saw this picture. I sure feel like my belly is bigger than it appears on camera.

So I decided we should take another picture and I would smooth out my shirt so we could really document the pregnancy progress. As you can see, that really did nothing.

So I decided I would take a picture from my perspective, so you can see that I'm not crazy for feeling like my tummy is getting large. This is what I see when I look down. Can you now understand my disbelief when I saw the first picture?

We are moving into week 17 and all is well. I had some morning sickness in the beginning, but that has seemed to have disappeared as of about 2 weeks ago, but has been replaced by consistent but relatively minor headaches. It's true that pregnancies are often a different experience each time. With James I had some strong food aversions, but wasn't very sick and didn't get headaches. This time I don't really have any food aversions, but was fairly sick at the beginning and have headaches. It will be interesting to see how it progresses. Anyway, I am feeling great.

We will have our ultrasound near the end of November and, as of now, we are determined to find out the gender. We will be excited for either a boy or a girl. If it's a girl, she may not be as excited about her hand-me-down wardrobe. Bows and headbands can change any outfit, right?

Lessons for Mom by James

This morning Jordan set our computer up on the desk in our room and turned on the broadcast from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing before General Conference began. James excitedly ran into the room and sat himself on the chair in front of the computer to watch and listen to the "mumic" (music). He would not budge from the chair...not even to get dressed.

At one point, as he was listening, he said "Jesus." He has also said this as he's looked at a picture of the temple. I wonder what he feels at those moments. He seems to already have the capacity to recognize when the Holy Ghost is present and to know that the Holy Ghost testifies of Christ. I am grateful to have these opportunities to see how Heavenly Father cares for and teaches His children from the very beginning of our mortal lives. He loves us and, as our hearts are open, He will teach and guide us.

Last week I printed the pictures of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to help James become familiar with them before General Conference. James and I have been reviewing them since then. From the first time I showed it to him, he has been so very excited about the "apostles" (he can actually say that word quite well) and "Monun" (President Monson) the "protet" (prophet) and "Eyring" (President Eyring) and "Oops" (President Uchtdorf).

As we watched General Conference today, James would excitedly say "apostles...see" or in other words "lift me up to get a better look at the apostles" (our computer was sitting up out of his reach lest he become overzealous and knock it down). Elder Bednar was speaking when it was time for James to go down for a nap. As Jordan picked him up and took him out of the room, James began to cry and say "Benar, Benar" (Elder Bednar) while reaching out his hands. He seems to innately understand that these men are special and that we should be excited about seeing them and should listen to them. I can see why our Savior said, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4).

A Boy and His Potty

James enjoying a good book on his potty in February 2009.

We have had quite a journey since January. It all started when Jordan told me about a post from our friends' blog. Our friend was beginning to potty train their son at 9 months. She was guided in this pursuit by the book Diaper Free Before 3: The Healthier Way to Toilet Train and Help Your Child Out of Diapers Sooner by Jill M. Lekovic, M.D. I was instantly intrigued because James has a tendency to get really bad diaper rashes even if his diaper is changed immediately. This and only this could have prompted me to pursue potty training so soon...it was not something that I was looking forward to in the least. So, there began our journey. Jordan gave me the book as a Christmas gift. When we returned home from Utah in January we put the methods to the test. James was 9 months old.

The basic methods are thus:

1. Familiarize child with the potty by building potty trips into the routine. Example: When child wakes up, take a trip to the potty. Just before child goes down for a nap, head to the potty. After a meal, go to the potty. Before leaving home on a trip, go to the potty. At first, there may be only one trip per day depending on child's willingness to sit on the potty. It took James about a week or two before we were going before/after naps, after meals, and before/returning from trips. We wouldn't sit long at first, just a minute or two. But soon James grew to love his potty trips. He began to want to sit and read and potty all day long. :) We sometimes have to get really creative in our efforts to persuade him to get off the potty whether he's gone or not after 20 or 30 minutes (when it has become apparent that he just wants to sit on his James-sized chair and read).

2. Child begins to use potty. James caught on pretty quick. I praised him when he happened to use it at first, which led him to realize that he was supposed to potty on the potty. He began regularly using it within two weeks of starting training.

3. Child wears cotton training pants for increasing amounts of time. So far, I have just been happy that James doesn't have diaper rashes anymore, so I haven't moved into this stage yet. But, I will be venturing there soon. James has begun to tell me when he needs to go potty, so I think I'm getting brave enough to work him into cotton underwear. The author says that the the more you use cotton underwear, the faster the child will potty train, since they don't like the feel of wetting themselves without it being whisked away by diapers. I can see this being true. When James when through a potty boycott for a week, I decided to put him in cotton training pants and it cured him of his boycott. But, once he was using the potty again, I ditched the training pants, because I wasn't ready yet.


All in all, our journey has been enjoyable. James has gone through various stages when he has wanted to use it, but then for a week didn't, but he's always come back. His desire to use it now seems to be stronger than ever, so maybe this is a good time to start him in cotton underwear. It has been a time commitment, but it's been positive since we've spent much more time reading than we probably would have otherwise. As with everything else in parenting so far, I've learned that consistency is the key to success. I hope that this will continue to be true as we move into the next stage of potty training.

The Post of a Proud Father

This is my son James. Please note that he is "chillin'" while watching tennis. He loves watching tennis. Additionally, he can say such words as "ball" and "racket". Both of these words are clearly valuable in the world of tennis, not to mention the world of sports in general. Whenever there is a tennis racket in the room, he wants to be the one holding it.

This is another picture of my son James. Once again he is "chillin'", and this time he is chillin' for real in nothing but the diaper. This picture is of special significance because, as you may note, he has a firm grasp on the television remote control and is intently watching a quality game of Saturday morning football. You will also be pleased to know that he loves playing with his regulation size football and can clearly articulate the word "football" while excitedly running back and forth on the couch in front of the television.

I am a proud father.

3.18.10

We are happily expecting again. At my first OB appointment the doctor did an ultrasound to be sure of the due date. I was 10 weeks at the time. Our sweet little one gave us quite a show in spite of being only 1.25 inches at the time. He or she was moving those little arms and kicking those little legs all over. It was fun to see. James was completely mesmerized by the baby's heartbeat coming from my belly. He wanted to hear it again and again.

BYU Beats Oklahoma

I am a BYU fan, and I am happy. BYU: 14, Oklahoma: 13. Go Cougs!

FYI Alert

Since James recently turned one, Natasha decided that it was time to take some family pictures. She found a great photographer who has posted some of the pictures on her blog. The Lubbock wind added a certain flair to Natasha's beautiful hair, and James, as always, is lookin' good. If you are interested you can check them out here. (It's the May 19, 2009 post entitled "Mr. James.")

Happy Happy Birthday Birthday!

Our Sweet Baby James is 1! He turned 1 on March 24th (this post is a teensy bit belated). He really enjoyed wearing the crown I made for him at each meal of the day. It's hard to see in the pictures, but the crown has pictures of the last year of his life all the way around it. I'm going to make that a birthday tradition. It will of course be displayed post birthday in a scrapbook (what is left of it anyway). James quite enjoyed playing with his crown. I managed to keep it in pretty good condition. In the future I might make two--one for playing and one for saving.

Lovin' the crown at breakfast.

King James sampling some Little Ceaser's pizza for the first time. He loved the pizza! He also enjoyed the Little Ceaser graham cookies they gave him (his first taste of cookie).

James and Daddy after James finished his yummy chili dinner which he loved.

Mmmm...Texas Sheet Cake! It says "Happy B-day James" in pecans. He woke up from his afternoon nap before I started decorating, so it's not much, but it sure tasted good. James is tipping his crown to the cake. Quite the compliment if I do say so myself.

I wanted some pictures of James with his birthday sign. I was feeling a little frustrated that I couldn't get a closer picture since the sign was so high on the wall. It eventually dawned on me that I could move the sign...What a bright idea!

James again admiring his crown. He was more interested in playing with his crown than partaking of the cake. I think he was quite stuffed from his dinner.

James quickly discovered that the cake was fun to squish between his fingers.

He also quickly discovered that the cake was sitting upon a plate. He never eats off plates since they end up on the floor, so he took advantage of the opportunity to play with his plate (or bowl lid as the case may be).

Here Jordan is trying to persuade James to eat some of his birthday cake, since thus far he had only squished it and played with the plate. He doesn't look too excited in this picture...the boy must have been quite stuffed! (He now loves to partake of sweets when they are presented).

This picture reminds me of Green Eggs and Ham. Page after page the main character refuses green eggs and ham and then when he finally tastes them, he realizes that they are quite good and that he likes them. James finally discovered that cake is good thanks to Dad's help.

Do you see the cake remnant below his lip? He finally took his first bite!

The plate and crown were still fun to play with in between bites.

Eventually, James began to shovel the cake into his mouth.

What sheer cake squishing glee!
(Notice the pointed toes...his whole body was involved in the squishing.)

After eating and squishing, he was left with mountains of crumbs.

DANCE...Boogie Wonderland...yeah, yeah, yeah...
I thought it would be fun to get James a card with music. So I got him this card with a hologram of the Happy Feet Penguins on the front and the chorus (shown above) to Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind, and Fire. It was pretty jammin'. He got a kick out of it for days, even weeks. It was his companion on the changing table. Opening and closing it to start and stop the music kept him quite entertained until it of course broke after all the opening and closing. I, however, don't think I will be getting a card like that again. There was no price on it. I figured it would be $3 to $5. Oh no...it was $8! I should have just bought him a book. I wish I would have told the cashier that I no longer wanted it. But, it was fun while it lasted.

Opening his present from Mom and Dad.
(Jordan wrapped it...do you like the Santa Claus themed paper?)

Mega Bloks!!! I think Jordan may have been even more excited than James.

He sure loved that crown!

James did not want to pause for photo-ops after opening his present. Jordan was teasing me that it looked like I was using James as a prop. I'd grab him and turn to the camera and smile before he'd squirm loose to go play. I just really wanted to have a picture with him on his first birthday. This is the best not-so-propish shot that we got.

Jordan's creation...he used all 80 pieces!