Jamesy--a 9 month tribute

I wanted to post a picture of James with my last post, but all I had on hand was a picture of us camping. I was a tub o'lard, so I cropped me out. Well, Aho was jealous and wanted out of the picture too, so I took it complete off, with the idea I would post more pictures. Well, I could not find the memory card of the pictures I wanted, until yesterday, so here they are!

He loves swimming! Look at these teeth! He is now pulling himself up and can stand for a few minutes! These last two are his new thing. He likes to scrunch his nose when he smiles, and he will lift his head up and smile down at you. Very cute!

Things I am grateful for

The other day I was making scalloped potatoes. I don't like making them because I hate slicing the potatoes. As I had starting slicing, I looked up and saw my kitchen aid mixer sitting there. I remember my mom had gotten me attachments for it, so I looked through and found ones that would slice. I had such a great time!

I can't figure out what the buzz is with Rachael Ray. What credential does she have to have a daytime talk show and a segment on the food network. I don't have cable, but my parents do and one I like to watch is the food network. It just happened to be 30 minute meals with RR. So, I watched it, trying to figure this out. For dessert she made a peach melba. I have always wanted to make peach melba, and with peaches starting to come out, I thought this would be the best time for it. So, I tried it. It was so good! I don't want to say I am grateful for Rachael Ray. I will say I am grateful I saw this episode and that peaches are in season!

Update on us

Well, not much new with Aho or me. Aho is taking a class this summer and is working so hard, we never see him. I am still working, and hate being away from James, but know I need to get Aho through school before I quit, so even though I am not ok with it, I am ok with it!

James changes so much every day. He is crawling and into everything, which I love. I put his books in the bottom shelve in the bookcase in our living room and he loves taking the books out and playing with them. He hasn't ripped one (that I care about at least) yet, and I hope he will like reading them as much as he likes taking them out of the book case. He will follow us wherever we go, and I have found that he likes to play with my spices. I will put him on the kitchen floor while I make dinner and we talk and play with the spice bottles. Who knew!

He has learned to pasi (clap) he loves to do it, and always looks for one of us to pasi with him.

He is now pulling himself up on things, so we need to watch for him walking around pretty soon. They grow up too fast!!

Time to turn the TV off

Last week I saw on the news there was a study done with kids and TV. Basically, they found that background TV is not good for kids playing in the room. They found they moved from toy to toy, and see this as a cause for childhood learning disorders.
Those of you who know me, know I love tv. I ALWAYS have it on, it keeps me company when Aho is gone. I would notice James would do exactly what they talked about. He would be on the floor playing, and would stop and watch tv, start playing again, stop and watch. After I saw the study, I decided I would turn the tv off. I have it off when James is awake, whether he is down on the floor playing or not.
A few months ago I bought some music from a company called BRITE. I grew up on this, and wanted my kids to as well. So, I will turn the music on and sing to James as he plays. We love it. Aho is starting to learn the songs as well, and will sing to James as well. I haven't noticed a difference in him, but I have with me. I get down on the floor and play with him more, sing and talk to him more. I don't need to watch every show, and am ok if I miss some. It is a bit hard, because I do like watching some things, but I decided that time with my baby is more important that the shows I watch. Basically, the reason for the post: It is a LOT easier than I thought it would be, and I love playing with my baby!

Olympics

Yes, this is my third in one night, but I am catching up!
So, as I mentioned below, I am home by myself yet again, so I decided to watch the olympic trials for diving and gymnastics. I wish I was a swimmer. They have awesome bodies! (That was not the reason for the post, but I wanted to comment on that.) I was watching gymnastics while James and I were eating dinner (he had squash and I had an awesome dinner in which I got the recipes from watching the Early Show Saturday morning...I did make the pudding, it is FABULOUS!!!) the floor show came on. I wonder, why is that gymnastics. That is one that I kind of enjoy watching, but is it dancing, no, is it gymnastics, no, what is it? They do a few dance moves, they do a few tumbles, what's the point? I do enjoy watching the vaults, the bars, and the balance beam, but the floor, not my favorite. I am excited for the olympics, and can't wait for 08-08-08!

James

James is growing so fast. His two bottom teeth are now coming up, and finally he is sleeping better because the teeth are not buggin'. He is getting up on his knees and rocking back and forth, almost ready to crawl. He goes backwards great, and forwards is in progress. He can get anywhere he wants to go, so we will need to baby proof! It's the little things I haven't thought about that will cause the most trouble (like the internet cord strewn across the floor...he loves playing with it and I can just see him strangling himself!) He loves being entertained, and in return is very entertaining himself, with his cute smile and fun laugh! It's late coming, but here are a few pics of James at 6 months. (He is now 7 mns)

The things we do for our children

Today was such a beautiful day that I decided I would take James for a walk. Aho was working, so we were home by ourselves (that seems to be a growing trend!!) I decided we would walk to the temple. I had put some sunscreen on James when we left, but it was very overcast, so I didn't worry too much, so all he had on was a onesie. We got to the temple and the sun came out just blaring. I would run in between the trees and take my sweet time when we would walk past a tree. His face and arms were pretty well covered by the visor on the stroller, but his poor legs were soaking up the sun. So, I decided to sit on a bench for a minute and enjoy the sights. I started wondering what I was going to do on my way home to cover his poor little legs. I had nothing with me. I started looking at what I was wearing...I did have a tank top on...and then I remembered my slip. It is a half slip, easy to take off. I looked around and I was surrounded by missionaries. They go to the temple every Sunday and mosy around. They were all around me, but I decided that I didn't care, I needed to cover those chubby little legs. So, I put my hand up my skirt and started pulling. As I was doing that, two missionaries walked up to me and wanted to practice their testimonies on me. So, here I am with my slip to my ankles and missionaries bearing their testimony to me in German. Very funny. Anyway, I got it out and wrapped it around his legs and headed home. It was a very nice day, and I quite enjoyed being outside surrounded by the beautiful nature.