Trip to Ny

We went up to Albany the beginning of August. Our original plan was going to be to spend a couple of days in Albany, and then a couple of days in Buffalo. But those plans were adjusted when we found a house, and knew we were closing the end of July. We ended up taking that weekend to unpack all of our stuff. (We were supposed to be moving that weekend but our closing got pushed up a week.)

Mark & I both went into work on Monday, and then left for Albany bright and early Tuesday morning. We enjoyed hanging out with everyone. On Wednesday we went up to Saratoga and bet on some horses! We all decided we would bet $40 over a course of 5 races. I ended up coming home with $50 - winning money on two races! We had a good time doing that! On Thursday we went into Albany, grabbed some lunch at an Irish Pub and then went on the USS Slater (it was HOT!!) and then we went to the Albany State Museum. It was nice to be able to let Jim run around! Jim got to enjoy some ice cream cake. (I had a picture of the clean-up process but it just disappeared...where's the un-do button here?)

Friday morning we got up and said our good-byes and made our way to Rochester.

16 Months...

It's hard to believe my little baby boy is 16 months already!! How time flies. (I think I say that all the time...)

- Still wearing size 4 diapers.

- Wearing size 7 shoes.

- Had a period where he wasn't a fan of the bath - I think maybe it was the new tub? But we've since remedied that with a couple new bath toys!

- Tooth count - I think it's up to 12 now! I'm almost positive his 4th molar came in, so it's a molar on each side - top/bottom, plus 4 teeth on top, and 4 on the bottom.

- He had his last bottle on Thursday the 28th, and has been drinking out of sippy cups since!!!!!

- His vocabulary is expanding. (I don't know if I've ever updated on this - so here's some of the things he is saying): He says mama and dada, Ashley, Papa, outside, upstairs, shoes, elmo (love the way he says elmo), basketball, ball, hello (says that when he hears the phone ring)...I'm sure there's more, but those are the main ones. He also is repeating after you. I'll tell him to say 'green' and he tries to get that word out!

Big Brother

The word is now out - Jim is going to be a big brother!!!! His baby brother or sister will be coming sometime in March!!!!!! We are all very excited about this upcoming arrival. We found out over the 4th of July weekend. I had a feeling Saturday night that there was a good chance I was pregnant, and said something to Mark Sunday AM. When we went grocery shopping I picked up a pregnancy test, and sure enough it confirmed my thoughts!!!! Monday morning I went shopping to get Jim this shirt, so I could break the news to the family. It worked out great - everyone was at home celebrating Rob's birthday, so we Skyped with them to share the news. We sent the picture above to Mark's parents to break the news!!!! Jim & his sibling will be just under 2 years apart - 23 months! Which is pretty perfect in my book!

Grandma & Papa Visit!!!

Still getting all caught up with our busy summer we've had. We were too busy with our move, that I didn't take any pictures when Rob & Jenna were down. But like I had mentioned earlier, it was great having them here to lend us a hand!!!

The following weekend mom & dad came down. We were supposed to be moving that weekend but our closing date got pushed up a week. They flew into BWI from Vegas on Wednesday night, and made their way down to Alexandria Thursday afternoon. Jim got out of daycare early on Thursday, and they took care of him on Friday & Monday - what a lucky boy he is!! I think the three of them enjoyed their time together!!! Despite all the mosquitoes - they loved playing outside! It's so nice to have all that extra space out there! It was great having them around that weekend as Mark & I were able to finish unpacking all our boxes...and not have to worry about Jim getting in our way. We took them out to dinner Saturday, heading back down to Los Tios in Del Ray. Everyone enjoyed their meals once again!!!

Nanny & Papa Visit...

I have lots of things to get updated on. I took care of our move...

Before the big move, Mark's parents came down for the weekend to visit. Had lots of fun visiting with them! Saturday Mark & I went to the gym, they came along and hung out with Jim at Pentagon Row. We were going to attempt to go to one of the Smithsonian's, but METRO was doing track work and it was going to be a long wait for a train so instead we decided to check out the Masonic Temple in Alexandria. Decided to try out a Mexican Restaurant in Del Ray for dinner - Los Tios - which was very good!!! We all enjoyed our weekend together!!!

Animal Sounds

Here is a video of Jim practicing his animal sounds:

Two Pictures

We have been busy busy with our move! Everything went well!!! I think I mentioned this before, but we closed on the 21st, and then moved that Saturday. Rob & Jenna came down for the weekend, which was a HUGE help!! It would had been a very stressful move if we didn't have those two extra sets of hands. I put Jenna in charge of Jim - which is a full time job! He always wanted to be right there where the action was, and most of the time that meant being in someones way. I think she had a great time playing with him! Rob gave Mark an extra set of hands to help with lifting the bigger things. Again, which was a great help since there was no way I was taking care of stuff like that.

My parents were in town the following weekend, and it was great having them! They loved the new place! And it gave Mark & I a chance to unpack the rest of our boxes. It would have been a much longer drawn out process if one of us were keeping an eye on Jim. Mom taught Jim the sounds that a cow, dog, and a lamb make - which is so cute. He also sings along to Elmo's Song, again adorable.

With that I will leave you with two pictures that we took last weekend from a bench on the side of our house -

15 month stats

Jim finally made it to the doctor for his 15 month check-up. He has a clean bill of health!! And was doing everything he should be doing.

Head: 19" - 80th percentile

Height: 31 3/4" - 71st percentile

Weight: 26lbs 5.5 oz - 75th percentile

One healthy happy little boy!!!!!!

15 month update...

I've been meaning to come on here and give everyone an update now that Jim is 15 months old...But we've been busy - busy moving into our new house! We closed on the 21st (Happy Birthday to me!), and then spent the entire weekend moving and trying to get settled into the new place. The place is great! We are very happy with it, and I think Jim is loving all the extra space that he has.

What Jim is up to @ 15 months:

- He has 8 teeth now - 4 on top, the two middle, and on the bottom left he just got one of his molars as well as another bottom one.

- Still in size 4 diapers.

- His walking has quickly turned into a run - and the boy does not like to sit still!!

- He is quite the dancer!

- Still loves to eat anything and everything.

- Loves being outside!

- We haven't been able to get him to drink his milk from a sippy cup. I am hoping this will change starting this weekend. He'll be gone from daycare for

- I have no stats - his 15 month check-up was supposed to be on the 13, but that got canceled because the office had no power...I rescheduled it for the 21st, but had to cancel that because our closing got pushed back...so now it's scheduled for the 28th.

Happy 4th of July!!!

We all enjoyed our nice long weekend together! We didn't do a whole lot - which was very nice. We did go up to Baltimore on Saturday and met up with Jeff, Dana, and Alex for lunch. And then we went to the B&O Railroad Museum. That will be a good place to go back in a year or two when Jim is a little older and he'll actually enjoy checking out all the trains.

Sunday and Monday we spent relaxing...Packing up a couple of things...And just enjoying the day! We ended up skipping out on fireworks on the 4th. Jim is in bed by 9:00, and we figured we didn't need to disrupt his schedule. Should be fun next year when he'll be into it a little more!

Just a couple pictures...

Jim had a lot of fun playing in his pool on Sunday! It took him awhile to get into it - but once he did he had a blast splashing around! At first he was more fascinated with our broom and his lawn mower.

I took these pictures last night of him. He was pretty sweaty - hence his crazy hair! There was a moving truck across the street - that boy loves trucks! He couldn't take his eyes off of it!

Happy 14 Months!!! + Trip to Pittsburgh

I never did an update for what Jim's been up to at 14 months old! He got to celebrate his 14 months together with his Grandma, Papa, Uncle, and Aunts in Pittsburgh...Which I'll combine that all into this one post.

Everyone had planned to drive down to Pittsburgh that weekend to go to a Pirates game. Our plans were always up in the air because we didn't know where we would be in the house hunting process. Since we ratified our contract on our new place that Thursday the 9th, and home inspection wasn't scheduled until Monday we had nothing to do with house hunting - we made the trip to Pittsburgh as well! Jim did very well the car ride to Pittsburgh - we got in a little after 10:00.

Saturday morning Mom, Dad, myself, and Robbie went down to the Strip District while all the girls stayed back with Jim to spend some quality time with him. We hung out all afternoon, and made our way downtown for dinner and the baseball game. Jim went back home with Grandma and Papa who got to babysit him for the evening!

Jim was wonderful again on the car ride home - practically sleeping the entire time! Much better than him fussing the whole drive.

What Jim is up to at 14 months:

- Still wearing a size 4 diaper.

- Can wear clothes that are 18 months, 24 months, and some 2T's fit him as well.

- Wears a size 6 shoe.

- Since I'm a little behind in posting this - he weighed 25.5 lbs when we were at the DR on the 16th.

- He is full time in the next room at daycare. I think he really enjoys it over there!.

- He knows where his head, belly, feet, and ears are. And he can point out my eyes and nose.

- He did very good when our house was on the market. He must not have known what to think when all his toys were put away. Hopefully he makes the move to the new house just as good!

First trip to the ER

Jim took his first trip to the ER yesterday. He was playing at daycare and got pushed by one of the girls in his room, which caused him to fall into a shelf. I think I made it to him within 10 minutes after I got the call. I wasn't sure what to do with him, so I called up his DR and they said to bring him in, if they couldn't fix it they would send him downstairs. Long story short, we ended up meeting up with Mark and taking Jim to Fairfax hospital since they had a pediatric ER there. He was such a brave little boy!! The only time I saw him cry was when they were trying to get a look at the cut, and when they had to hold him to stitch him up. 2 stitches later and he's as good as new!!!

Jim before the stitches:

At the hospital waiting for stitches -
And a blurry picture with stitches -

Videos

Thought I'd share a couple of videos.

This is of Jim last night - he was cracking up when I would 'Fall Down'. And he was also imitating me spinning in circles. He's a goof!

And I love how he laughs and jumps in this one:

And finally Jim decided to take all my shirts of my dresser drawer, and put it into the laundry basket. How smart is he?!

Paper Towels?!

Jim found our roll of paper towels the other night...Apparently he had a grand old time playing with them!!!! Can you spell Trouble?!?!

Happy Spring!!!!

Just thought I'd share a couple of pictures. That's why everyone likes to check in on here, right? To see pictures of Jim?! They are from my phone. I haven't been using my camera much at all lately - it's been packed away. Can't leave it out since we never know when someone is going to come in to take a look at our house.

For Sale!

I haven't been very good at updating this blog lately. Things have been pretty busy around here. We've decided it is time to start looking for a bigger house. So we've been spending the last couple of weeks getting our house ready to list for sale. Last weekend was pretty hectic, getting all our personal stuff and clutter out of the house so we could show it. I'm hoping it will sell quick, because there's a lot of things that Jim shouldn't be touching/playing with. Wish us luck!!! It's now officially on the market!

Of course I couldn't do a post without sharing a picture. Here is one of Jim last night enjoying his goldfish. He loves those things! I think he could devour an entire bag if we would let him. Speaking of goldfish, we were grocery shopping the other day, and there was a big display of goldfish stuff. I parked the cart right next to it so I could grab my milk, and sure enough, Jim was pointing at the giant fish!

Happy 13 Months

I was debating whether or not to keep up with my monthly Jim pictures. I was thinking I'd go ahead and maybe snap a picture of him sitting by his teddy bear every month. But then the 11th of this month just came, and was gone, and there was no picture with the teddy bear taken. So I guess that made up my mind. I'm constantly taking pictures of him - so there's no shortage of those.

He's hit most of the major milestones - crawling, cruising, walking, etc. so there's not even a whole lot of new things to report.

What Jim's up to at 13 months:

This past month he has learned the word 'uh-oh'. It is pretty funny to hear him say that. I think we'll be hearing that a lot.

When you ask him if he wants to go upstairs, he'll walk right over to the stairs, and start going up. He has his own version of saying upstairs. I think walking upstairs is his favorite thing to do!

He loves, loves playing outside! Again, he has his own version of saying outside. And when we ask him if he wants to go out, he stands right by the front door waiting for us.

He celebrated his first Easter!!!

Is starting to make the transition into the next room at daycare. So far so good!

(I'm on my computer at work...When I get home I will have to upload a couple of pictures.)

Happy May!

I can't believe it's May already!!! I love that it's getting warmer and warmer everyday. If we get ready early enough in the morning, I take Jim outside for 5-10 minutes before taking him to daycare. He loves to be out there, and has a ball. I'll ask him if he wants to go outside, and he walks right to the front door! And we do the same thing when we get home in the afternoon.

Just thought I'd leave you with two pictures of Jim's toothy grin from the other day...

And don't worry - it's not always smiles in our house! Jim has decided he doesn't want to nap on the weekends -- he'd much rather be on the go all day and play with us. Needless to say, the no napping catches up to him in the evening and will get a little cranky. I guess that happens to us all.

Birthday Festivities #3

Jim's 3rd birthday celebration was this past weekend, with my entire family coming down to celebrate!!

Ashley got in on Thursday, and took care of Jim on Friday. Rob & Jenna showed up around lunchtime on Friday. And then Mom, Dad, and Allison got in later Friday evening. Just spent Friday hanging out together.

We didn't do much on Saturday, besides all hang out and watch Jim open presents and play with all his new toys. Everyone enjoyed the Elmo cake that I made, and Jim got his very own cake as well! I was hoping to be outside, and grill, but the rainy weather changed our plans. We did decide to do dinner down at Southside.

Sunday morning we all went to Church for Palm Sunday. Had a quick breakfast of bagels, and then spent the rest of the day outside. Jim got to play with all his wonderful new toys!!

What a WONDERFUL week long celebration of his birthday! We were so lucky to have everyone come down and celebrate with him :)