7 Months...well almost.

So I am posting a bit early this month because we are leaving in a few hours to fly to Utah till July 5th. I decided to take James in to the doctor's office today to get him weighed and measured so that I can document his growth. (I know, it is weird, but James is my first kid after all. And doesn't everyone do weird things with their first kid?) Anyway, he officially weighs 21 lbs 8 oz. and he is 27 1/2 inches. Looks like he is growing just fine and definitely getting enough to eat.
So what is new at our house? Well, James is "trying" to crawl. He can now get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. And he has been sleeping really well for the last few nights. Basically I decided that I wouldn't be getting up anymore if he wakes up at night and so we had a "talk" where I explained to him that I would not be getting up to come and feed him at night anymore. Well, the first night he cried for about 15 min at 11 pm and Brian questioned my sanity but I stuck firm and James didn't wake up till 5:30 the next morning. And that was the last time he cried for bed at night. I thought it would take more days of crying but nope. Which means his schedule is basically to bed anytime from 7 to 7:30 pm and then he wakes up around 6:15 or 6:30 the next morning. Now, that is something that I can live with.
I hope it doesn't throw him off too much by traveling for the next few weeks. I am still admittedly a bit of a nap nazi because it keeps my (and James) sanity. He takes two (sometimes 3) good naps every day.
Do any of you remember the "Bitter beer face" commercials? I don't even remember which beer they are for but James has started making the face. It cracks me up.

This is the best picture I could get of it the other day but he has made better ones. He looks like an old man when he does it.
Oh, and we have finally graduated to a bigger car seat. The other one is officially retired for now. We will be using this new one while we are on our trip and so I hope it goes well. Hopefully he likes it better than he likes his old one. At least he only has to be in it when we are actually in the car. That is a bonus for him I'm sure. He just looks like such a big boy in it. And I got such a great deal on it as well....Yes, I will share how I got a great deal.

I looked at Conumer Reports online (I always do.) and narrowed my choices down to 3 top contenders and then I went to Babies R Us cuz they always have all the models I am looking for. I tried them all out in my car while I was there but I forgot the gift cards that I still have so I decided to come back to purchase later that day. Well, when I got home I decided to check online JIC (just in case) I could find it cheaper. Well, I did. I found it for $89.99 with $9.99 shipping and no sales tax through amazon.com. Well, I thought I could do better and so I looked at who the supplier is for amazon and I went to ebates.com to see if they are one of their preferred vendors and they are. Well, ebates had a coupon for $7.50 shipping on any order and then 4% cash back so I ended up getting it for $97.49 including shipping and then I got $2.70 back from ebates. Oh, the price at Babies R Us? Well, it was $179.99 on sale! Not including tax or shipping. For the exact same model and everything. Oh and I didn't have to drive back out there and waste more gas either. Thanks, Princess Reva, for sharing about ebates. Doesn't James look so good in his new "economical and very highly rated" car seat?

World Strongest Baby

The other day, I was trying to get James to "practice" his moving skills and all of a sudden he did this It totally looks like a pushup to me and he does it all the time now. (Check out those arm "muscles".) I thought it was totally funny cuz he was trying to get somewhere but all he got was up off the ground. I guess that is pretty good considering his size. It is way better than I can do. I know the picure is a bit blurry but you get the idea. And here is some video that I took of James on Sunday after church.

He is showing off his strength and new mobility skills. If there is something he wants badly enough then he will work to get it. Those items generally include; shoes, phones, books and any other contraband materials that we happen to leave around. On Sunday Brian accidentally left his sunday school manual about 10 feet away and when we both weren't looking he got to it and mutilated it. We are finally going to have to "baby-proof" the house. It really is so much fun to see him grow. He is already learning how to get onto his hands and knees. Every day it seems he has a new skill. Don't worry, I will try to get these on video as well Also, a couple of days ago I was making veggie eggrolls and I happened to be using the food processor. Well, James was a bit tired and so the noise from the food processor scared him to death. There I was "chopping" the veggies in the processor and James was fine in his jumparoo in the kitchen with me and then all of a sudden I heard this super sad cry. I felt kinda bad and so I stopped the processor and tried to comfort him but I also got this picture of him crying inconsolably. It happens so rarely that I couldn't resist getting at least one picure. (I really got a few pictures but this one is the best.) James was probably wondering why I was flashing lights at him when he was so obviously upsetI felt like a mean mom for getting the picture before getting him calmed down but I couldn't help myself. He really was afraid of the noise. He scares easily when he is tired. So basically I have the worlds strongest scaredycat baby. Go figure.

6 Months

Well, I am a little behind. James really turned 6 months old while we were in New Jersey. On the 15th to be exact. But I was busy and I have been lazy about getting these pictures up. Anyway, James went to sleep pretty early tonight so I am doing it now. I just wanted to share some pictures that we have taken recently.James is such a happy little guy and we love having him around. He really is a good baby. We can't complain. No excessive crying or too many middle of the night wake ups. But they do happen sometimes. So all in all things are going well.

I took him to his six month checkup last Tuesday and he is officially 20 lbs. 8 oz. and he is 26 3/4 inches long. He is growing and reaching all of his developmental milestones, according to the doctor. He is learning so many new "tricks". He is "scooting" like a pro by now and can roll both ways easily. If he sees something he wants and it isn't too far away he will totally go after it. So that means I have to be really diligent about what I leave around now. He is getting pretty good at sitting up as well. Although, he usually gets distracted by his feet and leans in to taste them and then ends up falling over when he tries to sit back up. He is also really good at getting himself into some pretty awkward positions in his crib and requires "rescuing" on a regular basis. Of course, he won't move if we are there to watch but as soon as we leave the room he is all over the place. He loves it when we sing to him and play "I'ma gonna get you!" and "Peek-a-boo". He loves being tickled and spending time with Mommy and Daddy. Here he is with Brian about to go on a walk. He loves to look out and see everything that is going on when we are walking so he really likes the baby Bjorn for that reason. Here he is with me yesterday just before church. He looks so good in his church clothes. I just love this little outfit and I am so excited that he finally fits into it. Brian is really good at getting him to smile in pictures. Just a quick comparison to see how much he has grown in 6 months. He has practically doubled in size! This is right after he came home from the hospital and at 6 months next to the same star pillow. I cant' believe how much he has grown.

New JoyZee

Well, I know we aren't supposed to play favorites when it comes to family but I can't help it. I have a new favorite cousin-in-law! Jenalyn Engstrom. She is my cousin Josh's wife. And this last week we spent with them in New Jersey.
We had to go there cuz Brian had some work training and then we both had an orientation for our move to Geneva. I thought it would be fun to hang with my cousin for a bit of time as well so I called Jenalyn and she totally opened up her house to us. It was so much fun! I wish she lived closer. This is her at the beach with her two super-cute kids, Adam (almost 3) and Zach (10 mos.).

We have lots in common and we think a lot the same so it was easy to get along with her. And Josh is my closest cousin. We are 11 days apart and grew up together when we were little.
So, the first day I arrived at their house Jenalyn and I loaded 3 car seats into the back of my rental car and headed to the beach. It was fun even if it was a bit chilly. It was James' first time at a beach and he seemed to like it. I had originally planned on stripping him down to nothing to take a naked beach bum picture but it was a bit cold for that. But I still got some pretty good pictures and James liked "grabbing" the sand with his toes. Here we are on the beach with Zach. James was pretty fascinated with the waves.James also loved watching his two older second cousins. James was totally entertained by them and they were totally sweet with him. He could watch them forever. I think our house is a bit boring for him.
Then on Thursday Jenalyn watched James for me while I had to go to the orientation with Brian. She deserves a medal of honor and bravery for this. 3 kids under 3. Crazy! But she did it beautifully. She is totally an amazing mom.
On Friday, with Brian finally able to join us, we headed to Philly and went to the mint. It was fun for all. Adam loved seeing how the coins were made (I liked it too) and Brian got to pick out a Father's Day present from the coin shop. And I also got a Philly Cheesesteak while I was there. It was pretty good. What else do you eat in Philadelphia?
On Saturday we all went to a lovely park and had lunch. Then the boys got to play on the playground and we got to see some wildlife that is on display there. The kids thought that was pretty cool. Here is James taking his first slide ride with Brian's help. He liked it.Then that night we got a babysitter and put the babies to bed and went and got some dessert at Chili's. We stayed up way too late every night but it is hard not to when you are chilling with such cool people. I was totally exhausted by the time I got home on Sunday. Jenalyn was such a great hostess and it was so fun to visit. Hopefully we can get together more often. This next picture did take place in New Jersey but it is only here cuz I thought James looked so darn cute in it. I mean it is just a bath after all. Isn't he irresistable? And last but not least I have to give a special thanks to Melissa. She is Brian's work friend from the ATL and is living in New Jersey for a couple of years. We got to have dinner with her one night while we were there. She totally saved me by letting me borrow her GPS while I was there. I would have probably gotten lost in a very bad part of town if it weren't for her. If you have ever had to drive in New Jersey to a place that you are unfamiliar with then you know what I am talking about. That place has so many weird roads it is unbelievable. It has totally convinced me that I want GPS in my next car. It is a necessity. Thanks Melissa!!

Kudos to me and Clustrmaps

As you all may know by now, I have been described as direct, blunt, not shy, and in many other ways that indicate how I generally am not afraid to say what I feel and think. (Always in a nice, unoffensive way, of course, I think.) So with that in mind I post the following.
You may or may not have noticed my Clustrmap on my blog before now. It used to hide out under the ticker counter on the bottom of my left column. Recently I was checking things out, I clicked on it to see in better detail where y'all are visiting from. While I was checking all the various places I noticed that there was an ad on it. I am all fine and dandy with ads on my stuff. I mean the Clustrmap is free after all. They have to make money somehow. Well, this particular ad was in direct opposition to my personal religious beliefs and was quite offensive to me. Now, I am not offended by other religious beliefs and as a member of the LDS church I firmly believe that everyone has a right to worship as they will but this ad was directly attacking my personal beliefs and I found that to be insulting. No one should have to advertise, even vicariously, against their own beliefs.
So what did I do?
How did I handle the situation?
I e-mailed Clustrmaps and very politely requested that this particular ad be removed from the Clustermap on my blog. At first I was kind of laughing at myself for even attempting this. I mean, who am I to them? No one. I did indicate that I would remove their map from my blog if the situation could not be rectified within a reasonable time frame. I said 1 week. As much as it amuses me to see where people are visiting from, I wasn't about to advertise against my own beliefs.
What did they do?
How did they respond?
Well, to put it shortly, they were very diplomatic and apologetic that the advertising on my Clustrmap was offensive to me. They responded within 1 day, which really surprised me. Unfortunately they didn't have a way of just blocking that particular ad from my Clustrmap so they took all advertising off my Clustrmap with a polite request that I move the map up higher on my blog to give it a more prominent position. So now, in order to express my appreciation for their prompt resolution of this issue, I have moved them to first position on my left hand column. Respecting me has its benefits.
All in all, I have to say, "Thanks, PB, from the Clustermaps team for respecting my beliefs." That is all.
And I would encourage everyone everywhere, no matter your beliefs, to stick up for them. You never know what response you might get. But whether it is good or bad at least you stuck up for yourself.
Click here to get your own super cool Clustrmap.