Sunday Mornings

I love Sunday mornings. Its the only morning that Tim doesn't have to go to work and I know exactly what's on the adgenda for the day. We wake up, James comes and cuddles between us in bed, then one of us takes a shower while James lays stark naked on the floor cooing and kicking his little feet all the while. Next its time for James to take a bath...OOOHHH Fun Momma. Then we all get dressed up and scurry about the house trying to make sure we have everything for the day. If we are particularly lucky we have breakfast otrherwise we eat candy in church...James always has breakfast, and second breakfast, and elevensies. :) We run out the door to the little red wagon, hop in, hop back out and run back into the house to grab whatever nessecity we forgot and back to the car for our trip to church. We go to church spend the day at Grandpa and Grandma R's and head back to church. Its a good day.

Weariness of Heart

Do any of you have it when you want to blog, but not one bone in your body feels like it? If you were to write something it would sound like fingernails on a chalk board. We all have bad days. Sometimes we are perfectly happy to have a bad day and others we hate it. But, alas, nothing we do seems to pull us from the depths of despair, which in the end only frusturates us more. On the days when you aren't content being unhappy it seems like the pain comes in waves. One minute you are almost seeing the sunshine and wham, back to the depths. What a heathen, no one that has been so blessed with such a sweet little boy and amazing family should ever have a bad day, but here I am and there it is.

Smiles for Momma

I'm so excited! I have such big stories to tell.

They're funny too.

Its that darn dish towel again.

James loves to sit in the kitchen in his bouncy seat and watch his Momma cook. Of course it does not do for me to cook and not chatter to him and play peek-a-boo with the dish towel. It’s really very nice because we both have someone to talk to. Today I have decided that James has developed quite an attitude. He has needs and his needs are above all others...more importantly he will decide what they are and make it very clear when you are not fulfilling his every desire in the high standard that he has come to enjoy. If he wasn't so cute I'd think he might be spoiled.  What poor James didn't realize was that by being a little over opinionated he was only reinforcing the ideas already in his Momma's head about child rearing. I had had to alter my course a little because of the colic, but now I will be back at it. A disciplined child is a happy child. By discipline please do not think that I am using corporal punishment on my tiny most perfect 10 week old little boy, try to think in a more broad sense of the word, lest I have social services knocking on my door. It’s so much fun having a little man around the house, cooing and waving, trying to giggle and so on. What did I talk about 11 months ago?

The week in review

Wow, I am the luckiest little boy in the world. Everybody loves me.

Maybe if I try really hard I can reach my rattle...maybe if I play my cards right Momma will hand it to me so I don't have to.

Oh hey, there you are.

What? You think I'm cute?

Ok, enough already.

This week James got to meet Grandpa and Grandma den Hollander. He thought it was great...two more people just dieing to spoil him. Tim's parrents came into town on Mon. and spent the remainder of the week relaxing in Branson and hanging out with us. We had a lot of fun and it was great for James to get to interact with them. We spent a lot of time in Branson with them and got to do lots of fun stuff. We shopped downtown at the Landing one day and on to the Outlets the next. We also toured the new Titanic museum and went on a wine tour. James was not impressed with the wine tour (aren't you proud Uncle B?) so he and I went and played in the car while the other sampled what seemed to be a remarkable number of wines and other beverages. ( not in volume of oz so much as varieties.) Friday they ventured to our humble abode and we had a nice time just doing some good old fashioned visiting. I believe it is safe to say a good time was had by all.
Since the last post my Sweet Baby James has turned two months old. I took a few pictures of him to commemorate this milestone and a few of them made it to the blog. Enjoy, we definatly are.

Warmth of Fire and of Heart

There is almost nothing better than a nice warm fire rumbling away in the fireplace. Wood heat has the most inviting look, feel, smell and sound. When I was growing up we always had wood heat and I remember laying in front of the fire on the living room floor reading a book or drinking a mug of tea. One of my favorite memories is when Dad had finished building a nice hot fire he would sometimes stretch out on the floor and watch it for a while. Somehow it always made me feel safe when I heard the squeak of the hinges on the fireplace door in the middle of the night and I knew Dad was up adding wood to the fire. One of the first nights after Tim and I got our woodstove last fall I woke to that sound and I thought I was at home (The house I lived in before we got married) and Dad was adding a log to the fire, it wasn't till Tim crawled back in bed that I realized I was not 18 and time had not stood still.

I love my Daddy

Ohhh...here it comes, here it comes, lots of kisses from Daddy.

I like it when Daddy is on diaper duty. He makes way funnier faces than Momma.

James is growing into a little man. Now that he is feeling good its so fun to watch him develop and change. He is getting really strong. He holds his head up when he is on his tummy and props himself up on his forearms, enjoying watching the world around him. He grins a lot and he's pretty free with them too, he already talks to strangers. (I have my work cut out for me)
On Wednesday he had blood drawn for an allergy test. It had to be sent to a specialist so it will take a few days to get the results. For now he is on a formula (Alimentum) for babies with food allergies and protein sensitivities. He is doing great on this stuff, but hopefully after the allergy test results we can get back to breast feeding. I can't help but think that's the way God intended it and if I just persevere it will work yet. If nothing else this whole elimination diet has been a great way to lose the baby weight, only a few lbs to go. Not being able to eat any dairy, eggs, peanuts, and soy really cuts out a lot of foods, but at least I get to eat veggies again.
Last night Mom and I ate at McDonalds and I wanted t eat something other that a salad so I asked what kind of oil their fries were fried in and if their hamburger buns had any dairy, soy, or egg in them. Not one of the employees in the entire establishment could answer my question. You would think that there would be an ingredients list somewhere...maybe even on the packaging. The girl trotted back over to us after speaking with the manager and handed us a pamphlet saying that we could call the # on the front to find out anything we needed to. Fairly frustrated I asked if it was a 24 hr. # and she looked blankly at me and assured me that it was. I think her navy blue visor was velcroed too tight because, no, it was not a 24 hr. #. I'm just glad I don't have a deathly allergy because with all the incompetency in the world I am sure I would be dead.

Happy, Happy Birthday Brudder

Hey Aaron, Have the happiest birthday ever. Go out for desert and get a ridiculously expensive desert wine. :) :Love you When I grow up I want to be just like you.