Sweet Pea??

This isn't soo bad.....

um, yes it is. Please, Dad, where is the butternut squash??

Today's experiment with food was baby sweet peas. Now, my cookbook says that these should, should, be a favorite with baby because they are naturally sweeter than some other green veggies, and so I'm thinking no problem. He's eaten zucchini with not too much trouble, but apperently sweet peas are torturous. See below for confirmation. :-)

my poor little sweet pea. even if he doesn't really like them. You should have seen him scrunch up his face and shake his head. It was pretty hilarious. Meanwhile, I'm giving an encore performance of 'Ole McDonald' so that he won't cry. Don't ask me why, but he loves that song.

If you were curious, his bib says 'I love my Mommy' - well hopefully he won't hold the sweet pea incident against me. He's such a good baby.

I can't help it, I love my sweet pea.

Caffeine, I thought we were friends

I've always been more resilient to caffeine than I would have liked. Especially in college; I could drink it anytime of day or night and still fall asleep with exceptional ease. Well, not anymore. I am thinking that my giving up caffeine while I was pregnant really cleansed my system to it, and now if I have sweet tea at night then I'm staying up till midnight without noticing what time it is. I have been having a cup in the morning with James when he gets up- obviously not sharing it with him, haha. He does try however, and I think we'll end up calling my coffee something funny like 'Mommy's juice' or 'Mommy's milk' like my friend's child does.

So, excuse the randomness of the post 'Look Mom, no hands!' It was a product of the caffeine causing my brain to run too quickly for that time of night.

Here is a cute picture of James and Matt. Matt sometimes rocks the bow tie to work, and I just love it. Say what you will, but he looks darn good in it! James is wearing a little onsie that says 'Future Ski Dude' from Snowshoe, WV. It's pretty darn cute, but really it should say, 'Future boarder Dude.' By the time he learns what's cool, skiing will probably be back in, and us old people will snowboard and complain about those young ski punks.

look Mom, no hands!!!

James is sitting up now, when we sit him up. :-) At our last Dr. visit, our awesome Dr. told us that he should start practicing sitting up and putting his arms down, or 'tri-podding.' I thought that was so funny, but we've definitely been helping him get his little muscles in shape to sit up on his own. And now, he has started to sit up without having to have at least one hand down!! It just started this past weekend, and I got a good shot of it today.

I really love seeing him do new things, but another part of me can't believe my little baby boy is already growing up and needs me less and less. I know, I'll have plenty of time to get my snuggles in now while he's little, but in some way, I look at him now and think, will I remember how precious he is right now in 10 years?? Will I forget how sweet the sound of his little voice is? Again, I know I can make video, but that's not the same. I've only come up with the solution of being as thankful as I can be everytime I think about how fleeting the moments are.

I mean come on, look at that face. haha, he makes me laugh so much. He's been playing so much now; I can just hang out with him while he rolls around the floor exploring everything. It is so funny to watch what peaks his interest. He rolled in front of his armoire today and just stared up at his clothes hanging there. He may be a little like his momma after all. :-)

yuck, seriously

So babies do some things that are not cute. Like throwing up. Every now and then James will nurse in the morning and not get the air bubbles out in the middle of his meal. This is disastrous, due to the projectile spewing that occurs when the meal is over and the air bubbles force their way out, behind all his breakfast. We have had this happen twice IN our bed, which was really gross, but today it was at least not in our bed. I was up in the nursery with James, and seriously, it went everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. Needless to say I was soaked. really gross.

hopefully we did a good job cleaning up the mess- I can't think of anything more gross to have in your carpet. wow. Sorry to anyone who didn't want to read about this topic. As an apology, here is a cute picture of James. Only cuteness. :-)

I'll explain this one- he is in his bouncer watching Baby Einstein. He sometimes gets really cranky before his morning nap, so to quell the storm, he plays in his bouncer and watches his video before he naps. As you can see, he loves it.

Ok so I couldn't resist putting this one in. James was on the floor ON this blanket to start off with. He's rolling non stop now, so he was playing while I was doing something in the kitchen, and ta da! I look down and he's got the blanket over his head. It was too funny, but he did cry. Poor fella! Nonetheless hilarious.

Just a little recap

I hope you don't mind bearing with me while I recap our Father's Day. The day was just too good to let it fade away into my post-pregnancy memory without writing down some of the details. It really seemed like a gift from the Lord; just that I didn't really have a plan, yet it couldn't have been better.

So we woke up and first thing I wanted to give Matt his special coffee cup that James and I made. James wasn't in the 'best' of moods, haha. Matt got his cup and James was crying, so I decided to take him out of the bedroom and let Matt get a little more sleep. This worked out like a dream because James got to play, I got to put up my Father's Day photo blog, Matt got to sleep, and I was able to put James down for a nap and cook Matt breakfast in bed. :-) Egg and cheese sandwiches, orange juice, and fresh lilies from our yard. The breakfast tray also included the baby monitor with our little sleeping buddy on it. It was pretty awesome.

So we got ready for church, and weren't late (!). The service was really nice, and afterwards we got a good, no an awesome recommendation for bbq in Blowing Rock, NC. It is called Woodlands if anyone is interested, and it was GREAT. haha. I really liked it, can you tell? It was a beautiful drive up; James slept in the car. We got seated with no wait, and there was a guitarist playing soft, acoustic songs to give a lovely atmosphere. Lunch, awesome.

Matt wanted to drive up to see the actual 'blowing rock' that gives the town its name. So we go up to the little park, pay our $12 to get in, and it was again, awesome. Beautiful views, no hiking (which we do like to do, but not in our church clothes), and really nice, cool breeze. Sitting up in the shade, enjoying the breeze- it was, you guessed it, awesome. We gave my Dad a call to say happy day while looking out over the valley. :-)

We almost called it a day; James was getting sort of sleepy in the backseat. But, we decided to go into the town of Blowing Rock and maybe just walk around and look at the shops. What a great idea. That town is so cute; the shops are so nice and everything is clean. It's the kind of little town where they have fresh flowers hanging on the street lamps, there's a park in the middle of the down town, and all the shops are nice. Did I mention that our plan then included Kilwin's ice cream waffle cones and listening to the live bag pipe band playing in the park?? No, no plan that day but it was truly, awesome. I don't think there could have been a better way to celebrate Matt's 1st Father's day.

We drove home; James slept in the backseat. Took some pictures (see previous post) of Matt's special gift. Fed James some sweet potatoes, changed him and put him to bed. We ate, watched some tv, and went to bed. Such a great day. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to celebrate. :-)

Father's Day part 2

We did get pictures of Matt's father's day gifts. James and I made him a coffee cup with his foot prints on the back. :-) I was lucky enough to get the idea from my friend Kelly; it turned out so great. And I think it was really special for Matt.

James says it best. I love my Daddy :-) (sorry I couldn't resist putting this one in)

:-)

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day to the most wonderful husband in the world. James and I are so blessed to have you in our lives, and here are some photos to celebrate what our journey has been like so far. To many more opportunities for making memories!! Cheers.

Here is the first time Matt got to hold James. What a sweet memory. You can see that already James was loving his Daddy- holding on tight to his finger even minutes old.

Our first family photo. I just love this one. Both of these pictures are from January 13, 2010. Thanks to my Dad for taking this one. We have really great pictures of the day he was born because of my Dad. Happy 'Grand' Father's Day from your first grandson!!

Matt and James in Gatlinburg, TN February 19, 2010. James' first trip to the mountains with the Prose family. How can it get any better than sitting on a porch swing looking at the sunset with Dad. (ps. his awesome shoes he got from his Uncle Mike and Aunt Natassja)

This is literally the first smile we have on record. February 28, 2010. All for Daddy.

All smiles again exactly one month later. Wow, what a change. This was the last day he wore his 0-3 months size clothes. 2.5 months old, March 28, 2010. You may notice the gator on his shirt, that is not an accident. :-)

I love this little sleeper. Daddy's All Star. April 2, 2010. This picture was one where everyone said, "wow James looks so much like his Daddy."

The three generations on both sides. Happy Father's day to my Dad and Mr. Jim Prose!! What a good looking group of guys, and how blessed our little boy is to have such awesome men in his life. No three better guys to be named after, haha. Our little James Michael Prose. April 23, 2010.

Daddy is showing James how to wear a bandana- really, you have to be that awesome to wear one, but James will be one day. :-) Hiking at Grandfather Mountain; James 1st hiking trip; May 30, 2010.

Daddy and James hanging out in the yard. June 1, 2010. Couldn't let this day go by without taking a couple of pictures when the weather was so beautiful and Matt looked so handsome.

Really, I have been looking forward to celebrating this day with Matt for quite a while now, and honestly, I can say that every day we get to do something new with James is a day we celebrate mother's and father's day. I hope this day is special for Matt, and I'll put up some pics of what James and I made for him as a special surprise!!

James goes swimming!!

Our first trip to the YMCA pool here in town...

Our little water baby!! Matt and I took James to the pool on Thursday, and he had such a great time!! I think our little man is a people watcher like his parents; he enjoyed looking at everything and everyone more than really the water!! I was actually surprised by his lack of interest in the water because he loves his bath so much. This is definitely the most water he's ever been in though, so I'm sure the experience was just kind of new to him still. He did look pretty happy to start off with! This is all pre-dunk. :-)

We started out in the baby section, but it was so crowded that we thought, well, we'll just take him into the regular pool so he can kind of swim around while we hold him. I was really glad Matt was there because we could just pass him in and out without having to try to get in or out while holding him. He was too cute, our little baby shark.

Is it funny that I now question what type of swim wear I should wear because I'm a mother? Should I be more modest now that a little boy is in my care? I do honestly think that my days in bikinis are over, but since I haven't actually gone to buy a new bathing suit, here I am in my bikini. My plan of just keeping my cover up on while we played in the little baby pool was thrown out when we decided to take him in the big pool. So, sorry YMCA patrons, you were subjected to this new mommy in a bikini. Shocking I know, haha.

my little red head

Most people when they meet James take a few minutes and then say, "oh, and he seems to be a little bit of a red head."

I keep forgetting that those of you how don't see us very often or haven't ever met James personally probably don't realize that he's a red head. Yup, more auburn than bright red normally, but in direct sunlight he looks mighty red friends. You may ask, where does he get it?? Well my grandfather on my Dad's side was a red head, firey too from what I'm told. Matt's grandfather James (cool huh?) was a red head, his mother is one, and his brother John is too. John's hair is more auburn colored than bright red, and secretly I'm hoping that James' will be that way too because I think auburn colored hair is soo pretty. And, for as cute as he is I'm sure it won't matter if he turns up with bright red hair. He'll be a lady killer anyway. :-)

So here's some proof with a little color boost so you can see that beautiful red hair. Enjoy!!

ps. Father's day is tomorrow!!! I'm so excited :-) James and I made Matt a special surprise! :-) pics to come...

hanging out...

I've been taking a lot of pictures of James lately; I think mostly because he's hard to photograph when its just me and him. Now that he's sitting up mostly by himself, I can sit him up and click away which is kind of fun. I just have to watch out for how far away I get because every now and then he dives left or right or face plants into a belly slide. It really is kind of cool to watch; he looks like a little whale doing some kind of trick- Like at sea world when they slide up onto the little platform and lift up their heads. haha, ok ok you know what I'm talking about.

I would like to say that there were no belly slides on the couch, thankfully. :-) But, he did great sitting up and letting me take his picture. Some of these, I wonder what he's thinking with these funny expressions on his face.

I never get tired of seeing this face. Lately, James has been playing more on his own, and in the mornings, I'll put him in his bouncer toy with a baby Einstein playing and he just coos away. Jumping, laughing, talking, having a blast. It is soo fun to watch him play. It is easy to just sit and enjoy how much fun he's having. Sometimes I think, gosh he's only 5 months old and already getting so much more independent. I kind of liked when he needed me more, but at the same time, it really is awesome to let him play on his own and eat my cereal in the morning. My cup of coffee is always sweeter when James is is bouncing away.

blog envy?

I've just now figured out how to add all my friends' blogs to my reading list, and honestly ya'll, I think I'm experiencing some blog envy! haha, it is so neat to read about everyone and see pictures of your experiences and your beautiful children. I keep getting great ideas for things to do with James and pictures I need to take with him; really it just makes me want to get my camera out, and yesterday I did. :-)

I have a friend from high school that I cheered with who did the smartest thing to chronicle the change in her daughter as she's growing up. For her pictures each month, she took them in the same spot- the chair in her nursery. So now, when they all line up, you can see the most incredible change in everything, how she's sitting, her little face, her hair, etc. It is really the coolest thing I've seen done with 'month' shots. I wish I had done that with James!! I couldn't figure out how to photograph him by himself when he was so little, but they just propped her up in that chair. Go you Kelli.

It has not been my curiosity to see if I can compile a set of pictures to show the change in James the same way. What do you think?

Birth

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months

summer

Here are some pictures from our yard. I played with all the effects and settings on this one, and I think it turned out kind of cool. James loves the grass! haha, I'm thinking that he's going to love playing outside soon. I kind of can't wait, because some days its hard to think of good indoor activities for him to enjoy (that he hasn't already done by 5 pm...).

Here are some new flowers blooming in the yard too. I have loved seeing them pop up! One thing I'd love to be able to do is photograph the birds in our yard. We see blue birds and cardinals everyday, but they are gone so quickly its really tough to catch them. Any tips??

5 months old and 60 years...

Today we celebrated because James is 5 months old. It really seems strange to think that he's getting so big; what everyone says is true. The days are long but the months fly by (shortly to be replaced by the years fly by!). Matt said, its crazy to think that this time last year we were pregnant and he's been here now over half of the time I was pregnant. That may not have made sense the first time you read it, but to me it sounded insane! Pregnancy took forever; there was so much anticipation and excitement and those days and months really crawled by. It seems unreal to think that he's almost 22 weeks old and to think about what I was doing when I was 22 weeks pregnant. Life is so different now, but life is so good.

We took some pictures of James today to try and capture his 5 month mark, but we had some trouble with our little sleepy bear. He had just woken up and half of the shots we took his eyes were almost closed, but at least we got one good smile.

Here is James sort of sitting up with some help from Dad. :-)

We also had the pleasure of going to our neighbors 60th wedding anniversary & her 80th birthday party. Wow, what a celebration and what fun. All 6 of their children were there and their 21 grandchildren and 1 great grand child. It was so exciting to see their whole family, and they are sooo proud of them!! This couple has awesome faith in the Lord and the blessing for the meal was full of thankfulness for the wonderful life they've been given. This couple was born about the same time as my own grandparents who have all gone home to be with the Lord. I just stood there holding James and thinking what it would have been like to been able to celebrate that blessing with my own family, and I'm praying for that day to come for Matt and I. Can you imagine 60 years of marriage?? I can't, but I know that my 4 years have been the best of my life. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful little boy, and our families are true blessings. If we could all be so lucky to celebrate 60 years... my James would be 56 years old himself!! haha. :-)

ps. I can't wait for Father's day.

Success!!!!

I am now caught up on my blog! It was quite the frustrating task to transfer all the notes I had written in facebook over to the blog, but it is worth it now to have those in the book when I print the blog. I'm really excited about the whole chance to share these small, everyday events and occurrences in my life with Matt and James, but I'm also excited that as I share them with you, I can chronicle them for myself too. That is I think the best part about blogging.

Here is something pretty cute that James is doing now. He's started peeking over the bumper in his crib to see me when I got in to get him up from his nap. He's so funny, he'll see me, then smile and scrunch his whole body up in a ball, then look up at me again and laugh.

Peek-a-boo...

It really is kind of hilarious to see just his little head bobbling and looking your way. I'm still on a mission to get one of his little smile when he's looking up at me like this... :-)

I got a good one!!

James loves his jumper

From June 6, 2010

I got some really cute pictures of James in his jumper today. He is soo funny in it. I"ll have to upload a video too, because it really is funny to see him jumping.

I had decided this afternoon that I should figure out how to get my notes printed into a book that I could keep all my little memories like this with pictures together. So, I look online and I find that you can print your blog really easily, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to print my facebook notes. It doesn't seem compatible. My next thought was well, I can make a blog, import my blog as notes, and export my blog to have it printed as a keepsake. The main problem with that was that making a blog was so much harder and more frustrating that making a 'note.' HOLY COW!! seriously, I was using blogger, and I had to stop because I got so aggravated. To make myself feel better, I looked at these pictures of my little jumping bean. My theory is it may just make you feel better too if you were stressed or frustrated today like I was over little things that just defeat you.

If anyone has good tips on how to blog and not have your brain explode, you can pass them my way. Good night everyone. :-)

Visit from Mimi and Nana

James had a quick visit from his Mimi and Nana yesterday and today. What a whirlwind it was! Matt's mom, his grandmother, and his Aunt all came up for a visit to see us. Yeah right, to see James!! haha, and probably the flowers blooming in our yard too (see previous post). The scenery itself and the weather is worth the drive. (so any of you considering a visit, poke, poke).

James loved his visit and got some really nice time to enjoy his family.

He also got spoiled rotten by them when we went to the local baby boutique. That store is dangerous!! Too many awesome toys, books, clothes, shoes, and accessories for a baby. I know we spent at least an hour in that one little shop. I'm planning to take some pictures of him playing with some of his new toys for them, so I'll put one up when I get a chance. Honestly, I feel like they bought all the toys just for me to play with! haha, it is really funny how it feels that way when people bless your child, it feels like a direct blessing for you. PS. Krista, Melody got a present in that shop too, so be on the look out! It is sooo much fun.

Thanks again for visiting Mrs. Teresa. :-)

My Sweet Potato Baby

From June 2, 2010

On the recommendation of Nikki Lyon, I just bought the Baby and Toddler Cookbook from William-Sonoma. I LOVE it!! I'm so pleased to have some good recipes to use to make James' baby food. Not that I am totally ambitious, but I'm home and I feel like since I have the time to make it I should. We'll see how my experiment goes.

Sweet potatoes were a hit. James actually was hanging out with me while I was finishing up the batch of baby food, and got pretty upset that I didn't feed him immediately! He is so funny. He does the dive bomb with his little body towards what he wants. I hope he never catches me off guard!

My little sweet potato.