Sleeping on Daddy's shoulder

I got Matt a card for his first Father's Day this year with an adorable picture of a sleeping baby over a daddy's shoulder, and it said "Great Dads make for sweet dreams" or something like that.

So when I saw this moment occur I had to hope I could get a cute shot. James was so sleepy, and we were trying to go out to lunch after church to celebrate Matt's upcoming birthday (which he's been very reluctant to celebrate).

He's a minimalist gift-receiver, but not at all when it comes to gift giving. It all makes it hard for me to get good gifts in a minimalist way. :-) Hopefully, I have been able to do a better job than normal this year with James' help. Its so wonderful to make gifts out of your memories of raising a child. The coffee cup we made him for Father's Day gave me the idea to make a picture book of some of Matt's favorite pictures of James. Don't worry, he got his gift early so I'm not spoiling it. I truly love it too, and I think that James will like reading the book with his pictures in it when he's old enough. I was incredibly creative when it came to the words for the book, haha. Its the happy birthday song with some colorful additions by me.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Daddy

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you, Let's go to the zoo...

Roo looks like a money,

and he smells like one too.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Daddy, Let's go to the zoo!!"

So that is the plan for Matt's birthday celebration. James' first trip to the zoo, and I can't wait!!

But seriously, who could look more peaceful. I love that face so much.

some beach pictures a la Papa

I asked my Dad to take some pictures of James on the beach since he could finally sit up on his own enough to take some cool shots of him in the water. Don't worry, I was close enough by to catch him if, I mean, when he fell. :-)

Here are some favorites.

loving the waves.

My little beach bum. What a beautiful shot.

Love his smiles. Yeah for baby toothless smiles.

The ocean is so calm and peaceful. Next summer he'll be running in the waves himself. man.

I really love this one of my little boy's blue eyes. I was thinking the other day; James is almost a little boy and not a baby anymore. Before I had a baby my self, I never really understood how the change from baby to little child to place. I mean, the obvious happened, but it didn't ever strike me as so drastic. When we moved here from FL, I made new friends whose babies were 9, 10 months old maybe. My first impression was NOT of a baby, but a small child. I mean, they had teeth, not walking yet, but very mobile. They ate real food as far as I could tell and talked some = small child right? Wow, its so weird to me now to think of my baby as a small child. His baby days are almost behind him now and I'm very torn between mourning the loss of the baby and thrilled about the newness of the young child. I thought I'd be sad in so many ways when he stared to get his teeth, but honestly I'm thrilled. Motherhood is so crazy. I don't know my own feelings anymore, haha. My poor husband. :-)

Christmas in July

Merry Christmas in July!!

We were blessed to be able to buy some little boy clothes from one of our neighbors in Orange Park, FL, and in that collection came some really cute little holiday outfits! We were pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to use any of them because our boy was born in January, and our friends' boys were born in May (yes, twins, so there were double outfits as well!). But, we managed to have our own little Christmas in July when James was wearing a sleeper too cute for me to pack away without getting any use out of it.

This is the face I imagine him making when opening a gift he doesn't like but doesn't want to be rude...

"of course, just want I've always wanted..."

This one was too funny. I don't know what he was thinking, and I'm not even going to try to narrate. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery??

His eyes looked so blue and beautiful in this one. I love them so much.

And, yes, he will be wearing them again. It's too cute, how could I not have Christmas in August, September, and maybe October if he still fits in them... which I doubt. :-) Cheers!

snuggles with Daddy

For once we caught James laying with Matt on the couch. It didn't last long, but hey, we take what we can get with our active little 6 month old. :-)

more 6 months pictures

James, James, what's his name?? Ask him again he'll tell you the same...

I can't help it. I took a lot of pictures of James, and its so hard to choose which ones to post when they look like this.

Now, I do not claim to be a photo editing expert, so if you have any tips for me, please do not hesitate to let me know. I am having fun doing some more with the pictures. When I was at the beach my Dad showed me a few more tricks to do using iPhoto to make the pictures look better. I think its hardest for me to be objective about the editing, because I love the subject so much!! haha, maybe one of these days I'll get the hang of what actually does improve an image, vs. just making it look a bit different.

Here are a few 5 and 6 month pictures to compare. You'd think that the pictures wouldn't be that different, but his mobility has changed SO much that you can even see it in the pictures of him just sitting! Its crazy. Time to buy a baby gate. haha

5 months

6 months

Maybe its just me, but I see so many changes. I love the faces he's making in these next two.

5 months

6 months

He's too much fun. I promise this is the last blog of 6 month pictures. haha - you can't blame a proud momma for showing too many pictures.

see?

6 Months Old!!!

To start off, I thought I had claim to James' cheeks. I was sure they were mine. However, this picture has made me reconsider my claim.

I can't even argue this one. Daddy's boy for sure.

James really enjoys sitting up in the window seat with Roo some days. But really, the caption for this picture should say,

"You say there's a dog sitting next to me? Oh, I hadn't really noticed."

James has just stared to stay up on his hands and knees for any amount of time. Of course, when he first let us put him in that position, he would fall down as soon as he moved! :-) But now, we've moved on to hands, knee, and one foot. I think its too cute, and he just cracks me up.

"On your mark...."

I love Grandpa

On our way home from the beach, James and I stopped in Keystone for just 2 nights so that Matt's parents got to see our little beach bum before we went home. Matt's Dad is too funny, and this picture says it all. They adore James, and just loved playing with him.

"we'll both suck our fingers."

baby faux-hawk

This was too much fun. I couldn't resist.

So a brief setting for these pictures: My Mom and Dad and I took James out to dinner in Vilano beach (just north of St. Augustine) and he sat in this high chair for a grand total of 5 minutes. Just long enough for me to take a couple of pictures! He's new to the high chair; he's only sat in on about 5 or 6 times other than ours at home which is bigger and much more support than ones at a restaurant. The rest of the meal was spent as I stood with him and tried to eat my dinner. My little boy doesn't like to sit when he's unhappy. Standing is the only way to go. :-) C'est la vie!!

In James' defense, the entire beach trip he napped for no longer than 25-30 minutes during the day. It was actually the worst sleep he's ever gotten. At home, he naps at 9am for 1-1.5 hours and at 1pm for 1.5-2.5 hours. At the beach, he basically took his 30 min nap at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm and went to bed at 7. You're probably thinking, when did you go to the beach?? good question. :-( We got to go out for about 1 hour in the mid day and maybe 1 more hour in the late afternoon. It was probably for the best because my little red head couldn't have taken a whole lot more beach time than that. In these pictures, you can tell he's ridiculously tired. In the second picture, his eyes aren't even open all the way. poor guy! (actually poor guy but poor mommy!!)

James + Anna Kate

thankfully, James has slept better, so I'm in a better state of mind today- make that I'm not out of my mind today... haha.

Big news of the day: James weighs 17 pds 9 oz! He's now 6 months old as of Tuesday, and 27 inches long. My boy is getting so big. I can't really even believe he's 6 months old; it really blows my mind. His 6 month pictures soon to come.

We were so excited to have a play date today with Anna Kate and her beautiful Momma! These two are only 11 days apart, and we have so much fun when we get together. It really is fun to see these two taking each other in for what seems like the first time. I can't get enough.

Welcome to my humble home. haha

OOHH, they're watching us.... :-)

Precious little boy feet and dainty petite girlie feet!! But seriously, how fun it is that James' feet are like twice the size of Anna K's?? haha, what a boy he is. And lovely little Anna K is the perfection of a sweet girlie girl.

What a push over.

Hey, you stuck your fingers in my face. What was I supposed to do?? haha That cracked her up.

loved it.

Back from the beach :-)

James and I are back from his first beach trip with the Austin family, and honestly, I'm glad to be home!!! We missed Matt so much, and James didn't sleep well at the beach. We've decided that it's because he loved the beach so much that he couldn't sleep. (funny in hindsight, but I haven't recovered enough yet for it to be funny!).

Here are some pictures from the beach. We had a great time and really enjoyed being with my siblings for a few days. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures that my Dad took of James. I'm excited to see how cute they turn out!

My Mom and Dad and my little nieces

my little man's footprints

my little beach bum and me. I love the beach

Ride a horse...

One thing that James loves is doing little horse riding games on my knees. His current favorite is: "This is the way the lady goes trot, trot." (medium speed bouncing) "This is the way the gentleman goes, gallop, gallop, gallop" (fast speed). and lastly, "This is the way the farmer goes, hobbly jig, hobbly jig, hobblty jig!!" (bouncing rotated from left knee to right, simulating a horse whose gait would be an uneven walk, hence hobblty. haha) You should see my little fella laugh and smile with this game. priceless.

Soon to come: Ride a horse to Bambarry Cross

Ride a horse to Bambarry Cross, to see a fine lady upon a fine horse. WIth rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she will have music where ever she goes! Whee! Whee!!

The adult must cross your legs and place the child sitting on your foot on the crossed leg. Then, the child is bounced during the rhyme, and at the end, is kicked higher in the air. Please do hold your child's hands while playing this game! See the inspiration?? Little Brie with Grandpa Stu Roberts. :-)

Some Wedding memories...

I love my wedding photos. This particular one I asked for: coming down the aisle after the ceremony. My Mom and Dad have a similar one, same moment captured at their wedding and I've been looking at that picture my whole life waiting to have one like it. Now I do, and I love it.

I promised to put up some wedding photos, and not only did I not have a chance to find the CD of our pictures, I also didn't write about it when I was planning. But, since I said I'd put up some good pics, I pulled some off my facebook page, haha. In my defence, they were uploaded from my old computer and my new one doesn't have any of our wedding photos saved on it. yet. :-)

I know what you're thinking, this isn't even a picture of me, well it caught my attention for a unique reason. My niece Corrie was born Jan 28th, so she is 15 days younger than James in a calendar year... follow me? She was just 5 months old in this photo and our James is now 5 1/2 months old when we celebrated our 4th anniversary. How funny to see the similarities between them. Definitely Austin cheeks!!

I was looking back through our album of pictures, and this one always stands out to me. It is actually on the cover of our book, and I just love how beautiful the colors look- how the rings look so small on the petals, but really the petals were just that big- and how beautiful the flowers were in general. They were a big success in my book. (literally, haha)

This one I love. I think because of the angle, but mostly because of how awesome it makes my dress look. and it doesn't hurt that Matt and I look like models in our own pictures. just sayin'

Had to put one of him and I. Do we look much different? Of course we have both gotten better looking with the addition of James to the pictures... :-)

4 years and counting....

Matt and I were blessed to celebrate our 4th anniversary Thursday, July 1st!! We are so thankful for these 4 years and where they have brought us. We never imagined that we'd be here, in Hickory, NC with our beautiful baby boy. I didn't imagine I'd be able to stay home with our little sweet pea and that Matt would have made the transition to pacing with such ease. We went out for dessert last night after we put James to bed for the 1st time! Our friends Jeff and Teegan were kind enough to sit for James while he was asleep, and Matt and I didn't have to worry at all about leaving James. What a 1st date as parents. :-)

Our finest moment of our 4th year of marriage was easy to decide this year: James. What could compete with that?? We did have a pretty crazy year. Last July 1st we were in Greenville, SC where Matt was studying to make his career transition. Little did we know he'd get an awesome job offer on his 30th birthday and he'd be off to his new job in 1 month! Little did we know that we'd find such a great house to make our home and bring our new baby to share with us. Little did we know that we'd celebrate such a wonderful Christmas with so many of our family members who were willing to come to us when we weren't able to come to them. Little did we know that we'd be surrounded by such an amazing group of friends here in Hickory to bless us with meals and support as we raise our little boy. Little did we know that it would go by so fast!! We can't believe its July. Happy 4th Anniversary Matt Prose. You are the love of my life and my best friend.

Stay tuned for pictures of our wedding. I just have to find our wedding photo cd... :-O haha