such a little love: 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Happy 1st Birthday James!

Things got much messier from this picture on...

Playing with his new 4-wheeler from Grandpa and Nana B

Trying out his new hunting gear from Uncle Dan

Opening presents...

Who needs toys on your birthday when there's a garbage around?

p.s. We have a huge announcement to make! Baby Ditch #2 is due to arrive on April 1st 2010 :)

Monday, September 14, 2009

So it's been... Oh.... about 3 months since I've updated this blog! I half-way forgot about it and half-way have a good reason for not updating. Our camera is out of commission at the moment, and it's going to take 50 dollars to fix it (something we haven't had to spend freely in a long time!). So what's a post without pictures? I have a few that have been emailed over to me from my mom's camera and a few from his 6 month photo shoot that I can put up :)

So what's new in the life of little James, you ask? The list is endless. He has grown so much over the past few months. He's crawling around everywhere and getting into everything his little hands can grasp. His favorite thing to get into at the moment are cupboards. He loves to empty the cupboards in the kitchen. His second favorite thing to get into is the bathroom! He loves to unroll the toilet paper and try to sneak his fingers in the toilet before we catch him. This kiddo is such a rascal! He becoming a master at climbing up and standing in front of the coffee table and the couch. He likes to pull everything he can off of them. His dangerous, wild side leads him to the electrical cords and he's always got us running after him.

Hugs are his best quality, I'd have to say. He's the best little hugger I think I've ever met. He's my little snuggler.

His favorite thing right now is his stuffed kitty. It looks like a cross between a teddy bear, a monkey and a leopard. My dad got it for him on the 4th of July and he hasn't put it down since.

He's grown teeth! He now has 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. We're just bracing ourselves for the molars to begin. Shouldn't be too far away so we already have stocks of baby oraljel and tylenol on hand!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

He's 9 Months Old!

So, where on earth have the past 9 months gone? I can't believe my little man is already on his way to being a year old. He's grown and changed so much in the past 3/4 of a year that it just seems like a blink of an eye and here we are. I love him so much more every day and just every day is a new adventure and time to laugh with him. He's getting so silly! He truly charms everyone who meets him. Just tonight we were eating dinner out with my dad and sister and he was turning around and giving the ladies behind us the biggest grins he could muster up. He's been learning and exploring so much in the past few weeks. Since we've gotten here in Minnesota (a whole month ago! I can't believe it's been a month already either, time is going by so quickly...) he's done and learned so much!

~ He's developed his pincher-grip and he's able to pick up things with his pointer finger and thumbs.
~ He's started pulling himself up on furniture.
~ He's started walking around while holding on to your fingers, being adorable with his little waddle but killing your back at the same time.
~ He is sitting himself back up after having a good crawl around the room.
~ He started clapping his hands.
~ He's started reaching for people he wants to hold him.
~ He can hold onto his own bottle.
~ He is currently growing 4 teeth on the top all at the same time.
~ He's started saying "rarararara" "babababa" and "mamama" as well as trying to talk with his pacifier in his mouth and saying crazy things like "lagel lagel" and "oiygo oiygo".
~ He started blowing raspberries again and now he can smack his lips together and make popping noises.
~ He's been doing well with his inventive military style crawl, but he's started practicing the more tradional type of crawling and is starting to coordinate his arms and legs working together.

Just typing out that list has really shocked me at how much he's learned in the past month. Pretty soon he's going to be walking around on his own and talking! My little guy is growing up so quickly, it's just amazing to be able to watch all of this. I'm really sad that Kev hasn't been able to be here in the past month to wittness all these changes but....

He's here on SATURDAY!!

I'm so so so very excited that my hubby is finally able to move to the States! It's been such a long time coming and we've been waiting forever, it seems. We've finally made it this far and it's so exciting to know that we don't ever have to say 'goodbye' to eachother at an airport again. I've missed him so incredibly much and now we can finally be a family again and just start getting on with life instead of having to juggle things and put things on hold. It's just such a great feeling!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Big Milestone Day

Today is the day that James first pulled himself up on the furniture! My mom has a small foot stool that James managed to pull himself up to standing, and then on top of! I was so happy to have my camera on the table to catch him doing it!

Ta Da!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Minnesota Zoo

We had a free Saturday all to ourselves so Grandpa Jack, James and I went to the Minnesota Zoo. James loved looking at the different animals and his favorite parts were the tropical exhibit and the farm part. The weather was beautiful and it was great bonding time for grandpa and grandson!

~m.

Pictures

As promised... finally the pictures!

{Having a picnic in the front yard.}

{Exploring our new room.}

{Testing out the new toys on our first morning in Minnesota.}

{James crawling around during our picnic with Nana Nell and TC.}

{All of us at our ladies' night do.}

Friday, May 29, 2009

minnesota!

Sorry for in my lack of blog updates! It has been a very hectic past few weeks to say the least. We have safely arrived and settled in to my parent's house here in good ol' Minnesota. The weather has been really nice and we're finally adjusting to the huge time difference. James is getting all the loving and attention that a baby could ever ask for. My mom and sisters abosolutely coo over him and my dad and brother think he's amazing. James is starting to warm up to them now. He loves looking at my dad and touching his nose and he also likes to listen to my brother talk and of course, he loves his cell phone. So... things are going great! He's also trying out all of his new gadgets that my family has gotten for him. He has an exersaucer with all the sounds and activities a baby could ask for, a new high chair for eating new foods (mac and cheese!) and his new car seat for going for rides in our new car!

We took our first trip to Target together yesterday. Wow was that an experience! I completely forgot how massive that store is. I think James and I were both like "woooooow" with huge eyes. It's so strange to be going through a culutre shock in a place that you grew up with. The Minnesotan accents are so much stronger than I remember, the roads are so much bigger and the stores are absolutely massive! Thankfully driving has come back to me quite naturally so I'm very very happy to be getting around with my car. I am missing England though. It's been our home for the past year and it's the only place that James knows. I know he is missing his daddy. He always seems to be searching for him and he gets the biggest smiles when he talks to him on the phone! I'm missing his daddy as well!

We do have good news though! Kev's paperwork has finally arrived from the Nottingham Police Dept. so it looks like his visa is on it's way!! Hopefully we'll all be reunited by the end of June. Can't wait till he's heerrrrre!

sorry for the lack of pictures! they won't upload for some reason but i'll have them up as soon as i can!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Ladies Night Out!

Okay, so I know this isn't exactly a post about James and all of his loveliness but last night was waaaaay to much fun not to share with everyone. Preeti, Rachel and Victoria and I all went to go see the British girl band called Girls Aloud and it was ahhhhh mazing! It was our first outing together without the babies and we had so much fun!