New Game

Since most of our house is carpeted, when James is on the floor he is usually on carpet. Tonight I had some things I wanted to do in the kitchen (which isn't carpeted) so I decided to take a blanket in the kitchen and lay him on it. Right now there are no blankets that are big enough to contain all his rolling but I figured once he went off it onto the cold hard floor maybe he would decide it was better on the blanket and stay there. Once I laid him down he immediately rolled off and the first thing he did was blow a raspberry on the floor. I kept putting him back on the blanket, he kept rolling off and blowing raspberries.

It's probably my fault because I laughed pretty hard the first time he did it!

7 months-the downward spiral

(it's a snow globe)

I can't believe James is already 7 months old! We are on the downward spiral to 1 year old. It is unbelievable.

James eats 3 meals a day of solid foods now. He eats avocado, bananas, apples, pears, mango, carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, squash, green beans, peas, oatmeal, rice cereal and multi-grain cereal. He loves it...except when he is teething which brings me to the next subject.

James got 2 teeth this month. He seems to handle teething pretty well. I can definitely tell something is going on when a tooth is coming but he doesn't turn into a monster or anything. He seems to fight me on eating solid foods for about a week before a tooth erupts. 2 days before the tooth breaks through he struggles to take his naps. I think the teeth have been making him wake up once in the night and need me but I'm not really sure if that is due to some other issue.

James can now roll all the way across a room and around in circles. He is starting to get into things...we will soon be in A LOT of trouble! I am trying to work on child proofing but I think it will probably be an ongoing project as James shows us what needs to be childproofed.

(Daddy caught him picking his nose)

James also likes to giggle with (at) his daddy. Daddy is REALLY funny. He also likes the patterns on his burp cloths which makes it hard for him to concentrate on burping. He especially likes to look at the burp cloth with little cars all over it.

Caged

There can be only one cord in the whole room...

These boys don't even crawl yet...

I can leave for just 2 minutes and I come back and they are snacking on that one cord. They are sneaky and mischievous.

Sitting

So, basically James should be able to sit up on his own now. However, James seems to be very content lying on the floor looking up at the ceiling or rolling all around the floor chasing after his toys. We practice sitting up often but James likes to kick back and lounge. Our best attempts are when he is sitting in front of the TV. He will sit up for a little longer then.

Today I put the boppy around James and left him with a toy in front of him to practice sitting a little. When I looked back over at him this is what I saw...

...lounging again!

Christmas

James' first Christmas was very eventful. On Christmas day his Williams grandparents and uncle were at our house with us to celebrate. James stayed up way past his nap time in order to open presents and he didn't melt down. He was so excited about his presents...especially the tissue paper in the ones wrapped in a bag. Mommy and Daddy were especially excited about the fact that it snowed on Christmas (like 6 in.)--in NC.

On New Year's Weekend we went to PA for the Wynkoop Christmas. James did even better with his ride to PA this time. He loved playing with his Grandma and Grandpa and aunts and uncles. I think his favorite aunt is Aunt Lexi. She gives the best kisses.

The day before we had Christmas in PA. James' first tooth appeared. That explained why he mysteriously had trouble taking naps the day before. Other than that James hasn't seemed too affected by his tooth coming in.

Reflections on Mary

When listening to the Christmas story I have always identified most with Mary (because she is the girl in the story I guess). Last year, when I was pregnant, I could imagine a little bit of what it felt like to be Mary and carrying a baby although I wasn't very pregnant at Christmas last year. This year I really identified with Mary. I could imagine her with a tiny baby. I sang Away in a Manger to my baby. I thought about what it was like to be a young mother and having a baby and caring for a newborn in an animal's stall. At first as I was making the parallels I thought "well at least I don't have the added pressure of having God's son". Then it hit me--in a way I am caring for God's son. He's not fully God and fully man (there's the extra pressure) but he is God's child that God has entrusted to me to take care of on Earth but he is still God's son and God is in control. I just need to love him as God would. The thought made me emotional and sympathetic of Mary.