James' Tattoo

Every since I found out that I was pregnant, I decided that I was going to get another tattoo to honor my child. I finally figured out what I wanted to do and where I wanted it. I decided to have James' name tattoo on the back side of my wrist. His name is in chinese, I decided to do it in chinese instead of english, cause I figure more people will ask me what it means than just having it in english. I did forget how painfull they are but I remeber really fast when Abby started doing the tattoo!! Thanks to my mom for coming with me to distract me :)

Mommy's Little Helper

James has recently started to love to sort things and pull everything out of drawers and boxes. This has made doing laundry on Monday's a little more challenging, as you can see from the photos below :)

Yucky Grass!!

We had our family photo taken this weekend in Waukee with my side of the family and since we dont have much of a yard James has never really been in grass before. I decided to set him down in it & he HATED it!!! I did capture it all on camera, so I will always remember this moment :)

Ear Tubes

Monday we went to have James' surgery for his ear tubes. It couldn't have gone better,thanks to the support of our parents and prayers from family & friends. James is such a happier child, not that he wasnt before but there are not as many battles to get him to eat his bottle or go to sleep, he is also much more playful!! :) It is really nice to not to have to be doing Tylonol every 4 hrs too!! When your child is in pain or is sick you feel so helpless and bad for them, for once I feel like I really helped James feel better and that is a really great feeling!! We promised James a new toy if he was a big boy during the surgery process, so yesterday I went to Target and got him a leap frog baby lap top, since he is so in love with ours. I decided to get him a ballon too since he loves them. When I got home he was more interested in the ballon than to nice new toy we got him!! We gave him his 1st bath since the ear tubes and he did really good with the ear plugs!! Now if only Don & I could get better. We both headed off to Urgant Care tonight after work. I have a double ear infection which I have had now for 3 weeks and Don has strep!! Hopefully we can all be healthy at once really soon!!

My "Get Well Soon" Balloon for mama & dada

My fancy new ear plugs!!

First Steps!!!

Well it is offical, James is now walking!!! He will take about 6-7 steps from mom to dad or his highchair to other things. James gets so proud of himself being able to walk and than falls down and giggles :) I can not believe how big he is getting and how fast they grow up! It really brings tears to my eyes when I think about how little he use to be! He took his first few steps about a week ago and we have been working with him ever since each day he gets a little better. Don bet me that James would be walking before he was 10 months and I hate to admitt that I was wrong he was right but I dont mind being wrong on this one :)

New Recliner

The recliner that we bought before James was born has worn out real fast! We have decided that we are no longer getting fabric furniture. We already had a green leather chair that had been great with having a little kid around, so we decided to get a leather recliner. Our old recliner sounded like it was going to fall apart when rocking James in it :) We love the new recliner so far and hope that it will last a lot longer than the old recliner!!

Daddy's Little Helper

Our heating element went out in our oven so we decided to save some money and fix it ourselves. James thought that he would help too!! After some great team work from all 3 of us, we get it working again!!

Ear Surgery

After many, many ear efections and anitbotics were are going to put tubes in James' ears. His surgery is schduled for June 14th. I have always been against tubes but after seeing my son in so much pain & after him failing his hearing tests and talking to the ENT, we have decided it is the best thing for him. The ENT told me that if we dont get this problem under control or fixed James could have hearing loss & speech problems in the very near future. I am very nervous about putting him under but I am trying to remind myself that this is what is best for him and will help him feel better!! I had to laugh, when we were at the ENT's office and I found out that he failed his hearing test, I said to the ENT ohhh that is why he doesnt hear me say "No". The doctor said I wont be able to fix that, you will have that problem the next 17 years! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Don & I loved that fact that we got three days off in a row to spend time together as a family. Saturday I took James to the Farmers Market & ran the Sam's Club & Babies R Us, which James was a champ all the places I took him. Saturday night we enjoyed a nice dinner as a family at Lone Star Steak house, than went and got frozen custard at our favorite place in Des Moines.

Sunday we spent the day with Andy & Ashley. We went to the Zoo & than off to their place for a BBQ. They have a little puppy that James fell in love with & Sprocket (the puppy) fell in love with him. We didn't get home from their place till around 4:00 he than took a nap from about 5-9:00. It took us about 20-30 minutes to get him awake enough to feed him, I didnt even change him into his PJ's he went right back to sleep till 6:00 AM.

 Monday we spent the day with Don's mom Jo. James took a nice long nap in the morning, which was nice it gave Jo & I a chance to catch up on everything & Don a chance to relax! James enjoyed swimming in his pool & loved seeing Don's hunting dog a Irish Setter named Pete. We all had a very nice relaxing weekend, even though I felt like we were on the go the whole time it was worth it!! It was really nice to spend some quality time with my son.

James & Dada checking out the cow

James & Mama feeding the Giraffe

James' favorite thing at the Zoo

James just chilling after the Zoo

James & Sprocket playing

Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Sharr's house