18 Months Old!!!

I took James to the doctor this afternoon for his 18 month check up. James weighed in at 28 lbs which puts him at 75% for weight & he is 34&3/4 inches long which puts him at 90% for height!! Dr.Strang said James you are such a big boy & James just looked at him & clapped and said yay!! Both of James' tubes are still in his ears which are very good since not all of his molars are in yet. So that should keep him from getting anymore ear infections from his teeth!! He only had to have one shot this time and will not have to have anymore until he is 5! James has been saying alot of words lately such as....cars ,trucks, puppies, mollie, juice, tree ,socks, mommy, daddy, baby, yay, NO, apples & many more :) His favorite saying is ummmm I dont know :) The hardest thing that I am dealing with right now is James has become super clingy lately to me & Don around new people, which he never really has been that way before. So after this last checkup I think it is safe to say that James is for sure going to have his daddy's height & my strongwiliness, but we love every little bit of him & are VERY thankful to God for him!!

1st Haircut!!

Today I took James to get his first haircut, it went better than I expected! Although when we first got there & sat down in the chair, I started to tear up. It was just another reminder of how big James is getting!! He was rather jumpy in the beginning & Sarah bless her heart tried many different things, like letting James touch the scissors & comb but that didn't help, James was not interested in them. We ended up just doing the sucker thing. James went through 3 suckers during his first visit! I guess whatever works :) Sarah gave James a cute little certficate for his 1st haircut at the salon & we made sure to save his hair! James was even good enough to sit through me getting a haircut, which was a HUGE surprise for me & Sarah. James looks like such a little boy now, Don & I can not get over it!

Great G'ma & G'pa Lorenzen Visit!!!

I have been wanting to visit my grandparents Lorenzen for awhile, so I was thrilled when they came up to visit this weekend to my parents house in Waukee. They haven't seen James since he was about 3 weeks old, so it was neat to see their smiles watching James play on their faces. We enjoyed some nice conversion & we took James sledding for the 1st time. James LOVED it, I could barely pull him around because he was laughing so hard, which made me laugh hard. Took pictures with my sisters camera, cause I couldn't find my at the time, so I will have to post them when I get them from her. After sledding, all 11 of us went out the eat at the Machine Shed in West Des Moines. James behaved very well, considering it was past 5:30 & than we still had to wait for the food to come once we ordered. James & his cousin Asher found these red tractors to ride on, which of course was a fight when it was time to get off of them, but that is the norm with this age! After dinner we said our goodbyes & headed home. We all 3 slept very well that night from sledding!!

Zoey Olivia Schryver

My friend of 15 years had her first child on Friday, and I was there to share the moment with her & her family! Throughout her whole pregnancy Ashley, her mom & I were the only ones that knew that she was having a girl, so just the fact that I can now refer the the baby as her instead of it, really makes me happy oh and the fact that she is actually here now too :). Zoey Olivia was born on January 28th 2011 @ 6:28 pm weighing in at 7lbs 1oz & 20 inches long. She is the tiniest baby that I have even held & perfect in every way. Ashley & Andy are doing great, we had supper with them tonight & they are pretty sleep deprived but what first time parents aren't. We encourage them to enjoy every second, even though they are missing sleep & that this too will pass & Zoey will sleep through the night at some point in her 1st year!! James really has no interest in her except he came over to her a few times and pointed and said baby!?!? James didnt really care that I was holding another baby. Which is encouraging, so if/when we have another baby hopefully he will handle it just fine! It is weird to think that Ashley & I met when we were just in 4 grade & now we are both mommies & our kids will grow up together in the same daycare & schools. It is just amazing how God brings people into your life, and when He does we dont know how long they will be in our lives but I am truly thankful that Ashley has been in mine for over 15 years & many more to come!!

                                                   The Happy Parents!!!

Pneumonia.....go away!!

Well we have been one sick family since about Christmas, with me getting the flu the week of Christmas, than Don getting a nasty cold that turned in bronchitis that he is still fighting. Took James to the doctor 2 weeks ago for a cold that just was not going away, was told it was just a viral cold and it would just go away.Called the Dr. on Monday cause he wasn't getting any better and the Dr. prescribed antibiotics, but his cough just got worse & worse. Call the Dr. back Thursday night & he said that he wanted to see James 1st thing in the morning. So Friday morning I took him to the Dr. thinking that he was just going to get a different antibiotics and would be on our way out, but after Dr. Strang listened to his chest he said it sounded really wheezy and ordered a chest x-ray & blood work. Thank God the blood work came back ok, but the chest x-ray should just a bit of fluid in his lungs, so he was diagnosed with border line Pneumonia. Thank God it is just viral pneumonia, which I was told was the better of two. So I was trained on how to work the breathing treatment machine & was giving a script for a steroid. After 3 days of breathing treatments every 3-4 hrs James is doing alot better.Although giving James breathing treaments took some practice, I think that we finally have a system down. We turn on his Super Why DVD & he gets so focused on it that he doesn't freak out kicking & pulling the tube out!

 I some how feel like a bad mom though, for letting in turn into this, but Dr. Strang re-assured me that I was not a bad mom & that pneumonia is sometimes mistreated due to the fact that the signs are alot like the common cold. Please continue to keep James in your prayers that God will continue to heal him & keep him from getting this again!!

Merry Christmas!!

This year we were really excited about James opening his gifts & hoping that he would be interested in doing so, but no. Don & I had to open most of his gifts, we learned what type of gifts should be open last like legos. James helped me open his legos that we got him and he didn't want anything to do with his other gifts, it was cute! After having our Christmas Friday morning at home, we headed off to Knoxville to Don's parents, despite the weather. When we got to Grandma & Grandpa's house James was very excited about all the wrapped gifts under the tree. Though when we started to open gifts that afternoon, James was more interested in reading his books that we brought from home than about the presents. He got super excited about a puzzle they got him & well the Police Charger that his Aunt & Uncle got him!! It was funny when he helped me unwrap it & he pointed straight at Don & chatter off something to him, like Dada get over here and put this together!! It took Don & his dad awhile to get the car put together but they got it & James loves sitting in it. The car goes up to 5 mph, has lights/sirens/2 way radio& looks like a real Dodge Charger!! Saturday morning James woke Grandma up to come get us, because he saw that Santa had came & brought him a tool bench & a stocking full of goodies. James has been playing non stop with the tool bench & his legos! We had a GREAT Christmas, having a child makes it so much more better!!

                                                                Tonka Chuck Truck

                                                               Hanging out with Grandpa

                                                               I got a Kindle!!

                                                    Santa brought James a tool work-bench

Santa!!

We took James to see Santa on Monday when Don got home from work. James did pretty well, I will say last years visit went alittle better but than again he was only 4 months old too! The whole way there I kept telling James that we were going to visit Santa. When we got there and waiting in line I kept telling James see Santa & he would wave hi and smile. Well when it got our turn to go up and talk to Santa James got SUPER shy/bashful. When I tried to put him on Santa's lap he grabbed ahold of my neck so hard, I'm pretty sure that there are still marks on my neck from his fingernails!! He did not cry but the bottom lip was sticking out pretty far.