Fun with James

James is at a really fun stage. Last night we spend about 30 minutes sitting on the couch playing games. One game where James would pull himself up to standing on the back of the couch and we would say "Up!" and then he would plop down on his bottom and we would say "down". He would do it really fast and thought it was hilarious. He's also figured out how to slide off of the couch without our assistance so we would set him on the edge and he would wiggle his way down till he was standing on the floor and would look back up at us SO proud of himself. When he gets really excited he flexes his whole body and shouts out at the same time and if we happen to catch him doing this when he's naked, well... it's pretty hilarious to see those little buns flexing. :)

James really wants to talk and loves jabbering. He is starting to say "mama" and "papa" or "dada" at appropriate times, like yesterday when I got home from working and he wrapped his arms around my legs and said "mamamamama.." I about melted right there! He also says "Oso" and something that sounds like "this" or "touch" when he wants something. He's recently started using objects as phones and will hold a toy up to his ear and talk like he's on the phone, he must have gotten that from cousin Avery!

James loves to be outside and we spend a lot of time in the backyard in his swing and playing fetch with Oso. We have a hammock set up as well and if we catch him at a cuddly moment he will hang out with Kirk and I while we swing in the hammock together. Those are particularly magical moments that I am trying to take in fully when they happen. This past sunday James hung out with us for probably 20+ minutes while we read some books and just swung together in the afternoon. We have a wonderfully shaded backyard that I am loving even more now that James is here.



and here is one in the backyard of J wearing wearing uncle Neals hat! SO cute!

We love summers around here and I'm excited to see everything through James' eyes. Besides spending time in our backyard swinging and (very soon) splashing in a pool, we live close to some very fun stuff. Some friends of ours got us a year long pass to the Nashville zoo for J's birthday! Yesterday he and I went for the first time and loved it! J's favorite things were the birds and the fish. It takes less than 10 minutes to drive there from our house so I think we'll probably spend a lot of time there in the coming months. We live blocks from the Sounds stadium (our minor league baseball team) and every friday night there is a home game they set off fireworks that we can see from our front porch. I can't wait to take James to a game! We can also walk to the fairgrounds from our house where once a month there is a great flea market and once a year there is the state fair. If you take away the noise from the racetrack that is also on the fairgrounds, we love our neighborhood! While we're on the topic, check out a non-profit community development ministry some neighbors of ours run called Harvest Hands. We love being a part of what they do whenever we can. check out their website to learn more. You can also order coffee (it's GREAT) from the neighborhood boys who have started a coffee roasting business.

moral of the story, we're counting our blessings these days and looking forward to more fun with our sweet little boy this summer!

Birthday Boy!

We've had a couple fun filled weekends celebrating our sweet little James! Grandma & Grandpa Dahlgren were here last weekend and this past weekend Grandma & Grandpa Rogers came down. James got a lot of love, thats for sure!


Here is James' applesauce cake which tasted more like a healthy muffin with frosting on it. :) I just couldn't bring myself to give him anything too sweet.


He's good at sharing. :)

James got a lot of really fun gifts, but his favorite of all is a simple plastic soccer ball! He loves it!


You are one loved little boy James and we are so thankful that God gave you to us!

year 1 through the eyes of an iphone

On saturday James will be one! I've been thankful for our iphones that have captured some really fun pictures when the real camera was out of reach. Here are some of my favorites from the year. (actually one of them is from uncle Scotts phone, thanks scott!)

Up and Down

Spring!

As I've said before, we are SO glad that spring is here! James has loved being outside better than anywhere else ever since we brought him home from the hospital last year. I think I see some family camping trips in our future! Right now his favorite things to do outside include watching the trucks and cars drive by, picking up new things likes rocks and leaves and trying to eat them, and swinging in our backyard on the new swing daddy put up this weekend!
(have you ever seen such chubby cute feet??? It's no wonder no shoes fit him!)

We had a fun, full Easter weekend and were so thankful for the nice weather. At the end of last week a good friend of mine, Calais, was in town and we got to spend some time in a local park with James. There is a great mexican popsicle place where we were and James got to taste his first avocado popsicle! He loved it!

On saturday after a trip to the farmers market Kirk and I planted a garden in the backyard. We planted some blackberry bushes last year and to it we added tomatoes, broccoli, basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and a couple flowers. I've only ever done potted herbs so it will be fun to see how a mini garden in the yard will work out this year. While we worked in the yard James took a THREE hour nap!! I don't remember the last time this happened, it was miraculous. :) We spent most of Sunday with our good friends here in town and their two kids. We had a blast feasting together and enjoying a laid back afternoon. We even got to play part of a board game while the kids all took naps (at the same time, another napping miracle!)

Here are some pics of James on Easter morning. He looks so grown up in his cute shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Dahlgren! (side note: he also does this funny tongue rolling thing that you can sort of see in this picture)

It's hard to get a picture of James when he's not on the move, most pics look like this one!

I don't know what this face is but I have a feeling this won't be the last time I'll see it!

A rare picture of the 3 of us from sunday afternoon,

some fun pics of James and Kirk in our front yard by the Cherry tree that blooms so pretty this time of year. I just love James' pale pink skin next to those flowers! I found a flower petal in his mouth during his bath right after these pics were taken!



I also have a fun short video of James from yesterday that I'll post later.