Redneck baby 2008

Yay! Finally made it out for the first boat ride of the season!



I guess he isn't my redneck baby anymore, but my redneck big boy.

Hugs all around

Compare and Contrast

Wow, I really think I have scared some of you with this whole baby thing. I was feeling pretty poorly, but the last few weeks have been a lot better. The baby must have moved (dropped), or maybe I just started sleeping better. I have been much more pleasent to be around lately, in my opinion anyways. To make up for my previous grumpiness, for your blog reading pleasure, some pictures comparing belly shots between baby#1 and baby#2.


Excuse the evil eyes. Gilbert has really mellowed out in the past 21 months. This was taken right before James was born.


This picture was taken this week.

And another shot/angle:

This one was taken again, before James was born. Sigh. Mark and I were going out for restaurant week. Remember that? Going to a restaurants? For restaurant week? I believe we went to Smith and Wolinsky off the tollway.


I took this one this evening. I was not going out to a restaurant and excuse the haggard look. I am 8.5 months pregnant with a 20 month old toddler with doubler ear infections. But wow, can you say 10 pound baby???

Thanks everyone for asking about me. I can't wait to update this blog when Baby#2 gets here.

Papa's diaper changing kit

Sometimes my dad really hits one out of the park...

Ode to Kindermusik

I don't even know how to start out this post. Kindermusik has been a part of mine and James's life from early on. I took him to his first Kindermusik class when we were still in Dallas when he was 7 weeks old. Soon after that, we moved and one of the first things I did was find a class. We ended up going to the Boykin Music Studio taught by Phyllis Boykin in Anderson. It was a long drive for us, but well worth it. Up to this point, most of the songs that I had been singing to James were ones I made up, ie, they were lame and repetitive. We tried the traditional nursery rhymes songs, but we just couldn't relate to them. Have you ever really listed to the words of Rock A Bye Baby? It is not a good song! With Kindermusik, we learned brand new songs that we could use anywhere. I used "when cows get up the in the morning" when James took his first pictures, "jingle, jingle, goes the baby bells" for doctors appointments, and who could forget "Hey-Ho, here we go, lets go hiking, hiking, hiking" for the semi-disastrous hike to the waterfall? The good thing about all these songs is you can personalize them for just about any situation. This class really paid off when on a drive to see the in-laws, James was just screaming and screaming...we put on his CD and all was quiet, for like 15 minutes.

Although Kindermusik is a little pricey, I think you get a lot for what you pay for. This past semester, I paid a little over $200 for classes from Jan-until end of May, 2 books, 2 CDs, and musical instruments. The books are always favorites...except for that Feathers one...that was lame.

I think all parents say, "yeah, my kid LOVES music" and I am sorry, I have to respectfully disagree, because MY kid LOVES music. I've seen your kid at the library story time, at the grocery story, at the blueglass concert, and it is always James first, front and center, dancing his little heart out. This may not be so much as James's love for music, as the fact that he is extremely Not Shy. He is a STAR.

I decided not to sign James up for Kindermusik again because of Baby#2. A lot of new moms do bring their new babies who sleep peacefully in the corner during class, but that is just hard for me to picture right now. That meant today was James's last day of Kindermusik, and I am really sad.

Here is James and Ms. Phyllis. I really can't say enough good things about her. She kept a good balance between fun and order. It has got to be hard in a toddler class. Although I am sure James was her star pupil, he might have been a little drooly for her.



James showing off his baby belly.



They are big on "rituals and routines" in class. All the kids love to put the toys away!



Something new in the toddler class - story time!



Playing with a slide whistle.



I am sad to say that James was NOT on his best behaviour for his last class. I think he knows something is up!

"*more...turta"

*more was both spoken and signed, of course

This morning, there apparently was a "poopy crib" incident. Because of that, we were moving slowly and didn't make it to church. We decided to go to the zoo instead. The Greenville Zoo is pretty small, but it has everything we need right now, elephants, lions, monkeys...and turtles. I took James in November and he was just a little too young for it, I really expected him to be more into it now. He was, but he really only wanted to see the turtles.

Here is James after we first get there, looking at the turtles.



See, turtles.



Behind James are the elephants. James couldn't care less.



Oh, there is a monkey!



Here is a tortise. It was close enough for James to a turtle.



James reading a map at lunch, looking for more turtles.



James going into the reptile house for the third time!! He is ALL boy.



James and me with his previous favorite animal...the bear.

"Bye turta"

Like father, like son...

See, I knew I had some better pictures to share the other day. I was just looking at the wrong camera.



I mean, Mark and James vacuuming? It doesn't get any better than that. James is using my Shark, a must have if you have wall to wall hardwoods. I got it super cheap at WalMart and it is about to die. That's fine, I will just go get another one.



Now James is using the big boy vacuum. Oh, a mother can only dream!



And finally, Mark is trying to vacuum the drool off of James's shirt. Alas, the faucet is always on. When do they grow out of this, anyways? Only 4 teeth to go!

Ok, ok, I'll post.

We just haven't had any good pictures lately. And I am tired and grumpy. So, here are some ok pictures from this weekend. We had a picnic at the botanical gardens for Mother's Day, a week early!

Surprise! Its Aunt Lori and Uncle Jeff!



A goose came to visit while we were eating lunch.



James and "Daddee" looking for "tu-tus" (turtles)