Black and White Wednesday {Thanksgiving: Part 2}

Our long weekend at home was wonderful. Beyond wonderful. It started with E taking a half day on Wednesday and ended with another fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house on Sunday night.

The fact that she was willing to push back my family's Thanksgiving to Sunday meant E and I could go to his family's house on Thursday, but it also meant my dad wasn't alone on Thanksgiving day, since he had all my hungry siblings to attend to. ;)

I wanted to dress up a little on Thanksgiving, since I'm in the same maternity yoga pants 7 days a week (not a joke). I wore a dress and tights! Oh how I felt fancy. :)

Before we left I asked E to take a photo of me in front of the Christmas tree. Of course he said yes. Then the cutest thing happened, James wanted to be in the photo too, and he pointed his little toe, to make himself look fancy too.

Above: 29.5 weeks pregnant with Baby Girl.

Doesn't James look dashing with his pointed toe and adorable new polar bear sweater? It was a birthday gift from a dear friend.
Once we got to my Mom's she handed James a new book she'd found. "Big Trucks" was then carried around the entire house for the rest of the evening, and anybody he found was roped into oohing and awing at diggers and bulldozers for at least five minutes.
My mom's table was looking awesome with her multi colored placemats and silver centerpieces.
Brandon and my E.
I was hoping James would eat a good dinner at my moms. He LOVED the pomegranate jello that my family serves every year, and kept making yummy sounds. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and everything else on his plate? Rejected.
The entire crowd. The morning after this feast, my Grandma (who is sitting next to E) took a spill in her house. Things are not good. She broke her femur up near her hip. It has since me surgically repaired but she will not be walking for a long time. We are hoping for the best.

Thanksgiving Day / James's birthday

This is the last post in the loooong "James turns 2" series! Yippee! However, it is not the last in the Thanksgiving posts, since we celebrated twice this year and will still have to post about my mom's dinner.

With that said, let's get started. James was born two days before Thanksgiving in 2009 and last year his birthday fell the day before Thanksgiving. This year, however, it happened to fall on Thanksgiving day, which was awesome because E was home from work and everyone was in a celebratory mood anyway. Especially the birthday boy.

He woke up and after watching some "cho cho" we went into the kitchen to do his other favorite thing in the entire world: "cook". He had requested pancake-cakes which was fantastic, since we have a new tradition in our house. A friend of mine said the entire time she was growing up they got pancakes for their birthday breakfast. You had to eat the number of pancakes as how many years you were. She said as she got older the pancakes got smaller, so you could still eat 19, or whatever number you were on. She said it was one of her happiest memories. So, with that in mind, we are now doing a pancake breakfast on birthdays and you "have" to eat as many as you are old. :)

We decided since it was a birthday to throw in some chocolate chips. Notice I did one pancake with a #2 in chocolate chips.
Birthday boy easily ate two pancakes and asked for more when he was done. That is fine, as long as he eats at least two.
After breakfast the birthday boy got another present from Mama and Dada. He saw this toy at Ikea a few weeks ago and LOVED it. He said it was a digger. So he was beyond thrilled to see it again on the morning he turned 2.
Around ten am we headed to our local rec center. I was so thrilled to find out it was open on the morning of Thanksgiving. James absolutely loves the pool, and it is so much more fun when I have another adult there with me. E and I had a blast with James in all the "fall falls". This little boy loves his falling water.
The play structure that is inside the pool is kid-heaven. I would have loved one of these as a kid. Seeing James love it as much as he does almost makes up for the fact that they weren't around 25 years ago. ;)
Our local rec center also has a three story indoor slide. And, as long as a non-swimmer has an adults' lap to ride, there is no age limit. James LOVES the thing and has been going on it since he was 11 months old (gasp!). Now that I'm pregnant and tired, I make E take James to the top of the slide and go down with him. Best part? Seeing two huge grins as they round the last bend.
Tighter crop. Totally pixelated but beyond wonderful.
He's a water baby.
And he adores his Dada.
Back home James had an awesome nap, I was able to blog my year 2 letter and enjoy the sunshine for a moment outside.
Before we left for a Thanksgiving feast I asked E to take a couple of photos of me. It's been almost 5 weeks since I've had a belly photo. I'm getting big.
In the leaves.
Once we were at E's house for the holiday, James convinced "Pampa" to head outside with him. He wanted to look for some birds in the shrubs and both of them spent a good thirty minutes outside checking the bushes for birds. I love that James loves E's dad so much, it is beyond awesome.
The table looked lovely.
Once dinner was served James dug right in. Not sure what he ate but his plate was somewhat more empty than when we started. I do know, however, he loves cranberry sauce. (Check out these photos of him last Thanksgiving!)
Oh my word... this still makes my mouth water.
Last year James LOVED his pumpkin pie, so we got it again for him this year. And he needed a candle of course, since it was his birthday after all. He blew it out in two seconds flat, and everyone was laughing and so we lit it again. Again, blew it right out. And again. What a silly goof. Happy birthday my love, until next year!

Pregnancy quiz: 29 weeks

How far along: 29 weeks. :)

Sleep: Better for a few nights and now not so hot again. Some nights I can't fall asleep, others I wake up in the early morning (around 3:00) and am up for a few hours before drifting off again.

Movement: Oh yes.

Size of Baby: Over 15" long and 2.5 lbs!

Pregnancy Symptoms: Oh my. Heartburn is ok due to new meds but everything else is bad.

Food Cravings: Nothing specific, Thanksgiving dinner rocked my world this week.

What I miss: Being able to easily play and sit on the floor with my little man. Not easy nor comfortable.

What I am looking forward to: More Thanksgiving eating at my Mom's tomorrow. Also, we are working on getting James's "big boy room" finished. It has hardly begun, but exciting nonetheless.

Weekly Wisdom: I have a 2 year old! Wisdom from that? Oh yes, teaches me every day patience.

Best moment this week: Thanksgiving day pretty much rocked. Still need to blog about the entire day.

Milestones: Now that we are past Thanksgiving and working towards Christmas, I can hardly believe how close February feels.


The day after James's birthday party he wanted to "cook". What else is new?! He made a huge mess of the counter, his jammies and everything around him. The digger had to be involved, of course. ;)

24 months with Wolfy {James is 2!!}

This month James has become a chatter box! It is amazing. Every day he tells us 4-5 new words he knows, plus will repeat everything we say. Not only will he have entire conversations with us (most "sentences" are only 1-2 words), he can tell us all about what he's thinking and wanting to do. He talks non-stop in the car about what he sees out the windows, he talks non-stop from his crib when he's awake ("Mama, Mama, Mama!! Hug hug hug!" is about the cutest thing ever), and he tells us ok ("o-quay!") and "no" in the cutest voice imaginable. If you try to tease him, he plays along and teases right back.

Now, onto Wolfy photos (the last you'll see for maybe 6 months, eep!)-
I took these yesterday, on his birthday. He had the BEST day. Happy all day long. I took photos, and lots of them. I can't wait to blog about the entire day, ending in a very delicious Thanksgiving feast. But doesn't he look so handsome in his Thanksgiving/birthday attire?

Here is James's day, in his own words:

• First thing in the morning he yells Mama or Dada or both repeatedly until we go and get him. Upon seeing us he either says "hug" or "sippy" (which is his sippy cup of milk) and then he promptly says "cho cho" which means he's ready to watch his favorite cartoon, Chuggingtion.
• After cartoons, where he directs us to the shows he wants, he'll say "pancake-cake" and "eat" and "food" and "banana" all to indicate he's ready for breakfast. As soon as I place him in his "big boy chair" he'll ask for "bib" and "fork".
• It goes on like this all day. He'll want to visit the "park" or get in the "tub". He'll talk about the "pool" with "huge fallfalls" (waterfalls), and ask to go outside. If I say "do you want to go outside?" he'll say "OK" in the cutest way ever. He almost never says yes, always OK.
• When E arrives home from work he'll tell him all about our day, which friends we saw, if we'd been to Gymboree, and laugh at all the silly ("sitty" which is hilarious in its own right) things he did that day.
• Before bed he'll ask for specific stories and dance to his drum. If E or I move from our regular spots he'll point and direct us back to where we should sit. So funny.
• Once he's in bed he'll yell "Mama, hug!" again and again. Then when we go in he points to all of his blankets on the ground and say "uh oh!" and "no, no, no" since he knows the rules against throwing his blankets out of his crib.

And a few more things:

• He has started counting. Today he saw "clocks! three!" and sure enough, there were three!
• He knows all of his colors and says them quite enthusiastically and loudly.
• Love circles and says "sir-cle" whenever he sees one.
• Will ask for "nap" or "crib" by noon and happily takes a nap. The last few weeks bedtime has become more of a struggle.
• Calls his Lovie "Sofie" and will ask for him whenever he's sad or tired.
• Will say "go please" in the car every time I stop at a red light. And then when I go he says "fast! zoom!"
• When he's frustrated and something isn't working for him (like his toys won't fit together) he'll say "uh oh" over and over at increasing speed before throwing a fit.
• Loves that it is getting dark earlier in the evening. He'll say "ark" (dark) over and over and point out all the lights that are on. He also loves looking for the stars and moon.
• He has started saying "fun" when we are doing something he likes. He'll be playing at the park or reading books with me, and he'll look up at me and say "fun!". It melts me into a puddle of cuteness.

Whew. 24 months of Wolfy photos. I have to admit, I am really looking forward to not doing these monthly. :) I told myself I'd do Wolfy photos until James was 2, and I did it! From now on, I think we'll move Wolfy photos to every 3 or 6 months. I still want to update my blog on all the new things James is doing, so I'll try to keep that up to date.

And from month 1 until now: