Little sleeper

Finally James and I have had luck with nap time. Over the last few weeks James has been having pretty regular naps, however his nighttime sleep has gotten worse and worse. Once upon a time he'd wake up twice, around 1:00 am and 5:00 am to eat. Then sleep in until about ten. I was in heaven.

Then he shortened his sleep-in time till about eight. Still I could not complain. Then he decided that he'd rather have his first nighttime feeding at 11:00 pm. Then he decided that it was quite fun to wake up around three to fuss. And last night he decided that he should wake up seven, yes seven times, to fuss, eat, cry, whatever.

Dear me, I hope this isn't a new trend. I want him to sleep through the night, but even waking up twice, like the old days, sounds heavenly at this point.

Above is a photo I snapped today while James was napping. I just love it. He is such a sweet baby, I just wish his nighttime sleep would get better.

Baby's first Easter!

Last year on Easter Day we announced we were pregnant. We shared the news only with close friends and family one year ago. How very very much has changed. I love it.

This year we woke up around 8:00 to a very happy baby. We made coffee, relaxed and snuggled by the fireplace, due to the fact that it was a snowy Easter, and also discovered that the Easter Bunny had visited. I've been so excited about James's basket for ages, planning it and changing it. He got two books, a blue bunny lovey, a duck toy, a teether, and some raw eggs for photo purposes.

Doesn't he look happy that it is Easter morning? The Easter bunny came!
While I was in the bath E was playing with James and getting the best giggles out of him! I loved lying there in the hot water soaking it all in. How much my life has changed, how much I have loved seeing the man I love turn into an amazing father.

When I got out of the bath I thought we might be able to catch some giggles on camera. We've been trying a lot over the last few days, and the giggles always seem to stop once the camera appears. However, this time we caught some! James loves to play a silly peek-a-boo game with Daddy. The first time in this video he really startles and we were worried he would start to cry (poor little guy!) but luckily he turned giggley. Seriously, I love this video so much. :)

After each getting dressed into our Easter duds we headed up to E's family's house for brunch and the annual Easter hunt. Seriously, the hunt is a huge hit. Steve, E's dad, does it every year and it gets tougher and tougher as time goes on. So after we were all full of ham, croissants, fruit and champagne we trekked all over town discovering clues to the ever mysterious Easter hunt.

Mama and Daddy with our handsome little boy. He doesn't look like a baby anymore, he looks like a boy! He's getting huge!

The lovely ladies. Chelsea, me and Connie.
1- James's Easter basket. 2- Our baskets at E's family's house. 3- Brunch!

Connie and Chelsea (and everyone else for that matter) LOVE James's chubby cheeks.
While all the "kids" went and did the hunt, Grandma Connie and James stayed at home and read books.
First hint of the hunt. Hmmm....
I asked E to take a self photo as we drove around in David's car looking for the next clues. Yep, we rock at clue-finding.
Later that afternoon we went over to my mom's and Chuck's house for Easter dinner. My Grandma was there as well, and we had a fantastic time eating more ham, rolls, and potatoes. I just love Easter food. James was happy the entire evening, grinning from ear to ear and playing with all the new toys the Bunny had brought him.

James, me and Chandler hang out in my Mom's living room. As you can see, James has lots of toys, but his fingers are best.
Brandon was having a lot of fun playing with Baby Man.
Ethan and my Grandma chat about Europe.
Easter family photo. James has gotten a bit bigger since this photo was taken, hasn't he?
My Grandma loves James. She is always so excited to hold him. I've been feeling really down about my Grandma's condition recently. She is still making great improvement, but she will never be the same. I miss her.
My mom has made me bunny/Easter birthday cakes for as long as I remember. Every year they are awesome!

First roll and birthday

It has been a very exciting few days for us here in Utah. On Friday James rolled over from tummy to back for the first time, and my mom caught it on camera! Yes, it is not the best video, but it is so fun that I could show E his very first roll!

Then on Saturday I turned 29. Next year will be the big three zero. Can't believe it. I really can't. I still feel like I'm 22. On my birthday we woke up late (actually E let me sleep in and he dealt with fussy baby, then I let him go back to sleep while I dealt with the fuss bucket). Then we put a certain little baby down for a nap and had a yummy birthday breakfast of french toast and set up my birthday present! A new TV for the bedroom!

Yea! A flat screen for the bedroom! And a DVD player!
That afternoon we snuggled on the bed and James gave Rumpus some pets. It is so cute, now that he has a little hand control he's been touching lots of new things, the kitties are one of them.

Isn't this the cutest photo of my three boys? James, Rumpus and Daddy relax on the bed on a Saturday afternoon.

Then we went to Wheeler Farm and James was awe struck by all the animals. He watched the geese, goats, horses, cows, and chickens very carefully. It is so cute to watch him examine something he's never seen for the first time.

And here he is taking it all in. So many new things.
Then that night E and I left the baby at home with Grandma Connie and we went to an awesome sushi dinner at Takashi. I was so super bummed that I forgot my camera, because this place is really neat and the dinner was divine. Seriously, the fresh fish melts in your mouth, so amazing.

Happy birthday to me!

Here is the video of James's first roll. Not very exciting to anybody but his parents, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

My little Easter bunny

A little visitor came today. It was a cold snowy spring day but a little boy hopped hopped hopped to my house with a basket full of eggs. He was happy and smiled, and soon scampered off.

And he nommed on a carrot a bit.
And he wiggled and smiled.

And showed off his cute little fuzzy tail.
Little bunny bum.
"Mama, I'm happy to be your little Easter bunny, but don't you dare share these photos with my future girlfriends."

Dinner tonight

Tonight was a big night, we started James on solids! I've been hoping he'd sleep better at night since lately he's been getting up more and more. When I mentioned this to my doc she said that I could try James on rice cereal and see if that helps a bit. I didn't want to start last week right before our trip, so I decided to wait until tonight to start him on his new dinner.

He was a little unsure at first, but did end up swallowing a couple of bites. Near the end, however, he was making a face that looked like the cereal was utterly horrible. So funny! We'll try again on Thursday night (tomorrow we are dying eggs with E's family) and let's hope his nights get a bit better.

And then after the babe was in bed E and I made a yummy dinner of huevos rancheros. We started with a tortilla, topped with black beans, then added another tortilla and folded and filled that one with scrambled eggs. Then we topped with more beans, lots of cheese and salsa. Then we broiled and got it all melty, then added guacamole and more salsa. It was amazing. And easy.

E layers cheese, tortillas, black beans and eggs. Yum yum!
On top of the folded tortilla goes more beans.
After more cheese is added we toast under the broiler.
Then add sour cream, guac and more salsa. Easy dinner is complete!

Baby's first National Park

Last weekend James had a lot of firsts. First vacation. First long car ride. First hotel stay. First National Park. Overall it went well, after E and I figured out what the heck we were doing. We did learn a few things about James: he doesn't like to be in his car seat for extended periods of time, he hates the wind, when he wants to nurse (even if he just finished) he is not joking around, and he loves to flop his legs at night (E named this maneuver "whale tail").

With all the new learning, I was a little stressed at the beginning of the trip, even crying with James on one of the trails due to pure frustration. However at the end of the trip nobody wanted to leave, we were LOVING it!

I have so so so many photos, so I better get started.

Day 1 - We left Friday morning and drove the five hours to Zion National Park. Some of the drive I sat in the backseat with James. For 90% of the drive he was happy or sleeping. The 10% that he was crying, however, was horrible! Luckily we made it in good time and got the babe out of his car seat.
After feeding him and looking around the historic Zion Lodge we walked across the street to take the Emerald Pools hike. At first James seemed to be enjoying himself. He cooed and talked and looked around. Then about half way in (a mile from the trail head) we had a major major baby meltdown. Nothing calmed him, and I was so so so stressed. I felt so guilty and started to cry myself. Luckily James calmed down a little and we were able to get back to the car quickly.

Aren't these pre-meltdown photos cute though?

After a hard night of sleep in the hotel room with a very awake baby we took a little drive in hopes we could covert James into a park loving boy. We stopped at a pull-out and decided to explore around near the road. James seemed to enjoy it and our spirits were lifted!

And who doesn't love Southwestern cactus and blue sky?
And the sandstone was delicious. The warm golden light cast over orange stone. Nothing says spring like a trip to Southern Utah.
James was a little uncertain at first, but at least he wasn't crying.
And the weather was so so perfect.
E and I were so excited to take James to the visitor center and get him his own Passport to the National Parks! E and I got one of these back in 2002 and we've LOVED filling it up over the years with cancellations from all the parks we visited.

1- James at the Zion visitor center. Don't worry, E is behind him holding on tight!
2- Looking at the signs inside the visitor center. Something we always love to do.
3- Yea! He now has his very own National Park passport!
4- As you can see, we had to take a photo of James "stamping" his new passport with his very first national park!


That night we decided to try the hiking thing again. This time we took the River Walk to the entrance of Zion's famous narrows hike. Luckily this time James seemed to quite like the hike! We made sure to give him lots of positive reinforcement, and he smiled and looked around for the majority of the hike (and no crying!).
Here is our first family photo in a National Park!
He generally enjoyed hanging with Daddy in the front carrier and looking around.
That night we felt so happy, and the beautiful park seemed to mirror our good mood. The evening light was dreamy and magical. Then, once the sky darkened more the moon rose over the red cliffs of Zion.

The second night in the hotel James slept awesome and woke up happy and rested. We decided to do one last hike before heading home, and we are so glad we did! The weather was perfect and James was grinning from ear to ear. Everyone we met on the trail smiled and grinned at the happy little hiker.


At the end of the trail there was an unbelievable view of the canyon. We were happy to get another family photo.
And doesn't this shy little smile just kill you? He is so so sweet.
I just love him.
We had such a good time and were so glad James seemed to love it to. The drive home was awesome, with no crying and a happy rested baby when we arrived back in Salt Lake.