Christmas Card Outtakes

This is the picture we ended up using for our Christmas card this year

But I thought it would be fun to share some of the ones that didn't make the cut.  Some were seriously considered, but most of them were not :)

9 Months

We can't believe the little guy has been out longer than he's been in!  We had a doctor's appointment this week, and James is weighing in at just over 18 lbs, and is 27.5 inches tall (both around the 25% for his age).  The doctor said he looked great, but the best part about the appointment was no shots!

(PS - The pictures this month were a bit rushed and taken in poor light, so they're even blurrier than usual...and I had to do some very poor photo-shopping in the pic below for his 9 months sign b/c he was holding it backwards)

December 10 on 10

Yesterday I took part in the 10 on 10 project.  Once a month on the tenth, participants take a photo an hour for ten consecutive hours to document the life and beauty among the ordinary things of our day.  Click HERE or on the button to the right for more information about the project.  Enjoy!

Happy

Evil {Pooping} Genius

James is starting to outgrow his infant carseat, so he and I went out to purchase a new one today.  When we got home, I snapped this picture to send to Dada at work.

He had a kind of weird expression on his face, but I didn't realize until I picked him up and felt an uncomfortable warmth on his rear end that he had "christened" his new carseat on the way home. 

I have three theories as to why he did this:

a) He wanted some naked-baby-crib time, which he LOVES.  We just discovered this the other day - if you put him in his crib naked, he thinks it's the funniest thing ever.  He does his little happy bounces, flaps his arms, and laughs his head off.

b) He wanted to wear his IU onesie in support of the game tonight, but wasn't sure how to tell me.

c) He's a pooping evil genius.  Remember his baptism story?  Does my son secretly find joy in having diaper blow-outs at the most inopportune times? 

Vote for your favorite theory in the comments :)

Turkey Day

Since Matthew had to work today (Friday), the three of us had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving here in Madison.  Here are a few pictures from our day:

 Many of you may not know this, but Matthew is the pie crust maker in our family.  He uses his Aunt Evelyn's recipe, and it turned out really good this year. 

 

We made a 10 pounder.  It was the smallest bird I can find, so we'll be having leftovers for quite some time!  James couldn't wait to dig in.

 

When do we get to eat???

 

We had a lot to be thankful for this year, and although we weren't able to spend the holiday with our extended family and friends, we feel very blessed to have you all in our lives (and we miss you all like crazy!).  We're looking forward to seeing the Indiana crowd at Christmas this year.

Hope everyone had a Thanksgiving that was as nice as ours.  XOXO!

For your viewing enjoyment

 

8 Months

8 Months already.  It seems like each month goes by faster than the last.  An email I received from a friend today mentioned that James is starting to look more like a toddler than a baby, and I couldn't agree more.  Look how long those legs are!

 Continuing with the "We've been seeing a lot of this lately" trend , here's what the little guy is currently doing every chance he gets:

 If there is something within his reach, you better believe he's going to use it to pull himself up to a standing position (including the cats - he hasn't had much success with that yet as they typically get up and walk away, but he keeps trying).

He hasn't shown must interest in trying to walk yet, which is just fine by me.

James is also starting to spend more time with one toy.  As soon as he started crawling, he'd bounce around from one toy to another, but now he'll play with something for an entire minute.  Maybe even two.

 

And now, the little man in action: