on borrowed time

About a month ago, we went on our annual family vacation to the beach. James turned 17-months old about a week before we left. On the day of his 'birthday,' I remember telling Jared that James is still so far from his 'terrible 2s' at this age...whereas, his big brother was in full-swing fit-pitching glory by now.

One week later, while we were enjoying lunch at the beach house, he showed me that I had spoken too soon. I still wouldn't crown him a full-swing, fit-pitcher by ANY stretch, but I did, in fact, capture his very first temper tantrum on camera. This was prompted by my telling him he could not sit outside on the balcony in the blazing sunshine.

No, Sweetface, not the faceplanted silent treatment!!

He hasn't done it again since, but from the looks of things, we may just be on borrowed time...

15(ish) month stats

On the same day I took H in for his 3-year old check-up, I was able to finally take James for his 15-monther. We were in Florida for his actual 15-month birthday...and then he was sicker than sick for the 10 days after that. Then, one thing led to another, and we got so close to Henry's birthday that I just decided to wait on James' appointment and take them both at the same time. Simplification is good.

James loves going to doctor (or pretty much doing anything new and seeing new/different people), and this visit was no exception. He had a great time flirting with our pediatrician, showing her all of his tricks, and generally hamming it up for anyone in the office who looked his way.

At 16-months, he is just an extension of the way he's been all along -- a sweet spirited extrovert full of giggles and chatter and snuggles and fun. He's saying new words everyday, and although I haven't officially counted them, I would guess he can say about 50 unprompted. His unsteady baby-walking has turned into a true toddler gait. His hair is curly and blonde and gets lots of attention everywhere we go. When he was about 15 months old, James realized people were looking at and talking about his hair so much. Since then, he has picked up a hilarious habit of running his fingers through it while flashing a big, cheesy grin to every stranger we pass. They usually eat it up. So does he. What can I say...this boy loves attention! His eyes have settled into a pretty shade of hazel...some days they look brown, others they look green...just like his dad's. Speaking of dad, James recently discovered - much like his brother did at this age - that his daddy hangs the moon. He follows Jared around everywhere, saves the best snuggles for him, and calls his name all day long in hopes that he'll come down from his home office to play. The bond between daddies and their babies is so precious, and I treasure watching the foundation being built for a lifetime of father-son relationship in my home.

Here are Jamesies' stats at 16-months-and-5-days:

weight: 25 lbs. 13 ozs.
height: 33 inches
head circ.: 19 3/4 inches

For fun, I looked up Henry's stats from this same age. They are just about the same in height and head size, but the H-man takes the cake in the weight department. He had five pounds on his brother at this age!

Time is flying by in these parts. I can't believe our baby is growing up so fast.

words words words

Remember a month ago when James wasn't saying any words...ha! Times they are a-changin'!!

James' new words (note: some are old words that he dropped....but has picked back up this month):

PawPaw
ball
push
pull
juice
all done
pay-how (playhouse)
backpack
Nana
up
doggie
duckie
Brett (my grandma's dog)
diddy (pretty and kitty cat)
wah wah (water)
buh-wa (brother)
bowl
ookie (cookie)
bobo
poo poo :)
wow
open
owsa (outside)
wasssat (what's that)
ooh oohh (what a monkey says)
dirrrdy (birdie)
hot
achoo (fake sneeze)
cheese!!
pweez (please)
no
mine

I'm sure there are others, but that's what I can remember for now. He's also copying everything he hears and can tell you what lots of different animals say. It's amazing what a difference a month makes!

pre-nap pics

Hi. I learned how to say 'cheese' this week. I say it everytime I see a camera. Or anything that looks like a camera, for that matter.

This is my big brother. My mommy says he is looking WAY too old in this picture. I just think he looks like he always looks...maybe a little nicer than usual, actually.

Here I am sitting next to him. I tried snuggling him, but it seemed like he needed his space. He's like that when he's watching Little Einsteins. I don't like TV very much, so I just practice my acrobatics while he takes in the tube.

Here is one trick I do that Mommy doesn't really care for. What does she know anyway? I think I'm awesome for learning how to do this...sometimes, I even dance up here when I think she's not looking.

The thing is, she always seems to be looking. I am also really cool, because I can do THIS.

 I moved to the middle of the floor to put on a special show just for Mommy's camera...I'm a little bit of a show-off, if you want to know the truth.

 CHEEEEEEEEEEEESE!!!

 Finally, I got him!!

We're best friends. And brothers. How cool is that? 

I think it's the coolest thing...well, it's probably a toss-up between that and my hair.

From us to you

Today, after letting me sleep until 9 and then stuffing their faces with pancakes and bacon (a family fave), my boys gave me a 'fashion show' with a few things their daddy helped them pick out. The entertainment value alone made the gift.

Happy Mother's Day...

from all of us to all of you!!

He's an angry bird, this one.

The littlest man around here is almost 14 months old. I swear he grows and changes everytime I look away from him and look back. One thing that hasn't changed -- that saccharin-sweet spirit.

So, why the title of this post, then?

Turns out, Mr. Wonderful has a chink in his ooey-gooey, perfectly delightful, anti-baby armor.

He can't talk.

And he knows it.

And he's pissed.

Of late, he has become a blossoming little extrovert. He makes friends with everyone. He reaches up for strangers to hold him at the park, the petting zoo, and the San Antonio Riverwalk. He shows off for anybody that will watch him. He falls down laughing from shaking his booty too hard in the living room. He bravely initiates sneak-up dog-pile attacks upon his big brother...and giggles when he gets thrown off and rolled upon by same. He loves all of us in the family in a cuddly, head-burying, must-not-break-the-physical-contact sort of way. He taught himself how to blow bubbles in the bathtub...looking up each time he tried it out to ensure his audience was as delighted as he was with the new trick.

But no words.

The audio accompaniment to his every move is always some variation of 'the most annoying sound in the whole world' from Dumb and Dumber. Who remembers that scene? Sometimes, the sound is short and repeating and sounds like squawking...that's the 'urgent, watch-me' call. Other times, it's long and drawn out...that's the 'whiny, brother is taking my toys' call. There's an entire spectrum of pitch and repetition of the exact same sound. It's remarkable...and surprisingly easy to understand.

But it's not talking. It requires much trial and error. It brings about great frustration for our littlest. As the attempts to squawk out his heart's desire fall on daft parents who didn't seem to hear him the first time, the squawks get more forceful and irritated. I think it's reminiscent of being in a foreign country and subconciously believing that if you only talk LOUDER and more enunciated that the hearer will know what you're saying.

And so it goes with our little angry bird...who I think I hear calling to me from his bed...SQUAWWWWWWKKKK!!!

stats

We finally made it to the pediatrician for James' well-child, 1-year old check up. I just love the boys' doctor. She is so thorough and explains things to me just the way I need her to. She's also an excellent encourager of moms of toddlers...yes, please.

This visit, we discussed James' eczema a lot. Now that he's a year old, we have a few more options for the drug artillery that we launch at him everyday. After weighing out pros and cons and considering the severity of his case, we opted to add Singulair granules and replace our current steroid regime with steroids-on-steroids a.k.a. Locoid cream. He will remain on daily Allegra and nightly Benadryl (not for sleeping......for itching, bad mom police), and in another year or so, we can have him tested for specific allergies. We could test him now, but at a year, the testing isn't very accurate. So, we'd rather wait a year before we give him the delightful experience of being pricked into oblivion. :)

His stats were as follows: weight: 23.5 pounds (that's down a 1/2 pound since last month...sigh), height: 31 1/2 inches, head: 19 1/2 inches. This puts him in the 25-50th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for height, and once again, off the charts for head hugeness.

one

James turned one. I'm in denial about it. He's just going to have to understand that he's always going to be a baby to me. That's it and that's final. hmmmmf.

For his birthday party, we decided to forego the madness of other little people in our house. We had a sweet, small family party full of delicious food, excellent company, lots of laughs, and one very, very content birthday boy.

Jared and I thought it would be fun to have a St. Patrick's Day themed party. Turns out, we were right.

Nana came all the way from Orlando, and she cooked almost everything on the menu. From scratch. I told her that day (and I'll keep telling her forever), there are no words to thank her enough for the ends she tied up to keep us moving towards the par-tay!

Aunt Heather made the cake again (I love this tradition), and this time, she even made fondant icing for it. I'm sure you'll be shocked to know that it was a big hit. :)

Mimi and PawPaw spoiled the little birthday grandson into oblivion (I love this tradition too), and James showed his gratitude by camping out on Mimi's shoulder for the better part of the evening.

Jon-Jon brought Henry a present for being such a wonderful big brother. I'm pretty sure it hasn't left his side since the 11th...yes, he tucked a 2-foot tall dragon into bed with him for a solid week. Here's Henry teaching "Pacey" how to play shuffleboard a few days later. Yes, Pacey. He came up with it on his own...

And the man of the hour -- our sweet baby James. He was just as angelic as always for his birthday party. He loved all of his family being at our house. He loved his presents. He loved his brother's help and company with his new toys. He was a little hesitant about the ooey-gooey birthday cake at first...but he quickly warmed up to it. He had a grand ol' time on the evening we celebrated his big ONE, and we couldn't have asked for anything better.

At one, James is walking all over the place. He started the week he turned 11 months. He is saying a few words, but most of the time he just babbles. For recordkeeping, the words he can say are: daddy, mama, en-en (henry), buh-ya (brother), beads, nigh-night, ishie (fishie), num-num (while eating), uh oh, wha-sat (what's that), owsah (outside), du-dis (Justin), heyyer (Heather), and bye-bye. Henry was much more verbal than James at this age (he said about 75-100 words without prompting or copying), and I think that's really cool and interesting. James is much more social than Henry was at this age, though, and I think that's really cool and interesting, too. It's amazing how different every kiddo is...even two only 20 months apart being brought up by the same parents in the same way.

James' favorite foods are pears (he eats them in huge slices that he gnaws down), any kind of meat off the grill, pizza, and club crackers. He strongly dislikes (and will throw it on the floor to prove it) anything with too squishy of a consistency...i.e. bananas, avocado, scrambled eggs, etc. His favorite book is "Ten Friendly Fish," and he helps turn pages and LOVES holding your hand to 'count' the fish in the picture. He also loves any Little People toy, toys that make sounds, and anything he can push around and walk behind. About a month ago, he learned how to throw a ball, and games of 'catch' are big fun around here for everybody.

At one, James has a head full of curly, sandy blonde hair. His eyes are still gray. His eczema is still hanging around. He sleeps 11-12 hours at night, 1 hour in the morning, and 2-3 hours in the afternoon. He likes to snuggle - all. the. time. :) He is the happiest baby/toddler I've ever known, and I am so (so so so so!) in love with this little sweetheart.

Happy Birthday, James!!

A picture post...

On Super Bowl Sunday, we booked it up to the Big D to try and see the Pack play. Here we are all laden down with cash and feeling pretty optimistic.

 And, here we are, 9 hours later, giving up. Apparently, the price of SB tickets doesn't really go DOWN as game time approaches. At least we tried. And, at least the Packers won anyway (we were solidly convinced that they literally could not win the game unless we were in the stadium to see it). Lack of entry into the stadium aside, we had a really fun time in Dallas on our last-second-completely-spontaneous getaway. 

Sweetface eats spaghetti...it's one of his favorite foods these days.

 

He also swings.

Henry loves building huge towers with his blocks. The Jared Chesser School of Architecture and Design is clearly a top-tier institution.

Speaking of the daddy, here he is showing James where the fishies live. James can say "ishie," and we all think that's pretty adorable.

And here's the big man...with the even bigger man...trying to catch those darn fishies. Henry says they're all sleeping. Also, in a fun potty-training moment, he announced that he 'cannot go pee-pee in the water because it will land on the fishies' backs and they don't like it so it will make them cry.' I will have you know that trees, car tires, mommy's bathroom floor, and our back patio do not cry at this offense.

Happy Tuesday, one and all.

If the sun would ever come back out...

...for more than 10 minutes at a time, I'd venture further than my own doorstep to snap a few photos of these ever-growing babies o' mine. Today was James' day to get all dudded up - Henry got to stay in his pajamas. Of course, James kept his sleepy, PJ face on...and Henry was ready for a professional headshot. So it goes in my house...

Here they are - James (10 mos.) and Henry (2 1/2)

 Baby J looking a lot like his daddy.

 What has two thumbs and is the happiest baby in the world...

 A little blurry and underexposed...but so sweet of my bitty baby brothers.

 Anyone see the Jared resemblance we have going on here?

 Sweetface

 And, he's done...

 It's so much more fun to eat leaves than have your picture made, mom!

Next up (for another post, of course)...the big bro. Come on sun, throw me a bone! 

late

Lost in the shuffle of the holiday season...that's what happened to James' 9-month blog post. For anyone counting, he turned 9 months old on December 10th. He was also sick, sick, sick that day with some crud he picked up from one of the 42 people we know who were sick around that time. So, it wasn't until December 20th that we finally made it into the pediatrician's office for his appointment. At 9 months and 10 days old, our sweet second son clocked in at the following:

weight: 21.8 lbs. (50-75%)
length: 29 inches (75%)
head: 21 inches (>95%)

Since we left the office that day, you know I've been carb-loading the heck out of him and waking him up for 5 a.m. weight-training...Chesserbabies DO NOT forego weight gain for 3 months, people!! His doc assured me that his "leveling off" in the weight department is strictly due to his activity level (he's been crawling since before 6 months and cruising my furniture since 7) and probably a little bit of decreased appetite from being sick the week before. Okay, okay...I'll lay off the weight-training...maybe. At 9 months, James is just as precious as he has been every other month of his life. He is still sweet, still laid back, still calm, still happy, still sleeping 11 hours at night, still napping twice a day, still nursing, and still loving his big brother more than anything in the world. He is also eating tablefood by the handful, and he enjoys every single new taste and flavor. "Yum yum" sounds abound when James is at the table. His favorite toys are those that sing or make sounds. He claps his hands along with music, and he is loving Christmas carols. Henry sings "Twinkle, twinkle" to him during diaper changes and anytime that he is crying (which is rarely), and he always quiets right down, stays very still, and then starts clapping along. It's adorable, y'all.
At 9 months, James loves baths in the big bathtub, picture books, and electrical outlets (grrr.). He is fascinated with mouths, and he likes to take turns sticking tongues out with anyone who will play. He's a big raspberry blower and open-mouth kiss giver. His eczema is still sticking around, but flare-ups are becoming fewer and fewer. Since I'm writing this after his 10-month bday, I'll tell you that at 10 months his eczema is just about gone. I'm hoping it's gone forever, but I have a feeling we're just enjoying a nice break. Mr. James is still our little snuggle-bug, and he'll put his head down and burrow into your neck just about anytime you let him. He has been known to cuddle up and stay in one place awake for more than 30 minutes...just enjoying the closeness. Bestill my heart.
I can't believe it's almost time for the "Big 1"!!