Happy 9th Birthday Simon!-January 23rd

9th Birthday 2010
Simon's 9th birthday was January 23rd. We had the kids the weekend before and had a family birthday party for him on Saturday the 16th. Simon told Grandma-ma that next year not only will he be in double digits but he will be a "tween"! I thought that was so cute. I can't believe the teenage years are only 4 years away! Below are a few pictures of Simon through the years. I can't believe how young he looks in the first picture. What a cutie! We love you Simon!

T-ball tryouts Spring 2006 Summer 2007

Red River Summer 2008

Christmas 2009

Sick

Mommy, I don't feel well
But I will always smile for you!

Last week was not fun. I could tell James was not feeling well Tuesday afternoon and evening. He wanted me to hold him all afternoon, would rest his head on my shoulder, and cry if I put him down. Wednesday morning he woke up with 102.7 fever. It went down to 100 with Infant Tylenol and since he had no other symptoms the nurse at our pediatrician's office did not recommend bringing him in. By Wednesday night he had a runny nose and fever of 103.8 and that was with Infant Tylenol in his little system every 4 hours. Luckily our doctor's office has a 24 hour nurse's line and the RN I talked to was so nice and calmed me down. I was a little freaked out that James' fever was almost 104! She said if it reached over 104 we should take him to the ER but if we could keep it under 104 then we could take him to Dr. Smith first thing Thursday morning. We were up most of the night and went to Dr. Smith's office at 9:30 Thursday morning. James' fever was down to 99.5, he tested negative for the flu, and Dr. Smith ruled out an ear infection. Basically James had a virus with high fever and a stuffy, runny, nose. Dr. Smith said it had been going around and should last 3-4 days. We continued with the Infant Tylenol and James had fever until Friday night. We all did not sleep much since James' nose was so stuffy he kept snoring really loud and waking himself up! We used our humidifier with vapo steam and it helped a little. He is so much better now but slept a lot Sunday and Monday to make up for his lack of sleep last week!

*Yes I know his shirt is a mess in the pictures but I thought they were too cute not to post. My sweet boy had been drooling, crying, and had a runny nose!

Happy 89th Birthday Grandmom!

James and I went to Fort Worth to spend the afternoon with Grandmom on her birthday! James got to go to lunch at Pappadeux's with Mommy, Grandma-ma, & Great-Grandmom to celebrate. It is always special when all four of us get together! I forgot my camera (the picture above was taken with my phone) but Papa took a few "four generation" pictures at the house after lunch. I will add them to this post when he emails them to me!

One quick note, can you see in the picture above that Grandmom has very little gray hair? She has never colored it even though her friends have accused her of doing so many times! I hope it is hereditary!!!

Crawling & Clapping

James has started doing a few new things this week. He finally starting crawling up on all fours! He has been doing the "army crawl" using his forearms since October and is very fast but all of a sudden on Tuesday night he pushed up and crawled across the room. I think his upper body is much stronger now since he has been pulling up to standing. He also cruises by holding onto furniture and taking a few steps!

Crawling

Up on all fours

Wearing his new Longhorn tee from Grandma-ma & Papa

One of James' Baby Einstein dvd's has the song "If You're Happy And You Know It Clap Your Hands" and shows a baby clapping. I had the dvd playing while I was folding laundry and James was playing on the floor. The song came on and James started clapping! It was so cute. He has done it consistently and also claps if I say "yaaaaayyyyyyyy" and start clapping. I will try to video him soon!

January 7th-4th Anniversary

Bride and Groom
Vows
Ceremony
First dance

Sean and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on January 7th. We had a wonderful dinner at III Forks while Grandma-ma and Papa babysat! I am so lucky to have such a sweet, amazing, husband who is an incredible father and my best friend. I can't imagine anyone else by my side. It is hard to believe we have already been married 4 years and together for almost 7!

GO FROGS!

TCU plays Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl tonight. Both teams are undefeated. Guess who James is cheering for???

Happy New Year

My good friend Ashley needed a baby model for a photo shoot for an ad in the January issue of The Advocate magazine. She was so sweet and asked James to be the baby model. James usually smiles a lot but he does NOT like hats so once he had it on his head he was not too happy. I can't believe the photographer actually got a shot with the hat on. James took it off as fast as we could put it on him! We had so much fun and I love the ad. Thank you Ashley for asking James to model!

Below are some of my favorite pictures from the photo shoot.

2009

2009 will be a year I will never forget. By far the best thing that happened this year was having our baby boy! I cannot imagine our life without him and thank God every day for our son. I am amazed how fast he is growing up. James crawls everywhere, is pulling up on anything he gets a good grip on, and even takes a few steps while holding on to the furniture! He is into everything and although it is exhausting at times, I love every minute of it. Everyone tells me just wait until he is walking! James and I spent the day at home together and I took a few self-portraits of us. May you all have a happy and healthy 2010. This year is going to be great!

8 months old

So James Peyton, what are you up to at 8 months old???

You are 30 inches long and weigh 21 pounds

You wear a size 3 diaper

You wear size 6-9 months & 12 months in onesies and 12 months in pants & pj's

You got your first tooth on Christmas day! (front bottom left)

You keep mommy very busy by crawling, opening drawers & cabinets, and pulling up on everything to stand

You crawled into the dishwasher earlier this month while I was unloading it

You love taking a bath & playing in water

You love to try to feed yourself with the spoon

You love apple puffs

You say dada, nana, da, and ooooh

You love any toy that lights up and makes noise

You don't like being strapped in your car seat or high chair although you are a great traveler once we are in the car

You love music and "dance" by bending your knees, bouncing, and smiling

You are so sweet and love to snuggle

You have made us so happy these past 8 months and we can't wait to see what is in store for January!

Love,
Mommy

Merry Christmas

It is amazing what can happen in a year.

Christmas 2008-5 months

Christmas 2009-James almost 8 months

Merry Christmas!