James is 10 Months Old!

Here are some photos from James' last week. The first is not a good photo. We will try to do better next Saturday. It is from Jamie's first Bubblers and Splashers Swim Class. He seemed to like it well enough. He was pretty clingy during the class but by the end there were some giggles. I am hoping next week will be better. There are 12 classes in total so we will see how it goes. In this photo, I am not sure you can tell, I am holding him and he is "swimming."

James is now 10 months old. He looks like a real big-boy! We put him in his first Spring Outfit. This is a very cute brown and yellow plaid shorts overall set from Lauren and Ian. It will fit through the summer and he looks very cute in it so we are glad that it fits. It is hard to tell now what will fit when!

James has started standing on his own much more. He still has to pull himself up to a standing position on the furniture but he needs to less and less. Once he is standing, he has started taking his hands off the furniture and just standing there. This works until he wants to go somewhere and then when he tries to move, he usually falls over. But, standing alone is the big milestone that he has passed now. Once he figures it out a bit more, we figure he will take off walking. He is also trying to stand without help. He gets one foot under him and pushes up with his hands on the floor but can't quite get the second foot under him to get up. Once he figures that out, there will be no stopping him. He also now has his 2 front top teeth! They have completely broken through the gums and are visible (but only up close--no photos, maybe next week).


James' first swim class. We'll try to get a better picture next week.


James standing like a big boy.

Sitting with my ball! I love my ball.

See, Mom. It's a ball! (Doesn't he look BIG here!?!)

I told you, I like my ball. And I can stand and play with it too.

Happy boy!

Tipped! I'm okay!

Penguins! I like my penguin counting book!

Hi, Mom! Let's Read!

Penguins 1 2 3!

So, that is a day in James' life. We are enjoying some better weather and hope we will be able to spend more time playing in the park.

Fun At The Park!

These photos are from April 4th. It was the first nice day in April so we took James to the little park down the road. He climbed on the wall and went down the slide. Both of those were not very interesting to him but he really liked the swing.

Yeah, whatever Dad!

Hi Mom! Dad and I were going on the swing. It was fun!

Rock-climbing? Maybe...

Hi! I'm a good stander.

Hi Dad! I'm holding on to the wall.

Yeah! Swings!


He-he-he! Swinging is fun!

James Playing Peekaboo

This morning, James was standing by the couch looking up a Jeff and he kept pulling the sofa pillow over his head and then popping his head around at his Dad and grinning. Peek-a-boo! It was the cutest thing! He has played peek-a-boo before but this is, I think, the first time he has done it this way. I managed to get a bit of it on video before my camera died. It is pretty sweet. And, as you can see, James is still a morning boy!

Drumming on my Drum

Here is James drumming on his new learning drum. It does the alphabet in English and French so when you hit it, a new letter appears. He doesn't get that part yet but he certainly loves to whack the drum and see the lights. He also likes to turn it upside down and see the bottom (I think because that is where the sounds come from and he is trying to find the music). He just loves it (so thank you to Auntie Lauren for the Christmas gift card--we finally figured out what to get with it!).

James' New Drum

James has been growing like a weed lately. Suddenly, he seems quite a bit taller and thinner so we think he has had a growth spurt. We have all be sick since mid-March and are just now feeling back to normal. James was a snotty little trooper through the whole thing. James is still cruising around the furniture. He sometimes seems to want to let go of the furniture but he isn't quite ready. He just isn't steady enough to be on his own. He loves reading books and shows us the book he wants. Tonight, he was holding "Moo, Baa, La, La, La" in his lap and he said "Moo!" Then, when Jeff was reading it to him, he said "Baa." We were pretty impressed. They were distinctly different sounds from Ma-Ma and Da-Da which he has been saying for a while. We will see if he does it again at the right time before we get too excited. James also has a new learning drum. The one he got from his cousin, Oliver, died and he loved it so much that we got him a new one as his belated Christmas present from his Aunt Lauren. Here are some photos of him drumming. They go with the videos above.

Cool, Mom, my drum arrived.

Drum, drum, drum.

I love my drum!

I also love the remote! (This is James looking like a big boy in his green hoodie and matching green frog shoes for Great-Aunt Lona).

What? Can't I play with the remote this time?

James' Big Adventure!

For James' 9 month birthday, he got to go on a plane! I was presenting at a conference in Edmonton so James and I flew out to Calgary and left Jeff behind at home (a week's uninterrupted sleep!). We were only in Calgary for a few days and I spent most of my time at school. But, we got to see some family. I forgot my camera the night we went to see Jeff's family so there are not any photos--sorry. But, I got some other good shots of James. We stayed with my sister and my mother drove in to help out. Then Mom, James, and I piled in the car and drove to Edmonton where we stayed with Nan (James' great-grandmother). Here are some of the photos, none from the plane. He was a good little traveller. He was great on the plane and in the car but it was hard on him. He didn't adjust to the time change well and didn't sleep well the whole trip. He also developed a cold (which I then got and have now passed to Jeff). But, all that aside, he travelled really well on the plane and in the car. He does seem glad to be back home with all his stuff though!

James is smiling up at my cousin Kelly. You can tell he is smiling because his fat little cheeks are pointing up!

James smiling with great-uncle Gord. A great uncle to be sure!

James crawling over great-uncle Gord while Grandma watches. James seemed fascinated by Gord as well as by his uncles Craig and Brett. We think it is because he is usually around women and other guys are neat--he's a man's man!

Again, crawling over Gord--he's a good climbing thing!

Playing with Kelly!

In Edmonton with Nan! Since it was his second day of travelling and his second new place in 3 days, he was a little shy and it took him a bit to warm up (sort of right before we were leaving, which is too bad). But, this was a good day so we have some nice photos of James and his Nana.

Laughing with Nan!

Sitting with Nan. Perhaps listening to "Teddy Bears' Picnic" on YouTube--which he LOVES!!

More sitting nicely with Nan!

I LOVE MY NANA!

James and I are now back at Heather's in Calgary getting ready to leave on our midnight flight. I am pretty tired and James is wearing a flannel blanket as a diaper. Long story short, we were running low on diapers and improvised while Heather went to the store. Since he wears cloth at home, James didn't seem to mind.

I'm a big boy on my Mommy! Mommy looks like she could sleep for a week!

I'm back with my Dad! I love my Dad!

I'm standing with my Dad! I have a cold and my nose is running but I am still pretty cute!

I like to be with my Daddy! Aren't I big and tall!

James loves his little horse. It is his cuddle object for sleeping and here he is cuddling it while having a bottle. Very sweet and cute. James is now back to his routine except for the cold we are all fighting. We had a good trip but it was a lot of travel in very little time and very exhausting for both me and James. We are both glad to be back in our own place.

Jamie at 9 Months!

We can hardly believe it but Jamie will be 9 months old on Sunday. He is a little monkey boy--he is into everything and crawling and cruising around. On Monday we went for his 9 month wellness check-up. While we were waiting to go in, he was standing and playing holding onto a chair and he let go and stood with no support for a few moments for the very first time. The doctor says he probably isn't far off from walking. We will see--we aren't really ready for him to walk since we can barely keep up with him crawling!! Here are some photos from this week and from the day of his appointment so you can see what a big boy he is! He is still in the 45-50th Percentile. He weighs 19 pounds and 10 oz (I was sure he would be over 20lbs but he is not) and he is 28 inches long. That means that he has gained 9 inches over his birth length of 19 inches and he has more than tripled his weight (from its lowest point).

Daddy is chasing me down the hall--ha-ha-ha!!

I love Mommy's books!

Hi Mommy!!

I can walk all around the inside of my crib--which is cool because I have neat things on my crib and now I can get to them!

Winne the Pooh! Yeah! I love my mobiles! And I am soooo tall!

Winne the Pooh or Ocean Wonder? How about both at the same time!

I want to touch both! They're mine!

"Hey Mommy! Watcha doin'?" -- "I'm watching you try to crawl out your crib you little monkey!" (I don't know if you can tell, but James is standing on one tippy-toe and has the other foot lifted to try to crawl up the bars of his crib here).

HI MOMMY!! I Love my Mommy!

For perspective, these two photos are of James from the week he was born. He was just little! Now he's huge!