Just a few updates

On the whole, a pretty uneventful weekend, and week thus far. James is just about all recovered and back to tearing around the house a hyper-speed. Daddy has caught the cold (as did Karey), but with the help of some bourbon (for medicinal purposes and special occassions!) is now on the mend. We're gearing up for the beach next week for some much needed R&R.

New site stuff: I've added the "Daddy quote of the day", which in all actuality, will probably be more like the Daddy quote of the week or so. Let's face it, I don't update this thing every day! I decided that my darling husband is just so freakin' funny (seriously, he really is just that funny... remember when I laughed out two staples after my c-section?!), that I needed to start writing some of this stuff down! Here were the two other runners-up:
"Let's see what else we can chunk down there... " (turned into "My Punkin's Chunkin'" entry)
"Let's go run around the planet... I'll drive " (suggested on day when James had BOUNDLESS energy and was wearing Daddy down, which, is pretty much ANY day, isn't it?).
So, look for updated witticisms there!

Also, James is pretty much working himself off of the paci and lion during the day. When we pick him up out of the crib in the morning, we tell him to put both of those down. He chunks them back into the crib, waves bye bye to them (couldn't you just eat him up?!) and goes on with his day. We'll probably be able to get rid of the pacis altogether very soon... especially now that the teeth are all through!

Words that he now says:
"Out" and "Back", mainly when pointing to the dogs!
"Oooohn" means Open, he does his little sign for "help" while pointing to the door.
"Ooowwn" means Down, and he'll do this while pointing to the ground or down the stairs
"Uuuh" when pointing up means just that
"Hi"
"Whereisit?" or "whereditgo?" Says this in conjunction with "dada" or something else he's looking for, and does the little shoulder shrug / open arms
"Sheese" Cheese
"Dog"
"Ahh duh".. All done!
"Haht" for Hot
"See dat?" which means either a) do you see that? or b) I want that

Sounds and imitating:
Makes fishy noises (bup bup)
Makes panting for "dog"
Flaps his arms and goes dadadada for "birdy"
Sticks out his tongue for "frog"

Signs:
Eat, More, paci, help, up, down, cheese, byebye/nightnight

Sorry, this one's not about James...

Hehe.. ok, so this is a totally mommy-centric entry! I held my first Silpada party last night (thank you, ladies who attended!) and I consider it a success! Also, ENORMOUS thanks to Karey Berry for her help!

My new website is listed below under "links" (down on the left).. check it Ooowt!

Also, my friend from high school, Cyndi, has started her own business, catering to a slightly smaller crowd.. the toddler set. Please check out her website, Cyndi's Kay's bracelets and binky bling! ADORABLE stuff that she makes herself.

Well, that concludes my sales pitches for the day... this entry was brought to you by the letter $.

It's always friggin' SOMETHING!

Man! TOTALLY not our week! So, as you all know, James spent the weekend yakking, and seemed to be on the mend on Sunday. A little lingering fusspottiness, but generally happy, no fever, no spewing. He gets up on Monday, seems to be happy.. all is well again. Off he goes to daycare... for about an hour. Valarie calls, he's got a fever AGAIN, and is MISERABLE. So, mommy picks him up. We figure, ok, he's got a little lingering virus and just needs another day home to finish getting over it (and avoid passing it on to the other poor little unsuspecting kiddies). OH NOOOO! Either the virus has mutated, he's caught another one, or during one of his vomitous episodes it migrated upwards. Now he's coughing and his nose is running like a faucet. Poor little thing is running a mild fever again, and is generally ok, but clearly still hasn't shaken the bug. And as we're such a close-knit family who encourages sharing,... that's right! Mommy and Daddy are sick too. I guess we should just be happy that we missed the barf boat.

Oh yeah, poor daddy has been on sick duty this week, and due to a complete lack of sleep all around, we're all a little crotchety. Now that's quality family time.

Bugs bite...

We thought James was teething, but it seems that's he's teething and sick all at the same time. Last night he had a pretty bad fever and spent the night tossing and turning in our bed. Today he was kindof off and an. He'd be in a decent mood (gnawing furiously on his paci, mind you), but the second his meds wore off, he'd turn right back into Mr. Hyde. He's napped a little more than normal, and went down for one a little while ago. Unfortunately, he'd thrown up on lion a few mins prior, and lion was taking a tumble in the dryer. Mommy tried to put him down without the King of the Jungle... "here's Eyore, here's giraffe, ok, night night". He started to look around, so I grabbed a diaper cloth, thinking I could fake him out. I slipped it into his arms before he could see it, and said "oookaay, here's lion!". He said "uh oh", pulled out the cloth and looked at it like 'what the ...?' and said "whereditgo?" Stinker. So, I rocked him a little while longer and I think he was eventually just too poopered out and fell asleep anyway.

On a funnier note, we were at the grocery store a little earlier, and Sterling was carrying James around on his shoulders. He was having a blast, and started pointing our parts, as is his wont. He pointed to Daddy's ear and said "eeeyeee", and Sterling said, "no, James, that's not an eye". James just pointed again and *shrieked" "EEEEEYYYEEEIIII!" right into the side of Daddy's head. "No, James yelling doesn't make it an eye, but since it no longer hears, I guess it's not an ear, either!".

Signs, signs, everywhere signs!

James has made up two of his own signs, and we're very proud! He points his two fingertips together (kind of like "more" but with just pointer fingers) for "help me". If he wants something opened, or he can't reach something, he'll point to it or hand it to you, then do his little "help" sign. He has also made up his own sign for "paci". He was using "eat" to mean "food", "drink" or "paci" (in other words, put *something* in my mouth!), but now he's given paci its own sign. He sticks his tongue out and rakes his fingers down it like he's tickling his tongue or trying to wipe something off of it. It's pretty funny, because it's kinda random, but that's what he means when he does it!
What a smart boy! He's also *saying* "Mama" (Finally!!), "down", "Becca", and "aaaalll duuh" for All Done. What a puddin' pop!
OH YEAH: He also walks around with his hands behind his back, as if he's inpsecting everything! AND, he can't STAND it if you forget to let him brush his teeth in the morning and at night. He'll walk into the bathroom, point to his toothbrush, and hand you his paci and sit down (we make him sit while he brushes). He also likes to watch himself in the mirror while he's doing this (I would too, if I were that good-looking!).

The inspector...

My punkin's chunkin'

Ok, this was so funny that I had to immediately blog it. There are things you expect a father to teach his son.. bonding moments. Things like how to fish, how to wash a car, mow the yard, pitch a tent. You dont' really think about...how to throw things down the stairs. That's right, daddy is teaching our son a skill that will potentially cause damage to our material goods.
As I sat here working, I overheard "that's all ya got? what else can we throw?". .. and there they stood at the top of the stairs, staring down. The next thing overheard was "go on, chunk it!". It was just too funny not to share...

Happy, sad, happy, sad

Poor little James... what a roller coaster he's on this week! The last of my little bug's toofies are coming in and he's been absolutely miserable... unless he's distracted (see "shopping and showering"). Naps are hit or miss (mostly miss), he won't eat, and you can tell he's just not himself. He seems to be on the mend today, though. No fever last night (the night before he was burning up), and he ate *some* breakfast. Keep your fingers crossed!

Shopping and showering

Ok, so the new mall in Raleigh has an "interactive water feature"... which means it's a fancy sprinkler for kiddies! Check out James and Keaton playing!

More pictures are posted in Summer 2005... they start on page 2 (there are now FOUR pages of summer pics!). Very funny stuff!