Whoa.... 10 months?!

So my little baby boy is the big 10 months old. I can NOT believe it. I remember those first few months I kept wishing the time away... "I can't wait for him to hold his head up." ....... "When oh when will he sleep through the night?" ........ "Won't it be exciting when he can sit up or better yet - crawl?!?" ....etc, etc, etc.... Now I kind of want to turn back the clock and go back and hold him all swaddled up and listen to those little baby coo's. I know he isn't big yet, but 10 months is a lot different than 10 weeks.

But one thing is fo' sho' -- 10 months old is a lot more active and fun than 10 weeks! James is a wild man. He is on the go, go, go. He doesn't really stop moving. The only time he is still is when he is sleeping in his bed. He's army crawling every where. He has hopped up on his knees and did an actual crawl only a couple times... and it was backwards, but hey! he did it! He reaches for people. He talks all the time without really saying anything at all (don't we all??). He eats food a lot better than he eats his bottle, and he really likes to feed himself the best (can we say MESS?!). I've read that the more tastes, textures, etc you can feed your baby - the better they might be in accepting new foods down the road (i.e. not be a picky micky). Who knows if it will work, but one can try can't she?! He's had taco meat, green beans, mac and cheese, seaweed salad (seriously), pork tenderloin, deli meat, fruit, etc.... He loves it all!

James got his first weekend alone with Grammy and Grandpa this past month, and had a blast. Jimmy and I did too! We went to the Simpsonville Chamber's annual meeting in Charleston so enjoyed a little work and a lot of fun. Sad to report - no pics were taken though. I guess I forget how to use a camera when a baby isn't around - ha! But Lawd knows we have enough pics of just Jimmy and I... :)

Here is some pics of what we've been up to lately....

Jimbo has been traveling to Atlanta A LOT lately.... Jimmy invited us to tag along... so James took over the hotel suite quickily.... and those teeth that wouldn't come? Well... decided to come while there. Ugh it was a tough trip. 

But we did have some fun :) and it was certainly nice getting to see Jimmy... At least I got to see him (he still had to work late :(.... )

I got a little stir crazy and strolled James to the hotel gym... Haha, pitiful, huh?

Caro and Brandon came to visit from the nizzy 'Noake! We had a great, low-key weekend (thanks you two for putting up with us old foggies!)

As I mentioned... James has gotten into feeding himself :)

We've been having some nice weather so we've been grilling out a bit on the weekends...

AND THE BIGGEST EVENT OF THE MONTH/YEAR.... BABY ELIZABETH WAS BORN!!!! (2*20*12)

Love, love, love this pic :)

Woops... As soon as we came in to meet Elizabeth, poor James was just forgotten about! But he didn't seem to mind... I loaded him up with LOTS of puffs, so he just "puffed" away :)

Nana & Pop's 6th grandbaby... :)

Sweet baby getting her vitals checked...

Daddy Cook just held her hand and she loved it... and held on tight!

Lala came to visit! It was sooooo sweet....

Pop entertained the wee-man :) (who LOVED the cars... and the attention!)

Sweetness :)

Hahahaha... my attempt of getting Baby J and E together... Oh well, there will be plenty more opportunities...

His hair is starting to sit down.... finally! Oh... and he's kind of a big deal. In case you didn't already know that! (Thanks Gigi for the great onesies!)

Our den has turned in to the biggest and best playpen you could imagine! haha...

James has TWO teeth! Zoom in, and take a look see! 

Oh goodness... the mothly photo shoot... Getting harder and harder... Have a laugh:

Here he is trying to grab his books...

So I moved him to the other side... so he turned in to a biscuit. A cheeeeeeese biscuit.

Wild man.

"I'm no wild man, mama." -J

"I'm a WIIIILLLLLDDDDDD man!" - J

"Is the bear ticklish?!" - J

"Whoa. Bear's got some gas." - J

The one thing he'll slow down for.... a little touch and feel book. Here he is reading "Tails" - his absolute favorite. (And that tail is his all time favorite tail to pet :)

But staying still is so short lived... :)

But my little man still loves his thumb :)

Happy 10 months to my sweet not so little any more baby boy, James. We love you more and more each and every day. It's amazing to think what the next 10 months will hold, but I'm not wishing them to fly by. I'd rather they slow down a bit. (Good luck, right?! :)

9 months old

Again - today I am doing some major blog catch up while on a spotty internet connection in a hotel in Atlanta....

Over the past month James has officially learned the "army crawl." He isn't quite crawling, crawling but he basically drags himself across the room by just using his arms... As soon as he learns how to incorporate those legs - we are in trouble!

He has an immense about of energy. He is constantly looking around, reaching for something (9 times out of 10 - things he is NOT supposed to have).

He has recently realized that there are things to touch and feel on those touch and feel books and he gets a huge kick out of them. He has started reaching for people, which I (of course) love... but he has also started having a little bit of "separation anxiety." When Ian and Britine were visiting Dr. Kane told us how this typically starts at 8 months.... It's hard but we are trying really hard to help him get out of this stage.

Now - since this is a major catch up - this is an entire month worth of happenings, which includes the biggest holiday of the year -- CHRISTMAS. So, just a warning - this blog is probably the longest yet... So prop up your feet, get a cup of joe and enjoy our memories....

The day after J turned 8 months - the Kane's headed on to A-town, and our next guests arrived -- Grammy & Grandpa... But before we could say goodbye, we had to take a group pic in front of the tree... We kept joking that lots had changed since freshman year of college :)

When Cheryl & Chuck (aka Grammy and Grandpa) got there, it was as though Santa's sleigh had arrived! James has no idea just how spoiled he was. He got to open his very first Christmas present when they got there... He kind of did it himself... Kind of not....

"Woooooow"

He literally started laughing once the gift was all opened and he saw the baby on front. It was priceless!

We celebrated "Christmas morning" with Grammy and Grandpa the morning of December 23 -- so here are some photos from our morning of celebrations... Aka James' show! (here he doesn't know which is better -- his thumb or his new toy)

Our little squirmy wormy was ready to play and sick of opening :)

J got his very own rocking chair!

He seemed to enjoy rocking (and sliding)!

Jimmy was surprised with an early Birthday gift, amongst all the Christmas gifts, with a red ryder bee-bee gun - haha.... Just kidding! His very own SHOTGUN! Watch out quail... Jimbo's gonna find you! Here's a photo of "the boys" (and Sadie pouting)

Grammy, Grandpa and James - Christmas 2011

That evening was the annual "Cousins Christmas" party at Robin & Terry's house... So Grammy and Grandpa took on grandparent duty and watched Baby J while Jimmy and I went out for a bit!

Good thing the boys were trying to be funny and not smile.... oh and just noticed Hunter's nice gesture... Way to take a great picture, guys!

James and Daddy playing after church on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Family Photo

Christmas Eve - Mommy and James 2011

Introducing James to our Christmas Eve dinner :)

Santa came to see James -- Christmas Day 2011!

Jimmy was so proud -- not only did Santa bring James a football -- it was the first gift he grabbed out of his stocking! :)

Nana and Pop came over for Christmas Morning Brunch!

After naps and showers, we ventured over to "the Loft" aka Nana and Pop's for Christmas evening fun with the Howards... Everyone was there!

Christmas craziness -- exactly how they always were. I love my family :)

Everyone digging into their Christmas surprises...

A boys photo -- James-ee-poo was already alseep in Nana and Pop's bedroom... Those 7pm bedtimes are really nice at times, but they can also get in the way in others.... BUT I'M NOT COMPLAINING!

After Christmas, Jimmy, James and I packed up and headed to the mountains for a little R&R and for our own family NYE fun.... Here is the view from our cabin:

Our first night we went to eat at Hard Rock Cafe and I reminisced to when I studied abroad in Madrid, Spain... That was our go-to place to eat when we were all homesick and just wanted some ice in our drinks and ranch dressing on our salads!

James seemed to dig all the music (and noise) all around... It was yummy!

After we got back to the cabin, and put baby J to sleep.... We had a little R&R of our own in the hot tub! 7pm bedtimes are nice for mommy and daddy! :)

A little NYE smile :)

J and I on our deck... Cheese biscuit!

Self-timer photo in our cabin:

Celebrating NYE at 6:58 p.m. with James - haha (he did not want to go to bed, he was ready to PARTY!)

He was wearing his finest for his first NYE (tuxedo pajamas Jimbo bought for him last Christmas)

We made some duck (shot and killed by Jimmy!):

Then we stayed an extra day and just relaxed... On the ride home we stopped and took some gorgeous photos - here is one of my faves:

Whew! That was a lot! If you made it to the end -- congrats! If you didn't... I don't blame you! :)

9 month shoot (Jimmy took these while I was cooking dinner Saturday night -- thank you Jimbo!):