James is FIVE months old

Good gosh man! A lot happens in five months with an adorable yittle munchkin! :) James is officially five months and a day old, and just the cutest, most adorable thing ever.

I have a confession to make - the first few weeks were really tough and I was a little emotional one night (imagine)... and I remember laying in bed talking to Jimmy after a 2am feeding or scream fest - I can't remember which one - but I remember talking to Jimmy and getting very upset and telling him, "This isn't what I thought it was going to be like."

Well, THIS, my friends is what I thought it would be like....

James is laughing, talking, rolling, just hammin' it up and I'm loving it up. I remember posting about "The good, the bad and the ugly" of a newborn... Well now I'd like to post about "the good, the bad and the funny" of a 5 month old, because come on, there ain't nothing ugly about a 5 month old! :)

THE GOOD:
*Sleeping through the night. In fact this morning I decided to just let him go (I've been waking the little guy up at 7:30 a.m.) and he woke up at 8:10 a.m. Amazeballs.
*Laughing a lot. I think James and I are going to get along very well. He apparently thinks my corny jokes, faces, etc are funny, which just makes my day.
*Turning into a person. He has started figuring out he has hands... So he'll reach out and grab my nose, or my lips and he starts dying laughing when I respond. He is going to have quite the little personality.
*Cradle cap is gonnnne! Thank you Selson Blue and little brush-a-roo....
*Babywise is paying off - little boy has learned how to put himself to sleep! He goes down for almost all of his naps immediately without any fussing and wide awake. At first it was a pain in the you know what, but now I see why everyone says it is totally worth it. He has learned to sleep, so he is well rested, so he is happy, so mommy is happy. Win, win for the whole team! :)

THE BAD:
*Spitting up all the time... Still. Ugh. But maybe, just maybe, when we start solids next month it will help? Fingers crossed.
*Nursing is getting tough. I thought I'd put this under "the funny" but let's be honest - it's just annoying (except for when he just wants to unlatch and stare and laugh at me, then it's okay :). So James is a pretty big "nosse-piece" in the words of my friend Emily Apple's mom... He'll be latched on, nursing good and he'll hear Sadie, or Jimmy, or the phone, or the wind for goodness sake and his head immediately turns to check it out. Then it takes a good five minutes or so to get him back on. Ughhhh... Quite annoying.

THE FUNNY:
*Little man is a rolling pin! I put him on his little "gymnasium" I don't really know what to officially call it, but the little thing that they have toys hanging down from.... Well, can't really do that much longer. He rolls off of it in 10 seconds flat. Although the last couple of days he has forgotten how to roll over form his tummy to his back again....
*James squawks like a bird (all. the. time). Every time I'm on the phone with someone they ask, "What is that noise?" Yeah... That's James squawking like a bird. It's like his way of communicating when he'd like some more attention. I'm afraid he's going to be loud like his mom, instead of quiet and charming like his daddy...
*This is more of "sweet" than funny - but he has turned in to the biggest thumb sucker. And, although this is totally politically incorrect to say, but he loves his thumb like a smoker loves a cigarette. He'll be latched on, nursing, and then he'll pop off, roll his head to the side, take a couple sucks on the ol' thumb, then roll his head back over to me, and start nursing again. It is quite funny...

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO LATELY:

For heaven's sake don't look at me in this picture, but I think it is hilarious of James... This was the morning of his first USC Gameday.

I haven't figured out how to flip pics in blogger, so tilt your head to the right :) - Pic of James and Daddy on Gameday 2011

Every baby needs a nakie shot:

James, taking bets for USC:

Jimmy loved introducing James to Marcus Lattimore:

He's doing great sans-swaddle.... Hands are typically behind the head like he is laying out in the sun... Hard to see in this pic, but it's all I got!

He has started making this adorable pouty face.. This isn't really it, but, again, it is all I got!

Grandpa & Grandma came to visit last weekend:

Doesn't he look like a little boy??

Holding his head up, good and strong!

Me & my babies :) (James has started getting a BIG kick out of Sadie now...)

Hahaha... thumb-sucker addict

Yesterday we said, "Peace out swaddle!" (Although we quit swaddling his arms, we were still swaddling his legs.) This was right when James was waking up from a nap, pulling his thumb out of his mouth. So sweet :)

FIVE MONTH PHOTO SHOOT (we had bit of "a day" yesterday, so his "shoot" was done in his PJ's right before bed :):

Farewell Bassinet and Newborn Days :(

So, it's kind of bitter sweet... The first baby-baby item leaving our house. Ahhhh! :) :(

It's bitter because it means he is officially getting so big and growing up... I know I've been looking forward to this age, because 4 months is soooo much fun, but it is a little sad how quickly his newborn stage flew by.

It's sweet because the bassinet that has been in the family for DECADES (I won't say how many, for Robin's sake, ha!) has made its way to the Cook's house for the next family baby.
My grandmother and her sister made the bassinet for my oldest cousin, Robin. It has stayed in the family and we have all napped in it - all my siblings, my cousins (on my mom's side), my nieces and nephews and now my son. How amazing is that?

Picture of the bassinet full of gifts from my Baby Shower back in February:

James' first official picture in the bassinet:

Are we sure that is James?:)

James fist-pumping, saying hello while sister Sadie is keeping a watchful eye on him :)

My sweet, crazy-haired boy, sleeping... Amazing how all of that hair fell out!

When he started taking all his naps in his crib, we used the bassinet as a diaper changing station downstairs.... Here is a pic of James getting a kick out of yours truly... :) I love that he is too young to realize I'm just down right cheesy, and not funny....

Haha, what a cheeseball... Here is the last official picture of James in the bassinet:

All the names of everyone who has napped in the bassinet, with James' last:

Zoomed in to his name:

Frannie taking the bassinet to her house to get ready for Baby Cook!

Can't wait to watch that long list get even longer with a big family full of babies! Life is good....

James is FOUR Months Old

Who knew time flies so fast when babies are outside the womb vs. in it?! :) My little guy is already over 4 months old (officially 4 months on Sunday, August 21). I figured I'd hold off on his 4 month post until today's doctors visit so I could include that info...

*Height: 25.5 (44 percentile)
*Weight: 13 pounds 8.4 ounces (14 percentile)
*Head: 41.5 cm

When James was three months he had an obsession with his tongue. He constantly stuck it in and out - kind of like a little snake.... Well now my little boy LOVES his hand... He couldn't figure out how to enjoy it the most, but over the past couple weeks, figured out he likes the pointer and middle finger of his left hand the best. :) He has a pretty great routine, which has him sleeping around 12 hours a night, which is amazzzziiiinggggg. He laughs really hard and really enjoys playing while laying on his back.

Some of the not so great things about right now - James spits up - A LOT and all the time. So for the time being I'm wearing mostly t-shirts these days, ha! He still has pretty bad cradle cap. Frannie told me a trick she heard on the Doctor's show, but I'm waiting to confirm with my doc that it's okay... I also read the same thing in the magazine but it sounds weird (pouring olive oil on the scalp then brushing it off with a comb or toothbrush? - weird, right?). And he has yet to roll over from his tummy to his back. He has however rolled over from his back to his tummy (the reason? he was trying to get a better view of the TV - homeboy LOVES the TV!).

Oh one other not so great thing going on right now -- I didn't know that you weren't supposed to introduce size 2 nipples on the bottle when you are still breastfeeding, so that has been a little challenging... On Sunday I pumped all day and gave him a bottle for every feeding which wore. me. out. Yesterday he nursed all but one feeding, so I'm hoping he'll hold out for me just a little longer.

Here is his 4 month photo shoot:

(He just LOVES those fingers!)

"Who dat?"

My little chunky munky <3 :)

Sweetness....

Daddy came in at the end of the "shoot" - he went to church... James and I played hookie since he didn't do that great his first visit and I'm a little hesitant about putting him in the nursery just quite yet.

Here is some more photos of what we've been up to lately:

One night Jimmy was working late there was a thunderstorm and Sadie was scared so she crawled in my lap while I was holding James... I couldn't really get a photo - but you get the idea.

James watched his first taste of football with daddy <3

Close up of James & Daddy watching football...

We celebrated Pop's birthday by Grandmama's pool with the whole fam (minus Uncle Hunter who according to Gracie had a "boo-boo on his back and had to go night night" :) haha)

The Cooks with the big swimmer, Gracie Grace...

Me and my grumpy lovebug :)

Gracie means BIZ-NAZ in her goggles and swimmies!

The Larson family photo...

Adeline copying Jimbo :)

Celebrating Pop and Hamilton's birthdays by the pool...

Blowing out the candles... Team work!

 

Nana & Pop and all the grandchillen'

James has been sitting in his little bumbo a bit..

He kicks around a soccer ball on mommy and daddy's bed :)

James is getting to be better friends with Sadie :)

Snuggle time with Mommy on a Saturday night in...

"I just loooove my fingers!!!"

His new little "jumperoo" toy... (Fingers still in the mouth, goodness!)

He hasn't quite figured this thing out yet, but I can tell we are going to have lots of fun figuring it out. (He wasn't quite long enough to reach the floor so we stuck a pillow under his feet and viola, he can jump!).