Happy Halloween!

So today was James' first Halloween, and it was a huge success! We just got done trick-or-treating and James has 5 bags of candy... ha! Just kidding, but we did have a great day...

We got all dressed up and right before we went to Jimmy's office for the annual EY Halloween Fiesta, we stopped by the Greenville Chamber to see some friends. After the EY we ventured over to Hunter and Joy's to see the Greenville cousins, Gracie and Adeline!

It was a fun day. Here's to more holidays with my little (and big!) man. :)

Happy Halloween y'all!

Pics from today (yes, be impressed that I'm posting these the day I took them... This is all for you Auntie Fannie.... Fran (who just started her own blog) called and told me she needed to see James' Halloween outfit, pronto... Yes ma'am! :)

This morning we tried on our outfit (minus the leggings) to make sure it still fit:

"Mom... What. Have. You. Put. Me. In?!"

"This is just once a year, right?" :)

We tried our first taste of bananas this morning... He wasn't so sure, but really started to down them after awhile.

Nana came by to see James in his costume. We took a pic right before we got him suited up... He does, however, have on some "spooky" clothes ;-)

EY Halloween Bash :)

Off to visit the Greenville cousins... (someone wasn't feeling so hot)...

... and somebody was feeling saucy! :) Little cupcake Adeline...

James LOVES his cousins... He especially gets a HUGE kick out of Adeline... (I think the feeling is mutual)

He LOVES her!

He LOVES them both! :)

I love this one:

Hahaha.... If only James knew how lucky he was!

Snuggles with mommy in the driveway..

Daddy and James on the front porch...

The cutest punkin(s) ever :)

And don't forget about Sadie! :)

We've had a great Halloween so far! Hope you do as well!

Porch Sittin'

Enjoying our last late afternoon porch sitting while James takes a nap before we head to Johnson Creek Tavern for dinner. This little mini-vacy has been "clutch" in the words of Jimbo! :)

Lunchtime at the Beach!

We are enjoying Fripp this long weekend. After a walk on the beach we are enjoying some lunch before nap time!

So close...

We always seem to want what's just out of reach. :) taking a break from packing for the beach for some jumping. James LOVES this thing!

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6 month stats

So this was James pre-shots, all nakie in the doctor's office pic. :) sweetness

His 6 month "stats":

Height: 26 1/2 "
Weight: 16lbs 2 oz
Head Circumference: 43.2cm

Great Weekends Recharge the ol' Battery!

So this past weekend was one of the best we've had... or the best that I've had in awhile :) And what did we do -- NOTHING! It was so nice to have a weekend of no plans, no obligations, just hanging out and enjoying our little family.

On Saturday Jimmy and I didn't really get to see each other much - he got up super duper early for his long run in training for the Half Marathon... Then he got home, and I left to do a little Howard Property showing and then went running on the Swamp Rabbit trail, which was amazing! I don't know why I hadn't ran out there before now, but as my runs keep increasing in length, I'll venture out that way a little bit more.

Then later that afternoon, Mom and I got to cash in our living social deals at The Spa at West End for a mani/pedi relaxation. We got to enjoy a glass of wine, have our nails done, and it was just. what. the. doctor. ordered. Ahhhhh-mazing!

Then on Sunday we were going to attempt to take James to church, but I can't figure out how to do it around his naps. I've got some schedule playing around to do, but it worked out great because we got to see both of my grandmother's! Pics below.... We got home after lunch at Grandmama's and I took a 2-hour nap. I felt guilty when I started to lay down, but then I thought to myself, "I'll just shut my eyes for a 20 minute cat nap." I guess I still have some catching up to do on all those hours of sleep I lost during those newborn days. But that nap felt ahhhhh-mazing (much like the mani/pedi)!

That evening we went to Corona's (my favorite Mexican restaurant in Greenville) with Hunter, Joy, the girls and Mary Sims and Thomas... So much fun.

One thing is for certain... I am loving the simple things in life... Good times with my family and friends. It doesn't get much better than that! :)

(It is so hard getting a picture that gives James justice to how stinking cute he is... so here are all of our attempts on Sunday with his great grandmothers :)

Family Photo Shoot!

So on Thursday afternoon Kevin Quinn, a friend of mine who is starting his own photography business took some Larson family photos in Cleveland Park... I've only seen five (and you can too, here) and I can't wait to see the rest!

I had planned on James wearing his little Gamecock John John outfit I had made for him, but the weather decided to get frigid -- so we put him in a puffy vest which looks like a lifejacket in some photos, haha...

Here are a couple I saved on my computer off of Facebook:

The quickest 6 months....

... well, maybe the quickest 3 months. :)

So today James is 6 months old. Officially a half a year old. Wow. Hard to believe!

James is really turning into a little ham. He is still "squawking" like a bird, and continues to get more and more vocal. The other day we ran into Ann Taylor super duper quick to get ready for our family photo shoot and the cashier came over to see him and he started squawking away. The lady smiled and said, "Boy, you aren't shy!" and he just started grinning ear to ear. Yep - looks like we got a wild man on our hands! :)

He has started grabbing his little toes, but it seems as though he might have inherited his daddy's flexibility..... Because most babies love sticking those little toes in their mouths - however - James' can only get half way. They just can't seem to make it all the way to his mouth. So he resorts to pulling his little socks off and then putting those in his mouth. Only with a baby could that be cute.

Today is the first day James will be 100% formula fed. Today is also the day of his first cold (booo). Yesterday we had a family photo-shoot in downtown Greenville, and the wind was fierce, and I'm thinking it might have given baby James the sniffles.

He is on to size 3 diapers and nipples for the bottle. He can't quite hold the bottle himself, but he is getting close. He is on a four-hour schedule and still trying to figure out solids. I think once we can do something other than rice cereal he is really going to enjoy it.

He is VERY interested in adult beverages. Whenever someone has a cup of anything he stares at it and reaches for it. I could be partly to blame because I always carry around a tervis tumbler with ice water in it and have started letting him "gum" on the cup while I'm carrying him. So I guess he thinks this gives him the right to "gum" on everyone's cups. Woopsies. :)

He is still loving the thumb. Homeboy has started sleeping with it probably 75% of the time and the thumb also sneaks its way into the mouth even while awake. Some may see this as "bad" but I don't care. I think it is SO sweet.

James also gets a big kick out of Sadie. Whenever she comes walking (or charging) into the room James starts dying laughing. He has also started semi-petting her. Sadie is starting to like him better too, but we are still working out some issues. Every now and then Sadie will leave us a little present upstairs (on the carpet) as a constant reminder of who USED to be "queen of the house". :)

James is almost sitting up on his own. A couple times he has sat by himself for a few seconds then he toppled over to one side. Slowly but surely we will get there.

Still no teethers to report on. We've been thinking they were on their way for awhile now, but still none to report on.

I guess that is about it for now... I'm sure I"ll think of something else I left off his 6-month tab, but for now... enjoy his 6 month photoshoot:

(my little "sack of sugar" isn't quite so still these days... neither one of them! ;-) haha)

A few pics of what we've been up to lately:

Trip to the pumpkin patch...



One of a million tries of a getting a decent photo of James and the pumpkins... Oh well, there is always next year :)

Mommy & James

Spending time with my cousins

(Gracie is like, "Come on baby cousins, smile for the camera and behave!")

(Adeline is like, "Whatttt are you doing with your hand on my shoulder")

(James is just plain scared - ha - oops, I mean excited!)

The girls always want to help feed James :)

We took a trip to Grammy and Grandpa's - Sadie is cracking me up....

We celebrated Grandpa's bday over a bottle of milk :)...

Family shot!

Grandpa & Auntie Lindsay with James :)

James sporting a Tony Stewart outfit for Grandpa Chuck!

Busy Season is OVERRRR! Yay for having daddy back for the evenings!!!!

Sadie is equally as excited :)

James struggling with those toes:

My cheese biscuit!

Ahhh... Just for the taste of it....

... DIET COKE!

Oh how I have missed the amazing mid-afternoon refreshment of a diet coke. While I've enjoyed nursing my sweet little man for about six months... I'm now starting to enjoy those little things that I've had to keep out of my diet for James-ee-poo.

Welcome back into my life diet coke.... Ahhhhhhhh-mazing..... :)

Don't let the paci fall out!

James wanted to make sure the paci stayed in his mouth on the car ride home from Grammy and Grandpa's this morning. Haha... Silly boy!

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The best sound in the world....

James laughing - enjoy on this rainy Tuesday:

I get by with a little help from my friends....

So.... Friday..... Oh, Friday.... James and I had a little bit of a morning. I literally called almost ten friends/family members begging for help. James would not stop crying, screaming, fussing, etc... I didn't know if it was a sign of teething, or problems with the new formula we started or what.  Oh new mother joys.... But after several phone conversations and reassurance from some great friends and family members... We worked it out.

Then... mama got a night off compliments of Auntie Fannie and Uncle David.

Being a first time mom sure isn't the easiest job in the world, but it certainly is the most rewarding... and it is a lot easier when you surround yourself with positive people who give you all the support you could ask for. Thanks friends and family. I don't know what I (or Jimmy and James) would do without you!

Here some thankful giggles from James (you have to give him a minute to get warmed up to the camera:

PS-As of yesterday, Mr. James-ee-poo is on a 4-hour schedule... Whoooo hooooo!

More Firsts!

So this week has been a week of firsts for James and fam....

We've been gearing up for our first holiday... Halloween! Although we did celebrate Easter together, I believe we three were still in the "getting to know you" phase, so we couldn't really celebrate together. So on October 1st we put James-ee-poo in his Halloween jammies compliments of Grammy and Grandpa... Haha...

Another big first -- James tried his first bit of formula this week. He has been 100% breast-fed, but since our goal was to breastfeed for 6 months -- we've been gearing up for the weening process... (Um, can we say YAY?! Don't get me wrong, it is a very sweet and special thing to be able to do with your baby.... but mamma's ready to share this responsibility of feeding the sweetest baby in the wooorllddddd ;-)

James also tried his first bit of rice cereal as a "solid." He wasn't a huge fan... but he wasn't completely opposed to it. I caught it on "tape" for daddy-o.... and for YOU! :)

And this week I hit mile numero seis (6) in preparation for the halfer in December. Although it was a s-s-s-s-l-l-l-o-o-o-o-o-w-w-w-w-w-w-w trot... I ran the whole 6 miles. Inch by inch I shall get there....