Introduction to James, Elias, and Cora

Christmas with James was wonderful! He received gifts from relatives in Alaska to New Hampshire! Not only did he get some wonderful gifts, but he's also apparently a very good shopper! He slept through most of Christmas morning, which was funny. Christmas Eve with Dad in front of our tree. James with all his presents! A pretty big Christmas for one so young! Thank you everyone for the very thoughtful and generous gifts. We really enjoyed having Marthaa out for Christmas. Unfortunately my mom wasn't able to make it out, but the 4 of us had a blast. Christmas Eve in Jacksonville was about 80 degrees, so we were able to enjoy some time outside too. Seeing Marthaa with James was great, we were sad she couldn't stay longer. We leave for Kansas in a couple of days and this time traveling will be very different. It's amazing to think of how much he's changed in just the 6 weeks since his last big travel experience. We're really excited to be with Tobias' fa...

James is doing very well. This morning at church we were able to play Baby Jesus again for a beautiful rendition of 'Mary Did You Know.' It is so much fun to show James off! We were also able to get a video of James playing Baby Jesus in our church's Carols by Candlelight Christmas program. Thanks to Joy for video taping that for us. I'll try to upload part of that to the blog later. Saturday mornings are sleep in mornings around our house. Tobias and James enjoyed some extra sleep Saturday! James is sleeping very well now, about 8 hours straight through! Just a fun photos to enjoy. We visited Tobias on duty and it was bit chilly at the squadron so we wrapped James up in his Dad's flight jacket. Such a sweet little guy.

Christmas is almost here! My mom and Marthaa will be arriving within the next few days and there's still so much to do. In addition to Christmas shopping, grocery shopping, and house cleaning I'm also taking the GRE later this week and trying to get the rest of my college applications in! Yesterday, James and I got the majority of our Christmas shopping done and today we're going to brave the post office to mail out our gifts. He does pretty well out and about. Yesterday while shopping people would ask how old he was, and were in shock to learn he's only 6 weeks old! He really is growing so fast and he's so much more alert. When shopping yesterday we had to buy socks size 12 -24 months! He's gonna be tall! His sleep habits are also improving. Last night he slept from 11 to 4 straight through! That's the longest stretch we've had so far! We were given the opportunity to play the Holy Family in our church's Christmas performance this past Sunday and ...

James is doing very well. He's so strong - it amazes me every day. Now he will stand on my lap. Today we went to the library for the first time. Not much going on around here so I don' t have much to write, but I know that most of you just want to see pictures of him anyway! =) Just some belly time with the boppy pillow. We're having beautiful weather here. James is enjoying the sun shine. You can also see how big his feet are in this picture. These were taken this afternoon, 12/11. This picture is also from today, 12/11. From Sunday, 12/9, when Jill Mama was watching him. I love this picture because it shows how curly his hair is. This is taken right after bath time. I normally brush all the curls out, but I still think they're just so adorable.

Take a look at my handsome little guy. We're on our way to a Christmas ornament exchange. In honor of the occasion James got all dressed up. Just so adorable .

James has changed so much in the past month. He's actually 1 month and 2 days now, I wasn't as good at getting this posted as I wanted! The plane ride home went very well. Luckily the plane was pretty empty so he got his own seat and slept all but maybe 10 minutes of the flight. Since we've returned home we've had lots of fun! We went to Tobias' squadron Christmas party, watched the Army-Navy game (Navy won!), and went to church for the first time. First picture with Santa. Ready for the Army - Navy game! First time at church. He slept through most of the service - thank goodness! Now for some additional pictures from our trip to KS. Aunt Crystal was nice enough to host a dinner and invite some family members over! It was great food and plus it gave James some time to meet some more family! Great Grandma Leah can't get enough of Sweet Baby James! Great Aunt Charlene with James. Don't they look great together - such a cute pair! Great Uncle Rich and Gre...

After a wonderful visit in KS James and I are heading home to FL tonight. We have a red eye flight and will arrive in Jacksonville at 5am Thursday morning. I hope everything goes smoothly. Traveling alone with James has me a bit worried. We're visiting with Great Grandma Leah today, and I'm on her computer to post some much awaited pictures. Enjoy! James and Great Grandma Leah. This is James in Tobias' old letter jacket from high school. Take a look at that! Bonding with Grandma Edie. Isn't that a funny little face! James' first Thanksgiving meal. Take a look at all that yummy food. James slept through most of the meal! It was so wonderful to share the Thanksgiving with him - there's some much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Tobias, James, and I made it safely out to St. Francis, KS (as good as it gets) on Sunday after a long day. We woke up about 3am and were out of Jacksonville on the 6am flight to Denver. James did great on the flight. We only had about 10 minutes of a crying spell and that was it. Tobias and I worried the entire flight, of course! We made it to Denver before 8am and were able to have breakfast and visit with Great-Grandma Leah. It was a great visit. I'll have to post pictures in a later post, I don't have that camera with me. James slept the entire 3 hour drive to St. Francis, and we made it out to Tobias' farm about 6pm that night. We were so tired and thankful that we made it to the farm! What a day! Jim, Tobias' dad and the person Sweet Baby James is named for, was diagnosed with prostate cancer about 2 weeks before James was born. Jim had his surgery on 11/15 and made it home on Monday evening. What a joy to see James with Grandpa Jim a...

It's been really cool to see Tobias become a dad. And not just any ol' dad, but a GREAT Dad! Tobias had a pretty rough day and didn't make it home at all yesterday. He came home about 10am this morning and James and Tobias spent some quality time together. Fun stuff! Here are some bonding pictures I thought were just too cute. And now on to some other really cute pictures from earlier in the week. This one was taken yesterday. I thought the little rugby jumper was so sweet on him. And just to compare where he was last week with now. Look at my sweet boy - my goodness how he's grown.

Nothing too exciting happening - except that James is getting so big. It's amazing how strong he is now. Here are some great pictures to see how much he's changed just in the past few days alone! Sun bathing with Aunt Crystal. It's amazing how well he fits on the armrest of our chair. Feeding with Aunt Crystal. Look - he's awake! We can occassionally see his eyes. They are still a very beautiful slate blue color. And now we have a double chin - woohoo !!

James is doing very well! We went back to the pediatrician yesterday, and he's now 8 lbs 6 oz and his jaudice is no longer a problem. He's gained so much muscle control and is changing daily. Since the last post we've enjoyed a short visit with Jill Mama and are now enjoying getting to know Aunt Crystal (Tobias' sister) and Uncle Kyle. Jill Mama fell in love with Sweet Baby James within minutes. She said we spoiled him by holding him too much - so she held him instead! Sweet Baby James is getting some good cuddle time with Aunt Crystal and Uncle Kyle. Last night we went to visit Tobias at the squadron and got a little tour of a helicopter. How exciting for the little aviator - he slept through the whole thing. =) This afternoon we enjoyed our first visit to the beach. The fun of being a FL baby - even in November you can enjoy the beach. It was about 70 degrees out there today.