Lots of Stuff

I have a lot of different things to post about this week, hopefully it doesn't get too long! First, the other day I was talking to Doug and he made this observation. "We haven't really been directly affected by the economy." Which is true, who knows where we would be if the economy were still good, but we have really been blessed throughout the past year. So then on Saturday we got a call from the people renting our house and found out that they can't pay the rent, the boyfriend/husband (we don't really know) was in prison, and we have to kick them out this week. Of course this happens right after I read all these reports about how the rental market is now being affected, Salt Lake being the worst city in the country. There are too many rental properties and people are having to drop their prices. When I heard these things I was grateful that we already had renters in our house and we didn't wait, and now here we are trying to rent out our house again and there doesn't seem to be very much interest.

Second-- Doug's Snow Fence--We have been battling the wind this winter as I have posted about earlier. Since we got our snow blower and Doug built this great fence (you can see it just on the right side of the picture), it hasn't snowed or been very windy. Friday I took James to Playgroup and ran errands for a few hours before I went to pick him up again. It had been snowing lightly, but blowing very hard. When we finally got home I turned in the driveway and thought, "I don't think we are going to make it in." I plowed through going as fast as I dared so we wouldn't get stuck in a drift and we made it. Surprisingly there were only two drifts. One right before the fence started and one right after it ended. So the fence worked, where the fence was there were no drifts! Doug was very proud of his fence. In this picture Doug has started snow blowing through one of the drifts, you can see how tall in got in just a few hours.

Third--Toy Story--James is addicted to the movie Toy Story. I think he actually prefers Toy Story 2 because he really likes when Jesse says "Yee-Haw". So when he wanted to ride his horse I wasn't even thinking about Toy Story 2 and I thought it would be cute if he said Ye-Haw. Which he did. Right after the video he got off his horse and ran into the TV room and grabbed Toy Story 2 and got really mad when I wouldn't put it on because it was bed time.

Finally--Sugar--James is very affected by sugar. We now know that we have to be careful about how close to bed time he gets sugar. Last night for FHE we sang his favorite primary song "Do as I'm Doing", then talked about our food storage, then finally put it away, which James loved because he got to ride on the boxes down the hall and say "Choo-Choo". After this we decided to go to a near by dairy store and get some ice cream. I really wish I had the camera because it was so cute watching James lick the Ice cream out of the cone. He kept calling it a "tookie" (cookie). So on the way home he started doing this high pitched scream/yell and kept doing it all the way into the house and until Doug gave him a Wii-mote and they played Mario Kart. We put James to bed at his usual time and he was still jumping in his bed and kicking the wall and yelling two hours later when we went to bed! So moral of the story, no "tookies" before bed!

Talking

I love how much James is learning to talk. His newest thing is probably my favorite so far. When he doesn't want me or Doug around, like when we are trying to change his diaper or take him somewhere in the car, he can be pretty diplomatic. Instead of saying "no" or "go away" like I would expect from an almost two year old, he says "bye, see ya soon!". I am pretty sure I will never be able to get a video of this so you will just have to imagine.

Feeling Better

James and I have been sick this past week so we haven't been doing much. Mostly watching Toy Story over and over again. It's his favorite movie. Although I hate feeling so yucky, it is nice to be able to just sit with James in my lap for an extended period of time. I think he even sat with Doug for a while. James is feeling much better now, and eating well, I however am still very weak and don't really have the energy to do all the things he wants to do, and of course he doesn't understand. So these pictures and videos are from a while ago, I just haven't posted them.

This is James in his new "big boy" seat. We decided to get him this because he kept pushing his high chair away from the table, and only wanted to eat in front of the TV. Now he likes sitting in his chair and copying everything Dad does at the dinner table. It is pretty cute.


I was trying to get James dressed the other morning, but as soon as those pajamas come off, he's gone. He loves being naked. So here I found him hiding in the closet on one of the shelves.

I think this video is a perfect example of why we can't get any video's of all the cute things James does. He sees the camera and gets shy. He did finally sing the song, but only once. Without the camera he does this all the time.

Finally a video of James playing Wii Fit. Doug was trying the Hula Hoop and James just had to join it. I finally just put the camera on mute so he couldn't hear it when I turn it on, it seemed to work, if we are taking videos from behind!

Playgroup

I have been having a hard time trying to decide what to post this week. James has been doing so many cute things, but as soon as I get the camera out, he stops. For example, this morning I was in the kitchen and could hear James in the Family room making the "d" sound. When I looked in he was sitting very close to the TV copying what they were doing. They were spelling Dress and saying and making the sounds of each letter in the word, he was copying them. So I went to get the camera and he just sat there and looked at me. I guess I will have to be sneakier. So I was very excited for yesterday because we had playgroup at our house and I thought for sure James would do something with the other kids that I could take a picture of. But here is how playgroup ended up:

The other kids came, I got out his trains and blocks to play with they all sat down and started playing, James sat on my lap, he wouldn't interact with the other kids at all. The other kids went to throw balls at the "puppy" (Loa) James threw a fit because they were playing with his balls. They all wanted drinks of water, James laid on his blanket in the other room sucking on his fingers (this is is comfort mode). He kept grabbing my hand and trying to take me back to his room away from the other kids, and got really mad when I wouldn't go. The best part was when one of the other kids touched his blanket and he flipped out. I guess this is why we do playgroup, to get him used to being around other kids. So here are the pictures I got.

The other kids playing in the tunnel.

James running down the hall.

When their parents came nobody wanted to go home, but James couldn't wait to get them out the door. When everyone was gone he had to go around and play with all his toys, I guess to make sure they were still the same. Hopefully he does better next week when I take him to someone elses house. I also hope that he learns to be a little better by the time his brother is born.

Here is the ultrasound picture labeled. Doug wanted me to add that if you look right between his legs you can see his little boy parts. Again this baby was not shy! Oh and it is OK to have this naked picture because it is not really a picture.

It's a Boy!

We had our ultrasound today and found out we are having another boy! James' reaction when she told us it was a boy, "yea!". I don't think he really knew what he was talking about. Everything looked healthy and we are right on schedule for our May 20th due date.

Who Needs a Flatscreen TV!