Olympic track and field trials

For those of you who don't know, the Olympic track and field trials are here in our hometown yet again. We didn't want to pay $50 per person to go inside, but we did want to check out the free festival, so that's what we did today! James had a blast running the toddler obstacle course, running on the giant Nike track, and meeting the UO duck. We sat in the Safeway cafe and watched the steeplechase women's event on a giant screen next to the stadium. There was also a thing called a Speed Tunnel you could walk through and it made a light representation of how fast the runners were going in real time. James was a bit scared of it because it was dark and loud, but it was pretty neat.

Overall, good times were had by all!

Here is a link to a video of James meeting the UO duck

Jame's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had James's 2nd b-day party this weekend. It was a Ratatouille-themed party (James's favorite movie) and we had a great time!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the party:

Here is a slideshow of some of the other pics from the party (and his actual birthday day):

And a link to the album:

James 2nd Birthday

James wasn't terribly excited about opening his presents, but he did love what was in them (he had some help from his friend Henry opening them). He got a Mickey Mouse camp set, a new Library play house made by his grandma, me and his great-aunt Diane, a pillow pet, a Mr. Potato Head playset, a shake n' go Lightning McQueen, some wonderful new books (he really likes Drummer Hoff), and many other wonderful gifts.

While playing with the playhouse, he stuck his head out the window of the library and said "hi" to our friend Jenny! I didn't hear it, but others did and said he did it twice. That's the first time he's said it that we are sure of! He's also been saying what I think is "owl," and he's been using a ton of sign language recently since we started focusing on the DVDs again.

Also, today when we were playing with his new Mickey Mouse playset, he opened the door to the fridge (which has a sticker with pics of food on it) and had Pluto go over to it and then made munching sounds that he makes while he is eating. It's the first time I've seen him do any kind of pretend play besides making his cars drive around the room!

Anyway, the party was a success and James had a blast running around with his cousins and his friend Henry. He smiled so much and looked so happy, and he even recognized Gusteau on the poster and Remy the mouse. He kept squeaking like a mouse when he saw them different places, it was so sweet. :-) Love that little 2-year-old boy! <3

Mariner's Weekend!

We headed up to Seattle for a Mariner's game this weekend with Grandpa on Father's Day. James missed his nap and had gotten up at 6am that day, so he was EXHAUSTED... add that to the fact that he's the only kid in the world who won't sleep in the car and we had a 3.5hr drive home, and it was along day. But the game was fun, and Eliot and James wore their matching shirts that I made. This is the only time he slept all day, and he woke up after 10 minutes because the game ended. And Eliot is rocking his free fishing hat that they gave away as a promotion from Trader Joes. :-)

Bump Tracker!

For some reason, when I post pics on here, all my formatting gets messed up. So here is my bump progression, from 4 weeks, 14 weeks, 20 weeks and the last one at 25 weeks!

Picture progression...

Here is James as a newborn: And at 1 year: And today!!

James is 2 years old!!

James turned 2 years old today! We didn't do too much to celebrate, as we already went to a baseball game this past weekend and we have a party for him coming up this coming weekend. We did let James open up some gifts this morning, and he had a great time! The terrible twos came out in full-force though this afternoon, and he has been getting into everything ALL THE TIME. It's been a day of time-outs. So though he got to watch some Ratatouille (his favorite movie besides Cars) and play with his new water table (inside, because it was cold out), he still was pretty crabby most of the day. Oh well... Here is a link to some pics: James's Second Birthday Album And a video of him exploring his new table this morning! The cutest thing that happened all day was that when James got his new chair from Mimi Helen and Grandpa Mark, he saw it and kept signing "spider." I told him there were no spiders, and then looked again and sure enough, there was a big spider on the cushion! Eliot got rid of it, but James remained steadfast in his belief that a spider lived in the chair... it took a LOT of convincing him that the spider was gone before he would try sitting in it, and when he did, he kept signing "spider" and "where." :-) My little boy is TWO!!!

2 years ago...

I was in labor, headed to the hospital since my water had broken 12 hrs previous. James was coming, but slowly, so they sped things along with put icon (yuck) and by 7:05 the next morning, James was born. I remember it all so clearly, I can't believe it was 2 years ago already. He is growing up so fast...
And so in about 7 hrs, my little baby boy will be a 2 year old. My, how time flies. I can't believe how much I love him and just want to hold onto him forever. He'll always be my tiny little baby.

Uh-oh

James has learned the word "uh-oh" and uses it all the time now... If some thing falls, breaks, or won't open. It's been a joy to hear him "talk" even a little bit! Tonight, while I was reading him a book about different musical instruments, I said, "this is the Oboe" to which he replied "uh-oh" because that's what he thought I said! I laughed and repeated the difference for him, then asked him if he could say Oboe and he shook his head no. But then when I asked him if he could say Uh-oh he repeated it right away. Guess he will just go at his own pace. :-)

James's 24th Month

I am slowly but surely adding pics to James's 24th Month album... I can't believe he's going to be 2 in just a couple weeks. Forgive me while I go cry... Here is a link to the album with the new pics!

James 24th Month

First trip to the dentist!

James had his first trip to the dentist today, and I wish I could say we have picks of him smiling and holding a toothbrush, but no such luck. Because of a scheduling snafu, I was scheduled to have my appt at the same time as James, which put me in the waiting room filling out papers while James was with Eliot, screaming his head off as they simply brushed his teeth. When the receptionist saw how distressed this made me, she let me go back with them and hold James, who was nearly hysterical.
Turns out, James's 2y molars are coming in as we speak, which not only means he's in pain, but also that he hates having his mouth touched and wants only Mommy. So even though I was supposed to be at my appt, the nice people moved things around so I could stay with him through his checkup. The doctor came in, and, with more screaming, looked at his teeth and said they looked great, which is always good to hear. Then, before I could calm James down, I had to walk away to my own checkup, which, according to Eliot, made James cry all the way home and for 30 min once they got home.
My checkup was great, though they couldn't fit me in for a cleaning do I have to go back later. It was nice to have a few minutes alone in the chair to rest before heading home to my poor teething toddler and traumatized husband.
The kicker is I tried hard to prep James about the dentist before we went... We read books about it and talked about it. But I think it was too scary, new, and painful for him to feel comfortable about it.
Anyway, at least it's over. And his teeth are clean. :-)
Here us the one pic I did get... James was none too thrilled to be there.