James James James

After a tough week (surgery, 6 month shots, and 2 new teeth coming in) James has still been all smiles as usual.  He is trying so so hard to crawl and gets up on all 4's constantly and rocks back and forth.  He is such a sweetie and giggles at us all the time. Tonight we had some fun playtime with James while Grafton spent the night with DeeDee and Pops, so we snapped some fun pictures of the little dude.

Spoiled in Hot Springs

We took the children to Hot Springs for a long weekend and were not prepared to be spoiled rotten by my Aunt the way we were!  We had not been there in a year and a half and were so excited to take some time off to visit with family and see the city.  My grandparents rented us a house and my Aunt filled the fridge with our favorite snacks, planned out our days with shopping, sight-seeing, and play-time, and kept our bellies full with some wonderful meals.  Our kids were spoiled with new clothes, new toys, and fun fun fun memories!  Grafton had such a good time that she didn't even want to leave BJ's house when the time came to go home!!  It was a special weekend with some sweet and special people who I love so much and am excited to share my family with. Nothing makes me happier than sharing my children with people who love them, and they definitely got a lot of lovin' this weekend!

Grafton the astronaut!

 In the NASA exhibit

 touching moon rock!

 playing peek-a-boo with Aunt BJ

 Grafton said SHE was reading Clifford that night!

 Playing with his new toys!

 So excited to get new trains and tracks

 happy boy

 Fun times at the science museum

 making sounds in the sound exhibit

 the kids playing in the funky mirrors

 James loved the electricity ball

 Grafton spent 15 minutes playing with this!

 My cute boys!

 LOVE this boy

 James the astronaut!

 Family photo op!

 My sweet Aunt with the fam!

Sweetest kisses in the world

 Sacked out after a fun fun trip!

James' 1st surgery

Sweet baby James had his first experience with surgery last Monday when he had his tongue clipped for being slightly tongue-tied. I noticed his tongue tie at a week old, but after observing him for a couple months the Doctors decided not to do anything about it yet since it wasn't affecting his eating.  We decided to go ahead and have the surgery at 6 months old so that it wouldn't affect his speech in any way.  The surgery was very quick, required a stitch or two, and was painless for the most part.  He did have to get anesthesia which made us nervous, but James did perfectly! He was smiling the entire morning and won over all the nurses and Doctors at the surgery center.  They all had to hold him and talk to him beforehand, saying he was the happiest little guy they had seen!  Here are a few pictures from the morning prior to surgery...

All smiles pre-surgery...

 And still so happy post-surgery!

Father's Day

Eric had a fun Father's Day weekend beginning with a trip to Clarksdale to visit his family, a dinner at the Ravine with his brother Jason and some friends and family, then church and relaxing with the kids and my family on Sunday. We didn't get too many pictures from the weekend but here are a few...

Cousin love

Madelyn brought Leyton over to swim a couple of weeks ago and Grafton was so excited to play with her cousin! They had a blast swimming and eating lunch together and probably picked up a few of each other's bad habits!! That weekend we went to Clarksdale to visit Eric's family and all Grafton could talk about was cousin Leyton.  She has such a fun time with him and it is precious seeing her develop such a love for her cousin.

Painting!

There is nothing like homemade gifts, right?! This year for Father's Day Grafton painted bird houses for Eric and Pops and had such a fun time doing it! It was her first experience with paint brushes, and she loved them!  She has a fun time watching birds out the window so we thought this would be a special project she could do for her Daddy and Pops- and they both loved the gift!

More milestones!

Last week was a big week for sweet James- he cut 2 new top teeth, mastered sitting up on his own, and is rocking back and forth on his hands and knees (trying SOOO hard to crawl!).  It is precious seeing those top teeth coming in when he smiles, but I also miss that big gummy grin who always gave me!  Now that he sits up so well it has opened up a whole new world for him....an for Grafton!  He now wants to play with allllll of Grafton's toys, and she is not so sure that she wants to share them!  It has been fun to watch the kids play together- Grafton does share her blocks, her puzzles (not realizing he is too small to play with them), and her books (which she reads to him!).  And now that he is rocking back and forth, she is getting so excited about James crawling soon!  Our world is REALLY about to change!  Here are some pictures from the last week....

Big boy sitting up!

 James loved to play with Grafton's Mickey Mouse!

 grabbing Mickey's hands

 playing blocks together

 big boy

 hours of entertainment...sitting in front of the mirror!

 So sweet to see them play together

 Grafton brought James a puzzle...too bad he is too little to play!

 Reading a book together

 As I was shopping on Saturday, Grafton had a game going of putting bows in James' hair! He loved the attention but I am pretty sure his Daddy did not love the girlie hair-do!

 The beginning of years of torture from his big sissy!

 Listening to music in the Grove Sunday night

 James loved the concert in the Grove!

 Grafton and cousin Henry playing in the Grove during the concert

 Sweet boy