The Photo Shoot

We got James' 15 month pictures made on Friday. They didn't upload too great to my computer, but here are a few of them. It was a crazy session! James got REALLY excited and was having a good time. He was making Daniel and I laugh so hard! James was constantly on the go.....he never seemed to stop moving. We have no idea how they managed to get any good pictures of our Energizer Bunny!

15 Months Old

Jamer had his 15 month well child check up yesterday. It was quite an event! James hated the whole thing, except the wait in the waiting room (where he pushed a little chair around the whole time). He did not like the exam at all, especially the stethoscope, and the finger stick and shots were yucky all around. We can tell you he weighed 25 lbs 14 oz (50-75th percentile) and that his head circumference was 50cm (95th+percentile). He was wiggling and squirming so much that they could not get an accurate measurement of his height and I think they sort of gave up fighting him to be still. In fact, they told us he was 1/4 inch shorter than he was 3 months ago (he was 32 in. then). I'm posting a couple of pictures from yesterday, the 15 month mark. Although I firmly believe in the safety benefits of rear-facing car seats until children exceed the rear-facing weight limit, I admit we finally turned James around this week. We had to because he was miserable and cramped and driving us crazy on the road trip we took. James is loving facing forward so much I do not think I will be able to turn him back around now that he has had a taste of forward facing. Looking at his sweet face in the rearview mirror is awfully fun so I guess I look at that as a perk.

We have been having a lot of fun playing with James and getting out in the warm weather. He has been giving us lots of kisses and high fives and of course, his funny faces continue.He has spent many hours in the past few days playing with a large cardboard box. You would think this is the coolest toy he has ever had. The box is finally starting to tear after having him climb in and out of it numerous times. On a not so fun note, James is keeping us on our toes and testing his boundaries at every turn. We have been dealing with some early signs of tantrum behavior (mostly screaming and a little hitting Mommy) occassionally when we tell him no or when he can't express his wants/needs to us, although after reading some message boards, I realize it could be much worse. At this point we have some ideas from the pediatrician on what to try and it seems kind of like a waiting game until 18 months or so when he will hopefully be able to have a better understanding of consequeunces and a better command of his vocabulary. So we are just taking it a day at a time and trying to figure out this whole discipline thing. Whenever we have parenting in the bag, we get a wild card but that is just the way it goes. Stay tuned for more on how this cutie is pushing the limits!

Latest news from here is that we went on an awesome trip to B'Ham this past week over Spring Break. We had a wonderful time, but believe it or not I did not take a single picture. I am hoping to get some from family soon and post them on here along with more about what all we did while we were there. On the baby front, I am now about halfway through this pregnancy and can't believe how the time is flying by. We think we have (finally!) decided on baby furniture and bedding and a double stroller. We are starting to make all those big and exciting purchases this week. I can't wait! This week, after getting back from our trip, we started work on the playroom. The playroom used to be our guest room but since we only have guests once a month or so, we decided that we could better use that space as a room for the kids. Feels so awesome to say "kids"! We moved everything out and painted the room, installed a fan with a light fixture, and have started putting up lots of shelving. We still have to hang the valence, put up some decorative touches and load the room with the tons of toys which have taken over our house, but we are getting there. It has been a really fun project. We will post some pictures once we get it done. That's all for now.


Will I ever stop cracking up at these faces?

For everyone (ahem, NANA!!!) who believes James does not pout......here ya go!

What'cha thinking about little guy?

Enjoying some mashed potatoes.....all by himself! Using utensils is a very new development. James reached up on the table, grabbed a spoon and started eating out of a dish last night. Tonight we decided to give it a go and it went really well. He actually managed to feed himself and play a lot at the same time. :-)

The Giggles

Daddy can always bring on a fit on the giggles.....

We won the Grocery Game!

So we heard about this awesome idea from our friend Kelli. Thanks Kelli! This rocks! Check out this website: www.thegrocerygame.com and read up on how it works. The basic idea is that you "stockpile" food when there are good deals so that you never have to pay full price for what you need. Pretty cool.

Since I will be off of work for 3 months for maternity leave beginning in August, we are tightening our belt to save, save, save! We figured we would try it and we were amazed. All you do is sign up and you get info on great deals and coupons at local stores of your choice. It is SOOO neat how it works. Daniel even said he enjoyed the trip to the store because it was actually like a game and he loved watching the money just come off the purchase while we were ringing up the items. It is very specific and was really easy. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes and we saved $91.99 at the store today!!! If you decide to check it out, please say you were referred by us so we can win some free weeks of service (the email you can use in the referral is duffyls@gmail.com). The service is very cheap anyway though and we would recommend it to everyone to try at least one time and see if you like it.

After only one trip we are convinced! Check our our receipt!

They were deliciously deceived!

Thank you Jessica Seinfeld! My son and my husband have both consumed veggies today and it is only 10:45am!

The evidence!



The secret!



The outcome!

And, YES, if you are familiar with Deceptively Delicious then you know I technically cheated. Instead of using my food processor to puree baked sweet potatoes, I instead dumped in 4 oz. of commercially baked and pureed sweet potatoes. It works!!!! :-)

The Bump

Here are the first bump pictures which were taken in the last week. About 17/18 weeks along in these shots. And, yes, I am headless in these for a good reason. Right now I look like I could star in a Proactiv commercial. Hoping these pregnancy hormones get under control soon. I am planning a visit to the dermatologist so hopefully I will be able to post my full body preggo pics in the near future!

It's for you!

Ring....ring....

Yes, I am a batch blogger!

Ok, so life is hectic lately at the Duffy house. This means that I have to save up my blog thoughts and then blog like a crazy blog addict when I can squeeze it in. The result? What I have dubbed Batch Blogging! What are we so busy with you might be wondering?

Here goes:
- Daniel is still on the evening shift, so I am home alone with James 4 nights a week (but we are doing AWESOME at this and are blessed that we both have good jobs in this scary economy)

- The Math TAKS test (big state test) is less than a month away! YIKES! Plus, my job continues to have unrealistic expectations about exactly what one can do in a 24 hour period. But I love it and those crazy kids I am lucky enough to teach everyday.

- We are moving rooms around in our house...getting rid of a guest room and creating a play room and a nursery. This means that I have to let go of my pack rat ways and part with cherished items such as broken Halloween decorations from the mid 1980s and settle on light fixtures and paint colors. Hard for a pregnant woman to do!

-Oh, yes. That reminds me.....I am 18 weeks pregnant. Need I say more?

- We live with a 14 month old who is the most energetic, curious, messy, stubborn and achingly sweet person we have ever met. This means we spend much of our days chasing, playing with toys, singing songs, reading books, taking walks, tickling, bathing, dressing, diapering, feeding, going to the park, visiting friends, arranging playdates, saying no, distracting, redirecting, kissing and hugging.....all for 27 lbs of pure sweetness.

There are lots of other things, such as my desire to tackle other home improvement projects, finish James' first year scrapbook, and cook two dinners from scratch each week (while trying to hide veggies in them....thank you Deceptively Delicious, and freezing half for later on......thank you OAMC) that keep me on my toes. So, here are a few more pics we have snapped lately of the BEST thing going on in our life - JAMER!


Getting into the drawer....well, trying hard to. Thank goodness for latches!

What happened to the knob? We have to hide it because SOMEONE likes to start the dishwasher.

Looking at one of his favorite books in a quiet moment at our house.

Oh James! You melt my heart!

14 Months!

As any parent will tell you, toddlerhood does have some downsides (read: screaming, teething, throwing food over the side of the high chair, totally stubborn and irrational behavior, the unpredictable love/hate relationship with bath time, and the moving/misplacement of anything in the home that is not nailed down), but let me tell you, it sure is a BLAST! I have not had such a good time in a long time...watching this tiny baby turn into a real little person is the most exciting journey of my life! The best thing about toddlerhood has got to be that we are finally able to communicate back and forth with each other to some extent. James understands quite a number of words and will respond to what you say by going certain places in the house ("Ready to go to bed?" - He goes to his crib and points), bringing you certain items("Ring, ring! Is it for me?" - He brings his toy phone) or laughing if he thinks it is funny (his response to just about anything). Lately, playing with James has become much more interactive. He also loves horseplay and loves being chased and tickled. James is really into his toys, especially cars. He enjoys "reading" his books and pointing out different characters in the books as we look at them. This is one of the only times that James will slow down enough to sit in my lap these days. We have to do a toy and book rotation every few weeks to keep things interesting. Right now James' favorite things are his singing alligator and his pushing ball popper. He also dances to pretty much any music and I am going to try to get some video of that soon. We have been able to go on a lot of walks in the nice weather lately and make more trips to local parks and the library. We are hoping Spring is here to stay because we are ready for a visit to the zoo!