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?