Christmas Morning!

Christmas!

Peepee in the Potty!!!!!

Yeah! Tonight James made his first pee pee in the potty!!! I scared him I got so excited. We were getting ready for bath time, and were in the bathroom. He was naked, waiting to get into the tub, and he said "pee pee" and opened his little potty, sat down, and peed! It was awesome! Even more exciting is that Oma got to be here to see it too! What a great day.

Oma and I also took James to the Museum of the Rockies for the first time today. He liked it ok, and kept calling the dinosaurs "horns". He did get a little bit tentative about some of the sounds that the animated dinos made, but overall he was diggin' it.

So excited about the pee. I have never been so excited about urine.

The End of and Era

The past week has been as especially difficult one here in the O'Callaghan household. On Friday, we had to say goodbye to our old, faithful companion Tioga. His life was becoming more and more difficult everyday, and he was increasingly disoriented. Sean and I spent the whole day with him on Friday. We took him for a walk, and just held him as much as we could. The vet came to our house at 4:45 in the afternoon, and he was peacefully and quietly put to sleep in Sean's arms. Sean is devastated, but knows that it was the right thing to do for Tioga. Our house seems so much emptier without him, and Scout is very distraught. He keeps pacing he house looking for him. James keeps asking for "Ti". I think it will be quite awhile before this family feels whole again...

But, in more positive news, James finally broke his two bottom eye-teeth, which puts an end to teething!!!

Now we all just have this darn cold to get over. Hopefully the worst is behind us.

HAPPY Thanksgiving!!!

We are very lucky this Thanksgiving to be healthy and happy. It is a stunningly beautiful day here in Bozeman and it is supposed to reach 47 degrees today. Hopefully we can enjoy a walk in the woods this afternoon before we head over to our friend's Jen and Kelsey house for a wonderful meal. I spent the morning in the kitchen preparing side dishes for the meal and just popped a beautiful pumpkin pie in the oven. The house smells awesome if I do say so myself. Sean stayed home this morning, and we enjoyed a morning of Alice's restaurant and the Grateful dead (our family traditions. A great day for the O'Callaghan family of Bozeman. Love it!

James has been talking up a storm lately! He is more and more using complete sentences, and sure knows what he wants. He loves to practice opposites and is pretty good! He knows most of the basics like up and down, and clean and dirty, and happy and sad, among others. Pretty neat. Two nights ago, I was getting him ready for bed, and he insisted on putting his socks on himself. We practiced this for about five minutes. He really came close too! He also likes to try to put his pants on himself. He has gotten really good at brushing his teeth, and always asks for his toothbrush at night after his bath. I think it may just be that he likes to suck off the toothpaste, but he actually brushes back and forth too, so that is super cool.

He has finally gotten all of his top teeth! The little points of his eye teeth have popped through but are not all the way in yet, but well on their way. He now has the four middle bottom teeth. So, in short...only two more teeth!!! Thank god.

He is really into his two little stick horses, and Jan taught him how to put the stick in between his legs and trot around the house. It is a total riot. He also loves to read, and regularly backs in to sit on your lap so you can read to him. Cute.

He is also very interested in the potty. He likes to sit on his mini potty when we go to the bathroom. We may undertake potty training shortly here. Especially since he always tells us when he goes, and demands to be changed after he poops.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Howdy all. This has been a week of sickness. James came down with the swine flu on Friday. He was so quiet and cute. Maggie and I took him down to Dillon, MT on Friday afternoon for an afternoon of shopping, and he was awfully quiet the whole way there (almost two hours) and actually fell asleep in the stroller while we were shopping. Which, as you know, is totally unlike him. On he way home he slept and was very quiet. Then we met up with the boys and another couple for Fiesta Mexicana (our Mexican joint) and he was lively, but a little warm. When we got home, he was still a little warm, and seemed really tired, so we took his temp and found that it was 101. On Saturday, he was pretty tired, and in the afternoon he literally sat on the couch and stared off into space. Sean went to Costco in the afternoon and got him the new Curious George movie, and he actually watched his first movie. He just sat there and every few seconds would say "monkey". Pathetic. So cute though. He was super snugly. It was a nice change of pace!

But then Sean and I were mildly afflicted on Tuesday, so that kind of stinks. Sean was barely hit, and I have a very mild case. I even worked this morning until 1. I'm just tired and have a bad headache. We are fine though.

James has been talking up a storm lately and very often says four and five word sentences. He loves to ask questions. Sometimes he calls daddy "Sean". It cracks Sean up. He loves gummy vitamins (be proud auntie Jen!) and calls them "some". He says "I want some", and points to the counter where they live. Then he tries to say vitamin. Funny.

Lately he has been very busy climbing on things and playing with his books. He is completely obsessed with pictures of horses. He loves to back in with his little butt and sit down on your lap and be read too. That's my boy!

He loves to eat too. Man, sometimes he can really put it away. We feed him obsessively healthy food, so his tastes really crack us up sometimes. He loves broccoli and yams. He also screams for tomatoes and whole wheat pasta. His current favorite though is sprouted whole grain pitas with almond and apple butter. Yum!

We are pretty good these days!

Halloween, part 2!

Yeah! We had our second Halloween as a threesome! What a great time we had. We met up with Greg, Lindsay, and Sawyer on Friday night for trick or treating at the Emerson Cultural Center and down Main Street. We had a great time. Then we went out for a pizza dinner together. It was great to spend the holiday time with the Schack family. We dressed James up as a pumpkin, which he totally loved. He has been really, really into pumpkins lately. During October, they "studied" the harvest and fall at school. Which I am sure means that they talked about pumpkins a whole lot. On Halloween evening, we dressed him up again and headed over to the Mall (this is where everyone goes here, which seems very strange to Sean and I) and did a bit more trick or treating. This time, James knew the drill. He was soooo cute. He would walk up to the people handing out candy in front of the stores and say "treat". Adorable! One lady thought he was so cute (because he walked right up to her and kept on going into the store as if he were on a mission to shop) that she said "he is so cute, I just have to give him two pieces". We were dying. He also kept stopping and bending down into his pumpkin pail and rummaging through his goods (which of course, we didn't let him eat).

After the mall, we headed over to Bill and Maggie's for a quick visit. James walked up to the door at their house, knocked (while stating "knock, knock"- his new favorite thing to do) and when Maggie answered, he said "treat!" and started laughing hysterically. Needless to say, Halloween is such a blast with him. I can only imagine how good it is going to be next year, when he can participate even more. For now though, this was one of the best couple of days ever. Amazing, given the fact that his two top eye teeth are both coming in and are just cutting the skin now. What a champ.

Speaking of champ, today, James got his second haircut. Wow, what a contrast to his last one! He just sat up in the chair, Ellie gave him a spin around in the chair, then she whipped out a kids cape, which featured fish and other aquatic creatures on it, which James absolutely loves, and I gave him a sugary granola bar, and he just sat there smiling at Ellie in the mirror enjoying the whole cut. A totally painless and entirely enjoyable experience. How lucky are we?

Catching Up

Ok, so I know it has been awhile. Sorry.

James is a whole new kid, so I'm not really sure where to start. His latest new trick this week, is that he is now combining two words together. Such as "hi daddy/mommy", and "thank you" and "please water (or whatever it is that he wants)". Love it!!! He totally says please and thank you all the time. I knew it would pay off saying it to him all the time. Such a polite little boy. He also says help when he needs it about half the time. We went out to dinner last night for our anniversary (eight years!) and he was completely cracking us and everyone else in the place up. He had the entire waitstaff in stitches, and had us totally rolling. Love him!

He has well over 75 words these days, and is a little chatterbox. He can name most body parts, various foods, clothes, household items, animals, toys, furniture. The trouble sometimes though is understanding him. Since he can't say r's or s's it makes certain words sound very strange.

Up until the weather went south this week, we had been getting him outside quite a bit, and he really love hiking with us in the little backpack. He is a regular nature lover and loves to point out to trees and flowers. He also is completely into animals. Especially cows, horses, and chickens. Particularly the chickens at dad's house. He was way into chasing he chickens around at dad's saying chick-en, chick-en and trying to cockle-doodle-doo! He is super cute. Also, for horses, he clicks his tounge and makes like he is riding a horse with his arm. Really funny.

Overall, we have been having fun lately, but have been super busy. The roughest thing happening, is that Tioga is really going downhill rapidly these days. We are trying to enjoy as much time with him as we can.

Sean is out with Bodie right now for the first pheasant hunt of the year. He has really been looking forward to it, and I have been ready to get Bodie out of the house! Hopefully they are successful. Sean was invited by one of his bosses, who is a huge landowner, to go hunt with him on his property, which has several miles of gallatin river frontage- great pheasant territory. He has really been excited about it this week. Not only that, but his boss is a really nice guy, so it was very nice for him to invite Sean and Bodie.

Here are a few pics of us last weekend hiking down in Big Sky. We had a really nice little Saturday enjoying the scenery, before the fridgid cold hit.

First Haircut

James had his first haircut on Thursday! He looks like such a little boy now! We took him to Ellie, who cuts my hair. He was in a pretty great mood when we got there, but he sure did not like having to sit there and be fussed with. Ellie was literally chasing him around the salon with the scissors cutting his hair. I must say, she is really good, because his haircut looks great. And, she didn't even charge us. He really is a big boy now.

After the haircut we walked downtown to the malt shop and got milkshakes. James loved it.

Ok, well we are still packing for vacation, and should be out the door today by 11AM. Catch you all in a few weeks. We are off to Glacier and Flathead lake for a week of nothingness.

Teething is our life

Ok, so I really strongly believe that our life totally focuses on James and his teething. I swear though, this time it is bad. Three teeth, including two molars, are working their way through right now. Ouch! James is drooling like he never has before. Talk about crabby. He does this thing where he flings his arms to his chest and clutches them together and screams "noooo" with this little inflection, with his lips pursed. If it wasn't so annoying, it would be cute. But, we know the poor little thing is really hurting, so we are just giving him extra time with the pacifier. One of the molars is pretty much all the way through, and one eye-tooth is just about there, so we are now just waiting on the last bottom molar. Phew. Should get easier from here on the teething front...right?

Otherwise James is getting really fun. It is becoming more and more evident everyday that he is less of a baby, and more and more a little boy. He is pretty good at verbally communicating his needs. He uses a few sign/gestures to let us know what he wants or needs. He is totally obsessed with the "itsy-bitsy spider". He does the hand movements and says "bi bi bi" for spider. And tonight, we were reading his current favorite book "Moo, Baa, La la la" and he was seriously reading it to himself- kind of. He knew what the pictures meant, and how we always do the sounds. Really cool to see him learn things, and remember them.

He has been really sweet though lately, through the crabby pain. So fun to see his full personality unfolding.

We are good. Super busy, but good. Sean sold the Tundra this past Friday, and bought a used GMC truck. That is what is new with us. We are REALLY looking forward to taking off this weekend for a week away. We are hitching up the camper and taking off in the direction of Glacier and Flathead Lake. I can't wait. It will be fun to have eight whole days of "camping". I love the camper!

Oh yeah, James got his first real shiner a week ago on Sunday. He fell onto a Matchbox car at Sawyer's house, which punctured a little hole in about an inch below his eye, and it almost instantly gave him a black eye. He looks pretty cool. It has reached the highlighter phase and is kind of yellow-green now. People keep commenting "what does the other kid look like. Funny.

These days

So these days James has been exercising his independence whole-heartedly. Earlier this week I was beginning to become dismayed, as he just would not let us do anything for him. No being held, no feeding him, nothing. But then on Thursday, the most wonderful thing happened which totally made up for it: He gave me his first real kiss! He leaned into me with his cute little lips pursed and made the mmmmm sound. I was in heaven! So, that made up for it. I was really excited.

He is pretty crabby today (and yesterday), and I think he has a little cold, or just a really bad case of teething. But we have been having fun anyway. Yesterday, we woke up very early and all went outside to the garden together to pick fresh raspberries for breakfast. James learned how to pick the ripe ones and eat them right off the bush. We had a great old time!

Bird

James pointed at a magpie today and said "bird". We were reading a book with a picture of a bird last night, and I kept pointing to the bird and telling him what it was. Today, Dawn, his teacher said that when they were playing outside and he saw the bird, he got really excited and pointed and said bird.

Smarty-pants.

Catching Up

Ok, so I know it has been to long since I posted anything. And for that, I say..Sorry. It has been a very busy couple of months. We have been going full tilt trying to keep up with work, the house, James, and our sanity, as well as trying to enjoy the great summer weather that is finally upon us. So, what is new you ask.... lots. I'll try to catch up with a list:

• James broke his first molar on June 16
• His second molar broke on Thursday (July 16-wow, didn't notice it was a month apart!)
• As of the last week in June (I wrote them all down) he had 22 words: I am guessing there is about 30 now
• He loves to say "touch" and then touch stuff with a sweeping motion
• He also still loves to rub his hands together and say "wash" as in wash his hands
• He runs everywhere now, walking is so two months ago
• He gets up and down stairs great
• Outside is the only place to be, and he whines, crys, and throws a tantrum when he can't go out
• Dogs are the only animal out there, with the exception of a cat: All large animals are dogs, small are cats (even chickens are cats)

Overall, James is still very pleasant. He has a pretty even disposition, but is full of energy, and loves to have his own way. In the past few weeks, he has really become a toddler. Every day, he is a little bit less of a baby. And lately, he is all about dada.

He still loves school. He also loves cars and trucks, his shoes, animals, laying on the ground, bananas, blueberries, cheese (all food is cheese, with the exception of fruit and veggies, and bread), outside, coolers (especially ones that roll), balls, and hoses. He also loves camping (thank god). He hates mac and cheese (good boy). He loves running errands, and going out to dinner, and going to the awesome new dinosaur playground. Any playground for that matter. He loves to eat raspberries out of our garden and like to pick the strawberries out of the plant and eat them right up. He also loves little girls. He is really a first class flirt. So cute to watch.

We are having a great time with him. Yesterday, we went to the county fair to see the animals. It was a blast. They had a great petting zoo. We have been camping a few times in our new camper, which he loves. He especially loves to hide get out of his bed, and whip the curtain back and laugh hysterically at how slick he is. So funny.

It's been hot here the past few days (high 90's, low 100"s) so we took James to sushi to beat having to heat up the house cooking on Saturday night. He loved it. He just loves people watching.

Virginia came to visit on July 3 and stayed for five days. It was so great to be able to have time with her in one big chunk. We went camping for 4th of July weekend, and had a blast. James and Liam loved each other. Liam is so great, and so smart! What a ham! When they left, the next day James kept screaming and going into the spare bedroom looking for Liam. He was so upset that he was gone! It was great in a way, to know that our boys really loved each other. They had a ball playing and talking together.

I promise to do more updates from now on.

Surgery Day

Today was the little guy's surgery.  We had to be at the hospital at 6:30. We were so lucky that James woke up this morning in a great mood, even though our normal morning routine was way off.  We could tell that he was hungry, but he still was pleasant.  When we got to the hospital, he enjoyed checking everything out and playing with the really neat forehead thermometer. He did great.  When it was time for the procedure and they took him to the OR without us, he didn't cry at all.  The doctor said that he was amazingly good, and just looked around and was very well behaved with no crying or whining.  The ear tubes procedure went fine, as did the double frenulectomy.  He was pretty upset though when he woke up from the anesthesia.  Man was he screaming.  But he brought it down to whimering in about 15 minutes and we were released just before 9am.  

Once we made it home, he was still sad, and probably hungry, so we made him a smoothie, and he played for a little bit before going down for a nap.  Once he had a nap, he woke up in a great mood.  Although his ears are discharging  bunch of bloody goop, and earlier his mouth was bleeding like crazy.  He is in a great mood now.  He just fell asleep for his afternoon nap.   I am really glad that we made the decision to do this.  The Dr. reported that he had a bunch of really thick fluid in his ears, that would not have passed.  In addition, he also reported that James' tongue- tie was pretty tight, and that his upper lip attachment was very thick and attached, and he probably would not have grown out of it.  Glad to know that we did the right thing.  

So now we are on the mend, and can hopefully move forward this summer with no more ear infections!

Rough week

This week was a rough one.  We found out that James has allergies, and has to get tubes in his ears.  Additionally, he is teething with a vengeance, and was sent home from school on Thursday for biting.  He is having ear tube surgery on Wednesday.  So, since they are going to have to put him under anyway, we decided to go ahead and have his tongue-tie and lip attachment fixed as well at the same time.  So he is also having a double frenectomy.  Poor little guy! He has been on he pretty crabby and whiny side this week.

On the up-side though, he is such a ham.  He is communicating pretty well these days.  Even if that just means pointing at stuff and whining that he wants something.  He is really into graham crackers and watermelon.  I think he likes the watermelon because he can gnaw on the rind, and it feels good on his teeth.  The other night, he took over Maggie's slice of WM and had a death-grip on her hand so she couldn't take the piece away.  Super funny.  He is also way into frozen blueberries.  

New Stuff

James is a whirlwind of new stuff these days.  He has all sorts of new words, and movements.  This week he figured out how to bend down and pick things up from standing, and can really stand up on his own now.  He loves to walk around swinging his arms.  It is so cute.  He also loves to "dance".  To him, this means, when he hears music, he swings his arms from side to side with limp wrists and bobs his head.  It is a total riot.  He just yesterday did this while standing.  So cute!

James learned how to say no today.  I think that is all I need to say...

Walking!!!

Big day...BIG DAY!!!  I came home late from work tonight, opened the front door, and Sean let James go and he walked all the way across the living room, into the entryway, and into my arms! According to Sarah, James' daycare teacher, he didn't need any toys this afternoon, as he was to busy walking.  Sean said when he picked him up from school, he was playing in front of the mirror, very busy staring at himself, and when he noticed that Dad was there, he got up and walked over.  It's like he just got up this morning and decided, I think I'll walk and stand today!  I had a huge feeling that the second that he figured out that he could stand on his own, he would just start walking confidently, and that is exactly what happened.  Yesterday, he wouldn't even stand in the middle of the room.  Heck, this morning he wouldn't!  Now, he is all over the place.  No hesitation, no thought, no just a few steps.  We are talking all the way across the house!  

I am so glad that Sean kept him up so I was able to see it.  What a proud day for us.  We are so pleased and excited.  Let the chaos truly begin...

More Birthday!

Birthday Shots!

First Birthday!!!

Wow, I can't believe the day is already over.  James' first birthday came and went, just like the last year.  We had such a wonderful day. He slept reasonably well last night and woke up ready to party!  What a day.  The three of us snuggled together and enjoyed the morning.  We enjoyed breakfast with Oma and Papa.  James dined on a buckwheat and blueberry waffle, sliced mango and blackberries, and Nancy's honey yogurt.  He is enjoying being 1 just for the honey!  When Oma and Papa went off to Easter services at the local church, we played and enjoyed watching him go about his day.  He took some good naps, and went for a walk with Judy and Pat.  We had a great party at 1, and all his buddies made it.  Mom made a birthday cake for the party, and dad made a special carrot cake with applesauce and no sugar.  It was teriffic!  James had a great time.

  

Ammendment:  James cut his top left tooth in March.  He cut the top right on Monday.  Important details...

New Tooth!

James finally broke his sixth tooth on Monday.  Yeah!  He now has six pearly whites.  It was a rough go this time around, and there are several more on number six's heels.  There is a whole lot of drooling going on.  Teething is rough.  He had a bit of a bout with a fever the other night upon he arrival of number six.  We thought he had another ear infection.  But, thankfully, it was just the tooth.  He slept VERY poorly on Monday night when the tooth was breaking through, but last night, he made up for it by sleeping from 7PM until 6AM.  Amazing.  We just may be getting back on track sleeping.  He had great nights on Saturday and Sunday as well.  Let's see how he does tonight....

I can not believe that James is going to turn one on Sunday.  This past year has gone by so fast.  When I look at James, I can hardly believe that a whole year ago, he was just a tiny little thing.  In a way, it makes me so sad, to know that his first year is already over.  It is truly amazing how much babies change in one year.  What a year it has been.  

He is learning to shake his head when he doesn't want something.  I know that no is just around the corner.  Tonight we had a meltdown over dinner, and an early bedtime.  He just wasn't into eating tonight.  Naps at school today didn't go well, and I think he was tired and ready for bed.  

James really loves to go to school.  He has such fun playing with all of the toys, and interacting with the other kids.  His teachers report that he is the most independent baby they have.  He is always happy when he is there and enjoys having free reign of a whole area.  Not like at home where there are off limits spaces and stuff not for little babies to touch.  Good stuff.  We are so lucky to have such a wonderful place for him to go during the day.

Last week, James had his sixth plane trip.  We had such a nice visit with everyone in Orange County.  He is getting harder, though, to keep occupied on the plane.  I think that when he starts walking, it could be trouble keeping him under control.  So great to see family though.  Totally worth it.

Picnic in the Park

Today we hd a very nice picnic in the park with Jen and Kelsey, whose baby is due anytime now.  It was very nice.  See pictures.  Soon, we are going to get in the car and head on over to Big R to take James to see the little baby chicks and ducks.  He will love it!!!!!!

He sure is a happy little guy, talking up a storm.  He is testing the boundries right now by touching the computer.  Now he's off to go pund on the window.  Into everything....