Baby's First Christmas!

We had a busy day today, and James started the day very crabby, but ended in perfection!  Santa is ready to get the show on the road!  Sean and I are currently enjoying a bit of peace and quiet, watching A Christmas Story, and putting together a little Radio Flyer cart that was handed down from my friend and master's advisor, Betsy's twins.  They sure did enjoy it, and Betsy thought James would too.  She gives great hand-me-downs!  I just looked over at Sean and it occured to me that he is putting together his first Christmas present.  Fun!

We had a great Christmas dinner tonight at home with just the three of us.  I made a whole chicken, roasted, pilaf, and peas.  It was about all that Sean could take, since he is still getting over a terrible flu that he came down with on Sunday.  Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow!  James dined this evening on pumpkin, tofu, and avocado.  I gave him a rice cake later when we were eating to give him something to do.  He loves the rice cakes!  I gave him one yesterday for the first time, and he was totally into it.  He enjoyed having something that big to hold onto and just chew.  I think he liked the power of being able to feed himself something so large. 

He really has a more varied diet these days, bus still loves his nursing time (happy mom!).  He gets so excited at nursing time, and has been doing so well with it this past week.  I really love it. Especially when he takes his little hand and "cruises" with it.  Sometimes he will rub my face, hold on to my nose, stick his fingers in my mouth, or just rub my chin.  I love it!  Almost always he is kicking his legs, and when he when he is really happy, I don't know how he even stays on, because he starts almost jumping!  So cute!  

Well, we can't wait for tomorrow!  More of an update later!

Saturday, December 20

I can't believe I let it go so long without an update!!  Things in the O'Callaghan household sure have been busy lately.  There is no shortage of new things going on here these days.  Starting with how  quickly James gets around now.  Phew!  He is into everything!  We knew it was coming, but were really not fully prepared to lose our sweet little baby to this free-wheeling little boy!  Ces't le vie!  We're getting used to the new drill, and really enjoying this new phase.  He is such a little delight.  I can't believe how often Sean and I look at him and smile with pride.   

Tonight, Sean reported that James crawled up to a sleeping Tioga and licked him.  Yes, that's right, the baby licked the dog.  Apparently, James thought it was hilarious, but Tioga just thought it was strange and got up and walked away. James continues to find the dogs to be a continuous source of wonder and amusement. Thank god!!!  

We recently made a trip to California, for James fifth plane trip.  He is quite the little traveler. He is really great to travel with.  He just has a great time playing on the plane and I love the opportunity to hold him in my arms for the extended period of time.  At the end of the first flight though, he was a little wired, and was actually hanging from the seat in front of us on his own.  Seriously, hanging with his hands, and fully suspended kicking his legs.  He just sort of reached out and grabbed on.  At one point I let go of him, just to see what kind of grip he actually had, and let me tell you, he stayed there.  Baby pull-ups.  Who would have known.  He also discovered the little knob for the tray table, which kept him quite occupied throughout the flights.  

Sean keeps saying that I left with one baby and came back with another one!  James sure did master a few skills in the four days we were gone.  He really mastered pulling up to standing, cruising, and a few new expressive habits (a little loud yelp when excited or happy).  Along with this, he now refuses to go to bed at night.  All he wants to do is stand up in his crib and "party" when it comes time to go to bed.  As soon as you put him down, he rolls over, crawls to the edge of his crib, stands up and starts jumping up and down and having a grand old time.  We then open the door to put him back down, and he turns his head to you with a giant grin on his face, and starts giggling.  It is really hard to keep a straight face.  But we have to be firm here (yeah, right).  We tell him "no", put him back down, and start over.  I think part of it is that we have been pretty off of the schedule and rather sleep deprived since our trip.  We had a busy week since our return, and are just now getting back on track.  Actually, it was much easier to get him down tonight, and we actually made the 7:00 bed time.  I must say though, he is still a good little sleeper and is a champ at sleeping through the night.  

James is eating all sorts of new things now.  He east most fruits and veggies, tofu, and yesterday we started yogurt!  He is a great eater, and opens his mouth wide and gets so excited to eat and moves all over the place in his little seat.  He is into feeding himself tofu and avocado.  James is still nursing and it was a little challenging last week, but is once again going swimmingly.  I attribute the little trouble last week with a tremendous growth spurt.  He is really getting to be so big!

Today Sean and I went Christmans shopping as parents for the first time today.  I was so excited.  I haven't been this excted for christmas in years!  I know that James is only eight months old, but it is our first Christmas as parents!!!  We just got him a few small things, and don't ever plan to make Christmas a big deal in terms of gifts, but I am excited to show James pictures of his first presants from Santa.  I am even tolerating Christmas music, which generally drives me crazy.  I even found myself humming today, and selecting the Holiday Traditions station on the XM channel on the TV (thanks mom and Gary) this morning.  I don't know what has come over me.  Must be this whole parenthood thing.  Who knew it would make me go "soft".  Good grief, Charlie Brown.

Well, it is getting late, so I'm off to bed!

 

Crawling!!!

Well, James has crawled a few times to date, but nothing like today!  Today is the day that James officially is crawling.  He is all over the place on his little knees.  He woke up this morning and decided that today was the day and first thing crawled six feet across the living room floor.  He crawled at daycare and tonight when we got home.  Sean and I are so excited.  We also know that life that we know it now know it is over.  What an exciting day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving!  It is a beautiful day in Bozeman, Montana!  The sun is shining, it is cold, and Sean is out Elk hunting.  I am in domestic bliss in the kitchen listening to the Greatful Dead, and James playing in his crib, when he is supposed to be taking a nap...The sounds that are coming from the monitor are cracking me up.  I am waiting for Alice's Restaurant to come on the radio at 10:00 (it has to be listened too on the radio).

We are going to Bill and Maggie's for dinner at 3:00.  It will be a great gathering with Wyn and Brian and Addie (James' best friend, he's already going for older women) and Wyn's friends Nadim and Heidi, and Greg and Lindsay and Sawyer.  It will be great.

Sean and I had our second date last night since James was born.  "Uncle" Bill insisted on watching James last night while we went to this great Spanish Tapas restaurant in town.  We had a great meal (bacon wrapped dates!) and a nice time just enjoying each others company.

James has added nananana to his repertoire of vocabulary.  What a ham!  He figured out how to open the TV cabinet and doors yesterday, so now comes the fun time of really childproofing the house and locking stuff up.  He sat in front of the cabinet yesterday just opening it and closing it, then looking over at me as if to say, "hey, check me out!  I am really good at this!" He has also gotten really good at pulling himself up onto things.  He loves to sit up on his knees while holding onto something and shake himself while yelling "ahhahhahhahhahh".  Hilarious.

He now sleeps curled up in a little ball with his knees tucked under himself and snuggled up with his monkey.  He is consistent in his sleep patterns to the point that I am consistent in them!  He goes to bed usually by 6:45 (we just can't keep him up any later!) and wakes up for his nighttime nurse and 4:15.  I think a nine and a half hour stretch is pretty good!  Then he usually goes back to sleep for about two to three more hours.  

I think that his favorite time of the day though is bath time.  He can be on the verge of a total meltdown, then hear the tub water filling up and immediately become blissfully happy!  I always take a bath with him, and he love it.  We "swim" in the tub, he loves to blow bubbles in the water, splash with his hands, kick the water ferociously with his feet/legs, and play with his bath toys, especially this little plastic bath time book that Grammy got him.  It is just the best.  We sure do have a great time during bath time.  Come to think of it, it may be my favorite time of the day too...

He is really into books right now.  He just loves to turn the page.  You can tell him "turn page" and he turns it and then totally cracks up.  Does he understand that he is obeying a command?  Can he really understand turn page?  Seems too, and then is really proud of himself.  I take little board books with us everywhere and he just sits there for long periods of time and turns the page.  He does this with the books at school too.  

Well, I could go on and on, but I'll save some for another post.  Love to you all!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunday, November 23

Just want to make a quick post that today, James handed me something for the first time.  He had a teething ring in his hand, and when I came and sat down next to him, he held it out for me to take.  When I took it, he smiled and laughed.  It was great...We passed it back and forth this way several times.  

good day...