every captive thought

Yesterday James and I went over to Raine's house. She introduced James to her guinea pig, Scooter. He was tentative, to say the least. He wasn't sure if it was George or Jude or a wacky combination of the two. He never really figured it out so he thought it best to keep his distance. This morning I got out while it was still dark to get a little shopping done for tonight's festivities. I brought some donuts home for the boys. James can put away some donuts. He even snuck a second one while we weren't looking. Now I'm taking a little break from getting things ready for tonight to stare at this sweet little sleepy face.

James seems to be feeling much better today. And believe it or not, after yesterday, I was brave enough to not only put James back in the bath...but made it a double with his little brother for the first time. Nerves of steel. Then it was off for more play time with the cousins. Jude snuggled with Nana. Christi's boys are so good with babies! It is so sweet! Will put Jude to sleep. Then it was time to "play blocks" when Brad got home from work. Jude took a nap and James made sure he had his glow worm...uhhh...glow seahorse to snuggle with. Brad and James had to take a break for some powdery sugar puppy chow goodness. When James wants a bite of something you have, he can ratchet his mouth open so wide it's alarming. It's similar to a snake unhinging his jaw before devouring his prey. Yikes. (FYI-I googled pictures of a snake unhinging it's jaw and it is far too graphic and disturbing for this sweet little blog.) He is serious about his snacks. And it is

When your day starts out with your two year old pooping in the bathtub 5 minutes before you have to leave for the doctor's office, you would think things could only go up from there. Not s'much. I've heard about this universal phenomenon that all mothers experience at one time or another...sort of a rite of passage into motherhood. I was hoping to avoid it as I don't really love cleaning up poopy messes and whatnot. But today was my day. I wish I could say that I handled things well and kept my cool, but I didn't. At. All. After not-so-gracefully handling the poop situation, re-cleaning James, dressing him and dashing out the door for the doctor's office, I sat through 30 minutes of explaining to James that Honey and Raine were on vacation and we would be seeing a different doctor and nurse. He decided to go ahead and throw a fit anyways when a different doctor and nurse came into to see him. "Where's the Honey?!?!?!" "RAINE!!!!!!!!!

James is having so much fun with his cousins.

This morning before church, James was playing with one of his new toys, "Scout". Scout has a button on his foot that you can push and he yawns and plays lullabies. Every time James pushes that button and hears him yawn he takes him and puts him in bed. So cute. We went to church this morning with Mom and Dad. The real miracle was that all four of us were ready in time for me to make everyone pose for a picture. Christi and her family got into town this afternoon! James asks for "Bwok" all the time. He even talks to him on the phone. He is so excited to have his buddy in town! Usually I am not particularly fond of the day after Christmas but I was excited to see my sister today. Also, I don't like for our Christmas decorations to be up for one second past Christmas, so Brad and I got them all taken down and put away during the boys nap time! Woo-hoo! On to the new year!

Merry Christmas! I hope your day was as joyful, peaceful, and wonderful as mine was. James woke up with less of a fever than he ran last night and acting like he felt a little better. He was happy to find more presents waiting for him! He was thrilled with his toys from Aunt Carrie, Uncle Andy, Morgan and Madison. Next we went to Nana and Papa's and James helped make breakfast. Mom and I made eggs benedict....have you ever tried to poach an egg? It's not easy. Or make hollandaise sauce from scratch? Both things have intimidated me but we conquered our fears and were successful! Delish! Even if I do say so myself. Then James got to open MORE presents! And look!!!! Another Puppy! (I refuse to run out!) And his very own big boy sleeping bag! Time to help clean up...or "pean up" as James says. Jude got out of the chores this year. After breakfast we had a rousing game of scrabble. Of course Mom and I won with our prodigious vocabularies and whatnot. Brad givin