Kyle, Tawnya, James, and William

And it unfolds

2012-01-30T18:30:00.000-08:00

So I haven't really posted much because I feel like there isn't much to post. The good news is things are getting better. In fact, things are great. We still have the continuing struggles of getting around this city, but I guess its just become part of how things work. Kyle is still working at Staples and is looking into switching over to becoming a substitute teacher. We are hoping that will be better as he begins getting his teaching certification so he can be a high school teacher in a couple years. We will see how that works out, but we're hoping it will get him home a little more. Kyle is doing well in the BMI workshop. He is learning a lot and we remind ourselves all the time that that is the reason we are here, which makes it all worth it. So as far as the update on our lives, that is really it. We are doing great and feeling happy and grateful and blessed. We are learning about keeping a bigger perspective on life, which has made everything easier.

So updates with the kids now. William started crawling about a month ago! He is at full speed now and is getting into everything. He loves to be into everything and part of everything. Sometimes I can't even get him to eat because he is afraid he is going to miss out on something! As soon as he started crawling he stopped wanting to be held all the time and went back to his pleasant and happy self. All I have to do is set him down with toys and he is happy for a long time! His favorite thing EVER is taking a bath. If he hears the water running there is nothing stopping that kid from diving in head first (except a very nervous mommy)! He will laugh and splash for as long as I leave him in there, which is never that long because I am quickly covered in water and he slips all over the place!! He also just adores James. James can make him laugh any time of the day--even mid cry. William is getting old enough to play a little more with James, which makes them both happy!

James is getting bigger and bigger and I can hardly believe it. He is finally potty trained! Although, he still has some occasional accidents. It was funny how it finally worked out. I tried everything I could to get him potty trained, but it was like as soon as he decided he wanted to I didn't have to do a thing. He tells me when he has to go and all I have to do is help him get there. Nice. He also has an increasingly interesting vocabulary like, "awful", and "terrific," but my favorite is, "uhhh..... sure!" when responding to a question, or, "no problem," when I tell him thanks for something. He is so fun...most of the time :)

So here are some pictures and videos!

James loves to help will everything I do. He actually did a pretty good job feeding William!

This is from Staten Island looking at Manhattan. We came here on a drive to look around and were suprised at how pretty it is there.

William is really ticklish!

William in the bath...they both have fun.

I caught this video of James without him knowing. I don't know where he gets his moves. Some of them are all his own! He has also and a very fast growth spurt lately, which explains why is jammies are too small. Please ignore the plumber :)

We've had trouble in getting to Solla Sollew

2011-11-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

So here we are in Brooklyn New York! I hardly know where to begin with an update on the last couple months of our lives. There is no question it has been the hardest struggle Kyle and I have gone through together so far, yet we have been strengthened and we have been blessed to see many small and large miracles. Kyle took some time to write many of our experiences in his blog, so to make this easier here is his post if you are interested in details.http://www.Kylefackrellmusic.com/blog.html Since I really can't say it better, I'm not going to add many details.

What we have found at the end of this journey, is that God is so aware of us and he has heard our prayers. We are not done yet though. It has been a struggle here in Brooklyn. Kyle's work hours are long and the pay is little. I am struggling to find a way to get around this city with two children! It is so different! Most stores don't have parking lots! That means for a lot of looking for parking and walking and fighting traffic (not my most favorite thing). So, it has been an interesting experience. I also am finding that I don't really like city living. It is so busy and noisy and crowded. Our ward is also very different from what we are used to. This is a cool thing in many ways. It is fun to be the minority and to listen to a range of accents and experiences from all over the world. It is neat to be around so many different kinds of people. There aren't many kids in the ward though, so I am hoping to get to know people in neighboring wards that we can be friends with for play dates and things like that. Despite the challenges of living here, I have been able to find some places that are easier to get to and there are some beautiful parks and beaches very near. I do keep in mind that it takes a long time to feel at home in a new place. So, we are going to give it a couple years. The longer I am here the better I get at city living and I know there is a reason we are here. I think I can say pretty confidently that this is not where we want to settle down by any means, but I am hopeful that it will become a place that we will be sad to leave when the time comes. We will see how our journey unfolds.

Here are some pictures. Sorry about the poor quality, they are from my phone, I can't find our regular camera at the moment...in a box somewhere maybe!?

Also, to those of you who are wanting to visit NYC you have a place to make home base for a couple days! We are about 1 hour from our door to Manhattan on the subway, shorter by cab. We would love to have visitors and we have a living room and a blow-up mattress and couches! Feel free to call or email and reserve at date at the Fackrell Inn. :)

Here are some pictures and other updates.

So, in the craziness of everything James has stated to not take a regular nap, and when he does he won't go to sleep at night! So, we have tried to keep him awake in order to keep bedtime reasonable. (With a nap he will literlly stay up until 11 still bouncing around!!) However, the poor child still gets tired and will fall asleep anywhere. We are getting into a better pattern now that things are a little more stable, but in the transition it was funny to see all the places he fell asleep!

Yes, he is totally asleep here!

Also, WIlliam is growing and I am pretty sure he is bigger than James was at this age. He is not a great sleeper anymore, although he is getting better. He is 4 1/2 months and I just put the 12 month clothes in his drawers because he has grown out of most of the 9 months clothes! He is quick to smile and laugh and he adores James. He will watch him and smile at him all the time. He prefers to be held and is not great at being left while I do things, so my arm is getting strong to say the least. My patience is being tried at times too. :) He has started rolling both ways in the last few weeks and he grabs at everything!

James being a "light pole" at Prospect Park

Sadly we didn't get to do anything Halloween related this year because of
weather and James was sick, but he is a darn cute pirate!

Here are some pictures of our new house, as it is right now...so its not really clean and organized, but if I wait until its perfect, i will never get pictures. :)

This is our house! The lady standing in front is the angel that owns it and is letting us rent from her for ridiculously low price. She is standing on her level and we are on the bottom just below her.

from front door before we got couches

from the kitchen

play area behind the couches (one of my favorite thing about this house is that it feels much more spacious than we expected for a NYC apartment.)

kitchen is very open and i can see the whole room from here!

go up the stairs to two bedrooms and a bathroom

our bedroom

boys room...needs some serious decorating...maybe someday!

James and William

2011-08-04T11:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I've officially been on my own, with no help for about 2 weeks. I have to say, I am so much busier and I can't keep up with the chores! I am really trying to find a balance of play and work, but it seems like I can never get all my work done to start the play. Anyway, it has been a bit of a struggle, but I'm hanging in there. I figure that this has been done before...some have even raised more than two kids, though I can't imagine how at this point! :) Anyway, here are some pictures from this week. Also, my sister Megan pointed out to me some pictures of James and william at about the same age, I thought it was pretty amazing how much they look alike, so I decided to put them on here too.

James making William smile. That made me smile, despite how disobedient James was being at the moment.

William at 7 weeks

James at about 10 weeks.

William at about 4 weeks.

James at about 6 weeks.

Here's a quick catch up!

2011-07-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a busy and happy last few weeks. William is growing and healthy and he is a sweet and easy baby. James loves his little brother and calls him, "my William,"which actually comes out more like, "my yuyum". Its a little hard for him to pronounce. We have been so blessed to have my Mom and Dan here for so long. They were a wonderful help and we had so much fun! I'm so glad they got me through the transition of one kid to two. It would have been much much harder and a lot less fun without them! Also my sisters all came to visit and Kyle's parents came to visit, which made it even more fun! So, all around we had a fun month! Here are some pictures, not really in order or anything, just the highlights.

We are thinking his eyes are blue! Its still hard to tell if they'll stay that way, but so far it looks like they will!

William is a good smiler. This isn't the best one, but it shows his cute little smile.

James was spoiled with lots of playmates. This was a sweet action shot!

Fireworks on the 4th! (well this was the day before)

William cuddling with his future cousin :)

On our way home from the beach!

This was on the blessing day for William. It was a sweet blessing.

We went to the Grand Caverns, which was so fun and beautiful. James thought it was so cool too!

James raising one eyebrow. He's still working on getting the other one up, but it makes me laugh. I love this picture!

Welcome Baby William!

2011-06-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, the time finally came! Actually, William came right on his due date! That was a nice surprise. My water broke at about 1:30 am and he was born at 1:18pm weighing 10 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Maybe I will post the whole story later...I thought I would just get pictures up right now, but if you are dying to hear the whole birth story right this minute call me! I will tell you! To keep it short, I labored for 12 hours, including 2 hours of pushing, then after no progress and a very stuck head I got a c-section. All of my questions about what my body can do were answered in the experience and I feel at total peace with how things turned out, even though I really wanted a regular birth. I am grateful that everything worked out the way it did and I feel very blessed. Most importantly we feel an overwhelming love and gratitude for this beautiful baby. We love him so much. So here are some highlights from the last week.

This is a day or two before he was born. Man, was I tired. And yes, that is a basketball under Kyle's shirt....its still too small!

Here are my two labor supporters (Kyle and my Mom). I wouldn't have been able to get so far without them.

Proud big brother. James really loves little William and is anxious to hold him and to take care of him
and to share with him!

First family picture with our new little one.

I think I have this exact picture of James...I think they look so much alike!

First outing to doctors appointment at 4 days old.

We are so glad to have him finally here. So far he is a very sweet and mild baby. He sleeps really well at night, so much that I think I am resting better than I was the last month of pregnancy! He is mellow and happy and sleepy. He's growing and eating a lot! I am recovering really well and I'm so grateful to have my mom and Dan here to help take care of the house and the meals and James (and to keep us entertained:)) It has made this recovery so much better. What a blessing!

Latest Update

2011-05-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

I had to put this one in. James is eating a cracker with just mustard on it! He could-and does-eat mustard plain. Yuck is all I have to say. He got that from his daddy. Also, we are working on his smile for cameras! He is finally getting it! This was his face when I asked him to smile :)

This is my shadow. The bottom bump is James at my legs. Just thought that was a funny image.

Kyle has started his own window washing business in our area for the summer. He has been quite successful so far and we feel very blessed in that way. So, as far as an update with jobs go, Kyle has applied to about a billion jobs and we are still waiting to hear from most of them! We are hopeful, but a little unsure as to what the next few months could bring! We could be anywhere...he's applied to places in CA, AZ, CT, NY, NC, VA, NJ umm....and bunch more I think. So, most of the time we choose to look at this waiting time as an adventure! How fun! Anyway, in the mean time Hopefully window washing will continue to take care of us until we know what's next!

So, BIG news is Kyle graduated this last week! It was actually on our 5th anniversary too, so that made for a busy and memorable day!

Here is Kyle in the very back row. He's the one about a head taller then everyone else. :) Their major was the very last of all to be called up, so it made for a lot of waiting, but it was great to see him accomplish such a wonderful thing. Thank you to all of you who have supported our family in millions of ways so that he could do this and I could be home with James. We have been very blessed along the way.

Here is the happy graduate! Yay Kyle! To see a 1 minute video of Kyle's graduation click here!

Here is me today...I'm almost 35 weeks. The pregnancy update is that I have a healthy baby, but I am measuring big! So they wanted to do an ultrasound to measure the baby and get a better idea. As we expected, this little boy is measuring at about 38 weeks right now. So he is about 7.5 lbs! It is hard to tell for sure, but they project him to be between 10 and 11 lbs by the due date. I guess we will all just have to wait and see! We are getting so excited to welcome this little boy into our little family.

Easter

2011-04-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

For Easter we went to our friend's house and had a wonderful time. This is the same friend that is letting us borrow their nice camera for a few months!!! I am so excited to learn how to play with it. Here are a few pictures that I've taken...so much better than the point-and-shoot. We will enjoy this while it lasts!!

Easter outfit

For the little Easter egg hunt he found about 5 eggs, then decided he
didn't want any more, he was content with what was inside them!

Playing at the park...and I was playing with the camera. :)

James says he is Buzz Lightyear when he swings like this and he says, "To infinity and beyond!"

Pregnant picture

2011-03-31T18:21:00.000-07:00

So I am doing a special blog post because at least once a day I go through this conversation:

Random stranger: "Wow, when are you due?"
Me: "Mid June, I still have three months left."
Stranger: "Is is twins?"
Me: "Nope, I'm just big. I have big babies."

Then I leave the conversation feeling like I am an abnormal giant carrying a giant baby. So for all of you who think I am big now...let's compare!

Me today at 29 weeks along...no I didn't shower or fix my hair...just look at the belly.

One day past due with James.

So, compared to myself I am right on track:)

Just sayin'.

Feb 2011

2011-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here is James feeding Woody. He is getting into a new pretend stage that is so fun. He loves to take care of all his toys by giving them naps and changing their diapers and they all talk to each other, of course. He has also had conversations between spoons, m&m's, fruit snacks, and all the regular toys too. The conversations usually go like this, "Hi, I'm blue spoon." "Hi" "Take a nap! Night night." "Shhhh he's sleeping." "Wake up!" And he does this over and over.

This was a video of James singing happy birthday for Kyle's birthday last week. He did a lot of practicing, then we heard it about a billion times that day.

This one is in here to document Kyle's beard he's had for a month or so....I finally talked him into it! And I think it is staying until summer.

Here's the News!!

2011-02-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well, here's the news!! Its a boy!!! Due June 17th. We are so excited and James seems excited for a baby brother too! We feel so blessed. Who knows what makes one pregnancy stay and others fail, but we are glad that this little boy is strong and healthy.

Starting again...

2011-01-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

So, it has been a long time since I've blogged...mostly because I used to always post videos, but now I can't get them to post so I have less motivation to post pictures. Don't know why. Anyway, I decided to not try to play catch up from the last few months, or I will never post again. So we are just starting from what I got off my camera today!

At Christmas we flew to Denver to be with my family, which was really fun. James thought it was so fun to ride in the plane! This is the only picture we have of the trip because my wonderful sister Megan became the photographer with their new camera for the whole trip...maybe I will post some of those later. Maybe not :)

This is a funny trio of toys that James has decided must be together and must be played with at all times. Buzz light year, Bob the builder, and James the Pirate (James named the pirate). These three have spent many hours together riding in the boat and falling off and getting hurt, then kissing the hurt spot to make them better. They also collect items that are found on the living room floor!

This was just a classic picture...I had to put it in.

So you can pretty much get James to do anything if there is ice cream at the end! He asks for it for every meal and amazingly can be full of everything else, but have plenty of room for ice cream! There is no better way to make his day then to give him ice cream.....hmmm this reminds me of someone. :)

So that is all for now. At least it is something! I'm making progress.

September

2010-09-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

So, there isn't really much to update, we haven't done that much in the last month or so. Kyle is back at school and is very busy with his assistantship, classes and also he is working on getting his musical produced here. So he is busy and James and I are trying to find things to do. :) Life is great though. Here are some funny updates of James.

This is a funny game James started playing just while we were taking this video. Glad we caught it!

To help pass the time I decided to play Blues Clues with James since he loves that show. This was pretty fun for James.

Last week I was watching another little boy for a few hours and he came wearing this hat. It provided a lot of entertainment for James--and me too!

This is just a funny video where James was laughing a lot.

He wanted to be just like Daddy and found his helmet and bike gloves and insisted on riding his bike.

I just looked back to see what James was doing the other day and he was falling asleep making this face. I don't know why, but we thought it was pretty funny.

2010-08-16T10:03:00.000-07:00

Things have slowed down for us the last little while and we are getting ready to start back into regular routine since Kyle goes back to school in a couple weeks.

This is James and our neighbor friend playing in the pool and eating watermelon!

We also realised that James like to sing! We don't really understand what he says in his songs yet, but I think this one started out as "Itsy bitsy spider" then turned into something about his yummy spagetti.

This is another video of his new favorite game.

James has started getting really good at building with blocks. He likes to build really high towers until they fall down and then he does it again!

PS. I am having a hard time getting videos on this page, so I am putting more on my facebook page if anyone id interested in watching more of The James Show! :) Hopefully I will figure out what the issue is!

Summer Family Fun

2010-07-18T17:46:00.001-07:00

The last month or so has been crazy and fun around here. We had Megan come and visit, then John joined her at the end of the week and we went to DC. Then Kyle's parents came to visit, and we went to DC. Then they took us up to visit Kurt and Bronwyn's family and we all took a day trip to Palmyra with Nate and Renee's family. We got home from that trip in time for Mom and Dan to arrive from Uruguay (in fact, they beat us home!) They visited for a couple weeks and now it is boring old us again. Most of August is still open for anyone who would like to reserve a date. :)
This is Kyle and James vacuuming the house getting ready for all of our guests.
With Megan we went on a hike in the Shenandoah National Park

Here is Megan and John with James in DC.

Kyle and his parents in DC. We took a tour on the open top busses. That was a really fun way to see the city.
This is at the National Cathedral (we didn't even know it existed before this trip) it was amazing. This is Keith teaching our son necessary boy skills.
This is at Kurt and Bronwyn's house.
While in Palmyra we visited Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove.

James riding Teo, Bronwyn's horse. He loved it and kept saying, "Up, up!" after his turn was over.
Keith and Jill and all their grandkids. It was so fun to be with everyone.
Next, we have my mom and Dan. This is my mom and James jumping in a bouncy thing at the 4th of July (on the 3rd) parade.
We also took a trip to the National Zoo in Washington DC. It was HOT. So here is Dan and James going through the mister things that really only made it feel more humid. We had fun though.

May catch up

2010-05-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

The weather has been so nice here. We have been getting lots of rain and lots of sunny humid days and we have been out side whenever possible. We walk and play with balls and play with James' cars and play at the park. It is SO nice to get out! Here is James and his best neighbor friend. They play nice for a while, then fight like siblings...it is so great to have such great neighbors!!

Me and James out front. Yay for all the blooming flowers!

We went to this beautiful park while my Grandparents were visiting. We had so much fun with them for a few days! James loves animals and bugs and anything that moves really. He had a fun time feeding and chasing the ducks.

We went camping one night, which was James' first time. He had a ball! He especially liked the tent and slept surprisingly well.
Hiking...same day.

This month Kyle and I had our 4 year anniversary! Can it be four years already? Weird. A great four years.

This is the view I get at one point when I go walking in the morning. James doesn't let me skip a day! I had to bring my camera one day, I just love that I get to see that.
This was just a funny video of James...like usual. He is getting so big and is saying all kinds of words...we probably still need to translate for him most of the time, but it is so nice to communicate with him!

This is Kyle and James playing the piano and singing. You might need to turn the volume down before you play it. It is loud, but funny to watch James. ( I can't remember why James doesn't have a shirt on.)

Videos as promised

2010-05-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of funny videos. James really makes us laugh.

April

2010-04-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

So we went up to the DC temple (which I forgot to get a pictures of!) and Kyle and I were switching turns going in and taking care of James, well in the confusion of leaving in the morning we realised that we forgot to put shoes on James! So I said, "Just run to the store and get some shoes. We needed a pair anyway." Kyle said, "I'll take care of it. Have a nice time in the temple." This is what I came back to! Kyle invented duct tape shoes for James in which he went on a walk and went to the park and ran around the playground in! I wouldn't have ever thought of that, but it saved us 10 bucks!

Here is what they did while I was in the temple.
Finally it is sunny and warmish most of the time! James is obsessed with playing outside on our driveway and in the grass. We both have amazing farmers tans and sandal lines because of it! It has been really nice to get out of the house.
James' hair is finally long enough to be messy. Here is the worst it has ever been (and it calmed down within about 10 minutes).
Easter...right, we are going backwards in the month. That is how the pictures loaded. James enjoyed the Easter egg hunts we went on and caught onto the idea a little bit. It is fun that he is getting old enough to do more fun things with him.
Our friends brought their parachute to the egg hunt so the kids could play. All the kids were running underneath it and playing while the adults were lifting it up, except James wanted to be on the outside with all the adults! Aparently that looked more fun!

I am trying to figure out how to get videos onto this new computer...a friend gave us their old computer right as ours was becoming unusable! What a blessing! We are really enjoying it.

Words James can say

2010-03-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

James is getting really good at saying a bunch of words so I tried to catch some of them on video. Since it is kind of hard to put them all on this blog I put one on and a link to a bunch more small videos of James talking. Click here to see the videos.

Chinese outfit

2010-03-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Funny thing James does...

2010-03-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

I never thought putting things on your head could be so fun!

We're working on getting James to express himself in a quieter way...

Nothing unusual

2010-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had a couple feet of snow here the last few days. After the storm cleared, we went out to enjoy the sun! James LOVES going outside, in fact I don't even say the word "shoes" until we are about to walk out the door, otherwise he gets upset!
I gave James his first haircut! I really only cut a little off the back, it was looking mullet-like and catching on his collar. We took care of that!

James has learned a new word "stinky" which adds to his vocabulary of mommy, daddy, shoe, hello, no no, and uh oh.

James has started babbling a lot and then looking at us and expecting us to understand what he is saying. So funny.

Hats and ducks

2010-01-25T11:13:00.000-08:00

We have this adorable hat. James is pretty good with keeping hats on, but he wouldn't keep this hat on at all. It wasn't until we showed him how he looks with it on that he started to leave it on. He is so funny.

We finally caught him doing Pat-a-cake on video. It is amazing what he is learning.

Here is a video of him making a duck noise. He also will say what a dog says, but we haven't caught that on video yet!

Christmas

2010-01-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had a huge snow storm right before we left for Christmas, so we took the opportunity to play in all the snow. We put trash bags over James' legs as make-shift snow boots---it totally worked! Here is him all geared up for our little jaunt.

Christmas at the Connecticut Fackrell's!

We had such a fun time visiting Kyle's family! It was good to be with family, and fun to have a break from regular routine. Here is the group!

Here is James' newest face that he makes...I can't imagine where he learned to give this look.

Sisters-in-law wearing the aprons I made.

We did so many fun things on this trip. We went to the Yankee Candle store...it had a pirate ship to climb on...and a bunch of other fun things to do!

Kyle and his brothers and Dad.

We went to this really cool restuarant, but before we got in we had some time to kill in the mall so Kyle took James on escalator rides.

We spent some time playing on the Wii, which James really liked.

James also learned a new word and I caught it on camera.

James' newest dance.

Cute pictures

2009-12-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

So, when we titled the blog "Kyle, Tawnya, and James" we should have just titled it "James". Anyway, here are some cute pictures. Snow day! It didn't last long, but is was fun to have one snowy day.

This bear was a gift in a white elephant gift exchange we did...we were quite surprised to come home with a bear twice James' size, but he loves it.

James has started mimicking us more.It is amazing to see him learning so fast. Here is him sweeping...
Sorry this video is a little dark. James kept bringing me my purse and wasn't satisfied until I helped him put it on. It took me a little while to figure out what he wanted!

Here is a video of him sweeping with the big broom.

Happy Birthday James!

2009-12-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wow! James is one year old. It is amazing how fast it has gone by. What a blessing it has been to have him in our lives.

So I took a video of the birthday song and the eating the cake, but it is too long to put on here. Anyone know another way to post a long video?

Here are the cupcakes I made...

He wasn't in a great mood until he saw the cupcakes.

Here is James just before I took the tray away and cleaned him up.

Presents! He was mostly uninterested, but that was because we gave him this basketball hoop first. He just wanted to play with it and not open any of the other presents. Eventually we persuaded him (by hiding the basketball hoop).

This adorable outfit was from Grammy and Papa Ferrell. I LOVE this. He is so cute.

Anything with a beat...

2009-12-02T08:28:00.001-08:00

I tried to catch some of the times that James dances. It doesn't seem to matter if it's music or not as long as it has a beat!

Music

The breadmaker

Piano music

His own singing...I think

Kyle clapping

He also has danced to the clicking of the shopping cart wheel, the printer, the sound of me grading lemon peel, and this blog entry.--Funny kid.

Didn't see the camera

2009-11-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

So as soon as I said he wouldn't walk for the camera, he did!

Hiking and more...

2009-11-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from hiking. We took a couple days to go visit Kyle's cousin Tyler (and Jenny and Carter) in Roanoke and the weather was so nice that we went out hiking!

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and James so far.

Thats all for today....Next post: James' 1st birthday!! (Unless we get a really good walking video before then--he refuses to walk when I get the camera out.)

WALKING!! and Halloween too

2009-11-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

James is nearly 11 months and he is starting to walk. Yesterday he made a lot of progress so we recorded it! Later in the evening he walked accross the room, but of course we didn't get that on tape! In this video he was holding a cup, which I think was a big help because he didn't want to drop it so he could crawl---his only other option is to walk! Here is a video of a few steps.

(For our record) Some of James' other recent developments are:

He throws a fit when he doesn't get what he wants! But is easily distractable and quick to laugh.
He can say "Uh oh"...except it comes out as, "uh uh" and he can say, "Bye bye" which comes out as, "Buh buh"
He weighs 27 lbs and is 31 inches tall. (He just had a check-up.)
Eats bugs when his parents aren't looking.
Has discovered water in the toilet.

This is just a cute video of him playing catch with dad. This is one of his favorite games.

HALLOWEEN!

We went to our church Trunk-or-treat and had a great time. James really liked wearing his costume. I think it was because of the little straps to hold the claws on his hands. James won cutest costume for under three year olds! There wasn't much competition, but I'm sure he would have still won had there been more! :) Kyle also was suckered into a pie eating competition...didn't win, but didn't loose his lunch either! What a great weekend!

Day Trip!

2009-10-21T19:50:00.001-07:00

Kyle had to do some research at the Smithsonian, so we decided to make a day of it. The weather was uncooperative, but we bundeled up and James was a good sport. So this is what we saw.

Secondly, I got a pie dish. If you have a pie dish you need to make a pie! Here is my first pie that I baked all by myself. Tasted great and looked...ok. Side note: I LOVE this kitchen.

Lastly, since I have a serious addiction to taking videos of James here is one that I thought was funny. He was so wound up so his solution was to pace and yell.

This will make you smile

2009-10-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

So here's what we've been up to!

2009-09-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

So in the move our table unfortunately was squashed...fortunately, the frame which was metal was not squashed! So trying to be a little crafty to save money we went to Home Depot and bought some wood, sanded it, nailed it together, stained it, and finished it. This is what we ended up with. It's not perfect, but we think for some non-builderish kind of people we did a good job!

James' sleeping schedule has finally settled in. It took a little while for him to sleep through the night after the move. After trying everything, but mostly just from praying really hard, he is finally improving. He sleeps through the night again and his naps are getting much better. Thank goodness! Here is a picture of James after one of his naps. He was just playing...and making noises. I don't even know how long he had been awake by the time I came and got him!

This is a picture of his friend who lives upstairs; I get to watch her once a week. It is funny to watch them play together. Mostly it consists of James chasing her around and her crawling away from him in fear...he's a little rough. Here is him trying to do what she is doing but not really succeeding. Hasn't gotten the idea of a sippy cup yet. :)

Bath time!!

This is a video of James playing the piano, which is one of his favorite toys. If only his arms were a little longer!

This video was funny. James just has so much energy. He is everywhere at once.

James is also making great walking progress!

Our new house

2009-08-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

So here is a silent video of our house....I made a video commenting on all the different rooms, but it sounded too dumb, so I think you can pretty much tell which room is which without me explaining. Crib=James' room, washer drier=laundry room etc. :) We really love it here.

To Virginia!

2009-08-24T07:14:00.001-07:00

So we started our journey west and we have finally arrived! We stared in California and ended in Virginia. We are all so glad to be done with long driving days! We love our new place. It is a very nice upgrade. (Pictures to come when the house is clean.) We have been working on unpacking and getting settled so we feel quite at home.

We have been so welcomed by the neighbors and by our ward. In the week and a half that we've have been here I have already been to two separate play groups, we've been invited to dinner two times and have had four visits from people in the neighborhood or in the ward who were just stopping by to welcome us here. We also have more dinner invitations for this coming week. We are living with such nice people. That has been an answer to prayers.

Here are some pictures of our trip out here. This is a picture of the place we stayed in Nauvoo.

The Women's Garden in Nauvoo.

Adom-Ondi-Ahman

Here is the truck that brought our stuff to us!!
James decided that the perfect time to start getting teeth was as we were traveling! He went from no teeth to six teeth in about three weeks--poor kid. He sure has a cute smile though. :)

We haven't been able to stop James from crawling everywhere...this is kind of a boring video, but you can see how good he has become at crawling.

Crawling!

2009-08-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally have a crawling baby... for better or for worse :) We are so proud!

How the World Tastes...

2009-07-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk!

2009-06-30T10:32:00.001-07:00

Saturday we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk! Kyle and I rode rides while Kyle's parents sat on the Beach and watched James. We had so much fun going back and forth from the beach to the rides. It was a full and fun day!

This is our little ape man's newest development!

Peek-a-boo

2009-06-21T19:10:00.001-07:00

This is James' new game. We are amazed.

Alcatraz

2009-06-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

So we went to Alcatraz as a little day trip! These are the pictures---as requested---but they're not that great! Sorry. We had a fun day riding the ferry out to the island and seeing the little community there. It was pretty amazing. Glad I didn't have to live there, whew. It made me glad for my freedom.

The Beach!

2009-06-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

We have been waiting for a sunny day to go introduce James to the beach, so here are pictures of our trip. Yay for living close to the beach!!

California!

2009-06-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

We've made it to California and are settling down. We are excited to be here! Kyle has gotten right to work (music writing, and work for his dad)....here is his office in the back yard. It is a nice little set-up. Sorry it is kind of dark, but the shed is back through this gazebo-thing.

Here is James in the backyard. This was one of the only sunny days we've had so far. Its been mostly cloudy!

Here is a video of James entertaining.

Lots to update

2009-05-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

So, we have a lot to update! Kyle graduated in April! Yay Kyle! Also, we decided to accept the offer for admittence into James Madison University in Virginia. So after staying in California for the summer, we are going across country to reside in the east! We are excited for that new adventure, but really sad to leave Provo. It's bitter-sweet. Fortunately, we were very blessed to find a great apartment there in Virginia. It will be an upgrade for us--it has a real garage and a separate laundry room and tons of closet space. So that makes the move a little easier.

I just finished teaching, so we have a couple days to pack (we haven't even started) and store our stuff and we'll be heading out to California this week. We are really looking forward to our summer in Califoria with Kyle's parents. I forsee many trips to the beach....I am especially happy to finally be home with my little boy.

Here are a couple pictures of our Memorial day adventure to the Timpanogus caves. It was a fun family outing and the perfect day for it.

Kyle was quite the trooper to carry James in the carier all day---I still had to tell him to slow down! Here is James getting ready to take a nap about halfway up the mountain.

James has made some milestones in the last month or so. He can roll over and he does this all over the room as a mode of transportation. He is pretty pleased with himself except when he wants to go forward--can't quite coordinate arms and legs enough to crawl yet. He can also sit up on his own!

Here is him playing his little piano. He's a natural---so far he had played it with his tongue, chin, hands and feet! Whatever gets it to make noise!

This is just a classic one that I had to put in for the record. He was really sleepy. Side note--he was awake and smiling while Kyle was bouncing him on his knee about 30 seconds before I started recording.

The James Show

2009-04-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

We can hardly believe how fast James is growing and changing. So here are his newest developments...some of which make us wonder :)

Holds his own bottle!

Easter outfit...thanks to Nate and Renee!

No idea what he is doing.

Maybe thinking about possibly starting to crawl.

A deep talk with dad.

Excersize? Not really sure about this one either.

Megan and James doing a lip buzzing thing.

Good News!

2009-03-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, we have some great news! We have been waiting to hear back from Grad schools and we finally got two acceptance letters last week!! (Go Kyle!) One was at James Madison in Virginia, and the other was at University of Louiville in Kentucky. We are still waiting to hear from two more schools, so we don't have any decisions made yet. We are just grateful to know we don't have to use our non-existant backup plans. What a blessing.

James is just about 4 months old now. He continues to grow and to keep our lives fun and interesting! He is talking a lot lately, so we tried to catch it on video. Here are some pictures of our growing boy.

This is what I leave in the morning. :(

Discovered his toes...check out the leg rolls!

This is for my mom...

2009-03-05T19:11:00.000-08:00

I know we just posted a video of James laughing, but this one is even better.

Laughing

2009-03-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Lets be honest...James is the most exciting thing in our lives right now so here is him being cute and laughing. He is watching Kyle juggling. We think he is pretty cute. :)

Pictures

2009-02-21T13:34:00.001-08:00

We got our first family pictures taken a little while ago, so I thought I would put them up. We love them. They are taken by my good friend Megan, she is amazing! ..here is a link to her site. http://megruth.com/

Two Months and Sleeping!

2009-02-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

James (who is pretty much our whole life) is growing so fast! We took him in for his two month check up this week and he weighs 16 lbs!!! That puts him in the 99.7 percentile! He is huge. He has also grown 3 inches since he was born making him 25 inches. He is already wearing some 6 month clothes. We can hardly keep the right size of clothes in his drawers! I think we have gotten over the initial shock of the change in life style now as parents. We have gotten into some routines. One that we can thank James for is our sleeping! He will sleeps through the night! This last week 4 of the nights he slept 8 hours....no one is complaining here!!

I (Tawnya) am back at school teaching, which has been hard. Luckily (counting our blessings) Kyle gets to be Mr. Mom at home and goes to school in the afternoons. He is really loving it. The two of them have bonded:) We are also waiting to hear back from grad schools still. It has been a bit of a test of our faith. Who knows what will happen.

Here are some pictures :)

Sorry about the sideways pictures....:)

One Month!

2009-01-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that one month has passed since our last entry. Time does fly. What do I say about how wonderfully our lives have changed? James is so fun to have around. I don't think there was anything anybody could have said to prepare us for the 24 hour a day job as parents, it has been quite the change. We love it.

This is how James acts in the middle of the night... It makes us not want to try to make him sleep! we're softies.

Yay for the Good News!!!

2008-12-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it!! James was born on December 4th at 7:45 pm. (Yes, that is 6 days late!) It went pretty well though. I was scheduled to be induced the next day, but he decided that he wanted to come earlier! I was glad that I went into labor because I really did not want to be induced. Anyway, we went in Thursday morning and everything was looking good. Then we hit about 6pm and I had not made any progress and my body stopped having contractions. The doctor looked at all of the different options and after 6 hours of no change he decided that we needed to do a C-section. It looks like I take after my mom in that my bones just won't move to fit a baby through. I was very dissapointed that we had to do that, but when the doctors were taking him out I felt very reassured. They said the cord was wrapped around his neck 2 times and that he was 10 lbs 2 ounces! We are just grateful that he is strong and healthy. I am recovering well now too. James is a little backwards with his slepping schedule--he sleeps all day and is awake all night!

Despite the long nights and soreness, it has been a wonderful adjustment to make in our lives. We just feel so grateful that we were blessed with this beautiful child. He has us all wrapped around his little fingers! We love him so much.

Here are some pictures and a video for your delight :)

Waiting....

2008-12-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello family and friends!

I thought I would write a little note for all of you who are wondering about the baby. I am now 4 days overdue and we are still waiting! We figure he is just so warm and cozy in there that he doesn't want to come out into this chilly world. I don't really blame him. I am still feeling great, although I am not at school--I am at home on pre-maternity leave doing fun things with my mom! I guess I can't really complain about that either! I do have to admit that as hard as it is to have this delayed, I am so grateful that I have made it this far. I know not everyone has the luxury of being pregnant and keeping the baby full term. We are counting our blessings. So keep checking...we will be posting pictures when we have some.

Two weeks and counting...

2008-11-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Kyle has wanted me to post some updated pregnant pictures. As I looking at them, I thought this was quite funny....the first is a picture of me a week and 3 days ago, and the second is me today wearing the same outfit (which is pretty much what I do since I have out grown all my maternity clothes). Side note: the sticker on my stomach is the sticker I got for voting. It was my first time and I was proud. (I know if you do the math I could have voted at the last election, but didn't--shame on me. I have learned my lesson.)

2008-10-08T07:59:00.000-07:00

2008-09-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well here are some pregnant pictures...for those of you who are missing out on the experience. :)

2008-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

So...here are some pictures.

This is us at Tess and Kevin's wedding.

Starting a blog..with no guarentees

2008-09-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

So I figured that I better start a blog...but truely, there are no guarentees that it will be interesting, witty, or entertaining. I figure once we have the baby I can use his cuteness to spice it up a bit, but in the meantime here we go.