HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY// 12 MO UPDATE + CURIOUS GEORGE PARTY

Howwwww in the world is our baby already ONE? It's not possible. Time flies when you're having fun....especially when "fun" also means sleeping less and slight exhaustion at times.

One whole year of getting to know this little guy - what a joy it has been. I thank Jesus everyday for his little life and can't wait to watch him grow more. One of my favorite things was finding out just how BIG his personality is. Seriously, almost every time we go out he attracts all the girls. And gets all the compliments. He is a lady killer already. 

Loves:

Food (any and all fruit especially)

Hiding behind things

Books!!

Food

Wrestling with Daddy

Being in the kitchen with Mommy

Throwing a ball back and forth

Taking things off the shelf one at a time

Bath time

Giving his Clifford & Curious George stuffed animals hugs

Being outside/Strolling

Food (...haha)

Screaming

His grandparents

Cooking utensils (bowls, spatulas, Tupperware, all of it!)

Hates:

When the food is gone

DIAPER. CHANGES.

Having his face/nose wiped 

When we tell him he can't play in the toilet/garbage can

Words:

Outside (his favorite right now)

Cheese

Choo Choo

Hi

Eggs

Bye-bye

Dada

Mama (only sparingly lol)

Walking:

Yes! He started walking a couple days before his birthday.

He was super timid at first - if we got excited he would NOT do it again.

But here we are a week later and he's doing more walking than crawling now!

First haircut:

Ugh, not yet. This child's hair though. I'm afraid to cut the top 

with the hopes that eventually the extra weight will help it lay down, 

but the back definitely needs to be shaped up.

Wearing:

Size 12-18 mo & 18 mo clothes

Size 4 diapers

Teeth:

Still 6 (Hasn't cut any since about 7-8 months)

Sleep:

The sleep saga is at a better place for now. He started sleeping through the night just before his birthday and now sleeps from 7:30 pm to 6 am (and exactly 6 am everyday) basically 4 out of 5 days, with a random middle of the night wake-up here and there. I'm so proud of him because he struggggled for so long. 

Naps:

Usually 2 one-hour naps a day (morning and afternoon)

On the weekend of his birthday, we drove back home to Louisville, Kentucky to have a big ole birthday party for Charlie. It was a Curious George themed cook out and almost 40 family and friends showed up to celebrate with us. So special and sweet. 

As much as this boy loves to eat, he wasn't really into the cake smash at first. I don't know if he was intimidated by everyone watching or if he just didn't know he was supposed to make a mess. But once he finally took a bite, he started to dig in!

Happy first birthday, Charlie! We love you so. 

FAVORITE BOOKS: 1 YEAR OLD EDITION

I'm going to have a one year old come August 4th. What?! Not possible.

This post is allll about our favorite books throughout Charlie's first year. The books that I basically have memorized now. The books that I know exactly which page he will crack up at. The books that he never pushes away (he can totally communicate which books he does not want to read, let me tell you). The books that have sweet stories and beautiful illustrations.

Charlie loves reading right now. He loves to read before naps and at bedtime. He loves to wander into his room and sit next to his book box, throwing books out, flipping through a couple, and then tossing some back in. He loves to "read" in the rocking chair and in the car. And he can be kinda picky!

But I need to share this picture before we get into the book titles because 1) THAT HAIR. At what point do I know if I'm emotionally ready for his first hair cut or not?? 2) He's reading one of MY favorite books as a child that I distinctly remember my parents reading to me over and over, Go, Dog. Go! And 3) look at those perfect page-flipping thumbs. I was super impressed he mastered this at only 11 months old. Maybe he has books in his genes. After all, his daddy works in books. Books just might be his job one day. ;)

Okay, let's get into it. These are our top 5 favorite books from year one:

1. The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen 

Without a doubt, this is Charlie's number one favorite book! He L O V E S this board book. I think it's a combination of the colorful underwater pictures and the repetition of the words that he just eats up. He never says no to this one and always greets it with a happy sound when we pick it up! There's one page in here where the fish is really big and has a very happy/friendly face (I won't ruin the ending for you haha) and that is his favorite page. This has been one of our go-to before bed books.










2. "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle 

I found a giant board book copy of this classic at Halfprice Books when Charlie was a few months old and in the last 3 months it's been one of his favorites. We kept this one in the car for him to flip through as we drove for a while and he really enjoyed that. It's GIANT and I think that's one of the biggest reasons he loves this one. Pictured to the left is his favorite page. He forms his little mouth into a perfect circle and says, "oooooh" everytime. I started taking his pointer finger and counting the children and now he gets it ready for me as soon as we arrive at this page! The illustrations and vibrant colors in this book are perfect for little babies. And it's a perfect book to teach your baby some animal names and colors!






3. Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton 

This is a repetitive song-type book that's easy make really fun. Think square-dancing! Bounce them on your knee, or make it into your own little tune, and your kiddo will go crazy for this one. An older woman from church recommended this one at our first baby shower so I knew I had to pick it up when I found it at Halfprice Books (are you sensing a theme in where I have had a lot of luck finding good books?). It never disappoints for a fun read! 











4. Charlie Goes Camping by Carrie Weston

I have a sweet friend from college who, the last 2 or 3 times I've seen her, has given me several "Charlie" books she's found. She's a teacher, so she's always hitting up Goodwill and thrift stores for books and she has found some gems! This is one of them and it is PERFECT because, as some of you may know, I grew up camping with my family. And we actually call him "Charlie Bear" as a nickname! The pictures are gorgeous and bright. The story is sweet and encourages being a helpful friend. It's a keeper.










5. Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Storybook Rhymes

This was one of Charlie's first Christmas presents from Mommy and Daddy and he has so enjoyed it! It sings the rhyme when you flip to the next page and when you press the buttons, they point out letters, shapes, and count items on each of the pages. It's clever, I find myself singing these songs almost daily, and it's a great beginner book for teaching babies the techniques of handling books/flipping pages. Ours has been well loved. 











I would love to know some of your favorite books! What books have your babies and toddlers loved reading over and over? Which ones give you all the feels or make you giggle? I'm always in the market for new children's books. Please share your favorites and suggestions in the comments! :)

OUR FIRST MONTH IN ILLINOIS

If you didn't already know, we moved this month! We've been residents of Wheaton, Illinois for almost 4 weeks now and are down to like...3 boxes unpacked? That's not bad if you ask me. ;)

Moving is H A R D work. This was my first big move ever (let alone to a new state). Two days before the moving truck was scheduled to arrive, my 80 year old Mamaw came over to help with (what I thought was) the final boxings. Heh. Let's just say she was NOT convinced we were going to be ready to move and she kicked out butts into high gear. Don't underestimate her, y'all. We really needed her help that day.

The moving day itself didn't go without a few hiccups, of course. Let's see....first the moving truck showed up a day EARLY. They came back again on the right day and all was well, but then we ended up leaving at a different time than we expected which made things a little hairy for a minute, but we were glad we left when we did.

We pulled out of Louisville, Kentucky around 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 29 with 3 cars caravaning and my in-laws along for the adventure. It's a 5 hour drive without stopping, but 6 hours is more realistic especially with a baby. But the drive that night took 7 hours. It was probably the worst trip we have ever made up here to be honest haha. It was 1) getting dark,  and 2) we drove through a heavy thunderstorm which slowed us down pretty significantly in the middle of the night. My husband had the wonderful idea of getting a hotel for the first night in town so that we wouldn't show up to an empty apartment at 2 a.m. and it was suchhhh a blessing to have showers and comfy beds after the long drive. At 7 a.m. that same morning, Samuel met our landlord and the movers at our apartment and we were officially moving in!

We were so thankful for Samuel's parents who drove with us and helped us get the place livable that first weekend. I don't even want to imagine what it would have been like without them. They even made a quick trip with us over to IKEA (which is only 20 minutes away *cue hallelujah chorus*) to buy our new living room furniture, and THEN helped put it together. Like I said, it was a tremendous help to not do this alone.


Here are some highlights from our first month in pictures:

Our new neighborhood 

Charlie's first parade on the Fourth of July!

Deciding which IKEA couch he liked best.

Checking out once of the many parks in our town.
There are only 23 different playgrounds in the Wheaton Park District. So fun!

Looking into our little backyard. :)

Adams Park, right behind the library

Classic car show on Friday nights in the summer

Backyard playtime!

Don't mind that roughed up coffee table - it's my next big project. :)

90% of why I love this little condo: this big sliding door in the kitchen/dining room. If you knew my last kitchen, you will understand my excitement. 

 Geneva, IL 

Geneva Air Fair

Way to go if you made it to the end of this long post! We miss Louisville, but we are enjoying our new adventure here too. We are even coming back for a visit at the first of August because CHARLIE IS TURNING ONE. We're so looking forward to that!

Thank you all for the help, prayers, and FaceTime calls in the last little bit. We are giving so much thanks to the Lord for His gracious hand in it all. Praise the Lord for his good gifts!

9 MONTHS OLD, VACATION, NEW CAR

How about a little life update from the James fam? As much as I love to keep family/friends that live far away updated on our James life, I have loved writing these too-long-for-Instagram updates just for myself. It'll be even more fun for me to look back at everything I've written as Charlie continues to grow to compare to future babies/remind myself what stages and phases I loved of his. I'm not a writer, I'm just sentimental. 😆 

It's been a while so grab a snack as I fill you in! 

CHARLIE
Our Charlie Bear turned 9 months old on May 4th! I can hardly believe he has spent as much time brightening our lives as we once spent just waiting for him to arrive. The last month or so may have been my favorite so far! Sure there were hard weeks of teething, and maybe a slight 8 month sleep regression making him wake up an extra time at night, but overall this age is such a blast. 

He thinks he's big sorting through his toy box himself ;)

He has done so much growing and learning over the last little bit. For one thing, at 7 months he got 5 teeth in a span of the next 5 weeks. Ouch. (Ouch for Mommy and Daddy too😭 )  He just learned how to pull up onto furniture and to sit on his bottom on his own. The image of the first time he got into a sitting position on his own is forever etched in my brain. It was in the middle of the night. He woke up crying to be fed and there we found Charlie sitting up like Winnie the Pooh sad in his bed! Like, how did I get like this?? haha It was the saddest/funniest thing. 

He is quite the Chatty Cathy and SO social. He says "Hi" and "Hey" allllll day long (and I love it). He loves to laugh at Daddy. He loves to growl. He is finally doggie crawling more and not just army crawling. And he loves to eat. Don't expect to be eating a banana without him wanting a bite for himself. Even the things he doesn't love, like peas and green beans, he still grins and bears it and makes a face at me as if to say, "I'm trying, mom!" He is a very silly and sweet boy. We are so lucky he's ours. 

9 months pregnant / 9 months old. He's a chunker (and was asleep for this photo!).

9 MONTH INFO
Weight: 22 lbs 11 oz
Teeth: 6
Diaper: Size 4
Clothes: 9 months/12 months - 18 months 
Words: Hi, Hey, Gaga (Dada)

Probably the next time I blog an update about this little guy he will be turning ONE. Unbelievable. His first year is quickly passing by, but it has been a sweet, sweet one. 

FAMILY VACATION
We went to Gatlinburg with Samuel's family last week! Cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles - it was a packed cabin, but we loved it. Gatlinburg is one of those places I could go every year and never get tired of it. We ate a lot of brunch, spent a day at Cade's Cove (and saw a Mama Black Bear with her two baby cubs!), walked the downtown strip, played a lot of Ticket to Ride, and a bunch of other things in our 4 days there. It seems like Gatlinburg trips always come in seasons on my life right before big change, so I'm thankful for the mountains which are a constant reminder of how strong and faithful my God is. 

The view from our cabin

Daddy and Charlie at Cade's Cove

He caught a fish while eating a ham sandwich. Talent, yall!

Charlie was more interested in eating the putter than putting.

WE BOUGHT A CAR
It was finally time!! We needed a family car that was safer and bigger for our baby and all of his million accessories. We're in loooveee with our Toyota RAV4! It was used with SUPER low miles and we knew it was our car as soon as we test drove it. We hope to have this car for many years to come!

Thanks for following our little update! I'll be back soon with more exciting news. xx

Emily