Catching up!

Jim is off from work today and I must say again, "I love, love, love having him home!!!!"

Here are Jemma and Mya playing on Friday. They kept taking turns riding/pulling the wagon. Jemma even told Mya that she was on bedrest so she had to lay down while riding. Her imigination makes me laugh!

Here is James Saturday morning. He had just finished breakfast 30 minutes before, and here he is looking for crumbs in his high chair. The kid eats! For breakfast he has an entire banana, 3/4 cup yogurt plus 3 Tbsp of oatmeal... then he shovels in cheerios or puffs until he is full. And that is after he nurses! (On Christmas morning, my Aunt Jane said, "Is he really going to eat all of that?" And Jim's mom looked at his bowl and questioned whether he would finish all of it... and he did!) It is nothing for him to have a cream cheese sandwhich plus 4 Tbsp of meat puree with 1/3 cup of veggie or fruit puree and want more. If he keeps this up, I don't want to think of what our grocery bill will be when he is a teenager!! But I am noticing that his cute baby-fat rolls are almost gone. He is becoming a solid, tall little man. He is a little more than 24 lbs and Jemma is only 30... she eats too, but she only in spurts... there are days that she is like a little bird and others where I don't know where she packs it all!

Jemma, James and Daddy went to a birthday party Saturday afternoon. Here is James in his firetruck sweater from Uncle Andy and Aunt Suzanne! The clown painted a butterfly on her face. I only went for about 30 minutes, then I left for a baby shower at The Painted Lady. I had a splendid time!! It was a great shower and really enjoyed talking to the women. The food was so yummy. I ate two scones with lemon curd, Devonshire cream and raspberry jam, litte finger sandwhiches, chocolate covered strawberries. In fact, I ate so much that I could not finish my piece of the heavenly cake at the end. I didn't think that I liked scones... apparently, I do! And the tea (Jasmine) was very good, too. Such a great afternoon!! When I got home, Jim had made ravoli for dinner. He and Jemma and James were dining by candlelight and enjoying their special treat of gingerale out of champagne glasses. It was so cute and sweet!! Jim really enjoyed his time with the kids.

The weather is COLD. I don't like cold... I'm one of those people that prefers to hibernate when the temperature drops, so I was overjoyed when Jim took the kids out to play in the snow and later to go for a walk to the park. I just enjoyed the fireplace and stayed inside! The weather people were calling for a "winter storm" with 1-3 inches of snow. We got what I call a dusting. However, Jim scraped enough snow from the ground and car to help Jemma make a snowman family. They had a blast outside. Jim was throwing snowballs at Jemma and she was stomping on them! Then Mya came outside and the girls played and played. I had Jemma layered and bundled... I bought her a snowsuit last year (size 2T) that I thought would still fit, but I was very wrong. I have given it to our neighbor for her little girl, Claire. James is too big for the snowsuit that I bought for this year (6-12 months), and the 18 month one is just a little big but he still wore it! I am pretty certain that it will not fit next year!

Mya stayed and played until 2:30. I hope that it gave Merin a needed break... she has a newborn who isn't very fond of sleeping yet! How I remember those days. It is funny the things that you forget with time. She was talking of Scout falling asleep and not wanting to eat... it made me remember the times that we would take off Jemma's clothes, turn on the ceiling fan and lights and make her "uncomfortable" enough to stay awake to nurse. We had such a hard time getting her to nurse during those first months... I pumped every 3 hours almost everyday for 4 months until she got the hang of nursing. I am so, so glad that I stuck with it. She nursed until I got pregnant with James and I loved it. There were some frustrating times at the beginning, but it was well worth it!

Jim made a lasagna yesterday. It was so yummy! Merin brought Scout and Mya over and we had a great meal. Scout just slept in her carseat, so Merin got a relaxing and hot meal!