We got some more of James's 6 month pictures in today. They are slowly trickling in, and I'd forgotten how glad I was that I got so many 6 month pictures, since he would never let someone take pictures of him for 2 hours straight now! If you see lines in the back, it's my reflection. Here they are...

Beth Moore wrote out the words to a song in week 9 of her Daniel bible study that are just INCREDIBLE! She said it right when she said, "The song was so powerful I felt as if my soul were going to jump right out of my skin." The singer is Travis Cottrell, and the song is called "Your Word is Life to Me".

I'm a stranger in this place;
This world is not my home.

I want more than it can give.
I am a desert needing rain;

I'm thirsty for your voice.
The very reason that I live-

You are the Word, my one desire,
An all consuming holy fire,

The very breath that I am longing for.
My heart is desperate for Your ways.

Refine me in your holy blaze,
If that is what it takes to know You more.

You are the Truth that sets me free;
Your word is life to me.

Only the power of Your Word
Can melt away these chains
That have held me far too long.

So light the fire and let it burn
These shackles and restraints,
And I will sing this freedom song.


***
You are the Word, my one desire...
You are the Truth that sets me free.
Your word is life to me.

Isn't that so amazing and comforting to read? It felt good just to type it out. Once again, I HIGHLY suggest this Daniel bible study. It's the best study I've ever done, and I'm so thankful for it.

Here are some pictures of our dining room. My grandma had given me her china, too, which I didn't know what to do with, since we had our own. Well, our china didn't fit in the cabinet, so we put Grandma's in there. We love it, and it's also sentimental to me. Elizabeth, my mom, and my dad helped us decorate the room and set up the china cabinet. We used things from around the house to decorate, but I might make a trip out to Hobby Lobby soon to change things up a little bit.


















We think that James said his first word! You can never be certain of a 9 month old's intentions, but Josh walked in the room after work Thursday, and he said, "Dada!". Then, Friday, Josh came home for lunch and as he was leaving, I said, "Bye-bye, Dada!", and he waved and with a mouthful said, "Da!" I said it again, and he looked at the door and waved. I feel like he's becoming a little person so fast! This week he also started trying to share his paci. He puts it in my mouth and thinks it's so silly! Just thought I'd share that with you! Hope everyone's having a great start to the week!

James had his well check today, and doc says everything looks great! He's 22 lbs and 29", which puts him in the 67% for height and weight. He said that more teeth are about to come in, too, so it looks like he has a rough road ahead! He was really unusually fussy this afternoon, so I think they're really bothering him right now. Thankfully he's getting a nice long nap in right now! Here are some pictures Elizabeth took of him today. In the first one, you can see his bottom tooth coming in. I wish you could have seen what he was doing in the last one. He was moving his eyebrows up and down. I'm going to have to watch that boy...he's such a flirt already!

We forgot to pick up both rolls of film :), so I'll post more later! The last picture is of my dear friend (like a little sister to me) Christine, who I got to see at Michah's memorial.




Thursday afternoon, Josh, James, and I headed up to Northwest Arkansas to see precious baby Harry and his parents. We had so much fun loving on Harry (he's even cuter and sweeter in person), watching them love on James, hanging out in our pj's all day catching up, going out to eat with 2 babies (it really went very smoothly!), putting the babes to bed, and talking some more. We were so sad to have to leave so soon after we got there, but Saturday morning, we left for Harding to go to the memorial for our friend Micah who was killed in Iraq. It was an amazing memorial...one of the kinds where you weep and laugh and feel your heart fill up with joy because he's home now. Hearing his sweet parents' strength and his friends' stories of how he lived out his faith, brough many to Christ, and of the impact he had on so many around him, was inspiring to me and I think everyone in the room. It was a sad occasion, but we were thrilled to get to see almost all of our really close college friends, which is a rarity. When we're all together, it feels like we just left and is so hard to believe that we've been out 4 1/2-6 years...until we look down in our arms and see our babies! I was so excited to get another opportunity to see Adalie and her parents! We're already planning our next time to get together. James already misses Adalie and Harry! We ended our trip spending the night with Josh's best friend Cody, and his wife Lauren, who I've really enjoyed getting to know, at Cody's parents house. We just love them and spent the night laughing, which we always do when Cody and Josh are together. I love watching them together. His parents spoiled us the next morning by making a huge, delicious breakfast, which tanked us up for the long ride home. We were so thankful we didn't run into any bad weather like they were predicting!

We had an exciting Monday. My grandmother moved today to a place that has no dining room, so she gave us her dining room furniture! It's the table my dad grew up eating at, and my grandma needle pointed the seats, so it's very special to me. Elizabeth came over and used decorative items in my house to decorate the room, and we're so excited with how it looks in there! I will post pictures later when I get my china in the cabinet. I will also post pictures of the weekend later when I get my photo cd. I used my sis's old camera, which in not digital, so I actually had to drop the film off today. Remember those days? It was weird buying film and camera batteries! You can also check Amanda and Kim's blogs for some pictures of the weekend.

Can't forget to add this...James cut his 7th tooth this weekend! He was a little extra fussy, but he's doing better now.

One is with lights on, the others with lights off. We're almost finished...just a few touch-ups left!

 
 
 

This has been the longest week since the week before James was born. I'm so stir crazy! Usually I like ice, because it forces Josh to stay home (and it usually means I get a day off from work), but this weather is bad enough to keep James and me home but not enough to keep Josh from work. I was happy that I at least got to get out for MDO yesterday. I tried to run one errand, but James is now taking his socks off EVERY time we get in the car, so I had to put his socks on again (which isn't easy with him being so squirmy), put his coat and hat on (once again...isn't easy), race inside in the freezing cold, race back to my car, take his coat off, and put him in the car seat again. It just isn't worth it just to get out of the house. We're trying to tackle painting our dining room right now, get packed for a trip, among several other things that are pressing right now, so I'm ready for this week...and weather...to be over with! Sorry to complain! I am excited now, because I'm going to go to the fire station to get James's car seat inspected for proper installation. I get to get out, but not get James out! Did you know you could do that? I saw that on 20/20, called today, and they said there's someone on every shift who's certified. I will post pics of the dining room when I'm finished!

9 months seems so old!! I can't believe he's been here for as long as I was preggers. They say "9 months up, 9 months down", but my tummy still isn't back to where it used to be! Oh well, it's a small price to pay for my son! Here's some changes since last month...

** He's cruising. Loves to go all around the furniture, and you can see his feeling of accomplishment when he moves from one to another or gets to one of us.

** He's pulling up. He's just mastered that recently, and now when we go get him out of bed, he's standing in his crib! Scary!!

** He's saying mamamamama now! So close to mama...I hope! (of course, my mom says I'll be eating those words soon)

** He gets a lot of joy out of experimenting with new sound combos. We think we hear words and even sentences all the time, but we know he's not really saying them. Yesterday it sounded like he said, "I love you, Mama." It was probably something like "i-u-oo-mamamama" I know I'm not imagining these things bc other people around will hear the same thing, but I do know they're accidents and he has no idea what he's saying. :) I even heard something like "Holy cow!" or "Oy-ca".

** He'll do funny things with his hands every once in a while, like for a couple of days, he'll have his hand palm up for most of the day. He'll wave like a prince...it's pretty funny!

** We think he'll be right handed, because he's starting to do everything with his right hand.

** He's "dancing", which is more like bouncing.

** He does his squinty eyed smile with scrunched nose frequently.

** He acts like a dj a lot, by holding on to a table (while standing) with one hand, raising the other in the air, and dancing.

** He's starting to really enjoy playing with his cousins.

** He's funny...He likes to make us laugh.

** He's playing games more often with us.

** He's getting more hair, mostly golden brown, but a few dark ones mixed in.

I hadn't looked back at James's old monthly updates in a long time, so I decided to look at all of them today and first of all, was SO glad that I wrote them, since I've already forgotten a lot of it. I had a couple of "awww" moments...it's funny how quickly you forget! 2nd of all, I loved seeing how he'd progressed to get to this point. I posted this when James was 5 months old, and I laughed inside at how things have already changed...



OLD POST
I'm so curious about what he's going to be like when he grows up. If I had to guess from what I notice now, here's what I would say...

*He's going to be happy-go-lucky. When he's not giving us big grins and laughs (and when he's not tired), he just has a permanent little smile with raised eyebrows.

*He's going to be a people person. He gets immediately sad if Josh or I leave the room and gets visibly ecstatic when we start walking over to pick him up. When we're with a group of people, he is very content being in someone's arms and studying everyone. He's always just taking it all in.

*He's going to be a mama's boy. OK, I just had to add this one in there! :) He does just melt my heart all of the time, because when someone is holding him and talking to me, he won't take his eyes off of me. He looks at me as if he were thinking, "I just love that woman!" and just studies my face constantly. I guess they're all like that at this point with their mamas, but I like to think it's because he's going to be a mama's boy!

*He's going to be affectionate. He loves to cuddle and be kissed.

*He's going to be calm. I'm not sure yet, but he seems like a calm person and laid-back most of the time.

*He's going to have a loud voice. He won't have gotten that from me (I get made fun by my family for my voice that stops a foot in front of me.), but he talks a lot and it's loud when he gets going.

*I don't know what this means, but he's sensitive to dirty diapers and loud, startling noises. He cries, not when kids cry, but when they scream and if I ever do something that makes a new, loud noise. He gets fidgety with dirty diapers, and we can tell he's happier when he gets a clean one on.

*He's going to love music. I'm trying and hoping to instill my love of music in him by dancing to music and singing all of the time. He lights up when we do this! If he starts getting antsy, he'll stop when I start singing and just take it all in with a smile.

I see him being a responsible, protective older brother, who is funny, sweet, and cares deeply about his family. I don't know where I get that from, it's just a hunch, or maybe a hope! :) I don't know what all of this really means, and I'll truly be happy with whatever he turns out to be! I just feel so blessed to have him. I pray all of the time that the one thing that he will be is a strong man of God with strong integrity and good character. I talked to my mom about that the other day and asked her how do you raise someone to have that. She said, "Day by day and lots of prayers!".


How he's changed...
1) He's SO not calm.
2) He doesn't cry with loud noises and doesn't get as squirmy with dirty diapers.
3) He's attached to his daddy, too. (He squeels and starts bouncing when he hears the garage door going at 5:30 now)

How he's the same...
1) He loves music and has started dancing (moving his body) to it.
2) He still stares at me lovingly when he's not in my arms.
3) He's happy-go-lucky.
4) He's affectionate.
5) He's a people person.

I bought James a new car seat this morning, but when I took it home and started reading the manual, I realized it was wrong for his age. Do any of you moms out there have a suggestion for my baby who is 21 1/2 pounds (1/2 lb away from the limit on his infant car seat), but not quite 9 months? The one I bought is for 1 year and up. I also bought one that was just crash tested by consumer reports and failed (even though it advertised being the safest one...Graco Safe Seat). If any of you have seen this, it was on the news last night and on the Today Show this morning. Here's the list, in case you were wondering.

The Good
Baby Trend Flex-Loc Adjustable Back
Graco Snugride with EPS

The Bad
Chicco KeyFit
Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP
Compass I410
Evenflo Embrace
Britax Companion
Graco SafeSeat
Safety 1st Designer
Combi Centre ST
Evenflo Discovery
Eddie Bauer Comfort

Anyways, please let me know if you are or were in the same situation with your baby, and if you liked or didn't like yours or have any insight. Thanks!!

**Update...I've been doing a lot of searching on the web, and it looks like Evenflo Triumph 5 is a very safe one at a great price. Do any of you have that one? It's rear facing for up to 30 (or 35, can't remember now)pounds and forward facing for up to 40.

Littlebit's life