Nummies

I never thought the day would come when James could really eat and enjoy his food, but that day has come at last! John loves to tell the story of how I lamented that James was still refusing to eat much more then a couple of ounces. But that is a story for another day. Really, there wasn't anything that he LOVED to eat, except mashed banana. And of course he had a reaction to banana so that is off limits for a couple of months before we try that again.

He has developed quite a repertoire of food that he will eat. His favorite thing is to feed himself, and he does really well with his "easy dissolving" stars and wagon wheels. Or his FAVORITE are the cheese puffs, also easy dissolving. Whole milk yogurt was also a big hit, he can eat 4 ounces without blinking an eye, and he opens his mouth in anticipation...yum!

Super Yum!

• Sweet potatoes
• Yogurt
• Crackers or biscuits
• Guava

Yum!

• Carrots
• Squash
• Oatmeal
• Apple sauce
• Peaches
• Pears
• Apple and cherry sauce
• Squash and corn
• Barley cereal

Yuck!

• Green beans
• Peas
• Cottage cheese
• Rice cereal

Oh the places he will go

I wonder where these tiny feet will take James...so far he still needs our assistance, but every day he gets braver and more balanced on his two little feet. Here he is checking out the backyard.

He knows when he is brave, look at that satisfied smile!

Zion wanted in on the action, so he came to look out the window too.

The one handed walker. This leaves one hand open to grab at toys or whatever else is left on a low table. You can't leave anything at his eye level that is unable to withstand his mighty throw. Oh, this is too much fun!

Baby's first Christmas!

The Turner family had a wonderful Christmas this year! For the first time we avoided the holiday traffic and let everyone come to us. Ah, it was so nice not to be stuck in traffic or in an airport. James' Grandma, Uncle Morgan, Auntie Julia and Cousin Clover came to visit. Grandma came from sunny California to brave the East Coast weather. Uncle Morgan, Auntie Julia and Clover drove down from New York, and found the DC weather much warmer then back home. We ate at Dixie Bones, played countless games of Scrabble, built Ikea furniture, feasted on fudge and other low calorie Christmas goodies, and opened presents. A lovely time was had by all, especially by James because he got so much attention! Zion and Clover both took turns wearing the "Santa Dog" outfit, and they had a great time wrestling and doing things that dogs like to do.

James also had a few firsts over this past week. He can now pull himself to standing from sitting. He is always very proud once he stands up and has a large grin on his face. He is also trying to walk with only one hand holding on, he is very brave! He loves his soccer ball, and will dive for it when it is passed to him. In addition, his new "Busy Zoo" is living up to his name as it keeps him very busy.

Auntie Julia made us a "Christmas Angel" for our tree. James really was the best present we could have ever hoped for this Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Merry Christmas y'all!

Love,
John, Paige and James

Escape artist

James is really starting to pull himself up onto things. Today he was experimenting with different ways to move around his crib.

Here he is caught in the act!

Getting ready to stand up...

...actually, he'd rather chew on the rail.

Hello little monkey!

James is starting to think about climbing and pulling himself up onto things. I am a little nervous he is taking after his Uncle Morgan who could climb up the kitchen cabinets before he could walk....

Soccer!

James loves his new soccer ball that his Nana and Papa sent him for Christmas. John and James love to play soccer in the evenings, check out this sweet video of my boys playing soccer!

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If you are tired and you know it

If you are tired and you know it, by all means fall asleep! We were all playing nicely by ourselves (more later) and I looked over and Eli was fast asleep. Asleep with the radio playing Christmas music and with every light shining brightly. Sorry Eli, I guess I missed the "I'm tired" cues!

If you are tired and you know it, you might want to think twice before you dress your child. Honestly, what is James wearing?

Ok, this is much better!

Yesterday was my last day with Eli, and our first official "quarantined" day. Little James came down with a little bit of a cold and we didn't want the boys sharing germs. So they both had a corner to play in, rather then the normal free for all. They boys were sweet to me on my last day - I think they knew I was functioning on very little sleep after being up with James all night.

We'll miss you little Eli! Make sure you ask your mom to invite us over for play dates!

Sweet babies

Here is a picture of all the babies from my CALM (Caring for and loving mothers) Bible study. We had our brunch today and all the sweet babies posed for a picture. I am very impressed that they are all looking toward the camera, not to mention that they all look rather content. What smart and happy babies we have out here in Virginia!

Here come the updates

Here are some random updates for your reading enjoyment. These are all things that made me smile, and even chuckle this past week.

James really wants to try everything that I drink, so when I am drinking my soda he gets really excited and wants to try. I don't actually let him drink the soda, but he likes to gum on the cold bottom of the can, and then he still feels like he got to "try" it.

James and Eli are such cute boys, especially in blue! Here they are looking sweet and adorable.

Here is Eli, the one sock wonder. Honestly, little boys can never keep both socks on their feet at the same time. It is really a mystery to me.

James was no different. Notice they both lost their right sock..... coincidence? I think not.

And last but not least, check out James sagging his pants. I was busy getting something ready in the kitchen and looked over and noticed his pants were almost to his ankles. I am not sure how he accomplished this but it was pretty funny just the same!

James was 7 months old yesterday! Hooray for James!

Welcome to my hood....

James: Yo Eli, what's new?

Eli: J-Mo my man, I'm just hangin' around.

James: Whaaazzz-uuuppp!

Eli: Whaaazzzz-uuuupppp!

James: I am so fly, I can stand all by myself.

Eli: That's cool. I am just chillin' here and mindin' my business.

Christmas with Grandma

Click here to see how we celebrate Christmas with Grandma. James has a rockin' Grandma let me tell you!

Happy Birthday Christine!

Surprise! Happy Birthday Christine!!!

The surprise party was so much fun, and featured a "Hamburger cake" made by our good friend Amy. Doesn't it look fantastic, almost too good to eat! James and Eli stayed up past their bedtimes to join in on the festivities. But who can blame them? No one wants to sleep through a fun party!


We had a great time, and you can see all the pictures by clicking here.

Big talker

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Trains are fun

Here is a fun video from today. Eli has some GREAT books, and both boys love story time. They both are very interested in the pictures and listening to the stories. What smart little guys! Then for fun we listen to the train song and watch the flashing lights. Hooray for trains!
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Playtime rules!

1. All toys must go into the mouth first.
2. Sharing is fun as long as you don't mind if the blocks are a little slobbery.
3. Plastic bottles are much more fun to play with then the usual toys.
4. Playtime is so much fun when you are in your pajamas.

I will try to add more pictures to this slide show tomorrow, so stay tuned for more adventures of James and Eli!

Look what I found

WARNING: This video is probably extremely boring to most, but exciting for grandparents.

James has discovered the drawer pulls make a clinking noise when he plays with them. He is so excited!
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A Southern Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we packed up our Civic and drove down to Atlanta. Thankfully we came to our senses and didn't drive the entire 10 hours in one night, but rather stopped half way in NC. This allowed us to sleep, shower and recharge. Three cheers for the Hampton Inn! Why didn't we think of this earlier?

This trip was the first time that James got to meet his Great-Grandmother! He was the perfect gentleman for our entire time at Ma's home, which made John and I very proud parents. James loved Ma and tried to reach for her and wanted to walk over and visit with her. We had a great time visiting with Ma!

Next stop was Blairsville for some fun in the mountains. James tried applesauce and played with lots of new toys courtesy of his cousin Abigail. Abigail was so sweet to share her toys! Nana loved introducing applesauce to James, and Papa even gave him a small bite of banana. James was very spoiled and loved trying fruit!

Some family friends came to visit while we were in Blairsville. The three girls had a great time playing with James, he is quite the little flirt. He loved to be the center of attention!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with turkey, cornbread dressing, green beans, Waldorf salad, cranberry chutney and some yummy pecan pie! Mmmmm! John and I both had two plates full of food, it was so good. We also got to celebrate Nana's birthday on Saturday. James and Abigail each gave Nana a kiss, which were her favorite presents!

Abigail and James both dressed up for college football game day. Unfortunately the home team didn't pull out a victory. I guess the "good luck" outfits didn't work this time.

James woke us up good and early this morning, so we were able to get home before the holiday traffic, and now we are sitting and enjoying some football and a fire. We have so much to be thankful for!

Giving thanks

It is so amazing to look back on the last 6 months and see how much our little guy has grown and changed. It is so humbling to be a parent. Every day I thank God for James, what a blessing he has been to our family!

Here he is at 2 weeks old. It wasn't that long ago that all he did was sleep and eat.

Now at 6 months he is such an active little guy, we can't wait to see what he will be doing next!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
Psalm 95:1-2

James took his first steps...

...that is what the ladies in the nursery at church said when I came to pick James up after Sunday school. What! James doesn't even crawl yet, how could he be walking already? He does love to walk around if you hold his hands, and he is getting pretty good at toddling around the house. He is also very insistent that he wants to stand sometimes, and I guess he was politely insisting all morning in the nursery that he would rather stand then sit and play with his toys. So the sweet nursery ladies were letting him stand, and at one point they felt he was well balanced so they let go. Then he took three steps and then fell over. Three steps all by himself!

So far John and I have not witnessed an unsupported step and when I do hopefully I will have the camera in hand. I can't believe he is starting to walk...guess it is time to really baby proof the house!

Could they be any cuter?

James and Eli are so cute! Here are all the boys playing together! James and Eli LOVE watching Charlie run around. They get the biggest smiles and start laughing when he wanders over to our little play corner. Check out Eli sitting up all by himself!

Tummy time is fun when you have a friend!

Playing with the blocks and having a ball!

Big smiles for the camera!

James and I can't wait to see Eli again tomorrow! For more pictures of our adventures check out this picture link.

Fog magic

Recently in DC it has been foggy in the mornings. Ah, fog reminds me of my time on California's central coast in a little town of San Luis Obispo. This is where I spent four lovely years attending Cal Poly University. Because I have been nostalgically remembering my college days I thought it best to post some pictures so you could see me in all my nerdiness. Yes, there is a picture of me in this collage with my senior project and my favorite professor. What can I say, once a nerd always a nerd.

Sadly the first two years I took all my pictures using a film camera, and those pictures are all still in California, so these are pictures from my last two years. Here are some highlights:

* Working for an entire year on the senior project because the dang HPLC machine kept breaking.
* Going to professors office hours to chat and getting dirty looks from students who had legitimate questions on the material.
* Spending lots of time in lab with one of my best friends, Alexis. We spilled many an experiment together and somehow always pulled through the classes with flying colors.
*Muir hall mama's Bible study, first in the dorms, and latter when Kimmy and I led a small study together. Kimmy and I would meet once a week to have a prayer walk, and it was one of the highlights of my week.
*Fooling around with the fun roommates! Line dancing all hours of the night and probably waking up the entire apartment complex with our loud music.
*Living just 15 minutes away from the beach! We would even study on the beach, and nerdy little me would actually get things accomplished. Ha!
*Tuesday night dinners with the Barnes'. Gotta love the Hawaiian pizza if you are going to hang our with John and Sara!
*Trips to Santa Barbara with the Parkers for our favorite Italian food. Stacy and Steve were always making sure I was well fed.
*Watching "The Today Show" with Stacy and a cup of coffee every morning. And then during my morning break rushing home to catch "The Wedding Story" on TLC.
*Snow cones for Chemistry. Each open house we would sell snow cones to raise money for the American Chemical Society (ACS). I probably ate more then I sold.

So many good times!