Go Jackets!

James was dressed in his finest tonight! Unfortunately for Daddy most people thought James was a bee, or worse yet a bumble bee. For all of you out in blog-land please know that James was a yellow jacket.

Our favorite visitor all night was a four year old boy dressed in an Air Force flight suit. After taking his candy he said "Thank you" walked a few steps and then turned around and said "And Salute!". So cute! Our second favorite visitor was a one and half year old dragon who was able to successfully walk up our steps to the house, but had to crawl down backwards on his way out.



Go Jackets! Sting 'em!

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was quite eventful! We discovered that James' second tooth is now starting to appear, right next to his first. They are cute little twin teeth that are both just barely through his gums. We still have not had any problems with these teeth, and we are hoping it stays this way for a while. And by "problem" I mean neither James or myself has had any discomfort.

Moving along to even more exciting news, James is starting to hold his own bottle! He was so excited last night that he could barely drink his bottle because he was laughing so much. Also, note that in these pictures he only has one sock on...I am still looking for the missing sock. Where oh where do these little socks go?

We went to our church's Fall Festival event on Sunday and although it was quite festive James wasn't a big fan. The noise of the music and games was just a little too much that close to bed time. So we left early. But we still had a chance to get our picture snapped!
And finally, James is really starting to enjoy his walker! If you want to see the video, click here. James can move, and is starting to move towards us when we call him. He even tries to get closer to puppy, and our scardy cat dog gets nervous when James charges at him. It is hilarious!

Lullaby and Good Night

This post is dedicated to Emily and sweet baby Eli, and all other babies with very particular bed time routines.

The key to James' bedtime is how you rock him to sleep. He has never much cared for the cradle hold that most babies adore. Nope, not my little man. For the first 4 months he loved to be held over your shoulder and he would rest his sweet little head on my right shoulder as I rocked him. Lately he has been getting so tall that his feet are really kicking my legs, so this is no longer the position of choice. For now he sits in my lap in a semi-reclined position.

1. Confirm that he has had his evening snack and has a clean diaper. Do not skip this step! A hungry baby James will wake up sometime mid-morning expecting an early breakfast.
2. Assume the proper rocking position with sweet baby.
3. Rock slowly and sing a little lullaby. Any song will do, he likes them all.
4. His breathing will start to slow which is the first sign that he is falling asleep. To be sure do the arm test which consists of lifting up one arm and dropping it. If he is asleep this will not startle him. If he is still awake, you may need to sing that lullaby a few more times.
5. Once asleep, slither out of the rocking chair taking care not to bang it against the wall. This will surely startle him, and the lullaby will need another round.
6. Slowly walk towards his bed. Once you are hovering over the mattress flip him from his back onto his tummy. Strange enough this works best in mid-air.
7. Slowly lower him onto the mattress.
8. Quietly inch out of the dark room and hope that you don't stumble on one of Zion's toys. If you do stumble, hopefully you don't knock the rocking chair into the wall. (if so start back at step 5)
9. Close the door and turn on the fan outside his room.
10. Breath a sign of relief and know that he will sleep for at least 10-12 hours.

Sleep is a beautiful thing!

Happy Birthday Zion!

Today Zion is two years old! For his birthday we gave him a dog biscuit covered in cream cheese. Nothing says "I love you" to your dog like cream cheese. We love our dog; he is such a wonderful member of our family! Three cheers for ZiZi!

Party Time!

We had quite the party weekend these last few days! On Saturday we slept in to 7:00 AM, that was quite a treat for all of us! We proceeded to run a few errands and then have a nice afternoon at home. James really is starting to enjoy his cereal, and there are pictures below to prove it. He has just started reaching for the spoon and his bottle during his evening feeding. He still makes a big mess, but now most of the cereal does end up in his mouth.

We also got to celebrate the dedication of James' best friend. These two boys are so cute together! They both needed naps but wanted to stay up and enjoy the party! I guess they both take after their fathers in that respect.

James' first tooth

James' first tooth is coming in! I can't include a picture because he really doesn't like his mouth inspected. But I have seen and felt the little white tooth on his lower front gum. Thankfully he isn't showing any signs of discomfort. Hooray for James!

Happy Fall Y'all

Fall has arrived to Virginia...well almost. If you ignore the unseasonably warm temperatures it really looks like fall! The leaves have begun to turn, mostly due to a cold snap we had last week. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and went to a pumpkin patch with James. He didn't have much of an opinion on our choice of pumpkins, but it took John and I an hour to pick out just the right pumpkins. In an attempt to keep up with the Jones' we picked out three pumpkins for our front steps. The neighborhood is full of scarecrows and pumpkins, not to mention the beautiful fall foliage. We also picked up two cooking pumpkins with which I made a Afghan pumpkin dish that was so yummy! I think this might be a new Turner family favorite, Afghan-style pumpkin with grilled ground-turkey shawarma. Yum!

Puppy Hat

With the fall season upon us, it is now time to break out the warm clothing! Grandma sent us this puppy hat to keep James' head nice and warm. I think he looks adorable, especially when paired with his puppy pajamas. Thanks Grandma!

Love that Elephant

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The Sweetest Sound

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Sleep wonderful sleep

Guess who slept for 10 hours last night......ME!!!! All I have to say is that I am a new woman! James slept for a record 12.5 hours last night without any feedings. John did get up twice to check on him. The first time James had flipped onto his back and needed help flipping back to his tummy. The other time he needed a little help falling back to sleep, so John rocked him for a couple of minutes. I have no idea if this was a fluke or if he will continue to sleep for such a long stretch. Let's hope that my sleepless nights are a thing of the past.

Apple-iscous

Today we went apple picking with some of our favorite friends. This has become an annual event, and so far in our four years in Virginia we have only missed once. First we meet at roadside diner for some apple donuts and breakfast. After sleeping for the hour long car ride, Jay awoke once we reached the restaurant. This restaurant was not Jay's favorite place, he got a little fussy around the food but did enjoy walking around the gift shop. I think he really wanted to get his hands on one of those donuts! Yum!

Next stop was the apple farm. We drove up, loaded our apple picking pole into the car, and then went to park closer to the trees. The picking pole was placed sticking out the window making it look like we were ready for a jousting match.

Jay loved walking around the orchard and especially liked the beautiful Katie! We picked lots of grannysmith, golden delicious and stayman apples. We also got to check out some cows along the way. Two very wise cows stood right along the fence hoping to get some apples thrown their way.

Armed with a large bag full of apples we headed home with our sleeping baby. Now we are faced with the challenge to use all these apples before they go bad. Apple pie anyone?

Are they moles or bugs?

Here is one more post today for good measure. For some reason I just can't post only once. Maybe I am trying to make up for all the time I slacked of the last couple of weeks. Either way, here is video number two for you to enjoy.

This toy is called "Whack a Mole" or at least that is what the lady at the yard sale said. I think it looks more like bed bugs. What do you think?
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Walking Around

Jay is starting to enjoy his walker. Right now the front room is empty, so it is the perfect place for him to practice scooting around. Sometimes he laughs and sometimes he cries. If I can catch his laugh on video I will post it. I think it is my favorite sound in the whole wide world!

So yesterday I was trying out a new floor vacuum that my mother sent us. Jay really wanted to be held, and I really wanted to get the floors a little cleaner. Those who know me know that I don't enjoy cleaning floors. But with my baby boy growing so fast I think I need to learn to love cleaning floors before he starts to crawl and becomes covered in dog hair. Thanks Zion! So I threw him into my metro wrap and away we went vacuuming the house. I think he rather liked it because he kept giggling and kicking his feet. The giggling was super
cute, but the swinging feet hit me in the stomach. Not so fun. All in all, the floors are cleaner and that is a very good thing!
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To see more videos click here.

Third times the charm

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For more videos check out: http://www.dropshots.com/paigemturner

Lucky you...

...two posts in one day! James was so cute playing I had to snap some pictures. Even Zion smiled for the camera today.

Happy Monday!

A chair for Jay

Jay has a highchair! See the pictures below of my big boy. Everyday I feel like he is growing up so fast! He is no longer happy in the bouncy-seats or the bumbo...because he has chubby legs and he likes to sit up and see the world rather then recline.

This past week John surprised us by taking us out to dinner. Jay wasn't in the mood to be held so we grabbed a highchair just to try. He loved it! We put his toys on the tray and he played happily through dinner. It was the first time we have had dinner with James that we both could eat at the same time!