Happy Thanksgiving

Scenes from our Thanksgiving....

Auntie Julia was the head chef and made an AMAZING feast. I wish I could share the smells and tastes from our kitchen...yum yum! Happy Thanksgiving!

Auntie Julia

James and Luke love their Auntie Julia! James and Auntie Julia have been enjoying painting, playing and especially reading. Every morning James gets so excited when Julia comes upstairs to play with him. If he had a choice, he would choose Auntie Julia over Mommy and Daddy. She is that fun!

A few days ago James was having an uncharacteristically hard time going down for his nap. He had woken up at 8:00 and was a little sick, so at first we were cutting him some slack. Daddy tried twice then is was Mommy's turn. Mommy made him "cry it out", but he was still not going down for his nap. Then Auntie Julia stepped in and suddenly his cries stopped. Then when Auntie Julia came downstairs without him, we were amazed. We asked her what her secret was...she said she read him the same book three times while he was standing in his crib. Each time she would lower the book closer to the mattress and speak softer. After three reads he was happily laying down and ready for sleep. What a genius idea! We are certainly going to add that to our arsenal for nap time.

We have also been taking some really cute videos of the boys, so if you are a true Turner family fan, check them out by clicking here.

The many faces of Luke

Here is sweet baby Luke. He is starting to coo and smile, and is being such an agreeable little guy! The last few nights he has only had one nighttime waking, which has made for a rested Mommy and Daddy. We'll see if he continues, or if he is just giving us a quick break to catch up on our sleep. Only time will tell.

Turkey

James loves his new turkey that Kathy sent in the mail recently. He carries it with him all over the house. Turkey sometimes joins us for nap time, he also likes to help in the kitchen. Best of all, he likes James to feed him coffee. Yum!

Notice how James gently carries him around the house by his neck. Hopefully he won't try this with his baby brother.

And the best part is that the turkey will gobble....

Finger paint

James got to try finger paints for the first time today. It was a little slow going at first, but I think he was getting the hang of it by the end. And of course the masterpiece is now hanging proudly in the dinning room. What a great little artist!

Here is a picture that highlights all our noses. I still can't figure out how James has such a different nose...what do you think?

And here is Luke, happily swinging and sleeping. Alto, a picture of him in his bear outfit that he wears when we brave the winter weather. He is such a sweet and snugly baby!

Naughty Turkey

Here is James being very naughty.

He physically pulled the stereo out of the cabinet, something he knows he isn't supposed to do. Then he proceeded to load the CD player with multiple CDs. He was so busy and so happy, but still so very naughty. It's a good thing Auntie Julia is now in town to keep James under control.


And, we got some great Thanksgiving decorations in the mail. (Thank you Kathy!) Don't John and James look smashing in our new turkey headbands? We have so much to be thankful for this year!

Cousins!

Last weekend James and Luke were visited by some of their cousins and their Uncle Robert. We had such a fun time. This is what Luke did during most of the visit...

If only he would do this more at night. All our excitement over our 7 hour stretches was short lived. We are back to every 3 hours like clockwork.

Here are all the Turner men during our family get together. James had so much fun playing with Wil and Charlie!

He and Maggie also had a grand time playing with Mr. Froggie.

What great fun to have cousins!

Roar!

Check out James' newest animal noise...so far this is my favorite one that he has learned.

Nana and Papa

Nana and Papa are here in Virginia for a visit. James loves Papa and want to read books and play with puzzles and watch Baby Einstein with him. Nana brought some fun foam blocks that James is also enjoying very much.

Luke is being his usual charming self, and was so worn out by all the festivities that he slept two seven hour stretches last night. I am not sure if we are up for a repeat tonight, but Daddy and I wouldn't mind if he made this a nighttime routine. =)

18 month check-up

As usual, James had a great check-up yesterday. He is right on track with all the developmental milestones, and his doctor loves that he is such an enthusiastic artist. In fact he insisted on drawing the entire time we were in her office. He also insisted on throwing a very large fit when we tried to weigh him. I understand, I wouldn't want to be in the middle of the hallway naked on a scale either. Not much would sooth him, but he stopped wiggling for about 2 seconds and the well seasoned nurse was able to get his weight. He was much better once his doctor arrived, James has always liked her.

Her first comment was "James must really love food". This surprised me because as most of you know I have a hard time getting James to eat. I guess my determination is paying off. as he is no longer a "75%" baby for weight, but closer to 90%. The doctor brings lots of toys with her, so James happily played while she assured me that his eating habits are normal, and to just keep trying to introduce new foods. James cannot live on cheese puffs alone...but based on how well he is growing maybe he can.

Here are James' 18 month stats:

Weight: 28 pounds, 8 ounces (75-90%)

Height: 34 3/4 inches (97%)

Head: 19 1/2 inches (90%)

And finally, the latest installment of my twin dressers. John's coworker gave us these adorable twin outfits. Cute, cute, cute!!!

A Sunday full of firsts

This past Sunday marked some firsts for both Luke and James. The first amazing event of the day was that the entire Turner family made it to church Sunday morning. Dressing and feeding two little guys was quite a feat, but we were able to all arrive to the church well fed and dressed in clean clothes. Both boys slept through the service. James slept the entire hour at Sunday school which is the first time he has ever done that. Luke slept peacefully throughout the service, which was a real treat. James always made some sort of loud gassing noise or cried during a church service when he was a baby. That was always slightly embarrassing.

After church we went out to celebrate at the Silver Diner. James LOVES to come here, mostly because he gets to draw with crayons at the table and play with the music box at the table. He even ate his grilled cheese, something that we have learned he will only do at restaurants. I am not sure what they do differently, but it must be something major because he will never eat a grilled cheese at home. Funny boy!

Luke slept through his first time dinning out. He seems to sleep through a lot of his firsts.

When we got home John decided James needed to play in the glorious fall weather. So Daddy and James went out to play in the colorful leaves. James had a great time and loved being thrown into the pile. Personally I have never understood the appeal of playing in dead leaves, but they had fun and that is all that matters.

Twins

Grammy got the boys "twin" outfits and they look so cute dressed alike. I may need to dress them alike more often.

Some random twin stories:

*I have always tried to get John to "match" with me. So far all he will commit to is getting matching windbreakers after he has retired. What a party pooper!

*As a child I always asked for a twin sister for Christmas...never got one. So I dressed up my poor brother as my sister "Morgana" more times then he would like to remember.

*People used to confuse my brother and I as twins, and not just when he was dressed up like my sister. (Note we are 20 months apart.) Mother used to think to herself "Sure they are twins, one of them eats the other ones food".

Our favorite activities

James climbed into a box full of toys today. Grandma and I found this stinkin' hilarious, and took lots of pictures. There is even a video just for fun, although I warn you it is long.

Luke continues to be an excellent sleeper, at least during the day. He can sleep through all of James' hoots and hollers just fine...it's once the house settles down and is quiet that he starts to wake up.

Why I don't get any sleep

First, a little video of James dancing. I am not sure where he learned his moves, but he is smokin'!

And now a story about voting, the elecctions and those darned political phone calls that keep waking me up. We have been bombarded with no less then then 3 political phone calls an hour over this past week. They start as early as 9 AM and go through about 7:30 PM. Lovely. At least they will stop tonight when the polls close, I hope. We did get one funny phone call that went something like this:

John: Hello
Guy: James Turner please.
John: Oh hey...(thinking it must be a friend) I'm sorry, may I ask whose calling?
Guy: I'm calling from McCain/Palin and wanted to talk to James Turner.
John: Well, James Turner is 17 months old and won't be voting, but I can assure you, if he was voting he would be voting for McCain/Palin. Please update your records.
Guy: Thank you sir, we will be sure to update our records.

James did come with me to vote today. Luckily the line for M-Z was really short. Although a nice man handing out the "Sample ballots" offered to get them to bump me to the front of the line if I was A-L. So nice. James, as usual, was a big hit to those around us. He even talked up a storm while I was filling out my ballot. Then he got an "I voted" sticker and thought he was very cool.

October 10th and 11th

I just got my hands on some really cute pictures from the night before Luke was born. We were having our usual Saturday night dinner at Dan and Christine's. Yum! Also included are pictures of Dan and Christine taking care of James on the 11th, and a really cute one of Christine and baby Leah snuggling.

Also, as promised here is a video of James eating popcorn chicken. I need to have Auntie Christine feed James all his meals, he will eat almost anything she gives him.