Best Buds

Eli and James had a great first day together! My favorite pictures are the two of them in the crib watching the mobile. These two guys are so cute together!

ADDENDUM 11/8/2007: I just added a bunch more pictures from today. Seriously, these two guys are so cute I just can't stop taking pictures! Quick story from today: Both boys took long naps today around lunch time. Eli won with a 2.5 hour nap, while James slept for just 2 hours. During the time that they were both sleeping two very loud things happened. First a ridiculously loud fire truck roared down the street that made both Charlie and I jump. Neither boy made a peep. Then a chainsaw next door snarled, and both boys were jolted awake. I guess both Eli and James are city boys!

Stretchy McStretchers

Yesterday James, John, Grandma and I went out to eat at an all you can eat BBQ buffet (Dixie Bones to those in the know). James is just starting to be good at restaurants if you time it right. He needs to have a full tummy, a nap and then usually he can make it through a meal. He is such an active little guy, it can be quite the event as we pass him around the table so everyone can get a chance to eat.

He is really fascinated by liquids, and yesterday he had his first introduction to southern sweet tea....when he spilled an entire large class all over John's pants. He reached, grabbed and spilled. Oh boy, daddy was covered! I think James rather enjoyed all the excitement. John didn't really enjoy the wet pants. And for the rest of the meal we made sure there wasn't anything within James' grasp. It came close a couple of times but nothing else was spilled. On the up side, the food was delicious and we all left feeling a little over stuffed.

Whooo Whooo

We are having a GREAT time with Grandma this week! Today James laughed for almost 30 minutes and the best part is we caught it on tape! He would start to get a little fussy, but if I made a "whoo whoo" noise he would start laughing again! Check out the "Turner Videos" link to see Grandma singing to James. So cute!

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!