IMG_9693, uploaded by davejenbarnes
We turned in our keys at 3:00 pm today, right before James took a 20 minute nap in the car on the way “home!” which ended up being right before he played (not slept) in his crib for an hour!
Here’s a pic of Dave’s new pride and joy… his hot sauce wall. We have four more shelves that we can add up high once we decide to order some bose speaker stands on ebay.
if you try to email jennifer.barnes@gmail.com, it will likely go to some other Jennifer Barnes - the one at jenniferbarnes@gmail.com - and I was getting all of her messages. There is no fix. No way around it. Gmail’s official position on the matter is that they do not recognize the dot in the gmail name, so essentially the two email addresses are the same email address. No fix. I learned this the hard way… so I deleted that email address. you should be able to figure out another email address to reach us since you’re at this domain name and you know that we luv gmail. So, use your brain and reach me at that email address and I will reply with my new personal email address if you so wish to have it.
-Jennifer
James has refused his afternoon nap for the third day in a row. I wonder if he is stressed from moving or… doesn’t like the new place… or just doesn’t need it as much anymore.
We’re unpacking boxes and setting up house. I just wanted to let the internet know that we’re still alive.
Tonight is our last night sleeping in the apartment. Tomorrow we will be moving the beds over to the duplex.
Of course, James is handling everything really well, besides the diarrhea and the worst diaper rash he’s ever had. Saturday was a tough day with the diaper rash. We wouldn’t have known what to do without Great Grandma and Grandma. Praise the Lord for family! James’ great grandma was a pediatric nurse in her working days and she recommended changing his diet to the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) which we have had him on for two days now. Before the diet change he had eaten a sizeable amount of sharp cheddar which we think irritated his tummy along with all the molars coming in right now.
He has ten teeth and two more that are going to break through any day now. David and I are thinking that most of this going on with James right now started due to the teeth but we don’t know what is making the diarrhea green!
I am sick as well with something sinus related, but as long as I have something to blow my nose into, I feel fine. We’ll go into more detail about me in a future post. Let me tell you that it will be good to have the moving behind us and over with.
We’re debating skipping swim class to go to the doctor for James tomorrow… Just to make sure he’s not really sick and that it is just teething afterall. It sucks to get four molars coming in at the same stinking time as moving! Overall, it hasn’t been as hard on James as I have thought it would be, but I am sure we will be dealing with some kind of issue once we are in the new, unfamiliar place. I just hope we won’t be dealing with sleep issues. The diaper issues are enough for now, thank you very much.
So far, most of our furniture (minus James’ entire room and our bed) is over at the duplex and the cats have been hiding under the bed like crazy. I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t want the cats to hide under beds. This totally bites. So I locked them into the bathroom. I guess the way we un-introduce them to this place will be the opposite of the routine we use to introduce them to new place.
We introduce them to a new place one room at a time. A small room first… the master bathroom… and they stay in there 24 hours a day for the first few days… then they get bedroom time, only a few min. at first, then hours, then days. After about the first week, we’ll let them explore a new room. I guess it takes us about a month to introduce them to a new place, but they have never been scaredey cats until today. When their cat tower disappeared.
Too bad the cat tower doesn’t fit in the master bathroom.
Dear James,
Wow, you’re eleven months old today! That is totally cool.
I was going to brag on how well you sleep through the night but this morning you woke up at 3:50-something screaming your little head off. It’s okay though. I secretly love getting to hold you in the dark, nursing away your “wakies.”
Your personality is really starting to shine. You are the most darling little copy-cat I have ever met and the way you copy my coughing is enough to bring tears to my eyes. Yeah, mommy isn’t feeling well right now, and I have a feeling that you aren’t feeling too well, either. You’ll also copy daddy when he makes all kinds of noises. Right now it’s cute but I know sometimes parents can be annoyed by stuff like that. I hope we’re not those parents.
Today you ran to my open arms and wanted to be held so tight, so I held you and started singing all the songs that we sing. You know them impressively well and do the baby signs to some of them without us showing you. Today I was humming “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and you were doing the signs! I wasn’t even singing the words. I hope this is an indicator of some musical ability hiding in there somewhere… …anyhow, yeah, so I was singing songs to you and I made a funny sound… something like “Bleh” but sticking my tongue out at the same time. You giggled. I must have said “bleh” about 350 more times before it wasn’t funny any more. You thought it was the funniest when I would replace random words of the songs I was singing with “bleh.” Wow, that was a great moment today, James. We both felt better for a short time.
This month you’ve perfected walking, started standing from nothing, started copying what your daddy and I say and do, learned about 5 new baby signs, whistled, smacked your lips, started dancing, even running (oh boy) and gotten three molars, started swim class and held your breath for 2 seconds underwater, and gotten your first pair of real shoes. Wow. You’ve been busy. How about his next month you cut us some slack? You do realize we’re trying to move as well as take care of you, don’t you?
I can’t believe you’ll be a year old in a month.
I love you more than you’ll ever know.
Love,
Mama
first stride rite shoes, uploaded by davejenbarnes
James’ Grandma K took us to the mall today to buy his first pair of shoes fitted by a salesperson. The lady was very very nice and James seemed to like her okay. Then again, he pretty much likes everybody. He wears a size 4.5 XXW (that’s extra, extra wide), which, thankfully, the cute sandals came in.
Later, we headed over to the playscape and he was the chic magnet in the red airplaine. Yep. He had four blondes much much too old for him (they must have been between 2-4 years old) doting on him and giving him high-fives. Uh-oh. We didn’t think the flirting would have started so soon. Kids these days.