Playtime

James is figuring out how to play with some of his toys. Here he is playing with his first rattle.

Playing with Mommy

Here are a few of the many faces of James. I LOVE the first one!

Thanksgiving videos

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was James' first Thanksgiving. We went up to Charlotte, NC to spend it with my family. This was the first time my dad got to meet James and about 2 months since my mom and sister got to see him. Everyone was amazed by how big he's gotten. James was such a PawPaw's boy and of course my dad (PawPaw) didn't mind one bit.

James got baptized while we were up there. I was so excited about it. The pastor who had baptized me as a baby, baptized Aaron, and married Aaron and I was the one who baptized James.

We stayed just over a week at Aunt Mary and Uncle Eric's house. James loved his Auntie!! He would snuggle in with her in the morning and sleep away. He also laid claim to her papasan chair. He would just watch that chair till we put him in it and then smirk at his Auntie as if to say, "Ha ha I've got your chair!" Aunt Mary's name was sometimes "Aunt Meanie". She once jumped out and scared James when he was lounging in her chair...he acted like he was going to cry, but didn't. Once, she accidentally dropped James when handing him to me...granted he only "fell" about 2 inches but he just cried! Of course, he got his revenge. He tried his best to pee on Aunt Meanie when she gave him a bath. He loved seeing her though. She fed him orange sweetroll icing...which he loved! He would just talk to her and he started fake coughing to get her attention so she would play with him.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving we moved back to PawPaw and Mema's house since they had Wed-Fri off work. James would get up in the morning and play with Mema and then nap while she read. He loved it when PawPaw would get him b/c PawPaw would let him nap when mean-old-mommy said he needed to be awake. :)

We had such a wonderful time! Aunt Mary and I just cried when it was time to go. Family was always so important to us growing up and family was always just down the road. It was very hard to pack James up and leave since we are 7 hours away. I told James not to worry though, if I get my way, we will be moving back up near family so he can grow up with them around to spoil him! :)

Growing Like a Weed

I can't believe how fast James is growing. Here is his 2 month photo and the previous one.

A Cute Anecdote

We took James to visit a friend of ours and she has a 2 year old daughter who just loves James. She has trouble saying James (I think she is trying to say Jameses), but it comes out sounding like "Baby Jesus"! It's just wrong, but I keep asking her what James' name is just to hear her call him baby Jesus. :)

He's Such a Little Deer

My dad sent James a little deer bunting outfit so that he won't get cold outside. It is just too cute that it also became James' Halloween outfit. It has antlers, feet prints, and a tail. I dressed him up in it today to take pics and tomorrow we are going to dress him up again and take him the the Fall Festival at church.

First Bath

James' umbilical cord finally came off and he was able to take his first bath. I was sure he was going to scream since he does everytime he has to have a sponge bath, but he enjoyed it. There was no crying till time to get out. Aaron did the bathing and James just watched him. It was too cute. Here are some pics and videos of his first bath.

My How He's Grown!

I can't believe how much James has grown in just a month! My tiny baby is gone! It's kinda sad, but at the same time it's exciting. He is doing so much now. He can hold his head up pretty well for about 10 seconds. He's alot more alert when he's awake. Yesterday he rolled himself from his stomach to his back (it was an accident, but still exciting!). He smiles ALOT at Aaron and me whenever we are talking to him or reading to him (his favorite book right now is Green Eggs and Ham).

Anyways, here are two pics to show how much he's grown. The first one is from when he came home from the hospital and the second one is from when he was 1 month old. Enjoy!

Almost 1 month

I can't believe how fast time flies! It seems like just yesterday Aaron and I were bringing James home from the hospital and now he is almost a month old. James is doing well and seems to be growing like a weed! We'd been having some trouble getting him to sleep at night without being held until my dad suggested we use a baby sound machine that has a heartbeat sound. Wouldn't you know it, it worked!

Tomorrow he officially turns one month so I will post the pictures of him and his teddy bear showing how much he's grown in 4 weeks. Until then, here are some pics I took yesterday when I went a little camera happy! :)

He's sporting his Georgia socks!

That's the only pacifier he will take. It's so big on him!!

Doesn't he look like a little angel?

I just barely caught him smiling! :)

He loves to stick out his tongue!!

James trying to wake up

Time Flies!

I can't believe that James is getting ready to be 2 weeks old! Time really does fly! Our first night at home was good. James woke up every 3 hours to eat and then went back to sleep. I should have known it was too good to be true, but I messed things up. I made the mistake of eating Italian food for supper the next night and my poor baby was up most of the night with an upset tummy. Every night since then, James has decided that between 2-3:00 is the time to wake up and play. Aaron and I have to switch nights to be up with him so that the other can get some sleep. My mom and sister came down for a week and were a godsend! I would get up in the morning when my mom got up (about 6:30) and hand James over so that I could get some uninterupted sleep. They were great about helping me take care of James, and Mary Beth even changed one diaper (though she gagged while doing it)! :)
Aaron has been great. He put himself on diaper duty to help me out since I'm in charge of feeding (go figure!). He usually manages to do it without fuss, but if he's really sleepy he wants to argue about the best time to change James. :)
Today we took James to the Honeybee festival. Since it's outside, I knew I needed to put him in pants and shoes (he kicks every pair of socks off as soon as they are on his feet). He is just so tiny that even the newborn clothes swallow him whole! The pair of pants he wore slid right off when I picked him up, but they worked since he stayed in his car seat.
He is such an active little boy when he is awake. Today he almost figured out how to roll from his back to his stomach (pretty advanced since he's not quite 2 weeks yet). He just couldn't quite get his shoulder under himself. I see myself chasing after him in my near future if this keeps up! :)

Baby James

I was sent to the hospital on Monday morning for "observation." The hospital decided to keep me overnight to see if nature would continue my labor. It didn't b/c they wouldn't let me out of the bed. Tuesday morning, the midwife came in and broke my water. A little less than 2 hours later, James was born. I was in actual "pushing labor" for about 10 minutes. James Gabriel Brant was born at 9:56am. He weighed in at 6lbs and 13oz. He is 19 and 3/4 in long.

He is such a good baby! Of course that is part of the mom in me talking, but he really is great! He doesn't cry hardly at all. He can already hold his head up a little bit and smiles. Aaron loves being a dad and holds him quite a lot. I on the other hand have to constantly remind myself that it's ok if James is not being held 100% of the time. He's just so cute I can't stand for him not to be held.

We'll post more soon, right now we are all just settling into being home. Aaron just informed me that "this watching a baby is hard work!" :)

Waiting

Well, the waiting game is on. I will be 38 weeks tomorrow. The doctors have been keeping me on bed rest for about 2 months now. At first, it was due to my having contractions and now it is because my blood pressure is fluxuating. The doctors told me the only way to fix my blood pressure is to have the baby. So, when I was there yesterday, I asked them about inducing. (I am so tired of bedrest and b/c of it I don't have any energy.) They told me to come back in on Monday morning and we would talk about induction since I will be 38 weeks at that time. So, hopefully we will have a baby sometime next week. Aaron is excited and ready for it to happen anytime (except when he is in class). :)
I will try to post a note on Monday about what the doctor said and what the plan is.