It's Birthday Planning Time :o)

I can't believe in just under 2 months James will turn 3!

He is obsessed these days with Angry Birds so we've decided to do that as the theme for his party. And luckily this year his birthday falls on a Saturday so it was easy to plan that part too.

Here is the awesome invitation that my great friend Joy made for us to use. I will be creating a FB event soon and will put it there as well.

Big Ouchies for James

Well, it finally happened! After going up and down our stairs like a pro since before he could walk he finally fell down them and ended up with a bloody nose and blue goose egg! He went up to get some books and turned around holding them, one fell and he slipped on it and fell face first onto the laminate flooring at the bottom.

My friend Michele was here with me and thankfully took over on the blood clean up duty while I did the consoling. In the end he was more concerned with the blood on his hands and on my shirt than he was about the pain. Within 2 minutes he was reading the letters on Michele's shirt and telling me "Mommy, that was a close one." I just laughed and told him that wasn't close at all buddy, you actually fell and hit your head! Such a little boy!

After some ice cream and some books and singing and a good hour of watching him, off to bed he went and slept relatively well until 6:40 this morning.

"Let me show you my new hair cut Mommy!"

Head Shaving

It was time for James to get a haircut, but for some reason every time we mention Auntie Ra cutting his hair he just says "nope" or says yes but after many failed attempts we have realized it is a losing battle at this time and we aren't going to push it.

However...his hair is super thick and looks so shaggy when it it is long and lately it's been driving me crazy so this past week we've been telling him we are going to shave his head and although we knew he would hate it, we decided we were going to do it anyways. We hoped that once he got it shaved he would realize that sitting for a haircut was a much better idea. It still remains to be seen about whether he will in fact think that after today's experience.

I think in the end it was more traumatic for me but holding him while he was screaming and sobbing was certainly no picnic for this emotional and hormonal Mommy. He looks so cute though and within 2 minutes of being done he was totally fine so I know we just need to keep doing it until he gets used to it. At least now we won't let it get that long or shaggy knowing how hard it it is to get it shaved while he kicks and screams!

BEFORE PHOTOS

AFTER PHOTOS

 

Overall I think he's absolutely adorable with his short hair and I really hope that in time he gets used to the head shaving or will willingly get Auntie to cut his hair. As I said before, only time will tell! 

8/52 - A Portrait a Week

To me this photo shows the incredible bond and love that James and his Daddy share. 

Daddy is tickling James....and he is clearly loving every second of it! 

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Searched my old files and came up with some cute stuff

In thinking about leaving the Peak for my one year maternity leave I have decided to do a blog post that features all of the fun photos and ways that James has been part of my Classifieds pages in the 2 years since I started here. Luckily I had them all saved on my hard drive and was able to easily access them because going back through all the files would have taken quite some time!

Here are the 3 Valentine's poems I was referring to in my V-Day post last week.

2011 Poems

 2012 Poems

2013 Poems

I have also used his handsome little face in 3 different promotions for Classifieds. One for Thanksgiving and two for Halloween, as well as using his costume photos in the Winners ad.

2011 Halloween Promo and Winners Ad

2012 Halloween Promo and Winners Ad

Lastly we've got the 2 birthday ads I've done for little man. 

I can't believe it's almost time to get working on the
Happy 3rd Birthday one!

My heart is just bursting with love, pride and happiness

I woke up today to James calling for us at just after 5 am which usually starts the day off on a bad note. However, he climbed into bed beside me as Jim got up and I told him he had to lay quietly or get up and go downstairs with Daddy. He certainly didn't fall back to sleep but did just lay there quietly. Less than 10 minutes later he whispered to me..."Mommy, can I hug you?" Of course you can little man, of course you can! What a wonderful way to start the day!

Then this morning we were watching his favorite morning show Super Why and he actually told me he had to go pee, so we quickly paused the show and ran off to the potty! This is a HUGE step for us as usually he will not stop what he is doing to pee, he will wait till we remind him.

Because we were up early we were ready to go to work early and had enough time to take some cute photos and FaceTime to say good morning to Nana which is always a nice way to start the day too!

Work was another great day, training my replacement again today and feeling very confident that she will be ready to go by the time my last day of work happens in just over 7 weeks :o)

After work I picked James up and actually took him with me to the grocery store which is sometimes a long process at the end of the day. He was very well behaved and knew exactly where all of the stuff we needed was and ran from one item to the next, helping me by slam dunking things into my basket. He was polite and friendly to other people and was in such a happy mood when we got home to see Daddy.

Speaking of Daddy, he made another fantastic dinner tonight...which James finished his WHOLE plate of. Chicken, pasta, peas and carrots! We have really turned a corner with his eating and he now knows he has to try at least a little piece of everything on his plate in order to get his small chocolate heart treat after supper. He also gets one small heart if he has a dry pull-up all day; which he did great with right until supper time when he stopped mid bite and yelled he had to go...then didn't quite make it to the potty...but hey, he's really trying which is what really matters to us at this point!

A quick shower with Daddy and then stories and songs with Mommy and off to sleep he went just before 8:30 pm. Overall it was just a wonderfully positive day in the Barrows Family World!

And if you made it this far you get to read about what our pervert little man said to our sitter today.....hahahaha! She said she went into her room to put on a T-shirt because she was having a hot flash and he must have followed her into the room without her realizing.  He saw her in just her bra and then proceeded to say to her "hhhmmm...those are nice boobies Donna." 

I just about died when she told me when I went to pick him up. I thought Jim would be both proud and horrified but when I told him he was way more horrified than I thought he would be. He told me and as I know full well he's never said anything like that to him or around him but it's so funny either way and makes you wonder where the heck he came up with that one! He has told me before that I have "cool" boobies, but certainly not nice ones! hahahahahahaha....too funny, and definitely a memory for the baby book :o)

Oh my poor child will hate my family memory keeping in the years to come.

Brutal...I hate failing at anything...

The doctor's office phoned me last Wednesday saying that I needed to go in to go over some results. I was worried that they couldn't get me in sooner, but realized if it was really serious they would have made the effort before the following week.

When I had my last prenatal appointment I realized on my way out the door I had forgotten to ask him about my ultrasound results, so logically thought those were the results he wanted to discuss with me. I was slightly worried so made Jim comes with me. We walked into the office and for the first time ever Dr. N was on time! He walked in and asked why I was there. Said I was there for results and he opened his computer and said those words that no pregnant lady wants to hear "you failed your gestational diabetes test."

WHAT THE HELL? Really? I was shocked and said you've gotta be kidding me. He laughed at me and said "that is your name on the screen isn't it?" He is so cheeky!

So, off I go next week to do the dreaded 2 hour test where I have to fast the night before and they take my blood 3 times. Luckily doing blood draws are never a problem for me, but the having to sit and wait around for 2 hours part is going to irritate me! Wish me luck that I pass this one, as diet changes at anytime suck, and although I don't eat a ton of really sugary stuff per say I certainly don't eat as healthily as I should either :)

Me and my first baby...24 weeks

3 Funny Things

James seemed to be on a roll this weekend with funny things he said and did. Here are just a few of those funny things/conversations:

"James, are you ready to help me.....?"
"I was born ready Mommy! Okay, let's go!"
** I'm pretty sure this one came straight from the Cars movie! Wish I could remember what I was asking him to help me with but I can't.

"Hey Daddy, can we go downstairs and fold some laundry?"
"Buddy, do you just want to go down and play basketball?"
"Yes Daddy I do!"
"Okay, then let's do that, but you don't have to tell me you want to do laundry if you really just want to play basketball"

A little bit later while downstairs all playing b-ball together I said to J&J
"Okay, 2 more minutes and then we have to go upstairs and get some stuff done"
"Ummm....4 more minutes Mommy"
"Okay then, 4 more minutes"

Minutes go by and I say "Okay, let's go upstairs and get going now"
"It's okay, I stay down and play basketball by myself, you guys go away!"
** Jim and I burst out laughing as he was so serious and clearly was not done playing yet :o)

This kid is just completely crazy and so stinking funny! Can't wait to see what kind of big kid and teenager he will turn out to be.

A rare Mommy/James photo...high-fiving while James "sells" me pinecones at the "store" at Willingdon Beach park

Nothing to write about...but here's a cute photo!

It's late on Sunday (well not really late...but I'm going to bed to get a good long sleep!) and I am trying to think of something funny, witty or thoughtful to write...and I've just got nothing tonight so will post a photo instead.

7/52 - A Portrait a Week

My happy little guy enjoying the playground at our favorite local park - February 16, 2013

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Valentine's Day Memories

9 years ago today Jimmy told me he loved me for the very first time.  

We had been dating since August and even though I thought he would tell me at Christmas time it was almost 2 whole months later when he finally said it. We were laying in bed watching dumb movies that he loves (Far & Away and Braveheart) and I looked up and him and he said "I love you" as if he had been saying it all along. Then we walked out to our kitchen and I found chocolates and a really nice card.

The following year Jim went all out for V-Day and surprised me at work with flowers, a huge helium balloon, handmade card with poem in it and a wonderful steak dinner.

Roses are red, violets are blue, you're a great girl, a bit spoiled too.

I still love you very much

Be My Valentine

Love Jimmy 

In the years since there has usually always been a card and/or flowers or gift. This year we decided on no big gifts or anything and he just gave me flowers a couple of weeks ago so we were all good. I would rather get cheap flowers in January than expensive flowers on Valentine's Day. Today started out rough with me still being really sick with this terrible head cold. I decided to keep James home with me today too as he was starting to cough and had a runny nose as well. I also just kind of didn't want to have to get him dressed to go anywhere! It was really nice to have a rare day alone with him, even if I did feel super crappy. In the end today was a pretty great day. We watched the Cars movie, snuggled on the couch together.

He watched some Toopy & Binoo in his couch fort/tent, then we both napped, had a nice hot soothing shower, got into clean pajamas, and made Daddy some cards and did some crafts.

When Jim walked in the door it was awesome to see how excited James got and started yelling "Happy Valentine's Day" and jumping up and down saying "we made you cards Daddy!"

 He can't decide yet if he's more comfortable left or right handed.

Once Jim was home he opened his cards and James opened his gift, then we made little man some supper (he requested soup) and Jim went to Subway to get subs for us.

While Jim and I ate supper on the couch we all played the Toopy & Binoo game, then while Jim showered alone (his V-Day gift!) James and I read stories on his Innotab.

After Daddy's shower we had a family snuggle on the couch and then Daddy got James ready for bed and read his stories to him (my V-Day gift!).

Goodnight hugs and kisses for the baby! 

Overall it will definitely be a day that I remember forever, both for the awful sickness and for seeing the look on James's face when he opened his Valentine's Day gift...see below!

 
And just for fun, here are two of the poems I've written for Jim for Valentine's Day

2011
Jim
My favorite color is red
You look great in blue
You are such a grump lately
But I still love you
Love Kim

2013
Alfred Sr.
My favorite color is red
You still look great in blue
2 years later you're a lot less grumpy
And I'm completely crazy about you 
Love Me

Will have to find the 3 different ones I've done for James since I started at the Peak. Will post those in a separate post sometime soon.