Christmas with the Stoners

Our Christmas cutie!

James' first Christmas is a white Christmas!

It started snowing in Fort Worth the morning of Christmas Eve. James sat by the window and watched the white display.

After a while, we got bundled up and took James out to play in the snow.


By evening, there was enough snow on the ground for Daddy to make a snow angel and for Mommy and Daddy to have a snowball fight.

On Christmas morning, we woke up to the ground covered in an inch or two of snow! Pretty rare for Texas!

James the inchworm

James wants to crawl so badly and he is getting closer and closer. You don't really see his inchworm technique until about 1 min. 20 sec. into the video. He'll be moving all over the house before we know it!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today we took James to pick out his first Christmas tree! He had very little input as to which one to get, but he enjoyed the outing all the same. James looked on as mommy and daddy decorated the tree, and once we were all done he gave us his approval!

How does this happen?

James has a new cousin!

Isabella Marie Gonzalez was born Dec. 6 at 4:29 am. She weighs 7 lbs. 5 oz. and is 18.5 inches long. She is beautiful and healthy. Her mama, daddy and big brother Tristan are so proud!

6 month update

James' stats are in! He now weighs 15 lbs. 9.5 oz (25th percentile) and is 26 1/2 inches long (50th percentile). His pediatrician is perfectly happy with his growth and development. Since James is now old enough to get the flu shot, our visit with the doctor ended with 6 shots (4 regularly scheduled immunizations and 2 flu shots). James cried but recovered quickly. He's been happy as a clam since his appointment yesterday. James is doing lots of new things since last month...

1) He's eating solids! He loves carrots, prunes, squash, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal. He likes peas, green beans and rice cereal. There's nothing on the "he hates" list yet.
2) He can pivot himself around in a circle on his belly.
3) James can bring himself into a crawling position with a little help, but not often and he doesn't seem to like it much. He tries to move forward on his belly when he's playing on the floor, but he hasn't quite got the idea that his arms and legs are required for forward motion.
4) He can remain in a sitting position without assistance. He's not yet getting himself into sitting though.
5) He loves to stand up at everything. He doesn't need to be held onto, but we do need to keep a close eye on him in case he loses his balance.
6) James has been sleeping at night for 8-10 hours without needing to nurse. For example, last night he went to bed at 8:30 pm and woke up at 6 am. I nursed him and then he went back to sleep until 8:30. Mommy and Daddy are very happy to be getting more sleep! Finally!
7) He is smiling and laughing more and more. He really has such a funny little personality!

We love our baby boy so much. James has brought so much joy to us and our family, and we couldn't imagine life without him!

James got snow for his 6 month birthday!

We can't believe our baby boy is already half a year old! June Bug goes to the doctor tomorrow for his 6 month check-up, so I will post more pictures and an update with his stats after the appointment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated James' first Thanksgiving at home with Nana, Uncle Mike, Aunt Karyn, Uncle David and cousin Tristan. James napped through our meal, but he feasted on carrots, peas, squash and rice cereal when he woke up. Mmmmmm!

James is a big boy!

This week, James had his first ride sitting in the grocery cart and his first ride in the jogging stroller! Our little man is growing so fast!

James in the bath

Bath time has not been been a fun time in our house since James was born, but he's starting to come around!

James loves food!

James loves everything we've given him so far! In fact, each time we've introduced something new, he's eaten the entire jar (except for what's on his face, of course)!

James and peas

James and prunes

James and carrots

Smiling James

James eats avocado

James and Daddy

Weekend in Austin

This past weekend we drove down to Austin to spend some time with family and friends. Saturday started with James teaching his uncle to play the piano. Uncle Mike is a very talented pianist, but James was able to teach him a couple things!

On Saturday afternoon, we walked around the Botanical Gardens with Dave's good friend Aaron and his fiance Jean. Then we went to dinner with my good friend Stacey and her daughter Ella. Stacey and Ella both had a birthday this past week. Happy 1 year birthday to Ella, and happy 2nd 29th birthday to Stacey!

James and his buddy Cole

The Warner's came over for dinner last night which means James got to play with his friend Cole. Cole is almost 3 months older than James, so he gave James a preview of what's to come... sitting up and crawling! James did get his first lesson in sharing. Cole really liked James' favorite toy (a little music box that lights up), and they kept trying to get it from each other. It was fun to see them interacting.

Cereal face

What a cute face!

Naked James

We let James play naked on the floor for a little bit last night, and he had the time of his life! When he is older, he will probably kill me for posting this video, but it's just too cute!

James is 5 months old!

It has been so amazing watching our little man grow and learn new things each day. This past month has been no exception! Here's a list of all James is doing:

1) He wants to crawl so badly... when he gets on his belly, he kicks and kicks his legs to try to move forward. He hasn't quite figured out what his arms are supposed to do.
2) If we prop James up in sitting, he can hold the position for a few seconds. He is definitely getting stronger trunk muscles.
3) James is eating rice cereal 2 times a day. He seems to like it and pushes less and less out of his mouth with each feeding.
4) He puts everything in his mouth, including chins and noses if you get too close! The other day he was gnawing on my shoulder so hard I had to stop him because it hurt. And that's without teeth! I imagine that we'll be seeing some teeth pop up soon.
5) James is talking up a storm! He loves to get our attention with all his little noises.
6) He smiles and giggles all the time. James is really ticklish and if we get him laughing hard, he still gets the hiccups.
7) He is still waking at least once a night to nurse, but it's getting better and better. His longest stretch of sleep has been 8 hours.
8) James loves to blow raspberries. He gets spit all over himself, but he thinks it's so funny!
9) If we stand James up in front of the coffee table, he can hold himself up for a good while.
10) He still loves to jump in the jumper. I think this is his favorite pasttime!

Halloween

Sweet Baby James dressed up as a cute and cuddly bear this Halloween. We couldn't let our baby cub out without a family, so we were "The Three Bears".



James' bear outfit was quite hot, and our masks were quite uncomfortable, so here's a family picture out of costume.

Watch out! James will put anything you're holding in his mouth!