January recap

January was an interesting month in the Stoner home... there were some good changes and some bad sickness.

One of the biggest changes is that James has switched to a big boy bed (aka twin mattress on the floor). About 3 weeks ago, I put James down for his nap and a few minutes later he came walking into the living room and handed me a book! He was so proud- I've never seen him smile so big! I had the baby monitor right next to me, and I didn't a hear a thing when he was making his climb out. He didn't do it the next day, but then climbed out 2 more times the following day. For safety, we decided to make the switch. It was so nice of James to give up his crib in time for his baby sister to use it (although, we weren't in any hurry for him to give it up)! The first night, James went to sleep quickly, slept for 3 hours, and then cried at his door for the entire night. The second night, he cried initially, but eventually went to sleep and was fine for the night. Since then, there hasn't been a lot of crying, just lots of playing! For a couple weeks, James was clearly not getting enough sleep, but it seems we've reached a turning point and he's sleeping much better these days.

James is talking with real words more and more. The words James says now are: dada, mama, bubbles, nana (banana and Nana), thank you, bye-bye, shoe, cup, bowl, dog, dance, gentle, yellow, green, blue, red, black, yeah, no, all done, ball, and down.
He tells us almost everything is yellow, and when we correct him, he'll repeat the right color. Also, he uses down for up and down. He still has full conversations with us in pure gibberish, and it's obvious he is telling us something because he uses a lot of hand gestures.

I got really sick in mid- January with pleurisy (inflammation of the lining of the lungs). I have never been in so much pain (especially when I coughed), nor have I ever had such a difficult time breathing. I went to the ER one night because I couldn't catch my breath. Turns out that when you're pregnant, there's not much that can be done. I took two different antibiotics and went through one bottle of Tylenol and three bottles of Robitussin. 2 weeks later, I am finally feeling better. James got sick during this time too. He had probably one of his worst ear infections (at least based on his behavior). He also had a mild case of RSV, which is basically a chest cold. Mama gave him that one. Fortunately, Dada managed to escape illness, and took amazing care of Mama and James while we were sick.

We've been working on Audrey's nursery since Thanksgiving, and it is done! We also made some changes to James' room since we moved the crib and glider out. Both kiddos have pretty fun rooms! Dada gets all the credit for the work...

James' room




Audrey's room