James lately

James is checking to see if there is anything lurking about that could be a threat to his castle. Good thing he has a monocular on his play set because our backyard is full of all sorts of threatening creatures!

Cutest PJ's ever!

James is pretending to be Daddy. He's just a little small for Daddy's t-shirts!

James has his very own swimming pool!


The frog around James' neck has Velcro in its hands so it can be hung on things. Usually when we put the frog on James, he immediately takes it off. Lately, James has been keeping it on for a while as if it belongs around his neck.

The Woes of Traveling

This is long post, but we never want to forget the details of this trip...

Friday, May 14

12:15 pm (central time)- We board the plane that will take us to Reno, Nevada to see Dave's grandma. She had a stroke last year and moved from her home in California to an Assisted Living in Reno.

12:30 pm- A major thunderstorm hit DFW airport. All of the airport crew has to take cover because of lightning. Luggage is no longer being loaded but is just sitting on an open cart in the rain.

1:00 pm- We're told we will have to stay on the plane and will be updated every 30 minutes as to when we can depart. The luggage is still sitting out in the pouring down rain.

4:00 pm- We are finally going to get to fly to Reno after sitting on the plane for over 3 hours. The soaked luggage is loaded.

5:30 pm (pacific time)- We arrive in Reno, James is tired, we're all a little cranky, and our suitcase and all it's contents are soaking wet. Dave's wonderful Aunt Suzie picks us up at the airport.

6:00 pm- We finally get to see Grandma after a very long day. We had a delicious dinner at the assisted living facility that Grandma lives in. Grandma's room is very nice and she seems very happy in her new place.

8:00 pm- We TRY to check-in at the hotel that we booked weeks prior to our trip. We are informed that despite that we requested a crib with our reservation, the hotel was out of cribs. We're offered a room with an extra bed for James. Stephanie has to restrain herself from punching the guy at the hotel check-in counter. We cancel our reservation and go on a search for a hotel with a crib.

10:00 pm- We finally get settled at a hotel and put James to bed. Dave goes out to get a few snacks and some milk for James (we stored it in the hotel room fridge). Dave buys his favorite candy, Red Vines, and when he opens the package back in our hotel room, they are stale and long expired.

11:00 pm- The hotel room air conditioner cycles off and startles sleeping James. We had to move the crib across the room, and get James settled again. This set him up for a restless night. He was awake and crying every couple hours. It was a rough night.

Saturday, May 15

6:00 am- James thinks it's time to wake up for the morning. Mommy and Daddy disagreed, but James always wins this battle. We all took showers and got dressed.

8:30 am- James is ready for his morning nap. While he slept, Mommy and Daddy sat on the floor, on the other side of the room and behind the bed from where James was. We watched a movie on the portable DVD player with headphones so we wouldn't disturb James while he was sleeping. He took a great nap... almost 2 1/2 hours.

11:30 am- We went and picked Grandma up and took her to lunch at the Macaroni Grill. We had a nice lunch. Mommy kept thinking James felt a little warm, but she is not a very good judge normally.




2:00 pm- We took James back to the hotel for his afternoon nap. We took James' temperature and sure enough, he had a fever. Mommy and James napped, and Daddy washed all of our wet clothes from the rain at Grandma's place.

4:00 pm- We were dying for caffeine so we picked up some lattes at McDonald's drive-thru. Both our coffees were made incorrectly and had to be thrown out. No caffeine fix for us.

4:30 pm- We met Grandma at her place and took a walk around her complex. It was a beautiful day. James loved getting to run around outside for a little while.

6:00 pm- We had another delicious dinner at the Assisted Living dining room. Our time with Grandma was really nice despite how tired we were.

7:30 pm- Back at the hotel, James has a fever again and it's higher. We put him to bed. Mommy and Daddy watched another movie on the portable DVD player with headphones.

11:00 pm- James wakes up crying for the first time of many times. Looks like it's going to be another bad night.

Sunday, May 16

6:00 am- James is ready to wake up. Again, Mommy and Daddy disagree. And again, James wins. We all shower and get dressed.

7:00 am- Mommy realized that the milk she's been trying to get James to drink is as thick as yogurt. The refrigerator wasn't even cold anymore! The milk was spoiled. No wonder James didn't want it.

7:30 am- Dave's on the phone with the airline to see if we can get an earlier flight home. Every flight before ours on Monday is full.

8:00 am- James goes down for his morning nap (Mommy does too). Daddy went out for some coffee and brought it back.

11:00 am- We pick Grandma up and take her to Erin's house (Dave's cousin) for a belated Mother's Day brunch for Grandma. Dave's Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Stan are there as well as Erin (it was her house) and Aunt Suzie with her daughter Sarah. We had some delicious curry chicken salad sandwiches and strawberry shortcake. James was clearly not feeling well, and slept on Daddy's shoulder during lunch.

1:00 pm- James temperature is now higher than it's ever been, and he is definitely sick with something.

2:00 pm- We are now at the pediatric emergency room at the Renown Medical Center in Reno. Aunt Suzie and Sarah came with us to the ER. Thank you! Turns out, James has an upper respiratory infection. It takes both Motrin and Tylenol to get his fever to come down. The doctor recommended we not fly home the next day. We thought that was crazy! All we wanted at this point was to be home.

4:00 pm- We pick up James' antibiotic at the pharmacy and also stop to get root beer floats with Aunt Suzie and Sarah. We felt we deserved them at this point!

5:30 pm- We stopped by Grandma's place to say hello and give her a hug, and then stopped by In and Out Burger (a West Coast staple) and picked up some dinner.

7:00 pm- James is in bed. We are exhausted! We watched another movie in silence.

10:00 pm- James wakes up crying... another loooong night ahead! We were supposed to alternate giving James Motrin and Tylenol but the seal was broken on the Tylenol we bought. Of course we didn't discover this until the middle of the night.

Monday, May 17

6:00 am- Awake. James still has fever.

8:00 am- James is ready for a nap. This time, the crib goes in the bathroom so Mommy and Daddy can move around freely in the room and pack up all of our stuff.

11:30 am- Lunch with Grandma at her dining room. We again enjoyed her company so much and had a bittersweet goodbye. Aunt Carolyn took us to the airport.

2:40 pm- Our flight is on time and we got off without a hitch. We're headed home!

7:30 pm (Central time)- We land in DFW!

9:00 pm- We're home! We were welcomed by finding we had left the refrigerator door open! Apparently, we left it open all weekend! We felt it was an appropriate way to end the weekend :)

Trip to the Zoo

On James' 11 month birthday, we took him to the zoo. Mommy and James have been to the zoo a few times this month because we got zoo passes, but this was the first time Daddy got to go too. It was great having two people to show James the animals and manage the stroller. I think this was James' favorite zoo trip so far!

James is sitting on Mommy's shoulders so he can get a better look.

James pointed to the animals as he saw them.

James is excited about the apes!

James and Daddy with a baby elephant.

Close up of a rhino

Close up of a bear

Lion

James and Mommy with the turtle.

No hands!

Big turtle

Beautiful flowers

Egg Allergy

James usually eats waffles for breakfast, but he hasn't been too interested in them the past couple morning. So, I thought this might be a good time to try some eggs. Boy, was I wrong!


Poor guy! He was fine until about an hour after he ate the eggs (which he really liked, by the way). I put him down for a nap, but he kept coughing after I walked out of the room. I went to check on him and found him writhing in his crib and scratching like crazy. His face was swollen and he was red and rashy all over. I called the pediatrician and they said to give him some Benadryl. The Benadryl did the trick! No eggs for James for a long while!

Washington D.C.

This past week, Dave had to travel to Orlando for work, so James and I hopped on a plane and went to visit some family and friends in Washington D.C. We stayed with my cousin Sarah, her husband Marcus, and her cutie patootie son Xavi. Xavi and James were so cute playing together. They kept giving each other hugs and kisses. It was so sweet to see their affection for each other. We also got to visit with a great friend of mine from high school, Jessica, and her son Giovanni. Unfortunately, Jess's husband was out of town the entire week so I did not get to visit with him.
Knowing they lived near each other, I introduced Sarah and Jessica to each other some time last year. They have become fast friends, and it was really fun to spend time with both of them and have our boys play together.

The hug

Giovanni

Xavi

All 3 boys not cooperating for a group picture

Our trip did not include any sightseeing around D.C., just lots of wonderful time visiting and playing with the kids. My Uncle Clifford and Aunt Karen (Sarah's parents) came over for dinner one night. It was wonderful to see them. It was really cute to hear Xavi call Uncle Clifford "pa". And apparently, Xavi wanted to be on formal terms with Aunt Karen as he tried to shake her hand instead of give her a hug (this happened the last time they had gotten together, but I thought it was a cute story and wanted to share it).

One afternoon, we went over to my cousin Katie's house. She just recently had a new baby, Brendan. He is her 3rd child. I finally got to meet her husband, Tim as well. Katie looked great, and her family is absolutely beautiful. My cousin Elena (Katie's sister) was at Katie's with her 3 kids. Again, another beautiful family. It was wonderful to see everyone. I never pulled my camera out while we were there, so I don't have any pictures of all the kids playing. Stinky, I know.

James was a rock star on the plane both ways! He had no trouble with his ears as he did the first time he flew when he was 3 months old. He didn't fuss or cry. I read him books, he played with a couple toys, he looked around at all the people, and he slept a little. I couldn't have asked for a better travel companion!

Although I could have stayed in D.C. for much longer (great company, great weather, great city), we were so happy to come home and see daddy! James ran right up to Dave at the airport and gave him a big hug. It was such a sweet moment.

Thank you Sarah and Marcus for your hospitality! We had such a great time! I already miss Jessica and Sarah so much! And I know James is wondering where his buddies, Xavi and Giovanni, are! Love you all!

Austin

James and I spent a couple days in Austin with my dear friend Stacey and her daughter Ella. Stacey and I met in PT school and have been great friends ever since. I wish that we lived closer and could spend more time together. I am really grateful for this opportunity to stay with her and catch up. Stacey takes care of her niece, Addie, during the day so James was outnumbered by girls. I don't think he minded much! We also were able to have dinner with Uncle Robert (my brother) and his daughter Jolie. It is always wonderful to see them!

Thank you Stacey for having us at your house! We had a wonderful visit and I miss you terribly! Love you!

It is impossible to get 3 small children to pose for a picture!


A couple good pictures at the Wildflower Center in Austin

Easter

We spent James' first Easter at his Nana's in Buda, Texas. James spent a good portion of the weekend walking and exploring Nana's yard.



On Easter morning, James got a basket full of empty plastic Easter eggs. He didn't seem to care that they were empty. He also got new clothes and a stuffed bunny from Nana.


James looked very handsome all dressed up for church. He was ready for a nap after the service so it was difficult to get a good picture. I couldn't resist posting the last picture :)