December 20, 2008- Christmastime candids

This year Alexandra was very well behaved (when it came to the tree, at least) so we didn't have to put a gate around it.

And here she is just being plain cute

This is one of my favorite pictures so far

Mama's Little Man

Daddy's Girl

Here is how Alexandra feels about Santa Claus

You can see why Alexandra sometimes calls her brother "Baby Smiley"

This is how we roll in the Double Stroller

The Family

December 20, 2008- Playhouse Disney

Sorry that I haven't updated in awhile, I seem to have just fallen off the face of the earth or something. We are here, and I'm going to attempt to catch up by back-dating some of these next few entries.

Here are the pictures from the Playhouse Disney concert. For some crazy reason, the concert didn't have a stop in Dallas, so we had to drive all the way to Waco. It was a fun outing though, a very nice drive and we had a good time. Alexandra wore her Mickey Ears, everyone kept asking us where we got them. Um, duh, Disneyworld :). She tasted cotton candy for the first time, and just like her mom and dad, she didn't like it.

December 12, 2008- Family Photos

We had our portraits done last Saturday by a professional photographer. It was my first time doing non-studio portraits, and I really like the more natural setting as opposed to just having a grey background. We went to Prairie Creek park in Richardson, which is a fabulous setting for photos. Alexandra wasn't much into sitting still for pictures, she wanted to run around the park and play. I can't much blame her, it was a beautiful day. But, that explains the less than thrilled look she has in all the shots.

You can see the pictures here: http://www.photobyeleonore.com/james/

December 3, 2008- Hey Santa!

Last night we went to visit Santa at the local mall. My goal was to get both kids in the picture, I had them both looking cute and ready to go. Well, as soon as Alexandra got close to Santa, she went running the other way. Tony had to chase her through the mall, he finally caught her hiding in a rack of clothes in a nearby store! So, John is solo this year.

I have to take this opportunity to once again comment on how much they look alike. Here is Alexandra's Santa piture (her only one) taken 2 years ago. I swear these two could be twins.

November 30, 2008- John's first smiles

This video was taken on November 12, when John was 10.5 weeks old. That day, he smiled and laughed for the first time. So of course I had to keep my camera handy so I could capture the next time he did it :)

November 7, 2008- Halloween

This year, Alexandra was a ladybug for Halloween. The costume has a cute little hood with ladybug antennae, but she absolutely refused to wear it. I took Alexandra trick or treating around the neighborood this year and it was a lot of fun. First off, Alexandra doesn't walk- she runs. Think Forrest Gump. So, by the end of the night I was pooped from running from house to house with her. The next night we went to Shawna & Scott's Halloween party, there are a few pictures from that as well.

One of my wanna-be hobbies is cake decorating. I'd love to actually take a class and become good at it. But, until then, I just make a few cakes a year that kind of look like something. See if you figure out what my latest creation is supposed to be ;)

Alexandra's reaction when we tried to get her to wear the costume's hood

Back home later that night having some candy

My cake creation. Can you tell what it's supposed to be? Well, at least it tasted good

Miss Ladybug at the party

This Halloween, Alexandra kept saying over and over that everything was "spooky." I think she learned that word on Dora or Diego. Anyway, when she saw this at the party, she definitely thought it was spooky. I think it's pretty cool

Here's John chilling in his seat. He always looks surprised when the camera flashes

I never imagined how hard it would be to get a decent picture of the two of them together. This took about 20 shots to get

Here is a shot of Alexandra attempting to hold John that night

By contrast, here she is doing the same thing 2 months ago. You can really see how much he has grown

October 23, 2008- John's Birth Announcement

For the last year I have been teaching myself how to make photo creations using Photoshop and I love it. It's become my new hobbby. I have made two 20+ page scrapbooks, our family Christmas cards, and now my latest project, John's birth announcement. I was more on top of things with Alexandra, I had hers in the mail before she turned a month old, but John was almost two months before I got his out. Here it is, along with some of the pictures from our homemade "photo shoot."

October 17, 2008- Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

This year we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time playing and running with Alexandra. John slept the whole time, and didn't wake up until we got home.

September 29, 2008- Alexandra's 2nd Birthday

This year, Alexandra celebrated her birthday by having a joint party with 2 of her friends. The three girls' birthdays are all within 2 weeks of each other. The party turned out well and everyone had fun. Here are some pictures:

The yummy cake

Food table and goody bags for the guests

John hanging out with Grandma

Alexandra having fun with Lilah's toys

The birthday girls

The birthday moms

Singing "Happy Birthday"

"Mmmmm, cupcakes..."

"Gimmie more, Mama!"

Me trying to explain that she'd eaten her cupcake and now it was my turn to have one. She wasn't buying it.

September 18, 2008- John's Birth Story

I sat down this afternoon and took some time to write this out while all the details are still fresh. Birthing my children has been a very special and meaningful part of my life, so it is important to me that I have a record of how it all happened. So, here it is, John's Birth Story

September 18, 2008- John's first few weeks

Tomorrow, John will be 3 weeks old. Life is starting to take on a new sense of "normal." Tony went back to work this past Monday, after spending 2 weeks at home with us. I have taken the kids out of the house each day this week, and it has been easier than I thought. It takes twice as long to do anything, but once I have them loaded up in the double stroller we are ready to go.

2 days old, napping in Mommy and Daddy's bed.

That same day our midwife Becky Burpo came by to examime John and I. He also got his footprints done.

Enjoying a leisurely nap in the swing, just like his sister used to.

And now he's napping with Daddy. As you can see, newborns sleep a lot.

Precious Baby Boy

Me and my kids :)

Tony's big, manly truck now has 2 car seats in the back.

This one is from today. When John was born, he looked a lot like Alexandra did at birth, but now he is starting to take on his own look. And as you can see, he is mesmerized with the mobile.

September 10, 2008- Alexandra takes care of her brother

Today I tried to get a few pictures of Alexandra holding her brother. John was not really into it; he started to fuss and Alexandra tried to quiet him down. It was so cute, I just has to switch my camera to video mode :)

August 29, 2008- He's Here!

John Theodore James was born at 6:32pm on August 29, 2008 after 40 weeks and 6 days of gestating. He weighs 7 pounds, 6 ounces and is 20.5 inches long, though Tony swears he's 21 inches. He has a head full of hair and is a very calm and mellow little boy (well, so far). He looks just like his big sister Alexandra, they could be twins born two years apart. And the coolest part of all... he was born on Michael Jackson's 50th birthday :)

John's (JT? Theo? What do you think?) birth was very fast. I once again had a natural water birth (though we barely made it into the tub) at the Allen Birthing Center. And yes, that is the same tub Alexandra was born in. Once again, I didn't get to birth in the big tub. As Tony and I have retold the story a few times now, it sounds like something you'd see on TV or in a movie. Just as I did with Alexandra, I will write out a full birth story as soon as I can. Some possible titles of the story are "How I almost gave birth in a Dodge Truck during rush hour" or "How to go from napping on the couch to holding your baby in just one hour."

July/August 2008- Alexandra Candids

These pictures have been sitting on my computer for weeks, and I never got around to posting them. Here are some shots of Alexandra from this summer...

Having fun at the pool

When she doesn't want to get in bed to take a nap, she ends up falling asleep in her armchair.

Blowing bubbles with Grandma

"Um, I'm trying to eat, Mom"

"Mmmm, Cheerios."

Who says you can't go to the park at night?

I'm sneaking one in of myself. This was 13 days before John was born. I was certain I was going to go into labor that night. Yeah, right.

Tony and Alexandra building a fort in her room. This is their favorite thing to do together.

August 6, 2008- The Nursery

It's pretty much exactly the same as it was when Alexandra slept here, but I thought I'd post some updated pictures anyway. I am so happy that I will be getting a second usage out of this room, I just love it. And if you has the misfortune of seeing what this room looked like before we renovated it (I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!) you would be amazed at how it looks now.

July 13, 2008- Baby Shower

On July 13, my good friends Lia and Shakiesha held a baby shower for me. With this being my second baby (in only 2 years) I really wasn't expecting one, but they did a great job and I felt really special. I think everyone enjoyed themselves- the food was great, we played some cute games and the cake was awesome. And I was surprised to get so many lovely gifts. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our baby boy.

July 9, 2008- Alexandra's First Year

Yes, yes, I realize that Alexandra is almost 2 years old now. I am not a complete slacker, I did a traditional paper scrapbook for her this time last year. But, once I learned how to Digi-Scrap, I quickly realized that my paper version kinda sucked. And with Baby Boy on the way, I figured I needed to get her First Year scrapbook done so that I can focus on his. I finished it just today and I am very proud of my latest creation. I'll be off to Costco tomorrow to print the pages and put them in her photo album.

July 9, 2008- Maternity Photos

I didn't take monthly belly shots this time around, because I pretty much look exactly the way I did when I was pregnant with Alexandra. But I did decide to get some professional maternity portraits taken. I had these done at 33.5 weeks. Please forgive the quality, they are scans and my scanner isn't great.

April 18, 2008- 18 week Sonogram

We had a second sonogram right at 18 weeks. All three of us were present for it, and we were able to get a really good look at the baby. We heard the heartbeat, saw all the body parts and saw lots of movement. We also learned that our newest family member is a BOY!

April 18, 2008- Easter Egg Hunts

Alexandra got to do two Easter Egg hunts this year. The first was with out DFW Moms playgroup. She'd never hunted for eggs before, and it took her awhile to realize that she could collect more than two (one for the right hand, and one for the left). After she got the hang of it, she filled her basket. Then the next day, Aunt Shawna held an egg hunt at her house. By this time Alexandra knew exactly what to do. She even realized there was chocolate in the eggs!

March 21, 2008- Daddy's future computer whiz

March 21, 2008- 15-18 month candids

Here's a collection of candid shots of Alexandra over the last few months, ages 15-18 months. We got a little snow in early March, and it was Alexandra's first time playing in it. It wasn't much, but we make a big deal over every snowflake here in Texas.

January 31, 2008- 6 week Sonogram

Our first sonogram was right at 6 weeks. They were very surprised to be able to see the embryo so clearly that early. We were also able to hear the heartbeat.

January 2, 2008- We're pregnant!

After three positive tests and a sonogram, it's official! We are happily expecting our second child. The baby's due date is August 23, 2008.

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