A Happy Birthday

 Yes, it's hard to believe but as of Saturday Jimmy is 1 year old! We celebrated over the course of the whole weekend since Saturday was moving day for my in-laws (they are now residents of Ohio! WOO! HOO!:) and Curtiss and I were struggling with a cold that I brought home from some where last week.

Anyway I thought you all might enjoy some pictures....

 Here he is in his BIRTHDAY BOY shirt, with his favorite crackers.

 and here he is with a very fascinating piece of tissue paper.

Ripping paper turned out to be GREAT fun :)

He likes it. honest!

Throwing clothes out of what they were in..... something Mama never lets him do at home.

Cheering for cake and ice cream, bet you'd never guess they were a big hit :)

My serious little man. I love him so much and am so thankful for him!

Yep, he's all boy...

...bouncing balls are a BIG hit :) ;) :)

Us

 Well, and here I am again having had way too much time go by without posting anything. No, I have not been abducted by aliens nor have I fallen into a black hole, I have just been busy living life and never really remembering that I have a blog :) Other than the fact that Jimmy gets bigger every day (he's going on 11 months now) nothing too much has changed around here. Curtiss is still struggling with knee pain that we have yet to have a diagnoses for, and we now get to have the wonderful experience of finding out just how slow our government can be as all his treatments have to be approved through our local workers comp office before we and the Dr's can take the next step. But things are S-L-O-W-L-Y....... happening (we think :)

As you can see in the picture Jimmy is now pulling himself up and standing on his own. He did that before he started crawling and his absolute favorite thing to do is to be Mama's fitness trainer, he most faithfully makes sure that I make multiple trips back and forth across our living room by holding onto my hands and doing them along with me. He really is the most thoughtful boy :)

I just had to post this picture his face is just comical. He was telling me the most interesting story. His newest noises are rather yodeler like and he practices most faithfully to perfect it. 

And now for our family photo.  Jimmy was trying very hard not to cry during that part of the photo shoot...

He kind of succeeded. The Price Is Right show playing opposite us did a wonderful job of getting him to look at the camera though :) Well, that is at least a quick update just to let you know that we are still alive and well and enjoying our lives together :)

News and Movies

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I last blogged and I know you have all missed my little boy, after all who wouldn't??? :) A lot has happened since I was last writing to you, a couple days after my last post my husband was in an accident. A lady ran into the back end of his truck while he was out working and ever since then he has been having problems with his knee. He has been off work for the last month and a half (which other than the fact that it is because he is in pain and we don't know exactly why it isn't healing I don't mind in the least:) and will be off for at least another two to four weeks if not longer. We have had a very nice Christmas and were able to go to NY and spend some time with both of our families and Jimmy was finally able to meet all of his aunts, uncles and cousins and I was able to meet the new members of the family that were born since I was last there as well.

And of course Jimmy has been growing and changing the whole time too :) He started sitting up with assistance while we were in NY and when we got home he didn't think he should ever have to lay down to play with toys ever again

Last week we had my Mom,  younger sister and two of my brothers visit us for a couple of days and Aunt Elise got to introduce Jimmy to his first pickle which after puckering up after his first bite he decided that he really liked it.... ALLOT. And would get quite frantic if it was out of his mouth for any length of time :)

And here are a couple of videos I too the other night.

This first one is of his newest accomplishments...

CLAPPING!!!

which he does quite frequently :)

And this last one was taken right after the first when I was feeding his small pieces of animal crackers and for some reason I said the word "Oops" and he thought it was absolutely hysterical.

Well, I think that is at least a rough summary of what our lives have been like recently. I hope you all enjoy the movies :)

Meeting Family :)

 On Saturday my sister Bethany and her family were able to stop by on their way home from vacation. I haven't seen them since April and neither of us had seen the others' baby. It was so much fun to be able to swap babies :)

 Here we are with the others' little treasure :)

Jimmy and Emma together, now we just need to get Seth (my brother's new baby) in with them and it will be complete.

I think that this ones looks like they are sharing secrets, Emma looks kinda traumatized by it too :)

And here is one that I just had to throw in 'cause I think he is just SOOO cute ;-)

And I finally caught him laughing on tape!!!  I never know when he is going to find something humorous and so haven't been able to catch him on tape yet but today he just thought that the strap on his changing pad was hilarious and he laughed long enough that I was able to get the camera and still catch him giggling :)

Four Months

That's right, my baby is four months old today. I really can't believe that that much time has passed since he was born but at the same time it's hard to imagine life without him. What did I do all day long anyway? :)

He now...
weighs 13lbs 2 1/2 oz
is 25 1/2" long
and is wearing 6~9 month clothing

Yeah, that is a bathrobe he is wearing, I got that as a shower gift and I
just had to get a picture of him wearing it (before he out grows it)
so that is what we used today after his bath :)

He has been getting better and better using his hands, he doesn't have to concentrate so hard to grab something anymore. Mommy is proud and scared because her days of eating while holding him in peace are quickly coming to an end :)

Me and my boy
(he isn't so good at looking at the camera yet:)

Oh be careful little hands....

It has been one of the best experiences of my life to watch my son grow and learn and when he suddenly discovers something that he hasn't ever noticed before it just sends a thrill all through me.

Yesterday was one of those days....

...He discovered his hands!!!

As you can see they are completely absorbing, he will just sit and stare at them watching them move and intertwine :)
It just really makes you appreciate the small things in life, the things that most of us don't even notice like the use of our hands and how they work. Our God is truly an awesome God!

And this video is just one I got of Jimmy having a conversation with his Aunt Elise :)

Well, since I am at Joanna's house we figured that we couldn't go through the whole visit without blogging at least once and since this little boy consumes so much of our time, and is so stinkin' cute he happens to be in all of the pictures that I have taken :) So here are a few of my favorites taken so far.

Joanna found him surrounded by all of his bears during one of his naps... he had rearranged them so that they were grouped around him.

His changing table/buffet is one of his favorite places to hang out and stare at the pictures that Joanna and I hung up above it.... he also likes to stare and talk to you in the mirror.



Now because this boy takes after his father who should be on the geek squad I had the hardest time getting a picture of him smiling... Every single time I got my camera out he would just stare at it completely absorbed as if he wanted to figure out what it was and how it worked. So after vowing that I would have a picture of him smiling before I left I waited for the right moment... and it finally came while he was sitting on his Momma's lap. The next goal will be getting him while he is laughing, which he did for the first time while I was here, and has done a couple of times since.



Now this a "just-because-I-love-his-blue-eyes" picture... At times his eyes almost look like they have a purplish hue... Joanna and I try to avoid saying that they are pretty... but the color sure is pretty. ;)

Sweet Pea

Here are some new pictures of Jimmy.... they are especially for Mrs. G- and my Mom :)







The rest of you will just have to guess what the meaning behind it is :)

Announcing...

NEWS ALERT

My baby slept ALL night long last night!!!
I fed him last night around 10:30 and he took awhile to eat and finally fall asleep, I actually had
to get him back up out of his crib because he wanted to eat more after I had put him to bed but it completely paid off because he slept until almost 7:00 this morning. I actually woke up before he did because I realized I hadn't heard him all night. He has always slept well, just waking up for feedings during the night but it was VERY nice to sleep through the whole night uninterrupted and I hope that it is a new habit ;)

On other news...

...I do believe I am going to get a thumb sucker.

Before he was born and you had asked me if I wanted my baby to suck on fingers or thumbs I would've told you "no, I would like them to take a pacifier" because then I could control when and if he had it, but Jimmy won't take a pacifier unless he is in a VERY rare mood and then I have to hold it in his mouth or it falls right out. But now I say that it is rather nice to have him be able to keep himself happy for a little bit when he gets his thumb in his mouth. Last evening he was in his crib taking a nap and I heard him making noise before Curtiss and I sat down for dinner and we were able to eat our WHOLE meal without him crying!!! a rather rare occurrence since he was born unless he happened to be sleeping (which he always seems to wake up as soon as I put the food on the table). After eating I went upstairs and there he was laying with his thumb in his mouth :)

One Month

My little boy celebrated his one month birthday yesterday. It seems so long since I had him and so much has happened in that time yet I can't believe that he is four weeks old. Here are a few pictures for all of you.

These two pictures are for his Grandma Holden,




Lounging with his bears :)




He likes his mobile!




This is his "I'm in a good mood" face




And this is his "I'm so happy I can't contain myself" face :)
(yep he is four weeks old and smiling, I think his first smile was almost a week ago now but this is the first one I caught on camera)




Our newest family photo, as you can see he wasn't too happy about it :)

Jimmy D :)

Here are some pictures so all of you can see how much my little boy is growing.




He wanted to be a cowboy for his first church outing (he didn't have a hat or boots that fit)




We had another outfit on before this one but it was a little big and Daddy thought he looked funny so we put some camo pants on and Daddy liked it much better ;)



These two pictures were taken yesterday when he was sitting up on the couch like a big boy




I just love his expression in this one, it's my favorite picture of him at the moment :)

I'd Like You to Meet...

Our Son

James Daniel Archer

Yesterday Curtiss and I went to O- for my first prenatal appointment with the midwife that we are going to use. Since I happened to be 25 weeks along we were able to find out what we were having on our very first visit. The ultrasound was amazing both just to see the baby and because they had a college student in the room observing so the technician did a very thorough job of explaining exactly what to do and what to look for. Both Jimmy (I just had to call him that:) and I are doing very well and the ladies in the office didn't gape too much when they asked if I was transferring from somewhere else and I said no :) Curtiss and I are just amazed and excited and looking forward to seeing our little man in person not just on a black and white screen :)

Operation Dance Recital

Helping someone else get ready for a dance recital is so much easier then getting yourself ready. That is why it was very enjoyable to be able to help my nieces Havalah and Esther get ready for theirs. I didn't have to worry about forgetting my costumes or not being able to put my hair in a bun, it was lovely. And it was a whole lot of fun to boot!

Havalah having her hair blow dried as the clock ticks down to when we had to leave.

After getting Esther's eye makeup all done we sent her out to the living room to see what she would look like on stage and the result was, " She looks like a CAT!" So, after calming down her makeup to look good on stage but not cat like we were all set. Except for waiting for her toe nail polish to dry which is what she is doing in this picture.

I think that Esther looks like a frog in this picture, she is so adorable!

She danced to the song, "Singin' in the Rain" She did a really good job, she was the only one following her dance instructor.

Havalah had two dances one was her ballet which was called, "Egyptian Princess" Here she is in her costume, she did an awesome job.

Her tap dance was called "Freeze Frame" and here she is posing for me. Her dancing gets better and better each year, I can't wait to see both of them again next year!

Plus-and-Plus = Equals

Esther + Chocolate Fountain + Marshmallows = a very happy sticky little Princess

Jesse + Hide-and-Seek + Blanket = Big Smiles

We did have a slight problem taking pictures when we were playing hide-and-seek though, he thought it was a lot of fun to hide from the camera. So if I couldn't capture a still of him then I would capture him on video.

(I thought you would enjoy this Joanna)