Random Updates

Jeff always teases me when I say "This is really random, but...". Apparently I begin a lot of sentences that way, but that's just the way my brain works. I could go from thinking about what I am going to have for lunch to who sat next to me in second grade to 'Oh, no! I put my favorite sweater in the dryer!' And on the way to the dryer I would stop to pick up a toy and remember that I had to call so-and-so and never get to the dryer until my sweater shrunk to the size of a washcloth. For better or worse, that is just how I operate. At least I am in good company though. Mom and Rach also start many sentences with 'this is totally random, but...". But enough of my random rambling, all that to explain why I called this entry 'Random Updates.' (I guess the greater issue I just made clear was that I am crazy!!!!) So, here it is. Sorry its probably anti-climactic.

1. James is really getting better at walking! He got his first pair of 'real' shoes today. Yipee!

2. Check out this link to Mike and Erin's blog for a picture and story including us:
http://mcwigginses.blogspot.com/2006/09/making-good-on-promise.html
I like how they refer to James as our 'drooling mascot.' He'll appreciate that when he's older!

3. We will be flying to Colorado on Saturday for a little over a week to visit Marinda and family.We'll post pictures when we get back. Hopefully James only learns 'good' stuff from all his older cousins! :)

We have a climber...

Although James isn't quite confident walking yet, he thinks quite highly of himself in the climbing arena. Case in point: today he flipped over the laundry basket and slid it in front of the chair. He climbed on top of the laundry basket and made a leap to the chair. Yes, I said leap. He actually jumped, not far, but he JUMPED! Once on the chair he proceeded to climb up on the arm of the chair and onto my old steamer trunk. From there he realized that it would be even more fun to climb into the bay windowsill. There sat James with quite a look of pride on his face, in the windowsill. Boy, are we in for it. I am waiting for the day that I find him on the top of the bookcase or someplace high up. Hopefully he is just as good descending as he is ascending!

Party Time!?

James had a birthday party on Sunday he'll never forget. Everything was set for Sunday afternoon, a normal family b-day party. (You know...pony rides, a hired clown, magician, etc....just kidding) Well, plans changed quickly when Dad had to take a weekend trip at the hospital. To make a long story short: racing heart, 'electrical' problems, and needs an outpatient something-or-other to fix the issue. Fortunately all is well, especially considering he made the cardiologist's record books for highest heartrate in 24 years! Needless to say we are all very happy that he is OK. So, back to the reason James will never forget his first birthday party. Since Dad was obviously out of commision, we took the party on the road, complete with confetti, and went to the hospital so he could be a part of the festivities. It was definetly the most interesting birthday party I've been at and one I'm sure we'll never forget!! We all crammed in to the little curtained room and made the best of it. Someday we can all reminicse and tell James all about the day he turned one.

Big Change

Here is James one year ago today.

Here's our man now!!!! What a difference the year has made. We are so grateful that he is here with us healthy, strong and curious as ever! We love you James!

Random Pics

Here is James practicing his newly acquired skill.



James and his first experience with spagetti. Apparently he thought it was dental floss. Why can't adults have this much fun with their food?!



James thinks he is pretty cool sporting Daddy's safety glasses.



Cute!

The Big O-N-E

Can't believe it's here already...James' very first birthday!

The year has gone so quickly and its hard to believe he has gone from such a tiny little baby to the curious and energetic little boy that is now getting into everything. It has been so much fun to watch him grow and learn. Can't wait see what the next year brings!

California Flashback

All us kids are growin' up!

Cheyney Tradition

It all started out when Phil started hanging around our family. (Phil was Rachel's boyfriend...now husband!) In order to make him feel welcome in our quirky family, for his birthday I made him a giant rice crispie treat the shape of Texas. The next time his birthday rolled around, I had to do something funny. So, I made him a Barbie cake, complete with a real Barbie torso and a cake dress. Pink, too! Well, the strange cake-making became tradition and now every time a birthday rolls around Rachel and I brainstorm a new design. So far, we have crafted a Rubix Cube, an elephant, a turntable, Mt. St. Helens, an air-cooled condenser, a sombero, a chocolate mousse armadillo and more. Can you guess who got each cake? Anyway, Dad's birthday rolled around again and Rachel and I decided to make a chaps cake in honor of "Chappy." We have affectionately dubbed him "Chappy" in lieu of Grandpa (Jeff's idea). Here is a picture of our latest creation. This new tradition is lots of fun, but don't worry. We haven't abandoned the old and emmensely popular Cheyney tradition of singing horrendously off-key. We still carry on, much to the chagrin of the neighbors. Soon we will be able to pass on these fun traditions to James, starting with his first birthday on Sunday. Yikes! Can't believe it's Sunday....ahhh! Where has the time gone?! More on that later...

There's a cheerio stuck to my foot

Mr. Independent has now decided that feeding himself is tons of fun. Way more fun, in fact, than someone else shoveling mushy cereal in with a spoon. So, now we are on to new and interesting things: chunk of 'REAL' food! James' method of operations is to first visually examine the food. I don't know exactly he is checking for as he has never turned down anything put in front of him. After a quick visual inspection, he proceeds to pick up a piece and smash it in his hand. This is particularly fun with bananas and sweet potatoes. Mmmmmm.....squishy!! After making sure that the food meets the proper viscosity specifications, James then proceeds to smash the squishy mess somewhere in the general vicinity of his mouth. He has a fairly good aim and manages to get most of it down. It's fun to watch him get so messy, until it comes time to clean up. He hates that part. No matter how well I clean up, James inevitably finds some discarded morsel on the floor and promptly sticks it in his mouth. Speaking of gross, I think I have a Cheerio stuck to my foot.

Mrs. Haffly: If you’re reading this…..

Dad said you had checked out the blog and immediately I started to wonder how many spelling errors and grammatical mistakes I made. Geeez! It’s been quite a while since 8th grade, yet I am still worried about you reading my ‘papers.’ Ha! Ha! I guess its time I should just get over it. I was reminiscing this week about 7th grade, thinking of all the fun we had and all the jokes we played on Dr. Haffly. I remember us piling into the big van to go and pick up the hearing aids he always seemed to ‘forget.’ Of course, we would have to stop along the way and pick up the official snacks of the 7th grade class: Whoppers and Dr. Pepper. Of course, the Dr. Pepper went hand in hand with our class belching contests. And how can I forget the time I beat out the resident champion Jon Hess to be crowned belching champion of ACC! I think one of my favorite memories was when Dr. Haffly said we didn’t have to do class one day. We pushed all the desks out to the side, and built an enormous Lincoln Log village across the room. Of course, I can’t leave out the reason I passed Algebra that year: Dr. Haffly’s brownies. I still make those ‘famous’ brownies. For those of you reading this and wondering what kind of a teacher this guy was, well, he was the best teacher I ever had. Unconventional, yes, but somehow he seemed to make the biggest impression on me. He wanted us to learn, but not because we had to. I think he wanted us to learn just to learn, and not because we were getting a grade for it. He also put up with my unusual Algebra methods. For a long time, Mrs. H., I’ve wanted to write you and tell you what Dr. Haffly meant to me, but I never really knew what to say. This is only a glimpse of the memories of that strange and fun 7th grade year, but hopefully it’ll let you know that we won’t forget him any time soon. And sorry, I still can’t bring myself to call you Fanchion!

Down the Shore

This past Sunday we took James "down the shore" for a nice afternoon together. We played hooky from church (yes...we ditched church) and packed it up for a trip to the beach. It's amazing how much stuff needs to be packed when there is a kid on board. Anyway, we finally got on the road by 10:30 and arrived to find a beautiful, warm and sunny day. When we staked out our spot the first thing we did was plop James down in the sand.We couldn't wait to see what he would do. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. After a few minutes, he started to grab handfuls of the nifty new stuff. Then, he did what he always does with any new object: he put some in his mouth. Pretty gross, but I guess its just sand. He thought it was pretty gross too, and learned very quickly that sand does not go in the mouth. Once he had that settled, he set to filling a cup with sand, one pinch at a time. We spent the afternoon watching him explore this new world, and taking a zillion pictures with our new digital camera. What fun!

A Night on the Town

On Saturday, Jeff and I went out for our first night on the town. We'd gone out before, but this was the first time that the little bean would (hopefully) go to sleep away from us and his own crib. Jeff's co-worker, Sal, was getting married and we were invited to the reception. What an experience! It was about the fanciest shin-dig we've ever been to, including a wandering Mariachi singer, waiters with white gloves, a two-story waterfall, and of course, an amazing array of food. Thankfully, we've been to a few fancy parties since we've moved here, so we were able to pretend we were used to such extravagance. Hopefully we didn't stick out like sore thumbs. We both decided we are so glad we got married in good ol' Colorado, where you can have cake and punch and no one gives a dang. A place where people wear their cowboy boots and a nice pair of jeans and think they're dressed up...now that's more like it. Anyway, I digress. The party was a lot of fun, and we stuffed ourselves with all kinds of fancy little hor'derves and desserts, not to mention the actual meal! I only called home once to check on James, and as I had expected, Grammy used her magical Grammy-Powers to rock James to sleep. As they say, a good time was had by all.

One Giant Leap for James-kind!!!

OK. Not that we are proud parents or anything, but James has amazed us once again. He has taken his FIRST STEPS!!!! It seems like everyday, someone asks me if he’s walking yet. Well, now the answer is yes…sort of. James took his first steps in front of his Grammy and Grandpa, and Jeff and I. It was such fun to see him and I think he knew he had done something special. Now he takes a few little steps here and there throughout the day. While he’s not exactly ready to run a marathon, he is getting more confident every day. Pretty soon I will be chasing him as he runs around the house. Maybe I am crazy, but I actually am looking forward to that. I can’t wait to see where he will go and what he will explore. It won’t be long before he and Jeff will be taking apart household appliances and making potato cannons in the backyard. YIKES! Now I’m scared!!!

All Dressed Up

Doesn't James look so grown up? I can't believe
how much he's changed since he was born.
Sniff, sniff......

Two Handsome Dudes

Five Mile Woods

Here we are taking a hike thru Five Mile Woods. We just found the place which seems to be one the best kept secrets around here. You actually feel like you've escaped the suburban chaos that is Bucks County! We took a long walk and James fell asleep in the carrier. It was nice to be out and enjoy some fresh air!

The BandAid Stage

Dad kept warning me about it....the BandAid stage. I knew it was coming, but thought it might be in the slightly distant future. Not so. With his newfound independence, James now squeezes himself into increasingly precarious positions. This week, he wedged himself between the couch and magazine bin to try to get to an electrical outlet. He fell and bumped his chin on the bin which caused his sharp little bottom teeth to cut his top gums. Ouch! Well, needless to say he cried quite loudly, and in the process bled all over my new shirt (thank goodness for OxiClean). The next day he fell again, and this time bit his tongue. More blood. So, Dad, you were right. The BandAid stage is here to stay. Better invest in a big box of BandAids and an ice pack or two, because I am sure I will be needed them soon enough!

Hot Summer Days and the TP Unrolling Experiment

Ah, the dreaded hot and sticky mid-summer weather has arrived here in the Northeast. We have had several spells of record heat, along with ridiculous humidity. Fortunately, it has been a little cooler the last few days and we have been able to enjoy going outside again. James and I have been using the swimming pool and taking strolls around the neighborhood. I have been harvesting zucchini, peppers, and zillions of tomatoes from my weed-infested garden. James sits and picks grass while I am picking tomatoes, or he rides along in the baby-backpack and grabs anything within reach. He is a VERY curious little guy.

Today he discovered that toilet paper unrolls. And boy, did he think that was cool. I actually saw him start to unroll it, and he had the cutest look on his face like, “Gee, this is going to be REALLY fun!” So, I sat back and watched while he enjoyed pulling out the entire roll. Although I am probably encouraging future T.P.- unrolling, I couldn’t resist watching him play. And besides, it’ll still work the same anyway.

Cheyney Kids

Meg, Nate and Rachel

Camping Pictures

James and Auntie Rachel


Jeff and James playing around

Jeff, Phil and Nate conducting a bug experiment