Getting ready for our trip home!!!

It looks like James is just as excited as we are about our trip back home. We leave tomorrow and we can't wait!!! Still not feeling very organized - seems to have crept up on us all of a sudden, even though I've been counting the days. For thoose of you checking this from England - we'll see you on Saturday or really soon! For those of you checking this from USA - we'll see you in a couple of weeks!

Inspecting the suitcase ...
well, you could help me pack some things, young man ... this time tomorrow we'll be on the flight (and you'll be fast alseep ............. right?!?!)

Hiding under the bed ...

James was in our room while I was trying to do some packing earlier and before I knew it he had reversed back under our bed!! That's the problem when you can only go backwards ... sometimes you get stuck in the most inconvenient places!!!

New bib trick ...

When James has finished his lunch or dinner he has started pulling off his bib. Sometimes it just pops right off ... other times he has to really tug and pull until he's red in the face!

Funny hair

James' hair is getting long again and the other day I brushed it over to the otherside and it looked really funny. Not sure the photo really shows it very well but it made me smile.

James is going to be a pop star ...

Everyone knows that all good pop stars used their hair brush as a microphone when they were growing up ... Maybe James was using his to sing Happy Birthday to his Aunty Caroline as it is her birthday today!!!

Two cool dudes at the beach ...

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go to the beach and so we drove down to Santa Cruz. James slept through our last trip to the Pacific Ocean and the beach (when Aunty Sarah and Uncle Tris where here) and so this was his first real beach/ocean experience. We packed a lunch and sat on the beach for a while. It was a nice sunny afternoon but it was REALLY windy and so James seemed to get a bit overwhelmed by it all. We're not sure if he can't see very well with his sunglasses on, or whether there was just too much going on but we couldn't really get any smiles out of him. He just seemed very subdued. But we had a nice afternoon and got to see lots of pelicans. After we'd been to the beach we went into Santa Cruz and had a Jamba Juice (which James managed to spray all over me when he grabbed my straw!!).

That's my boy ... James looking a bit overwhelmed by it all. We're seeing more and more that he does sometimes seem to get overwhelmed being somewhere totally new - just like his Mummy has always been. My Mum and Dad will tell you they have several photos of me looking completely overwhelmed when we were away on holiday somewhere new... It's not that he's unhappy to be here, it's just all a bit overwhelming. So many new things to see/feel/experience.

You can see how windy it was by how wild James' hair got! The only photo of me and James was unusable as my hair was completely wild ...

Hanging out at the beach ... literally!

James' first feel of sand between his toes...

although to be honest he didn't seem that bothered by it. Maybe he'll enjoy the beach more when he's old enough to build sand castles with his Dad.

We did get a smile in the end! I had a very nice afternoon with my favourite 2 boys.

Not crawling but definitely mobile!

Just thought I would take this photo to show you how mobile James is at the moment, despite not crawling yet. He got way over there with a combination of rolling, side ways shuffling and now he's started pushing so hard with his arms that he can go backwards! When I put him down to play he was in the forefront of this picture on the quilt near the percussion coke bottle! We're going to need to do some serious child proofing of the house when we get back.

And all that effort can be tiring, you know.

James was playing on the floor after breakfast the other day and putting in some serious effort to crawl but he started to get a bit frustrated and tired and he laid his head down on the blanket. I was just gently stroking his back to soothe him a bit and the next thing I knew he was fast asleep!! Poor little boy. Being a baby is HARD WORK!

He just looked so peaceful. And he slept for nearly an hour like this!

Finger Food Fun ...

James has been experimenting a bit more with some finger food over the last few days. These are fruit puffs that dissolve in his mouth with a little bit of chewing. The first few times we soaked them in water to get him used to the taste and texture but today I let him try it for himself and he seemed to get on pretty well. Not sure exactly how many made it into his mouth but it was fun to watch him try.

Look at that concentration ... this is a very tricky business. He would have a few moments of intense concentration trying to get hold of these pesky little puffs ... Then he would give up and just bang around like a maniac and watch them fly all over the place!!!!

The hard work does pay off in the end. He managed to get a few fruit puffs in his mouth - with a bit of guidance from Mum. Not bad at all for a first attempt.

Although it might not look like it from this photo he does seem to enjoy them once he gets them (or Mummy helps put them ...) in his mouth.

A funny chewy pose.

Err, excuse me ... you have a little food on your face ...

Not sure James realized this one had escaped!

This is the "overflow" ... the ones that didn't make it anywhere near the mouth!

Heatwave!

We had a bit of a heatwave over the last few days (got up into the 80's) and so the other day we went outside to play for a bit as the house was so hot. But it was just as hot outside, and there isn't much shade so we didn't last long out there.

He doesn't look too happy about being outside...

A new pushchair/stroller for our trip

At the weekend we got a new lightweight stroller/pushchair for when we go back home in just over a week. James is too heavy to carry the whole time at the airport and so we thought this would come in handy. It packs down much smaller than our other one. James seems to like it so far, although he was more interested in his new sandals ...

Of course, it didn't take long for those sandals to come off ... We had to pop back inside to grab something I'd forgotton and when I came back this is what I found ... plus a big grubby mark on one leg where he'd obviously been rubbing his legs/feet together to get them off. Yep, definitely a hippy.

Playing with Max

Yesterday James got invited to come and play with Max while he was staying with his grandparents (Bruce and Pat) for a couple of days. James enjoyed driving Max's car while Max played with his little cars. We had a fun afternoon together.

I forgot to check which side of the road James was driving on ...

"This is like bath time - only with more water and outside!!"

Having fun splashing around in Max's paddling/wading pool.

"How did all this water end up on my face?!?!"

All aboard the animal train!!

Partly inspired by Aunty Caroline's great animal impressions the other day (what noise does a giraffe make again, Aunty Caroline?!?!) , and partly due to the fact that this was in the sale at Target, and partly due to the fact that Mummy is bored of most of his other toys, but mainly because our little boy is just so spoilt - we got James a new toy to play with today. It's an animal train and seems to be a big hit so far.

"Come on, Mum and Dad - let's get it out of the box and play with it properly!!!"

5 hours later ... (or at least that's what it felt like!!) I finally managed to get the train out of the box. Talk about lots of plastic ties and tape etc. No wonder kids enjoy playing with cardboard boxes so much ... it's what they do to keep themselves amused while their parents try and get the toy out of the box!!! But at least I found the volume control and the on/off switch while I was wrestling it out of the box. It's very cool - it's got lots of things to play with and lots of noises and tunes which, of course, James loves.

This giraffe is VERY flexible ... you might even say he's double-jointed, and it looks like he passed the taste test too.

The elephant has twisty ears - we're going to need to come up with some more names ... let's call this elephant Eric!

"ok, I'm bored now ... let me chew the camera strap instead!!"

But he did enjoy playing with the train for quite a while and so I think it's going to be a fun toy for him to play with.

Remember the days ...

Remember the days when I could sit James up on the armchair or the futon for a photo shoot and only have to worry about the occasional involuntary slump to one side?

.... Yeah, I think those days are long gone ...

"Cor, Mum - look at all this stuff down here!! I didn't know there were CDs on the floor over here ... and are those my books???"

"Oooo, what's that over there??"

"Maybe I'll just lay my head down here and have 40 winks ..."

"Or maybe not - there's just so much to explore, Mum!"

Where did James go?!

Hey, where did he go???

There he is!

What a sweetie pie.

(note: he's had a very rosie cheek again for the last few days - no sign of any new teeth just yet though.)

My liitle helper ...

I was trying to sort out some washing/laundry but James really wanted to "help" ... I wonder how young I can train him to do this?!

"I'm bored of this game now ... get me out of here!"

"Oh, look the carboard box!!!!"

The Case of the Missing Sock ...

The other day James and I went out to "run some errands" (as they say in these parts - Any Americans reading this ... we British people would just "pop out" ...). When we came home and I opened the car door to get James out he was sitting there with bare feet and a big grin! I found one sock quite quickly but we had to send out a search party for the other one! What is it with this little boy and pulling his socks off??!