Sunday, January 30, 2011

Isn't My Cousin Awesome!


My cousin, Brittany, makes adorable hats for kids. She is such a sweetheart! She made one for James and sent it off to us. I still need to take pictures in better lighting, but here are some of my favorites from tonight.


I love the big eyes!

He enjoyed this photo shoot as much as I did.

Loves to chew on his hands!

What's up?

James is scheduled to have neurosurgery in March and this hat will be helpful to hide the massive scar he's going to have right after surgery. It is also helpful in creating an extra barrier to his new hearing aid. Luckily he hasn't tried to pull his hearing aid off yet, but someday soon he might.

Monday, January 24, 2011

At the table

James is now sitting, though I have yet to get a good picture of him doing it. He sits upright on my lap without any extra support and sits on the floor for a few seconds before he has to lean on one of his hands. We now invite him to join us at the dinner table. He doesn't seem ready for solids yet, but he sure loves playing at the table with his big sister. He drops the Tupperware bowl and she picks it up for him...
Now that I think about it, that might not be the best game for him to play when there is actual food.

Dressing


This morning we rushed to get ready to take Dad to work and so Dani had more say in what she was going to wear.

She "had" to wear the tiger shirt from uncle Jeff and she really wanted her skirt. So I added the leggings and sweater to keep her warm. She then picked out her red sparkle shoes. Colors don't really match, but Oh well.

As I put her sweater on her and buttoned it up she complained that she wanted it "like Belle's" with only one button. I don't remember this from the movie, but I complied.

As she passed by her Dad he patted her head and she quickly ran away from him. "I don't want him to mess up my hair". I guess she likes having bed head.

Here is the final outcome....
Just imagine a bright red drink mustache and you have my daughter this morning.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Chilling with Dad

Doctor Appointments

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy with doctor appointments. ENT follow up clinic, another MRI and a CT scan, craniofacial clinic, audiology clinic and plastic surgery follow up clinic, have kept me busy. I've been blessed to have good Visiting Teachers from my church who watch Dani on the LONG 3 hr plus appointments.



Our last Audiology appointment we arrived early and James woke up and was very excited to meet the ladies at the front desk. He made three new friends. He was smiling, cooing and doing everything he could to get their attention and they just adored it.

He really enjoyed the two pretty audiologists who did his hearing test. I was thrilled he showed off his communication skills by talking and responding. When he heard speech and thought one of the audiologists was talking to him, he responded right away. He even responded to quieter sounds than he has for his previous tests. He completely ignored the frequency specific sounds, but when he heard a voice through the speaker he looked to see who was talking to him.

When we walked out, one of the ladies at the desk stopped me to give her "little friend" a gift. This is SUCH a cute little bear! The receptionists thought it was funny that it was practically the same size as James. James loves it too.




Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Dani 34 Months

Dani is SO much fun these days. She always surprises me with how creative she is in her play. She entertains herself with the most random of objects and entertains me in the process too.


Last Sunday while waiting for church to start and me to finish my preparation for Primary, she took a piece of paper and rolled it like a scroll and pretended it was a "telescope" and she "searched for treasure" and eventually found it, it was a bunch of cookies which she then pretended to eat.


She drags James' toys into her room and plays with them there. She made his play mat into a tent by putting blankets over the top. She loves his wubbunub and makes sure he has it whenever we leave saying, "Awww here's your wubbunub".


Yesterday her toy truck was "stuck in a ditch" (James' bouncer) and she had to "pull it out with a rope" (the vacuum cord).



She was very proud of her gingerbread house she made with grandma a couple weeks ago and after looking at it for a few minutes said "My gingerbread house is almost as big as our condo". Trent and I broke out laughing because it was hard to hold back. This was the first time Dani was a little shy at our laughing so we had to try and help her feel better.


She believes all songs tell stories. She will often ask us what a song is about while we're listening to it in the car. Her made up songs are just a string of phrases that make up a story. Here are some of the phrases I was able to make out in her song I recorded about baby Jesus.


"The baby Jesus", "The Angels give him ___", "Because Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus lived happily ever after. That morning they woke up and they lay in his bed. They couldn't sleep", "they found the truth", "and after that as a child singing all around, all around, all around, all around, all around, all around" (repeats for a while). "She got up in the music" "That could be the problem." After that they went home and took a shower. They had gone so long."


She is now reading Disney "Step Into Reading" books that my parents got her. I'm amazed that she is able to read Step 1 books all by herself and Step 2 books with a little help until she learns the book. She has an easier time reading the books that have a plot line to follow than just describing the page, such as Cars "The Spooky Sound". She LOVES to read and even reads to her baby brother.


Dani is very good with her baby brother. She loves to teach him, play with him and read to him. The other day she was so excited to teach James signs. She grabbed his toys one by one and asked me to show her the signs so she could teach them to him. We worked on "ball", "book", "bird" and "elephant".


It's so fun to see her grow. She is such a sweet and fun little girl!

Monday, January 3, 2011

James' Blessing

While we were in Texas, we had the opportunity to bless James.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from that day.
Trent did not have any Sundays off before James' surgery, so we blessed him on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, right after his oldest cousin's baptism.

Oldest granddaughter on Trent's side of the family and the oldest grandson on their special day.


My two little ones.
My two favorite boys.


James with Nana and Papa. So glad we could have him blessed with family around. All Trent's brothers were there as well as his Cousin.