Learn to love to laugh

Rosalee really enjoys trying to make us laugh. She always is laughing and smiling so I think it makes her feel better to know we're smiling along with her. The other day I was having a "fun" phone conversation with the insurance company and I started to cry out of the overwhelming frustration I was starting to feel. Rosalee kept smiling at me and saying, "funny" which is what we say when we start laughing. When she saw I was still crying she said, "no cry mommy" which only made me cry harder. When she realized that desperate times call for desperate measures she leaned over and blew on my leg. We'll blow on her stomach and make the fart sounds to make her laugh so she knew what she was doing. So there I was crying like an idiot with my sweet daughter making fart noises on my leg. Needless to say the crying soon stopped and I hugged my kid so tight and was never happier to have her in my life.
Last night we were singing with Rosalee and she lifted up her leg to her stomach and made a fart sound with her mouth. I know this is unlady-like and pretty gross but for her to do that on her own, out of nowhere caught us off guard. We started laughing which only made her do it again. 10 minutes later I was crying from laughing so loud, Jesse was rolling on the floor, and Rosalee was folded in half laughing.
Rosalee is such a joy in our house and she can make us smile and laugh all the time. At her young age she is already showing signs of empathy and tries to make people happy. We really hope this is something that will stay with her throughout her life and that she will make others just as happy as we are.

Thanks IHOP!

Today was rather crazy, but thanks to IHOP I can go to sleep a happy lady. We started the day by going to buy Jesse's graduation present only to find out the seller didn't have the right paperwork. We paid him anyway, only to later cancel the check because we weren't sure if he would truly provide us with the paperwork. He got mad, Jesse got mad, and I got sad. I don't like contention and I didn't like feeling like I failed at getting Jesse a present. But when the dust settled we explained we'd write a new check as soon as he could provide us with the much needed documents. I just hate having people try to make me feel guilty over things that aren't my fault, AT ALL, because I easily give into it. I'm sorry if you don't have a lot of money but you can't use that as an excuse to sell things illegally pal.

How does IHOP help? I'll tell you! Today was free pancake day. Yes, FREE! They give you a stack of 3 pancakes and ask you to make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network. So 9 pancakes later, a small plate of scrambled eggs (Rosalee kept asking for eggs), and some lemonade I went home a lot happier than I had left.

Yesterday Jesse and I got haircuts that I'll post pictures of later. (It's weird how often you need to cut your hair to upkeep it when it isn't very long.) Now my hair will grow out into a cute bob instead of the junior mullet it was turning into. I also got some highlights put in the front. Yes mom, my hair will AGAIN be different the next time you see me! I got carmel blond and dark auburn highlights that I love.

For those of you with tiny kiddos I need some help! Rosalee is also in need of a haircut but I'm TERRIFIED to take scissors anywhere near her head. What do I do? Hang her from her toes and clip it? Do it when she's sleeping? Put her in a headlock? Ignore it and clip it back because she's a girl and I can get away with that? Your advice is needed!!!

The week in review

A lot happened last week and I finally have some time to blog about it! So here is how the James family spent last week.

MONDAY

Since my birthday and Valentines Day are fairly close together I've told Jesse from the time we were dating to just do one combined gift. This way we don't have to try and overbook ourselves and he won't break the bank buying me things. The first part has always worked, but the second part... not so much. But I get to have revenge every August because our anniversary and his birthday are only 2 weeks apart. :) Back to Monday... Jesse got me tickets to the Jason Mraz concert at Purdue. We had a friend watch Rosalee and we were able to spend a nice evening listening to great music and enjoying the company of other adults. Okay, so the guy in front of me was 6'6" and smelled like cheap beer and cigars, but I got over it!

The first picture is of us all ready for the first date together in several months! The second was requested by Jesse. He says I should show the world baby #2. For those of you thinking, "wow... looking a little big there!" Keep your comments to yourself! For those of you who are nicer, the shirt isn't a maternity top so it accents the belly all the more.

At the concert! To the right of me is the stage but it didn't turn out. Jesse again is trying to accent my ever growing stomach...

These were taken without the zoom so you can see we were fairly close and had a good viewing area, once I moved around the tall smelly guy.

One of the many reasons we enjoy Jason Mraz's music is because of his modern jazz band. Some of the players came up and played from the front row of the lower balcony. We were in the third row so we got to see them up close.

For your listening pleasure...


While mommy and daddy are away, the baby stays up late and plays! Rosalee had a great time playing at her friend Mia's house. I sent her with a Pebbles Flintstone ponytail and this is how she ended up. The video is her dancing at Mia's house. That kid sure loves to shake her bum!!

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY

We decided to put up a guessing game for baby #2 which you can find on the top right side of our blog. We're still working on a girl name but we have the boy name narrowed down to two we really like. Middle names are still being discussed... so maybe if you win the baby game we'll let you pick the middle name so we won't have to!
Rosalee was being really cute this week! I taught her where her nose, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, eyes, and chin are. She had a great time pointing to my face and telling me the names of the body parts. She gets so excited when she feels smart. I kept trying to get a picture of her teeth. She now has 4 of them but when I say, "where are your teeth", she sticks her fingers in her mouth to show me them. So I taught her to smile and say "smile" when I say "smile".

The first picture is of her saying "smile" and smiling. You can kind of see the bottom 2 teeth if you look close enough. You can also see the pretty clip in her hair. When I first started doing her hair she would scream and wiggle. Now I can brush it and put it in a clip or ponytail with little to no fight. The other picture was taken by Rosalee. As you can tell she was confused by me pushing her finger into the camera.

I tried a second time to get Rosalee to show off her teeth and this is what I got! This is what happens if you tell her to say "cheese" instead of "smile"!

Thursday

Was my 24th birthday!! Woo hoo!! I woke up feeling terribly sick (cold like, not pukey pregnancy sick) but decided that I wasn't going to let that stop me from having a great day. In the morning I went to a friend's house for about an hour and then instead of going home and feeling sick I went out. Rosalee and I went shopping at the mall and "she" got me some very nice things! :) I actually did hold up some of the shirts and ask her which one. She would grab one and I took that to mean she liked it better than the other one. While I was riffling through the pants rack I turned around to find Rosalee missing! My heart almost came out my mouth and I started running around looking for her. I found her two aisles over in the intimate apparel section... A lady was laughing and saying, "child you got your body parts mixed up!" Then I saw what she was talking about. There was Rosalee wearing a DDD40+ bra on her head! She looked at me and said, "mama, hat! Hat, mama!" I wasn't sure to laugh out loud or not so I just scooped her up and went back to the pants section. After we went shopping, Rosalee and I went out to lunch. I was craving a BLT REALLY REALLY bad so we went to Arby's and I got a turkey BLT wrap for myself and a baked potato for Rosalee. The doctor wants us to try dairy with her so I decided to be brave and put butter and sour cream on the potato. Thankfully, it didn't seem to bother her at all!! So either this means she's outgrowing her allergy (which the doctor said might happen) or Arby's sour cream isn't cream... After lunch Rosalee and I took a nice nap until Jesse got home. When I woke up I found out he went shopping while I slept and got me some presents. I got more scrapbooking supplies (you can NEVER, I repeat, NEVER have too many!!!) and a small digital picture frame. It holds about 30-40 pictures so I'm excited to get it out and set it up. Then I helped him with some choreography for his theater class before heading off to a Pampered Chef party. If you don't know what Pampered Chef is then I am very, deeply sorry for you!! It is only the best cooking supplies on the planet! You can buy cooking utensils, random kitchen gadgets, bake ware, etc. and like most parties of this nature the more you buy the more free stuff the hostess will get. While there I had the BEST potato snacks! That might be the pregnancy talking, but they were fabulous. So fabulous that I requested the recipe and am now going to share it with you!
12 2" red potatoes
1 T olive oil
2 pressed garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 ounces of chive and onion cream cheese

3 T sour cream
*Toppings- bacon bits, grated cheddar cheese, and fresh chives
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the potatoes in half, crosswise. Carefully scoop out a small amount of pulp from each half. In a bowl combine oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Add potato halves and toss to coat. Place potato halves hollow side DOWN and bake 30 minutes or until golden brown and tender. Remove from oven and cool slightly. In a small bowl combine cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. You can either use a cake decorator to pipe the mixture or just spoon it into the hollowed out spot on each potato half. Top with toppings and serve slightly warm.

I know it doesn't sound that creative or fancy but I promise you that you will love them!! After eating my body weight in potato bites I went home and found Rosalee sleeping and the cake Jesse and her made for me.

A wonderful lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. YUM!!!

I was really REALLY tired and sick but Jesse wanted to take one more picture so this is the face he got... This is my hurry up before I go crazy face!
FRIDAY

Instead of the normal one child (plus Rosalee) that I watch I watched 3 kids. I was tired and sick so it was a little crazy but we all survived. Then we had the missionaries over for dinner and I decided to make them a unique dinner. For dinner I made jambalaya, white corn, cornbread, and fried frog legs. They taste like chicken and fish mixed together. I say more fish than chicken though so I suggest eating them with a tall glass of lemonade because it makes them taste even better! The worst part about frog legs... they look like what they are.
I gave both of them a copy of this picture to send home to their parents. :)
SATURDAY

Jesse and I taught Saturday school like always and my after work plans were ruined by the snow and ice. In the 3 hours we were teaching about 1-2 inches of snow, mixed with ice, fell so we decided to go home and have a lazy afternoon hibernating. We had to find some creative ways to keep ourselves entertained and here is one of them... We lovingly call this video "Fishing for Trouble".

The symphony

We went to the Lafayette Symphony Children's' Show on the 6th of February but I haven't had the time to upload the pictures until now. The show was downtown, in Lafayette, and FREE! I was afraid we'd be the only people with small babies but it seemed like the average age was 3 so I wasn't too concerned. We went with my friend Melissa and her baby Mia.

Before the show they had a "petting zoo" of the instruments used in a symphony. Rosalee got to push some buttons on a clarinet and flute while the ladies blew air into them. She kept smiling and laughing, thinking it was the greatest thing. Then I found a small tuba that I wanted Rosalee to pose by because my brother plays the tuba. At first she was fine, but as soon as the guy stood it up she started crying. I'm not sure if it scared her having something bigger than her but we still took a picture once she calmed down.

Here we are posing before the show, attempting to get our friend Neal in the background. Rosalee was smiling really big in the picture of the two of us because they has started doing some warm-ups and I think she was getting excited. After the show Neal let the girls "play" his cello and then took some pictures with the babies. Rosalee liked banging on the bottom of the cello like it was a drum so maybe she'll grow up to play percussion.

I'm sorry the video is dark but it was during the show so what do you expect!? I think it's funny how she was dancing, pestering people, and just having a great time.

Time to make it official

We've told a few people, but I guess it is time to make the official announcement to all our friends and family. We're having baby #2 this August! Jesse and I are very excited but nervous at the same time. He's nervous about getting a job right after graduation (this May) and I'm nervous about several things. Like Jesse I'm nervous about employment, insurance, but also trying to raise two kids when I was just starting to get the hang of one! Actually Rosalee is very good and sweet to babies so I'm not too worried. My biggest concern comes from feeling like I won't be able to give them both the attention and love I feel they deserve. I guess taking care of the kids I watch now is good practice for the not too distant future. :)

Some information on baby #2-
*He/she is about the size of a lemon**We'll get to hear the heartbeat at my appointment on the 23rd**My iron levels (I had blood work done yesterday) are A LOT better than when I was pregnant with Rosalee**I crave milk, which I find disgusting yet satisfying**You won't know the gender of the baby until after he/she is born**We already have some names picked out but are having a hard time with middle names**Every time I tell Rosalee there is a baby in my belly she looks under my shirt and then gives me a funny look*

Piece of heaven

What may appear to be a pile of fabric brings me peace and happiness every day. Two WONDERFUL people donated rice bags to us to help us keep warm in our cold house. Every night we microwave the bags and put them at the foot of our bed, near our pillows, and in Rosalee's crib. We've gone from needing 6-7 blankets to only needing 3, woo hoo!! Another bonus is Rosalee goes to sleep easier and stays asleep longer. Frequently we'll find her hugging the rice bag tightly in her arms. If you too want one of these all you need is some fabric (or an old mismatched sock), uncooked rice, and thread. Just fill the fabric bag with the rice and then sew it closed. We microwave ours for 1-2 minutes for several hours of warmth.

January has come to an end

The past month has been very busy and very crazy for us. We went on vacation, had to move out because of mold, moved back in and froze, continued to freeze, Jesse thought he wouldn't graduate due to his advisor over looking important information, Jesse found out he would graduate but is behind on applying for jobs, Jesse got very sick and coughs all day and all night, Rosalee is just Rosalee so that keeps me rather busy, Jesse and I started teaching Saturday school, Rosalee FINALLY was able to see the doctor and get her 12 month shots just shy of being 15 months, and the other random occurrences of life. The following picture of Rosalee pretty much sums up how we're all feeling at the moment.
Here's to February and a not as crazy hectic life!!

*On a side note when we went to the doctor and were told she needed 4 shots. I said I didn't want her to get the chicken pox vaccine because I thought it wasn't necessary at this point. (I'm not awful, I just think she can get it later. You find several infants who have died from chicken pox and I'll act a little more concerned.) The doctor then proceeds to tell us that the whole state is out of the Hib vaccine. I'm not sure how this happens but I guess it has happened. So they have purchased a new combo drug that should arrive in the next few weeks. The combo drug has the Hib and some other one that she needs so they told me she was only going to get 2 shots instead. So I gave in and decided that she could get the chicken pox vaccine since her system wasn't going to be overloaded with too many shots. The only problem is now she'll be 5, or more, months behind on getting the booster for whatever it is that she's suppose to be vaccinated against. The doctor didn't seem to be concerned about it so neither are we.

Rosalee currently weighs 21 pounds and 6 ounces. She's gained barely a pound since her 1 year appointment. The doctor said it isn't good, but at least she's growing so he isn't that concerned. They didn't measure her so I'm not sure how tall she is but I'll just say, there are several children months younger than her that are starting to get taller. Poor kid, she got her mother's genes!