First Big Snowstorm of the Year

Napping Boys

The other day when Joshua and I came back to the house after a fun lunch date (Indian food - yum!)while my father was babysitting James and Alma, we found my father asleep on the couch with James laying on him. It was super cute -- just the perfect scene of Grandpa and grandson.

Later that day, Joshua expresses jealousy about my father's nap with James. We have always been rather diligent about making the kids sleep in their cribs for naps so that they wouldn't become dependent on sleeping on a warm body. I was slightly surprised -- and also not surprised at all -- to hear Joshua's desire for a nap with his son and encouraged him to ignore the "kids sleep in their cribs" rule whenever he wanted. The next day I found this.....
 

Perfection! 

Jester Hat at the Library

While Joshua and Alma were enjoying some programming at the library today, a photographer from the local paper, the Express-Times, snapped their photo.  How cute!

 

Caption: Alma Chisholm, 2, tries on the jester-style hat she made with her father Joshua Chisholm, both of Bethlehem, at Bethlehem Area Public Library Friday during Crafts Day activity -- the 3rd of "4 Days of Fun." Saturday will be Window Decorating Day inside the library at 11 West Church Street. Express-Times Photo | LISA MASSEY

Caption: Alma Chisholm, 2, tries on the jester-style hat after a few alterations made with her father Joshua Chisholm, both of Bethlehem, at Bethlehem Area Public Library Friday during Crafts Day activity -- the 3rd of "4 Days of Fun." Saturday will be Window Decorating Day inside the library at 11 West Church Street. Express-Times Photo | LISA MASSEY

Weighing In

Alma at 3 year ped visit: 28 lbs, 38.5 inches

Merry Christmas!

The best part of Christmas was having "Auntie Emily" here for two days.  We all adore her and having a visitor made the holiday seem even more special. 

It was also great having my parents pop by on Christmas morning.  I love having them live close by.  For me, their move was the best thing that happened in 2012. 

Happy 1st Birthday, James!

 In the midst of Christmas and Alma feeling very under the weather, we were still able to celebrate James's birthday a bit on the 25th with a cake that Nana baked.  While James nibbled at the cake (mostly the icing) and is officially one year old, we will host a larger 1.5 year old celebration in June when we can introduce him to more extended family members.

In the meantime, here are some updates on our painfully cute little boy:

Walking: He used the walker (which Grandma Chisholm gave to Alma at this age) like a champ for the past few months.  He very quickly figured out how to go around obstacles and would cruise around the first floor of the house at top speeds.  Then, a few weeks ago (on the 16th while Joshua and Alma were in D.C. visiting Emily), while I was setting up my new computer, he walked past me.  I was shocked.  He spent the entire evening walking around the house.  Then, for some odd reason, he didn't even walk a step for an entire week.  Until the 23rd, he started walking again and hasn't really gone back to crawling much since.  He loves to walk while holding things like balloons or drum sticks.

Talking: For awhile now, he says "at" for cat and "dis" for this, but recently he has added on "da" for Daddy and something vaguely resembling the words dog and Santa. 

Expressing: James seems to always have his index finger extended as he points at things he likes.  He has spent a lot of time standing in front of our Christmas tree pointing.  So cute!  When especially excited, he blows like he is trying to blow out a candle.  Unfortunately, he was too overwhelmed by his actual birthday candle to blow at it.  When feeling displeased (usually when an item has to be taken away from him), he threatens to bite anything that is close to him.  The list of things he has threatened include the table, his own hand, the floor, our legs and the couch.

Toys: Drumming (on coffee canisters or the xylophone), balloons and assorted balls (playing fetch with himself and catch with us), walking around with a broom or his new stroller, looking at books and pointing at everything on the pages, playing peek-a-boo

Swim lessons: He has only had two lessons so far, but he loves it.  He dips his face in the water and loves splashing.  One funny thing is that he won't kick his feet when put in a swimming position; just sits absolutely still.  Makes me laugh.

Teeth: He has 16 teeth.  All eight in front (four on top, four on the bottom), all four first year molars, and a tooth in between the front teeth and the molars. 

Eating: Still a decent eater .... just not from me any more.  Not sure if it is because he's been under the weather with little colds all the time but he only wants to nurse with me.  All day snack-nursing.  When he joins us at the table, he sits in a booster seat and eats off the table.  It was too impossible to get him to not climb out of the high chair as soon as we put him in, so we gave up and upgraded him to a booster seat.  Plus, it is nice to all be at the table together.

Sleep: While he sleeps 7pm - 7:30 am, he wakes up and nurses briefly twice a night.  He also takes two 1.5 hour naps during the daytime.  These naps do not over lap with Alma's naps, which makes a little house-bound and me a tired mama because I never get a true break during the day.

Music: He LOVES music and will dance to any and everything, including the bread machine's mixing cycle.  He claps not only during songs but at the end of Alma's dancing too.

Diapers: We are still using cloth diapers (Bum Genius brand) and find them convenient, cost effective and comfortable for the little guy.


The number of times that Joshua and I have said to each other about James, "He is just so cute" as we look at him adoringly is innumerable.  He really is sweet and cute and ... just the perfect little man. 

Happy birthday to our little sweetie! 

Christmas Preparations

 While Alma was feeling chipper this week, early Saturday morning we were waken up by her claim that she had "spit up" which was putting it lightly.  So she has spent the weekend sitting on the couch and catching up with cartoons.  Crazy amounts of cartoons. 

 For a kid who usually turns off the television after a half hour because she is bored of it, we knew that she was really under the weather when she sat there all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  Poor kiddo.

 We kept putting off our Santa visit but James and I finally got to see him on Sunday afternoon.  James was very curious about the kind stranger.  This Santa stays at the Christkindle Market in Bethlehem and is the nicest guy around.   Since no other kids were around, he held James for nearly five minutes, chatting with him very pleasantly.  "I'm so happy to see you.  You've been such a good boy. ...."  So sweet.

 Then James and I went to a holiday party where he took ornaments off their tree and walked around the house charming strangers.

The Nutcracker

 Alma enjoyed her first performance of The Nutcracker with Nana.  When the overture music began to play, Alma wiggled in my lap with joy.  But once the curtain rose and the dancers came on the stage, she sat in awe for the entire 1.5 hour performance.

Afterwards we went out to lunch at Jumbars to celebrate Nana's birthday.  It was so great to spend the day with two of my favorite ladies. 

Below is a picture of us before leaving for the performance.

Oh Christmas Tree

Alma is Three!

The week before Alma's birthday, we went down to D.C. as a family to see Joshua's sister, Emily.  My parents came too, so that Joshua and I could have a night on the town to see Emily's performance in Pullman Porter Blues.  The entire production was AMAZING and Emily was jaw-droppingly as always.  I still cannot believe that she can play the harmonica like that!

We also spent an afternoon along The Mall at the Museum of Natural History.  Here's Alma enjoying her parasol which was a birthday gift from her Auntie Em.

During Alma's birthday week, we had a costume birthday play date with some of her close friends.  Aren't they the cutest?!

We also had a family birthday party on the night of Alma's birthday with Kate, Neal and my mother.  Here she is hugging the ballerina doll from Aunt Amy, Uncle David and Cousin Hayden.   

And one last party with a slightly larger group of family members.  Kate and Neal made Alma a cake exactly as she requested: pink with Thomas the Train.  How awesome!

 

Catch up...

While I was working on setting up the blog to allow more photos, my laptop computer completely died, taking with it the last month of photos.  *insert sad face*

The lost photos contain all of Thanksgiving, Alma's birthday celebrations (all four of them) and a number of other random beautiful photos I was excited to share.  Not to say that I don't have 18 billion photos of my children, but it sad to lose any of them.  I've found a few in my email sent box as I regularly send out emails as thank yous and hellos. 

All this being said -- and in light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday -- it is far from the worst thing to happen.  I treasure my children far more than their photos. 

Now that I have a new computer (a desktop with lots of additional memory for those 18 billion photos), I'll be catch up with updates and photos in the coming weeks. 

Goodbye Miss Rita and Miss Tammy

Alma on her last day at her first pre-school.  Her teachers there were very nice and were so sad to see Alma leave their classroom.

While Daddy's Away...

Some photos I sent Joshua while he was away at a business conference ....

At the park and before bedtime when the kids (and Simon) play in James's room after their bath. 

Milestone: Sliding

Such fun at the park with the kids today. James went down the slide for the first time, we buried each other in leaves, beautiful weather.

MLK Memorial