SpongeBob

All parents know how exhausting children can be. You just want them to sit still for a few minutes so you can relax, right?!

Have you ever noticed how drawn in a child, as young as 3 months old, is to the TV? This is how they look! It zones them completely out and they are quiet and still! Perfect! So, parents find a cute kids show that says it's "educational" and the kid will sit there for 30 mins and not make a sound!

Although there are days when I want to take that break and set him in front of the TV, we don't let James watch TV. It's a decision we made before he was born based on some research I had read saying children, under the age of 3, who watch tv are more likely to be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD later in life. It made sense to me. These tv shows are flashing a new image every 10 seconds and the kids aren't even catching what's going on before a new scene is on the screen. When your brain is given all this stimulation it shuts itself off and doesn't form the neural pathways that would be created if baby was playing with a toy and discovering on his own.

I can't explain it all so I thought I'd put the links to the research I've found so you can read it for yourself and make your own decision. Now, I'm not saying I think all parents who let their kids watch tv are bad or lazy parents. I know that's true of some, but for others I think they just aren't informed. I just wanted you to think about it because I think some parents just think it's "funny" how entralled the baby is with the tv and don't think it's doing any harm. But I would encourage you to read these articles. It makes sense to me with the increased number of diagnoses and the amount of time toddlers are watching "educational tv" and even the size of the TVs these days seems like it might have something to do with it.  I figure even if it isn't the reason kids have ADD it isn't going to hurt him to not watch TV!

                                                          
                                                           Recent article on SpongeBob

 Article I read before I had James

11 months old

As Lyndi said on my facebook wall..."it seems your internet/research/blog time has considerably slowed down." It really has! And the reason is because I am napping instead! I have been using James' naps to take a nap myself. This baby has not only taken my energy, I also don't have to feel sick when I'm sleeping, so that means I am sleeping whenever possible. I am now only watching a 16 month old boy one day a week (instead of a 10 month old girl full time on top of the 16 month old.) The timing worked out perfectly for that transistion because I don't think I would have survived if I still had someone here full time! Thank the Lord he has everything planned out perfectly.

In the mean time James turned 11 months old on Monday! He is growing up so fast and it's been so much fun. I started putting some ideas together for his birthday party and it's making me super excited. I think it will be really fun.

I haven't taken his 11 month old pictures yet. I am hoping to get that done on Thursday, but here is what James has been up to this month:

*Walking! He will walk between furniture that is about 5 steps apart. His record is about 10 steps. He gets so proud when he reaches his destination. It's so cute.

*LOVES outside. And understands when you said the word or the word "walk." So we go to the park a lot. I'm not sure what my saving grace this winter will be.

*Using the sign for milk every once and awhile. He was using it pretty consistently a week ago and then he got byebye and milk mixed up so then he stopped using both of them! Now this week he has started waving a lot and signing milk sometimes.

*Understands 70% of what I say. It's amazing how much his comprehension has improved.

*He points to an object (not with one finger yet, just his hand) and says, "huh?" like he's asking me to name the object. So I name it and he says, "hm"

*Grabs a book he wants and "tosses" it to me and says, "huh?" I say, "Do you want me to read it?" And he gets excited for me to read it.
*Fed himself a cracker yesterday. He's struggled putting cheerios in his mouth. I don't know if they are too small or why he won't put them up to his mouth. So I tried a cracker to see if he would feed himself with something bigger and he did. You could tell he was proud he was being independent.

*Nursing 3x a day. Morning, 3:00 and bedtime. I figure I'll cut out the afternoon one when he's 11 1/2 months and then at a year we'll cut out the morning one and ease out bedtime. I love nursing him. It's the only time he's still in my arms. I will miss that time with him.

*Still sleeping from 7:30/8:00pm-6:40am. Then taking 3 naps/day that are 40mins-1hr that are 2 hours apart. If we get past that 2 hour mark he is crabby and then gets overly tired and doesn't take a good nap. He's like clockwork.

I'll try to get the pictures up after I get them taken. We are planning on going up to Aurora tomorrow to see my sister and baby Lux. Hope you have a great week and enjoy the cooler (cold!) weather we are going to be having!

Labor Day weekend

We had a great weekend. Daddy was home 4 whole days and we got to spend a lot of time with our families. I wrote about the things we were going to do before the weekend started so I'll just give a couple updates.
Saturday was our 10 year high school reunion so we went to a tailgate for the Husker football game and met up with some good friends. We had a pretty good time. Of course there were awkward moments seeing old friends (that you are still friends with on facebook..but apparently not in real life.) and saying hi but then not much else comes out of the conversation. But I got to see a lot of good friends that life got too busy to keep up with. We hungout at a bar downtown and talked and snacked and then came home and watched the first husker football game of the season with both Mike's mom and my parents and sister. The Huskers didn't look as promising as Mike was hoping, but it's only the first game! We are hoping they have a good season this year. Then that evening I was beat so we just stayed home and once James went to bed we laid on the couch! I seriously think I could go to bed at 3pm for the rest of the night during this pregnancy!

Sunday we went to church and visited my (dads side)grandparents. When we got home my mom and James and I went on a walk, and that got me going enough to give me enough energy to clean my house! Oh my gosh it felt so great. I have just been cleaning up where needed lately and haven't done a full deep clean in awhile. So Mike stayed downstairs with James and played while I was upstairs getting everything shiny. James is not a fan of the vacuum so it makes it difficult when I'm by myself to do it. He seriously still heard it and was crying from the noise downstairs, so daddy had to take him outside to swing. Hopefully he gets over that soon!

Monday we went to my parents for breakfast. Had some yummy waffles and a delicious egg casserole. So tasty. Then we we just hung out until we went to my (mom's side) grandmparents for dinner. Ali, Levi and Lux came to town so it was great to see them. Lux is so cute and we are always excited when we get to see her.  It was fun to see everyone and had some great food once again. We are so blessed to be so close to family.

This morning I took James to the YMCA for the first time. He hasn't been babysat by anyone besides family. So I thought we'd try it out. We walked in and he was excited. I set him down and said, "bye" and he looked at me like, "wait..this place looks fun but you have to leave?" I walked away and he didn't even cry. The lady said he did a great job and wanted to go outside the entire time. I was like, "yeah he could live out there I think."

busy, busy...

 I haven't been on the computer in days..what's going on!? I seriously need to loosen up my schedule if I can't fit in facebook. I guess it's only been one day..but still, a lot has happened.  Let me to try fill you in.

Thursday (which is only yesterday?!) we had our first Dr. appointment for baby #2! We went in and my Dr. put the doppler up to my belly and moved it around and said.."looks like you'll be getting pictures of baby today!" She couldn't hear a heartbeat so we had to do an ultrasound. I wasn't too concerned though because we had to do the same thing for James. So we went in and did the ultrasound and found out that baby is actually a week younger than I had thought. So I am only 8 weeks instead of 9 now..yeah another week to feel nauseous! ugh. But good news is baby looked good and heart was fluttering away. So I am due April 12, 2012. Which is funny because James was born Oct 12. So they might be born on the same day of the month which would be kinda fun.

Today my Mom and I left for Omaha at 11 this morning to watch my cousin, Whitney, play volleyball.  She is a sophomore at Northwest Missouri State and they were playing in a tournament at University of Nebraska-Omaha. We met up with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle and watched her first game at 12:30. She played really well and they won in 4 games. Then we all went to Farmhouse Cafe (the real reason I went to Omaha!) It is really good food, but the cinnamon rolls are to die for! So was the chocolate cake and wedding cake I tried today :) Yum. Then we watched her second game at 4:30 and they won in 4 games again. There was another team playing on the next court with some girls I coached a couple years ago so I got to watch them play. We had a great day together, but it felt great to get home. I was tired and missed my two boys!

Mike stayed home with James today and they went over to his parents house to hang out for the day. They had a great time together. I am so thankful James is such a good boy. He just goes with the flow and is happy doing it. I am so thankful Mike has a job that is so flexible and can stay home when needed. God sure knew what he was doing when he opened the door for him to be an insurance agent. Who would have thought. :)

Tomorrow is our 10 year high school reunion! We are going to a tailgate event for the first Nebraska football game. It should be a good time. They are actually doing a bar night tonight, the tailgate tomorrow and a family picnic on Sunday. I think we will just go tomorrow, but I am excited to see everyone. I probably won't talk to many of them..but it's fun to see who looks the same or different :) I know one of my friends from GA will be there that I haven't seen in awhile so I know we will have a good time catching up. I will post pics too! It's so hard to believe it's been 10 years already though. Those were some eventful years! Of course there are some fun memories, but I'm happy I'm on this side of the decade and think this next one will be even better!