Diez Meses

Since we are in the middle of summer...

Jameston wanted to take his Mr. Bear picture for this month in his swim trunks

(with sunglasses, too, of course :-)

He is weighing in at about 23 1/2 lbs. (and in size 4 diapers), but we failed to get an accurate length measurement today due to his major movements!

AND, since Brett and I just returned on the 10th from Guatemala, I figured the Spanish title was only fitting. More about that trip (and how we dealt with being away from our little guy for NINE LONGS DAYS later).

So, if you are a frequent reader (or a friend on Facebook), you've heard the news!! Our boy is now mobile, and since he figured this crawling thing out, he hasn't looked back. He is now Mr. Speedy (those first days were too precious with his Bambi-like agility)! And we are moving like crazy to keep up with him...a good workout, indeed!

With the crawling has also come his desire to pull up on everything!

Toys, his crib, you name it. He's also becoming a fan of pulling onto the sides of the bathtub or pool, and he might crawl on out if you let him!

Not happening this month are any new teeth, or much more hair for that matter...

but we may be able to use that newborn brush by the time he's 1!

Jameston continues to be such a great eater, and we (along with his Granny and Papa) have given him many new foods to try over the last month. He makes the funniest faces as he's "sampling" new items:

One thing is for sure, he prefers to feed himself! So his current faves are cheese, cherries, blueberries, graham crackers, and tomatoes. But, thankfully, he'll eat whatever we have for him (except watermelon, like his Mommy and Daddy) !

At 10-months-old, Jameston's favorite "toys" are:

His Classical Senses Fish Toy

Magazines

(we discovered this when he was helping me clean up one day :-)

Wipies!

He mainly likes to just open/close the box (like he does with books)! Wipie boxes have become one of the most-used distraction items we use when giving him a diaper change lately

The Johnny-Jump Up

We tried the Johnny Jump-Up again (at first he wasn't a fan) when we had to retire the Jumperoo (because he's too long for it and would get "air" with his vertical)!

These days, JW is an inquisitive little fella and likes to:

• Sing himself to sleep (or sings to try and keep himself awake, one of the two)
• Grab at our faces (and sometimes it hurts!)
• Hold his own toothbrush and spoon
• Open drawers (he's infatuated with handles, and no, we haven't bought the cabinet locks yet :-)
• Reach up when he knows we are about to pick him up
• Play peek-a-boo
• Play hard (hence the picture below)!

Here are some cute pics taken over the last month:

His "George Bush" look, as we have named it

Oh, how we love this little guy! Jameston, we are so glad to be back home with you!

Jameston,

It was very hard on Mommy and Daddy to be away from you, but we hope you can join us on the trip next year and in years to come. You continue to amaze us every day with your desire to learn all that is going on around you. It is hard to believe we were busily preparing for your arrival just a year ago, and it is amazing to think of how richly you have blessed our lives in just these 10 months.

WE LOVE YOU, JW!

Crawlin', crawlin', crawlin'...

Keep those legs and arms a crawlin',

Jameston!

So, as he tends to do, Jameston chose impeccable timing for when he decided to crawl (his birth day was the BEST day he, okay God, could have picked because it was a Sunday morning, and most of the fam could drive to Dallas to meet him)! I digress...let's get to the topic of this post!

Crawling captured in 2-D:

Jameston decided to hold off on crawling until Mommy and Daddy got home from Guatemala...we arrived back on Saturday, and he cruised his first crawl on Sunday! We have been practicing for some time now, but something just clicked (Brett thinks it was the Tech football :-) and he was off!

He's been getting up on all fours for about three weeks now, but he would just rock or go in reverse. Now, he's quick out of the gate (as you can see in the video below), and he often goes after items he knows aren't his...

We are so excited about his latest accomplishment!

Now, only if we could get this house in tip-top baby-proofing shape!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

On July 1st, 2006, Brett and I celebrated the sacrament of marriage in my hometown of Wichita Falls with about 175 of our family members and friends. It was such a memorable day (2nd best day of my life, right behind the day we welcomed Jameston into the world), and we talk about it often.

Three years ago today, we were in the mountains of Las Vegas, New Mexico, celebrating our first anniversary while staying at his aunt and uncle's cabin.

Two years ago we were in Guatemala for our first mission trip with our church

This time last year, we were excitedly preparing for the arrival of our first child...

And today, we are about to leave the country for another trip to Guatemala. We anticipate that it will be another humbling experience, not only because of the work we know our church will carry out, but also because we will be venturing so far away without Jameston. It will be a wonderful trip, for many reasons, but it will be tough to be without our little boy. Two things we know for sure are that he will be in great hands with my in-laws, and we will be soooooo ready to get back to him on the 10th!

Brett, you are the best husband and friend one could have. I could not have dreamed up a more perfect person than you to be my partner. You are also a wonderful father to Jameston, and I can't wait to see you two grow even closer in the years to come.

Every day I thank God for you. Love you mucho mega!

Family Fun!!

These pictures are out of order, but for the sake of time (and that fact that we are flying out of the country in less than 6 hours) I am just gonna go with it :-)

We have been having a blast the past two weekends hanging out with many of our family members! Jameston got to meet his Aunt Kalya for the first time last weekend, since she just got back from teaching in American Samoa. And just like all of the nieces, he was smitten with her...

We headed out to Royce City for a "Welcome Home" party for Kayla, and the cousins had an action-packed day! Ruby and Jameston looking on...

A pool full of kiddos...

Granny with Layne, Ruby, me and Jameston, Riley, Willow, and Maddox

A box full of babies!

Brett and his dad and brothers were busy building a playhouse last weekend for Riley's 4th birthday, and the babies loved being pulled around in one of the boxes it came in :-)

Three generations of Winters' boys, at lunch after church on Sunday

The birthday girl loves her some JW! She's such a great big cousin to all of them!

Also, Aunt Maggie came to visit last week, and Jameston and I helped her get registered for Collin College starting in the Fall. But we did not take any pictures to document our time at the Plano campus :-(

Oh, and last but not least, Father's Day!! We had a wonderful day filled with family and food and a little bit of fun in the sun.

Jameston sporting his "Daddy's Caddy" shirt that he wore to church

My guys watching the ice skaters at the Galleria after brunch

We headed out to Flower Mound and got the Stewart cousins together for some swim time

Aspen, almost 6 months, and Jameston, 9 months on the dot

Gramps with Jameston, who was tuckered out and passed out in the car not even 1/2 a mile down the road on our way back home

What a day! What a couple of weeks :-)

Water Boy

Since we have discovered that Jameston LOVES the water with our recent trip to Florida, visiting friends' pools, etc., etc., we bought him his own little inflatable pool several weekends ago. Even though it's a cheap one (and we don't foresee it lasting too long), he could care less!

He just splashes to his heart's content, and it is the CA-UTEST thing to watch him :-)

Trying to climb over the side onto the grass, his new favorite texture...Whether he is busy playing with his bath toys,or is being distracted by Marlie, Jameston loves his pool! Oh my, does he ever?!

We have even substituted bath time some nights with a 30-minute stint in his pool. Now if only we could gets pools for the dogs and bathe them at the same time :-)

Here is one of my favorite pictures we've taken of our little water boy:If summer was measured by how much splashing one can do, Jameston would probably think this one is off to a great start!

Nine months!

Happy 3/4 Birthday, Jameston! He turned 9-months-old on Father's Day. Best gift ever...a healthy baby boy. The next best gift was being able to share the day with some of our family.

Doesn't he look excited to be 9-months-old?!

These Mr. Bear pictures are getting more difficult by the month because he doesn't sit still much anymore :-) Here he is after tackling the poor stuffed animal to the chair...

Time flies by so fast when you are amazed by one of life's greatest blessings every day! I know I sound like a broken record (and I heard it all the time before becoming a mother), but it is oh so true! Here are his 9-month stats:

Weight: 22 lbs. 1 ounce (75%)

Height: 29 inches (75%)

Head: 46 cm. (70%)

So, overall, he's perfect!

Here he is cheesing it up for the camera...he is all too familiar with the camera lens these days (What can I say? I am picture-happy!). Now if only he would ham it up the same way for the video camera...he gets a little bit of stage fright with it :-)

This past month Jameston has been a very busy boy, and he is very tuckered out from all of it (and sleeping TONS better at night)...case in point:

If it is nap time and we are out and about, he can sleep through just about anything. Thank goodness! Now, if only we can get his nap schedule at daycare figured out!

In his eighth month of life, JW experienced several firsts:

1. Flew on a plan: and he did SO good!
2. "Swam" in the ocean and pools: Oh, goodness, I think we need to start saving for a pool. Below is a picture of him at in his second cousin, Luke's, swimming pool for Luke's first birthday party!

   

3. Spectated at his first golf tournament:
   
   All decked out for the Byron Nelson. He even offered to drive :-)
4. Eaten meat (roast and chicken): more on that event later in the next section...

EATING

Jameston continues to be a great eater. I'll throw in another "thank goodness" to ascertain how happy we are about this! Because he eats three solid food meals a day, Mommy finally caved and got him a (gently-used) stand-alone high chair. And we all love it!

He likes it because the tray is larger (more room for him to make a mess on :-), he can kick and swing his legs without any resistance, and he's higher up so he can lean over and check on the dogs more! And Mommy and Daddy love it because it is easier to cook while feeding him.

Another big feat for this past month is that of Jameston becoming a pro at feeding himself small pieces of food. His favorites are yogurt melts, sliced bananas, and puffs, oh my!

Demonstrating his skills:

In fact, he would much rather feed himself all the time, as he tries to grab the spoon from our hands and bring it to his mouth. So, when we are spoon-feeding him, he gets his own (empty) spoon because he wants to practice :-) Let's just say feeding him is a littler messier than it used to be!

As stated earlier, we introduced meats to Jameston's menu this month. And since I have been making most of his veggie/fruit purees at home, I thought I'd continue this and found some great baby food recipes for meat. I have made both a carrot/roast beef and a apple/chicken puree (sounds delicious, right?!), and it has not gone over so well. In fact, he DOES NOT LIKE what I've made at all, as displayed by his "yucky" face below:

Nevertheless, he is still eating meats by way of Earth's Best Organic "Gourmet Meals." And he can't get enough of 'em!

Another current food trick up his sleeve is operating his sippy cup by himself,

even if it may be upside down:-)

INTERESTS

His latest favorites activities (besides eating) are:

• Being outside, especially with Daddy

• Playing with his bouncy ball

He mostly just hits/bangs on it

• Being thrown up in the air (and caught)!

• Figuring out his cool, soft ring stacker

He's analytical like his Daddy!

oh my goodness, He LOVES it ! And some of his staple favorites at 9 months are:

Bath time! Are we surprised?! Chewing on straps and tags

(if we only knew this before we registered for all those baby toys :-) Seeing the blue puppet on his Baby Einstein Signing DVD

(he cracks up EVERY time it comes on the screen)

and Marlie (of course)!

DEVELOPMENT

This has probably been the busiest month thus far in the motor/language development department! It has been so much fun to watch him learn new things, and each day gets more and more exciting.

• Our little boy has gone from having only two to SIX teeth in a matter of a month. Phew!

Even though it has caused some interrupted sleep in the Winters' house, his new pearly whites are just too cute! After having his top centrals and bottom laterals (FINALLY) break through, his top laterals are not far behind!

• Jameston is thisclose to crawling! He has mastered his version of army crawling after several weeks of practice, and get can anywhere he wants to. Basically, he "steers" by moving his arms in a paddling-like fashion; and he can move better backwards (on tummy and booty) better than forwards! Just in the last week, he has become super confident in his belly-surfing skills!

He would still much rather roll to get places, but when he's scooting on his tummy, be sure not to underestimate his wingspan!

• He can also stand supported, but he would much rather jump!

• And he can pull himself up to sitting from lying on his tummy...we found him sitting up in his crib over the weekend, and it seems to be his new favorite trick! Thank goodness Daddy lowered the crib several weekends ago :-)

• These days Jameston can carry on a conversation with the best of them, if the topic at hand includes a lot of /b/'s, /g/'s, and /m/'s. So, ba-ba, mama (mainly when he's upset, so he has not associated it with me yet :-( and ga-ga are often heard (loud and clear) throughout our house. Oh, and he will copy these syllables and coughing noises.
• Also, his receptive language is getting there...if he hears, "Where's Daddy/doggies/Marlie," or "You want more/juice," he'll look for him/her/it. As a Speech-Language and Hearing Sciences major degree holder, Mommy is proud!

Jameston, you are our pride and joy! We cannot wait to continue to watch you grow and learn and to see what the Lord has planned for you. We are so blessed God chose us to be your parents.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy