Easter 2014

Happy belated Easter, everyone! This delay happened last year, too, where there were just too many Easter pictures to go through and it took forever to make the post.

I planted about 40 tulip bulbs right after we moved into the house. Having completely ignored them in the six years since then, a few still pop up.

Amelie and I both wore purple dresses.

Maybe next year, we'll get a whole family photo.

Dada and James both wore blue (none of this was planned).

James is just so darn photogenic.

A leaf? A bug?

This one's kind of a funny shot - it looks like she's holding her brother in her hand.

We did an egg hunt at the Buffaloes with cousins again this year. I like that you can see everybody trying to take a phone photo in this one.

James did not really understand what was going on.

But the older girls sure did. The race was on! Cousin Ellie had strategy.

Grandma Mary helped James out.

Amelie might have a pointer.

Yay!

I like that you can see Sam and James in the background in this one.

Such concentration.

Throwing rocks into the pond. James slipped in the mud near the edge twice, so we used up all of our extra clothes and had to drive home in a diaper.

Maybe the photo opportunity should have come more towards the beginning? Or maybe it was doomed from the start.

Bunny ears!

Happy Easter!

James was happy to keep on posing. Cheese!

Amelie Writes Her Name

This is a few months old (I think) -- high time this milestone is documented on the blog!

James Walking

This is a video of James the first time he was really walking at 14 months. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, when we were in Conway for Sam's grandma's birthday party. He'd taken steps, but this was a huge jump, and then after that, he was just toddling around all the time, no big deal.

I also like the video because we can hear Amelie's sweet voice in the background. It's gotten more mature since then.

Window Art

We have window crayons, which the kids love.

They wash off pretty easily, but it does take a lot of water and window cleaner.

It's worth it.

One of my favorite things to do is shout, "Why are you coloring on the window?!?" Amelie has wised up, though.

Maybe someday I will get tired of the automatic google GIFs, but today is not that day.

It's finally starting to look like spring

Some photos from Shauna's phone (since I'm still having technical difficulties). We went to the park! And we're all ready for spring.

Thank you to Aunt Tara for the lion hoodie for James! (And I grabbed the wrong one for Amelie - it's what James is wearing now, but it was a present from our friend Melissa W two years ago!) Just a little small :)

Hat

James protests the tyranny of pants. He did bring me this hat and request that I put it on him, though.

18 Months Old

James is a year and a half old!

We had his 18-month doctor's appointment a little bit ago.

Vital statistics (percentiles calculated with this chart):
Height: 31 inches (15th percentile)
Weight: 23.6 pounds (20th percentile)
Head Circumference: 48 centimeters (58th percentile)

Sam and I sat down to make a list of words that James could say before his appointment, and we had to keep adding to it throughout the week. I guess that means James is starting his big language leap already after a long period of just having a handful of words. He's making some two-word sentences, like "I stuck!" and "Dada, sit!"

Nouns
Dog
Nana (banana)
Bubble
Cheese
Mama
Dada
Boop (book)
Ball
Kix
Baba (baby)
Mouth
Teeth
Coat
Sock
Sandbox
Ca (car)

Verbs
Go
Come
Sit
Up

Interjections
Uh-oh!
Thank you!
Bye!

Adjectives
Mine
Stuck

Signs
More
Nurse
No
All Done

Here's a list of the body parts he knows:

• Mouth
• Teeth
• Head
• Ear
• Eye
• Cheek?
• Belly Button
• Foot
• Nose
• Head

And some other things James is doing right now:

• Running everywhere (it's especially fun to run away from Mama)
• Climbing
• Trying to jump 
• Copying everything Amelie does
• Looking through books
• Throwing things
• Dragging his baby doll everywhere
• Directing where everyone should sit
• Pretending to eat and pretending to feed us
• Dancing
• Singing (he tries to sing the alphabet with us and says "Whinny Pooh Whinny Pooh" whenever Amelie sings the song)
• Absolutely insisting upon using a fork and spoon (I may or may not have put a bite-size piece of pizza on a spoon the other day.)

Here's the link to Amelie's 18-month appointment for comparison purposes: http://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2011/12/18-month-doctors-visit.html

I took pictures, but they're stuck on the camera. I'll update when I can get them off.

UPDATED!