Taking Over

I walked over to get a spoon out of the drawer and returned to Ali feeding James.  

 She did a pretty good job!

Here she is dancing and being silly to make James laugh.

 He was loving it!!

LOVE these two so much!

 She is also good at reading James books.

As soon as this girl learns how to change a diaper I guess I can retire!

A Trillion Photos!

One day Ali insisted on wearing her swim cap on our walk.  It was kind of raining so it saved me having to take an umbrella for her! (Love the beautiful New England greenness!)

 She also likes her shopping cart on sunny days!

 James is so chill!

 Pure awesomeness!

 Bananas and books in the morning.

 Swimming!

 On Sunday afternoons, or in the evening during the week, we like to walk around the pond.  When we do this we usually take out the single stroller.  When Ali feels like she wants a short ride she sits on the front.  Since James is in the grabbing phase he grabs at her shirt (and sometimes her hair) and she cannot understand why he is grabbing her.  It is hilarious!!  She just doesn't understand that he isn't doing it to bug her.  It makes us all laugh.

 Ready to go outside and dig!

 This stroller pulled into the park the other day and I just about fell over!  It was awesome!!  As I turned to get the camera out of the stroller Ali climbed into a vacant seat and made herself at home!  I can just imagine my mom pushing this around the property with all the kids piled in!  So fun!

 Our table sees a lot of arts and crafts!  Coloring-

 Playdough-

 Glitter- it always starts out on the paper then ends up on her hands, stomach, 

 even toes!

 Paint...

 has the same story.

We're having a fun summer!

FOOD, Glorious Food!

It's amazing to look at James and realize that all of his squishy cuteness comes from 100% mother's milk (said in the voice of Hexxus from Ferngully...haven't seen it? watch that part)!  People may also be surprised to learn that James really doesn't nurse all that much and when he does it's not very long.  I don't get it, but it's obviously working out for him so I don't worry about it.  

He has really been grabbing at our food this past week so I was excited to see how he would enjoy his first solids.  

To say he LOVED it would be an understatement!

 I fed him a small amount this morning and he was a natural!  He definitely would have kept eating but I didn't want to fill him up on oatmeal and then not have him nurse all day.  We decided to feed him more in the evening.  Again I didn't want to feed him too much so after he'd eaten quite a bit I got up to put the bowl in the sink.  If you know James, you will know that he rarely cries or gets upset.  That was before I took his food away!  He grunted and his face turned red and he started to cry.  He never acts like that so I brought the bowl back and he finished the rest of the oatmeal.  It was hilarious!  He is such a cutie!  I can't wait to feed him again tomorrow!  I'm also interested to see if his sleep improves now that he's eating solids.  That would be awesome!

Here's James with his other new love, the binky.

  

6 Months Old!

James is 6 months old!!!  

(Ok, so he's officially 6 months old tomorrow but I couldn't wait to post his cuteness!) 

And seriously, I could not be more in love!  

Here is Ali holding her little brother.  Um... little by like 2 pounds and 2 inches.  

 Kisses!!

Helen sent these cute mustaches.  It's insane how much I love these three!  And you probably don't want to mess with James.  He'll clobber you!

 There are no words for the next photo.  I just love it!

 My cousin sent James this cape and mask and he is probably the cutest super hero ever!

We've had some ups and downs with James' sleep but I think we're on the up and up now.  He takes a really good nap in the afternoon when Ali naps and then he'll either take a morning nap or an evening nap.  It all depends on what time he wakes up.  I'm pretty happy with his schedule.  He's not sleeping as well at night as he did before we left China, but I feel like he will get back to it soon.  One thing that might help this is the fact that he started taking a binky yesterday and is totally hooked!  I like that it makes him happy.  Tomorrow we will start him on solids!

 Cannot. Get. Enough.  His smile is so contagious!

James' first 2 teeth came through his bottom gums on the 10th of this month.  He's on his way to being an old man.  I can't wait to see his little teeth sticking out of his little grin.

 These two love riding in shopping carts!  (Hallelujah!  right?)

James went swimming for the first time last week and LOVES it!  

This picture cracks me up!  It's so not typical to see Jimmy sleeping like this so I had to snap the photo. It was too cute!

 James, I could never express how happy I am to be your mom and the joy you bring to our family!  We LOVE you!

The 4th in Newton

There is a little place called Newton, Massachusetts about 1 mile from our front door.  It would be fun to live there.  Then we could be the Newtons from Newton.  We decided to head to the Newton Center Playground for some 4th of July fun this year.  As soon as we got there Ali marched in a "costume" parade.  I didn't really know what it was until we got through to the other side.  I just saw cute kids walking in a little parade with people clapping and knew Ali should be a part of it.  She got a little ribbon at the end.  

Watching the foot races.  I love me a good ol' foot race.

Free ice cream?  Yes, please!

And free Trader Joe's apple juice.... these people in Newton are living fancy.

The playgrounds in Boston are so nice.  This particular playground has these swings that are more like lazy boy recliners!  That's luxury!

We went home for lunch and naps and then headed back to the fair.  It was also the location for the evening fireworks.  We knew we'd be at home asleep for the fireworks so we wanted to enjoy a little bit of the pre-game fun.  He's Jimmy and Ali getting ready to go down one of those two-story slides.  She didn't cry, but she did hold her breath the whole way down and didn't jump at the chance to ride it again.

James hung out in his stroll like an angel and attracted attention from all the ladies passing by.  Typical. This kid is a stud.

We took Ali on a little carousel in Shanghai when she turned 1 and she didn't really enjoy it.  This time she loved it and there was a bit of screaming when we had to get her off.  My, how things change in less than one year.

And by the end of the day we were exhausted.  Ha!  I love how Ali looks like she is just so tired from all her playing.

James didn't get to ride any of the rides this year but he didn't mind and he sure is a cutie!