Poor James

So this morning I was looking at some of Spencer's baby pictures to see if he and James look anything alike...

Poor James.  If the current trend continues, Spencer is going to be the tall dark and handsome brother and James is going to be a short chubby red-head. 

It's ok buddy, we still love you!

Happy Little Chunk

I finally caught a good picture of James smiling!

Nesting

I know this post is a little late but I think it's fun to see baby rooms so I thought I'd post some pictures of the things I did in preparation for James' birth. I don't profess to be an amazing decorator, but I had a lot of fun getting this room ready. Before James was born I loved to just sit in the rocking chair and picture myself spending time in there with my new little guy. So here we go...

I made this bulletin board with a cork-board and burlap. I sewed the bunting flag (you'll see that I went a little nuts with the bunting flags) and bought the letter cards on etsy.

It's been fun to have a place to put little keepsakes.

This next picture mostly highlights the fingerprints on the changing table, but it's supposed to show you the blankets, quilts, and burp cloths I sewed.

My grandma made these embroidered quilt blocks in the picture below for me when I was a little girl.  My mom never got around to sewing them together so I decided to use them for James.  My mom redeemed herself by staying up with me one night until 2 AM quilting and watching Modern Family.

I gave Spencer's baby bedding to my sister before I found out I was pregnant. She decorated her little boy's whole room around it so she bought me this crib bumper from Pottery Barn Kids so she could keep mine. I sewed the little pillow. I didn't sew the cover big enough for the pillow insert I had so I ended up sitting on the pillow while I sewed it shut. Next time I'll give myself a little more room for the insert.

I found this lamp at the D.I. for $3.  It was a yucky brass color so I spray painted it white and added the lamp shade.  I told you I went a little nuts with the bunting...

These pictures hang above the crib. I bought the prints from etsy and painted some frames from Ikea green and added the blue mats.

I sewed this car seat cover and the curtains behind it. The curtains were the trial of my life for about a week and I will never sew curtains again.

 
But by far this is my favorite thing that I made...

my sweet little baby boy!

Spencer & James update

Wow, James is almost 2 months old already! Time sure flies when you're not pregnant!  He is growing like a weed and we're starting to catch glimpses of his cute little personality.  Luckily he has been a very good baby and usually only does this...

when he's hungry.

 I have to say that motherhood has been a lot easier for me the 2nd time around.  I was pretty scared to go from 1 to 2 kids but the transition really hasn't been all that painful.  After Spencer was born I sort of had an "Oh my gosh, what have I done?! This is my new life?!" feeling for a few months. Maybe it's because I know that things will get easier.  Someday he will sleep through the night, someday he won't nurse all day long, and someday I will fit into my old clothes again :)  Until then though I'm still enjoying my sweet little guy.

Spencer loves "baby James" and it has been fun to see him take on the "big brother" role.  We had a few rough weeks while he got used to me having to nurse James ("What?! I have to wait 10 minutes for you to get me a drink of water?! I've never had to wait for anything in my life!") but he's pretty used to it now.

He talks to him and likes to try to make him smile and is very interested in everything baby James does.  When I'm in the shower he'll run in and give me status updates such as "Mom! Baby James sneezed!", "Mom! Baby James waved his hand!", "Mom! Baby James is still sleeping!" You get the idea. He gets very stressed out if James cries and one day he told me "No! Don't give baby James a bath, he don't like to take baths!"

Spencer still takes an afternoon nap and most days I have at least an hour or two while both boys are asleep where I get a little "me" time (which usually turns into a nap).

Spencer is still enjoying preschool and loves to come home and show me the wonderful things he makes.

A lion mask (obviously)

He also likes to help me set the table for dinner and for some reason thinks he needs to wear an oven mitt while he does it.

Notice all the utensils on one side of the plate

Well that's all for now!

The Holidays

I know I'm a bit late on posting all of these but I want to document our holidays.  I'll do a post with some recent pictures of James soon...I would do it now except I want to go take a nap :)

We spent Thanksgiving at Matt's parents' house in Centerville. My doctor was a bit nervous about letting us go out of Cache Valley but said it would probably be OK if we just drove down, ate dinner, and drove back.  I spent the day worrying that I would go into labor but of course it was another week before James made his big debut.  Despite the labor worries we still had a great time!

On Christmas Eve we went to Jaren and Callie's for a yummy dinner. Spencer opened his present from Jaren and Callie, it was a Hot Wheels track and was a big hit with the kids!

My mom got the kids Christmas pajamas

Love that little Christmas tree bum flap!

We celebrated Christmas morning with just our little family.  Spencer had a blast opening presents!

That evening we had my family, Matt's parents, and Brad, Rebecca, & baby Mitchell over for a big dinner. Matt planned a little Christmas music program.

singing Christmas carols

Matt, my dad, and Mark singing

Matt and Brad sang a Cold Play song and Cara played the piano

The day after Christmas Spencer had fun playing with his flashlights and head lamp from Grandma and Grandpa Ethington...

and sleeping underneath his train set, I guess Christmas wore him out!