Second Babies Get The Short End of The Stick

This is tough.  It is quite a challenge to keep this blog updated.  For one reason, life is busy.  For another, this little guy does not give us a chance to keep up.  He is on the go and into everything all day, every day!  We take turns in our house, turns chasing James.  This child doesn't give up.  When he has something on his mind he will grunt and stretch his short, beefy little legs until his finger tips can finally graze whatever he has his eye on; usually this is a remote, book, or phone. 

So, what has James been doing since my last update?  Well, he's still walking around furniture and has, in the last couple of weeks, started standing on his own.  It hasn't quite clicked with him that he is doing it, or that it is something to be proud of, but he's doing it anyway.  To be honest, I thought that he would be walking by now, but he seems to have found contentment in shuffling between furniture and crawling.  He does, however, get extremely frustrated when Jacob is playing upstairs and we have put the baby gate across the stairway.  He figured out how to climb stairs really fast! 

I can't remember if I posted about James' teeth.  He has two bottom teeth, but nothing else is even showing signs of popping through.  We go periods when we think more teeth are coming, but nothing pokes through the gum. 

James, most recently, has taken up singing.  I noticed in church a few Sundays ago that whenever we would sing a hymn, he would make long sounds.  I started singing to him that afternoon to see what he would do and sure enough, he did it again.  So, now Jacob and I find it quite entertaining to sing to him and see if he will respond.  It's adorable.  He gets very serious with his eyebrows down and focuses very hard on what he's doing.  One of his favorites to sing is "Oh, How I Love Jesus".  He lets out a big "OH". 

Aside from singing, "Oh", James had picked up a few words, also.  He says "Dada" very well, and "Bubye", too.  Those are his most common words and the ones that he said first.  Now he's saying, "Uh uh", for uh oh, and he'll say, "mmmmmm" for Mooo.  So much fun!

Let's see, what else is going on with our little man?  He still LOVES baths.  His little legs start kicking as soon as he sees that you're carrying him to the bath tub.  He's started to stand up in the tub and watches to see if anybody is going to tell him to sit down.  When he is told, he does sit down, but of course he has to test the waters every time!

James loves any animal.  He's infatuated with the dogs and gets equally excited when he sees the cows.  I think this summer will be a lot of fun going out to check cows with him. 

We've had some tough days with Mr. James, also.  In February he got quite sick with RSV.  I had taken him in to get looked at because he had a terrible cough, diarrhea, hives, vomiting, fever, and we just couldn't get him out of the funk.  Well, they didn't even test him in Clearbrook.  They sent us to the ER in Bagley where they said he had to be taken by ambulance to Bemidji.  After waiting for the ambulance for three hours, Scott just ran to the fire hall and grabbed the oxygen tank and we transported him ourselves.  Once at Bemidji, James seemed like he was hardly sick.  He had energy, he wasn't pale, he had a wet diaper, his fever was gone, and his oxygen levels were normal; but they admitted him anyway.  So a sleepless night in the hospital to observe him we spent.  There were a couple of scares when his heartrate went sky high after an albuterol neb treatment, and his oxygen level dipped once, but we realized it was a fault in the sensor and not in his lungs.  So, after being told we'd probably be released the next morning because he was doing well with the neb treatments, we waited and waited only to be told we had to spend another night in the hospital.  UGH!  Thanks to a wonderful nurse who convinced the doctor that it was silly for us to stay in the hospital when we could care for him just the same at home, the doctor let us go under strict instruction to get him back in the hospital if his breathing quit improving.  So, we got home that night and treated him there.  It was scary.  We had a couple of cases of bad breathing when we thought we might need to take him in, but we managed to get it under control and he was back on track.  He was good for a month, then yesterday he woke up with the same symptoms and a terrible, terrible fever - he has spiked up to 104.1, and a cool bath finally brought it down to 102.  We've treated him all day today and last night and he's going to the doctor tomorrow to get tested.  I pray he has a good night tonight and recovers some.  This poor guy is obviously a respiratory baby.  He had it bad the beginning of January, then February, and now March.  We need the weather to get nice and stay nice so these viruses can leave him alone. 

Well, everybody is in bed and I have sub plans to make. 
Until next time, and hopefully that won't be three months from now.

Thanks for checking in and God bless!
Scott, Kim, Jacob, and James

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and life has been busy, of course, and much of that busiest has revolved around Master James.  Jacob was definitely an ambitious baby, but his little brother is working his little tail off to keep up.  James was sitting up on his own at 4.5 months, started crawling (forwards) at just over 6 months, and began pulling himself up a week before his 7-month mark.  Now, he practices standing while holding on with only one hand and scooting from Point A to Point B along the nearest piece of furniture!  It's so incredibly crazy how fast this is going!  Jacob wasn't even crawling at this age!  He gives his all to get wherever his brother is! 

Two days ago we discovered James' first tooth just starting to break through his bottom gum!  I had forgotten how miserable the teething process can be, but James is really a trooper.  Even when he has a fever, runny nose, cough, diarrhea, and can't sleep, he manages to put a smile on his face for everybody.  It's hard to get too frustrated. 

James has taken a liking to books and songs.  Recently, he has started performing the hand movements to Pat-a-Cake.  Okay, so he just puts his hands together or grabs your hands when you start saying it, but still, he is making the connection.  He has also gotten good at raising his arms to "So big!" and know how to play Peek-a-Boo with a blanket!  It is so much fun seeing things click in his little brain!

James really enjoys spending time by our deck doors watching and yelling at the dogs!  He loves them; over and over and over again!  He just can't get enough of them.  We are very fortunate to have such good dogs that are very tolerant of hair pulling and eye poking!  They just sit and take the beating, and I can't help but think that they know it is his way of giving them affection.

Well, it will probably be just a few hours before an eager Jacob Arthur wakes up to see what Santa has left him, so I'd better get to bed.  Again, Merry Christmas and may God be with you all this most wonderful time of the year!

Thanks for checking in!
God bless!
Scott, Kim, Jacob, and James

Christmas Trees and Crawling

 

 

 

Hello!  I haven't had a chance to update as my computer has been at the computer shop getting worked on.  James has been very, very busy!  He has been practicing crawling for the last three weeks, but had only mastered moving in reverse.  As of last night, however, he has finally figured out "drive"!  He still gets a little too excited much of the time and tries to move faster than his brain has mastered moving his arms and legs, but we have had a whole day without him backing his way under the couch so we're happy with that!

 

James had his six month appointment on Monday, November 23rd and he's growing well, of course!  Sixteen pounds, eleven ounces!  He's almost exactly double his birth weight. 

 

Here are some of his accomplishments in his first half year of life:

• sleeps through the night (at 3 months...WOW!!!), unless he's sick
• sits up (at 4.5 months)
• crawling, as I mentioned earlier
• starting to pull himself up onto his knees
• he's holding his own bottle
• eating fruits, vegetables, and starting to suck on puffs, thought he hasn't quite figured out how to put them into his mouth on his own
• starting to use a sippy
• will give sweet, slobbery kisses
• let's out horrific screeches when he's mad
• sticks his bottom lip out when told "no"
• likes going for walks in the stroller
• loves books
• loves the dogs
• loves taking a bath
• tries really hard to keep up with his big brother



Below are some pictures of Jacob and our Christmas tree!  He was excited to get to cut it this year!  Lots of fun on an out of the ordinary, beautiful December day!

Coming soon...Thanks-Christmas pictures at Wisconsin Dells!

Thanks for checking in!  God bless!
Scott, Kim, Jacob, and James

Introducing James Richard Anderson

I did not intend on starting a blog for Mr. James Richard when he was born.  Many friends and family members asked if I would and my response was, "Absolutely not!  It's a lot of work!".  As these six months have passed and James has reached milestone after milestone, Scott and I try to recollect at what age Jacob reached these same milestones when he was a baby. Our reference is, of course, Jacob's blog.  Looking back now, I realize it was his baby book of sorts; a digital collection of his first few years.  So, with the "Jacob Arthur Anderson" tab on my browser staring at me daily, always there for a quick trip down memory lane, I am going to attempt to do the same for Master James! I have some posts to catch up on, obviously, so I'm hoping that I can keep up with the present and past!

We will start this post with my last appointment before James was born.  This appointment landed on my due date, May 18th and I hadn't made any progress closer to going into labor, so the doctor gave the okay and Scott said it fit into his cattle breeding and planting schedule that if nothing happened by the end of the week we would induce.  He gave us a slot on that Thursday and, of course, nothing happened so Scott and I checked in for an induction at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 21st. 

Much to my surprise, at 4:26 that evening Dr. Armstrong announced, "It's a boy!".  I didn't believe him.  I was 99% sure that we were having a girl.  In fact, most of our family and friends were positive that we were having a girl, as well.  We didn't even have a boy name picked out; that's how sure I was that it was a girl.  Hazel Margaret did not arrive, so there we had a little redheaded boy without a name.  After much discussion back and forth, mostly between myself and myself (Scott knew what name he wanted), we settled on James Richard.  James after the Chris James family (my sister and brother-in-law) and Richard after Scott's Uncle Dick.  Jacob gave his input, as well.  One of his best friend's name is James, so he was pleased with the choice. 

Here are some pictures from that awesome day!  It all amazes me!  The birthing process, the emotions, and this new life ready for whatever lies ahead!  God's most amazing work!

This was the look James gave us right after he was born - a scowl.
We wondered if this was a sign of his personality to come.
So far, it's completely opposite.  He is an extremely smiley baby!  Thank goodness!

Thanks for checking in!  God bless!
Scott, Kim, Jacob, and James