Bonus points

Last night I wrote out a "To Do" list for today.

This morning,

• Clean out the car
• Put gas in the car

were already done, thanks to my wonderful husband.

I've been trying not to ask much from him lately so he can study for his finals and another insurance exam. So I didn't expect him to help me with my other "To Do" s

• Grocery Shopping
• Send back Netflix
• Buy Diapers
• Fax insurance info

but after Matt put James in the car for me, he hopped in the drivers seat and asked "Groceries, post office, diapers and insurance, right?"

-Insert Big Smiley Face HERE-

Then after all that he took us to lunch.

I've got a good one.

Friday Saturday & Sunday

Another great weekend for the Morrissey's

::Friday:: we walked around Romney Stadium, one of James' favorite places. Every time we pass it while driving in the car he gets very excited and begins to talk all about it. In his own words of course.

When we got there I told him to "Make a touchdown". He then proceeded to run from one end zone to the other, without ever looking back.

::Saturday:: morning we drove down to the University of Utah for Matt to take an Insurance Exam. He passed!! Whooo!!! One more to go!

While Matt was in the exam, I took James to the Hoggle Zoo.

James was most excited to see the birds. No, not the birds that are actually meant to be in the zoo, just to normal domestic ones. When we sat down for a bite to eat, he tried to feed cotton candy to the little birds and chased them around the tables.

I was most surprised that he wasn't very excited to see the wolves, tigers or mountain lion. He did however, look at the elephants and giraffes for a while.

After the zoo James was exhausted and fell asleep in the car while we waited for Matt to be done.

That evening we drove down to Elk Ridge to visit my Eddy Grandparents. It was so nice to visit, and James was really good. I wish we could make it down there more often.

::Sunday::

Easter! This is the first year I did a basket for James although its technically his 3rd Easter. We skipped any eggs this year, I think James is still too young to dye them. Maybe next year. Other than baskets we've just taken the day easy. With so much going on in the next few weeks I figure its best to just enjoy the day as a family and remember what Easter is really about.

I cant wait for summer.

To heat our townhouse we use our wood burning stove, yep.

Its a pain in the butt...but its free.

So James and I have been cooped up in my bedroom most of the winter because its the warmest place in the house.

Every morning we have breakfast in bed...

thats mostly because it takes a bit for the downstairs to get warm enough to comfortably eat

So until we're in a place where the cost of heat isn't almost as much as our rent,

winter breakfasts will continue to be in bed

And our bedspread will be navy blue, not white

but I'll save my decorating plans for our master bedroom for another post.

While we're waiting for winter, we've been watching a lot of movies, and having dance parties.

James loves loves LOVES music.

If a song is playing that has any sort of beat you could dance to, I'm pulled away from whatever I'm doing to dance with James.

When James isn't dancing, he's usually singing.

He learns best to music and as soon as he's old enough music lessons will commence.

This child even sings along to the "That 70's Show" theme song.

The words are all his own except for "We're all alright, we're all alright! Hello Wisconsin!"

That part he does pretty well lol.

Now before you come to conclusions, James also sings along to "I am a child of God"...his own words of course, but the tune is right.

Since its sunny today we're going to head out on a walk soon, so while we do that you can catch up on some more pictures.

James eating what was left of his birthday cake..

Eating again...

Chuck-A-Rama is now in town...sometimes you just need a good buffet

You know you LOOK pregnant when...

about everyone in the grocery store gives you the "Oh pregnant" smile, and at least 5 people ask when you're due.

I feel super pregnant because I don't think I can remember the last time I had any REM sleep.

I'm up every two hours to pee, and my sciatic nerve hurts the worst at night.

I also wake up every day with a monster sinus headache.

Why do we women do this again?

Oh ya...I remember

because we want more of these little angels.

So all the morning sickness, mood swings, headaches, and lack of sleep are worth it once we get to hold that little one in our arms the first time.

115 days to go lol

Oh, and another thought.

I was so excited thinking that I already have all the clothes I need for this little man...umm probably not.

When James was 3-6 months old he was in summer clothes, this one...not so much.

So after I get everything IN my house more organized (current project), I'll go through all of James' many boxes of clothes to see what I can actually use. So hint hint Grandmas, you might want to take advantage of the winter clearance items in sizes 3-6 months ;)

I wish I could print mental pictures...

If I could, then there would be pictures to go with this post....

So you'll just have to use your imagination.

Today I was looking for something for James to wear to church

He's in between size 18 months and 2T as far as pants go

So I was down to one pair of black church pants that actually fit him

Most of his shirts are getting too short so I went to the back of the closet

and found a hand-me-down outfit from my friend Shannon

She gave it to me when I was still pregnant with James and at the time I thought

"It will be YEARS before my kid will fit into this"

Well...he'll probably get a month or two out of it, it fit perfectly.

He looked like such a little stud muffin in the outfit, if I weren't in such a hurry I would have

taken a picture.

So off we went to church, and as soon as we walked in the doors James ran straight for the nursery door. He loves that place. In between classes I went in to check on him, and he was playing as content as could be. The nursery leaders told me

"You have the best kid ever, he's been so good!"

I laughed "Really? Are you sure?"

"Oh ya, he's just been playing and running around in circles"

I still laugh at the idea of my little James being "the best kid ever!"

He's a sweet heart that's for sure, but he can be quite the terror.

He's a screamer and a biter, and makes a lot of messes.

Lucky for me he leaves the screaming and biting at home.

The messes he takes as you'll witness if you ever see our ward nursery. Every toy is out and spread across the room...all thanks to James.

Later we went to Katie (Matt's younger sister) 's ward to see her sing in sacrament meeting. At one point during the opening talks she got up to use the bathroom and James began to cry thinking she left. He cried again when she got up to sing, but calmed down as soon as he realized she wasn't leaving. He gets that way whenever family leaves, he just loves everyone so much. When Matt's parents were trying to leave today James got in their car to go with them, said goodbye to Matt and I as if it were no big deal, and waited for Grandpa to start the car. lol

I'll have to do a better job entertaining him for the next two weeks until we go up to see family.

Advice Welcome

Last night, like every night, James fell asleep in our bed, and I carried him to him own bed. He stayed for about 2 hours before he woke up crying. We decided to let him just cry to see if he'd put himself to sleep. Ha...right.

Well about 3 minutes into him crying, Matt had fallen back asleep and James got out of his bed and ran into our room. I could tell he was coming because of the pitter patter of his feet running and I could hear him getting closer.

Apparently Matt didn't hear that because all of the sudden I see James run in like a flash of white, Matt screaming as he jumps out of bed, and James' cries getting louder as Matt screams.

I'm still giggling about it.

When I asked Matt why he scram, he said he wasn't sure what was running and screaming at him and it scared him, also that it wasn't a scream.....it was a yell.

As funny as this was last night, I dont want it to happen again. I seriously think James has anxiety about being alone at night, and that he has nightmares. He sleeps through the night no problem at all if he's in bed with someone else, but wakes up at least every hour if he's on his own.

So today, on top of all my other things to do, I'll be searching for solutions to James' problems. If anyone has gone through this, or has hear of remedies I would LOVE to hear what you've got.

2 Year Check Up

At James' 18 month check up his weight was less than 5%.

He wasn't a picky eater, in fact he ate all the time.

He just had super fast metabolism.

Either way, his doctor advised me to get his weight up before his next check up.

So I've been trying..and its been tough.

He's become a pickier eater, and runs around even more!

So the last week I encouraged him eat spoonfuls of peanut butter, and as much ice cream as he wanted.

Lots of rice, and whole milk with formula added.

Don't worry, this was all on top of his usual balanced diet.

Well, I'm patting myself on the back right now because he now weighs 26lbs and is in the 25th

percentile, which is really great compared to where he was!

Thank goodness I have a whole year to fatten him up before his next check up!

Now if only I didn't need to bring James to the doctor for another year for anything that would

really be great!

I doubt we'll be that lucky, James has his second ear infection of the ear, plus he's getting

another two teeth in. Which explains why he's been so grumpy the last few days.

Oh the joys of parenting!

Two years old

Where has the time gone?

It feels like just yesterday I held him in my arms for the first time.

Now I've got a little boy on my hands.

Friday was James' 2nd birthday.

We celebrated the 3 of us with our traditional Donuts for breakfast

then played outside for a bit

later Matt and James went out together for a few hours so I could get ready for his party

when they returned I had James' wagon all set up for him.

( Yes, his face is dirty...still not sure why)

He knew exactly what to do, opened the door and sat in it, ready to go.

I'm hoping this next week has good weather so James can have the full wagon experience.

Yesterday (Saturday) we celebrated James' big day with our families.

James loves to be with family and had a great time.