A Day in my Diaper

Being 1 is pretty fun. I run around all day, play with toys, eat snacks, drink from my sippy cups, take the dog's toys and taunt him until he chases me. I love to laugh. A lot. I also speak my own language. Aunt Becki & Uncle Chris say it is Ewok language and if you really listen, I am definitely speaking my mind. Mom and dad are pretty well versed to my jabbering and can figure out what I need. I point very deliberately at what I want too, so that helps them out. I understand lots of words too. Go ahead, ask me if I want to take a ride in my wagon or have a yogurt. I can even point out the mouse hidden on the pages of some of my favorite books. When I'm asked, I can tell mom when I am hungry, thirsty and sometimes tired (though I hate to give in and take a nap). I can now say a few words of my own besides momma and dadda like dog, cat, baby, wheel and up. Of course, these are still my versions of the words but I'm pretty consistant so mom says we'll count them as words. Oh and I love to read my favorite books, over and over and over again.

Today was a big teething day, again. Can't wait to get my molars in...Dr said the bottom ones are on their way. They hurt A LOT and I have not been sleeping too much because of them. (sorry mom and dad) So because of the drool that seems to come with these teeth, mom stripped me down to my diaper this morning after breakfast. I'm so speedy these days, so putting on dry clothes was a challenging task and I was able to thwart mom's continuous mission to restrain me. Once she realized her attempts were futile, she gave in and snapped a few pictures of me in my glory. Oh and note the curls...would you expect anything else? Mom can't wait until my hair finally grows!

The belated landscaping project post

So since coming back from vacation, the camera has been resting, as has the camera woman. So...here's the posting we never put on the blog with the finished landscaping project. When we bought the house, it was a blue green with a strange door and arbor in between the garage and the front door. There was a huge evergreen on the corner of the house that was perpetually eaten by our deer friends. Last July, we made some adjustments to the exterior of the house - new paint and getting rid of the door. THIS year in May, we redid the landscaping in the front. The menfolk did a superior job on the plantings & we are very happy with the outcome. We think that the new pine on the corner will be a great place for yearly pictures of James and Brodie and mom is looking forward to decorating it with lights for Christmas.

Oh and yes, the rainbow over the house is real!

James' First Birthday, part 2

Celebrating his first birthday on the Outer Banks was pretty special for James. It will be tough to top that next year! Here's a few shots of James and his cake. Keep in mind, the poor guy is cutting 2 more teeth (9 and 10) and is really having quite a time. He did perk up for the candles and couldn't understand why he couldn't touch the flame. He liked the cake and especially liked squishing it through his fingers. Now with the first birthday behind us, it's full steam ahead into toddlerhood :-)

James Turns 1

Today was the big day: James' first birthday! We were so happy to spend the day as a family on the beach looking back on the past year and marveling over how far we've all come. We are grateful and proud of the little boy we've been so blessed with. He's the happiest little guy we've ever met and he reminds us every day what fun life can be. If ever there was a time to be thankful for the gift we have in James, and the love that we share, this is it.

This is actually birthday part 1, the second part of the birthday festivities to come another day :-)

Summer Vacation: Part 2.1

We wanted to give a quick snap shot of vacation part 2. Now on the Outer Banks in NC, we're having a blast. A few highlights - James' first ocean experience! He absolutely LOVED the waves and running around on the hard sand at low tide. Dad even took him into the deep water and dodged some waves. "No-fear" Hartigan Jr thought it was the best thing ever. Mom on the other hand was a bit nervous watching the event!


We went on a family trip to the ocean when we woke up one morning, that's 6:30am for clarification. It was a great time for James because there were literally zero people on the beach and it was nice and cool on the sand. We had breakfast on the beach and enjoyed watching the sun rise!

Here's James again enjoying the sand...this time we took a trip up the coast to where the road ends...and the sand driving begins! We drove about 4 miles up the beach through sand that was similar to driving in snow, a lot of it, and unplowed. Dad was a bit white knuckled at times, particularly when another truck was coming straight for us while we jockeyed to stay in the tracks we were following. Very intense driving conditions. Good thing for 4 wheel drive!

Here's proof on how close you can get to the ocean...Jim stopped right where the waves were creeping up to high tide.

Stay tuned for more as the vacation continues!

Summer Vacation: Part 1

Here's the first glimpse of our summer vacation - We made it to Charlotte, NC on Wednesday afternoon to see Aunt Ali. James did very well on the 11 or so hour drive. We stopped in Hagerstown MD for a (very) quick overnight on Tuesday. James thought the hotel was great, tons of mirrors and long hallways to run down. Sorry to the other guests who may have been sleeping at 630am that morning...
What fun we are having here! On the first day, Aunt Ali took us shopping, out to lunch on the lake and then...the best part of all...to her pool! So far, we've been to the pool every day. Good thing we brought our wagon as James likes to travel in style. Aunt Ali's house is beautiful and there is so much to do here. Although James enjoys playing with his aunt's excercise ball the best. Of course, it's almost as big as he is so the spotter has quite a job making sure James doesn't loose his footing and take (another) header into a wall.
Today we took a trip site seeing around the city & did a little more shopping and wandering around. A great BBQ dinner rounded out the holiday. It's standard eary to bed for us, so no fireworks, only the ones we catch from the neighbors back yards as we sit on the patio relaxing.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone!

11.5 months

Hi Everyone, James has been keeping us very busy & we apologize for being so delinquent in our postings. This post should hopefully make up for our absence. 11.5 months has brought a lot more personality with our little guy. He has a few of his own words - mama, dada, dog and cat. He is a sucker for anything with a motor (dishwasher, vacuum, box fan) and loves to watch the trucks pass by and most recently has discovered that there are planes in the sky. He points at everything and talks about what he sees. James has been mastering his walking and bending down. He's still a little shaky on the getting up part, but we're working on it. One of his new favorite pasttimes is getting involved in the discipline of Brodie. If Brodie is being scolded, James is right behind us, fists clenched, telling Brodie he is bad. No hard feelings there though, James quickly forgives his furry brother and offers him a hand to lick at every meal and a few cheerios as well.

In general, James is an all around happy little boy who shows us that every day is a gift and every moment is precious.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all our dads out there...James enjoyed celebrating his first Father's Day. After an early breakfast (ok, they are all early these days) mommy gave dad the gifts we got him: we had photos taken of mom and James together and framed them for dad's office. We then took a trip across the river to see Grandma and Grandpa Hartigan. Grandma set up the small pool for the boys to splash around in together. James had a blast in the water and couldn't stop laughing at his big cousin William. When we returned home, we treated ourselves to dinner under the arbor - mom and dad even had lobsters! Another Father's Day treat: the US Open was on late in the day thanks to it being played out in California so dad got to enjoy this Father's Day tradition after James was fast asleep.

James' Favorite tunes

We thought it was time to share the 2 current favorite tunes of the Hartigan household. Sometimes out of nowhere, one of us breaks into the Rhino Song, or makes up a new animal for the Elephant Song. James can't get enough of these songs and is known to stop dead in his tracks when one is playing. They are a favorite for cranky dinner time and fingernail cutting time. Enjoy!

Cousin Anna's Birthday

My cousin Anna turned 2 last week & Nanny and Boppa had a birthday party for Anna - - and an early celebration for me too! Great Grampa was there, Great Aunt Jane and Uncle David and Aunt Donna. We had a nice afternoon playing with all the new toys we got for our birthday. Anna loved her orange silk scarf for pretend play that mommy and daddy and I got her. (here she is wearing her new scarf) I spent the afternoon RUNNING around everywhere. I really enjoy this walking thing. Anna and I got to play on all the new outdoor toys that Nanny and Boppa got - even in the heat.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to us and - Oh and we got to wear our fun birthday hats too!

I have perfected the "puff stuff". For anyone who hasn't tried a Puff, you are really missing out. My favorite kinds are the sweet potato ones. I can fit about 7 in my mouth without incident. They are great for on the go snacking as well as incentives for opening my mouth to eat my dinner. And oh yes, wondering how I learned to walk? Put the puffs container across the room and watch me go!

Cousin William turns 3

My cousin William turned 3 last week & I got to go to his birthday party on Saturday. What fun we had! William even had a big hotdog truck pull into the driveway and serve everyone tasty dogs (except me of course).

I got to ride in William's little car, and his friend Olivia showed me all sorts of things (see below, she's showing me a basketball and telling me I shouldn't eat it, why not?).

There's no better place to be than on the shoulders of my dad :-)