Life in the Fast Lane: One year!

Happy first birthday, sweet baby James (although he is quickly becoming a little boy instead)! I'll show his party in a separate post.

James is super fun right now. He babbles all the time. He's trying to stand alone, but gets scared and quickly sits back down. He'll get on his knees, stretch his arms high, and throw his body down. When we say "BOOM!" he erupts into a fit of giggles. He loves to eat. Some of his favorite foods are macaroni and cheese, meats, bananas, whole apple (he'll gnaw and take little bites, closely monitored of course), and Cheerios. Typical boy, he gravitates towards the wheels of anything (toy cars, strollers, real cars, etc). He's pretty good at playing by himself. He loves to look at books that have buttons that play music. When the little song starts, he bobs his head like he's dancing. He has a Thomas the Train book that always gets his attention. James is getting much better with his stranger/separation anxiety. Ear infection has cleared and knock on wood, he hasn't been sick at all! Yay for good health.

I was dreading not having much planned for Adelyn this summer. There just aren't many camps for three year olds. I thought I'd be going crazy having both (doesn't that sound terrible?). Instead, I am really enjoying my time with them. We've gone on some fun "field trips" (Elachee Nature Center, puppet show at the library, story time at Barnes and Noble, parks, zoo, play dates, swimming, etc). I won't get this time back so I am embracing the days of no schedules while we can. Adelyn has started telling jokes. At first, it was nonsense knock knock jokes (Who's there? Mommy Socks....or something equally random that she thinks is hysterical), but now she's starting to get it. So funny! She is also on this kick where she wants everyone to tell her stories from when they were little. To me, that doesn't get old because it's so sweet that she cares. She is BIG time into the "why" stage, which can kind of grate on your nerves. I mean, I'm glad that she's inquisitive, but it's NONSTOP.

Seth was out of town for an entire week, but we survived. Brenda took Adelyn to Highlands for two days and I got a night to spend with each of them alone, which is important. It's nice to focus on one and truly learn about them. Adelyn has started ballet and had a week of private swim lessons. I said above that James was healthy....well, Adelyn got this crazy rash. I took her to the doctor and it was Fifth Disease. No big deal, but so random! My mom came in town for 5 days, which was SO nice! We've been to two of Seth's races, Mid Ohio (Lexington, OH) and Road America (Elkhart Lake, WI). I only took Adelyn to Mid Ohio, but Road America was my first race with both kiddos. There is an indoor waterpark at the resort where we stayed in WI, so that was awesome. Brenda was a huge help and we had a great time. James spent his birthday at Road America. I just wish Seth's races would have turned out a little better for him. :(

I took the kids to Elachee Nature Center. Here is James at the Touch Table

Jumping off the moon

This is Adelyn's first day of Fairy Princess Ballet. It is SO stinkin' cute! There are a bazillion princess dresses for the girls to put over their leotards. They dance around with dolls and ponies. They put toile on their wrists and flutter around, run through a castle, work with the bar, play with the parachute, and even learn some ballet moves!

James can ride this little bike now!

He gets so much food in his hair that it acts as hair gel. I actually sent this picture to Seth, begging him to let me cut it BEFORE he turns one. Come on...a couple of weeks is close enough, right? I can NOT WAIT to get this child's hair cut. It is growing an inch a day.

James's first time swimming in the pool! Once he got used to the water temperature, he was loving it!

Swinging with Grandma after swimming

Fan Walk at Mid Ohio

Adelyn and Eli playing Cinderella...but Eli called them superheroes and kept changing their capes. Hilarious! (Eli is one of Seth's competitor's sons)

Dean's birthday party...Mae and Adelyn in the jeep. You should have seen Adelyn drive it. She didn't once look forward and was completely reckless. She and Mae were laughing hysterically and I was about to have a heart attack.