Happy Birthday, Daddy!

A quick post tonight as I am way behind on my James video editing.  James is finally settling into our new place, his teeth aren't hurting quite so much (he is getting his top three all at once as well as the continued arrival of his molars, thank you, Tylenol!), and we are getting into a much better routine.  James is not great at self-soothing, a "normal" delay, but we are trying our best to work him into it.  Now that he is (much!) bigger it is difficult to rock him to sleep.  So, we read him two books, sing him one song, and lay him down in his crib with a blankie.  I am still paranoid about blankets in the crib, but at this point he is strong enough to deal with it, just a mother's worry.  We have tried to find fuzzy sleeper outfits, but few places carry them in his size and fewer carry ones that work with his tube (zippers aren't so great, what happened to buttons?).  He is doing much better with this routine and, depending on the day, goes to sleep with little fuss.  He is liking the comfort of his blankie and I think he is starting to understand that crying is futile (so hard to just let your baby cry himself to sleep, but I know it is in everyone's best interests).  It did take awhile, though.

Things can be a little difficult because he really likes this routine.  His new expression of excitement is to kick his left leg, which he tends to do during the whole process.  But, we still seem to be able to get him to sleep.  Sometimes it is hard for us to push aside his cuteness and be firm in our routine.  :D

Last week was Mark's 26th birthday.  We had a fun time with a delicious salmon and crab dinner (the crabs were an issue as we didn't have mallets, oops!) and apple pie with our new landlords who are supper fun.  My family was able to come visit that weekend as well and we had a great time at dinner and squeezed into our little, box-filled, messy house for a yummy dessert.  James it totally in love with his dad.  I love seeing the way James looks at Mark.  And James is transitioning from "da-da" to the occasional "daddy" which is adorable!

Here are a couple pics from the birthday weekend:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Playing with the Rody they gave James for his b-day.

With love.