Awwww.....

Tonight Jeff put James to bed. He is almost a year and a half old now, and still I have the baby monitor on, mostly because I want to make sure I hear him at night when he has a bad dream (I'm a heavy sleeper) and I want to be able to be there to get up and help him. I had turned the baby monitor on and heard Jeff singing to James in the nursery "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and then he sang "Jesus Once Was A Little Child". Then he said a prayer with James and told him how special he is and how much he loves him. It was really sweet to be able to listen in on the baby monitor to all of that. I am so lucky and blessed to be married to such a great guy and such a sweet person, and our kids are so blessed to have him for a dad. Sometimes I feel like I have to pinch myself to make sure it's all real! On the outside to other people Jeff is a politcal and sarcastic intellectual with a biting sense of humor, also often reserved and quiet. They don't get to see the sweet man that sings to his babies and does nice things for me, like washing all the dishes at night and making all the bottles so they are ready in the morning before Katy or Amy come to watch the boys, or doing the laundry or just calling to tell me he loves me. I know I am really blessed, because not everyone has that in their lives. He's also a really good listener. He is really tuned in (most of the time) to what's going on in the lives of people he cares about, and he is always praying for people in his family.

When Kelli's husband died when we were engaged, at the drop of a hat he flew from New York to come and be with our family and help wherever he could. He is a pillar of strength in my life and I'm sure I don't tell him enough times how wonderful he is. He is so good with words and writes wonderful notes to me, and says sweet things all the time. I wish I could do that as well as he does. I'm just so glad that Heavenly Father blessed me with someone so good. I know He stepped in because if it was left up to me, I would have screwed it up. :) So I'm glad He loved me enough to step in and help us out, and bring Jeff into my life.

Enough sappy. I don't really do sappy all that much. I'm starting to nauseate myself - but it's good to get that stuff said. :)

James is growing up, and is loving playing with other kids! Tatiana brought Andrew - James's "first friend" over for a play day recently. Tatiana and Andrew came to New York when we lived there and James was 6 weeks old - and he was introduced to his first friend.

Now both boys are getting so big!

Here Andrew is at our house recently - playing without James - because James fell asleep for a good portion of the time Andrew was over to play!

James also has fun playing with cousins - Katy comes over two days a week to watch our boys for us, and he gets to play with Josie -

He has a good time with her, as he does with all of his cousins. (and he has a lot!)
He sometimes asks for Josie after she has gone home. "He'll look at me and say "Sosie? Sosie?"

James is also learning to say "Amen" and "Jesus". On Sunday after the sacrament prayer he yelled really loudly "AMEN!" And after the testimonies he would yell "AMEN!" I guess that's better than the usual belch he gives during the sacrament. Hey - a kid's gotta burp when he's gotta burp!

Lately James has taken an interest in his brother Thomas - he is now more than just that little noisy thing that he gets to thump on the head when he thinks Mom isn't looking. the other day we were driving down the road and I happened to turn around during a stop light and he was holding Thomas's hand while staring out the window. Today he tried to help Thomas by putting his pacifier in his mouth, and holding his bottle, and helping me burp him. He even grabbed the booger sucker and I caught him trying to stick it up Thomas's nose! He also sits by his infant seat and pats him on the tummy and sometimes it sounds like they are talking to each other. I hope they will be best buddies.

Thomas is such sweet little guy, who loves to be held and cuddled. He is in the 50th percentile for weight, 75th for height, and off the charts for the size of his head. :) And he loves his brother James. It's fun to watch Thomas growing, and I'm excited for when he and James can play together! He still sleeps a lot because he is still so young, and I love to watch him sleep and often wish I could sleep as peacefully as he seems to. We just love him more and more every day. We're so lucky!!