4 Month Doctor Visit

Monday I took JM went to the doctor for his 4 month checkup and J met us there. JM loves being stripped down to his diaper and squirming all around the exam table. Dr B. said everything looked good. He weighed 15 pounds 0.5 ounces and was 24.5 inches long!!

Then it happened...the nice fun doctor went away and that woman came in (nurse J really is a sweet nurse...JM just doesn't think so since she always sticks him). he had to drink one vaccine and he got one shot in one leg and then 2 more in the other. Poor baby...the daffy duck bandaids didn't make it any better either. We rubbed his legs hoping they would not be sore. Once he stopped crying we loaded him up and left. I took him back home while J went back to work. JM slept for about 2 hours after we got home. Around 3:30pm thats when it happened...JM cried and screamed and nothing, I mean nothing, would calm him down. That is when I had to play the part of the human pacifier for about 1.5 hours. His legs were really sore and had knots on them from the shots and he had a little fever. He was fine on Tuesday, and played and cooed like normal.

Oh and JM LOVES this monkey. I got it with our Pampers points. Its the best thing ever. C said that he was screaming today and C put the monkey in front of JM and he stopped and just stared at it. I love this monkey!

Chimney, fireplace and roof

Here's some before and after pics of our chimney and fireplace. The fire place on the inside isn't done yet...we still have to put some stone around it and make a new hearth for it.

First this is the reason for the new roof, 3 inch hail! Before we got the new roof we had to fix our chimney which was not usable.

The bay window before

The Chimney before

The fireplace before

(to see the after pic, look at post below)

The chimney durning construction:

The guys were surprised that the chimney hadn't fallen off the house.
Before:

After:

Ken Geci did the chimney and shingles and he's a great guy!!! If we ever need anymore carpentry work done he'll be doing it!!

This is the little truck the roofers called "The Al Quieda" cause it looks like one of the truck they have over there with machine guns mounted to the top. I am actually taller than this truck (keep in mind I'm 5 ft tall). Note the wood bumper.

Mike Ball did our roof and he is excellent!! We can't say enough good things about him and his crew!!

Old Roof:

New Roof:

Busy, busy, busy...

Hanging out with Mommy on the floor:

JM really likes this monkey:

For the past few weeks we've been busy. We're getting our chimney rebuilt, cedar shingles hung on the chimney and bay window, and we got a new roof (we had major hail damage back in April) (another post). J was in Hot Springs, Arkansas 3 weeks ago for the 2009 National Scramble (its a Jeep thing). While J was gone my Mom came and stayed with us and kept JM while I was at work. We pulled down some "new" toys from the attic. We borrowed these from some friends, and so far JM likes all of them.

JM is now smiling at people and when I say his name. I think he is attempting to laugh also. We have this stuffed animal thing that has a blanket attached and it looks like a cow but has little knobby things down its back, so it kinda looked like a dinosaur…so we called it the mooasaur. Our kind friends informed us that it was a giraffe not a mooasaur, we still call it a mooasaur, its fun to say.

Dad put the mooasaur on JM's head.
It didn't last long there:

JM likes to get in the jumparoo and the bumpo if he is in a good mood. I think he’s almost outgrown the bumpo. It’s a little tight fitting. We’ve been practicing sitting up while holding onto my hands and he does really good…I just can’t let go or else he face plants (that’s why we practice in his crib, soft landing).

This weekend we went to a picnic at Mr A’s house. He has a pool and has invited us to use his pool to get JM used to the water. I had been looking into swim lessons, but since he has offered us the use of his pool I think we’ll take him up on it and go at least once a week. I really want JM to learn to swim at a young age…I took lessons at the Y when I was small (around 6 or 7 months)…I don’t ever remember a time when I couldn’t swim. JM LOVED the water. At first he wasn't so sure probably cause it was cool, but once he got acclimated to it he loved it. We would hold him under his arms and let him kinda float on his belly and he would kick his legs while we moved him around.

Mr A's dog Molly checking out the little human.

The hat says "Chik Magnet"

Super Baby!!

JM had a bubble butt from the air in his swim trunks.

JM when we got home, he slept 11 hours that night!!!

Here's a run down of some things we did this past month:

Went to A's (AKA big dude) 2 year birthday party...James slept through most of it. It was a Word World theme party

June 10th J and I went to my 10 year high school reunion, that was nice getting to see some people I hadn't seen in years.
June 17th J went to Arkansas and my mom came up and stayed with us. That was such a big help!!

June 19th I decided to cut the grass for J as a Father's day present...keep in mind that I had never used our riding mower before...lets just say that the weeds got knocked down. I can now understand why those crazy people like to race riding lawn mowers...its fun once you get up to speed :) My dad decided to help take down the old stone that was around the fireplace...well he got it down...in one big piece that fell. No one got hurt except our big chair I was trying to sell. Looks like its here to stay. But we got the rock down!! Yea!! Thanks dad!!

Me, my dad and JM on Father's Day

The last week of June a wonderful friend had her third child! A little girl!! She is so precious and they are so in love with her.

I had an awesome Silpada party the last weekend of June. I need more parties like that one.

July 2nd we took JM down to Bham to stay with my folks. J was in a wedding in Abita Springs, LA, so we had to be down there by Friday night for wedding festivities. JM stayed with my parents and he got to go meet his great grandparents at their farm in Oneonta that Saturday. On Sunday he got to go to the family reunion on my mom's side.

July 4th we planned to watch fireworks on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. We were told that they would start around 9pm. We got there at 9pm and sat on the wall and waited and waited and met some nice people from over neat Baton Rouge. talk for a while and then around 9:30 we decided that we either missed them or that they were canceled due to the wind. We did get to see some though...the ones in New Orleans. they were tiny, but being that it is flat down there we could see for miles (around 30 miles to be exact). Here are some pics from our trip:

I love the hanging pots on the rail...this was on the second story of a house.

Inside the cathedral

mmmm...Cafe Du Monde...I love beniegts
We saw this guy on Jackson Square, riding a Jazzy motor scooter thing, carrying an ironing board...yes you read that right. When he got to the curd he threw down the ironing board picked up the scooter put it on the other side of the curb and picked up the ironing board and went on his way. Wow the things you see in New Orleans...
The tin man across the street

The following shots were taken in a store next to Cafe Du Monde...I couldn't resist:

Note the Holy water next to the Voodoo doll

Lookin Good for Jesus!!! Get his attention, Repair Damage!!

Who comes up with this stuff??!!

This is the grooms cake at the wedding we went to. Cassidy sells used cars in Columbia, SC. He does a pretty good job at it too.

Oh, and BIG news my sister got engaged July 4th!!!!! I'm so happy for them!!! I've been telling JM that he has a future Uncle L. They are thinking next June.

Just the other day another good friend had their first child...a little girl!! They are both on cloud nine right now. It seems that JM will have a bunch of little girl friends :)