Hey, Bama...

Yes, I know you've already seen this collage, but it bears reposting (with a one word addition). WAR EAGLE!!! One more game to go!!

Insight into God as our Father

I found another blog post today that I just had to share. A friend of mine from back home has created a non-profit organization called "Clothe your neighbor as yourself," and he goes all over the place doing crazy things in the name of Jesus to help the world's poor. Anyway... he posted a quote from one of his friends that really just spoke to me.

You see... my little James and I are going through that tough stage of me learning to let him cry himself to sleep so he learns to fall asleep without mommy's help. I know that it is best for him, but it cuts me deep into my soul to listen to his cries and see his tears. This father relates this whole thing back to God as our father, and it really spoke to me. I thought it might speak to some of you as well.

Happy Friday!

http://officialjamesbarnett.tumblr.com/post/1258218420/right-outside-the-door

And because no blog is complete without a picture.

(Yes, my son likes to chew on his dresser knobs... and well... pretty much anything else. He also drew on himself for the first time ever. He even figured out how to open the pen himself! haha!)

8 month photos, 1st hike, and Daddy time

This is how I found James a couple mornings ago when I went into his room to get him up. Just chillin'... He usually just lays in his crib talking to himself for 5-10 minutes after he wakes up. His sweet noises are like music to mommys ears. :) So precious!

Well... what's new? Seems like there's really not too much to tell. James and I have spent the last two weeks pretty much like we spend every other week... doing laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming, playing in James' room, cooking together, etc. It can seem so monotonous at times, but then I sit down in my rocker with James in my lap and think about how much I dreamed about being a mommy and having a sweet little boy like him. And I just soak in the moment... trying to keep it from slipping by so fast... and trying to store up my feelings and James' sweet noises and movements in my memory to replay and enjoy forever. What a joy this journey called motherhood can be!

James is still growing like a weed. He's got two teeth on the top about to pop through, which means he and mommy haven't gotten a full night of sleep in about 3 weeks! But we can finally see those little jokers so hopefully soon the itching, pain and insomia will be over for a few more weeks.

Below is a pictures of "teddy bear"James. Nana bought him this cute fleece outfit to keep him warm during the cold days ahead, and it doubled nicely as a halloween costume!

And mommy finally got some "8 month" shots of James. I really wanted to take him outside, but the weather didn't permit. :(

Last Saturday, we all got dressed for the Auburn game (Tech had played on Thursday) found the coupons for the wing place we were going to go watch it at, and then realized that it started 3 hours before we thought, and we'd missed all but the last 7 minutes of play. Well... drat! So we went out for wings anyway, and when we got back, James and Daddy enjoyed some playtime on the living room floor while mommy played photographer! :)

Since James is a little young for trick-o-treating, we decided to spend Halloween afternoon driving through the Georgia mountains looking at the changing leaves. It was supposed to be the peak weekend for leaves changing... unfortunately a couple days before we went a big storm blew through and blew down a lot of the leaves. :( We had a great time together anyway, and James got to go on his first hike! It was short, but Daddy was so excited, and I know this will be the first of MANY more family hikes together!

(Here's one of our only "family" shots... taken by a random guy near the trailhead. )
Well... that pretty much wraps up our news. We're still waiting for God to send us the right buyer for our house, but thankfully Jim is still working out of Atlanta. We definitely covet your continued prayers for us as we seek God's will in this transfer.

For HIS glory,

Jim, Ally, and James

8 months already!!

James turned 8 months on Tuesday! Wow! I am unceasingly amazed at how fast the time flies even when you try to slow it down by enjoying every moment and appreciating every stage that they grow through!

James is almost able to "officially" crawl on his hands an knees. He gets up on his knees and when he pushes up on his hands too and tries to move forward, he promptly topples to the side, but we know it won't be long now. Crawling or not, he is definitely not immobile! He can "army crawl" his way all over the place, and of course he manages to find the one or two things in every room (cords, paper, etc.) that he shouldn't play with and heads straight that way. haha! He keeps me on my toes and I can't imagine how crazy it will be when he can walk! Oh, boy, my days are about to get really... well... let's just say they won't be boring. But I wouldn't trade it for anything!

He still thinks he's big stuff picking up his cereal puffs off his high chair tray, but we've discovered that peas make him gag. Whether mashed and fed on a spoon or picked up by hand, he can't stand them! Haha! And mommy thought she might have a chance since she cooked them herself in some chicken broth to add flavor, but he wouldn't have any of it. Jim and I find it (probably a little too) funny to watch the faces he make when he eats them. Kind of reminds me of how I feel when a piece of squash or asparagus hits my tongue. Nasty!! On that note, James must be more Jim's son than mine (even if he does have my eyes) because he LOVED squash from the first bite! GROSS! James, what is wrong with you? I have to train you to like peaches but you like squash from the beginning? Guess maybe you'll be a wierd of the wierds afterall...(wink, wink Aunt Sara)

Well... I guess that's about all the James news I have to share. I know there aren't many photos this time, but it's been raining for the last 3-4 days, and I haven't been able to get outside to get his 8 month photos. I have super cute outfit for him to wear, and I'll put those up as soon as I get them done.

And of course I have to give a shout out to my Auburn Tigers! #1, baby!!!! Although honestly, I think I'd rather be #2 or #3 at this point in the season for fear of getting too big for our britches and losing to someone we should be able to beat like Old Miss or ...cough... Georgia. ;) Believe it or not I actually dreamed about the Old Miss game last night and we won! Maybe it's a good omen? Maybe not? Maybe you're already tired of reading about Auburn on here but... my blood runs orange and blue! So it probably won't stop as long as I have the chance to brag on them a little! (And as long as I'm the one writing the updates.) I was raised from early on to know that if someone understood the greeting "War Eagle" (and knew how to reply) they were a true member of the "Auburn family" and that "Roll T#@!" was a curse word never to be uttered... or typed. ;) My loyalty runs deep!

So WAR EAGLE! Go get 'em Tigers!

Jim, Ally & James

P.s. As a side note, if you get tired of reading all the detail I put into these posts, please feel free to just scan through the photos! I know that some of y'all really like getting the "juicy details" so I'll try to keep including those as often as I've got time.

ENJOY!

Last Friday, James and I headed back to the Stone Mountain pumpkin patch with James' friend Seth and his mommy, Patricia, to get some more pumpkin pictures.

This was so cute! Seth is 2 months younger than James and he was chillin', just watching James play with the pumpkins. (I'm not going to include any full-face pictures of Seth because I haven't asked his mom for permission yet.)

Most of the time, James was much more interested in eating the straw than playing with the pumpkins. And this was mommy's solution. He wasn't too sure he liked his "cage" at first.

But then he started noticing all the cool orange "balls" all around him, and thought it wasn't too bad afterall.

He and Seth liked being able to play with the pumpkins together.

On Saturday, "Aunt" Jenn came over to watch Auburn defeat LSU with us!! Go (AUBURN) Tigers!! (James enjoyed using Daddy's hair as support while he practiced standing.)

After the game, Daddy watched James do one of his favorite activities... play with the remote.

After he dropped it, Jenn tried to give it back to him.

But something else caught his attention, and he crawled over to get it. (Oh drat, mommy saved her lens cap just in time!)

Here's a cute one of James and Daddy when we went to Stone Mountain last Sunday afternoon so that mommy could get family photos for Jim's Aunt and Uncle. (If you'd like to see some of those shots, click here.)

We had a blast... and yes, I do dress James in more than just his Auburn Jersey. LOL!

Apple orchards, pumpkin patches and first teeth

This post should catch us up. The first weekend in October my mom got to come up for a visit for the first time since James was a week old. We've been down to Tally to visit since then, but being a pastor's wife and full-time teacher keeps mom in town most of the time, so this was a real treat!!

We spent Saturday at the park just having mom and daughter time (and grandson time too!) We brought a picnic lunch and ate it while we sat watching the birds and squirrels. It's amazing how many more animals you can see if you just sit still and wait for them to come to you! It was so nice to get to share one of my favorite places with mom and to have her all to myself!! No offense to my Canopy Roads family, but it's hard sharing mom with my three siblings and her 400 other "kids" sometimes! haha!

That Sunday we got to go to the Georgia Apple Festival in Ellijay, GA with Tania, her mom and her mom's friend. We stopped at an apple orchard on the way to pick apples so I could get some cute photos of James, and it was fun, but I have to confess that after going apple picking in Michigan, to say that picking in Georgia was disappointing would be an understatement. Most of the apples were split (even the ones that were still on the trees), which we assumed was from the recent rains and the heat wave. Either way, we got some sweet pictures of James "picking" apples, and we had a great time hanging out. When we got to the festival, we found out that it was closing at 5, just 20 minutes after we arrived, so we ran in to find some fried apple pies to eat. Would you believe that the only apple goodies stand we saw was closed, and that mom and I walked up and down the vendors looking for apple anything and couldn't find any. We saw Cajun food, hot dogs, snow cones, funnel cakes, etc., but no apple items. Hello.... it's the Georgia APPLE festival... how can you possibly not have apple foods for sale?!!! We settled for a funnel cake and some home made root beer (like I get at my civil war reenactments....yum yum!), and found out only after we'd finished the funnel cake that there was one small vendor on the other side of the festival still serving FRIED APPLE PIES!! Oh well... we missed out this time, but maybe I'll just have to make one myself! Mom stayed until just after lunch on Monday. We ate lunch at Willie's just before I dropped her off to meet her ride home... the perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!

Last week James cut his first two teeth! (The picture below was the best I could get after MANY attempts). I can't believe that he's so big already! Sitting is a no-brainer now, and he's even trying to start pulling himself up on things. I think we still have a little while before we're walking, but I know it will happen all of a sudden like so many other milestones have. Don't quote me, but I'm fully expecting to have a little walker by Christmas.
This past weekend, Jim's mom and sister came in town for the Tech game, so we got to hang out. Friday afternoon, we went to Stone Mountain along with Jim's cousin, Hayden, to get pictures of James in the pumpkin patch. They turned out sooooooo cute. Hayden was such a big help with James. He picked him up and moved him from place to place for me so that I could adjust my camera in between shots. He also helped me keep James attention while I was shooting. (And I even got a few really sweet shots of the two of them, so I just had to include those too!) After Stone Mountain, we headed back to Duluth to meet Jim and get pizza! YUM! James was worn out, so we ate fast and headed home. Saturday morning, we headed up to Tech about 9:30 to start tailgating. We had a blast! We made french toast and bacon for breakfast and fajitas for lunch! Delicioso! The weather was almost perfect. Jim, Ginny and Hayden played ladder golf while Nana and I had fun watching James and Jackson (Nana and Pa G's puppy) playing together! We packed up the tailgate stuff in time for Jim, Ginny and Hayden to head to the game and for us to get home before the AU kickoff.

Let me just say, "What a game!" Auburn had me nervous until the last quarter when Arkansas' back-up quarter back finally started to fall apart, but I have to give him credit. He is VERY talented, and I think he'll be a force to be reckoned with before too long. I hope Auburn can stand up to LSU next weekend and maintain our undefeated status! Woo-hoo!! What a season so far! Yay for Cam Newton!

Okay, so back to the rest of the weekend after football. Jim's mom went to church with us yesterday, and after lunch we headed to (yep, you guessed it) my favorite little park! We took a nice walk around the "long" trail and took turns trying to keep a very sleepy James entertained until we could get home and put him down for a nap. We had leftover fajitas for dinner, s'mores for dessert, and then watch "Letters to Juliet." Ah... what a perfect day!

Jim's mom left this morning after breakfast, so we're back to just us again. For those of you wondering about the status of our move... we're still waiting on God's timing. Someone came by to see the house last Sunday, but we haven't had anyone since. Patience is definitely the name of the game, and thankfully Jim's company is still allowing him to work from the almost-empty Atlanta office. So James and I are not Daddy-less yet, which makes life so much less stressful! We still appreciate your prayers as we seek God's will in all of this. Please pray for the house to sell if it is in fact his will for us to move to Spartanburg, and please pray that if it is not his will that he will reveal to us what his plan is. Thank you for your prayers!


Lots of Love,
Jim, Ally and James-z ;)

Park days, new gloves and morning walks

For almost two weeks now, I've been thinking that I was going to get new photos up. How does life get so crazy? And go by so fast? I guess having visitors the last two weekends did contribute to the craziness... but... we wouldn't trade those special memories with Grandmom and Nana for anything! I'm finally getting on the ball since we're back home by ourselves and James is getting a much needed nap. What about keeping the house ready to show you say? Well... the short of it is: I'd rather post photos! ;) And since you'd rather see new ones anyway, it's a win win situation! :) So without further a-do... here they are! Enjoy!!

Two weekends ago, James and I got together with Tia Tania and went to our favorite park here in Duluth to enjoy a few hours in God's beautiful creation, get some new photos of Mommy and James in our AU gear, and let Mommy and Tia have some devotional time. Here are a few photos from our outing. Enjoy!

James also got some new gloves that were handed down from some friends in Tallahassee, and he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with them. Everyday Mommy and James go for a morning walk. James LOVES LOVES being outside and mommy gets some MUCH needed exercise. He is so cute! At first he just listens to the birds, crickets, dogs, etc., and then he starts talking back. :) I love being a mommy! God is so good to allow me to stay at home with James and watch him grow and change!

(Not the best photo of mommy, but most of the time, this is the best I can do to get a photo of both of us!)

I've got SEVERAL more photos to post including a trip to an apple orchard with Grandmom and the pumpkin patch with Nana, so stay tuned. Same bat time... same bat channel.

Love to all,

Jim, Ally & James

Fall swims, car trips and folding laundry

I'm on the ball with my post this week. :) Last Thursday, I snapped a few photos while James, Tania and I showed our rebellious side by swimming on the first official day of fall! (For those of you who might be worried that it was too cold for James... the water was only a little cooler than it's been all summer.)

Friday evening we drove to Spartanburg, SC to spend the weekend checking out the area and to start looking for neighborhoods where we might want to rent/buy. It was a very productive weekend. Jim's new boss and his wife spent most of their Saturday giving us a personal driving tour of Spartanburg and the surrounding area, which really helped us get a bettter feel for the area. After this trip, I feel much more at peace about the move. It's definitely different than what we're used to, so it may take some getting used to before it feels like home, but I reminded myself that Michigan was different at first too, and we ended meeting some of our best friends up there. So God has a plan for this season too.

In James' news, I forgot to share last time that he is officially sitting up on his own now! It happened all of a sudden. For the last month and a half, he's been getting stronger and stronger, and we'd noticed that he had decent stability front-to-back, but his lateral stability was a little shaky. Then I took him to his 6 month checkup (he was actually closer to 7 months then), and she asked me if he could sit on his own or if he still needed minimal support. I told her that he still needed very minimal support, and then when she was examining him, she let him sit alone for a few seconds just to see how he could do, and to my surprise, he sat steadily completely on his own! (I was thinking... "when did you learn to do that, James?"!! Haha!)

As of last Sunday, he's offically 7 months old, and I can hardly believe how fast the time is flying. People are already asking me when we'll be thinking about number 2! Oh dear! Let me have at least a year with my boy before I start thinking about another one!! Ultimately the timing is up to God.

Well... that's all for now folks. Enjoy the photos!

Jim, Ally & James

Sleeping in the car on the way to Spartanburg. He loves to sleep with his neck cocked like that. I would have the biggest crick in my neck!

Helping mommy fold the laundry.

A Baby Divided...

So, today's title will make more sense as you scroll through the pictures. (No, we're not pulling a King Solomon and cutting James in half so each Grandmother gets a piece.)

Well... it's been a month and a half since my last post. I know... I know... those of you who've been waiting for pictures were in suspense for weeks. But the wait is finally over! I'm so behind on posting pictures that this time I decided to make collages with all of them so I didn't have to upload 25 individual photos!

The last month has been crazy... we've had our ups... and our downs, but mostly ups! :) The house showing is going... well... it's going. We went through a slump of about 3 weeks where we didn't have a single buyer look at it. This last week it finally picked back up a little, we had showing last Friday and another one on Monday, so there's hope.

In the midst of it all, we've been busy! We helped move Uncle Tim into his new place in Auburn (wow... I'm getting old!). We had a Labor Day visit from Pa G., Nana, Aunt Lauren, Aunt Ginny and a surprise guest (see photos below). James went to his first pre-game experience at Tech complete with lunch at the Varsity and a walk down by the Stadium (craziness!). James and I went to Tallahassee for a very overdue rest for this worn out mommy and got to see BigDad, Grandmom and Aunt Sara. We visited his Granny (my Grandmama) on the way down. Then We stopped by Auburn on the way home to take uncle Tim and cousin Chelsey out to lunch at- you guessed it- Momma Goldberg's, and I didn't miss the opportunity to finally get James some AU attire! (WAR EAGLE!) Last Saturday he spent the morning in his GT onsie and the evening in his AU jersey and cap.

This weekend we're headed to Spartanburg, SC to look around, get familiar with the area, and look at housing options. Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's will for us in this relocation.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.

Love from us all,

Jim, Ally & James

And now... the moment you've all been waiting for... NEW PHOTOS OF JAMES!!!!