Michigan, better late than never...

I am so behind on blogging about our trip to Michigan but I figured better late than never! 

So, way back in March my mom and I took James Darren to Michigan to visit my Grandmother and my Aunt Carla (and Christopher).  We had a great time visiting with them and got to do some really fun things! 

We flew out Wednesday night after work so our flight was really late.  James Darren did great on the trip.  The flight was completely full so he had to sit on my lap.  A little after takeoff he laid in our laps and went to sleep.  He did not cry one bit! 

Thursday we pretty much hung out around my Granny’s house all day.  That night we went to a Mexican restaurant in the mall.  James Darren loved playing on all the toys in the mall even though we didn't put any money in them. 

Friday we went to Frankenmuth.  On our way we stopped at the outlet mall and made a few purchases at the Carter and Kite Strings stores.  J  James Darren was quiet spoiled all week by his Great Grandmother, Great Aunt, and Agogo.    After our little shopping spree we made our way up to Frankenmuth which is a really cool Bavarian town full of cute shops and fabulous food!   We ate at one of the restaurants that serves a family style meal.  (This was my one request for the whole trip, I love this place!)  The meal starts with warm bread (2 kinds) and fresh butter.  Then you get cranberry relish, coleslaw, and crackers with cheese.  After that you get fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, dressing and butter noodles (which are to die for!).  Then they bring you a little cup of ice cream or sherbet.  It’s FABULOUS!!!   James Darren thoroughly enjoyed the mashed potatoes which he ate with his hands. 

Saturday morning when we woke up there were a couple inches of snow on the ground.  It was beautiful!  For breakfast Aunt Carla, Agogo, James Darren and I went to downtown Flint and ate at the Flint Crepe.  It was a fabulous little coffee shop kind of place that serves all fresh locally grown food and makes divine crepes.  Then we drove around downtown Flint and Aunt Carla and Agogo showed us all the places they use to go as kids, where they worked, and their old schools.  When we got back to Granny’s house we got James Darren all dressed to go outside and play in the snow.  There was a small mishap before going out in the snow, totally my fault but we won’t go into that.  Anyway, James Darren did not really enjoy being out in the snow.  We did get a couple of pictures.  After the failed snow attempt we headed to Meijer’s (kind of like Target) for some more shopping.  Saturday night we cooked dinner at Granny’s house.   Christopher let James Darren come down and play his drums.  James Darren loved it and loved watching Christopher play the drums. 

Sunday morning we got up and went to church with Granny.  After church we went to White’s, a fish place, that my mom loved as a little girl.  We went home and let James Darren get a little nap.  Then it was time to head home.  We had to check a cardboard box full of all the purchases made during the trip.  Our flight left about 5 that evening.  Our flight was packed again but James Darren did great!  He was awake the whole trip but he didn't cry a single time.  He is a great little traveler. 

We had a great time and loved getting to see the rest of our family. 

Here are some pictures from our trip. 

So, I am a week late with this post but better late than never.  We had a wonderful Easter!  Nana came down and spent the weekend with us.  We all had such a great time.    We enjoyed a nice outside morning Easter service.  Our friends Tiffani and Jamari joined us for lunch and an Easter egg hunt that afternoon.  We took James Darren to the park and just enjoyed an all around relaxing and fun day.  To top it off it was absolutely beautiful weather. 

Here are a few pictures from the Easter Egg hunt and the boys playing that afternoon. 

iPhone update

Checking out the baby bunnies

Chicks

Ducklings

Helping with the laundry

Trying S'mores

I think he likes it

I'm not sure who likes the tent more.

Update

I have not put any new posts up in  a few week so here are some updates…

James Darren is 15 ½ months.  He is growing so much and learning new things every day.  Here are some big things I want to remember. 

He weighs 30 lbs and is 33 inches tall. 

He loves to read books.  He will pick them up and look through them himself or bring them to Darren or me to read.  His favorite right now is “Pat the Bunny.” 

He is obsessed with shoes!!! He says shoe. Shoe. Shoe.  And points to them on his foot, in the floor or wherever else another pair might be.  He also loves to try and put ours on all the time! 

He also loves balls and throwing them. His favorite right now, Darren’s regulation basketball.  It’s a great inside toy.  J

He can also point out his feet, nose, head, hair, and eyes.  Eye is his favorite.  He says “eyeee”  and proceeds to stick his finger in his eye or yours if you are close enough. 

He also likes to refer to himself as “baabee”  I think this is our fault since we gave him such a difficult name so he has taken it upon himself to be the baby.  He also sees and points to other “baabee”s.   He also refers to his little people toys as “baabee.” 

He also likes to dance and he has got some moves.  So funny!  He was cracking us all up Sunday night as he was dancing to our Share Group singing. 

He eats most foods.  We only give him table food and he seems to be doing pretty well.  He loves bananas, yogurt, crackers, cheese, and raisins.  He will usually try other food if he is in a good mood.  He is still in the stage where he might eat a lot of one thing one day and not touch it the next day. 

He still loves taking a bath. 

He still takes a Passy at home.  He does not use one at school (his teacher is a better woman than I) but when he is at home he still wants one for naps and bedtime.  We don’t allow him to have it when he is awake, however, he has learned that he can reach into his crib and get them out.  If he is quiet for a few minutes you can bet he is in his room fishing out a Passy.  I want to try and get rid of it soon but every time I set a date something comes up and I change my mind (i.e. surgery, swallowing earrings).  Darren is ready for him to give it up but I am waiting thru next week for sure.  We are flying to Michigan next Wednesday to see my Mom’s family.  I am not taking away the Passy before a flight with a 15 month old! 

A new favorite of mine is learning to give kisses.  If you ask James Darren to give you a kiss he will lean in and touch his face to yours.  So sweet.  You mostly get slobber and  snot but I love it! 

We love our sweet boy and love watching him grow and change every day!  

Earrings

Last Friday some sweet friends from our Share Group provided free babysitting for all the couples in our Share Group that have kids.  Darren and I were looking forward to dinner at Zazu’s and spending some time in downtown Auburn.  James Darren was going to get to spend the evening with some of his favorite people both big and small.  James Darren and I came home from preschool/work.  I fixed him dinner since we would be leaving around his normal dinner time.  I gave him a bath and went ahead and put him in his PJ’s all before Darren got home. 

James Darren loves to watch and wait for Daddy to come home.  He gets so excited when he sees him pull up.  I snapped this picture real quick while I went to get ready to go out. 

Darren came in and went to use the restroom before leaving while I put all James Darren’s things in his bag.  As I was filling up the Sippy cup I heard “Jami help!”  coming from our bedroom.  When I opened the door to our bedroom, James Darren loves to close every door, he closes himself into the bathroom and guest room quiet often, I saw Darren, pants around his ankles, holding a crying James Darren.  (I was not too happy about the fact that he needed me when all he had to do was watch the child for two minutes while I finished getting things together.)  Anyway… Darren informed me that James Darren had just swallowed an earring.  Yep.  The whole thing back and all.  I completely freaked ou,t envisioning all the bad things that could happen with the earring as it worked its way through his system.  I decided we had to go to the Emergency Room to make sure the earring was not lodged anywhere.  Luckily we were all ready to go, diaper bag packed and everything.  J  Instead of spending our night out, we spent it at the ER.  The ER does not have the same atmosphere as Zazu’s.  They did an X-Ray of James Darren in which you could very clearly see the earring.  It was already past his stomach so they thought any real danger had passed.  They sent us home with instructions to come back if he threw up or had any blood in his diaper.  And with the fun task to examine each poopy diaper to see if the earring had passed.  Let me mention here that James Darren is teething and had such terrible diarrhea the last week that his clothes had to be changed after each poopy diaper, so we knew we were in for a real fun treat.  Luckily the ER was not busy on this Friday evening and our whole trip took just about two hours.  (We did have a brief thought about dropping him off for the last hour of babysitting but decided we had probably just head home.)    Luckily we made it through the whole weekend with no ill effects.  We also saw no earring.  I was kind enough to give Darren the job of sifting through the diapers.  So, on Tuesday we got to take a trip to see our regular pediatrician who sent us back to the hospital to have a second X-Ray.   The second X-Ray revealed no earring.  Somehow we missed it.  I can’t imagine how in all that lovely poop.   It was a very eventful couple of days but everything turned out to be ok for which we are very thankful!   Too bad we didn’t find the earring. All these trips to the doctor and X-Rays would make it the most expensive earrings I own.  J

On Tuesday my parents were nice enough to come over and stay with James Darren while we went out to eat at Zazu’s. 

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