Little "Tiger" and a Big Week

Watching James chase around behind Jordan on a freezing cold par 3 course yesterday was the highlight of my month.

He saw his dad hit a ball into the hole so he raced over to drop his plastic ball in the hole.

He pulled his plastic golf bag all over the course until he was so tired he almost collapsed.

But it was the best thing that has happened to him in his 17 months of life. He talked about it all day today ("dada golf!"). These are the things I want to remember about this sweet season of life.

And speaking of sweet, you might not know it but I have the sweetest husband in the whole world. We've been married five years this week and I'm overwhelmed with love and thankfulness for my sweet Jordan. He makes me laugh so hard and I really have to work to ever get him mad at me. It's so nice to be married to your best friend - thanks for five great years!

Spring...

Spring has not made it to Chicago yet. Getting dressed to go outside still looks like this.

Instead of being depressed this weekend, we decided to get a little taste of home and drive an hour to the closest Chick Fil A in Wheaton, IL. James had his first Chick Fil A kids' meal and loved it.

Along with a bite of dad's ice cream. Here's to hoping Spring comes to visit us soon!

And just for fun, here are a few of our NYC pics.

Congratulations, Aunt Ashley for getting into UVA!! We are so proud of you.

Home Again, Home Again

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm so very sorry for being a blogger slacker. I have been out of town for 16 days in March and am catching up tonight. I went on a girls weekend with my mom and sister last week and don't have pics yet, but when Ashley emails them to me (ahem...Ash), I will post some because we had the most fantastic girls trip. While I was away, Jordan kept James for the first time for a whole weekend and was the best dad ever. James now says "dada" about a million times a day and refused to go to bed tonight without a hug from Jordan.

Our family trip to California was oh so fun. We all appreciated the break from the Chicago weather (we have snow in the forecast this week) and enjoyed the beach. James learned some new words: sand (yay!), ow (while he hits his head), and "hi" (which he said to everyone we saw in the airport today while waving. Some were friendly and waved back...some not so much.) We got to see some special friends in LA - Ben and Lea Adams and Carrie Colvin Alling and her husband Matt. We are so blessed with faithful, lasting friendships from Vanderbilt and loved seeing them.

Now for some pics....lots and lots of pics. Feel free to stop scrolling if you get bored.






Look at all the airport tags on this stroller. James is quite the traveler (and an amazing one at that!) and has been on 17 flights in 16 months.

He sleeps anywhere! (This is in the middle of the San Diego Zoo.) Today, he took a nap on my shoulder as we landed in the plane, strolled through the airport, got our bags from baggage claim, called a taxi, and headed home.

James is such a great little traveler and sleeper - he has slept in numerous different bedrooms, hallways, kitchens, and bathrooms in so many different houses, hotels and apartments all across the country and even in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Congratulations Julie!

We spent last weekend in Brenham, Texas at Jordan's grandparents' ranch for his cousin's wedding and it was such a beautiful occasion. Here are a few pics:





I wish I had one of the beautiful bride! It is always special to be with the whole Jordan family and James loved playing with his little Ratliff cousins and Riley. It made us all excited to be back in Texas soon.

Sweet Sixteen Months

James turned sixteen months last week while my mom was here. We loved every minute of her visit. Happy Birthday, Lee Lee! James actually cried when we took her to the airport.



James is super chatty these days. He says lots of words that we can understand (truck, milk, bath, cat, Elliot, Jack, and one of his favorites is snack) and he spends lots of time carrying on babble conversations. When he falls, he will lead us over to where the incident occurred and tell us for a good solid two minutes what happened just using hand motions and babble. It is so cute.

His favorite word these days is "stuck." He is "stuck" in his carseat, "stuck" in the stroller, "stuck" in his jacket, and his fingers are always "stuck" in drawers. Today, I was doing dishes and he was playing in his tupperware cabinet behind me when I heard "stuuuuuck." I turned around to find him stuck after crawling into a kitchen cabinet.

He climbs into his wagon all the time and gets "stuck."

And he gets "stuck" in dad's house shoes.

James is a really affectionate toddler which we love. His favorite thing to hug is Elliot...all the time.

And just so there are some pictures of him not in his pajamas...here is my 16 month old in a cute new outfit from Lee Lee.

Happy Sweet Sixteen Months, James! I hope you are always this sweet.