Visitors

Aunt Ashley visited this week. We had the most wonderful time at the beach, Giordano's (thanks to a suggestion from Angela Grisham!), and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Mary Lu and Jim are coming this weekend so James will have even more exciting visitors!

First Steps (sort of)!

Here is a fun video of James starting to learn to walk. Know that Lori and Mary Lu will enjoy this. One of the nice things about keeping this is that it makes it so easy to share photos and videos with you two!

Video!

Bennison's

Think we may have started a new Saturday morning tradition. After spending an hour at the Evanston Post Office getting Jamester a passport, we dropped by Bennison's and picked up breakfast. If you want to watch their kitchen in action, click here.

I first tried their baked goodies at the Farmer's market. Also, when we buy James's first birthday cake here, it will come with a little mini cake for him to eat!

Second City

Last night, we went to the Second City comedy club with a group of Kellogg students and their wives. It is a very cool venue where many famous comedians have gotten their start including Steve Carell, Dan Akroyd and John Candy. Some of our new Kellogg friends are from Holland, Canada, and Mexico City, and it was funny to try to explain some of the jokes to them.

I fully expect to see my college roommate, Kate Hendricks, appearing onstage there very soon! She is a comedian in NYC and the funniest person I know - check out her blog here!

Nine Months

James had his nine month check-up yesterday. He is now 19 lbs. (30th percentile) and 29 inches long (70th percentile)...but his head is still in the 96th percentile! We think that just means he will be really smart. He loves trying new foods these days and is always starving. We literally cannot feed this boy enough. Some of his favorite new foods are spinach, avocado and blueberries. He likes anything he can pick up with his hands and feed himself. He is at the most fun age and is such a joy, always smiling and giggling and learning so many new things every day.

This is of James trying prunes (which he did not love...) on our Shamblin family vacation to St. John this summer.

Isn't this Vandy bib the cutest thing you ever saw? It was from Elliot's favorite person in the world: Worth Turner.

And sometimes, it's easier to feed him in just his diaper...because he misses his mouth so often these days!

Spotless Strollers and Seats

Austin native and recent Kellogg graduate Jennifer Beall is in the process of launching a company to clean strollers and car seats. Yesterday, she and her interns cleaned two of our strollers and our Graco car seat and they look brand new! I wish I had before and after shots to post; our Maclaren stroller was covered in sunscreen and sand from all of our beach trips, and it is truly spotless now. Her company has been featured in the news, and I can't say enough good things about her eco-friendly cleaning service.

Check out the website here. I am helping write the copy for the site so be sure to support her new company if you are in the Chicago area!

New Rides!

We got bikes this weekend. James loves all of it but the helmet...:)