Reading books in his room/emptying his book basket, one of his favorite things to do.
Practicing pulling up on anything he can get a hold of.
Feeding himself avacado and black beans-yummo!
Hanging with Riley. It started out nice.
But then he went for the bow and yanked it right off her head. Look how surprised she looks!
Stealing Riley's bow is hilarious!
Playing dress up lost it's appeal quickly, but he still loves the hat, trust me.
Tim and I have spent all day repeating that we just can't believe that James will be a year old in 2 more months. He has grown up so much this last month. He has been reaching all sorts of new milestones, and is turning into a little boy and doesn't look like a baby to us anymore. He also seems so much bigger to us. Some mornings, I swear that he has grown 2 inches overnight. We missed his 9 month well baby check, so we won't have anymore official stats until his first birthday, but I know that he has grown a ton since his 6 month visit when he wasn't even 14 pounds yet! The shorts that he is wearing in this picture he wore as long pants when he was 6 months old! 
This weekend, we also officially became a typical suburban family and joined Costco. We can now bask in all the glory that comes with shopping in bulk. We bought James a 2 year supply of Cheerios, and he FINALLY got the hang of self-feeding! Yay James! He has been working on it for awhile, but tonight it was like a light bulb went off, and when he realized that he could put a Cheerio into his own mouth, there was no stopping him. He was pretty happy with himself. 
Another milestone that James is working on is pulling himself up into a standing position. He does it in the bath tub, and on us by himself, and with help can do it on the couch and in his crib. Time to lower the mattress soon!
James likes to tip his toy basket upside down and pull out all the toys one at a time.
But then when he saw the camera, he wanted to play with that instead! "Watch out mom, here I come!"
My favorite sound in the world. As soon as it stops being cute, I will stop posting videos of it :-) Oh and he was laughing at Tim making a popping sound, it was only funny when Tim did it though. When I make the same sound he just looks at me funny. Oh well, I can't always win.
Tim has done his best at nursing our lawn back to health and has even mowed it once. We like our backyard a lot, especially the big tree. It provides shade almost all day long and James loves his swing out there as well. We found super discounted end of the year patio funiture this week, that we will probably be assembling well into next summer. It was super discounted for a reason I guess. It came with about 11,ooo different pieces and parts.
One of the best things we have found in Longmont so far is the farmer's market on Saturdays. It has a ton of great produce and is right by our house. We like walking around it in the morning and have been buying food for us and James for the week. We have been giving James more solids to try on his own instead of making him purees. So far his favorite has been this round Mexican squash.
We have been buying furniture to fill up the house since it is so much bigger than the condo. The thing I am most excited about is having a kitchen table to sit at. We have been eating on the floor for the last 4 years, so we feel pretty grown up having a table to sit at. Auntie Jenny and Uncle E-E bought James his very first high chair, and it is awesome. It is called a tripp trapp and puts him right at the table so he can eat with us. He loves it.
The best thing about living in Longmont is Tim being so close to his work. We see him SOOO much more than we did when he was at Children's and had such a long commute. He even comes home at lunch. We started giving James some finger foods at lunch time so that he can practice feeding himself. He still mainly just squishes it between his fingers, and smears it onto Jax, but he has fun. Today he even got a piece of tofu, and a piece of banana into his mouth. Yay James! We are still working on his table manners-he loves to eat with one foot propped up on the table.
In other James news, his second bottom tooth has broken through. That made for a fun few nights. So far I have been un-successful in getting a picture of his teeth, but I will keep trying!
James was actually rather clingy and disgruntled the whole time until we went for a boat ride, which he seemed to enjoy. Auntie Amberly did a good job getting some good smiles out of him. 
On a side note, how much of a little kid does he look like in his hat (toddler size by the way)?
This is how James looked the rest of the afternoon-disgruntled. (This was right before we went anywhere in the boat that is why is life jacket isn't on yet)
And here is a view of the whole room:
And from the doorway:
Jenny helped me paint some artwork for over the crib. Can you guess which monkey I painted? Hint: it is the ugly one.
And thanks to my dad and Ian, James' book rack is finally hanging on his wall. It has been Tim's arch nemesis since getting it at Christmas, and at our old house it just leaned against the wall.
All it needs is curtains and an area rug and it will be done! I think it is super cute :-)
Moms and babies:
We have enjoyed spending time with my parents, Jenny, and Ian, and getting to meet Zephyr. It is so much fun to see James and Zephyr together, we are all amazed at how different they are. Besides both of them being exceptionally cute, we can't find any similarities about their appearance. This is why it is so important for them to wear matching pajamas.
As they get older, I think that James and Zephyr will have no problem having their grandparents wrapped around their fingers. James already got his Grandpa to buy him a swing for our backyard, and got his Grandma to paint his new bedroom for him! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! 
We had a great visit with the Fererro side of our family, we won't all be together again until Christmas!
The first time with both grandkids together makes for a very happy Grandma and Grandpa.
The cousins hanging together in the backyard
