The Hickman Crew: January 2014

Ayda trying to get brother to stick his tongue out.

Ayda making her own creation!

Sofia the First is playing with James.

1/1/2014: A Starbucks start to 2014!

Bundled up to take down christmas decorations outside.

1/2/2014: 14 wks 6 days: First time in the Jumperoo and James loved it.

He loved the Jumperoo so much

that he fell asleep by himself in his crib.

1/3/2014: We stopped to see the Andersons

James has started to not like sitting in his car seat while at the restaurant.

He wants to see everyone! 1/3/2014: 15 weeks old

Ayda put her pants on by herself, just one small mistake (inside out).

The Family Christmas 2013

(or 1/4/2014) It was a very tough Christmas without Papaw, Donald James Bice, our staple, our glue, our head of the family only present with smells, his chair, and the laughter we shared.

1/4/2014: We try to keep James up for two hours.

It just doesn't work.

We have a family portrait from 12/24/2013

Ayda

James hair line on 12/24/2013 (3 months old)

3 months old

1/6/2014: Getting ready for the Auburn Tigers to play in the National Championship.
Ayda wasn't too happy about taking a photo during breakfast,
but James was very eager to try some of her oatmeal.

1/8/2014: Before the first day back to school, we had breakfast at Krispy Kreme.

Ayda still hasn't grown to like a doughnut.

James is enjoying the extra

attention while sister is in school.

1/09: Cupcake Ayda

1/10: We love a Mohawk on James

1/12: Ayda never liked the Jumperoo when she was James's age.

Spin Baby Spin!

First Birthday Party this year!

1/13: Family Love!

1/14: James rolled over for the first time at 16 weeks

1/14: Ayda painted my nails

James really hates the car seat.

He cries in the car until he falls a sleep or when he can finally see me.

1/15/2014: James giggled for the first time. It has been nothing but coos until now.

Josh was tickling James, while he was taking a break from packing to go to camp,

and James just let it out. All smiles and giggles!

1/16: What else can I say!

Ready for Summer

1/17: Only if we all slept this good.
She got to sleep with Momma while daddy was at camp.

Lounging before school

Our sweet little James

Satisfied

1/18: Saturday Afternoon nap

Those lips and blue eyes!

1/19

1/20: A day in the sun

Hand holding before going to bed.

(Ayda in her Sofia the First hooded towel)

Big Things Happening:

Since Ayda's last speech lesson in early December, she has kept up repeating us and making new words and sentences. I have tried to get her to say "I love you" for the past 8 or 9 months. It is tough to hear about other children saying it to their parents. Is it wrong to want to hear those three words?

The past two weeks I have been breaking the three words a part and have her repeat me. She has yet to put them together and I was getting frustrated.

But, as I was taking some Mommy time one night, it all clicked. When she says "love" it sounds like "mova" and when she says "you" it sounds like "lu". If you know Ayda she likes to say a lot of things in a sing song hum. Like thank you is in a sing song hum-hum where you can tell that it is thank you. Well, taking all of this in and putting it into reality, I believe Ayda has been saying "I Love You" to us for about 5 to 6 months. She hums the words almost grouped together and in a way that she pronounces them, not the correct pronunciation of "I love you". Very hard to understand. It's completely her own Ayda way, but it's "I Love You". I probably miss her saying it most of the time. When I catch her saying it, I get very excited.

Ayda has started to love watching movies. We have seen Tangled (or punzel) more then we care to know. I found a Pocahontas (Cocohontas) book and started to read it then introduced the movie. We now flip flop for punzel to cocohontas movies. She will sing along and also finish the character sentences when watching the movies.

Ayda is a very easy going person. We don't have too many power struggles. When we brought James home, it was a very easy transition. But, that has changed slightly since 1/20/2014. She wanted "Her Daddy" to hold her because he was holding James. We told her that he has to hold brother. She said "Her Daddy" and we had to explain again that he was James's daddy too. That day she couldn't handle sharing "Her Daddy". If she had the words she would have asked for James to go away from Her Daddy. Since this day, she still gives her brother kisses and hugs, but still talks about Her Daddy and Her Momma. Ayda does complain about brother "pull hair" after she hugs and kisses him, but she has no hard feelings and does it again. She loves to kiss and tell!

1/22/14

James loves anything that rattles and squeaks. He loves looking at himself in the mirror. Loves to smile, will even stop eating to smile. Never wants to be alone. We are making the transition to not use the swing as much to get him to sleep. So far we only use it when there isn't a way to rock him in the chair. The pacifier and thumb are almost never used, but he still uses his two fingers for comfort sometimes (that's okay, I did the same). James loves to rub his feet together and tries to hold anything within reach. His movements are not very smooth, so he gets very excited when he grabs objects.

We have a singing family, in the car, bath time, dinner, store, or just anytime and anywhere. Ayda still sings Silent Night from Christmas (its high pitched and way off key), He's got the Whole World in His Hands (we love to add family members, friends, and pets (aalyah and chief) names), and Down By the Bay are the favorites. Down By the Bay is the number one song for James and will even calm him down for a good nap.

We went to James's four month check up with Dr. McG on January 22, 2014. Ayda came with us and held his hand during his shots. She weighed 27 pounds today. Dr. McG said that he can start to eat solids. The doctor also noticed that James as a mild case of Torticollis and gave us some neck stretches. Dr. McG also noticed that his bottom two teeth are bubbling up. We will be enjoying in the last gummy smiles before they appear.

James Embry Hickman:

Weight: 16 lbs 5 oz

Length: 25 3/4 inches

Smartness: 16 3/4 inches