Boring week

Thomas says "HELLO!" (he loves walking around with either my visor or Trey's hat)

Not much going on this week, but I thought I'd share some pictures anyway. Lately Thomas can be summed up quite well by this picture:

He's always on the move, and usually has something in his mouth. Some days it seems nearly impossible to get his picture because he will.not.stop.

Thomas also continues to be fascinated by all that involves water. Hopefully tomorrow I'll find time to share the pictures of his first time in the sprinkler over the weekend. He had such a ball. Today, however, when he got up from his nap I didn't feel like dealing with a wet baby before dinnertime. But when we went outside he immediately heard the noise of the neighbor's sprinkler. He looked around, figured out the direction of the sound and followed it. When I stopped him he was not happy. I continued turning him around and everytime he'd cry and cry.

(cute how his diaper is bulging out his outifit. Those snaps won't stay snapped...).

Eventually he'd calm down enough to stop crying. Instead he just sat there and sullenly gazed at the untouchable sprinkler.


Finally I convinced him to give up and do something different. He was okay with it eventually.




Then he spent some quality time with Sully; she appreciated the attention.


She'd rather he throw the ball for her, but she takes what she can get. Thomas loves Sully.

Not sure if we'll do anything overly interesting this short week. We did take him to the beach over the Memorial Day weekend and he loved it, again. In fact, as soon as we got in sight of the ocean he started crying to be let down so he could walk to it. And when he was in the water, he didn't care if he was being bombarded by waves, he was just happy to be there.

He's generally just happy, period. Which is why I just had to share the not-so-happy pictures today. :-)

Little fish

Thomas loves the water. He loves taking a bath (though he is quite annoyed by the whole "bathing" part of taking a bath. He'd much rather just play). And he loves being in any water anywhere, including as I mentioned before, the dog's water bowl.

Anyway, the other day he woke up early from his nap so I decided to make the best of it and try out his new pool (with water instead of air balls). He loved it.

Enjoying the pool:




I think he's watching Sully in both of those. He loves Sully so much, but she rarely will sit still long enough for him to love on her.

He was fascinated with the hose and loved carrying it around:


And splashing it into the water:


Then yesterday we went to my friend K's house (she has two kids and another friend joined us with her two kids) for more pooltime. Thomas was more interested in walking around the yard and eating dirt, but he did love some time in the pool too:

(L to R: E, 9 months; T, 13 months; B, 2.5YO; F, 3.5YO; E & B are E's kids, F and her brother W (not in the picture) are K's kids)
This was not a great pic, but the only one with at least four of five kids in view.

I thought this one was funny, Thomas was about to splash the others:


Afterward the kids played inside and ate lunch. Then it was time for us to go. Right before we left Thomas was carrying around a toy he seemed to like very much. In fact, when I went to go take his picture to torture his father with it, he showed me how he loved it. See:

Wonder how long before his Daddy asks me to remove this picture? :-)

Allergies, Schmallergies

Thomas met with the allergist yesterday. Dr. Murphy is an allergist and a pediatrician. He's younger than I would have liked, but after 2.5 hours there, I felt like overall it was an informative and helpful visit.

I ended up agreeing to the prick test to test a limited spectrum of allergens (including milk, strawberries, nuts and avocado -- all foods that have caused a negative reaction). Turns out he does not have a traditional allergy to any of them (this being an IgE-mediated allergy...which essentially would be the worst case scenario as it's an immune system issue). He tested negative. However, Dr. M says there is much to be learned and understood about allergies and that doesn't mean he won't have a reaction.

According to Dr. M, there are three types of intolerances. The first is the IgE-mediated type. It's not that. The second is enzymatic...which would mean something like lactose intolerance...it's not that. It is the third type, but I didn't write it in my notes very well...something to do with "textured." I think that's what he said. Anyway, Dr. M is 100% sure he will grow out of this type of intolerance.

Basically this type of intolerance is a problem of metabolism. He is not metabolizing the foods properly and therefore his skin reacts in a sort of defense mechanism. I think this is right. The doctor was nice, but he kept talking WAY over my head.

Since Thomas's reactions primarily manifest themselves in skin irritations, and there is no way to prevent that AND eat the offending foods, he suggests that we continue to avoid all nuisance foods for now and every 3-6 months reintroduce and see how he does. The primary route of treating skin inflammations caused by these reactions is to use various steroid-based creams...which can have very bad side effects (and scarring). I do not wish to use them unless completely necessary. Dr. M agreed and said avoidance is best. He WILL grow out of it eventually.

As for the dairy, he suggested that I slowly reintroduce it to my diet (acknowledging that it can 3-4 days for a reaction) and see what happens. If Thomas does not show any reaction, then we can try dairy, slowly, directly with him. Hopefully all will go well on this front as we'd both love to have some dairy in our lives (well, I shouldn't speak for him, but I know I would!). So yesterday I had cheese on my sandwich for lunch and so far, no reaction. That gets a very guarded HOORAY from me. :-)

Well, I was going to add a few pictures to save this post from utter boredom, but I think Thomas is waking and I'm having a bit of a problem with this attempt. So I'll have to come back with that later.

13 Months Old!

Yesterday Thomas turned 13 months old. Of course I had to mark the occasion with his monthly photo session with his puppy. That puppy, by the way, has become his bedtime companion. He loves to "love the puppy!"

Thomas is walking better and better every day. Now that he can get himself back up without pulling up on someone or something he hardly ever crawls. He loves being outside, taking baths, playing peek-a-boo and carrying around hats (mine, his, his Dad's...). He laughs and smiles all the time and people always ask if he's always such a happy baby.

His latest joy in life is a frustration for me. He LOVES to rush to the dog's water bowl and splash all of the water out of it. He's quick too! I've learned that it's a good thing the paint on the walls in the kitchen is semi-gloss. It's cute, but it's entirely too messy. I have yet to figure out how to get him to stop because putting the dog's water away is not really an option.

At 13 months his language is exploding. Well, his use of consonant sounds, at least. Sometimes he gets very chatty and combines variations of ga, da, ba, yea, ya, hi, ha, mama to talk and talk and talk with me. It's so amazing to watch him learn new things.

It's late now so I'll just move along and post more pictures from his 13-month photo session. Enjoy!





I love this one even though it reminds me of a cheesy Sr. picture. ;-) He "struck this pose" all on his own:




Mommy is REALLY funny.


Here he's showing that he loves the puppy.





I thought this was a funny look:


Having a little conversation with the puppy:


Tomorrow he has his first appointment with the allergist. I'm hoping the doctor can tell me what I want to hear. I'll be sure to update when I can.

Having a ball!

Is Thomas the cutest boy ever, or what?

Note: the scrapes on his legs are a sign that he's not a completely steady walker yet. He's doing very well, but he still occasionally stumbles. Sometimes he trips on the concrete. Ouch.

Borrowing an idea I got from a three-year old's birthday party Thomas and I recently attended, I got 100 balls today and put them in a tiny pool. Thomas loved it. And it made for great pictures I think, so I thought I'd share.





"You want the ball?"


Friday night Trey thought the way he was dressed he looked like a little old man, and he insisted that we take pictures. So here's our little old man playing ball with Sully:




Another weekend has come to a close. Trey was at drill most of the time he was here, but we did get to spend some much-enjoyed time with him on Friday. Thomas absolutely adores his Dad. Trey usually gets home very late on Thursday nights so Thomas doesn't see him until Friday morning. When he hears his voice he gets so excited. He walks or crawls as fast as he can yelling "Da! Da! Da! Da!" all the way. It is the sweetest.

Today he is 13 months old. I did take some pictures and will share those soon.

Goats, chickens and oak trees

Today Thomas and I met a few friends and their kids for a little field trip. We had a great time. My friends E and K and their kids (E's kids are a 2.5YO boy and 8 month old girl; K's kids are a 3.5YO girl and 2YO boy) were there and E invited a friend of hers and her little boy (who is a day older than E's boy) and it turns out I knew this girl in college because she was my roommate's sorority sister. Small world.

Anyway, first we went to a small local farm (Jeremiah Farm on John's Island) E had learned about through another SAHM. Very small farm, they raise goats and chickens and also grow herbs and vegetables. A very nice woman gave us a tour while her home-schooled kids mulled around. The kids loved it, especially when they got to feed the goats! The baby goats ate right out of their hands. I didn't let Thomas do that for fear he'd try to eat the food, but he loved just letting the baby goats lick his fingers. Yeah, lovely, huh?

A few pictures...

I love how this one shows the back of T's hair. See why Trey wants to take him for a haircut?


A few of the other kids feeding the big goats:


T & B, checking out the goats:


After that E & K and company (the other friend had to leave) and Thomas and I went to have a picnic under the Angel Oak, a beautiful oak thought to be more than 1,400 years old. I didn't get a picture that really shows its size, but click on the link to see one. The City of Charleston bought the tree and surrounding land in 1991 and now it's a very low-key park.

Thomas kept trying to take E's paci and since she has a cold and I wanted to discourage this as much as possible, Thomas enjoyed the rare opportunity to have his paci when he's not in the crib:


I just like this picture for some reason:


Thomas was all over the place, it was giving me a workout. He just kept motoring and motoring. One funny moment though, he was trying to play with the big kids who were chasing each other all around. He ended up standing there watching them. One of the kids came over and threw leaves at him. The other two quickly came over and started throwing leaves at him too! So there are three kids throwing leaves all over my baby boy!!! I ran over and rescued him from the bullies. :)

Anyway, a few times he'd fall down and I'd get a little break from chasing after him:


Thomas has been learning the past few days how to get himself up (without pulling up on someone or something) when he falls. See:


Anyway, it was a great day. We all agreed we should aim to have field trips of some sort every other week or something. We'll see if it actually happens, but we're going to try!

A new blog

Today Thomas and I went on a "field trip" with some friends and I thought I really needed an outlet to share these times with those who care about Thomas the most! So I'm going to venture out into the world of blogging and give it a try.

As many of you know, I keep a private journal already, but this will be devoted solely to what Thomas is doing and learning. Comments will always be welcome, but I won't expect them. I just really want a place to share his life with his family.

Wish me luck!