15 months old!

A little over a week ago Thomas turned 15 months old. I don't know how this is possible. It seems he was just born the other day. But such is life and it flies. He has always been such a joy in my life, but this age is the best so far. He's a little clingy sometimes, enough to make me feel like he's still my little baby, and yet he plays well on his own when I need a little break. Watching him learn is truly amazing. He picks up things so fast and while he's not very verbal, he obviously understands quite a lot. He does not, however, like to sit still for pictures. This month it was a chore to get one that I really liked (his smile is great, but the way he's holding is hand is a bit odd!).



And just for fun, here he is a year ago. Wow.


Here are some other pictures that he allowed in the seconds before he jumped out of the chair. He does not like to sit still for pictures.







I tried again the next day and he wouldn't allow it and be happy unless he was holding his little toothbrush thing:






And if I took it away, this is what I got:



He is such a joy. People continue to ask if he's always such a happy baby. And generally, he is. He definitely is fussy at certain times of the day, but even that is okay. :) He loves all things with wheels, water and Elmo (even though he's never watched Sesame Street in his life...he met Elmo through a series of books he has and he is fascinated). As a typical boy, he has no fear. He climbs up and down everything he can. And as some of you know, he took a tumble down our stairs the other day and amazingly, aside from a little bump on his head, was/is perfectly okay. His parents, however, were far more traumatized.

He loves to learn new things and I find it utterly amazing to watch him figure things out. I am so blessed to be his Mom.

Summertime fun and travels

Thomas and I spent a little time this week with his Nannie & Papa after they returned from their annual mountain trip with friends. It was a quick visit, but he especially enjoyed spending time at the lake today and then playing with the hose. Here are my favorite pictures:





The water hose was a big hit. I'll have to post more pictures from this series later when I have more time to choose the best...


And last night he found great joy with a shopping bag. He carried it around and stopped in different locations to climb in it again and again.


Now it's time to repack as we are heading off to see the other grandparents tomorrow for the weekend! Staying busy makes the summertime really seem to fly right by! My only solace in the end of summer is knowing football season will start. :-)

Especially for Daddy...

Thomas's daddy is currently stranded at the airport in South Bend, Indiana so I told him I'd do my best to quickly upload a few pictures to lighten his mood. Of course, now Thomas is up from his nap and nipping at my heels to go outside and the photo hosting site keeps locking up, but we'll see what I can do.

This weekend we attended a wedding here in Charleston. I tend to be cryptic and anonymous on this site (if you haven't noticed), but most of those who are reading will know who it was. And actually, this sign gives it away...


A quick video of Thomas dancing at the wedding reception. Not the best, but he never performs well on camera.



Thomas quickly gave up trying to keep up with the older girl on the dance floor. He certainly gave his grandparents and Aunt B a workout chasing him all over the ballroom floor.





Out of order, but checking out the birds with Nana during the cocktail hour after the wedding ceremony:


And these are some pictures I took last Friday while Thomas watched our neighbor mow her lawn. I thought they were sweet.




Thomas says, "Belly? What belly?"


And to Trey's daddy, this was Thomas's reaction when I said he wouldn't get to see you tonight:


We hope you get home soon. We miss you!

Pool party in the upstate

As I mentioned before, Thomas loves water. It can be the ocean, a lake, swimming pool, birdbath or a puddle. He's not picky. He just loves water. Two weekends ago we traveled to visit his grandparents and they got him a wonderful backyard megapool. He loved it. Sorry it has taken me so long to share the pictures. To make up for that, I'm sharing A LOT.

First Thomas has to taste the water:


Then he has to check it out and see what he wants to do first:


Then he's in:










Then his Dad felt the need to style his hair:






And then afterward, I like this series of him running to his Nana:






And a cute one of him hanging out with his Dad in his Grandaddy's chair


We had a great time visiting the grandparents and we look forward to going back soon. Thomas and I will be seeing them this weekend at a wedding here. We are looking forward to it!

Cranky in the carseat

Thomas is generally fine riding in the car. But when the rides are longer than an hour, he develops a VERY short fuse. Yesterday we returned from a great visit with Thomas's Nana and Grandaddy and I got to sit in back with him while the dog enjoyed the solitude of the front seat. When I ran out of anything else to do to try to entertain him, I started snapping pictures of him. The series turned out kind of funny so I thought I'd share.

"I'm very angry about being in this stupid carseat!!! .. If looks could kill, lady..."


"Mommy, please. PLEASE! I'm very sad. Help me!"


"Why must you take pictures in my moment of need?"


"Did someone say extreme closeup?"


"That's funny, Mommy."


"Who me? Cry? I wouldn't cry!"


"Give me a paci and a hat and I'm good to go (for a minute at least)."


"These paparazzi are driving me crazy."


"What must a boy do to get some peace around here?"


I still need to work on downloading and posting the other pictures from our trip. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday!

A happy Fourth

We hope everyone had a happy Fourth because we know we did. We celebrated the Fourth with friends on Sullivan's Island. Thomas enjoyed playing with friends and despite being tired by the time we headed to the park to watch the band and the fireworks, he did pretty well.

He's about four months older than E, and now that she's walking, I'm sure they'll just start playing more together:


He tries his best to play along with the older kids, here with F (almost 4) and W (almost 2 1/2):


While playing with the "big" kids at the water table, if Thomas had received a report card he would have earned an "Unsatisfactory" under "Plays well with others." :-) He didn't quite understand that the water should stay in the table, not splashed all over everyone and everything.


While under his Dad's careful supervision (wink, wink) he managed to soak himself enough to warrant a change of clothes. Luckily I had one in the bag. Even in his raggy play clothes, he thought he was still pretty cool:


After dinner, we left E&J's house and headed to the park for the festivities. Since it was bedtime, Thomas was a little fussy, but he did okay. Here he is doing his fussy dance:


We felt like we waited forever for the fireworks to start. The band said the show would start at 9:30, but 9:30 came and went with only a few practice pyrotechnics to show. The natives were getting restless:

We decided we'd be better off getting Thomas home and watching the fireworks as we walked back to the car.

As we started to head back, we stopped a let Thomas watch a bit of the show. He seemed mesmerized. I tried to get a picture, but couldn't make it work. So this is the best I can do. :-)


All in all, we had a wonderful time with friends on the Fourth of July.

I have many more pictures to post this week and will do my best to get to those soon. But here's one I thought I'd share now. I'm not sure if Thomas heard us say that Trey would be traveling again this week, but Thursday morning, this is how I found him:


I think he wanted to tell his Dad that he'd love to come along on his trip. :)