A new friend with old friends

Life around here has been quite busy lately. Lots going on. Included in that, we've been preparing for a visit from some good friends of ours from Pittsburgh. When Trey was in pilot training in Mississippi in 2003-2004, we became very good friends with this couple. Of course now all is different because we both have a child. They have a little girl who is nearly one and she is precious. They all came into town on Wednesday and we have all been having a wonderful time.

So while I'm waiting for everyone to rouse so we can go to the beach today, I thought I'd drop off a few quick pictures just to keep this blog alive!

Thomas loves having a buddy around all the time:


They eat together, and play together...


And here are a couple of just Thomas since A didn't have much interest in sitting on the bench (at Waterfront Park), unfortunately.


Yes, Trey, I know he needs a haircut...


I promise to get back to this once everything settles down. I'm already a week overdue on taking his 17-month pictures. Yikes. But in the meantime, we're busy taking over the town with our friends, so please excuse our absence. :-)

17 months old!

I'm backdating this entry because even though I'm incredibly behind, I want things to still be in their right place! At least the pictures were only taken about 10 days late...



Every month it gets harder and harder to get him to pose for these pictures! Oh how I miss the days when he'd sit there and pose for at least 30 shots.




Eventually when he realizes I'm just going to keep putting him back up there if he climbs down, he just gets bored with me:


A few weeks ago we had to make an unscheduled trip to the doctor's office and he weighed nearly 26 pounds. I imagine he's still about the same. He's about 33" tall and everyone (with children close to his age) always remarks about how big he is (tall, not fat).

He's all over the place. He does not like to stay still for long. His favorite things to do are to go outside, push the buttons on the outdoor garage opener, sit in his Mommy or Daddy's car and pretend to drive, be pushed around the neighborhood in his little car or tricycle, and look at anything with wheels (especially lawn mowers).

Thomas has already demonstrated that he's a very strongwilled child. Sometimes it's a bit frustrating for his parents, but we're all trying to work with him so he's strongwilled in a good way and not just defiant.

He can be very loving and his hugs are the best in the world. He's sensitive to others. He doesn't like for others to raise their voices around him and he doesn't like for other children to tug or pull at him. He gets sad to see other children cry and always acts very concerned about them.

His speech is still a work in progress. Sometimes, especially in one-on-one situations he will try to mimic sounds. At such times he has said words like mower, truck, cat, mommy, daddy, nannie, dog, and many others. But he usually will not do it on command, especially when asked to say things for other people. I don't know if he's just being shy or what. I know he can say more than he does, but for whatever reason, he chooses not to be overly vocal at this point. I know it will come in his own time and that's just fine with me.

He's such a precious child and I feel incredibly blessed to be his mother. Nothing in my life comes close to how he makes me feel and I thank God for the miracle he brought into my life.

Some recent pics of our favorite little fella

I thought I'd share a few random pics from the last week or so.

Thomas remains a pretty picky eater (actually it's more of a texture aversion). Last week he finally ate something different for a change. I was eating leftovers one day for lunch and he acted like he wanted it more than his sandwich. So I gave him a little fork and let him play with it a little and eventually he ate it. This was SO exciting for me. It was whole wheat rotini pasta with tomato basil soup and ground beef (basically glorified hamburger helper!). He made a mess, but he ate it!


Last Saturday morning we were preparing to organize the garage a little so I had to pull some stuff down, including Thomas's old bouncy seat. He was thrilled to sit in it, but he didn't quite fit:

(yes he has on pjs and shoes because we make him wear shoes in the garage, but it was early and he was still in his pjs)

Just for fun, contrast that one with him in the same chair when he was not quite two months old (the only one I have on this computer):

You forget how small they once were!!

Thomas's dad was so excited last weekend for Thomas to wear his Notre Dame football jersey. Too bad it didn't help them actually win. And I tried to make him also support my favorite team, my Gamecocks, but his hat from last year is a bit too small. Must get a new one. At least Carolina is actually WINNING.


I think Thomas will be getting a haircut very soon.




And just for fun... The boy will play with any hat like it's the best toy in the world.


I hope everyone has a great weekend. Go Gamecocks! :-)

Lovin' the lawn mower

Thomas loves the lawn mower or anything else with wheels. In that, he is all boy. A couple of weeks ago I got the best video of him "chatting" up a storm about the lawn mower ... or so I thought. Turns out, I didn't have the record button on (yes, I am a blonde). By the time I realized it, Trey had already started cutting the grass. I asked him to stop so we could try to recreate the moment. While the end product was cute enough, it wasn't nearly as funny as the first one that I didn't actually get. In this one he kept going to Trey trying to get him to hold him while he mowed the grass. But, it's still at least a little cute and worthy of sharing (although it does get a little long). Enjoy!


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September already?

I've been a bit delinquent in posting. Looks like T will be heading out of town again soon, so perhaps I'll find more time then! :-) Until then, I thought I'd catch up on a couple weeks' worth of pictures.

His push-walker one day became Elmo's stroller. Thomas had such fun pushing Elmo around the house:


He was moving so fast it was hard to get a decent picture, so finally I got him to pose with his special "stroller":


Here he was last week at his playgroup. A sign of future employment? :-)

(at least he doesn't look too happy about it)

It's basically impossible to get a good picture of all the kids together, but here were most of them:


And just in case you thought Thomas has blonde hair, you've never seen this little boy:


Later that day, Thomas had an absolute ball "riding" his dad's bike. Thomas is completely obsessed with anything that has wheels.


And this means he also loves to drive cars too (for as much as he can while in the garage, at least).


Over the weekend he found great humor in wearing his Papa's shoes:


"A perfect fit!," he declared.




Then he had to come inside and show everyone...


And as always, another favorite of his is a hat. Any hat.

MDA Telethon

I'm taking a break from our normal Thomas-posting happiness to make a special plea.

The 3 year old son of one of my dearest friends was recently diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. It's a devastating diagnosis. And while tons of research is working on a cure for pediatric cancers, the research dollars just are not there for muscular dystrophy. But researchers are right there in terms of making significant findings that might lead to a cure for Duchenne and other types of neuromuscular diseases. Pediatric cancers, while horrible, are rarely 100% fatal. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is. That is why it is imperative that researchers find a cure. They just need money.

Please, if you feel so led, please consider making a contribution (no matter how small or large) to the Muscular Dystrophy Association during their telethon (or anytime) this weekend. For the sake of my friend's son, and the sake of all the children out there just like him that have no choice but to hope that in their lifetime a cure will be found, every bit counts. I do believe a cure will be found in my friend's son's lifetime, I just want it to be sooner, rather than later.

You can make an online donation here. Or I assume that like it is here, the MDA telethon will be on all day at your home, you can call in a pledge.