23 months old!

Better late than never... This month, Thomas turned 23 months old.


I cannot believe he is less than a month from being TWO! Time flies entirely too quickly. And I feel that I say this every month, but it is truly a joy and amazing to watch him grow and learn each day. This month, I don't have the usual puppy pictures and probably will start only doing those every 2-3 months (since it's no easy feat to get him to pose for those). I wish I had some better pics, but I'm just going to include some random shots from the past few weeks.



Thomas is constantly adding words to his vocabulary. Sometimes we can't always understand him right away, but he loves it when he learns something new. He gets so tickled with himself sometimes and it is such a delight to see that joy in his eyes. Reading is still one of his favorite things to do. He loves for us to read to him on the bed, on the couch, in the car, at the dinner table, and just about anywhere at anytime. Most books must be read at least twice in a row, and he has started saying the words before we get to them (particularly at the ends of sentences). He also does this when we say The Lord's Prayer before he goes to bed.



He recognizes almost every letter in the alphabet and is starting to learn to say his ABC's. He is constantly finding "letters" in any and everything. Sometimes he'll see a stick on the ground or something else that has taken the shape of a certain letter and he will emphatically say it until I acknowledge what he sees. It's too cute. One time he saw a "C" in a dead worm on the driveway. Funny (and gross).

He is most observant about cars on the road. Nearly every time a car passes by us that is the brand driven by his grandparents, he will say their name and point to the car (i.e. all Hondas equal "Nannie!"). If he sees a car like his Aunt Beth's or his Daddy's, he will shout out lovingly, "Beth!" or "Daddy!" It is crazy too me sometimes how great his vision is when it comes to spotting these cars when we are out and about. He has even started recognizing all cars like the one driven by his friend Lily's mom, and exclaims "Yeeyee!" when he sees them.



Thomas loves to love. He seems to have replaced the word "hug" with "love" and will frequently come up to us and throw his arms up and say "love!" --which means he wants a hug. He is a very loving child, always willing to hug his friends and family. He seems to share pretty well and is pretty easy going when around other children. I hope this stays this way...especially with the baby soon to be in the picture.

Aside from his books, he loves cars, trucks and tractors. He has one little John Deere tractor (actually it's a little vehicle called a Gator) that often MUST take a bath with him and even go to bed with him. Thomas is certainly ALL BOY in his love for all things with wheels. He still loves to "drive" any chance he gets (which means just sitting in the car in the driveway). He also loves just being outside.


Not to be all sunshine, Thomas also frequently shows his strongwilled side. He can be very insistent upon his own way and this is often frustrating to me (and his Dad), but we do our best to handle him with patience and stern love. The further along I get in this pregnancy, the more he seems to not want to "come" when asked, so of course I'm having to pick him up and lug him around far more frequently than I would like. He's getting a little better about going up and down the stairs when asked (and with a hand to hold), but sometimes it is a challenge! On that note, I've learned that sciatica in pregnancy is not a myth .. and wow... having a toddler does not help it go away!

As for eating, Thomas is still pretty picky and not overly willing to try new things. He's decided green vegetables are not to be on the menu for a while, but he seems to have a newfound liking of corn. His allergies/intolerances seem to be getting much better. I think we might actually try him on real cow's milk in the next few weeks! After a year of the sweet soy milk, I know it will be a tough adjustment for him, but it sure would make life easier if we don't have to watch his dairy intake all the time. Strawberries, however, seem to still cause a rash... and we've also learned he is allergic to down feathers (they cause hives). He does love his pizza though:


He is very tall. I'm not sure of his exact length, other than it is over 35 inches, but he now needs to wear 2T shirts (but still 18 or 24 month pants...and many of these are too big in the waist). He is wearing size 8 shoes (though his foot measures about a 7.5). His diaper size hasn't changed since he was about 6 months old I think. He's still in size 4s (though 5s at night).



Naptimes are a highlight of my day. Thomas has started needing to go down earlier and usually is down by 1:30 and will sleep until I wake him (usually) around 4:15. He goes to bed around 8 and usually sleeps until 7-7:30. Some nights (like last night) he won't fall alseep for a while (last night it was about 9:30), but he is in his crib and not crying, so that's good.

Even when I'm struggling to keep up with him on days like today when pregnancy pains seem to get the best of me, I still love him dearly and am ever thankful that God chose me to be his Mom. Now I need to take the next few weeks to accept that my little baby will soon be a two year old!

Playdate turns lunchdate

Today our usual Wednesday morning playgroup moved to a local county park. Afterward one of the moms and her daughter joined us at our favorite local pizza place. Thomas LOVES pizza. They serve huge slices there and Thomas has no problems devouring an entire slice. I usually have to finally make him stop eating.

Anyway, after we left today, the kids were playing around outside and it was too cute not to snap a picture!


That is Thomas and his friend Lily (I must confess Lily's mom and I encouraged the hand holding). Thomas, of course, is still working on pronouncing his L's (and G's), so Lily's name sounds more like "Yee-yee." We have been going to Lily's house for playgroup since Thomas was only a few months old. It's been so much fun watching them grow together. Just for fun, here's the first picture I can quickly find of the two of them together a while ago...Halloween 2006:


Actually, I can do a little better (though it's not the best picture). Here's one of the first time they met when Thomas was somewhere around a month old, if I remember correctly. Lily is 7.5 weeks older than Thomas and her mom and I were both on extended bedrest during our pregnancies with them (and we'd commiserate over the phone).


It's actually pretty neat. There are three kids who are regulars at playgroup: Thomas, Lily & Margaret Anne. Margaret Anne is the oldest, a few weeks older than Lily, then Lily, then Thomas. Well, now all three of the moms are pregnant again. I'm due first, Lily's mom is five weeks behind me, and then Margaret Anne's mom is due in September. So now the kids will be in the reverse order, agewise. It is great to have friends (and great friends at that!) with children who can grow up with our own!

Of course next year Thomas will be in school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and Lily & Margaret Anne will be in school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. We're trying to figure out how we can keep meeting. I know we'll always have lunchdates! Our playgroup now often feels more like a way to spend time before lunch. :)

Here are a couple more pictures from today just for fun...




I still need to post Thomas's monthly update. We're hitting the road tomorrow to spend a few days with Thomas's (paternal) grandparents. I know I'll get lots of breaks there so I'm sure I'll find some time to finally do the update!

Happy Easter!

Easter this year was great. It was our first with a new church home (something I've wanted for a long time, and finally we are members somewhere!), and I'm realizing Thomas is starting to enjoy these "holidays" more and more. It's so much fun to see your child enjoy a special day.

It started with his Easter basket. He didn't really know what it was or why he was getting it, but he was happy to accept it. The Easter Bunny didn't go overboard. I think he wasn't quite sure what to put in there when you aren't giving candy! :)

(And I realized that morning he we was wearing his Christmas pjs... Oh well!)

There wasn't too much time to enjoy the basket, as we had to hurry to get to church on time. I wish the flash had gone off here...


When I snapped this one, he could see his Dad in the car outside and he was most worried that he was going to leave him!


Afterwards, we joined my parents for lunch and then headed back to their house for Thomas's naptime. First I tried to quickly snap a few Easter-looking pictures. Thomas wasn't much for cooperating, but we got a few...


It's amazing to look back and see how much he's grown since last Easter (when he wasn't quite walking on his own yet!):


And a closer look for fun:


Time flies...it really does!

Back to Easter 2008 though, we managed one semi-decent family picture (I'm 33 weeks pregnant now, by the way!):


Immediately upon arriving at Nannie & Papa's house, Thomas started talking about the "truck." We promised him if he took a nap that Papa would let him drive the truck. Remarkably, he went to sleep pretty quickly. When he got up his Nannie had planned a little Easter egg hunt for him, so we headed out back to do that (thinking if he was in the backyard, he'd forget about the truck in the front yard).








He obliged us with the egg hunt, but pretty soon after we started he'd find an egg, put it in the basket and say, "Truck! Drive!" After he found half the eggs, we finally let him go drive.

(This is just in the yard, by the way.) :-)

To get him out the truck, Dad had to tell him the truck needed a nap and bribe him with a ride on the lawn mower instead...


And then we finally convinced him to let the lawn mower take a nap so he could resume his egg hunt. He agreed and found the rest of the eggs. And then he had to go through and "POP!" most of them.


We hope all of our friends and family had a wonderful Easter and that the Easter Bunny was good to each of you. And that in the fun and games of everything, the spirit of the holiday was not lost on anyone. Happy Easter!

Happy birthday Eliza!!!

After I posted last night, labor wasn't as swift as the new mom and dad may have liked, but in the end, precious baby Eliza arrived healthy at 4:11 a.m. She is 7 lbs, 5 oz., 20 inches long and completely beautiful. :) Not that I'm biased or anything.



I couldn't rush up there right away, as I had a previous commitment to tour wedding venues with my other sister-in-law B this morning. That was fun and I'm so happy for her and her fiance J on their recent engagement! But after lunch, I headed up to meet my new niece. It was well worth the trip to see the little beauty and her parents. A and B looked great and seem to be still floating in the fabulous haze that is the beginning of parenthood.

I hope they don't mind me sharing this information here, and sharing pictures of Eliza. I never know how much information to share here. As you may have noticed, I'm very hesitant to share names, but since I have shared the names of Thomas and my other niece, I guess I'll share hers too (unless her parents ask me not to!). BTW, I won't share her middle name, but it is the name of my and A's paternal grandmother. That will be a good clue for some of my readers.

Eliza made some adorable faces while I was there. Here are a couple of them:




I have a great picture of Eliza and her parents, but I hesitate to post it without B's approval. She looks beautiful, but I know if it were me, I might not want pictures of me in all my hospital-gown glory on a blog for all to see. So for now, I'll keep that one to myself. I will, however, share a picture of A and his daughter...because he's my brother and I'm older, and I said so. :)

The happy new dad:


And one last picture before I sign off:


Congratulations, once again, A & B on the arrival of your beautiful daughter! I look forward to watching her grow and watching y'all become the wonderful parents I know you will be (and already are)!

A new cousin is coming!

If anyone sees this tonight, please say a little prayer for the safe and healthy arrival of my newest niece! My sister-in-law is currently in labor at the hospital....I'm sure my brother is about to go crazy wanting everything to be just right! I know they are going to make wonderful parents and I'm so thrilled for them tonight as they prepare for the arrival of their daughter. I hope and pray her labor is quick and easy, and everyone remains healthy throughout!

I can't believe my baby brother is having a baby! But I'm sure Thomas will be more than happy to entertain a new cousin!

As a sidenote, Thomas is 23 months today and that update is coming soon (but not today).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our little guy in green to you!

(Obviously Thomas thought his dad's tie needed to be crooked.)

Tonight Trey headed out to attend the annual Hibernian Society St. Patrick's Day Celebration with my dad. I'm sure they are having a grand time in the company of far too many rowdy men. Oh to be a fly on the wall... Trey always comes back with funny stories of the hilarity and frivolity that occurs when all these men gather for this annual occasion.

I noticed on the ticket the other day that this is the 200-something annual gathering (208, maybe). It's hard to believe the Hibernians have been having this party for that long. And for any of those not familiar, the Hibernian Society is a members-only group composed of men with Irish heritage. So obviously, St. Patrick's Day is a special occasion!

Fun times in Sickville, and learning to count

I wanted to start this off with a picture, but don't have one that's really pertinent to what I'm about to say. Oh well, here's one from last weekend:


Well, it's been a very fun week around here and I can't say I'm sad to see it come to an end. First our dog started waking us in the middle of the night (all night long) because she was sick and unable to open the door to let herself out. That started Saturday night and lasted until Wednesday night.

Tuesday Thomas started running a fever without any other symptoms. It got high enough (103+) that night to warrant a trip to the pediatrician on Wednesday. They diagnosed him with a virus and told us to just keep treating his one symptom (fever) as much as needed. That has been fun because sometimes he can't make it the full six hours between Motrin doses without spiking a fever up to 104 (and higher). But he's been acting fine as long as he doesn't have the chills, so at least there's that. Today was much better. I kept him more medicated, but his fever never got above 100 today, so hopefully we have seen the end of it. I hope. I need to get all the full nights of sleep I can get before this new baby gets here!

At least Trey has been here this week. If he hadn't, I think I may have had to commit myself. Seriously, it's been that fun.

On a positive note, our little sponge (AKA Thomas) continues to learn. I was counting something out loud the other day when I realized he was right behind me, saying the numbers before I did. Trey didn't believe me until Thomas finally performed for him. His numbers come out something like this: I say ONE...and then Thomas says TWO...PEE...PIVE (he usually skips four) ... SIX...SEBEN...EIGHT...NINE...SIX! So yeah, it needs a little work, but it's mighty cute and just another example of how he is picking up things all the time.

This afternoon I tried, and tried, and tried to get a video of him counting. I have learned Thomas will probably not one day be an actor. He does not perform. But finally on my last attempt he did count a little. So here's that little video so you can hear a little bit of what he is doing. Toward the end, he was distracted by the dog across the street (he's saying, "Woof, woof! Woof, woof!").


Another positive this week was all the time Thomas was able to spend with ALL of his grandparents! I'd call a perfect weekend one where he gets to see all of them, so I guess last weekend was perfect. Unfortunately all the visits were short, but they were very much sweet and quite welcome. Thomas's Nana came to see him on Saturday and he kept talking about "Nana" for days. On Monday night we had dinner with his Granddaddy/Grandpa (we're still trying to figure out the best name... i.e. one that Thomas can easily pronounce). He had been out of town with friends for the weekend, so that's why they weren't together for either visit! And of course on Sunday he saw his Nannie and Papa (as I mentioned in my last post).

At Nannie & Papa's house, one thing he loves to do, aside from drive the truck, is run up and down what he calls the "hill" in their backyard. This "hill" (or as he pronounces it has two syllables and sounds more like "hi-ell") is, if I'm remembering correctly, part of an old railbed that existed before the lakes were built in the 1940s. It's probably more like a ditch than a hill, but Thomas loves to run across it.

In the following video, he is first examining pine cones and saying that each of them are "nice," and then he says "hill" in his own way as he runs down it and tackles his Nannie. Enjoy:

Here's a still picture of him running the hill:


Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday Nannie!

Thomas (and his parents) would like to wish a very happy birthday to his Nannie (my Mom) today! We were able to visit with the birthday girl yesterday and Thomas thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Nannie knows how to keep him happy; I'm convinced the only time my parents' truck gets driven anymore is when Thomas is there. He loves "driving" all around the yard.


(...and on behalf of my Mom, I must explain her outfit choice here. She was dressed from church, but of course as soon as we got back to their house from lunch Thomas wanted to go "OUTSIDE! OUTSIDE!" Mom didn't even take the time to change, just grabbed a vest to help with the chilly breeze!)

And Thomas enjoyed his lesson in loading sand into dump trucks and tractors...




Thomas was too funny. Every time he'd put the sand in the front-end loader, the weight would cause it to topple over. Thomas would exclaim "Oh no!" We all had quite a few laughs over this.

Anyway, back to the birthday girl, Thomas sends his love and will pick you a flower if you like:


And he says he can't wait to take you for another date at his favorite place of "fine dining" -- Moe's! :)

Happy birthday Mom/Nannie!

Happy Birthday Katherine!

Thomas (and all of us) would like to wish a very Happy 2nd Birthday to his cousin Katherine!



We wish we saw you more often, but you just HAVE to live on the other side of the country. :) We love you though and think of you and your parents often. Thomas always has such fun when you are around.



Even though sometimes he learns that you are the girl and he needs to just sit back and play second fiddle. ;-)


We hope your party on Saturday is lots of fun. We wish we could be there and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Our little reader

I thought I had a picture of Thomas reading to add to this, but I can't find it. So I'll have to take one and add it to this entry later...

"Read! Read!" This is a phrase frequently heard around this house. Don't get me wrong, I love that Thomas LOVES to read. But after reading one book for the tenth time in a row, any sane person would start wishing their child would find another interest. Today I've had the following sentence playing over and over in my head: "But that NOOTH GRUSH on my TOOTHBRUSH... Well, some are nice, but he is not." This means that today's favorite book is There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss (luckily it's the condensed board book version). I'm not ashamed to admit I even started singing it different ways just to give myself some sort of variety. I don't know why he latches on to a specific book like he does, but he does.

For the past few days his favorite has been Yummy, Yucky. I've already decided that my mother needs to be punished for giving him a book that includes the word "booger." Burgers are yummy. Boogers are yucky. The later of those two lines has become, "Putting your finger in your nose is yucky."

I hate to complain about my child's reading habits. The good part is that it is expanding his language more and more every day. Lately he has often been repeating the last word I say on every page. Sometimes he says it before I do! He is always picking up new words and attempting to repeat words after me. For the most part he does very well, except he still has yet to master speaking anything with the letter "L." I know that's pretty common and I'm sure it will come. Until then, the book Is Your Mama a Llama? will have to be a book all about Mamas.

Reading books happens just about everywhere but in the bathtub around here. This is even true at dinner time. Many, many times Thomas will refuse to eat certain things. Then I'll say to him, "If I read you a book will you eat?" and he will quickly respond, "YES!" So I read while I help him eat and he'll gladly clean his plate. Here's a picture from tonight just so you can see what I mean (he was also enjoying putting spaghetti sauce in his hair tonight for some strange reason):


Those little Elmo books get read so much and so often at mealtimes that now when I get to the second to the last page he'll pick it up, say "Page" and flip back to the beginning. Then he'll say "Read! Read!" until I oblige. Of course this trick is especially handy when we are out in public and he is not wanting to cooperate. It usually yields instant results.

So I guess there are good and bad sides to our son's love of reading. And in the end, I know the good far outweighs the bad, it's just sometimes I really start feeling like a broken record! But hey, he's happy and he's learning. So life is good.

Life is not good, however, for his poor crib. We bought...no we (thought we) invested in a nicer crib for him. We figured we'd use it for all of our children and though we didn't buy the top-of-the-line model, we didn't scrimp either. So when Thomas started using his crib as a teether long ago, I was nearly sick about it. But I thought I outsmarted him. I bought teething covers for the side rails. It didn't take him long to figure out how to pull them off and I'd find him sitting in his crib chewing on them. So I tied them onto the railing and that worked until then he started chewing on the ends of the crib. So then I tied hand towels down to both ends, covering all but about an inch on either end. And for a long time this has worked just fine. Then the other day I went in to tend to him after I showered and noticed a new "blemish" on the end of the crib. A bit dramatic, but it nearly made me sick!

(The crib does have a "distressed" finish, so the edges are supposed to be "rubbed" like that, but the big chomp is not supposed to be there!)

I picked him up, pointed to the spot and told him "no, no, no" and that he is not to bite the crib. He seemed to understand. Tonight, however, he decided to make the spot a little worse. So again I told him no, and then I worked to fashion an even larger band-aid.

So now his otherwise attractive crib looks quite silly like this:


A bit ridiculous, no?

Thomas's new baby brother or sister

After more than two weeks of sickness (for me, with of course Thomas's croup sandwiched in there too) that has most likely culminated in what Dr. Internet tells me is walking pneumonia, the antibiotics finally seem to be kicking in and I'm starting to feel better. I talked to a friend on the phone today and she didn't think I sounded all that great, but believe it or not, I'm tons better. And just in time since Trey is back out of town this week. I was just about ready to put "Caution" tape around our house when finally I found the energy today to start cleaning!

Anyway, that's not the point of this entry. The point is this oft-neglected baby that is growing strong and currently a mere 10 weeks from his or her due date! Today I bought a crib secondhand and the lady from whom I bought it said something about me having a baby in two months and I thought she was wrong. As I drove home I nearly steered off the road when I realized she was right! How did the time pass so quickly?

This has always been Thomas's blog, but I guess he's going to have to start sharing this space, so I might as well start now. My pregnancy with him was so dramatic and I kept family and friends updated weekly with our progress. This time, I hardly share anything at all! It's terrible! So this entry is about this new baby who will be joining our family far sooner than I'm ready to realize!

Two months ago I had a wonderful ultrasound that seemed to indicate that this baby is perfectly healthy. The sex is a mystery by choice and I'm very excited to find that out on delivery day. It does make preparation a little different, but it's not like I really "need" all that much the day he or she comes home. And if it's a boy, we're essentially set! Anyway, the ultrasound allowed us to peek in on our little one and he or she is beautiful! Want to see (I would have shared these sooner, but it took me until yesterday to take the time to remove my personal information from the scan)?



And a nice long leg...


The tech attempted some 4D shots, but the baby wouldn't really cooperate. Here was one of the best she could get (baby with hand up by face):


Last week I had an ultrasound at my doctor's office (the resolution is not as great as the previous scans that were done somewhere else). There was one minor issue at the "big ultrasound" that might have meant I would need a c-section. As of last week, we think everything is okay and that won't be necessary. Either way, the baby is perfectly fine. Anyway, the pics I got last week weren't fabulous, but here's one of the baby's face, turned toward the "camera."


(The white line at the top right is the top of the skull, and just beneath it is the right eye...if that helps anyone see it better) The baby wouldn't cooperate for a profile shot.

I'm going to go on record as saying I'll be completely and utterly surprised if this baby is not a boy. Every ounce of my intution tells me this is a boy and it has from the moment I found out I was pregnant back at the very end of August. I will be happy either way, but I do believe it is a boy. Trey, of course, thinks otherwise. We'll see who's right.

After two pregnancies that have been anything but routine and uneventful, I feel so blessed that things have been so easy this time around. I thank God everything to this point has been exactly as it should be and I hope and pray things stay on that very course.

I think Thomas will be in for a shock when the baby arrives, but ultimately I do think he'll be a wonderful big brother. I can't wait to see him in that role. I know it will be hard for him to share the spotlight, and it will be an adjustment for his parents as well, but in the end I can't wait to see our family grow. I just need to get on the ball to make sure this new baby feels completely welcome when we do bring him or her home! That probably means it's soon time to convert the guest room to the baby's room...but for now, the new crib is in the dining room. Slowly, but surely, we will get there.

As I type this baby is doing somersaults. He/she is so much more active than Thomas ever was. I hope that's not a sign of what's to come because I can't imagine a child more active than Thomas! Speaking of Thomas, I'm listening to him kick the side of his crib right at the moment as he tries to get himself to sleep. He never seems to stop moving.

I must run and do some things before bed, but I'll try to do better at not neglecting this new baby in the future!