Cruisin' the Town (or House...)

Nana and Pops gave Thomas a Little Tikes Cozi Truck for his birthday. Boy was it a pill to put together, but boy does this kid love it! Michael and I had to kick it, sit on it, and just plain beat it to get it together. It was worth it though. We've kept it in the house since its been so rainy and cold. He climbs in and out of it. Puts his toys in the "bed" of the truck. Pushes it around the house. We push him around the house in it. He just loves it!

The Birthday Present

 We got Thomas the Step2 All Star Sports Climber for his birthday. He's not quite ready for it yet, but he has enjoyed sitting on it and sliding down with assistance. I was really looking toward summer when I picked this out. He has PLENTY of indoor toys. We needed something for outside!

Checking it out in his cool new glow in the dark pajamas from Cousin Martin!

Hey! You can see the TV perfectly up here!

Thinking about sliding down!

Part 2: The Cake

 After opening his presents, Thomas got to enjoy some cake for the first time. Really, he enjoyed icing. I'm not sure he got all that much cake. He wasn't really sure about it. A bit of icing ended up "going down the wrong pipe" and he had a little coughing fit which upset him, so the cake was short lived. That also explains why his eyes are bloodshot in these pics...

 A little video of the cake eating. He was getting a little irritated by the time I remembered to video.

Mesmerized by the flame on the candle!

Can we quit taking pictures and let me have that please?

Blowing out the candle...that is harder than I remember, took me a couple tries!

YAY! They finally gave it to me!

Let's see what this tastes like...

You want some Mama?

Here, you're gonna love this stuff!

Two hands!

The cake and the HOMEMADE cookies (made by me and Michael!)

All finished!

The destruction.

And we are back to that dump truck! Please Daddy open it up!

The Happy 1st Birthday banner I made

Thomas' First Birthday Party Part 1

Here are the long awaited birthday pictures! We celebrated with family and close friends Saturday on his actual birthday! He had a basketball themed party with hamburgers, hotdogs, cake, and even some cookies made by his mama and daddy! Here are some pictures to enjoy: I will finish up with the cake pics as soon as I have a chance!

Sharing a moment with Daddy over his birthday supper

12 Months of Thomas!

Playing with cousin Clara Beth. We just left the bib on because...

everyone was feeding him!! Snagging some baked beans from Aunt Edna!

Ready to open his present, but mommy is not paying attention!

This is cool! Thanks Kevin and Megan!

Ashlynne showing Thomas how its done. He was a little distracted during present opening because...

All he wanted to do was play with his dump truck from Uncle Jason, Aunt Tiffany and the girls!

Ripping into a gift from Bryan, Becca, and Martin. He tears open his wrapped packages ever so slowly!

Oooo, this looks fun!

I think I'm supposed to...

climb on this! Very excited about a gift from Uncle Fatty, Aunt AE, and cousin Luke!

Get these balls out Daddy!

Tissue paper was the hottest toy around!

Absolutely in LOVE with his wagon from Grammy and Poppa!

Watch Me Grow!

48 Weeks

49 Weeks

50 Weeks

51 Weeks

52 Weeks/12 Months/1 YEAR

I know older folks tell me all the time, but absolutely nothing can prepare a first time parent for how incredibly fast time FLIES when a child is born. Those first few days/weeks seemed to drag by when we were nursing around the clock and struggling with acid reflux, but looking back and looking at these pictures, my tiny baby is totally gone. He's a little toddler now. Walking and all. So. Very. Hard. To. Believe. So here is what my toddler can do:

• Toddle! HA! He started walking about 50 weeks. He got a lot of practice walking with the help of Jonathan and Alyson's fingers in Texas and pretty much took off once we got home. He was waiting for his daddy to see. He still falls on his bottom quite a bit and lets out a screech EVERY time this happens, but he gets better every day.
• He can stand from sitting in the middle of the floor with nothing to pull up on.
• He can squat down and pick up a toy and almost always stand back up.
• He says, "hey" and waves pretty much constantly at anything. Doesn't have to be a person.
• He put himself to sleep for both naps yesterday. No nursing before. This might break mommy's heart.
• He's still nursing in the morning when he first wakes up, after lunch, mid afternoon snack, and before bed. I've kinda decided I really don't care what everybody else says. Nursing is certainly not hurting him, so I'm not gonna force the issue. We will slowly back off as he's comfortable. Everyone else can just deal. Its not about them anyways.
• His signs have kinda exploded in the last couple days. He will sign all done and more pretty consistently and correctly.
• He will point. I asked him last night where his cup was...not really expecting a response from him. I'm looking all over the floor and then look up to find him pointing right at his cup!
• He's obsessed with the hall light. He looks at it and throws his hand up towards it in salute EVERY time we walk down the hall. If you ask him where the light is, you've got a 50/50 chance that he will look up.
• He's beginning to enjoy being read to more and more. Instead of nursing yesterday, I read him a story before naps and he actually sat still and listened. He really found Duck on a Bike funny. He also likes to look at books independently. I have all his board books in a cabinet in the entertainment center, and yesterday I found him very seriously studying Brown Bear Brown Bear.
• He shrieks, screams, whatever you want to call it quite frequently and in public. Its very embarrassing. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I tell him to stop or whatever, he just screams louder. So I've decided to just ignore it and hope that the lack of feedback will cause the behavior to stop. But this appears to onlookers that I'm just letting him do what he wants. Oh well. I guess its not really about them again is it? Its called picking your battles. And this one isn't going to hurt him, so it'll be okay if we take the long route to learn not to scream in public.
• That's all I can think of at the moment, I always think of all these things I'm going to put in these posts when I'm with him. However, when I come to type the post, I can't remember them!

Happy First Birthday Thomas!

February 11, 2011

February 10, 2012

Dear Sweet Thomas,

     What a difference a year makes!? You have grown so much! It seems like just yesterday you were a tiny, fuzzy gummy bear on a TV screen and now look at you! You can walk and jabber and do all sorts of fun stuff!
     I am beyond grateful to God for bringing you into my life. This past year with you has taught me so much about myself and God. I pray that one day soon you come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior and savor His Word. I know that I fail daily at showing you what a Godly mommy looks like, but I know that God is gracious and He will use my weaknesses to show His strength.
     I love you will all of my heart and am excited to see what year number two with my sweet little boy brings!

Love,
Mommy

Thomas Flies on a Plane

 Several months ago, I ran across an amazing deal with Southwest for a round trip flight to Fort Worth for about $100. Naturally I snapped it up! Then we had to wait and wait and wait. Finally, in January, the time came for our trip to visit friends in Texas! We had a fabulous time! I was a nervous wreck about flying with Thomas, but everything worked out. Nana took us to the airport in Jackson and was able to go through security with me. Then we just hung out until time to board. I used my Moby wrap to board so I had the use of my hands. The flight wasn't full, so we had a full row to ourselves, and Thomas had lots of fun. Side story: see the fellow in the background of this picture. So he shows up late on the flight and sits on the row across from us. Thomas being the social child he is, of course starts smiling and jabbering at him. The dude talks back to him. This continues as I get my stuff settled. Then I hear the flight attendant tell them man, "I can see already you're going to get kicked off the plane." I thought this was amusing and she was just being funny. Then later, I notice the man showing Thomas something and laughing. I turned around and he was showing my child a Playboy! SERIOUSLY!? We made a stop in Houston but stayed on the same plane to connect to Jackson. The kind flight attendants helped me move up to the front during our layover.

 

Adelae giving Thomas a hug!

Adelae swinging with her mommy.

Thomas swinging. He liked it, I promise. The sun was in his eyes.

Standing all by himself!

Trying on Mr. Jonathan's boots!

We got to eat lunch at Babe's, and Kristy and Deanna joined us!

Thomas on the flight home sitting in a seat by himself like a big boy. Tearing up a magazine.

 We had a wonderful time visiting friends! Alyson and Jonathan were amazing hosts: cooking, chauffeuring, and playing with Thomas. Jonathan's goal for the week was to teach Thomas to walk. He took 4-6 steps the day we got home! We also got to hang out with Rebecca, Heath, and Adelae a good bit and meet Jeremy, our friends Matt and Kristen's new baby. Thomas also had a play date with pretty little Maddie, Kathryn and Ryan's little girl. Alyson was nice enough to take me to Travis Sunday morning, so I got to visit our old Sunday School class. All in all, it was a really good visit. I miss my Texas family a lot!

Thomas and His Ball Pit

 Mom and Dad gave the boys a "MegaLand PlayHut 2" for Christmas. Boy has it been a hit! Thomas was scared of it at first, but Daddy showed him how to crawl through it, and now he loves it! It adds fabulous decoration to my living room as well!