Is it Really Only the First Day of Winter?

Someone has already begun the countdown for winter to be over. He spends a lot of time looking out that window these days.

Our Adorable 10 month Old

Thomas is now 10 months old! He's in the double digits! Sheesh time just needs to stop. I am at a stage where I would just like to freeze time and have Thomas stay at this state for a little while longer. He is just so fun and so cute! Here is what our little bug has been up to.
This little fella is just too cute for his own good. One of my friends said to me, " He is just so handsome! How do you stand it???" Its true Thomas's good looks are a very frequent topic of conversation at our house. But can you blame us?

I'm happy to report that Thomas is doing much better in the eating department. In fact I kinda think he is starting to like it. Of course he is still very picky and will only eat certain things, but he will finish them and not scream bloody murder anymore. He loves mangoes and yogurt the most of all.
Thomas LOVES books. He loves to come sit in your lap and listen to stories. I think it is Clint's favorite part of the day. And Thomas's too! Clint was commenting that Thomas is such a wiggly and active boy and that it is impossible for him to sit still UNLESS he is being read to. He will just sit and listen to stories as long as he likes. He has also developed a strong liking to puppies. I don't know where this came from, but when he sees a picture of a puppy in one of his books he gets so excited he screeches and jumps! It is so cute!!!
Thomas still loves the bathroom. It brings him so much joy!

This boy is always up for playing and having fun! His favorite thing is to play hide and seek. He just laughs and laughs when he comes to find mom and dad hiding. It is so much fun!
A huge milestone for Thomas AND me is that Thomas is now sleeping through the night. Hallelujah! I'm telling you it has made the world of difference. That is one thing we will be doing differently with baby number 2 (a long time from now). Sleep training much sooner!!!!And his biggest milestone of all...He eats trash. No, just kidding ( He's been doing that for a while) Seriously folks, Thomas took his first step! He has started standing for a few seconds on his on off and on, and the other day he was holding onto my leg and trying to get to the recycling bin (He loves the recycling bin, it is like a much cooler version of a toy box) And then all of the sudden he lets go and takes one single step to the bin. I had to get a picture of his victory before I scolded him for eating trash. Love that little curious boy!

O Christmas Tree

Thomas helped me put up the Christmas tree this week. I'll give you a little hint by the look on this little boys face, he really likes Christmas!
Thomas wasn't sure what was going on with the boxes and wrapping paper, but he liked it!
A very curious boy investigating the Christmas Tree box
Just one final touch! There mom I think its complete!

And now for the lights!
And the best part about the Tree this year? The little boy underneath that looks at it with wonder and curiosity and all the magic of a very first Christmas.

Innie/Outtie! Thomas has been out as long as in!

This little boy is just so stinking handsome! Could he possibly get any cuter? It is so hard to believe it has now been 18 months since Thomas began. And even harder to believe he is as old as a pregnancy. It seems like pregnancy just lasts forever!!!! This has been an interesting month for little Thomas. (And by extension for me too!) On our trip out to Utah, Thomas caught a nasty nasty stomach flu. Poor little guy got pretty sick and dehydrated so we ended up spending three nights in the ER and the rest of the trip sick in bed. And to make it worse, the virus was extremely contagious so everyone who had contact with him caught the virus too. (To date 10 people in my family including me and Clint!) And from experience of having the dreaded virus, I can tell you it was bad! It made me feel even worse to think that little Thomas had to go through it. He was really very good and brave through the whole ordeal. I'm sure any of you parents can attest that seeing your little one completely helpless and sick is a really horrible feeling. I couldn't even stay in the room when they were giving him the IV! Luckily his Grandpa Ned was right by his side. We were lucky to be surrounded by such great family when Thomas got sick. They really helped us a lot. Grandpa and Grandma Allred were very kind and caring towards me and Thomas, as were all of the Mackay family. It was hard being away from Clint and I know he had a hard time not being able to see Thomas, but he helped us out from long distance as well. We were also lucky to have Clint good friend Bryce help us out. Bryce was Clint's roomate in med school, and is currently a resident at the hospital we went to. He was kind enough to stay with us until 2 am! It was so nice to have a doctor there who just stayed and sat with us and helped reassure us of everything, and it was even nicer to have an old friend help lighten the mood. So if you read this thanks again Bryce!

Thomas is feeling better now and back to his crazy energetic self! But throughout the ordeal it really showed what a very good natured little boy Thomas is. He really is just a happy little guy. And even though he wasn't his 100% fun loving self, I think both sets of his grandparents just couldn't get enough of this sweet little guy, so even though our trip was a disaster, I am still glad we went and that they all got to see Thomas at this fun stage of his life. (I just wish they didn't all end up throwing up after!)

So without further adieu, here are some other things that Thomas has been up to this month
Thomas loves to help out with the laundry. That is, if helping out means pulling out every item one by one and throwing it behind his back! Silly little guy.
The fun doesn't stop there! He also loves emptying drawers!
Who me? Couldn't be!

Just before Thomas got sick he got to see the baby cows with his Grandma and Grandpa Allred. He was as curious as could be.

Thomas has recently discovered that his voice can echo. He holds cups and bowls up to his mouth and yells to hear the sound. Its pretty cute! So of course he was loving this mega phone. He has also shown an early preference to BYU.

Little man just wears himself out playing so hard. He wears me out too! Seriously!

What a sweet little man!

Other things of note:

• Thomas loves to walk behind his toy wagon and looks pretty cute doing it
• Thomas give his mom sweet and slobbery kisses on the cheek
• Thomas loves turning the pages of his books
• Thomas continues to be a terrible little eater. That combined with the weight he lost during his bout with the stomach flu put him at a whopping 16 lbs 9 oz. (Which is less than what he weighed at his 6 month appointment.) Basically the only food that I have found that he will consistently eat are Mangos and Apples. Meal time is a really big mess, and usually by the end of the day Thomas is just sticky and gross no matter what! Feeding Thomas might be my least favorite part of motherhood. (That and the fact that I look like a frump all the time and my house is a mess)
• Thomas has a very strong attraction to electrical cords. Well pretty much anything hazardous Thomas finds. In fact in the course of writing this blog I have had to stop several times to pull him away from one thing or another.
  

Well thats all for now folks. Thomas is going bonkers in the background. Love that little guy! We are so happy to be his parents and couldn't ask for a sweeter or more fun loving and adventurous little boy! Let the adventure continue.

What Was I Thinking? Or Thomas's First Haircut

Before:

For a while I have been saying I need to cut Thomas's hair. I think its just been an automatic response when people would comment on how long it was getting. I had been reluctant about cutting his hair for several reasons. First, I didn't want him to loose that "Baby Look". Second, I kinda liked his shaggy mane. And third, I was terrified he would be so wiggly that I would butcher his hair. Turns out that is exaclty what happened.

For some reason, I just got the impulse today. And I thought, I'd better do it now before I change my mind. Hindsight is always 20/20. Now I think, "Why didn't you wait til Clint was there to help???" Poor Thomas eneded up looking like a mix between a monk and an amish boy. It is way too short and has random chunks in parts. Poor little guy. He is still pretty cute though. Here is to hoping it grows out fast!

After:

PS. These pictures don't fully illustrate that silliness of the haircut. He really does look like a monk.

Happy Halloween!

Now isn' t this the cutest little Zebra you have ever seen? We had so much fun seeing Thomas get dressed up this year for Halloween. He was a pretty good sport about it. Here are some cute pictures! Oh and no, we didn't exploit him for candy! Thomas and Mom stayed home and passed candy out to trick or treaters. But Thomas did have fun answering the door and trying to escape each time I opened the door. Little rascal. Love that boy!
He is so innocent!
He loves to attack his mom!
"Let me outta here! I was meant to roam free!"
"I swear I had nothing to do with that tiger lying dead in the background"
Mom and her best little buddy

A tranquilized baby Zebra sure is cuddly.

Thomas, Eight Months Old

Yep, another month has passed us by! Time is just zipping by. Thomas is as cute and as fun as ever and he has learned an grown so much this month. Here are some highlights and some cute pictures of darling little Thomas.

Thomas is crawling, climbing and getting into everything! He is walking along the edges of the coffee table, couch etc and just the other day he stood for about three seconds! This boy is so curious. He loves to explore and play and play. Currently, his favorite games are: chase and attack mom, knock over dad's tower of blocks, pull all the books off the book shelf and explore forbidden and dangerous areas (i.e. the kitchen and the bathroom and anywhere with electrical cords...) He loves the bathroom so much in fact that when he wakes up really angry from a nap taking him into the bathroom soothes him as much as nursing him does. Silly guy!

And of course he just loves books. He is starting to have strong preferences for certain books. He LOVES Dr. Seuss's ABC book. He loves it so much, in fact, that he can be screaming his head off and if he hears Clint begin to read it, he will turn his head and calm right down and listen. He loves to sit in your lap and listen to stories. His other favorites are Beep! Beep!, Choo Choo, and Curious George's What Do See. Ha ha! Now that I think of it, they are all library books that I keep renewing. I need to just buy those ones.

Thomas has proven to be quite a picky little eater. I think I may have jinxed myself, because when I was pregnant I made up my mind that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure my baby was a good eater. Well turns out nothing is in my power when it comes to this little guy! I was so naive! I'll keep trying, but for now pretty much all he will eat is apples, peaches or pears mixed with rice cereal or oatmeal. He is getting better, it was quite the struggle for a while.

Thomas is so sweet and handsome and just loves life! He is a very social and friendly little guy. He is actually quite the little party animal. Whenever we take him to other peoples houses he is just as pleasant and as happy as can be. He saves his melt downs for mom and dad and puts on quite the good face. The other night we kept him up way past his bedtime because we were visiting with some friends from out of town. Normally Thomas would not do well with staying up past 7:30. In fact, at home, he freaks out. But he was just having such a great time playing with the other babies. Well around 9:00 Thomas just burrowed his head into his friend's giant stuffed bear, like he was about to pass out. It was the cutest thing! He just didn't inherit the nightowl gene from either of his parents.




Silly Thomas! He likes to put everything in his mouth, as long as you can't eat it!
I love this picture of Thomas! He currently has 4 teeth: two on the bottom and his upper fangs! They are so cute. He is starting to get his upper front teeth in, so his fanged days are numbered.
I love when Thomas just plays himself tired. He'll be crawling around like mad and then just have to stop for a mini nap on the floor, and then of course he keeps going!!!

We love this little boy!

The Best Years of Our Lives

I just got done tucking in this sweet little boy after one of the best evenings in recent memory. Thomas was crawling as fast as he could, grunting, giggling and having so much fun that he was working up a sweat. Right along side him, I was giggling and just bursting with joy. This little boy has so much life in him. He is just the most precious and sweet little thing in the entire world. The feelings of complete happiness that come from watching your little one experience joy cannot really be expressed or compared to anything else in the world. After playing and wearing ourselves out, Thomas sat in my lap and I read him his favorite book. Curious George's What Do You See, to be exact. Its a cute little book with mirrors. We read the book and I caught a few little smiles in the mirrors. Those smiles are especially cute right now because he has the cutest little vampire fangs. (His canine teeth only on the top!) Then we got ready for bed and he just let me cuddle him and rock him to sleep after nursing. That has to be the most precious thing in the world, holding a sleeping child. So much innocence. Looking down at my sleeping babe I realized that these are the best years of my life. I couldn't ask for anything better. Even on the days when I get clawed, bit, peed on, puked on, pooed on, screamed at and my hair pulled out, they are still the best. The hardest but the best. I sure love that little boy.

Autumn in Ohio

What a beautiful time of the year! If it wasn't for the fact that fall means that winter is coming soon, it could be my favorite season! But I just can't get over the fact that it is so short and that nasty winter is just around the corner. In fact, I am mourning the loss of summer. I don't know what I am going to do with this little rascal when the weather turns! I'm terrified! So we are taking every advantage of the nice days and having a grand time enjoying the beauty of Ohio in the fall. We have spent a good amount of time exploring some new parks and starting new fall traditions. Have a look!


Some of the lovely shades of Autumn. Ohio really does know how to do fall right. It is so pretty here. I just wish it would last a little longer! It seems every day leaves are falling and before you know it, they are all gone! My friend Jen took some pics of our little family and these were also some of the lovely sites at Inniswood Metro Park where we went.

We also took a little morning trip up to a local farm to pick apples and pumpkins. The little boy had a great time! It was a lot of fun and I think we will make it a yearly tradition! We have so many apples now I am excited to make a bunch of yummy treats!
Little cutie in the orchard.
What a nice little helper!

Dad and Tom on a lovely fall hike. He loves to be outside and he loves hiking in the baby bjorn!
This little boy just couldn't get any cuter! We love every season with Tiny Thomas and we are lucky to get to experience them in their fullest out here in the beautiful state of Ohio!