More Thomas Laughter

A quick video of Thomas laughing - sure to make ANYONE smile :)

And I'm pretty sure the makers of this bouncer didn't have this in mind as a standard use for it!

Thomas's Baptism

Thomas was baptized the weekend before last and it was such a wonderful day. At our church, they do baptisms separate from mass which is different from what I was used to growing up. This church used to do them during the service, which I liked because you could see all the little babies being baptized - but now it's private for family and friends. The "new" way is nice because they spend much more time going through the different symbols associated with baptism - the baptismal candle, the oils, and of course, the holy water. However, when we saw baptisms at our church years ago during mass, at the end of the baptism, the priest would walk up the huge aisle holding the baby Lion King style above his head. I always thought that was really cool, but I think I'm okay with not doing that now that it's my baby that would be 6 1/2 feet above the ground!

Thomas was very good and slept through the beginning of his baptism.
But, he definitely woke up for the holy water part!
Good thing he's used to us pouring water over his head and face during bathtime...Thomas did great during this part. He just looked a little confused as to why this was going on.
Thomas with his parents and godparents, Fers & Mike (and baby-to-be!)
At the end of the baptism, Thomas was only content with my finger in his mouth. So, we sat there, him slurping away as the final steps were completed.
Had to get a shot with his adorable little hat. He didn't seem to mind it too much. I loved it!

Smoochies from mommy

Uncle Tay and Thomas - an eye-catching facebook profile pic for sure. The ladies will love this one!
Afterwards, we all went to Buca diBeppo for dinner. It is a homestyle Italian restaurant where food is served family style and is all homemade. It was delicious and really fun. There was one chair that was huge and had velvet covering at our table - so, of course, the guest of honor sat there!
And, the table we reserved was special because it's one, big round table that can seat up to 18 people (it's huge!) and ... here's the best part.... there is a statue of the Pope in the middle! It's called the Pope Table. There was a huge rotating circle in the middle of the table so you could pass food around, and also change who the Pope was staring at. It was hilarious.
Overall, it was a fantastic day and we were so glad our family could come to share it and celebrate with us. Plus, thanks to my sister, we got lots of beautiful pictures from the day!

Looky, Looky!

..at what came in Monday's mail! What an important little boy our Thomas is!

Thomas's First Halloween!

Thomas was pretty on the go his first Halloween. Even preparing for the holiday was busy!

This shot was a must have for me. Tom thought I was nuts for wanting to do this. But, as usual, I told him that it needed to be done because it would be so cute! And it was! Thomas was a little freaked out because it was a little chilly inside the pumpkin - but it was fun.

Then, the costume search... I really wanted Thomas to be a monkey. I went back and forth on whether or not to spend the money on the monkey costume that I found online and loved. I ended up finding a very similar and nicely plush costume at Target and picked it up. They only had the 3-6 mos. size so I had to have Thomas try it on to be sure it was a go.
It was not. He was going to bust out of it and we still had more than 2 weeks before Halloween. So, we snapped the picture and back to Target it went. I couldn't find a bigger size. Boo......

A couple days before Halloween I still did not have a costume for Thomas. Thankfully, Babies R Us had their Disney costumes on sale and had a pretty decent selection of sizes. Thomas was going to be a giraffe until I saw the Tigger costume. So, for his first halloween, Thomas was Tigger. It was kind of perfect because I was a big Pooh Bear fan all growing up.

Here is my little Tigger with my old stuffed Pooh
We went trick or treating at one house (next door to my mom's). Thanks for the skittles, VanderWall's! Mommy enjoyed them for Thomas.


Another potential costume.... ;) Just kidding. We found it in a box at Grammie's and just had to see Thomas with some hair!
Yummy, spooky treats at Grammie's halloween party.
We didn't get to stay for much of the party, but were so excited to head out to Chicago to see the Danielson's! We spent the rest of the weekend with our friends for our godson, Anders's, dedication to the church. It was a crazy busy weekend, but fantastic to see everyone!

4 Months Old!

Thomas is in his 5th month of life now! His first 4 months have been relatively smooth and we are still just counting our blessings of having a healthy and very happy little boy. At his 4 month pediatrician appointment, we found that Thomas is 17 lbs 12 oz (90-95th percentile) and 26.5 inches long (also 90-95th percentile). He's still huge!

During the appointment, he just laughed and laughed and the doctor was really impressed with how easygoing Thomas is. He also said it was impressive how well Thomas sleeps at night. Hurrah! Still praying for that to stick!

This is seriously the biggest smile this kid has ever had!!

He grabs his toes now! And just started putting them in his mouth a few days after his 4 month "birthday" (and look at that pudgy little belly poking out!)

Happy 4 Months old, Monkey!

Looking pretty big in his crib!

The monthly interview...


Every night before bathtime, Thomas lays on his changing table with just a diaper on and he turns into Mr. Life of the Party. He squeals with delight and smiles as big as his cheeks will allow. It's my favorite time. This video is not from that time of day, but he's still pretty thrilled to be on his changing table. And to be holding his feet :)

I admit it. I'm a Hoarder

Ok. I know hoarding is an actual, serious condition, but I also think that most people have a little hoarding-tendency at times. For me, I've always been big on savings accounts, really big suitcases on trips, and pantries. Surplus. Hey, what can I say? I love Costco, too!

Somehow, having extras of things makes me feel secure and orderly. I've pondered this feeling many times wondering if this means I'm too materialistic or something. Possibly. But, I think somehow I feel more secure and at peace with some cushion. I remember getting a box of some packets of cappuccino mix in college and didn't want to use any of the packets because then that would be one less than what I had and eventually I'd have none. Seriously. Like I couldn't just go out and get more if I wanted more. Like I didn't live within 3 miles of a Target, Walmart, Meijer, Kroger AND Ric's grocery. The packets ended up expiring and I threw them away when I moved out of my dorm at the end of the year. What a waste!

My current hoarding tendencies....breastmilk.
So this is my stash of breastmilk*. The freezer in the garage and some in the freezer in the kitchen. There were also a few packets in the fridge. It's out of control, I know. I just have this feeling that if something were to happen to me, my boy would have nothing to eat. This isn't even true as he would be just fine on formula and all would work out. Nonetheless, at some point I discovered that I could pump more and more and my body would adjust to the demand and I would be this little milk producing machine. And so the stash grows. Fortunately, the stash is reduced every couple weeks when I donate some to a local baby who was born premature. But, I needed to take a picture to really see just how out of hand this is getting!!

*each bag is about 5oz of milk and you can't even really see how many bags are there! Oh, and there is a ton of frozen homemade applesauce in there, too! You only see some of it in this shot. That's not really hoarding. That's just good sense.

More Cute Thomas Pictures

Like I haven't shown enough cute pictures of this guy! Here are more!!

Thomas visiting Tom in the math department office at school. See his adorable shirt? It is embroidered with Athens Football courtesy of the head football coach. So sweet!

Just another day in the nursery. Now, where did my baby go??

I think Thomas is questioning his dad's driving skills.
Look at that grip on either side of his carseat!

Reading the newspaper with Dad.