Sleeping Baby

I've always loved seeing pictures that people sneak of their sleeping babies, but I've been too afraid to try one for myself, convinced that I would wake my babies up and then regret taking the pictures. However, I've come to realize that Thomas can be a pretty heavy sleeper, so I grabbed my camera and took a couple pictures of him sleeping. I wanted to document how much he loves his teddy bear. He sleeps snuggled up with it every night/nap time. After every nap/night sleep when I pick him up and give him hugs, he leans over his crib and points to teddy because he would rather be hugging him. It's pretty sweet. Please ignore the scratch on his cheek. That was given to him by his sister Eva (by accident!).

It Snowed!

All Christmas season Eva insisted that it couldn't be winter or Christmas without snow. I can't blame her. All the songs and books we read about the season include snow. Needless to say, there was one ecstatic two-year-old when it actually did snow in SC! The kids, Brad, and I hurried to bundle up and ran outside to play in the snowfall. Then, Brad helped the kids make the best snowman!

 

Circus

As part of our New Year Resolutions, Brad and I decided we would try to spend more one on one time with the kiddos. As a result, I got to take Eva to the Ringling Brothers Circus. We joined up with some good friends and had a pretty rocking mommy-daughter date.

 

Disney on Ice

Brad and Eva got to enjoy Disney on Ice together as a special daddy-daughter date. Eva loved it!

Christmas!

We had an awesome, lazy, family Christmas. The kids and I did an advent calendar leading up to Christmas. The advent calendar forced us to do some service, and some Chrstmas tradition type stuff like driving around and seeing the lights, making Santa cookies, etc. Christmas Eve we were invited to a nice dinner with an awesome family here in our ward. We came home and read the nativity, opened up Christmas pjs, and sent the kids to bed. In the morning, we opened presents, skyped with family in Washington, enjoyed a very filling crepe bar, and spent the entire day in our pajamas. It was a fun and lazy day filled with family time. Here are some favorite pictures from the season:

 

(And yes, we brought our mattress down into the living room. That's how lazy, and awesome, the day was.)

Thomas- One Year Old!

Thomas's 1st birthday did not go exactly how I had envisioned it. We opened presents in the morning and were heading to the zoo when we realized we were supposed to help clean the church that day. So instead of the zoo, Thomas got to explore the church while we cleaned it with some other families. Then we came home and enjoyed a chocolate cake that I messed up completely on. It was probably the ugliest cake ever. Chunks were falling off as I was frosting it. Then we took a nice long nap. Afterwards we woke up and went to get some family pictures taken with friends, and then headed to our ward Christmas party.
Overall, it was probably not the best 1 year old birthday. Definitely not how I had planned the day going. Good thing he's only 1, so we have many more birthdays that will be better than this one.

*He loves to clap and dance
*He loves his big sister and gets so excited to see her after naps and night time.
*Eva and Thomas have started sharing a room.
*Thomas can say a handful of words: boo, uh-oh, hey, mama, dada
*Thomas can sign "milk"
*He says animals sounds for duck, dog, elephant, snake, lion, tiger, monkey (please note, all animal sounds and words must be interpreted because they are hard to understand...)
*Thomas loves to be a little daring and push the envelope a little. Like when he stands on his high chair, or changing table, or climbs the stairs secretly, or slips and slides all over his bath tub.
*Thomas loves to be tickled and get stuck in the "tickle machine" by Daddy.
*He sleeps from 7 pm - 6:ish am. He takes two naps.
*He loves solid foods. But they must be served with a spoon so he feels like a big boy. Then he'll eat more/longer.
*He follows Eva around.
*He somehow just naturally knows how to make car/train sounds when pushing a car/train toy. Must be a boy thing.
*He loves books. Especially if they have flaps.
*He loves going outside and gets giddy when we put his jacket on him.
*He loves the zoo. He kicks and throws his arms in the air when he sees the Elephants.
*He loves trains and trucks, and loves to destroy towers (and sometimes tries to build them also).
*He hasn't grown since his 9 month appt, and is currently not even on the growth charts. He is 27.25 in, and 18 lbs. (We have done some testing, and nothing appears to be out of the ordinary.)
*He has a temper that "flares up" and then is quickly calmed. Other than those quick and massive fits, he is an easy tempered, loving baby who loves to laugh and be silly.
*He seems to be mildly allergic to eggs (blotchy face while eating) and possibly allergic to sweet potatoes (So weird, I'm not sure if I believe it.)
*I feel so blessed and grateful to be his mommy.

Thomas- 10 Months Old

*He acts shy when someone new smiles at him.
*He has grown a sweet attachment to his blanket and teddy bear that he sleeps with. He clutches on so tight and smiles so big when I lay him down in bed.
*He has become very interested in books.
*He is taking some wobbly steps on his own. The beginning of walking.
*He shows more and more of his personality: when we are done playing a fun game or wrestling on the floor he'll lay on the ground and cry while kicking his legs up and down.
*He is very easy to get to smile and laugh.
*He loves to wrestle.
*He loves to snuggle.
*He still wakes up around 5:00 am.
*He could happily spend all day pushing things: the kitchen chairs, the toy boxes, his high chair, tupperware, etc. He loves pushing. He looks at me while he's doing it as if to say, "See how strong I am? See me walking? Yep. I'm awesome."