And We're Off!!

Thomas started walking this weekend. He is getting more and more sure of it each day. I'm not quite sure that we are ready for all this will entail, but I can only assume it will be better than crawling. Thomas is not a performance child. So, it is hard to get any pictures of him doing "tricks," but today he amused his mom and walked for me to take pictures. Most of the time he walks sideways with straight little legs and it is awfully cute, but sometimes he does get his form right and well, that is pretty cute too.

Yeah, that's right, I'm walking!! Here are some shots to prove it.

I soooo don't get why this is such a big deal to my mom. I mean come on, isn't this what you do??

So, there it is mom, are you happy??

Sing Along With Me

There is a favorite childhood song that I sometimes like to sing to Thomas with my own made up words. You can ask the McNichols kids, I do this A LOT. I love to make up silly songs to tunes that the child already recognizes. Well, Thomas may never know the real words to this song, but here are the versions he gets:

First the sappy version:

Oh where, oh where has my baby boy gone?

Oh where, oh where can he be?

With his sweet gummy smile and his kissie cheeks,

Oh where, oh where can he be?

Then I catch him doing something like this...

I can't help but sing this version:

Oh why, oh why is my little boy bad?

Oh why, oh why is he bad?

With his sweet little curls and his big blue eyes

Oh why, oh why is he bad?

But, here is my thought of the day. Sometimes it hits you in the face the responsibility that God has placed on us as parents. I believe that it overwhelms us when we first get pregnant or hold our newborn, but then leaves us as we begin that stage of our life and just surviving until the next day is our biggest goal. I believe that we all strive to do the best we can, but what is our best. I love my little boy and may let him get away with somethings because they are cute. (i.e. playing with the toilet paper, pulling things out of the cabinets) But Tyler and I are pretty strict about a lot of things and I like to think that we are giving Thomas a good balance of love and discipline while also allowing him to be himself and be a little boy. What brings all this thinking on? I was in Target today and waiting to get down an aisle that a woman was blocking. She had her son standing in the cart. (He was about 2) She put something in the cart and he stomped with his foot, she told him no and said that he would have to sit in the front of the cart, he did it again and she spanked him. Now so far, other than the attitude she was portraying she hadn't actually done anything I thought was out of line, but after she spanked her son, she called him a butthead. And I am sure that my very non-poker face was showing every thought that was going through my head. As a parent I do understand that we may all think that at one time or another that our child is, in fact, being a butthead, but I would also like to believe that I will never call my child a name like that out of anger. I just pray that God will always remind me that Thomas is a gift from Him no matter how difficult he may seem at times and I hope you will all do the same. Yes, our children may get on our last nerve and make us want to run somewhere far away, but we would also not take anything in exchange for them. They define who we now are and who will become.

(On a lighter note: The shoes in the picture were a Christmas gift from my cousin Gini Lynn, are those the coolest or what??)

One Busy Boy

Thomas totally enjoys life. If there is one thing that can be said about him, it's that he never wastes a minute. He is always very busy and having a lot of fun. (That is, of course, when he is not throwing on of his new found fits.)

I bought him a new travel booster seat. We tried it out at Ina's the other day and it worked great. It was definitely money well spent.

Here Thomas is with his love the vacuum cleaner. He has now figured out that he can climb on it. Of course, then again he can now climb on most anything.

There are so many things wrong with this picture. First of all he has climb up onto the dishwasher. He had done this several times while I was unloading it. You can also see that he has been very busy pulling everything out of the cabinet. I had already cleaned up the plastic containers once.

Ha!! I went to get Thomas out of his bed the other day and this is what I found. He was totally wrapped up in monkey arms. I am not sure how it happened, but it cracked me up.

Who says it's not one of the tools. I love that he set his paci down right beside all of his and daddy's tools. He was helping daddy replace the lights on his car.

We decided the earlier we teach him how to do things like this, the earlier he can do them for us.

But for right now we will just enjoy that sweet smile and fun personality. (That is, of course, when he is not throwing one of his new found fits.)

Because It's Hilarious

Have a great day. You can always click on pictures to make them larger.

A Shout Out To All You Two Year Old Girls Out There

Hey y'all it's Thomas. My mom so thinks I am napping, but I just had a little something to say so I decided to post it on the blog. To all you feisty two year old girls I am here to say keep you hands off my face!! If you even think about coming near me with your claws again, I will so bring a big stick and take you down.

And in case you didn't know, younger guys are SO in right now (just ask my Aunt Heather AND my Aunt Jolie) so you may want to be nice to me because one day I am going to be a total hottie and I will not give you the time of day because of all of the stuff I had to deal with from you when we were younger. And you'll get all sad and then it will be your turn to cry and my turn to laugh.

So just PLAY NICE like my shirt says and I will play nice too. Because hopefully one day I will totally grow out of this weird eye problem I have, and if not?? I'll just be the only hottie around with an eye problem and you'll still chase after me. Ha!!

I Guess It Had To Happen Eventually

I know I have said it a hundred times, but Thomas is and incredible baby. From the beginning he has just done everything right. He has 5 teeth, and when people have asked me about him teething, I would just say that he really hasn't gone through "teething." He would just show up with a tooth and give us no warning to tell that it was coming. Well, out of his front 12 teeth (6 top, 6 bottom) he now has the 5. With my fingers I can feel the other 7 right under his gums. He is miserable. He is still not really fussy, but he makes the very angry noises and then shoves something into his mouth. We have been giving him the teething tablet things and those seem to work for a while, but him being in so much pain is making me crazy. Other than Tylenol and Humphries "3" does anyone have any good suggestions?? I feel so bad for him because I know he must be in incredible pain. Jen mentioned a frozen wash cloth which I am going to try tomorrow, but I would love to hear all of your parenting expertise.

Has It Been A Whole Month Already??

Dear Thomas,

Today you are 10 months old. I can't believe it. It means that you are still little and still my baby boy, but you are becoming less little and less of a baby. I knew that your life would go by so quickly, but I don't think that I completely comprehended how quick it would actually be. It is so amazing to see how much you have accomplished in such a short period of time and how much you have changed your father and I. You will never know your daddy before, but he used to be a big tough guy. You turned him into the softy that he is today. The moment he first laid eyes on you he was a new person. And I guess I was too.

I guess I should begin your letter by explaining the nasty scratches on you face. Well, it's one of my many reasons why I am glad that you are not in day care. Since staying for the 11:00 services at church has caused you to melt down I decided to try going to the 8:00 service and leaving after the 9:30 so that I could get you home for a nap. One of the things that I thought you would love about this is that during the 8:00 service you would be with older children which you typically love. So I dropped you off with Mr. Billy who I assumed would take good care of you. (Just kidding, Billy.) Apparently you wanted a toy that another child had. Billy said that you tried to get it, but the child kept taking it back. He said that at some point the child left the toy for a second and you grabbed it. Well, I guess that toy was important enough to grab you back and the fingernails left their mark. The worst is that it was a girl. Your first time on the losing end of a battle was to a girl. So, you have your first official boo-boo.

You have started talking a lot more this past month. Although, that is not to say that you are saying more, it's still just Da-da but you say it a lot more frequently. And you make this grunting type of caveman/humming noise. That one kind of makes me and daddy crazy. Especially when you choose to do it in your sleep in the middle of the night and it wakes us up. Which has become almost every night. I usually just sneak in and put the paci it and it hushes you up for a while. You now have 5 teeth and are doing good eating mostly big people food. You will still eat baby food if there isn't another option in sight, but as soon as you see something else you want that instead. You can now hold the handles of you sippy cup and drink from it. Tonight at dinner I just left it on your tray and when you wanted some juice you drank it and then you would slam it back down on the tray. It is amazing to watch you grow more each day. You mind just works so quickly.

You are still the busiest kid I know. Nothing slows you down and if it does try to slow you down, you just run over it. You did decide one day last week that you might want to start walking. You did it a couple of times and each time took a couple of steps. I even stood you up in the middle of the room and got you to walk to me. This, however, was short lived. You have not done it since. I guess one day of walking was enough for you. You still love to help me clean. The vacuum cleaner and Swiffer wet jet are two of your favorite toys. If the either one of these is in your sight you do a quick funny little crawl to get to them. It's the same crawl that you do whenever you see my bathroom door open. You have found toilet paper and love unrolling it and then shredding it into pieces. I personally think that this is one of the cutest annoying things that you do.

Probably the least cute annoying thing that you do is pulling things out of the cabinets. Although, we are partially to blame for this one since we have yet to baby proof the kitchen. I think I pick things up off the floor about 56830843 times a day.

I am still amazed that God chose you for daddy and me. We love you so much. One of our most favorite evening activities is getting giddy tired Thomas to giggle uncontrollably. We just tickle you and kiss you tummy and you love it. So do we. I can't believe that in two short months you will be a big one year old. I miss you being little so much, but I am excited about this upcoming stage. I know I can't have both, but sometimes I wish I could play with the wild crazy you all day and then cuddle with the itty bitty you at night. You do give the greatest hugs though and I guess having you choose to hug me is better than you laying there and letting me hug you. So keep up the good hugging and because I know as you get bigger you won't always be so sweet and that hug will probably get you out of a lot of trouble.

Love, Mommy

I Think He Thinks It's His New Girlfriend

Martha, Megan, and all you other girls who have been vying for Thomas' affection move over. Just like most guys his heart has been won by a sleek, beautiful car. And boy does he ever love this car. (Although it's not really a car, not yet anyway.)

Jen (and Micah and Martha) got Thomas this push toy for Christmas. It is a very big hit. It goes everywhere he goes. The following pictures were taken over several days and you will notice one recurring trend. The push toy. Oh, and a warning this post is all pictures all the time. It is what you have come here for and you will not be disappointed.

In the previous pictures he was in the kitchen with his push toy. I think since it was the new love of his life he felt the need to introduce it my push toy the jogger stroller although I am pretty sure that he enjoys his a whole lot more than I enjoy mine.

Probably his 2nd most favorite new toy is a baseball thing my mom got him. He doesn't quite get the concept yet. (He doesn't come from baseball roots after all.) He does love to "throw " the ball though.

Why is Thomas smiling?? Because when Captain Destructo gets a baseball toy what does it come with??

Why a baseball bat, of course!! More so than the actual toy he loves the bat. Usually him, the push car, and the bat stroll the house all happy like. And unfortunately he gets his driving ability from me, so the whole multi-tasking thing is not great for him. He rams into A LOT of things, he runs over toys, he tips the car over, you get the idea.

But Thomas says, "Pish with the whole car talk mom, let's get to something more interesting like how completely and absolutely adorable I am. I mean come on." My mom and I got him this shirt the other day and at first I thought it was a good thing if there was a movie made about him one day, but then I remembered... there are movies made about Hitler, Al Capone, that guy who escaped from Alcatraz. I am hoping that there will not be any similarities between his movie and these.

The real reason for his expression is because he now does this when he sees the camera because he is anticipating the flash. It's now very hard to get a good picture of him looking toward the camera because he squints his eyes. Tyler says its because I take too many pictures of him and might be burning his retina. Me taking too many pictures of him might be true, but I mean come on, when you have a baby that looks like this!!! What else can you do??

The eyes, the cheeks, the teeth, the constant stream of drool, and the fact that you can always tell he is solving the worlds problems in that head of his. I assume once he can talk he will tell us the cure for cancer, world hunger, and how to achieve world peace.

And as if this tongue was not enough... there are curls, beautiful, adorable curls. We can't cut his hair because... curls.

Just so you know little boy, I am smitten with you. You fill my days with so much joy. You add a whole new laughter to our house and fill us with more love than we thought was possible.

A Christmas Story - Part 2

My brother and his wife got their daughters a horse for Christmas. I think his name is Shadow or Quincy or maybe neither. I actually think neither. (Edited: Tyler has told me that the horses name is actually Thunder. So I was kind of close with Shadow, right??) Oh well, hopefully someone will correct me in the comments section. (Mom, Mary Beth, Gini Lynn... counting on you guys.) Thomas seemed to really enjoy him. After all, it was a large furry thing that did not hiss at him or run away from him.

And because two grandchildren getting a horse and the other not getting one is totally unfair, Thomas also got a horse. We've named him Furry, or maybe Sheddy since this is what he is and what he does. Thomas loves playing with him, but is covered from head to toe with black fur when he is done. He will have hair all in his mouth and all over his face. It's pretty cute.

We hired a cowgirl, or maybe a horsegirl, (is there such a word??) to help us with Shadow/Quincey (actually Thunder). Turns out she wasn't very good and just wanted to look real cute while doing her job. She is also pretty funny though so we've kept her around. (click on the picture to make it larger.)

And since I know this is the real reason all of you come check this site, here are some of the cutest Thomas pictures ever taken. But then again, when you're that cute isn't every picture of you the cutest ever??

If It's Made For A Nine Month Old, We Own It!!

We had a great Christmas this year. Having Thomas did make it so much fun. Of course, he didn't really get the whole thing, but Tyler and I loved celebrating this time of year with our little boy. Thomas got so many great gifts. And, I have to give a big thanks to this blog. By mentioning not being able to keep my son in clothes or especially shoes he received lots of these for Christmas. (Thanks Mom, Gini Lynn, and Ina.) I have said that I will now be sure and mention anything that he is lacking since I now know the power of the blog.

:::

Thomas was so cute on Christmas morning. He didn't understand why we were so excited for him to play with new things. It takes him a while to wake up, but all of the paper to shred helped move this process along. Tyler got him a very annoying remote to play with. It now rivals the Busy Bee in the most annoying toy Thomas owns. And this one, we can blame on no one by Tyler, so he can't complain about it.

:::

On Christmas morning Tyler's family and the Baxleys came over for breakfast. Pat had made a yummy meal and we all ate and then got to the gifts. It was so fun to have this time together.

After a great morning we headed to Cedar Key to join my family. That post will be for tomorrow. (Hope this satisfies you for now Mary Beth.)