The Craziness of My World

I can't even begin to remember life before Thomas. I remember being busy and tired, but can't imagine what would have made me that way. Thomas now keeps me busier and makes me more tired than I could ever imagine. He is a climber, and he is discovering this more and more each day.

When we brought him home from the hospital (almost a year ago, gasp) he loved this rocking chair. It was the only place he slept. Now he's rediscovered it and loves to rock in it. Usually he is "talking" on the phone, but today he discovered that if he stands on it, he can reach things that are up high.

This scares me!! I mean we all know that you shouldn't stand in a rocking chair.

Tonight while I was cooking he also found a "good" way to see what we were having for dinner.

He can stand on the drawer underneath the oven and put his face even with the stove. I am just guessing this will be a great way for him to burn his face or hand one day.

And just like a good computer geek's son he love playing in his new Dell box. Tyler made him a little window that he likes to look through and shut in our face. He also has started slamming the door to his room. I told Tyler he is just preparing us early for the teen years.

So, while life around here may be in constant motion and insanity it's fun. We laugh a lot, sing a lot, dance a lot, and play a lot.

And who could not love that face. He is as cute as they come. He is worth all of the energy he requires.

And he is sweet. He is so sweet.

I call the horse and giraffe his "exiled friends" because they had to be removed from his playpen and crib. He loves them though and won't let them forget that.

And the thing is, one day I know I will wish that he wanted to stand by me at the stove or help me unload the dishwasher instead of wishing he wouldn't. So I am just trying to remember that now instead of hoping for it later.

Chamber of Commerce Ad

Sometimes I wonder why in the heck I live in Florida. It is so hot here. I complain about the heat more than I enjoy it. I mean we have had like 3 days this "winter" that could even be considered cold. I enjoy a nice little cold snap. I wish we had more, but then when I look at pictures of babies all bundled up to go outside and remember what it was like getting Thomas ready to leave the house in Fargo I am so glad this is what February in Tampa looks like.

Thomas and I went with his best girl Megan to the park. This is one of my most favorite parks. It is on the water and always has a nice breeze. Even on Thursday when it was hot, but I can't complain when it makes the kids so happy.There really are very few place where you can put on your shorts and t-shirts in February and head outside to enjoy the weather. And, of course, when you add that to the view... well, it really does make for a nice day. Even if you are sweating to death. (p.s. can you tell he doesn't really like the swing??)

But what he does like... Ms. Megan Hope. She is his most favorite girl.

Wedding Weekend

Here are some pictures from Mary Beth's wedding weekend. I had a lot of fun hanging out with old friends and making some new ones. There were a lot of laughs and some tears, but mostly laughs and that is what's great about a bunch of crazy girls getting together. It was hard to leave Thomas, but also nice to get away and have some "me" time and I now know that I can do it even if I don't want to very often. So enjoy this pictures that I took. None of them are very good. I guess I am only a good photographer when taking pics of Thomas. Oh well, I didn't take very many so I won't waste too much memory on crappy pictures.

This is me, Mary Beth, and Gini Lynn at the rehearsal dinner and I am only posting this picture because I think that everyone can learn a lot from it. When you are wearing a shirt over a shirt, DO NOT button the shirt that is on top. It WILL make you look huge which is probably not what you are going for. See how nice Gini Lynn's not buttoned shirt looks compared to my buttoned shirt. Ah, if only I could turn back time and unbutton that sweater. Other than the sweater incident the dinner was great. The food was Mexican and yummy and I ate a lot which would be the reason I look huge in this picture except that this was taken before dinner so it can't be blamed on the food.

Ryan and Mary Beth at the Rehearsal dinner.

We had a great bridesmaid breakfast the morning of the wedding. It was at the Sweetwater Branch Inn in Gainesville and was so yummy and pretty. The bridesmaid pictured are Miranda, Marisa, Gini Lynn, Mary Beth (not a bridesmaid), Kim, Me, Liz, and Beth.

This is Kim the professional photographer/bridesmaid. My mom took the actual wedding pictures, but was out taking pictures of the guys during Mary Beth's make up. So in steps Kim, who although said she was not going to work this weekend couldn't resist. I guess it's in her nature. She said that her motto for the weekend was always a photographer never a bridesmaid, but I say that you can be both and she proved that you could be.

Isn't she so pretty!! Mary Beth was one of the prettiest brides that I have ever seen, of course, there are some good genetics working there!! Hee hee. I can't wait to see all the pictures that were taken. I know they are going to be so great.

Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Tyson. This was their first dance. Aren't they so cute?

These are my nieces Lauren and Sarah. Aren't they the cutest. They danced the night away, and let me tell you they have a lot more rhythm then their old auntie. Of course, since I don't have any rhythm that isn't hard, but they did boogie down with the best of them.

And here is a pretty awful picture of Mary Beth and I, but it's the only one that I have. Our dresses were so pretty. My skirt came about 18 sizes too big and was still a little bit even after alterations. I was conscious about it during the wedding, but just let the skin show during the reception.

We Survived

Well, I am home and Thomas and I have both survived our night/day away from each other. He was great and I did great. I am not ready to do it again anytime soon, but now I know that if I do I will survive. My cousin's wedding was beautiful. She was beautiful. The bridesmaids (if I can say so) were beautiful. One of the bridesmaids was a professional photographer and had taken bridal portraits earlier that week. Here is a link to both her personal site and her business site. She does beautiful work. So if you live in Arizona and need a photographer I recommend her. I will post some pictures later, but for now I am going to enjoy playing with my boy and taking some down time. It was my first "Matron of Honor" duty, and boy am I tired. My feet are killing me and I am not sure they are going to forgive me anytime soon.

Sometimes Things Aren't as Bad as They May Seem

Today, I am a little sad. In about an hour I will be heading to Gainesville for my cousin Mary Beth's wedding. She gets married tomorrow and I am the Matron on Honor. That makes me sound really old, but that is not the reason I am sad. I will be going without this person:

I got online all ready to do a post to make you all feel very sorry for me. I am leaving my baby for the night for the first time and then I saw this:

Fargo, ND -20ºFClear Wind: W at 14 mph I am just thinking how much worse it could be. Blake is about to leave for 2 weeks and Heather is living in this. I feel more sorry for her than I do for myself. So, my pity party was thrown out the window. We love you Heather, stay safe and warm. (Blake we don't love so much right now. He is leaving!!)

But either way, pray for both Heather and I this weekend. I know I will be fine and lets just hope that she doesn't die of frostbite.

Girl Cousins Are Cool

I have written before about all of our girl cousins coming along with a picture of Thomas' cousin Kate, well here are some more pictures of our other cousins. First we have Olivia who belongs to Tyler's cousin Anne Marie and her husband Carlos. She is 3 months old and has more hair than any kid I have ever seen. There truly is nothing like it. She was so smiley the other day at Heather's shower, all of the girls were gushing over her, but then again how could you not??

Then on my much side of the family (which is a lot less hairier) is Brecken. She belongs to my cousin Emily and her husband Cliff. She is 2 months old and is obviously going to be very strong like her cousin Thomas. She lives in Colorado so we haven't gotten to meet her yet, but I can't wait until we do.

Thomas agrees that all of these girls are super cute because he does LOVE girls, but he says please give him a boy cousin soon. Katherine, your up!! Hee hee.

The Forgotten File

I have recently realized that I have some "forgotten items" I want to blog about. So I am going to try and post the pictures over the next couple of days. A lot are pictures from a trip to Cedar Key that I took a couple of weeks ago for my cousin Mary Beth's wedding shower. That is the weekend that Thomas perfected his walking so I posted about that instead of Addie. My parents have gotten a new puppy that is adorable. In the picture you can see how much Thomas loved Addie, but his love had nothing on how much she loved him. She followed him everywhere and like to sit in his lap whenever he got still. It was so cute. She was a very calm puppy which he liked. And she was super soft like a good stuffed animal.

11 Months Old

Dear Thomas, You are 11 months old today. One year ago I was one very anxious woman. I never knew what I was in store for when I became to being your mother. There is nothing like it. You are the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to your daddy and I. Although, sometimes I do wonder what we were thinking. One day you'll be reading this saying, "Wow, my mom's tune sure has changed. It used to be how sweet I was, and now this??" Well, that's because while you are still so very sweet, you have mastered the art of fit throwing (and do it whenever you don't get you way) and you never (and I do mean never) sit still. This does keep life very interesting and fun. Sometimes I look back at the day and can't believe that it's already gone.

You have become a walking fool this past month. There is nothing you can't get to and no place that you can't go. It has been so amazing to watch you find this new way of mobility. You are walking more than crawling now and it has become more natural to you. You have this really cute sideways way of getting around that's really funny. As far as verbally you are in the same place as last month. You are talking more, but not saying any new words. Occasionally you will make other sounds, but usually they are words that start with "d" although "b" is also becoming a consonant sound that you make more often. Still no "mama," but I figure your just saving it until you have it mastered.

Now that you are walking you and your push car have broken up. Your new girlfriend is the phone. You don't go anywhere without it. If you are holding it and I say "hello" you will put it up to your ear. Now, this may mean that you are really smart, or it might just mean that I talk on the phone too much. Either way, it's really cute. The vacuum is still very high on your list as well, but now you only want to climb on top of it as opposed to just playing with it. I am expecting you to crack your skull at least once before you turn 5.

Your obsession with the dishwasher is still one of the greatest. I have now resorted to only loading or unloading it while you are sleeping or under the watchful eye of daddy. If you hear me start loading it you come from anywhere in the house to "help" me. The other morning I was loading it and you were standing next to it. I was rinsing the dishes so the door had gotten some water in it. The little hole for extra detergent was filling with water and you were splashing around in it. This, I actually thought was kind of cute, until I turned around to find you sucking the water out of the hole. I started yelling, "yuck, gross, don't do that" and took you to daddy and told him and he agreed that it was totally disgusting. This, I am told, is just the beginning of being a "boy mom."

You are sick again. This makes me so sad for you. Today you couldn't fall asleep for you naps because you were so congested. You were crying so I rocked you to sleep. Of course, I didn't mind. No matter how big and sassy you get, you will always be my little peanut butter pie which means I will always love rocking and loving on you. And no matter when or why you need me, I will be there. I your mommy and that's my job, but also my joy. I love you my little boy, thank you for being such a joy to my life.

Love, Mommy

God Is Love - Our First Refrigerator Art

I started bible study today. They put Thomas in the 1 & 2 year old class so that he wouldn't attack the small babies, I told them that this was probably the best for everyone. In the older class they do a lesson. I love that. And he loves crayons (mostly for eating, but sometimes for coloring) so I am sure that he love it too. Today he learned that God Is Love. Hopefully he will always remember that and hopefully Tyler and I will always be an example of that.

Stay tuned, I am sure there will be more to come next week!!

Guess Where Thomas & I Went Yesterday!!!

That's right, we went to Disney World. We joined Aunt Ina and Megan and Jennifer (Ina's sister-in-law) and her two girl Emma and Lizzie at Disney yesterday. We had an amazing whirlwind trip. We started at Magic Kingdom, went to a princess lunch at EPCOT (we were with all girls, after all), saw the parade at MGM (the girls went to see Beauty and the Beast, but Thomas took a nap instead), and then went back to Magic Kingdom to enjoy the rides and a Pineapple Float for me. Yes, that's right, we were crazy enough to do that with 4 children (ages 1,2,3&4), but they were AMAZING. We only had about one meltdown from each child and they were very small mild melt downs. Thomas loved all of the action. He could not take it all in fast enough. It was so fun to see him enjoying stuff that I love so much. Tyler and I spent most of our first few years of marriage at Disney so it was fun to show it to Thomas.

Thomas with all his girls on Mainstreet USA.

Thomas and mommy with Jennifer and Lizzie Sack on Dumbo. Thomas loved the ride and also watching the fireworks that were shooting off from Cinderella's castle.

Thomas on the merry-go-round at Magic Kingdom.

The one lone prince among the princesses. We went to a princess lunch at EPCOT. Luckily Aladdin was there and came and talked to Thomas. I think they both felt a little out numbered by all the girls in the room, but then again, Thomas seemed to totally dig it. He didn't want to leave Ariel when we were done taking this picture.

This is how Thomas felt about MGM, not his favorite. He is after all his father's child. It was his one and only nap while we were there and it lasted a whole 20 minutes. He was a trooper for sure.

Thomas loved the parade at MGM. He recognized JoJo who he watches in the morning while I get ready. He kept watching her until she was out of site. (And is the girl behind us picking her nose. Poor thing, she has no idea this is being posted on the internet.)

Ha!! What a joke thinking we could get him to look at the camera during It's A Small World. He was in sensory overload for sure.

I Promise We Don't Let Him Drink

He is just naturally drunk on life. And he is now a walkin' fool. He started yesterday walking more than crawling. It is quite cute and we just watch and laugh at him. He, of course, knows that he is the ultimate in cool.