Thursday, January 29, 2009

Obsessed with lists this week

My sister Hannah just put up this list on her blog from a list posted by my friend Joanne and and it inspired me...

Have you had - 100 things to experience in your lifetime
1. Started your own blog
Yep, here it is
2. Slept under the stars
Yes, more than once
3. Played in a band
Tacks to Girls! I played the bass.

4. Visited Hawaii
More than once :)
5. Watched a meteor shower
I've seen a couple
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
Hmm, more than I can afford? Hard to decide.
7. Been to Disneyland/World
Both! Disneyland many times
8. Climbed a mountain
Um, no.
9. Held a praying mantis
Not likely to happen
10. Sang a solo
Not for a long, long time, but definitely in the far distant past.
11. Bungee jumped
I would love to, but I've never quite had the nerve
12. Visited Paris
Twice!
13. Watched a lightning storm
In Texas, Colorado and Washington. The Texas ones were the best.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
Knitting!
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
Never!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
I've only seen it from Battery Park
18. Grown your own vegetables
On my counter :)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Yes, it is very small and behind a lot of glass
20. Slept on an overnight train
Yes! From Florence to Paris.

21. Had a pillow fight
Only as a teenager
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Yes, although we call that a mental health day
24. Built a snow fort
No, although I have built a snow man
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
Never!
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

Nope, didn't get to Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
As a little kid
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
Every day right now
31. Hit a home run
Does T Ball count?
32. Been on a cruise
On the Bateaux Mouche? Never a cruise where you sleep on the boat
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
From the Canada side
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
Where would that be? I've been to Chicago and San Francisco where my parents were born.
35. Seen an Amish community
Yes!
36. Taught yourself a new language
Not taugh myself
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
Yes, a nice feeling
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
Yes - it was really interesting and of course we did the photo where it looks like you are holding it up.
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
Yes - It was a lot bigger than I expected

I think the problem is that the 25 Random Things are going around Facebook. I like this much better. Filling in things is a little easier than coming up with 25 things.

Baby asleep - time for bed!

Friday, January 23, 2009

4 month doctor visit


We suspected that Thomas would move to the top of his growth charts with this doctor visit and he definitely did. He is now at 95-97% in all of the categories, weight, height and head size. He is also reaching all of his milestones except one - he doesn't roll over yet. This is not a surprise as he hates being on his stomach so we don't put him there often enough for him to really try to roll over :)

Okay, now for the stats:
Height - 26.5 inches
Head - 43.8 cm
Weight - 18 lbs

Don't ask me why they do the head in centimeters and the height in inches - that has never made sense to me.

Thomas also had to endure more shots today :( But, he calmed down quickly with his bottle and then went right to sleep for his long morning nap.

I'm posting this early since I wanted to update everyone on his progress (yep, I'm a proud mom). The picture above is one of my favorite from this week. Josh sends me a picture of Thomas every day at work and it is always great to see the little man smiling at me. We got some great pictures this week and I love that we do this everyday - it is going to give us a great record of his first year.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Thomas is getting far too big! He has really outgrown the bassinet in his pack and play, so we have to start putting him in his crib. His room is upstairs, so we have been holding off as long as possible so that Josh doesn't have to try to climb the stairs in the middle of the night. Thomas still gets up for one feeding (usually around 4) so we have to take that into account. We also like having him in our room because it is convenient. I think this will be similar to when we had to move him into the bassinet from sleeping in our bed. It was tough for the first few nights because we had to keep getting up, but then we got used to it.

Josh is actually picking up the crib at Target right now. We had planned on using the crib that has been in my family for years, but due to a paint problem we cannot. Josh's mom has tried every furniture refinishing technique to get paint to stick to it and it just will not work.

Josh's parents came over to drop off the crib yesterday and stayed to play a game with us. Doesn't Thomas look like he really understands how to play and is actually helping his grandma?


We also put Thomas in his high chair for the first time yesterday. He is pretty good at sitting up by himself and it was nice to have him at the table with us while we were playing. Notice the 5 point harness they have in the high chair these days - very safe...


Josh has been taking a picture of Thomas everyday and sending it to me at work. He also posts these pictures on his Facebook page, so if these weekly updates aren't enough for you - you can look there.

Must go now - Thomas is desiring some entertainment.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

First week back

We had a pretty good first week back. I find that it is pretty easy to get out of the house every morning, but harder to get back in the evening. I have no patience for how slow people are driving on the way home! I just want to be here with my little family.

On Thursday night, Josh had a hockey game, so we put Thomas in his bear suit and went to the Ice Rink. He looks so cute in his little outfit and he only protests a little when we put it on...

Josh injured his shoulder in the game, so I worked at home on Friday in case he needed help picking up Thomas. It turned out that my sister and brother in law were able to take him for the day, so I got lots of work done. It was nice to work at home because it took away all of that commuting time.
Yesterday, we had a baby shower for Jason and Joanne. They are expecting their new arrival sometime in the next 8ish weeks. We had a great time with friends and family. Thomas loved all the attention and was a happy little boy the entire time.


Finally, Thomas is getting very adept at holding things. Here is a picture of him holding his bottle. He is pretty good at holding on to it and actually getting it in his mouth. He still doesn't understand that in order to get the food he has to tip the bottle up.

Josh's shoulder is doing much better. He has a nasty bruise, but he is definitely on the mend. He has two more games left in this hockey season and then a total of 3 weeks off before the new season starts.

Hope you all had a good week :)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

The last week

I've been enjoying the last week of my maternity leave and have been slacking on my blog. Thomas has wanted to play with us more and is having fun practicing his new skills. First, he has been sitting up a lot. He has his new Bumbo chair and can sit up at the table in it. He also likes to sit up on my lap and make faces at me. We have also noted that he likes to stand up a lot more now. He can almost stand up on his own - just holding on to our fingers. We are torn between thinking this is the cutest thing ever and wanting to slow him down. It is way too early for him to even think about standing up!

He has also been struggling with sleeping this year (he he - since Thursday). He had been sleeping for a long stretch at night and now he is awake again every couple of hours. He is also chewing on his hands and our fingers and his teething rings constantly, so he may be cutting some teeth. It is also way too early for teeth! Maybe he is so big that his body just thinks he is older. He is officially in only 6 month size clothing - and filling it out nicely. I can't wait to see how much he weighs at his next appointment.

Okay, okay, pictures:

First, can you believe this little face? Hannah took this picture and she got such a good shot of Thomas with his Great Grandma. He is learning to use all of those facial muscles!

Thomas with is Great Grandma and Grandpa. We need to take a 4 generations picture with them. My grandparents don't live that far away, but we only see them a couple of times a year. Recently, we have been talking about getting together more often. We decided that there is no reason to wait for holidays to see each other. We have a big group here in the Seattle/Tacoma area - 3 of my dad's 4 sisters live here and 4 of my cousins, in addition to my sisters and me. We plan to meet again in March for my grandparents birthdays.

Thomas at the hockey arena! Josh plays hockey and we go to watch his games most of the time. Sometimes we skip the 8:45 games. It is a great time for Thomas to hang out with his Aunt Jen since his Uncle Jeremy also plays hockey. I make Thomas wear his bear suit in the arena so that he doesn't get too cold.

Finally, a picture from Thomas' dedication. Chad, the pastor, remarked on how big Thomas is. Afterward, the rest of the family told us that the baby before him was 8 months old and about the same size as Thomas. Yes, he is going to be tall. Crazy.

We loved that a lot of our family was able to come. In addition to my parents, Hannah was able to attend as well as Robb and Reba and the boys. Josh's parents were also able to attend along with Thomas' Uncle Jimmy. It was a big group! Afterward, we all went to Red Robin for lunch.


That's about it. I'm going back to work tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. I'm really blessed to have a job that I like and a husband who is able to work at home. I know that Thomas will be in good hands and I don't have to worry. I'm going to miss them both like crazy every day, but I'm trying not to think about that part too much.

Blog posts going forward will probably slow down to once a week. I'm going to make an effort to update every Sunday. Hope everyone is having a great year so far.