Happy Birthday Marc (May 24th)

He's Got the Whole World In His Hands

The people of Russia and China are running for cover!

Slow Dow, You Move Too Fast!

It's been kind of a slow couple of weeks for us, in terms of Thomas activity. He has been doing very well with sleeping and his new daytime schedule (Emily went back to work on May 1st). There just has not been much to tell you all about, so I have not been updating the blog as much. A couple of cool things did happen, though, and since it is a slow month, I thought I would mention them now.
Tom cut his first tooth. That is cool for us, but pretty painful for him. The poor guy is drooling like crazy and sometimes just cries out of the blue because it hurts. It's not much fun when you can't help your crying baby. What is fun is seeing that tooth in his mouth. Just another sign of his progression.
Another other big thing he is doing is scooting. It's not quite crawling, but he is definitely able to move on his own now. Tom is stuck in reverse. He gets up on all fours, then scoots backwards. It is pretty comical to watch. I think we are only a few weeks away from "crawling Tom" which should be interesting.
The final new thing he is doing falls under the category of "party tricks". Tom can actually feed himself a bottle now. We just prop him up, give him the bottle and he holds it to his mouth and drinks. It is crazy. The kid loves food, so it only makes sense that his first independent thing is feeding himself. We've only done it a handful of times, but he has made it through every bottle we have given him. If you are ever over and want to see this magical event, Tom does take requests.

Who's Your Momma?

The Three Moms in My Life

Yesterday, like everyone else, we celebrated Mother's Day. It was Emily's first official Mother's Day as a mom. The day started off with an extra hour of sleep for mom and a prepared breakfast of cheesy garlic scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. At 6 months, Thomas is already a wiz in the kitchen.

After church we headed over to John and Tricia's house for a celebratory brunch. Not only were we celebrating all the moms, we were also celebrating Tricia getting her Masters degree. We had some delicious food (Egg casserole, cinnamon roll, blueberry pancakes, fruit salad) and a very relaxing morning.

Finally, we headed over to Kristy and Brian's house for a Mother's Day dinner. Also a great time. We had some very tasty Steak (cooked to perfection by Brian) Coos Coos, Green Beans and Salad, finished off by some homemade Cherry Pie. I think Emily had a very nice first official Mother's Day.

10th One Down, How Many More To Go?

John and I finished the Pig in 3:51. I was very happy with that time, as we had set 4:00 as our goal. John did great. This was his first marathon, which can be both extremely exciting and extremely nerve racking at the same time. He cruised right thru it. This was my 10th marathon and I was very pleased with how everything turned out for us. Here are some pictures from the race.

John and I running down Paxton on the wrong side of the street.
After the race, yes we are smiling.

Emily and Tracy, happy we are finished with training.

Tom got to see his first marathon. He was more interested in that bag of chips, though.

6 months already?

Today Thomas is 6 months old. That was the quickest 6 months I have ever experienced. Here are some of the things I have learned over these first 6 months.

1) Bed time before Thomas, 11:30. Bed time since Thomas, 7:00 - 10:30 or anywhere in between. The funny thing is, we go to bed earlier, but we get less sleep, something screwy there.

2) Being a parent is very hard work, but extremely rewarding.

3) There are no definites. One baby sleeps thru the night at 4 months, another baby does not. Comparing Thomas to anyone else's baby has turned out to be both stupid and time wasting.

4) Coming home from work and seeing Thomas smile at me when I walk in the door has become my new favorite moment in life.

5) Poopy diapers are cute until around 4 - 5 months, then they are just messy and stinky.

6) High pitched squeals of delight and Ga Ga Ga's are like a perfect symphony to my ears.

7) I can eat 5 pieces of hot pizza in under 3 minutes if Thomas is crying at the same time.

8) I really like onesies with zippers, not buttons.

9) A 6 month old can take off my glasses and break them, if I am not paying attention.
10) I wouldn't change a thing about the last 6 months.

Here are some pictures to see how much he has changed in 6 months...enjoy: