Shop Now, Eat Later

As some of you enthusiastic blog readers may know, Jenn and I have been giving Thomas baby food these last couple weeks. I have gotten a large response for the carrots video and decided to show you a couple more. This picture below is Thomas in a shopping cart at the grocery store, and Mommy and Daddy were excited about this because Thomas is getting to be a very good sitter-upper and he's even gotten his own little shopping cart blanket cover thingy (you know those things). Jenn is being a very effective Mommy by buying fresh fruits and vegetable and then pureeing them at home for Thomas to eat.

Obviously bananas is the next logical step for baby food experimenting (we read this book that said to give babies long food first), and also in this video you can see that Thomas got to eat with a very special guest. Thomas' Auntie Laura was in town and got to witness the exploration of banana taste on her number one favorite nephew (it was special)!

In this video Thomas tries the vegetable of squash! Both Mommy and Daddy enjoy squash and it also fits into the 'long-food' category (which is a joke, there's no research or book to support the long food first theory). Surprisingly Thomas seems to like squash a lot and I'm already thinking that if Thomas keeps up at this rate he's going to be a big strong eater all the way through his toddler years and into childhood (fingers crossed).

I can already hear the other parents reading this blog right now saying "OK Don, so you're not going to have a picky eater, yeah right!" And yes, that's my goal, but I am aware that Mommy and some other adults (whom I won't name) can shy away from some foods, and I just hope that Thomas is like his Daddy when it comes to trying foods (either courageous or highly indifferent, not sure which), but only time will tell how Thomas' eating habits will develop.

Weekend with Auntie Laura

This past week has been filled with a lot of family time because Jenn's younger sister Laura is here for the week. Laura lives in Connecticut and so when she's in Arizona, all priority goes to her!
Check out some pictures from Saturday when the whole family got together over at Auntie Leia and Uncle Steve's house. We went over in the morning for breakfast and didn't leave until after dinner. As you can see from the pictures we did a lot of eating and swimming and playing with babies! I'll have to admit that playing with your own baby is fun, but playing with 3 or 4 at a time is even funner!

July 2009

Saturday was such a fun family day, and we enjoyed every minute. Sunday has turned into a day of recovery where we are all just catching our breathe and relaxing. Laura and Ernesto came over to the house to hang out and play some Wii with Jenn and Thomas.

Also we took this video of Thomas Sunday morning as Jenn wanted to catch Thomas doing a little crawling. We are impressed that he's finally figuring out how to crawl forward instead of just backwards, but it's still pretty basic, but we'll have him practicing more and more and see how fast he can get.

Almost on the Move

As you can clearly see from this video, Thomas is figuring out his crawling abilities. He hasn't figured out the full-on baby crawl yet, but he's almost there. Because Thomas is becoming more and more mobile, Jenn and I are trying to enjoy his immobility as much as possible, because as all parents have told us, "Once they start moving, they don't stop."

Also in this video you should have been able to hear some of Thomas' talking. I'm not sure why babies scream or screech, but I'm just reassured when I see other babies doing the same (thanks Anna). Jenn and I usually joke that Thomas is practicing his pterodactyl talk (that's right, I used and spelled the word pterodactyl), which we truly hope will come in handy if the world is invaded with pterodactyls.

New Camera = New Pictures

Finally Jenn and I were able to shop around enough and find a lovely new camera at every one's favorite bargain big store, Costco! Friday night Jenn and I went out with some friends to celebrate a birthday (happy birthday Heidi), Saturday we hung out low-key, and didn't do much (sometimes you have to just lay low). Sunday morning was the usual (church & breakfast) and then Sunday afternoon we went to a BBQ with some of my family!

This video is from last week when we gave Thomas his first food, CARROTS. I won't give any more detail, because everything you'll need to know is here in the video, but it was definitely interesting watching Thomas experience a food besides cereal.

These photos are from Saturday afternoon at Gramma Katie's house. Jenn and Thomas are coming into the kitchen to help Gramma with cookies.

Obviously Thomas is smiling because he's always happy and having fun (as I type this he is crying in his crib-)

As I was saying, look at this happy little boy, who's loving his Mommy!

Of course Daddy has to get in on the pictures.

(How am I the only one looking at something besides the camera?)

Here we are on Sunday afternoon at Jim and Mary's house. It was fun getting to see Uncle Jamal and Auntie Anne because they live in Texas and they are Don's godparents. This picture is Uncle Jamal showing Thomas the correct bottle to request?!?!

All smiles here!

Thomas with his cutest babysitter, Cousin Kelsey! These two always have good times with each other.

Hey Thomas, it's a party- lighten up?

This is Mary holding Thomas after his bottle and family time, and of course the little baby boy is all tired out.

After a short nap (they are all short naps in my opinion), Thomas was ready to show us his almost crawling skills. He's able to pull himself forward and can push his hips up with his knees... he's almost there.

Be sure to check out the blog later this week, as I'll have a fun little video of Thomas pushing himself around in that "almost-crawl" I just mentioned.

Visitors Come to Visit

Because this past weekend was Thomas' big "half-birthday" I wanted to recognize that and post about the mini-mile stone. But we also had a busy house this weekend. Friday after Thomas and I picked up Jenn from work, we received a call from Auntie Allison that Uncle Jack would be stopping in Phoenix for the night because Texas was having some big thunder storms. So we piled into the car and drove down to the Mesa airport to meet Uncle Jack as he hopped out of his jet. I have to be honest and say that I didn't really think I would be that impressed, but I honestly was. I was like, "Wow, that's a cool jet!", and Uncle Jack, being Uncle Jack merely said, "Yeah thanks."

Obviously we have been kicking ourselves because our camera broke and so we were only to have beautiful memories of the jet, and watching Jenn and Gramma Katie climbing up into the jet and checking out all the buttons and stuff.

Since we didn't have a camera of Tom and Jack with the jet I took it upon myself to recreate the image. Here we assume Jack has just handed over the controls to Thomas, and...

Obviously Jenn and I need to stop by a store tonight and pick up a new camera.

Until then, here are some pictures from Saturday morning before Jack left back to Texas, and we hope he'll have more chances in the future to stop in Phoenix because Thomas only has 3 Uncles and he loves'em all. Maybe when he starts talking he'll tell us all who his favorite is, and his favorite Uncle is still a chump when compared to his Dad.

So after taking Uncle Jack back to his jet we had a relaxing day of cleaning the house, which I don't have any pictures from... sorry blog readers. Then Saturday afternoon we went over for a birthday-pool party at our friends Ben & Kelly's house. Thomas was splashing and good times were had by all.

Sunday was spent waking up, going to church and then breakfast. Breakfast had the usual people, Gramma Katie, Uncle Mundo, Rachel and two surprise guests, Tia Leia and Gabriel. After breakfast Leia, Gabriel, Jenn, Thomas and I went down to the Phoenix Science Center where they were having a Lego exhibit. It was pretty awesome, here are some pictures from that outing!

This photo is at breakfast, guess which of us is trying to be grumpy?
Here is Thomas sitting in a high-chair (with some help from the diaper bag).

Outside the science center.

While waiting in line for tickets, Gabriel makes Thomas smile by giving him tickles.
Gabriel loved this catapult game, he kept playing it over and over and over.

Here we are with a life-size Lego Knight, pretty cool.

Jenn takes a photo with a Lego Dragon, scary.
These next few are of Jenn and Leia preparing and then jousting.. pretty intense!

Gabriel checking out some giant Legos.
Enter the Lego Castle...
Thomas thought it was all fun stuff.

Taking our picture sitting on the throne.

Look out, our new house might get decorated this way?

This was a shadow game where little pebbles would fall onto your shadow...
It was all much funnier while we took the pictures.
Me and Gabriel throw sponge balls up a nose... and then the nose sneezes and shoots them back out.

Of course by the end of the Science Center we were all really tired and worn out, because when you build a science center and fill it with fun interactive things for kids to try out, they are just running around and going crazy! Good times though, I would recommend the joint.

Sunday afternoon was a little more relaxed, our super good friend Mrs. Clagett was in town with her work, and so we got to have her come over for dinner. It is always fun to see people visit Arizona from other parts of the country (Maryland) because there is so much heat here in the summer, and although other parts of the country get hot, they don't get 114 degrees hot the way Arizona does. But Mrs. Clagett enjoyed seeing us and especially Thomas, they both seemed to enjoy each others company. Thomas was really amazed at everything Mrs. Clagett did, and I believe it's because Mrs. Clagett is just such an interesting and fun lady! Here are a couple pictures from dinner.

Lastly I have details from Thomas' 6-month doctors visit. I am aware that some blog readers aren't too concerned with Thomas' weight and height, but I'm also aware that some people are, and if there was a Thomas fan club, then they would be members... maybe I should start a club? We'll think about that one; but here are those stats:

Weight- 19 lbs

Height- 28.8 inches

Head Circ.- 18 inches

6 Months Already?!?!

Guess what the difference is between January and July? That's right, half a year! (You didn't think the answer was weather did you?)

6 Months ago Jenn and I were having our lives changed forever, and now we see that little "life changer" rolling around and smiling and making noises and being the cutest little "life changer". We're just so absolutely in love with Thomas and just love every minute we've had with him in our lives.

Below are some pictures that you have probably seen before but they might seem a little different when you see them all next to one another.

January 11th, Thomas' day of birth (still had that 'new-baby' smell).

February, both eyes open and looking around.

March, time to travel (the month is named after a style of movement).

April, getting in-touch with our big family tree.

May, was way better than OK!

June, is time to pose and keep us falling in love with you.

July 11th, is your first half-birthday!

We're so proud that you're taking age like the cool guy you are.

These first 6 months have been beautiful and wonderful and everyone under this house has been growing in ways I still can't seem to believe. I hope and pray that this half year is a preview of the many-many years we have to look forward to, and just remember...

What's the difference between January 2009 and January 2010? Birthday cake! Trust me, we can't wait!