Nine Months Old

There is just no other word to describe Thomas other than joy. He is so sweet and happy pretty much all the time. I love this age where you start seeing more and more personality, but yet they are still so sweet. Here is what he is up to:
- He started army crawling around seven months and did that exclusively for about 2-2 1/2 months. We were wondering if he would just skip crawling all together, but he has finally started crawling normally now.
- He is pulling up. Still not cruising much, but working on it and starting to take a few steps with his little push walker thing.
- He can wave. He does prefer high fives though. He laughs and thinks it is hilarious when you give him a high five. He will just hold his hands up and wait for it with a big grin on his face.
- He is quite active. We had kind of gotten out of the habit of child proofing our house because Esther NEVER got into anything. We have been reminded of the need. He is constantly racing for Rudy's food and water bowl every chance he gets. He LOVES the bathroom- splashing in the toilet, knocking the shampoo bottles into the tub. The bathroom provides a lot of entertainment. He loves night lights too. We have several in various places around the house and he loves to unplug them. There is one in Noah and Esther's room that has the actual screw on small bulb instead of the LED light. It is amazing how fast he can unplug it, unscrew it, and out the bulb in his mouth. That one stays out up most of the time.
- He eats four 6-oz bottles a day and eats solid foods at mealtimes. We are working on using a cup now. He has two bottom teeth and one coming on on the top.
- He is a good sleeper, but hasn't been napping quite as long lately. He takes two naps a day for probably around an hour and a half. He sleeps about 12 hours at night. We finally weaned him of his swaddle and then noticed that he was waking up a lot at night. We tried putting a blanket over him and he once again, sleeps all night. I guess he just likes to be snugly. :) He sleeps with a paci and seems to like them but is not nearly the addict that his sister is.
- He loves his brother and sister, especially Noah. It is so cute to watch Noah playing with him. He has been the first baby we have had that actually preferred me. His daddy is definitely making a comeback though. As soon as Brian walks through the door, Thomas starts crawling toward him and kind of whines until Brian picks him up. He pretty much wants nothing to do with me for the rest of the night.
- He loves to play rough and wrestle. He always wants to be in the mix when Brian and Noah are wrestling. He also loves to be tickled.
- He is still super flexible and just goes with the flow, although he does not nap as well outside of his bed anymore.

It never ceases to amaze me how before having a child, you can't imagine life with them. But after a few months, you don't know how you ever lived without them. Thomas you are such a joy. We are so blessed by you and thankful for you. We love you so much and can't imagine life without you!!!

Boys and Girls

The difference in girls and boys was very evident in our house tonight. Brian was wrestling with Noah and Thomas. Esther was in the corner oblivious to them laying her babies down and covering them up. She would acknowledge them only occasionally to come over and comb their hair. It was a pretty perfect moment. :)

Esther being Esther

Things you never want to hear your husband saying while getting your almost two year old out of bed...
"Ooh Esther, you have a dirty diaper. Is that poop on your belly? Is that poop on your hands?? Wait, is it on your mouth???"
The things people don't tell you about BEFORE you have kids. I guess if you knew everything that goes along with having kids, no one would ever actually choose this, but the benefits far outweigh any amount of poop in the diaper, or on the hands or belly or mouth or sheets...

Brothers

Playing cars together for the first time. :)

Lovely

When I took this picture, Noah said, "Mommy, do you want to see something lovely? I will stand next to Esther and we will both smile and say cheese." And they did. So I took the picture. :)

Decorating for Christmas

We decorated for Christmas last night. We ate an early dinner so we would have plenty of time to decorate. I wanted to give the kids a quick bath, but Brian insisted we forgo in order to have time to decorate. I have in, but when Thomas leaked poop put of his diaper and up his back, I won out. Esther was playing in the tub while we bathed Thomas. All of a sudden she started pointing out a piece of corn floating in the water. We quickly realized that the water was a little too cloudy and yanked everyone out. Under Esther was a large pile of poop. This led to lots of crying and cleaning of the bathtub. The quick bath became a little longer. I don't think Brian will ever let me hear the end of it. :) We eventually finished cleaning the tub and rebating everyone and made it back to decorating. Apart from the slight detour, a good night was had by all.
Can you tell how tall Noah is based on the ornament distribution? :) This is the first year that he has really been into it. We had so much fun! He is so excited about Christmas. After we put up the tree, he informed us that you also had to put lights on the outside of your house to get ready for Christmas. Can't wait. :)
On a side note, the snowman ornament was given to Esther last year by my mother-in-law. I'm not sure how she knew, but she nailed Esther with that ornament. Haha!

Six Months!

I feel a little bad because this is the first post dedicated to Thomas, but we've been a little busy. :) It is so crazy to me that it has already been six months. I remember my sister-in-law (whose first two kids are 19 months apart) telling me about how she would look back at pictures of when Elyn (their second) was a baby and not even remember it. At the time I thought it was crazy that she could not remember 6 months to a year of her life, especially given that she had a child in that time. I'm pretty sure I only had one kid at the time. :) Fast forward a couple years and a couple kids later, I TOTALLY understand. You are so tired. You have so many things and people vying for your time and attention. You are constantly going and you don't really have any time to sit or think or do anything. And somewhere in all of that, it all just becomes a blur. Which is exactly why I really need to write about Thomas (and everything else going on). I fear that if I don't write it down, I will have very little memory of this crazy time in our life. So here's what Thomas is up to...
-He is the sweetest baby ever... At least the sweetest one I've had. :) He is always so happy and wants nothing more than for you to just sit and talk to him. Unfortunately for him, he is the third kid and oftentimes that doesn't happen. He is a pure joy.
- He LOVES the exersaucer, which is a really good thing. He spends quite a bit of time there. His other favorite things are Sophie the giraffe and this little crinkly book that occupies him for hours in the car.
- He sleeps all night and takes two naps a day. Goes to bed between seven and eight and wakes up around 6:30-7:00. He was our first kid that cut out all his nighttime feeds on his own without a little 'help' from us. He does however, STILL sleep in our room. Everyone has started referring to it as Thomas's room. Hopefully that will be remedied soon.
- He eats four bottles a day. As of right now, he eats solids once a day, at dinner time, but we'll probably increase that soon.
- He loves his brother and sister, especially Noah. They sit next to each other in the car and Thomas just stares at Noah the whole time.
- He rolls everywhere. I'll lay him down on the floor, look back and he is not there anymore. He always rolls himself into a corner and gets stuck.
- He's working on sitting. He likes the Bumbo and he can sit with support fairly well.

I'm sure that maybe our lives would have been a little less crazy had we spaced our kids out a little more. And maybe I would be able to remember the last six months, but if given the choice to do it all over again, we would. Thomas you are such a joy to have. You bring a little sanity into our lives (at least for the time being). When everyone is screaming and crying, we can always count on you for a big smile. You are such a wonderful blessing from God and we thank Him for the joy of being your parents. We love you!