Palm Springs trip

On the airplane on the way to Palm Springs, Thomas and I were getting off and the pilot asked us if it was his first ride. I said no, but it got me to thinking all the places he has been. We were talking over lunch once we arrived and that was Thomas's 6th plane ride! I can't believe we have taken him on a plane that much. He really has been super easy to travel with, it's me that freaks out. We also figured out that we have been to Palm Springs 3 times with him, making that our most frequent destination. Makes sense since it is so close and only an hour plane ride. The other plane rides were to South Dakota once, Pennsylvania once, and Seattle. We had a blast in Palm Springs this time. One thing I did realize is it's not quite as much of a vacation as it used to be now that we have Thomas, but it's certainly fun in different ways. Exploring and swimming with him is so fun, and we often get to meet up with other extended family members down there. This time a bunch of people were there! We had Paige, Dary, and their 8 month old baby Kara stay with us for a day. Paul, Lindsay and their 5 month old Olivia were also there. It was our first time meeting Olivia and we got to spend lots of time with Kara. Thomas loves babies and he was great with them. He loved pointing at them and saying "wah-wah-wah" (that's what a baby says!), and touching their heads. He also loved bringing them all of his and their toys and stacking them in front of their faces. Also in PS that we got to see briefly were Kevin, Colin (saw him at the airport), Mike, Suzette, and Cole, and Joe, Jennifer, and Neil. We wished we o could have spent more time with everyone but it was still fun just to see everyone. Thomas went on a few golf cart rides with Grandpa Dan and he had lots of quality time with Gma Arlene. He called Grandpa Dan "Bapa" just like he called Tom that a week before. And he calls Gma "gung-gung." Sort of...it's more of a sound he does in his throat like he is trying to say a "G" but can't. He also got to see Uncle Doug and was super excited about that. He still asks for Da-Da and Duh-Duh on a daily basis. I have to be like "Nope, I am all ya got!" Thomas loves water and playing in it. Mostly he loves throwing rocks in water. So he loved my parents courtyard that has a little fountain and rocks. The night before we left we also let him throw two rocks in the pool which he thought was the best. We figured Uncle Doug could fish them out the next day. It was my birthday on Friday so we went out to dinner and came back and sat by the fire which was great. The night before I wasn't feeling well so that day Shem and Doug took Thomas to the Living Desert (a desert zoo) and saw all kinds of weird animals. I will post those pictures later as they are on my brothers camera! ;)

Grandpa and Grandma Klein visit and more hiking!

Tom and Char (Grandpa and Grandma) came to stay with us last week for awhile. It was a great visit. It had been a few months since they had seen Thomas and he has changed quite a bit! Thomas loved hanging out with them right away. The first day of their arrival unfortunately coincided with the end of Thomas's sickness of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. I knew this illness from working in childcare and it's usually in daycares or schools so it was weird that Thomas got it. It was horrible. I have never seen Thomas so upset in his life. It was 2-3 days of complete misery and then he was much better. Luckily by day 2 of Grandma and Grandpa's visit Thomas was much more himself. Char got him coloring the most he has ever colored and we all taught him how to only color on paper with a few rogue marks here and there. We went for walks around the neighborhood and took Char to music class with us. Once Shem was home from work for the weekend we got to go on some big hikes. It rained their last day so we just spend the day inside coloring and reading. Thomas thought Grandpa Tom and his antics were pretty funny. By the end of the week, Thomas was calling them "Bapa!" for both Grandpa and Grandma and he would go around the house looking for them. It's been a week and he still asks for them! We have also been getting more time with Uncle Doug and as you can see, Thomas likes coloring with him too. He also has started to love wearing my sunglasses around. I got him a pair of his own and he wears them now when we are out in the sun! I am really glad I got him geared up with those before our Palm Springs trip next week. We had an awesome time with the Klein side (thanks guys for a wonderful visit!) and are about to go spend some time with the Kirby side! I also threw in some pictures of more of our hikes. Thomas loves exploring nature and his favorite thing to do these days is throwing rocks into water.

Bubbles!

Oscar and Thomas have fun with bubbles!

Visit to Bolinas

Doug moved to Bolinas a couple of weeks ago and it's only 40 minutes away! We are so excited to have him close by. It's been fun watching he and Thomas bond and play. Thomas loves him and looks around for him when he isn't here. One problem though is that "da-da, dog-dog, and doug-doug" all pretty much sound exactly the same when Thomas says them so I am never really sure who he is asking for. Even though it was chilly, we went to the beach where Thomas proceeded to pick up every rock he could find and chuck it. When the water came up to him, he would get real disoriented and fall down which was funny, but cold! Uncle Doug has a really cool farm house in Bolinas and has a great music set up so they played around with that for awhile too. We can't wait for more days at the beach and farm house with Uncle Doug.

Rockin' out and Passin' out

The first couple pictures are from a rock out session with his Daddy. Thomas was trying to snap his fingers along to the music. Wish I could video him without him trying to get to the camera these days. The last picture is so sweet because we NEVER get to see Thomas sleeping. 99.9% of the time he is sleeping in his crib at home and he wakes up when I open the door so I never get to see him sleeping which is just so cute. The other day though we were in Santa Rosa visiting Emily, Bob and his buddy Ezra and Thomas has developed an issue napping in a strange place. So we left a little early and he passed out in the car on the way home. Shem snapped a photo since it's something we never get to see.

Seattle trip

Thomas and Shem went to Seattle on their own last weekend and I stayed home and had a couple days to myself. Awesome on both ends!!! They had SO much fun. They went to visit Shem's cousins Chris and his wife Signe and their 5 month old Satchel as well as Matt and his wife Laura who are having a baby in June. They had so much fun hanging with the cousins and baby Satchel. Thomas is fascinated with babies. He likes to touch their hair and says "wah-wah-wah." These days Thomas refuses to wear any kind of real shoes except for soft Robeez. It's been a bit of a problem since it's super rainy and wet here and his shoes and socks get soaked every time we leave the house. But put a pair of rain boots on him and he won't take a step. He just rips at his feet screaming. Sigh. But as you can see from the last picture, he loves putting on adults shoes and trying to walk around. Silly kid. Thanks to the cousins for showing the boys a great time. I was bummed to miss out, but have to admit I had a nice, quiet time at home! I will come next time for sure!!