Happy and he knows it!

Thomas is 8 months old!!!  He has this stuffed gorilla that sings "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands" and he loves it.  We usually spend half an hour or so before bedtime (his crankiest time) with the gorilla.  As you can see from the video, he really likes it.  As soon as it turns off, he yells and we start it all over again.  

Easter/Birthday extravaganza

Happy Easter!!!!  We had a great one!  Our friend and her daughter came over for lunch which was fun. I got to cook which is always nice for me these days.  I don't cook as much as I would like to anymore.  Then we went to a big Easter shindig at my friend Megan's sisters place. Megan watches Thomas twice a week and has become a great friend.  Thomas LOVES her.  She can make him smile and laugh no matter what else is going on.  At the Easter party there were 6 older boys (4 are siblings!).  It made me realize what I have to look forward to with Thomas, especially at fun holidays.  They had a huge Easter egg hunt and everyone was going nuts.  There were even some eggs hidden for Thomas.  As you can see from the pictures, he loved the eggs.  It was also my birthday last week.  Megan came over and watched Thomas for my birthday present.  I went to the city in the day and hung out and then Shem and I went to an awesome dinner that night.  28 is a bit of a boring number to turn.  30 is getting closer and closer.  Ugh.  We also had playgroup at our house a couple of weeks ago.  6 babies, all older than Thomas.  The stairs were an issue...they were all fascinated by trying to get to the stairs.  We had to drag the coffee table over as a barrier.  Time for another gate!  Ezra and Emily came over too which was great!  We hadn't seen them in forever.  Funny to see that Ez and Thomas behave pretty much identical to eachother.  Thomas seems like he is changing on a daily basis lately.  He is "talking" so much!  He says "dadadadadadada" over and over again all day.  He is eating a bit more variety although he still won't eat the food I make him which is frustrating.  I also threw in an Oscar and Effie picture update.  Effie sleeps like that most of the time, with her tongue mostly out.  Ridiculous.  

Time for a jumper?

Palm Springs part Deux

Palm Springs was so much fun!  Shem and I got to go out to an awesome Italian dinner one night.  Another night I got to go out with my cousin Paige for some Mexican and and a margarita and yet another night my whole family went out to a great fish place while Thomas had a babysitter.  That's 3 nights at a restaurant in a week for me...a record since having Thomas for sure!  I almost couldn't handle all the good food.  Thomas also got to meet a bunch of relatives.  Kevin, Peggy, Lindsay and Paul and Joe, Jennifer, Paige and Leah all came over to see Thomas for the first time.  It was really fun seeing everyone.  We can't wait to go back at some point because it actually felt like a real vacation!  Flash forward to the present----TW is almost 7 months old (in 3 days).  He is getting his top tooth in right now.  I actually didn't even notice; our babysitter pointed it out!  So far he has handled teething really well.  But since he is getting them early, the doctor said he will have the worst of it (molars) around a year old.  Thomas also had his 6 month check up a few weeks ago.  He was 18 pounds and is still in the 99th percentile for height.  The doctor said that means he will be TALL!  He's starting to eat more food although he still isn't real into it.  So far we have tried carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, squash, pears, and avocado.  I am thinking Thomas will be crawling sometime soon.  He has started to push up onto all fours and sort of shoot himself forward.  

Palm Springs---Thomas swims

There are so many pictures from our Palm Springs trip that I am going to do a couple of posts.  The first one is featuring Thomas swimming!!!!  It was so much fun bringing Thomas into the pool.  It gave us something to do during his awake time and he seemed to enjoy it.  He didn't really seem to know what to make of it, but he just kind of floated around or was carried by us.  We also swam and layed by the pool alot while he was napping so, it felt like we were actually on vacation too!  Thomas was quite fascinated/terrified by Uncle Doug's beard.  Once he acclimated to it, his favorite thing to do was to pull on it as you can see from the picture in the pool.  

Shem's art opening

Shem has a show up right now at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes and we had the opening on February 22nd.  I have been lagging on the blog!  Anyway, we had tons of fun at the opening.  It was a slight bummer because we were in the middle of a major storm and it poured rain that entire day, but lots of people still came and we had a great time.  Shem's show is up through the end of March and he has sold 4 paintings so far!  We are super proud of him and thought the show looked great.  Thomas came along for the opening and cried at most of the people, but all in all, he had fun too.  Next up on our blog are pictures from our week long trip to Palm Springs that we just arrived home from!  

6 months old!

Ok, so we are two days shy but, Thomas is pretty much 6 months old!  Time has been flying.  He is becoming more and more of a little person and we are loving it as his personality emerges.  Thomas has been Mr. Smiles the last few weeks but, he has also developed some stranger anxiety, busting into tears when strangers say hello.  Hope that goes away!  He is getting more mobile and I sense that crawling isn't too far off in his future.  We're still on his two bottom teeth which are getting so big but, I am keeping my eyes peeled for more.  We keep getting sick which has been annoying but, I guess that is part of kid-land...constant colds.  Every morning we go in to get Thomas at 7:15 a.m. and he has started to be just chilling in his crib when we come in.  He gives us a big smile when he sees us, as you can see in one of the pictures.  I went to Sonoma to a couple of vineyards for the first time with friends.  I can't believe I lived in Santa Barbara for 5 years and had never been to a winery.  It was so much fun.  It is so beautiful up there!!  Thomas came along and we had a great time.  I took pictures of the sheep that graze around the vineyards.  Apparently they rent them out and let them loose in the vineyards so they don't have to mow.  Shem's solo show is this weekend up in Point Reyes so, we are looking forward to that.  He already sold a painting!...very exciting.  I will post pictures of the opening after this weekend!