Bragging

*WARNING* This post is full of bragging and all about "my family is awesome", if you don't want to read it, don't. But you're missing out ;)
So, I feel a little bit of a need to brag about my son, and so this is a great outlet for me :) 
Today Thomas fed himself breakfast, totally.  I gave him a bowl of trix (I actually held it so the milk didn't end up everywhere) and he took the spoon from me and fed himself.  He managed to only get a little milk on his onesie, and no cereal casualties at all :)  I did feed him the last few straggalers from the bowl, because he couldn't corral them, but he did it all by himself!
His new favorite thing to do is kick balls around, we have a lot of them cause he loves to watch them roll, and now he's figured out if he goes up to it, he can kick it and it goes all over.  He loves it, he gets so proud of himself.
He has his first taste of steak today. We went to Texas Roadhouse and my dad got prime rib, well Thomas has a few molars now, so I told my dad it was okay to feed him some meat. He wouldn't eat ANYTHING but my dad's prime rib.  It was great, he spit out the potatoes, the roll, the corn, my mom's pulled pork, nothing would make him happy but they prime rib.  He's starting off right :)
When we got home from the restaurant he was playing and I said to him "Thomas, do you want me to take off your coat?" and he turned to James and I and said "Yeah" and started to take off his coat.  We were so proud!
He will also now pick up toys and bring them to me if I ask.  So if he drops a toy, and I say to him "Thomas, can you pick it up and bring it to Mommy?" he'll pick it up, and bring it to me. He usually then wants it back, I mean it is only fair, he gave it to me, I should give it to him, right?  Of course our living room still isn't clean... ever, but we are working on it!
In other news, I passed my finance class. It was basically a miracle, because my teacher was nuts, but I did it!  I was so excited, I called my whole family :)
James finished math, which is also basically a miracle because he did his entire class in one week.  His dad and sister in law were instrumental in helping.  Without them it wouldn't have happened, and we love them and owe them a LOT!  We are currently coming up with a fun way to say thank you to them, thoughts?
Christmas is almost here, and we actually got snow today, of course it lasted about 2 hours, but hey, Thomas loved it, and we went and played while it was still on the ground :)

Great great week!

So Nuskin has been very very good to us this week!  We went to the Christmas party, it was really fun.  Good food, nice music, and tons of fun! Every year they give out a ton of prizes, every employees name gets put into a raffle type thing and they pull out names and give away TV's, vaccuums, Kitchenaids, and other fun stuff.  Well, James won!  He won a wood chip grill/meat smoker.  It was really nice!  He was so excited, he got to go on stage and he was so fun to watch.  As he was leaving the stage the President of the company said "Who is that guy? Where does he work? He should be in sales, he's funny!"  Then as we were leaving the party he came up to James and said "You were the best! Thanks" Then this morning at Costco (I'll explain in a second) we had like 30 people come up to us and tell James how awesome he was and how much fun it was to watch him, that he was their favorite.  The whole time I kept thinking "Well duh! I knew he was awesome! But it is nice for you people to realize it!" So after James won at the party, they then started giving the gifts that all of the employees got.  $100 gift card to Costco, two week pay bonus, $500 american express gift card, and a Kindle Fire!!!  It was so much fun!  And the morning after the party they always have a Costco morning for everyone to go and spend their gift card and play games and stuff.  We went, it was fun.  Then this afternoon James's boss called a meeting for everyone, and they let him know... HE DOESN'T WORK SATURDAYS!! I'm so excited!  I HATED when he had to work on Saturday, I'm so stoked! They want to cut back on overtime hours, so no more Saturdays.  YAY!  Anyway, it's been a right good week for us 'round these parts. Then tonight, we are going with my family to look at Christmas lights, I can't wait for Thomas to see them.  We also got him a new forward facing carseat to try, I think he'll love it!!  All in all, great week!!!

Gender ultrasound Scheduled!

I did it! I convinced James to go do an ultrasound at 16 weeks!  We will only pay $45 for it, of course it'll be like 10 min long... But who cares!  I'm so excited.  It's on December 15th at 3, I'll keep you updated :)  I'm thinking girl, and so is everyone else... So we shall see :)  Also, thinking I may have changed my mind about the girls name I have told EVERYONE we plan on naming our first daughter.  Which is bad, because it's my grandmother's name, and everyone is really excited about it.  So we shall see, but I am seriously thinking of how bad it would be if I changed it.... I don't think anyone will be too upset.... Maybe.  We had originally planned on Lorelie Elizabeth, however now I'm thinking I really like Charlotte.... I dont know!

Very, very sick baby

Thomas is so sick, it's horrible!  He has had a fever of 102-103 for the past 4 days.  I took him into the Dr. on Monday, and he did a full exam, and Thomas has a viral infection, so he has no meds for him, he just has to wait it out.  Well, he's getting really dehydrated, so I think we may have to take him into the ER to get him some more liquids.  He won't eat or drink anything, I have offered everything I can think of, he did eat a few bites of James's cheesecake last night.  But he throws up everything he eats.  Poor baby. 
I did find a new pediatrician though.  Our old one was just getting on my nerves.  I called his office to set up Thomas's 15 month shots, they told me they dont do shots anymore, it costs them too much.  So I said "well, where can I go then?" (I mean really, isn't that what the dr does, where else can I go?)  The county health office.  Yeah, right, like I'm going to go there where there is some nurse who sees 500 people a day and couldn't care less if my baby cries when he gets poked with a needle.  Then, I tell them he's really sick, and I wanted him checked out, they said "We don't have any openings today or tomorrow, take him to the instacare"  What's the freaking point of a pediatrician if I don't ever go there for Thomas's medical needs.  So I found a new one through my insurance.  I really like him.  In the one appt we had he gave me 5 different ideas of how to help Thomas with his weight gain (other dr just said, give him more food, and he'll grow out of it)  he gave me stuff to help his dry skin and told me Johnson's can sometimes have bad effects on some really sensitive kids (other dr just said to put more lotion on it when he came out of the bath and to bathe him in lukewarm water.  Really? What toddler wants to bathe in almost cold water?)  And he told me exactly how to give Thomas ibuprofen, and what other stuff to give him to help combat his cold (other dr just said give him some tylenol)  So, I am much happier.  Depsite the fact that I am getting ready to take Thomas to the ER once he gets up from his nap.  I am only blogging because I already cleaned my living room, kitchen and bedroom and finished my hw, and I am going insane just sitting here.  I need to help Thomas somehow!!!

Laziness

That is the only reason I don't post more often.  That and I know only about 2 people read this blog, which is fine.  I don't expect to be famous or anything, I'm no Poe.  That and the past few weeks have been the worst part of pregnancy. Sick all the time, tired even when I first woke up, not eating anything, wishing my son would enjoy just watching gilmore girls for 5 hours a day (I know, I'm a great mother).  But now, I am happy to say, I have made it out of my 1st trimester, and am now onto the 2nd!  It's nice, I still need a nap some days, but I can eat almost anything (expect for bacon, sometimes I love it, others, I hate it).  The only thing that has stuck around is food aversions, they are always changing, what I love one day, I'll hate the next, but atleast I have variety in my diet! No more toast for breakfast lunch and dinner.  Needless to say my Dr. got upset when I went in for my OB appt and I had lost 5 lbs.... She gave me a lecture about how I need to be going up, not down.  So I'm trying to get fat.  It's actually kinda nice to have that goal rather than to get skinny.  Getting fat should be much eaiser right?  Nope, still no weight gain, and I have another appt on Thursday.... Here comes the lecture I'm sure!
Also, I think I've convinced James to give to me as a Christmas present an ultrasound so we can find out the sex early :)  It's only $45, and it's in my dr's office.  I can find out in about a week and a half, so we are totally going to.  At first he thought it was totaly stupid and frivolous (which it is)  but he has come around to thinking it's may be a good idea (easy Christmas gift!)  I'm so excited.  I think it's a girl, but there is really no telling at this point, we'll see!
And my new nephew Carson was born on Saturday.  He's adorable and tiny, and made me very excited for another tiny little baby.  Probably because he didn't cry, or vomit, or poop the whole time I was with him :)

Coming back!

It's been a month since I have visited blog-land, I feel a little sad, and like I've been forgotten or something.  Though I know I am the one who is responsible! 
Big news, big super surprising, unexpected, freaking awesome happy news: WE ARE PREGNANT!  That's right, baby number 2 is growing like crazy and making me feel like I am growing like crazy.  Thankfully no weight gain at all, party! Especially since I am only about 9 weeks along.  We are all very excited (it took me about a week to start breathing again, cause we were surprised by this little one)  but now we are all happy!  We are teaching Thomas that the baby is in Mommy's belly, and he hugs it and hits my stomach over and over (it's very fun)  He is learning so much, he says all sorts of things (of course they are all a little blurred and slurred, but I like it!)  He understands so much now, he is walking everywhere, and has started to try and run (it's freakin' adorable!)  He is going to be a giraffe for Halloween.  Our ward is doing a fun soup dinner and trunk or treat, I am so excited!!  I want to decorate and give out candy and have people love how cute my son is (it's the perfect evening!)
James and I are both really struggling with school this semester, we just have no motivation.  We would rather chase Thomas around and play all night then do homework... it's a problem we are dealing with.
I'm sick all the time, James is FREAKING awesome and does everything (he gets up every morning with Thomas, the dishes, cleaning the house, making the bed, loving me) all the important things.  We are doing great, I am so excited for the holidays, I just can't wait... It's like a craving or something.

1 Year Old

That's right, that tiny baby we were so excited to meet, and so completely distraught by having him stay in the hospital, the one who makes us laugh all the time, and occassionaly cry, is 1.  He made it to his first birthday (in other words I made it to his birthday, without being too overly obsessive or controlling or crazy mommy who never lets her kid do anything, Okay, I made it with only kind of being that mom)  Anyway, it was great fun! We went to dinner, we got cupcakes, we had a party, Thomas had his first bloody nose (it must be some sort of right of passage for boys, right?) it was great.  In other firsts, he talks! He says "Hi" and "Bye, Bye" and "Dance" and "Mom"  Sometimes its more clear than others, but he does it!  I really love it, he is growing so fast! It makes me happy and sad (I think I'm bipolar).  He LOVES cuddling with everything, pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, towels, clothes mom has just folded (that's his favorite).  He grabs it, throws it down, and then holds tight and puts his head down and smiles, it's adorable!  Here is a fun 1 year later type shot (we just did family pictures again)

Random

Often when I think to myself "I should probably update my blog, because the 2 people who read it may enjoy it" and then I find myself thinking "What is exciting enough in my life to write about?" and then I get depressed, and don't write on the blog nearly enough. Well, folks, hold on to your seats because I have something to write about! And it's not just how amazing my son and husband are, which I feel like is what all of my posts degenerate into.... Anyhow.
James and I had a county fair themed date this week (I came up with it, I was proud)  So I made him an invite, and got him a coupon to buy us burgers at Sammy's (YUM!) and then I was going to have it all set up for when he got home, well, I got sick. So he was home all day (YAY!)  So instead of it all being a surprise, he helped.  But he was very good at going on all my errands and not asking what things were for (mostly, okay not at all, but he is awesome!)  So we got some games, and awesome food together and had a ton of fun.  Here are the games:
Target shooting, with an air soft gun, a cardboard box and little balloon cut outs from the dollar store
Ring toss, with water bottles and headbands, because I couldn't find anything circular to throw
Throwing ping pong balls at stacked cups
Throwing ping pong balls into differing size containters with water in them for point, awesome!
Here is the food: (all made by yours truly)
Motzarella sticks
Carmel apples
Carmel and Chocolate popcorn
Funnel cakes
Regular cake

All in all, it was a great date, except the fact that it took us a few hours to do it all, cause I kept getting tired and taking breaks... sad, I know.
In other news, school is starting this week... I have very mixed emotions.  I am so excited it's almost done, and then I am so annoyed that it's ALMOST done.  So, you can see how that goes. 
Also, I LOVE our new apartment, it's so great (a little hot) and I love my kitchen, this apartment already feels like home, where as the last one took several months before I even felt comfortable in it...
Birthday party coming up!  September 10, noon, rock canyon park, let me know if you're coming (Brittany and Cassandra, cause I'm pretty sure you are the only two who read this...)

Moving Day!

Well, a week ago today, James and I discussed maybe moving, I had looked into a few places, and found one I really liked, so we decided to post our apartment as for sale, and 20 minutes later I found someone to buy it (well needless to say it didn't work out, long story)  But we decided to move, the next day.  So we did, in a matter of 3 days we had decided to move, and actually moved.  Most stressful week of my life!  James didn't have work off, so I relied a lot on my mom, and James family when they could come, and I did most of it by myself.  It was intense.  And really hot.  But it worked out!  We are here, and I love it!  Now we have to find someone to live in our old place, because the girl who wanted it wasn't approved for the Resident Manager position.  So we are still looking, but I am sure it'll work out!
I just have to tell you about our new place, bigger kitchen, dishwasher, disposal, big living room, baby room that is far enough away we can talk above a whisper and not wake him, bigger bedroom, bigger bathroom, and above all else, it costs less! Yes, less than the 485 we were paying at the other apartment :)  I feel pretty proud of myself.
Thomas is so amazing! He is growing like crazy, he is always trying to figure out how to do stuff, he is so smart, he watches James and I do something once, and then he can do it.  He knows how to work our TV remote, he understands how to put his toys together and take the back apart, he loves to put toys inside of something and then take them out.  He knows where things go, and puts them away, he will actually take his toys out of their basket, so he can put them back.  He loves his toys that make sounds and have buttons, he pushes them when they light up, and it's adorable.  He said Hi today, I was so excited!  He calls out for his dad, and chases me around the apartment, I love it!  His new favorite thing is to cuddle, with everything, pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, dirty or clean clothes, me, James, the floor, James's bike helmet, everything! He loves to cuddle.  He is getting close to walking, I know I say that all the time, but he is!  He takes a few steps, and then just stops.  He also understand what toy is what, I will ask him to get something, like his bear, and he looks at all of his toys, and grabs the bear and hugs it, and shows it to me.  He loves to show us what he finds, he offers it to us, and then wants it back to examine it.  He plays with my phone, but doesn't chew on it! I love it! My phone is safe!  I taught him "not in your mouth" and now he won't do it.  He also knows what he isn't supposed to do, and shakes his head no before or while doing it, I love it!  He eats everything now, he loves chicken nuggets, he takes little bites, and it's adorable.  He also loves muffins, and makes hardly any mess (no more than I do),  I so proud of my clean little boy!
I am planning an epic birthday party, I am so stoked, but I am also extremely sad that my baby is almost a toddler, and not a baby.  I can't handle how quickly he's growing, he looks like a toddler, and not a baby, and I laugh and cry at the same time all day long. It's very tiring. But the party will rock! Awesome cakes, fun decorations, all made by me, and super yummy food!  It's gonna be big (and yes that was me quoting the creepy women from Hercules talking about indoor plumbing)
Anyway, my kid is the cutest, my husband is the most amazing, and I am very lucky!

New Talents

Thomas is developing like crazy! He mimics everything James and I do now,  his new favorite thing is to take the TV remote from us, and point it at the TV and push buttons on it.  It's adorable!  Although it makes me feel like I probably use the remote way too much if he knows how it works already (I swear we don't even have cable, we just listen to Pandora on our BluRay player a lot, and Gilmore Girls, always Gilmore Girls).  We have some of those little cars that you can push back and forth and then they go on their own, well thomas is trying to figure out how to make them do it, he pushes them all along the floor, back and forth, and then lets go, but he inevitably pushes too hard when he lets go, and it ends up upside down, so the wheels just spin... we are working on it!  He also knows which stuffed animal is which.  When I ask him where one of them is, he grabs is and brings it to me, especially his little bear, it's his favorite, he grabs it and hugs it and smiles, I just love it!  When he smiles his nose scrunches up and it's the cutest thing! He makes a mad face now, he shows his teeth, scrunches his nose and breaths really hard, it's hilarious, whenever we take away something he wants, he does it, and it's so hard not to laugh.  He also shakes his head no in response to everything, which is really funny, because he doesn't really mean no, but whenever I tell him not to do something, he shakes his head no at me.  I love it! He's getting so old!

Running, Running, Running

I am becoming a runner, heaven help me.  Every day, I pack up Thomas, a few water bottles, a blanket to shade his face, way too many toys for him, and put him in the jogging stroller and head out.  Most days James gets to come with us, but if Thomas doesn't get up till 7 then we don't have time before James goes to work, so Thomas and I go alone.  We go 2 miles everyday, and I try to run about half of it.  I am slowly working my way up to running all of it, I add a little more distance every week, but I think next week I am going to stick with the distance I did this week, because it was still really kicking my butt by the end of this week. 
We have been doing this regularly for almost 2 months now.  I mean I haven't been perfect, there have been days when we had plans that prevented us from having time, I had a test, or it was a holiday so we had family plans, or Thomas was in a horrible mood and I didn't feel like pushing a screaming baby in a jogging stroller for 2 miles.  But on average we have done really well. 
I have decide my goal is to run a 5k, it won't be for a while, since a 5k is over 3 miles, and I am not quite there yet... But I am excited to try! It's actually becoming an addiction.  On the days I don't go, I am a lot more tired, I don't accomplish as much, I am not in as good a mood, and I want to eat more....  So now I feel like I need to run for my mental health.  I have to be honest, I put a good portion of the blame on my dear friend Brittany, she is a runner, and she loves it, so I decided to give it a try, I see why she loves it so much!

Success

James survived! And he did it in great time too! He finished in like 3 1/2 hours (which to me seems like he should have won, but apparently people do it faster...)  I am so proud!  He is home now, and a little sore, but none the worse for wear.  He is so amazing! He said the swim was a little harder than expected, mostly because there were so many people in the water around him, it made him feel claustrophobic, which I totally get, I don't like to sleep face to face with James because I feel like he's breathing my air and I am not getting enough... It's a quirk I have (odd I know, but James puts up with me well!)  Then he and Liz did the bike together and the run, they did great!  His brother John (who is super athlete guy) beat his own personal best and did it in like 2 hours! (or something like that) Way to go John!  All in all the Spudman was a success this year! James told me we should do it together next year... I told him I totally would! But the last time I signed up for it, I ended up being pregnant, so we'll see what happens by this time next year!

Spaghetti

We gave Thomas spaghetti the first time the other night, it was a total mess, and absolutely adorable!  I loved it!  He is getting so big! I really can't believe it.  He loves to feed himself.  I made him an avocado sandwich yesterday, and he ate all of it.  He loves muffins of all sorts, and all pastas, and juices.  He loves fruits, and anything mom and dad are eating.  He always want to eat chips, but he isn't quite ready for those yet....
I am having a blast getting ready for his birthday party :)  I am making everything for it, I have made the sign, and it has turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.  And I am making the cake.  I went to Hobby Lobby yesteday (AKA my most favorite store ever) and found something fun and new, cake decorating paper. It's sugar paper, and I am going to use it instead of fondant, because it's so much easier, and it won't rip and make me want to scream and cry.  Which is always a happy thing.  Also, it's cheaper, and eaiser to work with (so I am told by some random woman in the store lol)  so I am going to experiement with it.  James also got me a frog cookie cutter (it came in a pack of about 100 animal cookie cutters, but I have to wait for the rest till Christmas, yay!) He is the best husband ever!  I am really excited.  We stared a dinner and a movie blog, where I will put all my cookie exploits and he can review movies, it's going be great, go check it out!  www.momsdinnerdadsmovie.blogspot.com  I think.... I'll check and make sure late, it's on my FB page! I am pretty stoked! 
I finished my stats class, which is basically the most exciting thing to happen in a while.  It is a huge huge stress off of my shoulders.  I didn't realize how much it was making me want to pull my hair out all the time.  But it was, and as a last little poo on you, I didn't do the last chapter of hw (since I had a 144% A anyway, how does that happen anyhow?)  It's so nice.  Although I had a midterm in another class during the same time frame, and I studied and took it, felt pretty good to, and thought I did alright, I got a 67%, I almost cried.  Well, the class average was 74%, with a standard deviation of 14%, I was within 1 SD, and I found myself hoping he graded on the curve, cause then I would be great... and then I realized  I was thinking in statistics, and wanted to scream and laugh at the same time... Funny how math does that to.  Although my sister in law Jessica (amazing girl btw) tells me statistics isn't really math, it's evil. 
James is doing awesome, although, I have to tell you, he's going to die on July 30, 2011.  Seriously.  He is in the Spudman Triathalon in Idaho.  And he hasn't trained at all.  I guess that 's not true.  He has come running with me a few times in the morning.  So he won't die all the way, he'll just be mostly dead and we'll have to find that creepy old guy from princess bride to give him one of the chocolate coated pills.... I have been a Harris too long ;) lol jk
So all is well here, Thomas is the cutest baby ever, James is the most amazing husband ever, and I try and keep up with their awesome amazingness as best I can :)  ttfn!

Crafting

So I have gotten into a very crafty mood lately... Perhaps its just a cycle I go through, craft craft craft then nothing, then it comes back, like an addiction.  Anyway, I have started making crafts for Thomas' birthday party.  I am making a sign, it's turning out quite well.  It's going to be a Frog Prince theme, and I am so excited!! Thomas will be 10 months old this week, and I love him!! He is getting so big!
School is going well, long, but good.  Thomas and I go on a walk every day, 2-2.5 miles.  I try and jog about half of it, but I am not always successful :)  I do enjoy it though!  I have a dr appt on Thursday so I can start Thyroid medicine so I can hopefully start to loose weight.  We did a whole month of no sugar, and it was good.  We felt great, but I missed Coke an awful lot!  Anyhow, thats the haps round these parts!!

Queen of the Klutzes

 Let me tell you a fairy tale children, the story about the Queen of the Kultzes.
Once upon a time there was a girl, she had a wonderful husband a beautiful baby boy, and all around wonderful life.  She lived in a wonderful home and never wanted for love and joy.  One day she decided to open her refridgerator, something she had done hundreds of times before.  But this time would be different. This time, instead of closing it like a normal person, she closed it on her ankle.  And not just slightly hit it, no, she hit it just right, and just hard enough that she collapsed in pain (because she was a big fat sissy, didn't I mention that?)  In the end, her ankle was not broken, even though her loving husband had taken her to the hospital to have it x-rayed just in case.  And all was well.

Okay, so I may not be the next great American author, but you get my point.  And yes, it's a true story.  I really did hit my ankle with the door to my fridge, and yes, I did think I broke, and yes, it really hurt.  Thankfully it's just a bad bruise.  The doc said I had a contusion on all of the soft tissue and the bone.  Which in lamen's terms means I am a baby and nothing is actually wrong.  But boy did it hurt a lot for not having anything wrong with it. 
I am really looking forward to the 4th of July, and now that I don't have a broken ankle I will fully be able to enjoy it.  Although James will probably say I should not continue my daily walk/jog with Thomas, I think I might anyway... I hate to get out of the habit when I have worked so hard to get into the habit.  We shall see what happens.

I think it's working!

James and I have been off of sugar for almost 3 weeks now.  We got rid of most of our junk food (we kept some and put it in food storage for after our sugar fast, you know the oreos, milanos, reese's cups, the good stuff!)  We (mostly I) are trying to loose weight.  For me ever since I had Thomas I have really been struggling with my weight, while for most women nursing just shreds pounds, for me it holds on to them.  I have tried medicines, extremely low calorie diets, different types of excercise, eating more produce, and other random stuff.  Well, we decided to drop sugar and I am now walking 30 min a day.  Before I would do some weights and a little of this and a little of that, but I guess it wasn't ever consistent enough.  So now almost 3 weeks into our experiment I have lost 2 inches from my waist and 2 inches from my hips.  I was so excited!  I have another Dr's appt next week because I am having thyroid issues, so that will help a lot too. I am quite proud, I must say.

Dates

So James and I have tried really hard to reinstitue date night.  So last week I planned it, and this week James Planned it.  When I did it we had a Chinese theme night.  I made paper lanterns and oragami and used google translate to write different words in my interpretation of Chinese.  I am sure a real Chinese person would have thought it was horrible, but I was proud.... I put up curtains so our front room was sectioned off, and we ate Panda express on bamboo plate mats on our coffee table while sitting on pillows.  It was a ton of fun!!

James planned a green night.  We had green bacon, green omlets, limeade, wore green and went and saw The Green Lantern (It wasn't very good).   It was a ton of fun!  I love that we have reinstated our date nights!  Thomas is usually with us, so it's more like family date night, but it's still really important!

Other crafts I have been doing would include:
Cute love notes with treats left for James about once a week
I made JAM!  strawberry and peach, all by myself. I was so proud
I fixed the pillows I made for our living room.  They had a button in the middle, but slowly they both fell out, so I re did it with stronger thread and better buttons. Hope they stay...
I made a spoon holder for Thomas, it drove me nuts that his little spoons were always all over the place, and then suddenly there weren't any clean and I had no idea, so I made a holder for them out of the fabric I made his bedroom set out of and a toilet paper holder... It worked suprisingly well.
I am going to make Thomas's first birthday cake!  I am going to have to do a practice one since I of course like the hardest one possible.  But it's going to be great!


We have started doing the bountiful baskets, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  I get all this delicious fresh produce and I have been making all sorts of yummy stuff with it! Today I am going to attempt to make some Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Dressing... I found about 10 recipes that were very similar, but with slight variations, so I am going to keep them handy but do it myself and hope it's good...

I have also set a new goal for myself.  I was doing some HW and realized that all of the goals I had set of my life were goals that I had already accomplished.... Get married, have cute baby, graduate college, save to buy home (in the process).  So I am making new ones (I actually freaked out a little when I realized I had NO long term goals anymore, but it's all better now)  I am going to learn everything I can about cooking.  I LOVE to do it, so I want to try different techniques and different foods.  I told James that he would have to eat some experiemental foods, and he said it was okay, so we are all a go!  I am really excited actually!

Kitchen Utensils

So yesterday James suggested to me that I put the crazy story of the demise of our kitchen utensils.
Here goes!!

I was trying to make some guacamole because we had bought some avacados on sale and I love guacamole.  So I cut open the avacado, and then I put the knife on the pit and pushed a little so I could get out the pit, well, my knife snapped in half.  Literally, in half.  And of course I was using a very sharp serated knife, and it sliced open the side of my hand... Thankfully it wasn't to wide, but it was deep enough that my hand aches and when I move it too much it really doesn't feel good....  But that was kitchen utensil number one.  These knives really aren't that bad, they were a wedding gift but we haven't had much trouble with them so far, one broke in a pumpkin on halloween when James was carving, but it was a big honkin' pumpkin!
And the second was my favorite can opener.  I should probably mention that it's also our only can opener... Very unfortunate as I was trying to make a pot pie for lunch today (I made it yesterday).  I was opening a can of corn, and it was a little tough, so I just put a little mucsle into it, as they say, and it snapped.  The handle literally snapped off! What is this?!?!
So either I have developed super strength, or I use my kitchen utensils way too often...  I am going with the latter of the two I think.  Although being a mom is really good strength training :)

Hide Your Valuables!

Because Thomas will inevitably want to take them and suck on them.  Most moms say their baby tries to eat everything, and it's true, most babies do, but not Thomas.  He doesn't want to actually eat it unless it's food, and yes he can tell the difference.  He will just suck on it, maybe bite down a little, but never actually try to eat it.  He is very picky about what he will eat.  Usually this means that if I will eat it he will.  He feeds himself finger foods all the time, and is suprisingly good at it.  I will cut up a muffie, or bread or whatever and give it to him, and then check on him and it's gone, so I figured he dropped it, or threw it at the wall, but no, it's actually been eaten!  I am so proud of him!  He eats 3-4 containers of baby food in one sitting (and it's the large ones too).  He loves anything with Oatmeal, and cinnamon.
He is crawling all over the place, chasing me everywhere I go, and having a blast. He does get into a lot though, but usually only electronics... He never messes with other stuff...  He is standing by himself now as well, he will take a step and then fall, but it's pretty cute.  He also has started to crawl  on his toes instead of his knees.  He climbs up on everything, including people and pillows, and anything he can grab.  He waves on command, and loves it.  He is always talking and loves to call out for James when he's happy, and me when he's sad.  (What's up that? Mom only gets a shout out in saddness?!?!)  And he is getting so big so fast. I can't believe how quickly he is growing up!
I am back in school, and it's a lot of work... I had no idea that in my senior year of college teachers would still think it's fun to assign busy work that has no purpose at all but appartently they do.  Oh well, I'm so close to being done that it's really a small price to pay. 
Well, my computer is being attacked by one very curious boy.... I should probably stop him before he causes real damage, to himself or the computer.

Rough Day

Today was a very rough day for poor Mr. Thomas.  It started out well, he slept until 8, we got up, played got ready for church, it was great!  Church was even good, James and I spoke today on gratitude.  I spoke for way too long, and James didn't get to speak long enough, sounds like my life! I should really stop talking so much.... Anyhow, he was great! My parents came and watched him and it was wonderful, he didn't make a sound.  We made it through all 3 hours with a happy baby.  We came home, fed him and put him down for a nap, that's when the day turned bad.  After about 45 minutes he started to cry, so James went to go check on him, and then I hear James say "Oh no!! Thomas! Oh buddy are you okay?!?!"  so I run into our room, which by the way is where Thomas was, on our bed, that was our biggest mistake ever!  Thomas woke up, and crawled right off the bed.  The bed that is so tall I had to have a step stool to get in it while I was pregnant, the bed that I still have to jump into, he feel off head first.  Thankfully he is okay, he had a bump on his head, but nothing more than that.  Although we were traumatized!  Scared James and I half to death.  We took off his onesie and diaper and checked his whole body to make sure nothing hurt or was red.  He is just fine now.  Albeit a little fussy for the rest of the day (can you blame him?!).  It was a bad moment for us.
The good part of the story is that he is crawling!  He decided it wasn't quite as bad as he may have thought.  Actually Cassandra brought Jackson over, who is an expert crawler, and it motivated Thomas.  Now we have to try and hide the blu ray player from his little fingers.....

Spring is a Pansy

That's right, I said it!  I mean, come on.  It is May for heaven's sake! Yet we still have to bundle up to leave our house, Thomas has to have a blanket and layers and hats, I need a scarf and jacket, it's so ridiculous! I want to roll in the grass, go frolicking through meadows, pick wild flowers.... Ok, maybe that is a little excessive :) But I do want to take Thomas on a walk without extra layers and freezing toes!
Thomas is also very excited, he is trying to walk to show his glee.  He took 2 steps the other day :) And hasn't taken any more since.  But he loves standing up, it's fun!  He is getting really good at moving around, but he doesn't like to actually crawl, he tried it a few times and decided that scooting along on his stomach is more fun.  It's pretty cute.  Although I am learning now that he has figured out that if he cries, I will pick him up.  Which is very true, but now I am trying very very hard to make him do somethings himself, like crawl to the toys he wants, and pull himself up on to my lap, all of which he is very capable of.  (As I am writing this, it just started raining and I am cursing Spring, yet again!)   Anyhow, Thomas now has one little tooth, it's adorable, until he bit me the other day, and I yelped in pain, scared him a lot, and it was all very traumatic.  He cried and didn't want me to hold him for a while, it was really sad.  He got over it after he napped :)
I started back in school!!  It's going well, except for the fact that my professors are all really scattered.  One had quizzes up for the wrong book, one didn't have the course work on line for 3 days after the class started, one told us to go to the counseling center, but the center won't talk to me until my teacher does.  It's all very bureaucratic. And annoying. I am really wanting to do as much course work as possible right now, get my online classes done as soon as possible so that I can focus on the harder courses, like Statistics... Not excited for that one, at all!
James has placed in all of his events in the corporate games, Tennis, Horseshoes and Ultimate Frisbee :)  Silver in all of them, he's pretty awesome!

Easter Egg Hunt

Weight Gain

Thankfully it's Thomas's weight gain, not mine :)  and he finally is gaining!!! YAY!  he is now:

weight: 14.11 lbs :)

He did it! He's finally getting bigger! And I love it!  I know so many people say "Oh, I want him to stay small forever!" or "I miss the tiny baby!"  But i love love love watching him grow!  I love that he is learning things and trying to crawl , he is interested in everything, and curious about it all.  I love it, I love showing him stuff, and letting him learn and discover, it's so much fun!  I am having so much fun with him!  He loves eating, and playing, and especially loves cookies.   Those dissovible ones, he adores them! He eats them all the time, even when he's not hungry :)  I love it!  He went to his first easter egg hunt, he missed it really, he was distracted by the grass... But I had fun taking pictures :) Hooray for being a picture happy mom :)

6 Months

Yes, I do realize Thomas is now 6 months and 2 weeks, but we are behind ,what can I say?

Height: 26 inches
Weight: 13.8 lbs
Head circ: I don't even know why that matters

So as you can see, very very little weight gain :(  But he is meeting all of his developmental milestones on time or early, so we are just giving him anything we can that has calories in it to make him gain, but not too concerned at this point, there isn't much more I can do.  He now has solids twice a day (eating around 10 oz at each feeding) nursing about 5 times a day, and eating cookies and trying to eat little puff things, I have even introduced the sippy cup with watered down apple juice, which by the way he loves and figured out yesterday how to use, it was adorable!  So we just hope he is a slow gainer, which is not a bad thing when he gets older :)  If only his mom had such luck...
This is James birthday week.  When we got married I decided a day of birthday celebration wasn't enough, and plus, if you do little things every day to celebrate, (a thoughtful card, breakfast in bed, favorite dinner, birthday gift, cake, ect) then you don't have to buy a huge gift, and the birthday is celebrated enough to make the birthday person feel really special.  So we have birthday weeks :)  This week James took off Monday and we played all day, ate at Chili's, went shopping ect.  Tuesday I decorated our entire house with streamers, birthday signs, helium balloons, ribbons and anything else I could think of. There was a delicious cake (chocolate blackberry with ganache!) a giant Reese's egg, and two DVDs, Unstoppable and Star Trek, wrapped with some cadburry eggs.  Wednesday we went to the mall, watched the fugitive and ate cake.  Tonight we are going to Chipotle, and hanging with his parents, I made him breakfast in bed, an omlet and bacon with some blackberries on the side (left over from the cake!).  We got cute cards for him (Thomas and I) and then this weekend we are going to Colorado to celebrate his niece's baptism, so we will party there too! Gotta love Birthday Week!

Firsts

Thomas had his first cookie/cracker thing today.  It's one of those easily dissolvible (I can't figure out how to spell that, and I am tired, so pretend like I don't sound like a complete idiot for not knowing how to spell) ones that he can suck on and they get really soft so he won't choke.  He LOVED it.  He made a really big mess, all over him, me and my couch (hooray for fake leather), but he really liked it.  He is now taking regular naps throughout the day, and he is on a really good eat/sleep/play schedule.  Which makes my life so much better.  Although he still really likes it when I nap with him in the afternoon, he'll sleep much longer if I am with him, so somedays I just cave and nap :) But I love that i can now get some housework done while he naps, my house looks much better!  He is trying to crawl now, he lifted up his whole body for a few seconds the other day, and lunged forward a little, I was so excited!  He says ma-ma all the time, and ba-ba and da-da.  It brings me such joy :)He can sit up by himself, but once he realizes he is doing it on his own, he looks at me, and falls over, I am convinced it's on purpose.
I made a 14 layer cake the other day.  It was really exciting!  It actually ended up being an 11 layer cake, I didn't have enough frosting for all 14 layers.  It was delicious.  I am realizing how much I love making food for other people to enjoy, it brightens my life.  So I try new recipes all the time, James is great about it, trying Southwestern tilaipa, super stoked!  Well, it's lunch time!

Goings on

Things have been a little crazy lately, with nothing really specific, but everything at the same time.  We ran(walked) in the Rex Lee Run, and it was a lot of fun.  James has been crazy busy with school, the semester is ending soon, so of course that means catching up on all the HW he put off :)  So between work and school he is always running, and Thomas and I don't get to see him enough :(  I just registered for my penultimate semester in college, which is really exciting.  But, stupid UVU, they made my schedule as hard as possible!  They couldn't offer the classes I needed online, and then they changed the website and some of the pre req courses, so I had to totaly redo my entire schedule, and for a minute it seemed I would have to take 3 more semesters, with just one course in the last semester, but it worked out, I for some reason can take one of the final courses before a lot of the others, who knows why, but I didn't question it when it worked.  But now I have to find a baby sitter because my classes start at 5:30 and James doesn't get off till 6 :( which means I will see James even less, and I will have to leave Thomas on a regular basis, which is so hard.  But, we'll make it work!
We got our plane tickets to fly to Colorado for James' niece's baptism, we are pretty excited. We were going to drive, but Thomas hates the car, and 8 hours there and 8 hours back seemed like too much for the poor boy, so we found really cheap tickets, meaning we pay only $20 more than we would in gas for the van.  Personally I am stoked, because I hate driving long distances, and because Thomas will be happier!
James birthday is coming, and I am really excited, I made him a picture book, but couldn't wait to give it to him, so he got it yesterday :)
Also, my house is a mess, and I really want to do some spring cleaning, but Thomas really isn't into that.  He wants to be held all the time, and if I leave his sight, he cries like I will never come back, poor kid.  Maybe someday my house will be clean...

2 years

24 months, 104 weeks, 730 days.  James proposed to me 2 years ago today.  I can't believe how long it's been!  It has been the best 2 years, so full of fun, love, and happiness, I can't even believe how wonderful my life is.  We have a great life, the perfect little boy, and so much love.  I never would have been able to imagine how great my life could be, or how wonderful my husband would be.  He is more than I dreamed of, and he is really my perfect match :)

6 months

Thomas is 6 months old!  I am so amazed at how quickly it has gone by.  It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital with him, so excited to get him home and now we are watching him grow every day.  He has fruits and veggi's twice a day, he is sitting up on his own really well, he can scoot himself across the floor, he rolls over all the time. I just can't believe it.  I made him a 1/2 birthday cake :)  Just a yellow cake with chocolate frosting that says "Happy 1/2 Birthday Thomas!"  And green sprinkles :)  We have decided to start a new family tradition, that on half birthdays we will give something away. Do a little service project, something to make someone else happy.  So tonight we are going to do that, I am really excited for it! I love that we are starting our own traditions :)

Cooking Exploits

I have been on a cooking craze lately, and I have really been into eating in our dining room. I know that seems random, but we usually just eat in the living room, it's just easier for us.  But now that thomas is eating too, his high chair is in the dining room, so we have been eating in there.  I made Chocolate Chess pie last night, so good!  It's my mom's recipie, and I love it!  I made this soup (from a can) but it was soo good!  Also, waffles, you can never go wrong with waffles.  I am about to make some fried chicken, rice or potatoes and corn bread, yum!

Scooter

So, we bought a brand new scooter.  Exciting!  We sold the Grand Am a few weeks ago, and so we needed some sort of second vehicle, so James decided he wanted a motorcycle or scooter. Well, we found a brand new scooter for $600. So we jumped on it! We are so excited. We will pick it up on Satruday, and play all day!
Thomas gained weight!  He gained a total of 8 ounces in 2 weeks, which was great.  We were so excited. He loves his solid foods, but not so much squash....  We are working on it :)  He is doing great! He grabs everything, and wants to explore everything. He loves water bottles and anything shiny. 
Today James got to take a long lunch so we could go get the scooter. It was so much fun!  We got a little lost getting there, but we made it, bought the scooter and went to lunch.  We tried DP Cheesesteaks. SO  GOOD! Oh my, it was delicious.  Their bread is so good! I kind of want to just buy the bread and eat it!  You should try it!

5 Months

Okay, here is the info on Thomas as of late:

Height: 26 inches (he's really long)

Weight: 13 lbs 5 oz

As you may (or may not!) have noticed, Thomas hasn't gained any weight, at all.   Not a single ounce.  So we took him into the doctor last week, and to see what was going on.  Well he is alright, but he is now eating rice cereal twice a day and still nursing the same amount. He LOVES it.  I can't believe how much that little stomach can hold!  He is so adorable when he eats the cereal.  It's actually oatmeal because the rice didnt' seem to agree with him... but who cares!  So for the first week I fed him in his bumbo on the coffee table, well that quickly started to hurt my back (I'm getting old). So yesterday we bought a high chair.  I was pretty excited, since we haven't had a need to buy anything for him (beyond diapers) for a while, and I love nothing more than buying stuff for Thomas :)  We went to South Jordan for president's day and it was fun, we hung out, ate tons of food and went shopping. All of the essential holiday plans!
James is doing a triathalon this summer up in Idaho.  I will be standing at the finish line with Thomas cheering him on (there is no way I am going to do it!).  It's actually quite exciting, I am stoked for him, in a "I am so glad I am not doing this, but it will be fun for you to do it!" sort of way.  My brother in law recently became a personal trainer and yesterday afternoon he showed us some stretches and core strengthening workouts, and man am I sore.  While we were doing it I was thinking, "Ah, this isn't so bad, I must be stronger than I thought!"  Well today proves otherwise.  I actually kind of love it, the feeling that I did something good for me, and I may be sore, but it's a good sore.  I got him to write down all of the exercises so I can do them again.
When we went to the dr I also asked him about my weight loss (again) and he basically said it has to take a back burner.  I tried consuming only 1600 calories a day, and I didnt' lose any weight, so now I just kind of have to wait until Thomas is gaining weight, and probably until he is weined.  So I am working on toning everything under my extra layer of fat so that when I can start to loose the baby weight I will (might) have a good looking body again.

Sit!

That's right, today, this most auspicious of days :) Thomas sat up all by himself for an extended peroid of time!  He has been sitting for several seconds at a time for a while, but today he just sat there, staring at me as if to say "Why is this so exciting?"  But boy was I excited!  I quickly took a picture, called his father and posted it all over the internet (see!)  Oh the little joys of motherhood!  (yes this picture kind of gives him an alien head, I took it with my phone, give me a break!)

Food

For some time now I have wanted to post the things I have been cooking. I find that I get a great deal of joy from making yummy food and then sharing those success stories with my friends. So just in case anyone out there actually reads this blog (pretty sure there are only 2 of you:) )  I am going to share my recent recipie endevors :)
Yesteday for lunch I made Rotel Meatloaf. Now traditionally I don't like meatloaf.  Who would like a hunk of ground beef covered in ketchup? Not me.  But my mom made this when I was younger and I love it, think of it as a Tex-Mex meatloaf, that has a bit of spice to it, and absolutely no ketchup.  Usually I make it with potatoes but I was lazy and used my super awesome rice cooker instead. It was really good!
On Friday we had people over so I made sourdough baugette cheese garlic toasts, a pork loin roast, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans.  And I have to say, those were some of the BEST green beans I have ever eaten, I am not sure why/.  But even after everyone quite eating I was still picking at the green beans, I ate all of them!
On Sunday I made a chocolate cake, nothing better! But I had the misfortune of putting cherry frosting on it.  I had it, and I thought, "Oh, Valentines, it will be festive!" Yeah, festive or gross!  Thankfully I only put it in the center of the two layers, cause it was bad.  Ever since James got me a cake stand for Christmas the only desserts I make are ones I can display in that :)
Speaking of which, I made homemade cinnamon rolls the other day.  Anyone need an arm workout? Just make any sort of bread dough from scratch without a mixer, it's actually really good on your abs too.  You can preemptively burn calories so you can enjoy the fruits of your labors later!
Who doesn't love french fries? I mean really, they are potatoey and crunchy and yummy!  So I decided to try and make them at home. Total success!  They had a bit of garlic on them, which is by far the number one used spice in my house, and they were great!
I haven't really decided if I want to put the actual recipies up, that's a lot of work, but if anyone is interested in them, respond to this post and I will put them up!

Blessings

So I realize that Christmas time is traditionally when everyone starts to talk about all the things they are grateful for, and how wonderful their lives are, but I am going to make it a Valentine's Day tradition as well (this holiday has to be good for something other than eating too much chocolate right?) Here is a list of some of the things I am thankful for:

James-he is the BEST husband ever. That's just all there is to it.  He is so kind and sweet, and he loves me :)  He is so wonderful with Thomas, they both get so excited to see one another every night when James gets home. He is so supportive of me, whenever I want to make a new (and sometimes strange) recipie, or reorganize our entire apartment, or just want to soak in the bathtub for an hour, he does whatever he can to make it possible for me.  I honestly could not have hoped for such a wonderful husband. Everyone dreams about what their spouse will be, and how they will act, and what you will do with them.  Well my life with James and everything about him so far exceeded my expectations. I love him with my whole heart and am thankful for him everyday.

Thomas- the best baby in the world.  He is so adorable. And yes, I do get frustrated sometimes when I know he is crying just because he is mad at me or because he is tired and won't go to sleep, but when he smiles, it makes everything in the world  better.  He giggles now, which is the best sound anyone can ever hope to hear.  When your child is happy nothing else seems to matter.

James's Job- While there is a very large part of me that just wishes James could stay home ALL day with Thomas and I, sleeping in, playing, eating food, shopping, exercising ,you know, the good stuff.  I still really appreciate the fact that James's job provides for our family so well.  We have really wonderful health insurance, and NuSkin truly is great to their employees. They are always giving us free product and other random stuff, he gets time off whenever he needs, and it's just a good workplace.

Our apartment-depsite the fact that is has flooded now 3 times in the past year, it's still a nice place.  I finally have it set up in a way that I like, and I have really started to get good at keeping it clean and taken care of. I have finally hit my rythm.  I love that we have a seperate dining room, and such a large bedroom.

Our financial means- we are by no means wealthy, but we are quite comfortable.  We really are so blessed in that we haven't had to go into any debt, or anything along those lines.  We are currently saving up for a good downpayment for our first house, and it's going well.  We can always get the things we need, and we don't have to worry about it.

Our Families- We get to have both my and James's family really close. The Johnson's and The Harris's are great, they love Thomas so much, and they are always so excited to see us.  We always have a place to go if we need it, and celebrating holiday's is never boring with both families so close.  I love that my children will get to have Aunts and Uncles close to them, because I only saw my Aunts and Uncles maybe once every 5 years growing up.  I only had my one grandmother growing up, and I am so glad Thomas will get to have the benefits of such wonderful extended families.

Dottie- which is our affectionate name for our van :)  I always said that I would NEVER own a van, but then James owned one when we got married, so I had to adjust. Now I really do love that van, it's very comfortable to travel in, and it's so easy to get Thomas in and out of. I always have plenty of room if I go shopping, and we can carry people with us too.

All of our "stuff"- we have so many wonderful gadgets and things.  Thomas alone has so many toys and stuff.  We have really nice furniture (even if it's a bit mismatched!) and everything is in good shape.  We have more stuff than we know what to do with, but I really do have everything I want.

The gospel- I never stop being amazed at how wonderful my knowledge of the gospel is.  Just the knowledge it provides is so wonderful, we are so blessed, and we know how blessed we are, which makes it even better.  We have such a wonderful religion, and it's great to have.  I love learning more and understanding more. There is so much to learn, and so many great principles.  It provides me such comfort, and I really do love it.   It's so easy to enjoy life when you can see the innumerable amount of blessings you are constantly given.

And there you have it, my (short) list of the things I am really grateful for.  It may be a little random at times,  but it's all true :)

GOAL!

Thomas chilling at his grandparents watching the superbowl.

He was just so cute laying there I had to take it from another angle

Playing with daddy, they were having a blast!

James and Thomas at Thomas's first superbowl

And the rains came a tumbling down...

So maybe not rain, but we do have a flood.  That's right, our apartment flooded, AGAIN!  This is the third time in less than a year...  And no, I really can't believe it.  It is really rather annoying, I'll be honest.  On Friday afternoon I was cleaning our apartment to have people over, and I was kneeling in our living room so I could get to the trashcan and take it out (picking up all the trash that didn't quite make it into the can) and all of the sudden I felt my knees were wet, so of course I thought we must have spilled a drink or something, but we hadn't been home all day (I went out to lunch ((Party!)) and James was at work ((not party)) ) So I didn't know how it would have happened, so then after further inspection I found that it was in an entire corner of my apartment living room.  Under the couch and the Piano.  So James was home for lunch and we moved our whole living room around and called the managment company.  The repairman came, and tore out a huge part of my wall trying to find the leak and then told me he wouldn't be back till Monday, have a good weekend!  Not so much... So because of all of the wonderful stuff from the wall (dry wall, insulation, dust, possibly mold) that could cause breathing problems for all of us (Thomas especially) we decided to stay at my parents house for the weekend.  So now we're in Payson just chilling, being annoyed that we can't be at home.  Oh my, I know plenty of people who never have floods, I want all of you to know that I am having those floods for you.  You're welcome.

Murder Mystery Dinner

James and I went on a date on Saturday night; it was a murder mystery dinner. So FUN!  It was up in Sandy so Thomas's Harris grandparents (that's a mouthfull) watched him, and James and I went out.  It was at a place called Spaghetti Mama's, which was pretty good.  It was a ton of fun to get to participate and eat yummy food while trying to decide who done it.  I was right with my first guess, but then at the last second I changed my mind, oh well! I had a wonderful time, and so did James. Gotta love it!

Offical 4 month stats

Height: 24 1/2 Inches

Weight: 13 lbs 7 oz

Head circ: ????

He is in the 15th percentile for height and weight :)  As James says "He's a little string bean!"

Amnesia

I am pretty sure that's what Thomas has.  All of the sudden he forgot how to sleep through the night, and I am about to loose my cool.  It's really not fun having an angry baby and no sleep.  I wonder why he has decided not sleeping is so fun...

Semi-solid like stuff

So the baby food they call solid food for baby's first "solids" Psssh! It's just formula with a tiny bit of super ground up oatmeal.  So it's more like a little mush :)  But he did great!  He loved it (meaning he actually ate some of it, and it didn't all just fall out the sides of his mouth).  It was a lot of fun for James and I, you know, taking super adorable pictures and fauning over Thomas (our usual daily activities)  He is such a little stud.  I can't believe how big he is getting, and how fast he is growing!  And personally I am very impressed with him eating that mushy stuff, it seemed gross to me... It's a good thing I am not the one eating it!  He is the cutest! But don't take my word for it:

Growing up!

So we had our 4 month doc appointment today. And I'm annoyed.  Let me tell you why. 
We had this appointment set up over a week ago, and they called the day before to tell us we couldn't actually have the appointment because it had to be exactly 2 months after the last shots.  So fine, (it's not like we had the appointment set up for 3 weeks or anything, oh wait...) we rescheduled for today.  We got there this morning and they said "we can't do the shots today, because our nurse it out today"  So what about the Dr?  He doesn't do shots... for who knows what reason.  So we had an entire appointment for them to tell us how he's growing right?  They didn't, he is 13 lb 7 ounces, but how long?  Who knows, they didn't measure him.   What percentile?  Yeah right, I don't have those charts.  So now I am not too happy with my Dr.'s office.  But Thomas is doing well (I am guessing, becaue the Dr didn't say otherwise)  He did say we could start him on rice cereal.  I believe his exact words were "If he can chew on his feet and eat toe jam, then he can't have some real jam" lol  Obviously we aren't going to give him a spoon full of  jam, but we are going to try and start some rice cereal.  I promise to post pictures!

James is AWESOME!

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Job Offer

So I got a most random call the other day.  It was from my boss at Blendtec (the company I worked at before I got pregnant and therefore sick)  She offered me a job.  Basically my dream job, it would be the job I would want once I completed my degree.  I was VERY tempted, I'll be honest.  HR administration may not sound very exciting to everyone else out there in the blogosphere, but a dear friend of mine misses Lord Byron and Shakespearean essays, so there's really no accounting for taste ;) (I love you Brittany!)  It would have been only part time, and I would have gotten to choose my own hours and times and days.  Of course more money is always nice :)  But, then Thomas sat and smiled at me and laughed when I smiled at him, and I knew I couldn't leave him.  Even if it was temporary and very part time.  I of course thought about the career I would have if I had a career before children, and HR would have been it.   But, Thomas came first, and I wouldn't trade my days (albeit sometimes boring, frustrating, messy, tiring and dirty) with Thomas for anything.  Especially when James gets to come home and all three of us get to play!  It was a great compliment for them to offer me the position, but I want to be a mommy :)  When I told them I couldn't do it, they told me that if I ever was ready to come back to work, to call them, and they would love to have me back.  Which is awesome!
Side note: We are going on a double date tomorrow night, and I am very excited!

Road Trip

Thomas took his second road trip this weekend.  Both have been to St. George to the new Harris home down there.  And unfortuantely, he didn't love it.  He was okay for about 3-3 1/2 hours, and then, screaming non stop.  He was sick of the carseat.  Which was kind of too bad, cause we had to keep going.  It wasn't so fun.  And then all weekend, he was kind of ornery.  He kept screaming for no reason and crying all the time.  It was like everyone he didn't recognize scared him, which isn't a good sign I think.  Maybe it was just too much stimulation for him, all the different people and noises.  It's much quieter when it's just he and I :)  But I had fun! We went on a nice hike, played some fun games, and ate a ton of deliciously horrible food. 
Thomas is 4 months old now.  He will have his appointment on Monday so we know his weight and height. He is rolling all the time, giggling and laughing, I love it!
My weight loss journey is pretty much at a stand still... I am trying, you know watching what I eat and counting calories as well as doing yoga and aerobics everyday, however it's not really working...  I mean I am doing quite well (expect for our weekend in St. George) and not really seeing any difference :( I will talk to the Doc when Thomas has his appt and see what he says.  My mom said she had some trouble loosing weight when she had my sister, but that once she stopped nursing then she lost the weight with ease, so maybe that's the issue.  If so I will have weight issues for another at least 8 months... It's okay, Thomas is worth it, the cute little bugger :)

Date Night

So James and I are trying to save a bit of money, with it being the new year and all we want to be better :)  So instead of going out on a date this last week, we had a date night at home, mexican themed.  It was awesome!  I decided to go all out, as they say, and I made homemade margaritas (complete with hand squeezed OJ), delicious nachos, chicken lime burritos, and sopapillas (or scones with a fancy name).  It was a ton of fun!  I also put up red green and white streamers and ballons, you know, the colors of mexico.  So we ate yummy food, and watched the Magnificent 7.  All in all, it was a great date night!

Thomas has started laughing at us, it is the best sound in the world!  When he giggles James and I just laugh and laugh.  I pretty much never get sick of it, he also LOVES peek-a-boo.  I discovered this the other day when it was too early in the morning for me and I just laid on the ground next to his bouncy chair, and he started to cry so I got up next to him and he smiled, so I did it again and he laughed and laughed.  He is getting over his sickness, finally.  It is by far the worst thing to have a sick baby.  Every time he tried to cry he would just cough cause his throat hurt.  He didn't sleep well at all, it was a miserable week.  But he's getting over it now.  And I think he might be teething... He chews on everything we put in his mouth. 
It's so fun having him be so animated.  I can see him looking at new things and processing them, it's awesome. He loves to sit up and now stand up. 
Well, off to watch some Star Wars :) Have a good day!

Happy New Year

Thomas was born last year, that's right, last year, and I can't even believe it! He is getting so big. Our new years was great, we played games and ate a ton of junk, and stayed up late to bang pots and pans, and even had a bomb to ring in the new year :) We made our wonderful lists of goals and discussed what we want to work on, seperately and together. One of my goals is to keep a family journal as it were, and I am going to use this blog as an outlet for that! It makes it easier for me if I pretend that people actually read it, or that long distance friends and relatives get on to keep track of us :)
Thomas is sick, our poor little man. We HATE it. He has a cough and is rather congested. Thankfully no fever or serious problems breathing, but still. It's the worst thing to happen this year! So we are taking him in to see the doctor tomorrow, and hopefully he will have some magic miracle cure for us, fingers crossed ;) I have been a bit sick too, but it's no big deal, I would much rather I be the sick one than Thomas.
James has Monday and Tuesday off, which is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen this year (how many times can I use that joke before it gets old? A few more I think!) We will play and get stuff done, and be more productive than we have all year! (okay, it's old I think)