Smiling Thomas

Fun-loving Thomas is now almost 8 months old!

His preferred method of transportation is crawling on his forearms!

He doesn't pull up very often yet, but does enjoy standing up at times!

He loves a joke and has a big smile that shows off his first two teeth!

Daddy and Thomas are best buddies! Thomas gets so excited when John comes home each day as he knows that now it's time to laugh and play!

Life as a mommy is fun!

Grandpas!

Last weekend, we took a trip to Missouri for John's cousin's wedding.  It was fun to be a part of the celebrations and to meet many of John's relatives.  Many of them had come to our wedding, but there were also a good number that I had never gotten to meet before.  John's parents and siblings came as well and we enjoyed getting to spend time with them!

Another cool part about the trip was getting to have lunch with my own dad who was on his way to Kansas City.  To have the opportunity to get caught up with him again was a lot of fun!  So Thomas got to see both of his grandpas on the same day!

 

Before dad left, we took a picture (or two)! In this one, it looks as though Thomas is having fun and eager to tell us about it!

This is his serious - I'm looking at the camera now face.

Finally!  Smiles!

When I joined the picture, Thomas just wouldn't take is eyes off me!

Enjoying some Grandpa time!

Dad with his littlest grandson

That night we attended the rehearsal dinner and then gathered after that in the hotel lobby to celebrate Lisa's birthday.  By then, Thomas was pretty tired as you can see in these pictures!

He's still curious and was staring fixedly at the camera as his Grandpa held him.

Grandpa tells hims some amazing facts :)

What a joy it was to be with family!

Thomas is 4 months!

 

Thomas has developed quite a cute and happy personality.  As long as he's not tired or hungry, he is quite a joy!  He is quite generous with his smiles these days.  We have a lot of fun smiling back and forth at one another.

 

Thomas also enjoys studying things quite intently.  I've begun reading a book to him before each nap and now he will stare at any type of book or magazine that is placed in front of him.  I think he's going to be a bookworm!

John has taken so many cute pictures of Thomas that it's hard to know which ones to share! 

I love seeing his wide open smile!

 Thomas has definitely "found" his feet in the last couple weeks.  He has fun pulling them toward his mouth though he usually doesn't manage to get them in.  Since his fingers reach is mouth first, he typically get's distracted by his fingers and sucks them, dropping his foot at the same time!

He's been more drooly lately, but so far no teeth.  He also loves to roll over from his back to his tummy.  He's started rolling over almost every time I put him down in his crib.  I guess he never read the medical association recommendation that babies should sleep on their backs.  He seems to prefer sleeping on his tummy.

He loves to look at you and stare at things like ceiling fans.

Sometimes the things you say will simply amaze him!

It's hard to look dangerous when wearing a onesie!

At nine weeks, Thomas experiments with his dangerous look :)

Five Weeks Already!

Thomas is now 5 weeks old! He is getting more interactive and enjoying playing with Daddy each day at lunch time and in the evenings. John has been great with Thomas and totally willing to take a turn changing and helping with him when he gets home!
Thomas really looks into John's eyes and seems to try to communicate with him already!

My days go by very quickly and are filled with nap time and feeding this little one. Thomas seems to be a relatively calm little guy. He's definitely all baby though :) He and I are trying to work on some sort of regular schedule - but so far we have some good days/nights and some that are more exhausting! Thankfully Thomas is typically willing to sit in his bouncy chair or swing for a while each morning while I get a few things done or get ready for the day.

Being a mom has been fun so far, and I think it will be even more fun as Thomas becomes more capable of doing things and communicating with us!

Welcome Thomas Enoch!

Thomas Enoch was born on Thursday January 28th at 8:41 pm!

He weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds 12 ounces!

He was 20 1/2" long

He was born exactly one week before his due date - for which we're very thankful as I can't imagine trying to push a bigger baby out!

He was born in our home as a planned home birth.

We had the wonderful help of a great midwife and her assistant. The midwife lives only a few miles away and was awesome both in the prenatal appointments, delivery and follow-up visits!

We are so very thankful to God for the way He gave me the strength for the labor and delivery. My time in labor was much shorter than average. My water broke at 7 AM, contractions started a few hours later and got harder and closer together such that by noon I needed my husband home. He more than happily left work to be with me.

John was such an asset in rubbing my back and helping me to relax during the contractions! Though it may not be one of those valentine messages that will ever end up on a little candy heart - I've lovingly called him "my epidural!" I really felt that the pain was much less when he was by my side. The Bradley method classes we took were incredibly helpful for both of us. I knew I needed to relax and focus only on what was happening at that moment and John was a great coach in helping me to do just that!

My contractions continued through the afternoon as we tried to relax through a short bath and then rested and tried to take a nap. By around 5:30pm, I was feeling an incredible urge to push so John called our midwife and she came right over and set up to catch our baby. The next hours seemed long, but were productive as we got closer and closer to the baby's birth. Finally at 8:41 PM, our son was born! John was able to see the baby crown and we both rejoiced as he took in his first breath!

Here we are, admiring our brand new baby boy!

We had a little trouble sleeping that first night. Not really due to the baby waking us up, but because we just couldn't believe he was already here! We had it in our minds that he would for sure not come early, but there he was! We're having a blast with our little guy and loving life as new parents!