Annie and Casey Came to Visit

Annie and Casey were in town for a few days after their spring break trip to Watercolor. We went to the Zoo on Sunday to enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having. We have become quite the zoo-going folks lately!

Thomas was fascinated by the pandas. Hard to pay attention to the camera when a giant bear is running around beside you, I guess!

Thomas looks a little dishevelled in these pictures, but I had to include. He loves to stand up now and doesn't seem to mind his shoes quite as much these days. He thinks its funny to kick them off, so it isn't so easy to keep them on those little feet!

We don't get to see these two enough, so we soak up all of the time we get!

I realized that I didn't include many good pictures of our new haircut in my last post, so here are a few:

On a random note....less than 4 weeks until tax season is over!!! Yay!!

First Haircut

Thomas is just a few days over 9 months old and he already needed a haircut. Any guesses whose hair he has? Patrick hair grows like a weed...he has to get his hair cut every few weeks. Me? I could go all year and my hair would only grow an inch!

Wanda, the barber at the club, was the lucky one that got to cut this sweet child's hair. She was so prepared! She had the booster for the chair, turned cartoons on the TV, turned the cape around backwards so he could use his hands and had a sucker in waiting for the meltdown!

The cartoons were a huge success for the first few minutes.I have a little "tv eyes" on my hands. Then he figured out that we were doing something and all bets were off. Then we pulled out the big guns....a sucker and mama's keys.

After our haircut, we had lunch with LuLu. Most of you know that my mom has called Thomas "Pickle" ever since she saw my first ultrasound picture and said that he looked like a pickle. To add to the pickle nickname, I ate about 10 jars of pickles in the first few weeks of my pregnancy. Anyway, it stuck and she has called him "Pickle" every since. Well, Thomas decided to give LuLu another reason to keep the nickname....

Yes, my child is devouring a pickle...Not just one pickle...as many as he can get his hands on. He sucks out all of the juice and moves on to the next one.



Nine Months

Thomas turned nine months old on Saturday. Everyone told me that he would only get more fun with age, and boy were they right. We don't go to the doctor for another week, so I will have to give the 9 month stats later.

The little man has such a fun personality. He is into everything these days. He is so curious, and I love to watch him discover new things.

This new independence also comes with a lot of stubborness....oh my are we stubborn. Patrick said I deserve a child like this....I have no idea what he is referring to! : )  If you take something away from Thomas, he will scream, "nananananana" until you give it back (see the picture below.) He does the same thing if you don't give him what he is reaching for....Lord, give me extra patience with this little guy.

He also says "ma" when he wants more of something...more food, more toys, more food. See where our prirorities are these days? He can eat and eat and eat.

He can pull up on everything now and will walk to and from pieces of furniture so he can get around the room. I know he is only 9 months old, but he is such a boy. There is no fear...no hesitation...no caution....all boy!

We had a beautiful day here in Memphis on Saturday. Thomas and I did our best to spend as much time outside as possible. We took another trip to the zoo - loving it! Rode in our wagon some more and played with the flowers!

One morning this week, I let Thomas play in water in our sink while I was getting dressed. He had a blast! He loves water, so he could have played there forever.

Adventures Around The House

Now that we are 100% mobile, there are lots of places in the house that we have been exploring. It is funny to watch some of the places that he finds so interesting. This is Thomas's cabinet. It is full of all things that he can play with. He makes his way to this cabinet at least once a day. Please notice the one-sock look he is sporting. This is how we look most days. He thinks its hysterical to rip off his sock as soon as I put it on.

This picture makes me smile. A perfect hand print in the middle of my freezer door! For some reason, I think this is the first of hundreds of hand prints I will find in my house over the next few years.

 Thomas likes to play hide-and-go-seek under the kitchen chair. I tell him to go hide and he races to the chair. He sits under it and the pokes his little head out when I ask "Where's Thomas?" I'm 100% biased, but I think he is a smart little kid.

This is Thomas's new spot while we are getting dressed in the morning. He goes back and forth from our closet to the bathroom, stopping every now and then to play his toys.

We read books before Thomas goes to sleep at night. At first it was a struggle for him to sit still through one book. Now we can read at least 3 and he is really involved. He likes to turn the pages and especially likes the books that have things for him to touch. This morning, we were in his room and Patrick picked up a book. Thomas raced over to him and pulled up on his leg. He wanted Daddy to read him a book....so read they did! I caught the moment in this book where he flips open the page to find a mirror. Thomas loves to see himself looking back!

The next series of pictures is a perfect example of what our life has been like over the last few weeks. Thomas is a fast crawler....a really fast crawler. He is no longer content playing in the confines of his room....



 The first part of the "escape."

 So proud of himself....

Whoah! What is this room, Mom?

It's the little things these days....

Trip to the Zoo!

Today, we took Thomas to the zoo for the first time. Memphis has an amazing zoo! So many wonderful exhibits and all kinds of fun animals. We started at the sea lion show...the zoo keeper had the sea lions do tricks and the little man was taking it all in!

After the show, we wandered a few other exhibits before Emily, Virginia and Dorothy joined us. Thomas was especially intrigued by the bears and elephants.



There was a baby monkey in one of the exhibits. The baby monkey was running around jumping from branch to branch. He was so cute! I don't think I've ever seen a baby monkey. I forgot to snap a picture of the little guy but just take my word or go check it out!

We finished out the trip with lunch at the playground. We all sat while Virginia played on the playground. Thomas tried out the baby food in a pouch for the first time. NOT A GOOD IDEA MOM! That was a lapse in judgement on my part. He liked that he was in control of feeding himself (imagine that) but it ended up all over him. Won't be buying any more of those any time soon.

We had the best time at the zoo. I plan to wear out our membership over the next few months. We were there 3 hours and didn't even see half of the zoo!

Tired baby! Feel asleep on the way home, but a cute picture!