It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This has proven to be a busy and sleepless week for both of us. Ian was sick for 3 days this week and he had a fever that stayed around 100 to 101 degrees even with Motrin or Tylenol, he has had terrible allergies which have made his eczema flare up (I think he is allergic to our Christmas tree), I discovered that he is allergic to amoxicillin, benadryl works wonders for his itchy rash that appeared over his head, face, neck, and torso because of the amoxicillin, he's started taking Allegra twice a day since his allergies have gotten worse, and, after we go to the doctor tomorrow for his 9 month check-up, we will have been to the pediatrician's office for 3 of the last 4 days. Thank goodness I had all of our Christmas shopping done last week! Our house is all decorated, and it has been fun getting ready for Ian's first Christmas, even though he won't understand what's really going on. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and videos since Phil can't be here to share Christmas with us. Riding in his big boy car seat.

Naked Christmas tree. Don't I have a cute assistant?

Ian rolled on over to inspect the tree a little bit closer.

Merry Christmas!

Long-Overdue Update

It has been a long time since I've posted pictures, so I have included the pictures that have accumulated over the past few weeks. I am in the process of getting our house decorated for Christmas, so I should have some more pictures soon. Ian is doing great and continues to do new things every day. He babbles "dadada," "mamama," and whichever vowel sound is striking his fancy at the time. He has started making a disgruntled screech while arching his back and balling his hands into fists when he gets mad about something. He continues to roll all over the floor, but isn't interested in crawling just yet (which is fine by me). I had to take out his infant car seat and replace it with a regular car seat today. It's amazing that he has already outgrown the car seat that we brought him home from the hospital in! 8 months old

Chewing on a carrot on Thanksgiving Day with some assistance from MomMom.

Looking at the cows with Uncle Robert. I think the cows might be studying him as well.

He likes to put his thumb in his mouth whenever I am taking pictures.

Ian is getting cooking tips on how to smoke a turkey from all of the men. Isn't male bonding great? Even Chester thought he belonged in this group.

Hugging Uncle Justin.

Natalie was playing some music for the small crowd. Ian looks pretty captivated.

Ian's first Thanksgiving meal. Even though he didn't enjoy a true Thanksgiving dinner this year, he was quite happy to have some carrots and a teething biscuit.

Natalie was singing to him, and he was talking to her at the same time. It made for some joyful noise, that's for sure!

Playing with Grammie, Granddad, and Aunt Debra after the Thanksgiving meal.

Admiring the handsome boy in the mirror.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we traveled to Marble Falls to walk through a trail of lights. I put Ian in some Christmas jammies (they barely fit him that night, and they definitely won't fit on Christmas Eve) and a warm coat, and he experienced his first taste of Christmas lights. He was tired, but he wouldn't fall asleep because he was too busy looking at all of the lights around him. He got his picture taken with Santa that night, and he didn't even cry.

Ian's hair is starting to get long on top of his head. I thought it would be fun to see what he would look like with spikes.

Today we went to my friend Janelle's house and let Ian and her little boy, Triston, play together. Triston turned 1 in November, and he crawls everywhere along with walking while holding on to furniture.

Triston loves giving hugs. You can see his right arm is around Ian's arm, and Triston is pressing his face into Ian's shoulder to give him a hug. Ian didn't quite know what to think of being hugged by someone his own size.

Sitting on one of Triston's toys.

Doesn't it look like they are plotting something huge?? This is probably the least amount of trouble these two will get into together.

Tooth #2

After a whole weekend of celebrations and a whiny day on Monday, Ian's second tooth appeared much to my surprise and relief! My birthday was on Saturday, and we celebrated with my parents on Friday night by having a delicious steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse. On Saturday, my friend Janelle's little boy, Triston, had his first birthday party. We enjoyed celebrating his first birthday with him, and it gave me a realistic vision of how little a one year old really cares about his first birthday party; I think he was most confused by the fact that he was naked except for his diaper, sitting in his high chair, with a small cake in front of him while a crowd of people surrounded him singing and taking pictures...he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing. Ian enjoyed watching all of the other kids run around and play; it's hard to belive that Ian will be running around before we know it! On Sunday, Phil's parents took us out to eat at the Melting Pot. None of us had ever eaten there before, and we all enjoyed the meal and atmosphere immensely! Ian wouldn't let me out of his sight ALL DAY on Monday, and I was just hoping he wasn't getting another cold (we had just gotten over his first cold). Thank goodness he had another little tooth on the bottom to match his first one on Tuesday morning. Since that tooth has appeared, my happy little man has returned as well as him sleeping almost through the night again! Hopefully it will be a while before any more teeth come in; Mommy needs to catch up on some sleep and patience before then. "Happy Birthday Mommy!"

Holding onto one of the balloons that were attached to Triston's high chair. They were distracting him for his entire meal, so he was pretty excited to be able to finally get a squash-covered hand on one of them.

The expression on his face is priceless in this picture; he looks like he is getting caught doing something wrong.

I think he has the hang of opening presents. He was trying his hardest to get the paper out of the bag.

Birthday balloons at our table at the Melting Pot. Don't you just love the added drama of the steam in the picture? It makes it seem like we are sitting in a hot tub and not at a dinner table.

Here is Ian reclining in his high chair while enjoying some water.

MomMom and DadDad.

Birthday girl and her little man.

Cousins

Natalie came to stay with MomMom and DadDad this past weekend, and we enjoyed seeing her almost every day she was here. Natty adores her cousin, and Ian loves to watch her and try to play with whatever toy she is playing with (although Natty seems to take immediate interest in whatever toy he is playing with and wants to take it away from him because she "needs it now"). Here are a few pictures from this past Sunday when the two of them were together. Sweet hugs.

Staring fondly at each other.

Here is Ian trying to get a hold of one of Natty's babies. I believe her response to this behavior went something like this, "No, no Baby Ian. That's my baby."

She then decided it was okay if he had one of her "twins" and happily passed over the boy baby for him to hold and play with. What a darling little girl.

First Tooth

Last Friday, November 7th, Ian got his first tooth!! He was playing in our bed in the morning, and I felt in his mouth like I have been for the past few months. I nearly jumped out of bed when I felt a sharp, little tooth in his mouth! It is on the left side of the bottom gums, and I'm sure that another tooth will be joining it any day now. That night I tried a teething biscuit again with him (I'd tried it about 2 weeks earlier, and he made terrible faces, gagged, spit it out, and then proceeded to hold it while hitting it on anything he came in contact with) and he did much better this time. Of course he was a sticky mess afterwards, but he enjoyed it, and I enjoyed being able to eat with both hands and not having to entertain him at the same time.

Georgia Trip

Our trip to Georgia was a difficult one, but I couldn't have asked for a better passenger. Ian slept on the flights, was happy in the airports, and enjoyed making noises to get as much attention as possible from absolute strangers. Ian went right to Daddy, and it was great to see Phil interacting with Ian again. Phil will be in Iraq soon, and we pray every day for his safe return home. God bless America and all of the troops fighting the War on Terror! All of the soldiers lined up for the Casing Ceremony.

It was interesting to learn that the reason it was called a casing ceremony was because they placed a casing around all of the flags that would accompany the soldiers to Iraq. They will travel like this, and then will be removed once they arrive in Iraq so they can be flown there. Here is a flag getting cased and the 4 flags in the back have already been cased.

Marching out of the field.

Hanging out in his stroller after a long nap during the ceremony. None of the noise kept this tired boy from a much-needed nap (thank goodness!).

Ian looks quite bundled up with DadDad. It wasn't that cold, but the wind was blowing; hence the hat (to keep the sun out of his face) and the hood (to protect his ears).

On both sides of the parade grounds, they had trees lined up in memory of all of the fallen soldiers from that base. It was called Memorial Walk, and it made you catch your breath and be thankful for all that you have and for the freedom these men and women died protecting for every American. There were plaques at the base of each tree with the soldier's information on it and many of the families had placed keepsakes around the tree. I'm sure it was even more inspiring to see at night since every tree had a light.

Wearing Daddy's hat and looking quite stoic.

Precious boy sound asleep in the car after a long day.

I think Phil had just gotten hit in the face from the rattle in Ian's hand. It obviously didn't hurt Ian too much!

It was hard to get a picture where everyone's eyes were open since it was sunny that day.

Three generations of Thomas men.

Geoff, Phil, Ian, and Sherry. This was taken a bit far away, but I was trying to get some background in the photo as well.

The trees are beautiful this time of year in Georgia. Fall is my favorite season, so it was nice to see fall colors everywhere I looked during our trip.