Happy 1st Birthday Thomas!

Dear Thomas,

Happy Birthday little one! We can not believe a whole year has past since God blessed us with the arrival of you. It seems like only yesterday that we were all in the hospital bed together at 3:00 in the morning. Everyone had gone home to sleep and Daddy had crawled in the bed with us. We stared at you for the longest time, amazed at how precious and innocent you were. We thanked God that he had entrusted us with someone so special and asked Him for guidance in raising you. And then we finally gave you a name....Thomas Grant. We could have never imagined how your arrival would change us forever.

Your first year has seemed to fly by. It has been so rewarding to see you grow and develop. You have learned so many new things and which each one, we have been as proud (if not more) as you. You are happy, curious, mischevious and cuddly. You love to talk and will have complete conversations with us, although we have no idea what you are saying. You love your grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins and oh how they love you. Your best buddy is Maggie, our chocolate lab. You give her hugs daily and she showers you with wet kisses! Your newest trick is walking. You love to cruise around the coffee table and to walk holding onto our fingers or by pushing your toys.

You have truly been a blessing and we can not wait to see what the next year brings. We love you lots and lots Thomas!!!!!!

Love and Kisses,
Mommy and Daddy

P.S. Below is a video of you taking your first steps by yourself. I don't think you really knew what you were doing yet, so there was no fear involved. Now that you know what falling feels like, you have been less reluctant to take off by yourself. I could not help but to include this...it is too cute. You get so excited that you stop to clap for yourself...precious! Mrs. Ali captured this on her cell phone at her house. How lucky we are...how many people have videos of their baby's very first steps!

Puppy Love

Stirling left Thomas the sweetest love letter on her blog last night (check it out by clicking on The Wilson Family under the Friends link or by visiting www.aliandbrad.blogspot.com). After reading it to him, Thomas really wanted to leave her this Valentine’s Poem:

To Sweet Stirling,

Roses are red, violets are blue
Just like all the other girls, you’re in love with me too

Cheerios and a bath, that’s a good way to my heart
I’m lucky to have found you right from the start

From your brand new teeth, to your pretty blue eyes
This fat boy would even share with you, his hamburger and fries

So on this Valentines Day, I must say…
I’ve got a crush on you in a major way, and
my daddy is going to think this is really gay!!!

Love,
Thomas

P.S. Check out the Valentine I made for you!

ONE Month to Go.....

I can hardly believe that in less than a month Thomas will be one year old. Time has flown by! Although I am excited about seeing him grow and have loved each stage more and more, a part of me is sad that he is quickly becoming a toddler. I am so scared that I will forget all the sweet things about him and his first year. I feel like I have already forgotten so much. If it was not for journaling, (Jenny's sweet idea) I would not have any details to share with him one day when he is grown.

Michael and I are so excited about planning his first birthday party. We feel so blessed to be able to share in the excitement with our family and close friends. His party will be small, at our house, and after nap time of course! God continues to bless our family and we are most thankful this past year for Thomas. I thought I would share a little about him for those of you who have not heard or seen him in a while.

He is a sweet natured and very curious baby. He is becoming fiercly independent and will most defiantly have a strong will. I wonder which parent he gets that from? Below are a few tidbits about him:

• Closing every door in the house has been his favorite activity of the week. More than once, I have stepped out of the room for a moment and then quickly heard a small frighented cry from behind a big closed door. He closes it and then gets scared when he realizes he is alone and can not get out.
• He gives you the biggest most precious smile each time you get him up from a nap...almost as if he has not seen you in weeks and thought you were never coming back. Lately I have been playing peek-a-boo with him by hiding behind the bumper pad and then popping up between the rails in the baby bed. He gets so tickled and reaches his chubby hand through the rails to grab my face.
• He loves to read and will sit in your lap to read ten books or more if you were willing. Although, he has his favorites and if you pick one that is not on Thomas' Book Club list, he closes it shut and fusses until you get a new one. He has always had favorite books and thankfully the list has grown to include more than just Who Said Moo. For a couple of months this was the only book he wanted to read and read and read and read!
• Thomas LOVES to eat and thinks food is such a treat. I guess all the spicy and flavorfull meals I craved so badly during pregnancy had an effect on his tastebuds.....once we had introduced table food, he wanted nothing to do with baby food anymore. Who can blame him? Last night we decided to feed him before we were to meet The Henthorne's at Mikata (yummy). He ate a whole Gerber Graduate Meal and probably three handfulls of Cherios. Then at the restaurant Julie and I could not put the piles of Puffs out fast enough until his teriakki chicken child's meal was ready (yes, I ordered an 11 month old a child's meal of his own). He ate a good bit of rice, all but two pieces of the chicken, a quarter of my soup, and the whole bowl of icecream his Daddy ordered for him. Talk about a chunk!!! Maybe he is making up for lost meals from being sick last week...or maybe he just likes good food as much as his Daddy and I do.
• He laughs when I tell him no no in my meanest mommy voice. If you don't believe me ask Ali...he laughed at her too. He really is a good and fairly laid back baby, but I have learned that boys are into things that little girls don't even notice or care to get in to!
• Thomas' favorite family member hands down would have to be Maggie, our ten year old chocolate lab. He looks out the window for her every morning and is beside himself when I let her in the house. Poor sweet old Maggie gets attacked by little hands and ear piercing squeals and she graciously responds with lots of wet sloppy licks all over his face!
• Last but not least, he has three of the cutest chipmunk teeth I have ever seen two more top teeth are popping through. There is something so sweet about tiny white baby teeth.
  
  Sorry that was so long, but there was so much to say since I have not updated the old easysite since my first and only post at five months old. By the way, the easysite is soon to be terminated and I promise to post here lots more often. I'm doing good so far...two posts in two days! Be sure to check out the slide show at the top to see recent pictures of Thomas.

A Girl's "Grand" Getaway

I spent this past weekend relaxing with friends, Molly Foster, Jenny Galimore and Ali Wilson at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Alabama. For those who have never been, it is worth the trip! The Grand has beautiful grounds, nice rooms, a great spa and excellent service. For us four moms, it was a highly anticipated weekend getaway without the daily worries of naptimes and diaper changes! We spent the weekend being pampered at the spa, shopping in Fairhope, eating the best meals and staying up much too late for exhausted mommies. We all have our sweet supportive husbands to thank for making our escape a reality! I am especially thankful to Michael, for taking the entire day off work to stay with Thomas (who was slowly recovering from a stomach bug). Anyone who knows Michael, knows how rare and difficult it is for him to miss a day of work, especially on pay day Friday! Poor Michael even came down with the dreaded stomach bug Saturday and didn't call for any back-up.

I would not be doing the weekend justice without finishing the Ratatouille story which Jenny and Ali started on their blogs. I will give a short synopsis of the events leading up to the funniest part of this mouse adventure, however you really should check out their blogs so that my post will make more sense to you. Jenny's is http://galimorefamily.blogspot.com/ and Ali' s dramatic version can be found at http://www.bradandaliwilson.blogspot.com/ (By the way, next year Ali will be scheduling our spa appointments to her liking, although we not have any since it took her a month and a half to book the room!!! J/K Ali!

After our spa appointments on Saturday, we decided to eat lunch in dining room at The Grand. The buffett looked great and the retauraunt began filling up soon after we were seated. The place was packed by the time I put away my salad for the big plate of buffett goodies, when out of the cornor of my eye I saw a small grayish black thing speed from the plant behind me under the leg of the table next to us. What I could not figure out was where the thing had gone. I kept saying that a mouse could not hide under the tiny leg of the table...I think I was thinking of Ratatouille's cousin Rusty the Rat. Anyway, I spent the next five minutes listening to my doubting roomies trying to talk me out of believing what I KNEW I had seen! Suddenly the little nasty thing stuck it's face out from underneath the table's leg and of course I screamed, jumped, shook the table and glasses and attracted the whole room's attention to our table. So much for Ali's request for us to sit descreetly in the back so no one would notice our lovely spa attire!

Of course our meal was compted and we hurried to get out of that place, but not before the sweet but not so buisness savy food manager apoligized and told us that they "have had a rodent problem recently." Wrong thing to say to four freaked out girls. This only reaved up Ali's wild imagination and she proceeded to cross examin the lady on whether mice were in our hotel rooms. Can't you just here her now...."Are you sure? We are in the second buliding on the second floor in room 2222. Do you really think they are not in there? They better not be." We had not even made it to the concierege desk by the time Jenny and I had sceamed up probably the meanest joke we had ever played on a friend.

We then headed to downtown Fairhope to do some shopping in the freezing cold rain. Jenny and I had been so excited about this part of the weekend beacuse we had heard about the many great antique stores in Fairhope. Forget antiques, we were on a mission to find the most realistic play mouse we had ever seen. Thanks to the Fairhope Pet Store we found a fifty cent small furry mice. Once we had ripped off the hot pink ears and bright red nose, the thing looked darn real! As we left for dinner that night I conviently "left my purse in the hotel room" and went back to hide the mouse behind Ali's pillow she had brought from home. It was a perfect spot...positioned so that when she turned down her covers and picked up her pillow (like we had all noticed she had done every time we had been in the room) her furry friend would be waiting for her.

We had the best dinner ever at The Wash House (thanks to Jonanna and Dave for the great food recommendations!) and then spent an hour in the piano bar back at The Grand. We were all so tired as we got back to the room, not to mention feeling pretty good from the one too many mudslides we had drank. Ali SLOWLY changed her pajamas, rearranged the clothes in her drawers, washed her face, brushed her teeth and finally went to get in the bed. Of course for the first time since we had arrived, she does not pick up her pillow nor turn down the covers, but instead slips in under the sheet and looks at us like we are crazy for laughing so hard. Molly manages to say something like, "Ali what's that gray thing behind your pillow? Ali jumps out of bed, grabs her pillow, screams and then gets really mad at us for picking on her. Not for long though, she really was a good sport! Anyway this might be one of those stories that you just had to be there for, but the whole rodent ordeal sure was funny and worth a post (or few) to us.

P.S. - I have a feeling our adventures with Ratatouille are not over yet...