Thomas' Universe

Thomas' universe revolves around a couple of things: his baby brother, playing outside, and future events that he perceives as exciting.

It is heart-warming that Thomas loves his brother so much.  Hey, he's pretty hard to resist at this cute!

Ryan is really emerging into a kid with a personality.  First and foremost, he is VERY patient with Thomas, who is constantly hugging, kissing, feeding, snuggling, and checking on him.

"I needa check my baby brother."

I'm not sure if Ryan enjoys this showering of love and concern, or if he just tolerates it.  At six weeks, Ryan started smiling at us.  Judging by his smiles, he does indeed like a little 1:1 time, which is usually during Thomas' pre school time.

Thomas has always enjoyed playing outside in nice weather.  We've been blessed with wonderful 70 degree days the last couple of weeks.  We've been busy helping Papa and his friend David paint the exterior of our house from a darker green to a lighter green.  Thomas is always anxious to help.

Yeah Papa and David!!!

The finished product

We also ventured out for the first time in our double stroller!  Thomas, Ryan and I headed down to the riverfront.  Ryan slept, for the most part; Thomas ran around like a wild banshee and tried to feed geese; Mama just tried to keep up!

"Hey geese!  Where is your mama?"

Thomas talks constantly.  He is the poster child for metacognition.  Often, when we put him to bed, we hear him through the monitor recounting the day's activities or talking to the deer outside or anticipating events that are upcoming.  For example, he anxiously awaited Papa Wuff's visit to our house.  The arrival and visit was just as exciting as Thomas had anticipated.  We "helped" Papa do a few repairs and improvements to our house, played a lot, and went to an event that Thomas held in high anticipation: an Army football game.

Multi-talented Papa feeds a camo-clad Ryan to sleep

Army's most handsome cheerleaders get ready for the game

Sampling the corned beef sandwich

Yum!

We're lucky to be part of such an exciting and positive place, Thomas' universe.  We look forward to sharing more of our experiences with you.

Nuggets of Wisdom

As a stay-at-home mom, I don't always have good perspective.  After all, I hang out with our little munchkins all day, every day.  I am not a fan of most forwards (emails), but it seems that Aunt Caca tends to send just the right forwards at just the right time.  Yesterday, she sent some words of wisdom gleaned from columnist Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.  She offers 45 pearls of wisdom.   I don't have the time or the patience to regale you with all 45, so I will select some that should best embody my current reality with a newly minted three year old and a six week old baby.

39. Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.

Like in the rock wall between our house and Bob and Margarget's

And dribbling ten times in a row!!

And the loving tenderness of a big brother

 
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.  Especially if today is the day that Thomas' pre school starts!  I know I am a gazillionith person to ask this, but how on earth three years have gone by already?  It feels like it was last week that Thomas came home with us.

A "special pre school" bagel

The obligatory "First day of school, get on the front porch and let me take a picture" picture.

Bringing his brother in to pre school

Scoping it out

28. Forgive.  Even when you are at your wits end and cannot take one more minute of the madness and want to ask someone to pick you up a bottle of hard liquor...even though it's only 1:47pm.

Forgive the boy who has an accident because he was having so much fun outside that he pooped in his pants.

Forgive the kid who poops on your legs.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.  Like when you are not healing well from delivering a nearly 10 pound baby and when your really supportive spouse has to go back to work during the busiest time of his work year.  Thank you to all of our friends and family.

Aunt Laura was a phenomenal playmate during a visit right after Ryan was born

Caca and her friend Drew patiently shared their vacation with us

Our girl, Amanda, loved on Ryan and played with his big brother

And so did Allison

And Nan gets Playmate of the Year award (not that Playmate)

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

33. Believe in miracles.  Two of them.

The most recent miracle is that Thomas is nearly potty trained!  He has mostly mastered the peeing part and has very, very few accidents.  The pooping is still a work in progress. 

42. The best is yet to come.