Amelia's First Sleepover!

This weekend the Thomas family cousins (and grandparents) were all getting together in Atlanta. John urped on Wednesday night, so we decided on Thursday to cancel our trip just in case he continued. Friday came and John was totally fine, still didn't have any fever or other symptoms. We decided to go ahead with our travel plans. Amelia went to preschool while we packed, so we picked her up before noon and headed to GA. We had lunch and snacks in the car, then finally dinner in the car as well. While riding reclined and rear-facing in the dark van, refluxy John urped again. We'd promised family members that if anyone threw up, we'd just turn around and go home. So, we did. We were about 30 minutes away from Allie and Rob's house. Amelia was SO bummed about missing out on all the fun with cousins Claire, Stephen and Elizabeth. With the help of caffeine and the van's DVD player, we made it back home around 1:40 a.m. It taught us that we (sort of) can do a 14 hour drive if necessary.

Every December, it usually happens that the Thomas Family Christmas and Cousin Campbell's birthday party are on the very same day. Amelia almost always has to miss her same-age cousin's fun party while we travel to visit my family. Since we were back home, Thomas, Amelia and Michael decided to fancy up on Saturday morning and head back down the interstate to High Point. They all enjoyed the fun surprise party at Chick-Fil-A! After the party, Amelia got a special invitation to spend the night with Campbell. This was nearly a dream come true since she spoke her wish last month, "Oooh, a star...I wish I could live with Campbell!" Aunt Amber and Uncle Mark promised to take good care of her, so Michael dropped her off for the night. Things were so quiet at our house while she was away. I wonder how it was for them having 4 children to care for during the evening. Yikes.

The next day, we all met for lunch in Chapel Hill to get our girl back. She said that sleeping on a bunk bed, wearing a gown, brushing her teeth by herself, and playing Polly Pocket with Campbell were so much fun. Amber said that Amelia was so well-mannered and pleasant. By the end of lunchtime, she was back in our care and screaming about most everything. Amelia says that she's ready to go back tomorrow or maybe go live with their family for most of the time when she does not have school.

Snow Day!

This afternoon, we were working on our Christmas cards when we looked out the window to see snow falling down! Shocking, since no one had even mentioned there was a chance. After I returned from a neighbor's funeral, enough had gathered on the ground for some real fun! We all got bundled up to play in the yard and stroller over to a nearby Chinese restaurant. We played with Aspen, Miles and Lex (neighbors), then took one neighbor, Mr. Madi (Esme's dad) with us on our journey. Esme and her mom, Zoe, are out of town. We missed them! On the way home, we found a big field of fresh *PERFECT* snow in front of the Burger King on 15-501. We crafted up a snowman for each of us, then left them there to play over night. We look forward to seeing them as we drive by the intersection each day! Click on the picture to see more of our adventure!

A Baby Still, Barely

John has reached the 15 month mark this week. We are amazed how fast this happened! He took a few steps the other day, motivated by electronic devices. Other than those, he really doesn't care to walk just yet. He really prefers to climb instead. He can be found on the top of the couch, the tables, Amelia's big bed, the big plastic pickup truck in our living room, or up the ladder/slide on the playset. He keeps us on our toes, just as his siblings did. He has a wide range of grunts, squeals and screams, and a few things that sound like words. Amelia is attentive to his every need, so maybe once she's in school, he'll start talking more. Well, with her out of the picture, there might actually be quiet airtime so he CAN talk..

He's really a happy, smiling, most-of-the-time mellow boy. He knows that bibs go around his neck to catch his teething drool, and that all things with buttons are used as cell phones. He was about to drop his morning nap, but got a cold that put him right back into the 2 naps/day routine. He tolerates a nebulizer nightly, and more frequently when he has a cough. He was actually chewing on the tubing of it during Thomas' dance video, so now we know who to blame for it breaking!

John enjoys eating with a fork as well as his hands, and he really enjoyed having corn on the cob like the big kids this week. We're still (per dr's orders) feeding him a jar of food daily to try to get more calories in him as well as mixing a supplement (pediasure) into his whole milk. At his last weigh in, he was in the 95th %ile for height and 15th for weight. For Thomas's sake, I was trying to find skinny elastic waist pants, but since they are both proving to be extremely long and skinny, I see our future will include all the "slim" pants we can find. Unfortunately, they make them starting in size 4, and that's a year away for Thomas and several years for John. All the pants I pinched and sewed the waistband up for Thomas will be great for John this winter! I hope we have enough as he went through 4 changes of clothes yesterday, not including pajamas.

These pictures of John were from the Duke football game we attended with Papa and Grandma last week. It is Allen's first real semester of retirement, so John made it a point to share his favorite gesture with Papa.

Here Comes the _______ Man!

Delivery

Motorcycle

Recycling

Garbage

Doctor

Cowboy

Farmer

Fire

Train Conductor

Puppy

Sgt. Pepper the Cat

Take your pick. Thomas loves to pretend someone different ALL day long. I recently grabbed some costume bits at a yard sale, so it is rather fun to watch him redress and "announce" himself. Some favorites are "Bud Lightyear" after seeing the new Toy Story 3 or when playing with Amelia and friends...Thomas the Cinderella. He knows blue is for boys, so he grabs the blue princess dress and shoes when they're being handed out. He actually just ran into the room with me announcing, "Here's Thomas the Runner! I run really fast." lol

Thomas has been wearing his backpack as if he were going to school, like some of his 2yo friends. But, I decided to keep him home this year so that he and John can have some good brother bonding time. We go to Kindermusik class on Thursdays, and he just adores Mrs. Rebecca and her music. It is fun to watch how differently he responds to music each semester. He often plays his guitar, sings a song, or finds our musical toys to demonstrate his tap-dancing routine. Here he is one night before bed, dancing to a random x-rated song on a local radio station. You'd think with his dad's 4-ipod collection, we would have appropriate dance music on hand.

Panting

This week Amelia started back to preschool with "pink"tails in her hair and smile on her face. She's in Jenny Jones' 4yo class, and she sighs with pleasure every day at pickup time. Here is a picture of her classroom. Some friends from her T/Th 3yo class are in there, along with some new ones she's excited to play with. Playground time, circle time, center time and gym are all her favorites.

Yesterday after lunch, I walked into the kitchen after putting the boys down for naps. Amelia had been coloring a booklet from Sarah Ellie's Thomas the Train birthday party. She was panting heavily and said, "Thomas is blue and Percy is green and Harold is purple and Emily is green and I can't color this book fast enough!!!!!!! I think I need to take a breath and breathe!" I hope this is not the start of school-related stress, but rather just the excitement of a new pack of markers.

In the first picture, she's checking her work after putting on her $1 thrift shop dress (backwards), putting barrettes in (without brushing all her hair), and donning new princess shoes from her friend Missabella (Isabella). Isn't it great to be a self-sufficient 4yo getting yourself ready for the day?

Amelia has been talking about wanting a house with "family stairs" for quite some time. Last night, we finally got an explanation. "Family stairs" are ones inside the house where kids and adults can walk up, and there could be beds for the kids to sleep in up there. The other kind of stairs are the ones we have - just "attic stairs" that only the parents are allowed to walk up and bring stuff down, but kids are not allowed to walk up. We're glad to have the mystery solved as we've been wondering about these "family stairs" she has been mentioning for so long.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today we celebrate 5 years of Holy Matrimony. We're exhausted, but happy. Last night, we went to the gym to walk. The gym is the one place we're able to walk and talk without screaming, climbing little people interrupting. John was having no part of being left in the nursery, so it doesn't always work as planned. A huge storm was coming at that time, so we came home early after a lap or two on the track. The kids were so excited to use their rain umbrellas Grandmama brought them. We're having a nice dinner at the Melting Pot tonight, and just maybe we'll get a picture of the two of us (with no kids) to celebrate!

The great attic purge of 2010

We decided to purge our attic of all of the empty boxes except for a few. A lot had accumulated over the past five years. Now we are reset for the next five! Have a look at a few pictures: Photo Gallery.