Thanks to all

Thank you all for the love and support with all our good news. Thomas is very active and walking occasionally when he feels like it. It is very random but we will be sure to post more video when we get something good of his exploits.
I wanted to thank everyone for their commentary on this site, mostly to our email addresses. This site is not meant to be any kind of forum, more so a convenient way to get the info across to family and friends regarding Thomas and our experiences in that regard.
Youtube was too impersonal and random for this and here I have an opportunity to respond and post accordingly with some kind of stream of events you can fall back on.
No pix this time, I am just posting to acknowledge everyone for their input and thank them for their support. This has been a lot of work but really worth it in what I have been able to share with everyone. Our son is quite a hoot and hopefully you get some idea from these excerpts how much joy and laughter he has bought to our lives.

Thomas and Kollin

Okay, this is right out of the Awwwww department. Thomas has for months now been pushing his piano around as a precursor to unassisted walking, playing it along the way( three position piano=a very generous and useful gift from Erinn and Heather). In this clip he stops to visit with Kollin, the family's "semi"-retired service dog.
Kollin is a very tolerant black lab who has gotten used to Thomas' random displays of affection...I say random because I think this is the first time we have caught him on video hugging Kollin, which he usually gets around to doing sometime each day..Enjoy!



*semi retired=Kollin is certified for another year, but probably won't be called to serve before then, and as far as Kollin is concerned, he's already retired.

Our lil tadpole

Our little man is fearless in the water, a regular tadpole back and forth in the spa. He gets to swim here at least once, if not twice a day between naps and other scheduled activities. His favorite activity is to swim across the gap in the spa between the seats/ledges to a waiting adult. Sometimes he doesn't wait, like you will see in the video.


I like how much time he gets for a number of reasons...the physical development and energy release of play are two big positives, but more importantly he has been doing this since before six months and we wanted him to be comfortable around the water, safe I should say.
No one wants to be part of the statistics regarding the fate of babies being left alone around pools or other bodies of water. Hope fully this daily interaction with water and some adult vigilance will go a long way to keep us out of that stat column. I am extremely grateful for in-laws who feel as we do and for making their pool and time available.

Here is our lil man swimming with Nana and TC is the videographer....

Baby steps

Well we knew it was coming, Thomas is taking to the upright life. The teaser footage below is our first of him in the beginnings of walking. It is still more of a "waddle" or "toddle", but walking upright is what it also is, so now every item in the house we don't want him touching is moving up a little higher on the refrigerator and other pieces of furniture...the big thing still is the dishwasher, he loves playing with the handles and the rotary dial that controls the timing of the loads.

Since there is a switch on the wall to de-energize the dishwasher, we aren't worried about high water bills from extraneous loads of dishes being done, it is more the possibility of him pulling the door down on himself and busting his head on the floor and consequently being trapped underneath the door. One of the many caveats of kids, I guess, they are gonna find all the hidden dangers if I don't first!

There will be other short clips, the camera was not cooperating today in conjunction with Thomas' walking attempts.( kept cutting off the video rec after 20 sec, maybe emptying the memory card will help.)

Another week as passed and Thomas is closer to walking. He does a little crab-like walk when he isn't crawling dragging one leg behind while putting one stright forward. Cruising is what they call the activity wher ethey use items for balance to get around, like the dishwasher above. All the important stuff on the refrigerator has been moved up a little higher now that he stands tippy toe regularly while using furniture and appliances to stand up.

Daddy learned to day to put his coffee mug out of reach since the handle makes it an attractive target for grabbing and shaking. Luckily all my paperwork was on the other side of the desk but it still took a lot of Resolve and hot towels to clean the mess on the rug. Cute kid eh?!

Young minds need structure and activities; a typical schedule for Thomas includes a stroller trip inside the mall after breakfast and Baby Einstein, then 1/2 hour in the pool and a well-earned nap, which he has come to accept and be ready for. After nap it is any number of activities, usually playing with toys until lunch, then toys or a stroller trip and occasionally another 1/2 hour in the pool before afternoon nap. It is amazing how he has taken to it and is ready for each step as we progress through the day.

Such is life.

Final smash cake..

So you saw the beginning, here is how the rest played out. The dogs are already circling for scraps and even before he gets any headway Thomas is eyeing the birthday cake on the main table. It all was fun and games until one of the Uncles got icing in Thomas' eyes while helping him put it in his hair...That did not make it to video as we were already cleaning up and preparing for dinner... a nap was soon to follow for this little guy as his big day was nearly over.

Thank you to everyone for sharing in the moment, be it cards, gifts, phone calls and a visit. It was a great time and we will have great memories to tell Thomas when he's older.

smash cake..part III

So there is a near mishap from the get go as Thomas tries to ditch the cake, but he soon gets the idea....

Year 1 Part 2

June 26th and Thomas Liam is now 1 year old. For the record he tipped the scales at the Doc's office with a whopping 22 lbs 11.5 ounces...13.5 lbs more than his birth weight. He measurements were all within the middle percentile and he is a whopper of a healthy kid with a great laugh and a great heart.

He really enjoys trucks and tractor type toys, especially the wheels. he loves to spin the wheels.

So there was alot of excitement around the house, we got Thomas' nap outta the way earlier in the morning so he could be ready for the big day. Below you see him finding solace in a new friend...

Why would Thomas need solace, its his birthday--well maybe Uncle Tim aka Godfather was using Thomas' favorite car at the time...

It was a great time with kids and dogs everywhere, grandparents glowing, good food and good times prevailed.

What happened to this cake?..see part 3...

Year one is done!..part 1

After much ballyhoo, smash cake and junk food we can happily say we survived Thomas' 1st birthday. It was a photo op from the beginning as Thomas was happy to be present, as he always is, and we were surrounded by family.

Thomas gnaws on walrus while he enjoys his Arctic Water Table below...

He has really been doing well in the pool and enjoys dunking himself and coming up spitting water or zerberting the water. He is still a bit shaky in the open water but is very confident in the water...Below he is trying out Bucky's new pool float.

After a big breakfast we headed to his grandparents for a swim party with plenty of pool toys
for little boys, ate burgers and hot dogs and junk food and before you know it, there were many great gifts waiting to be opened...

It was a great day and we were blessed to be around family and friends. Stay tuned to part II for smash cake and a special surprise gift maybe....?