Last Day of "School"

Tommy's daycare is also a school so they had a fun end of year celebration for all the kids.  

 It was really cold outside so the water balloon fight they were supposed to have turned into throwing water balloons at the brick wall instead.

They played with the parachute as a class.

They did really well with it.  I was kinda surprised.

Bouncy balls with handles! Just like in the movie Big!

 They invited parents to attend the end of year activities.  This was super confusing for Tommy as you can tell.  But he did eventually get over it the shock of me being around while he was playing with his friends.

 My favorite moment came when all the kids crawled through the tunnels and into this little house at the end.  They were all cozy inside until their teacher told them to come out.  They came tumbling end over end to get out and 90% of them were crying by the bottom picture.  I shouldn't laugh but it was pretty funny.  They all got over it as soon as you can say "Squirrel!"

 The whole class.  Amazing how big the class got by the end of the year!

 They had a picnic lunch outside too! How cool!

The summer session starts now and he'll go into the new class in August.  We'll miss his current teachers come this fall but we're on to new beginnings!  Time is moving too fast!

Adventures in Eating, Part Infinity

Olive Garden has a super nice allergy menu so when our power was out randomly during the week, we decided it was time to visit.  

Father and son pose time.

 I still can't believe he let us put the bib on him.  He hasn't let us put a bib on him since he was a baby.

All the pastas are good to go for Tommy so we chose shells and meat sauce.   It was an excellent choice. So much easier to eat than the typical long noodles.

For once we actually had a pleasant dining experience with a toddler.  Tommy loved his meal and it was just loud enough that his "inside voice" didn't bother the neighbors.  Hooray for da Garden!

23 Weeks: 'MERICA!

With Memorial Day and Independence Day coming up, I got a new maternity top.  

(Still bigger than first pregnancy.) 

 MERICA! PREGZ YEAH! You could've taken the tag off, nerd.

There are some outtakes from this photo shoot I thought you might like to see.

I thought the tank could use some accessories.

Are you kidding me?

There we go.  Those are the right accessories.  And NO we don't keep Miller High Life in the house.
It's in the garage.  Duh.

So how is little Baby T2 Santa Claus?

We visited Maternal Fetal Medicine in Indy again to check her growth.  We got a very good report.  She's growing wonderfully.  It was nerve-wracking to be back in that room again.  But when they use words like perfect and normal over and over again, you finally start to relax.  

T2 is about the size of a grapefruit at this point.  The average measurements for a baby at this week of growth is 10.5 to 11.8 inches and about 12.7 to 20.8  ounces.  

At the appointment they told us our baby is, and I quote, a 'whopper'.  I believe they said she's 20 ounces! That's HUGE! But I guess we were never given any in-depth information about Tommy so we don't really know if he was big or small at that point. 

I asked what the percentile was and the doctor told me 50-70th percentile.  Well that's not so bad.  Phew.  I should be able to handle that.  

They still had to do some checking on Twin B.  But T2 doesn't like the attention taken off of her so she kept sticking her hand where ever the ultrasound was at the time.  

We also got a special treat. Our tech took some 3-D pictures! Look at the little elbow in the top left pic.  Love it!
She told us it is rare that you can get such a good shot this early.  Normally you have to wait until about 28 weeks to get a quality picture of the face like this.  
Oh and she also told us that our baby isn't actually lumpy.  It's just the way the 3-D ultrasound waves bounce off of everything in the uterus.

 We think she looks like Tommy already.  This is Tommy at 1 day old.  What do you think??

Erin's Illinois Bridal Shower

Over the weekend, I drove up to Wheeling, IL, for Erin's Bridal Shower.  

 I thought I was going to be late because I couldn't leave this little cutie with the crazy hair! But the drive was amazingly smooth.  It went super fast and I ended up getting there early. Phew!

 Erin and her bridesmaids posed for pictures.

Then she and her Zeta sisters took a picture 'throwing the crown' which also happens to be the hand sign for the latin kings, I believe.  Awkward! :-)

 One of Erin's friends took the bottle that she and Doug drank from the night they got engaged and made it into this super cool centerpiece.

Another super sweet thing her friends did for her was put together this milestone gift.  There was a bottle of wine for each milestone they would experience (wedding night, first Christmas, first fight, first anniversary, first baby, etc).  At each milestone they are to pop open the bottle and celebrate the milestone.

Attached to each bottle was a poem about the milestone.  They read each one at the table.  It was so thoughtful.

 The favors were cupcakes in mason jars with a tag that read 'Love is Sweet.'

 The shower was held at Cooper Hawk and this was the menu.  It was super delish!! I had the chicken. It was really tasty.

We played some celebrity wedding trivia games and the "he said/she said" game.  You can see Cait modeling the Doug response stick for the he said/she said game.

 Then it was time to open presents!

My gift was the last to be opened.  She got a lot of really wonderful stuff! Lots of Crate and Barrel! Sa-weet!

Then one of her bridesmaids made this bouquet from all the bows on her gifts.  Now that's talent! Look at that thing!! Professional!

Erin is so lucky to have such thoughtful, talented and creative friends.  Everyone had so much fun celebrating Erin's upcoming nuptials.  Only four months to go!

Bike-A-Thon 2013

Every year Tommy's school has a bike-a-thon and the money goes toward charity.  Normally the money goes to Riley Children's Hospital.  This year the school wanted the money to go toward a very special personal cause.  A little boy in the class ahead of Tommy's has leukemia so this year all the money went toward paying his hospital bills.  

So let the Bike-A-Thon BEGIN!

At the starting line and.... they're off!

I assume what followed was mass chaos... on bikes!

This is a picture of the guest of honor, Camryn.  I believe he's in between chemo treatments at this time.

Tommy's class needs a water break! It was hot and humid that day.

Tommy looks thrilled to be taking part in the bike-a-thon.

Time for a time-out from biking.  Just chillin' on the curb.

I believe when the final totals were in, the school raised $2500 for Camryn.  So glad it always goes toward such a good cause.

22 Weeks: Tommy Tags Along

We thought it might be a good idea to take Tommy to an appointment for Baby T2.  We didn't think he would understand exactly what was going on but I thought it might be good for him to see someone else go to the doctor.  

 Tommy was the star of the waiting room.  He doesn't have an inside voice so everyone heard every comment.  We didn't realize how bad it was until the receptionist piped up, "Does he need more water to drink? I can get him some!"

In the picture above, he was trying to catch a fly on the window.  After about 20 minutes, Andrew and Tommy were getting a little restless.  The receptionist pipes up again, "Um, Dr. W is running 40 minutes behind. "  Oh dear.

 It wasn't 5 minutes later we were called back into the exam room.  Phew! We had just enough snacks and a sucker to keep him occupied for the rest of the time.  He did fill his diaper though so that diaper bag would have been super handy! Good thing it was a short appointment!

 I snapped a quick family pic before the doctor came in.  We are all smiles!

Tommy kept asking where his pediatrician was. "Where's Doctoh Fay-wer?" (He can't say his L's or R's.) We had to remind him a few times that mama was going to the doctor, not Tommy.

When Dr. W came in, Tommy let on that he knew about his baby sister.  The doctor used the machine thingy to listen to the heartbeat.  Her heartbeat is still the same, in the 150s.  Tommy heard it but he doesn't really understand what a heartbeat is quite yet.

The appointment was a success for both me and Tommy too.  He learned that other people go to the doctor and it's okay.  The fact that he will have a little sister is a little more cemented for him now, I think.  He has been saying nightly this week, "I want my baby sister!!!!"  It might have been a little early to introduce the idea to him!!

We also asked him what he would like to name his baby sister.
He thought about it awhile and replied matter-of-factly, "Santa Claus."

So Baby Santa Claus, Tommy is super excited to meet you!  22 Weeks down, 18 more to go!

Little Get Together

Over the weekend, we went down to Westfield and hung out with some friends.  It was 4 husbands, 4 preggo wives and 5 kids.  What a party! 

 The kids had an awesome time being kids.  Eating food, getting into trouble, all that jazz.

 Those beers on the table are NOT for the kids.  I promise.  Also, I'm pretty sure it's non-alkie anyway.

 Tommy was both completely terrified and absolutely enamored with Austin, the black lab.  It was so funny.

I made a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting to celebrate the birthdays of Ashley and Nora.  It turned out really well.  Yay for the internet helping me bake. (Did you know that you're supposed to refrigerate the cake before icing? Great tip!) 

A good time was had by all. I wish I would have taken more pictures.  The kids were sooo cute together, it was ridiculous. 

Someone brought up, "Can you imagine getting together a year from now with FOUR MORE KIDS?"
No, I cannot picture it quite yet.  It will be crazy... and hopefully awesome. :-) 

ICE CREAM????

 Andrew found some soy ice cream bars at Target.  We figure it was high time for Tommy to try some ice cream.

The fact that Drew and Brittany Brees are spokespeople for the company doesn't hurt either.  

I tell ya, the faces he made while eating ice cream for the first time were definitely worth the mess!

Turns out, eating ice cream is a pretty surreal experience!

Tramampoline Part 2!

Tommy hasn't been on a trampoline in over a year.  The last time was Lilli's b-day party.  If you go to that link, you can see Tommy with MUCH less hair!


This year we went to Jack and Cec's birthday party and he was much better at jumping! I love when he does the high knees as he runs around.  Too funny.