The Holiday Season

Sleigh Bells jingling....


Well, I have been told that it has been entirely too long since I have posted anything, so to remedy that here's our Holiday Post.
Since the last post at the beginning of November a few things have changed. I now have a job, Tommy learned how to crawl, and he is trying to walk with his "walker." You can see video clips at the end of the post to see his exploits, and they are very impressive. His new-found mobility means that he terrorizes the dog and cats. The dog tries to escape, but every time he lays down for a quick nap, Tommy starts smacking him in the face and pulling on his checks. I wish I had a video of it to share.
We have had a wonderful time visiting with Kathryn's family and enjoying the time I had away from work. It has been wonderful to play with Tommy for more than 30-minutes a day (which is all I get to see him during the work week because of his sleep schedule).

Tommy was given this "new" toy from a family friend who had to make room for her kids' new toys. He absolutely loves it! Since there are so many different things to manipulate on it he thinks it's a new toy every time he starts playing with a different part of it.















This is Tommy's newest cousin Carrie Lynn Lowe that he met for the first time over the Christmas holidays. She is only 5 months old, but a whopping 17 lbs. She is from Texas, so I guess it must be true that everything is bigger in Texas.
And then a couple of pictures of the Grampas.


One of Tommy's favorite Christmas gifts is his "horse."



Tommy crawling.
And,
Tommy "walking."

Hello Grandpa David

Why is that lady with the camera making such funny faces?

A Boy & His Dog...giddy-up!

Tommy wasn't sure whether he wanted to ride the dog, or play leapfrog.

Tommy Tommy Bo-Bommy

Bath Time

Tommy received this towel as a baby gift recently, and absolutely LOVES IT!

Movin' & Shakin'

While some babies may decide to "crawl" or scoot on their tummies, Tommmy has taken the unique approach of trying to move around by flailing on his back. It is extraordinarily funny as it takes SO MUCH effort for him to even move 6 inches. But that doesn't matter since he is having a blast while he does it.

Goodmorning Sunshine

While grandma Skeehan might not believe that Peter rises with a good attitude, it can't be denied that Tommy is happiest right after his breakfast. Nothing but a cheery attitude and lots of flailing.

Mmmm Delicious!

Tommy loves many things in life, but so far mushed bananas is not one of them.

Ride 'em Cowboy!

I don't know if you can really tell from this video, but Tommy loves to "ride." If you stop bouncing before he is done he will try and urge you on by kicking his legs and bouncing himself up and down to try and jumpstart the action.

Sitting Pretty

Tommy Cleans House

Multi-tasking at its finest!

Something to make Grandpa David nervous

Pears and Grandma

I had one of my most fun mother moments yesterday. Tommy tried pears for the first time. BOY OH BOY does this little boy love a mashed up pear!! He was elated. He kicked his feet so fast and hard and laughed and smiled so much that it was difficult to get as much of it in his mouth as he wanted. So fun!

Here are some pictures of Tommy with Great Grandma Bell and his Grandma 'Nita...

Tommy loves Johnny!

Johnny Jump-Up that is.

Tommy & his mommy stay home sick

Tommy experienced his first full blown cold this week. Not too bad considering he's 6 months old now. He spent the night and morning teary eyed and clingy so mommy and Tommy had to stay home from church. But in classic form he started feeling much better right about the time church was over just like a little boy who hears the final school bell and miraculously is well again. He is still stuffed up and is coughing tiny little coughs like Zoolander after his day with his Pop in the coal mines...but he looks quite a bit happier doesn't he?

Here are some pictures of him hanging with his puppy and lounging in his footy-p-jammies while on the mend today...

He's just so CUTE!

A little heat wave had Tommy unswaddled for the night

25 July 2010

The past few days have been a crazed frenzy of cleaning and packing to prepare for my parents return. I almost wish that I had taken before and after pictures, but that would have been too disgusting, and evidence of my truly slothful nature. It is amazing how dirty a couple of rooms can be. Even if they are solely used for storage. I thought the dust bunnies would eat me alive! (To say nothing of the floating cat hair that resembled a fully animate being).

Kathryn's parents have helped immensely with the packing and cleaning. Between Kathryn and I, someone needs to constantly be with Tommy while the other packs. So, typically this role would be filled by Kathryn (since I lack some of the necessities of keeping him happy). But, while I can clean and move the boxes, Kathryn usually wants to actually pack the boxes so that things are organized and don't break. Which is where Anita has helped. She would either entertain Tommy or pack boxes, leaving me free to place all the boxes in our "storage unit" (aka the garage).

It has been so great being in the area with family. After having lived in San Diego for so long with no family around, it has been nice to have a support structure for times like these when we are under a time crunch.

In other news, Dave and Griselda passed through here last weekend on their way to a wedding in Monterrey. They were kind enough to leave a nasty virus that incubated until the middle of the week, then exploded in a horrible, gut-wrenching 24 hours of misery. But, it was still nice to see them.

Finally, time for some pictures.




The cousins: Nathaniel 3.5 months, Tommy 4.5 months, and Greta Mae 5.5 months


And Tommy's first taste of "solid" food.

15 July 2010

Well, I must say that looking for a job isn't nearly as fun as it sounded when it was still a hypothetical situation. I am not sure if the ease of submitting resumes online is a good thing, or if it just saves paper as someone in the human resources department hits "delete."
We have been busy trying to get our lives in order and try and figure out what is going on in our future. I guess life is always just full of surprises.
As always, I have a few photos of what we have been up to, and of our cute little boy.

We decided to make some home-made donut holes the other day. And yes they were delicious. Luckily we were able to give most of them away before we made ourselves sick.



About 3 weeks ago I persuaded Kathryn to let me go on a camping/offroading trip up in the Sierras about 200 miles away. There was a little more snow than we were expecting, but I still had a good time.




Tommy is now over 4 months old and seems to be growing like a weed! His next doctor's appointment is next week so we will see how much he weighs, but I know he has gained a lot since his last check up. Although he tends to throw up a lot, he still manages to eat like a champ and put on the lbs.
These are some pictures that we took of him with a teddy bear he got from Ben and Tiffany.
As you can see he wasn't too sure about being put to bed and wanted some reassurance.


And some more recent pictures.



And that's all for now.

8 July 2010

Of course I will post some more pictures and videos of Tommy, but I thought I would let everyone know that law school is looking like it will be postponed at least a year. McGeorge finally said "sorry, not this year," and U of U, BYU, and Santa Clara have all reported record numbers of applicants with few people turning down their offers. So, the people on the waitlists haven't been called up. And it doesn't look as though I should plan on them admitting me this year. Which means I get to look for a job and join the other 12% of Californians who are out of work.
Enough of that. Kathryn is doing great, Tommy is a hoot, and my parents come back in 3 more weeks. Life is good. Here are the promised pictures and videos. Enjoy.





So far he's not the biggest fan of his jumper.


And his patriotism on the 4th of July.

For Grandma and Grandpa

Just some cute pictures


And a funny video



He likes to laugh.

3 Months

Tommy is already 3 months old! Time flies! Yet, at the same time waiting for what the future will hold, school or no school, drags.
Newborn

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months


Here's a video clip that Kathryn took of Tommy telling the camera, and then demonstrating, about his attempt to eat his fist.


And Kathryn wanted to include this picture of Tommy finally getting his thumb into his mouth to suck on.

And while I wish that I had something exciting to include, I don't. Life goes on and things are great. It is supposed to be 90 degrees tomorrow, so I guess it really is summer.