9 months.

To continue the trend of titling blog posts with numbers, this one will cover Thomas at 9 months (yes, he's really ~9 1/2 months).

Thomas has a slew of nicknames, though most commonly used are Thosmos, Tomasito, or Thosatron; even Jacob uses 'Tomasito' during his sweet and snugly moods...but it's certainly 'Thomas' when sharing is involved.

Thomas is our strong, stubborn, and curly-haired sweet giant.

Strong: Just today he both stood on his own for 3 long seconds and stood-up from squatting with no help whatsoever (following a breathing treatment, he could probably lift a car with all that caffeine-crazy energy).

Stubborn: Thosmos has already learned that by lowering his head while crawling, he can just use his heft to get closer to what he wants regardless of any obstacles (be they chairs, brothers, toys, etc). He also reserves most of his crying for expressing frustration at having a toy removed, plan diverted, ie. not getting exactly that which he had set his mind. I respect that...and I'm grateful he's not the first born getting everything he pouts about (HA, like Jacob ever did)!

Here's a video when persistence doesn't pay off.

Happy Giant: Today Thomas weighed in at 25 1/2 pounds (completely off the charts huge) and 29.5", which is between the 75th and 85th percentiles. holy moly. And he bypassed yet another size and comfortably wears 18 month clothing (but it has to be stretchy or it doesn't fit).

This video just shows both the continuation of Jacob being hilarious for Thomas and me being bossy(...truthfully, I'm not so bossy rather Jacob had been popping these very loudly for 10 minutes and our walls here are paper thin. I was feeling guilty for our noise!) Thanks Uncle Dana for the package and the packaging!

Part of the 9 month check-up was discussing development: if you mimic him, does he then repeat what you say? I'm gonna have to say yes.

28.

Daniel turns 28 years old(young) tomorrow. Hard to believe the pace by which these years are sliding;

we're still trying to wrap our minds around the fact that this will be the 11th year of us celebrating dp's birthday since beginning this crazy fun ride of love and then marriage. Whoa. Imagine who you were at 18...then at 28- Hopefully some changes and hopefully some things are the same; I'm just happy that we keep getting to celebrate Daniel for who he is each year.

Happy Birthday mon ami prefere!

On an entirely different note, here's a bit about our life the past week and a half.

When we lived here previously, the community garden was really important to us and we knew we wanted to see it flourish this year, too. So, last Saturday, we got to work with fellow neighbors and 'farmers of the Dels'. (Our apts are called the Delaware Apts...the dels...get it?).

Jacob refueled between shifts of digging in dirt and talking about "ew..smelly dirt and chicken poooop". Yeah, he's a 3 year old boy.

Thomas helped by being the sweet, mellow boy he is and NOT eating the dirt.

A look at the crops (lettuce, spinach, a bunch of herbs, kale, peas, basil) and some cute boys a few days later.

I just include this cause it makes me smile that Thomas gave up on steering. Smart cookie.

These tidbits are just to make you smile. This nugget was hiding in the files from the first few weeks after arriving back in Berkeley; this sweet boy can make anybody grin with this smile and laugh.

In this picture, we have Roman (4 1/2months old, daughter to our beloved KD and John whom we spoke of years ago while living here) and the feet of Thomas. He rather enjoyed sneaking a ride under Roman in her stroller, there was laughing, poking, and kicking involved.

Crawling and other fun things

We visited the little farm nearby to feed and meet some animals. Jacob enjoyed conquering the playground and feeding every species of animal.

Thomas enjoyed gnawing on celery and watching Jacob feed the animals.

He did NOT like the rooster crowing. Everytime we went into the barn and heard that thing, Thomas cried!

Berk-E-lee

We made it.

One car plus one full van concludes what we brought from Phoenix (several furniture items stayed here last year). The first week here was truly recovering and establishing that this is 'home' for all of us....and especially trying to reign in a confused, excited, and exhausted 3 year old.

We've completed the necessary Ikea trip for Jacob's birthday present / bunk bed (though he can only play and 'nap' on top during the day until he gets bigger...the guidelines recommended 6...we'll see).

We've visited the aquarium (in the Green Pond tie-dye-this was his excited dance)!

the Oakland zoo (a time-tested favorite), and gone to the marina.

With the dramatic climate change, there was a necessary visit to the children's ER for Thomas and his impressive wheezing. Fortunately, after an hour long breathing treatment (like crack for the kid) followed by one more small hit of medicine, we were allowed to bring him back home..

And we discovered that he weighs 24 pounds at 8 months. Explains why 18m clothes fit him so well...!

Speaking of Thomas, he's broken 2 teeth since we left Phoenix and has finally shown true interest in crawling (as of today)! Though he still refuses foods placed in his mouth or fed from a spoon, he will eat anything he can scrounge from the carpet or generally shove into his mouth!

Thank you LA (and Fuller family)

You must be wondering how the move back to Berkeley went...

The actual drive was split in half with a stay-over at the Fuller house in Redondo beach with buddy Elgin. Jacob was thrilled about that but the 7+ hours to get to his friend, well, the face at a pit-stop says it all.

Thomas hung in there alright with naps, laughing at his brother, and driving lessons during stops.

Despite our engine light coming in on the Neon about 100miles into our trek, we made it to LA and beloved Elgin (Tripp and Alecia, too!).

Friendship meant to be?

After this and other fun things, a projected movie was enjoyed in the backyard to which Jacob fell asleep. Upon waking and patiently waiting until a 'reasonable' hour, Jacob honed his drum skills on Elgin's set.

We were all enjoying our time together....and unfortunately, took minimal photos. Jacob was sad to leave and pines for the day he is reunited with Elgin. (Don't worry, it looks as though though this fall will be bring such a reunion).

Thanks for helping minimize the boredom of a long trip, giving us a great place to stay, and hanging-out with us Fuller family!

Continued more. Part III

Overall, GP is awesome. You can beach bum cute.

Gently overcome water anxiety by jumping in 1ft of water and chasing fish.

Make a beautiful mess.

Relax in hammocks.

Hang-out with family.

And eat insane amounts of food. You may have noticed in the bear picture that there was a grill and smoker in our backyard. Be jealous. (And Thanks to all who helped!)

There are a few Minnesota wedding photos...but we've got to have something to share for the next post!

Continuation of Mass chaos: Part deux.

Who doesn't love a quick swing during a break from swimming?

Or napping in unique places?

Uncle Dana got a parachute for GP...so much kid-like silliness and joy.

Boat trip including Daddy and Aunt Emily (aka Elemy).

This picture says it all: "On a boat, in GP, with Ma. Life is good."

Jacob and Daddy had planned an adventure one morning to include light mountain biking/hiking. This guy put a damper on that:

Yet, Jacob was content with chasing a butterfly on the beach instead. Huh.