Outside with Stelly Belly

I had some outside duties to attend to this afternoon and I decided that it was too beautiful to not let Thomas out to play as well.  As I was outside doing the duties…I looked over and saw Stella completely covered in GRASS!  To my friends who are still snow covered, I am sorry, but this grass is a royal pain in my house on the market floor! 

Thomas had a blast playing with Stella, sticks, and sitting in one of the holes Stella and her friends made in the yard!

Play Date With Alexis at Children’s Museum

Thomas and I met up with Kylie and Lexi at the Children’s Museum and then headed to Mona’s for lunch.  It was a great morning spent with great friends.

Thomas and Lexi had a blast climbing in the woodland park, playing with the food in the grocery store, and popping bubbles in the bubble room. 

 

11 months

It is the last day of the month so it means that Thomas is 11 months old?!   There have been some big things in the last month in Thomas’ life.  I am also finding that giving a short snippet into Thomas’ life is getting more difficult.  Nonetheless, I want to keep documenting the big and little changes in his ever changing life! We will start with his favorite thing to do which is MOVE.  Really this little guy has more energy than 10 of me put together and without dad around as much I am left exhausted most of the time.  I have finally called in the “baby gates” for help!  We have one blocking him off from Stella’s food and water.  As he feels like he too should be allowed to eat and drink like his big sister.  One blocks him off from the stairs, enough said.  The final one blocks him off from the dining room, where he enjoys climbing under the table and trying to drink our wine. 

He has a handle on the stairs and getting down from high structures.  After feeling like I was endlessly repeating “turn around and put one foot down”  he will now go down the stairs, couch, or bed all by himself.

Walking continues to be his new adventure.  Everyday he is becoming more daring and walking more and more on his own.  He no longer needs to have arms to walk to.  He will let go or stand up on his own and then head for something, usually about half way there he drops to his knees and then will crawl the rest of the way.    However, he make sure to give himself applause and like everyone else to do it too.  Sometimes the clapping starts before he falls. 

Thomas is really a smiley social butterfly.  He loves going and seeing anyone and everyone.   Wherever we are he has a  huge smile on his face showing off his 7 (he got his 3rd bottom tooth last week) chick-let teeth and will wave up a storm.  When he is lucky a nice man or woman will engage with him and then he can’t get enough of it. 

His favorite toys the past month have been his cupboard filled with his kitchen bowls.  His baseball bat and balls.   Taking any “stick” and hitting it.   He loves all his books, especially flip pages.  He has a favorite book the “alphabet book” by Matthew Van Fleet, but he has to look at that with an adult so he doesn’t rip it.    He likes climbing all over his riding giraffe and his slide.  Climbing up and down his chair onto the couch and to get Stella. 

Eating continues to be an adventure. He eats more things each day, but it seems like no two days he wants the same things.    He also was exploring feeding himself with a spoon, and has actually done pretty well painting and sometimes getting food into his mouth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bathtub continues to be a nightly favorite.  He has moved into the tub and is loving splashing and moving in there.  It is a lot more work, but his duck was just too small.  He also likes showering and playing in the bottom of the shower.

Thomas language continues to enlighten his mommy and daddy too!   Everyday I realize that he understands or is trying to say something new.   His current words are: mama, gaga or dada, Tucker, Stella, and Itzy, he nods his head for “yes” and “up.”   If you ask him to or if he hears the cats meow or dog bark he will “meow” and “bark” for you.   With all the changes in our house, we really have been working on BYE and BE RIGHT BACK and now when I walk out of the room, I can hear him babbling “byabbbybyaaabbyybbaaaahh” which I am thinking has to be him trying to figure out how to say either “bye” or “be right back.”  It is too funny.

Pudding Paint

Thomas might be the next Picasso?

Thursday night after dinner we went into our art gallery “the bathtub" to make his masterpiece.  He We had a blast and then hopped into the shower to clean up when we were done!

The real Picasso photo is from fineamericanart.com. 

Thank you Minnesota Snow

The snowfall in Minnesota kept the Laschen family from flying home on Sunday night.   On Monday morning Grandpa Laschen, Uncle Don, and Auntie Katie and Mo headed out on a road trip back because they needed to get to work (they couldn’t get a flight til Wednesday).  Grandma Laschen decided to stay for some extra snuggle time with Thomas and to help his mom out for a few extra days.   She picked the best week to be here as we had a showing on Sunday, 2 on Monday, and 1 on Wednesday!   While she was here she helped Thomas learn to walk, made dinner for Thomas and myself (Pat too), and help immensely around the house and with Thomas.  It was nice to have Nana around to keep us company.  Thomas got so used to it that on Wednesday after I got home from work and dropping her off at the airport we had to search the house for “Ma.”   Thanks again Kathy for everything!

Grandma and Grandpa at the Airport

Monday night Grandma and Grandpa McConachie had a couple hour layover in Denver after visiting Uncle Troy and Autie Molly in California.   After a much too quick visit they were on there way back to Minnesota.  We will see if Grandma and Grandpa McConachie come to Denver or Seattle next!?

Smile Face

Thomas has a new face that he will make EVERYTIME you smile and squint your eyes at him with a “nnnnnnggggggg” sound Thomas will make this face at you.

Mike Enters His 30’s

So the big 3-0 has come and gone for Mike!  He came back to Denver for the weekend of BIG celebrating.   Mike got home on Thursday night and was greeted by Thomas and I and several of his buddies who weren’t going to be around over the weekend.  I made fajitas for everyone and we all caught up and Mike got his birthday weekend started off! 

Then on Friday after a day of working he came home and we hung out as a family.  Little did he know that while he was away at work, I was busy making 4 batches of pizza crust for our dinner with Pat and his girlfriend Lara. 

Pat and Lara arrived about 7:15 and all was well with our night in hanging out with them.  Then all of a sudden the doorbell rang.   Mike’s exact words were “who the hell is here?”  As planned he went to open the door and SURPRISE….the REST of his family was here!!!!   This was a huge surprise for all of us to pull off and he had no clue!   He then said he didn’t have enough pizza and his mom quickly informed him that I had more dough in the fridge…then he knew he had really been surprised.    So Friday night was a pizza family night.   Saturday we woke up and Mike’s sisters helped me frost and make the cake I baked for Mike pretty.  We then got ready for the birthday party at Big Hoss BBQ.   At Big Hoss we all hung out and enjoyed company, food and Mike was able to catch up with his friends.

Saturday night we headed to dinner at Rioja to continue our celebration.   Sunday again came to fast and the party had to stop when everyone needed to go to the airport.   Mike’s family and parents get a HUGE thank you as they made his weekend UNFORGETABLE!   Thomas also did his best by taking his first steps on his daddy’s birthday!

Thomas is on the Move

Thomas started taking his first steps on his daddy’s 30th Birthday! 

With a lot of encouragement from the Laschen side being here and grandma helping him he took a few steps towards his dad.

Since then everyday he has become more confident and will walk by himself between 2 objects like the couch to couch, walk to Mom or Nana, and is now starting to let go of things and walk towards toys.

On his “best” walk he can go about 3 feet.  It won’t be long and he will be walking all over the house.   Right now he looks like he might have been over served milk!

Picnic with Blakely

Wednesday night I had Ms. Blakely over for a couple hours to help out her mama.  Thomas and Blakely had a great time playing together and then we had a picnic for dinner!

Too cute watching them try to “share” with one another! 

Valentine’s Lilies

I was the lucky recipient of beautiful stargazer lilies for Valentine's Day this year.  I have been having so much fun taking pictures and “just seeing what my camera can do” and here is the product.

Weekend in Seattle

Thomas and I took our first trip to Seattle to see Mike/Daddy.  Thomas was a trooper on the flight.  He played for the first half and then slept the second.  He was awake for the landing and was talking up a storm about the city lights the airplane’s wing and engine.  It was pretty cute if I must say so myself!

Mike picked us up before baggage claim and Thomas and I were so excited to see him.  This was the start of my boys clinging to one another :-)  We headed back to our “vacation home” and dropped off our stuff and then walked to the local pub for dinner. 

This is was my first daylight view of Seattle!   That and waking up with Mike/Daddy there it was a great start to our Friday!

After Mike took off for work and we got a few things in order at the apartment, Thomas and I were off to explore and take a walk down by Lake Washington.  We had fun seeing the different climate and I was able to try out one of my new camera lens.  After our walk we went to work in the kitchen making food for daddy during the week.   The kitchen was one big mess, between me cooking and Thomas doing his best to get into EVERYTHING!   Friday night Thomas and I met Mike’s “other boss” who is also named Stacy.  We went to the King Fish Cafe and had a great evening with great company and food.

Saturday was our house hunting marathon.  I think we looked at 12 homes and found a few with potential.   Neither Mike or are are content that we found “the one.”  After initially thinking that the suburbs “or Eastside” was what we were settled on, Mike and I have also added the city or “Seattle Proper” back into the mix.  So we are sort of back to the drawing board,  with progress made.   Mike is going to look the next couple of weeks and next weekend and then I will be out there again the first week of March.   Hopefully then we can find the ONE!

After our exhausting day of house hunting we were not up for doing anything.  We decided to make a pizza at home and relax.  Thomas and Mike got some good snuggle and play time in.   After Thomas went to bed Mike and I had a brownie sunday to as our early Valentine’s dessert.

Sunday came and we were up and got the apartment picked up and then I finished laundry before we went for lunch.  Then it was off to the airport, which again came much too fast.  There are not words to put in here.  I am so thankful that we only have to wait til Thursday to get more family time in.  There will hopefully only be 1 or 2 more “marathon” time aparts which is 12 days.  When the 3 of us said “see you soon,” as Mike walked away and Thomas and I cried, the 2 women standing behind us also shed a few tears.   As always, we can’t wait to get our family together!

On a brighter happy note…look at  how many ROBINS were in this green field a grass searching for their breakfast!  The climate in Seattle is SOOO different than here or Minnesota!  It is going to be a fun place to garden and explore!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day!

Thomas on the Kazoo

Thomas has been loving playing and dancing on his kazoo.  Enjoy!

Adjusting

We have been adjusting to having Mike/Daddy in Seattle and I am not going to say it is fun but we are getting by.  There have been some challenging things that we are working through. It is hard, I miss Mike around, Mike misses us, Stella is off, Thomas after a few day adjusts, but it is just different and I don’t want to like different.  Thomas has been a big helper and he has been helping me take Stella for walks, put the groceries away, shovel and fold laundry. 

I have said this a thousand times but I really can’t wait until this transition is over.  I HATE that we have to Skype with daddy instead of him being here, I miss my partner, and Thomas and Stella miss their playmate. I keep reminding myself that every day is a day closer to the end of the transition and and that which doesn’t break us makes us stronger!   Keep your fingers crossed that we find a house we like this weekend while Thomas and I are in Seattle.