Ms. Sandra

We are surviving our first week with the new nanny, Ms. Sandra. It's difficult going back to work because I miss Davis so much, but working from home has made this transition pretty easy. When I get a break, I go peak to see what he's up to and I enjoy listening to him play with Ms. Sandra in the other room. It was a crazy first week, figuring out our schedules, fixing bottles, strollers, and car seats, but it worked out. It's strange to think I've only known Sandra a couple of weeks, but I trust her completely. She is highly qualified, with 15 years of nanny experience and previous work in child development. Davis smiles when she arrives every morning and he seems to be the same, happy, easy-going baby that he has been. I think Davis is true to his style, arriving a week late, he's very laid-back. With someone watching my parenting so closely, it's interesting to get Sandra's take on my style. At first her comments of, "you're so different from other moms" and "I'm so glad you're ok with us leaving the house," had me questioning myself. Am I too laid-back? Should I care about that stuff? Should she not be leaving the house with my precious baby boy? Did he have enough wet diapers today? And now I just realize my personality and parenting style work for both me and Davis. All moms and all babies are different.

All snuggled up and fast asleep after a car ride

Family dinner time. Enjoying sitting on the table while we eat.

4 Month Check-Up

Little man had a doctor appt this morning and everything is great! We are so thankful he is growing and healthy. He weighs 15 pounds!! I love learning so much at his check-ups, but I really hate the immunizations, as I'm sure every mom does. I learned that at 4 months is when babies start forming habits. This is the time to get into a routine (if you haven't already) and try to stop those midnight feedings -- or he might be waking up out of habit, not because he's really hungry. This is also the time to ween him from the pacifier if you want it to be easier. I've decided I would rather him be in love with his pacifier than his thumb, so we are keeping with it. I was also glad to hear that picking him up if he's crying still isn't spoiling him (not yet)! We are allowed to start solid foods like cereal and the yellow/orange vegetables, but I think we will still wait on this. A baby can get all the nutrients he needs from mom for up to a year! We will probably start to introduce Davis to solids at about 6 or 7 months.

The Ville of all Thanksgivings

Before our lives get too crazy, we are still finding ways to split our holidays between both sides of the family. This means lots of driving, tons of luggage, family galore, and double the turkey!

We started in Beeville with Forrest's family.

Watching the UT and A&M game

Then we headed to Hallettsville to meet up with my family.

Baby Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is enjoying time with family, tasting delicious food, and watching tons of football. Last Thanksgiving, Forrest and I told our extended families the exciting news about the upcoming arrival of Baby Thompson. The Segers (Forrest's mom's side) spend Thanksgiving in Beeville, so we headed there first. We stood on the front porch with the entire family standing around (close to 50 people) and Forrest yelled, "We're having a baby!" There was surprise, shock, and excitement all around! Then we drove to Houston to tell the Dicksons (my mom's side) and Franceses. After eating our second Thanksgiving Day turkey, the Franceses stood in a circle holding hands, telling one by one what we were thankful for. We handed Grandpa a sheet of paper to read from, "I am thankful because I am about to become a Great Grandpa for the first time!" When we told the Dicksons, a third turkey later, we were also standing in a circle giving thanks. When it was my mom's turn, we let her give the big news, saying she is thankful to be a grandma and my dad threw a little Aggie shirt our way!

A lot has happened in the past year....and so for this Thanksgiving Day, I want to reflect on things I'm thankful for in the baby world! I'm thankful for big blue eyes, a smile full of gums, tiny fingers wrapped around mine, soft sweet noises, big loud squeals, walks, long naps, cozy blankets, early bed-times, morning smiles, grandparents, aunts, uncles, a quiet dog, long showers, rocking chairs, laundry service, 10 tiny toes, a big appetite, a silent phone, swings, slings, the perfect swaddle, pacifiers, chubby cheeks, drool, and two hands for typing!

Derby All The Way!

My friend Adrienne is getting married on New Year's Eve! The other weekend we threw a bachelorette party in her honor, Kentucky Derby style! Big milestone for my friend, but a big one for myself as well because I spent the night out...my first night away from Davis. Forrest did great and Davis was pretty easy on him, only making him get up once in the middle of the night (I couldn't believe how lucky he was)! I missed my little man, but it felt good to get out.

The first night we took a limo to dinner!

The spread Kelly and I prepared! We even made mint juleps!

Here's a close-up of the cookies. Let's call these derby horses a good attempt on my part!

Loving those hats! On 6th at the Belmont!

It's'a Good'a To Be Italiana!

This might be the Thompson family blog, but I'm still a Francese (and Dickson too)! Last Sunday we had an Italian-style family dinner at Mandola's, treat of my wonderful Uncle Jerry. We took up a massive table in the middle of the restaurant and the food just kept coming and coming and coming. We eat fast too so by the end of it, I had no clue what I had devoured! Wine, pizzas, salad, olives, bread, bruschetta, lasagna, meatballs, pasta, ravioli, cannolis, Italian cream cake, more bread, and more wine! Then after 10 different conversations and about 10 different pizzas, we headed outside to play some Bocce Ball. On a side note, anyone with a baby will really enjoy Mandola's because the bathroom had a 'full service' changing table. They provide an actual table with a mattress, diapers, wipes, etc! How nice!

Happy Halloween!

Davis' Baptism

Our little Catholic boy has been welcomed into the Church and we are thrilled! I had been planning this occasion for months! Forrest and I had attended the Baptism class before he was even born. After his arrival, we choose Godparents, sent out invitations, planned a party at our house, and prayed no one would bring the flu with them.

Davis wore a gown that has been in Forrest's family since 1916. He was the 50th baby to wear it. I loved dressing my boy in a dress! He was such an angel all day. He slept through the first half of mass, was wide awake for the Baptism ceremony, and waited till it was over to scream! Once we made it back to our house for the tamale lunch, he passed out and slept through the entire party. We had about 65 family and friends join us (it reminded me of Easter last year) and thank goodness for the perfect weather!

Disclaimer...I had some precious white socks with a little cross for him to wear to the ceremony, but he was screaming and we were trying to get out the door, so I let the boy go barefoot!

The after party at our house:

I have uploaded more photos on his shutterfly site, link to the right! Enjoy!

Thompson Family Photo

For Pattie and Richard's anniversary, we gave them a family photo. We hired Robert Shaw, a friend of Forrest's from high school, to take a couple different photos and then Pattie and Richard are going to pick their favorite. Here are some of our choices:

http://www.robertshawportraits.com/ThompsonEmail/index.html

Of course, we had to bring our own camera too and take a few pictures!

The Grand-kids

Pop with the boys

Pumpkin Patch

I couldn't wait to go to the pumpkin patch with Davis! Here are a few of the attempts to get a good picture of Davis:

And we're done!

Happy 3 Months Davis!

Our little man is growing...and growing! My favorite time with him is first thing in the morning. The first thing we do is stretch. I unwrap him from his cozy little swaddle and immediately his hands fly up and his back arches, making his little booty stick out. Adorable. Then we say good morning and the boy is all smiles! I usually place Davis in his crib with the mobile going or on his play-mat in the rain-forest so I can get dressed and brush my teeth (no time for anything else). The it's off for our walk. Davis loves the Baby Bjorn and is so happy looking around as we take Duke for a walk through the neighborhood. By the time we come home he's worn out and goes down for a short little nap. The rest of the day consists of eating, diaper changes, play-time, and more naps. I try to get in a nap too, but usually I try to catch up on email or laundry. If I would have known a baby multiplies the amount of laundry I would have invested in a quality washer and dryer. Ours takes forever to dry clothes!

October Wrap Up

It's already November?? Time is flying by. My biggest update is that I'm going back to work next week. You heard right, next week! My plans of going back in December changed so I'm in bigtime to-do list mode trying to get our lives in order before I add one more thing to my plate. Mom's must have super powers or something.

October was such a fun month. We celebrated Forrest's birthday, Davis' Baptism, met our new cousin, Drew, had a visit from Laney, and had fun dressing up for Halloween. For Forrest's birthday we took a mini vacation down in Rockport. Besides running a fever for two nights and the boat breaking down, we had a great time! I only have pictures of a few of our October celebrations because we bought a new camera and I have no clue how to download pictures.

Fun day in Fredericksburg...

Duke doesn't look too happy...

A fun visit from Laney...

I've got rights!

Meeting Drew, Nicole and Tim's baby...

Alamo Heights football game with Brandon...

Lunch with Kelly...