Pictures from Tommy's 1st Birthday photo shoot

Tommy's 1st Birthday

Tommy is officially 1 today! I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by... Tommy has grown so much and we love him more and more everyday. It is so fun to watch him grow and do new things everyday. He amazes me! He has been walking since a little before he was 10 months old. He babbles all the time unless he has his pacifier in his mouth. He claps and says hi and loves to dance especially when he hears Elmo. He has four teeth. He eats anything and everything he can get his hands on and he is still a little squirt but he is an oh so strong squirt. He plays hard with his Daddy and loves to be outside. He especially loves his swing in our backyard.



This morning we let him eat a doughnut in celebration of his 1st birthday and he LOVED it! He could not cram it in his mouth fast enough. We are spending the day getting ready for his football themed birthday party. (I will post pictures tomorrow) We are also going to get his first birthday photos taken at Target. It should be a fun day as my mom is in town. She is staying with us for a week and I really enjoy having her around.

Last night we went out with Tana (one of my best friend's from high school) and her fiance Travis. They flew down from Bismarck for a few days and Joe and I enjoyed going out while my mom babysat.

Tana is such a great friend and I look forward to making it back to Bismarck for her wedding in July!

Pink

I LOVE pink! I also loved purple as a little girl and I am so excited to be able to start buying pink and purple things as we are going to be having a girl! We just found out today and I was so excited for a little girl that I started crying on the ultrasound table. Can't wait for May when we get to meet our little girl!

6 out of 10

I was catching up with Missy (one of my best friends) on the phone this past Saturday. It was so nice to visit and talk about being pregnant, family and life. She is 7 months pregnant and is due on March 5th with her first baby. I am so excited for her! She was the Matron of Honor in our wedding. I had nine bridesmaids..Yes, NINE. I am blessed to have such great friends. I then realized that 5 out of my 9 bridesmaids are pregnant and since I am pregnant that would make 6 out of 10! That also includes my two sister-in-laws. I am so excited for all the babies and for my wonderful friends. Congrats to Missy, Ashley T., Ashley B., Mary and Katie! I pray that everyone stays healthy and I look forward to bringing all of our babies together someday.

Laundry

I am very good at loading the wash. I am also good at moving the clean clothes to the dryer and I am also good at moving the clothes from the dryer to the living room couch. I am not good at folding all of our clean clothes. I always intend on folding while Tommy plays in the living room/playroom but I don't usually get around to it right away. Joe is very good at folding laundry. I woke up this morning to find all of our clothes nicely folded on the couch! I LOVE my husband! He does so many things that I need to send out more love to him on this blog! I have to brag because he is my husband and he is the best and I love him!

Sleep

Tommy slept the whole night last night! He slept from 8pm - 8am! I am so proud of him. Especially, after I wrote about how hard it was yesterday. He woke up at 2am and cried for about 5 minutes and put himself back to sleep. He woke up again at 5am for about 2 minutes and put himself back to sleep! I am hoping this will continue! Please say a little prayer for him! It was an amazing night of sleep for me!

Feeling better

I would like to say that I have not blogged in awhile as we have been busy with company and enjoying the nicer weather. However, the real reason is because I have not been feeling well. I forgot what the first trimester was like and I had about two weeks where all I could do was stay inside and try my best to play with Tommy and keep him busy but I would just pray that I could make it to nap time each day. Luckily, Joe would help me out in the mornings and Joe's parents love to watch Tommy so they watched him quite a few afternoons and evenings. Tommy also loved getting out of the house and going to visit them especially since all I wanted to do was stay inside. Luckily, I am feeling a lot better. I have also not gained any weight during my first trimester. Granted, I had not lost all of my baby weight from Tommy but when I was pregnant with Tommy I gained over 10 pounds in my first trimester.

Update on Tommy:
- Turned 10 months old on October 30th.
- Is walking - he started about two weeks ago and can now take numerous steps but he is still somewhat unsteady and has no idea how to walk with shoes on his feet.
- Weighed 17 lbs. 9 oz. at his 9 month appointment. He was in the 90th percentile for height and the 10th for weight - He is my little peanut.
- He is a very happy baby and his favorite thing is to play with his Daddy!
- He has two teeth.
- He loves to eat and no longer eats baby food. He loves to eat anything that we are eating.
- He still nurses - he REFUSES to take formula. I tried to switch him once I got pregnant but there was no way he was going to switch - He only wants the real stuff.
- He can be very stubborn.
- He cries very loudly.
- He DOES NOT sleep through the night - This is such a hard thing right now. He just started going from 8:00pm to 5am a couple of weeks ago and now he is back to waking up earlier. I try and give him his pacifier but he still cries. One night he cried on and off for over two hours. I finally went in and fed him and he went right to bed. I am just getting really sick of getting up in the middle of the night. My pediatrician and OB doc said that I need to make him cry it out as he does not need to be eating at night but I guess I am a sucker and can't handle all the crying. I thought he would grow out of it as he eats so much during the day. This is something we are working on every night. Hopefully, he will be sleeping completely through the night before the next baby is born!

Big Brother

Yes, Tommy is going to be a big brother! We are expecting our second baby! I am about 9-10 weeks along with a due date of May 22, 2010. While we were open to another baby I was still a little shocked when I found out I was pregnant. I was home alone with Tommy when I took a home pregnancy test about a month ago and it was positive! Joe was still working and I really wanted to tell him but I wanted to wait until he got home so I could tell him in person. So, I wrote on Tommy's diaper that he is going to be a big brother and when Joe came home I asked him to go change Tommy as I needed a break. Joe started playing with Tommy and I kept saying please change his diaper. Finally, Joe changed his diaper and could not believe what he just read. He was so excited!

(I am not sure why Tommy's diaper looks so big in these pictures. He must have had a lot of pee that afternoon!)

Tomtoon

Pat (Joe's brother) made Tommy this awesome pontoon and surprised us with this amazing gift! Pat thought up the idea and bought all the supplies and made it in his living room! We were so excited. Pat gave this to Tommy this past May but I am finally getting around to posting these pictures on my blog. Isn't it amazing. Tommy actually floats in this thing. We put his bumbo seat and he fit just perfectly into the pontoon that we now call the Tomtoon! Than you so much Pat!

Simple Things

While washing the car a few weekends ago Joe told me that he is so happy. He had always dreamed of washing his car in his own driveway with his family right inside. It was the perfect Saturday and Joe felt like he had arrived. I love you Joe! It is the simple things in life that make him happy!

North Dakota: Part 2 (Water Time)

Yes, in the Smith family you even take your dog with you on the kayak! We love our dogs!

You can see our cabin behind Joe water skiing to the left of Joe's shoulder - it is the white one with the big wrap around deck.

We spent most of our trip back to North Dakota at Lake Sakakawea. I grew up going there every weekend with my family and we would meet up with all our cousins and aunts and uncles. It is fun to go back there now and bring Tommy and Joe. My mom inherited my grandparents cabin so she tore it down a few years ago and built an amazing cabin/home. We love spending time on the water. We go water skiing, tubing and have contests to see how many people can stand on the tube at one time. Tommy loved being on the boat and playing in the water even though it was cold. He does not mind the water being cold as he just loves being in water. My mom bought him a life jacket last summer before he was born and he had to wear it on the boat. It looks like he is being strangled but he actually liked the life jacket. We are hoping to teach Tommy how to water ski next summer with kid's skis. My cousin Michelle learned how to water ski at the age of 2 so we are going to try and beat her record. I don't think it will be a problem as Tommy loves the water!

Labor Day Breakfast (Tommy style)

Tommy started off the day with rice cereal, pancakes and cantaloupe. He is really starting to enjoy food and wants real food more and more each day which means he is starting to nurse less and less during the day. He sure loves food and wants anything and everything that Joe and I are eating. We started him out on rice cereal and moved up to baby food. Now, he loves to try and eat real food but I still feed him rice cereal and baby food throughout the day. He eats three meals a day. He is becoming such a big boy!

Thank you Uncle Jim

Thank you Uncle Jim for my Air Jordans! I love them and they are finally starting to fit. Now, all I need to do is start walking. Mommy told me that you are now teaching 5th grade. Good luck Mr. Petrik and have a great year!

Love,

Tommy

Just Chillin

Tommy and his cousin Hannah were just chillin last Sunday night as we all enjoyed a relaxing evening at Joe's Aunt and Uncle's house - Tom and Patty. They invited us all over for burgers, beer and fun. I love living in Arizona where you can sit out in the backyard and enjoy good food while visiting with family and friends. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery as you can sit in their backyard and look out over the golf course and see the mountains in the background. The babies also enjoyed relaxing in the pool! (These pictures are from my phone so they are a little blurry)

Overstock.com

I had been looking for a duvet cover for our king size bed for the past few months. I could not find the right one for the right price so I just kept looking. One day my mom told me to check out Overstock.com and I found this awesome duvet cover for only $39.95. That is an amazing price for a king size duvet cover and it only cost $2.95 for shipping. It arrived in the mail last week and I love it. I bought the blue/chocolate one and it is a soft cotton that looks perfect on our bed. I will now check out overstock.com more often!

North Dakota Part 1

We took a family trip back to ND for the second time this summer. Joe and his brother Pat flew up with Tommy and I. Joe and Pat stayed for one week and then they flew back to AZ to work while Tommy and I enjoyed more time with family and friends in ND for a couple of weeks. We flew back to ND at the end of July as we did not want to miss my stepsister Annie Vossler's wedding. She got married on July 25th in Bismarck. Her wedding was beautiful and she looked gorgeous. I only got one picture during the wedding as we were sitting in the back of the church. It was good we sat in the back as Joe was able to walk out when Tommy got a little fussy. We loved spending time with my Dad and his wife Kris. Tommy is named after my dad and it is neat to see the two of them together.

Boarding the Allegiant flight from the back of the plane. We love flying Allegiant Air as it is a direct flight to ND and it is cheap. The airport is also about 5 minutes from our house.

This picture is from 2007 - I added it so you could see my Dad's wife Kris and her two daughters - Annie and Maddie (I was really tan in this picture as I used to spraytan - I have not been able to spraytan in over a year as I was pregnant and now I am nursing. Can't wait to spraytan again as I refuse to tan in the sun.)

I found the bride's suite and used it as my nursing room.

Tommy and his Grandpa Tom

My brother Jim, Joe, Tommy and Grandpa

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